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Markets Recover After Big Drop Amid Trump's China Threat; Boeing Admits It Know About 737 Max Aircraft problems in 2017; Trump to Award Tiger Woods Medal of Freedom Tonight; Adam Sandler Performs Emotional Tribute to Chris Farley. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired May 06, 2019 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

MEGAN GREENE, MANAGING DIRECTOR AND CHIEF ECONOMIST, MANULIFE ASSET MANAGEMENT: So it may do. It could just be kind of "The Art of the Deal." Negotiating so that he Chinese come on Wednesday and they get back to the table and they get back to the table and they come up with some kind of fudge. But no matter what, if there is a trade deal, it's probably not going to fundamentally address the idea of which economy is going to be the largest one in the world based on excellence in machine learning, artificial intelligence, these high- tech industries. So any deal that we get will probably be superficial anyhow.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Well, there's that. But if this just a bunch of "Art of the Deal" drama -- let's say isn't actually. Let's say if both sides don't come to some sort of agreement by Thursday and the President stays true to his word and follows through with the new tariffs on Friday, what would China do to retaliate?

GREENE: So China could do what it did last summer and play with its currency, allow the currency to depreciate so the U.S. dollar is driven higher. And that puts a real squeeze on emerging markets. It also hurts the U.S. It makes our exports less competitive. That's probably the most likely immediate retaliation.

There's talk of the Chinese officials deciding to position away from U.S. treasury. That's already sort of underway. And actually if they were to aggressively do that, that would be a real own goal for China. So I think that's less likely.

We might also see some kind of retaliation in terms of tariffs and also in terms of just compliance and red tape. We saw that again last summer as the U.S. was really escalating the trade wars. So we could see a reescalation that way as well.

BALDWIN: We'll see if the deal is done Thursday. Megan Greene, thank you so much.

Coming up next, a disturbing revelation about the Boeing planes that were involved in the two deadly crashes. We now have learned that the company knew about the problems with its 737 Max jets all the way back in 2017. [15:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A stunning admission from Boeing, the aviation giant publicly admitting for the first time that it knew there was a problem with one of the safety features on its 737 Max jet liner. And the company says it knew long before crashes of this particular passenger jet in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed a total of 346 people.

In a new statement Boeing says its engineers discovered a problem with a key safety indicator within months of delivering the planes to airlines. Boeing says its engineers discovered that the sensor only worked with a separate operational safety feature. Miles O'Brien is CNN's aviation analyst. And Miles, when I saw this, my mind instantly went to those families and to think that they knew for more than a year.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: It's tragedy compounded upon tragedy, Brooke. You've got a corporation, Boeing, that was sort of self-policing itself along the way. The FAA unable to actually be there and do the inspections we might imagine occur. You have them in a competitive market trying to rush an airplane to market.

And you -- what you see is a situation where there was disarray inside the program. Engineers didn't even know what functions they were selling as standard equipment versus optional equipment. And it was kind of an important thing that this indicator in the cockpit, indicating a failure of one of the angle of attack veins on the outside of the aircraft if one of them has failed, they need to know that. Because then they shouldn't be relying on some of the important flight control systems that are linked to it. In this case, this anti-stall system called MCAS.

And then on top of that when they finally discover this little loophole, this dangerous loophole, they deny that it's a problem. They say well, this is not a real problem in the realm of safety of flight. It's a horrifying scenario.

BALDWIN: We've been asking these big can Boeing be trusted questions. But I'm going to take it a step further. Do you think someone needs to go to jail over this mistake?

O'BRIEN: Well you know, that's a big question, but there seems to be a lot of people who are not paying attention. You know, there is a term that came out of the Challenger disaster back in the 80s. It is the normalization of deviance. It's a sociological term that Dianne Vaughn came up with. And the idea is that in large organizations doing complex tasks, things that aren't going just right if they're done repeatedly, become the norm.

And you have to wonder if culturally Boeing needs to really address the organization and its culture of safety there. If they're overlooking things. If they're not understanding what one engineering team has done and how it might affect the other and then they're denying the fact that that mistake might cause trouble, you've got an organization that has a fundamental safety culture problem. BALDWIN: What then also, you think about the families, what could

this admission mean for all the lawsuits being filed from the victims' families.

O'BRIEN: Well you know, it's interesting. Just last week we saw the CEO of Boeing saying you know, really this could have been pilot error. Which, of course, there's a long history of blaming dead flight crews for accidents, and the reason in a crass way is it limits the liability of the airlines and the corporation.

[15:40:00] In this case, every time a stone is unturned, we see culpability on the part of the corporation, and that just exposes them to liability. Because ultimately that's where the deep pockets are. For people who lost loved ones here, Boeing is a target which they rightly should go after.

BALDWIN: Miles O'Brien, you are so good at all of this. It's just awful that all that keeps coming out from Boeing and the fallout that we will be covering I'm sure for weeks and months to come. Miles, thank you so much.

O'BRIEN: You're welcome, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Just a short time from now Tiger Woods will be at the White House to accept the Presidential Medal of Freedom from a man who also happens to be his business partner. Details on how the honor might benefit President Trump.

[15:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: In just a couple hours President Trump will present Tiger Woods with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in honor of his Masters victory last month. And certainly it was a triumphant comeback for Woods after a ten-yearlong championship drought and problems in his personal life. Woods will become the eighth recipient of the award under Trump.

And of those this current President has honored four including Woods have been athletes. Three honorees were recognized posthumously and one woman who happens to be a top Republican donor is among the group. Kyle Kopko is a political science professor at Elizabethtown College and he's published several studies on this Medal of Freedom. And so, Kyle, thank you so much for coming on. When you look at all the various honorees, what stands out to you among President Trump's picks?

KYLE KOPKO, POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR,ELIZABETHTOWN COLLEGE: Just the sheer number of athletes. To put this in context since the Presidential Medal of Freedom was established in 1963, through the end of President Obama's term of office, only about 4 percent of recipients were athletes. Under President Trump four out of eight, 50 percent were athletes. So I think that this is in some ways a reflection of what's most important to President Trump. Obviously, he's someone who enjoys sports, golf in particular. So it's not terribly surprising that he would select someone like Tiger Woods for the Medal of Freedom. BALDWIN: And also just the selection process. It's my understanding

it takes months to whittle down potential honorees but Trump announced Tiger Woods' honor via Twitter within days of him winning down in Augusta. What did you make of that?

KOPKO: I think that this is very much in line with President Trump's style of Presidential leadership to be perfectly honest. Now, the selection process has varied quite a bit throughout presidential administrations. But you're right that normally there's a back and forth between the President and his staff to decide who should receive one of these medals. And normally it's up to the President at the end of the day. It's a unilateral exercise of Presidential power to decide who receives the medal and who doesn't. Now he doesn't have to consultant with anyone. But throughout history many Presidents have consulted with say they're press secretary, chief of staff and other White House staffers before making a final selection.

BALDWIN: Now, we know these two, Tiger and Trump have certainly played their fair share of golf together. But they're also business partners. With Tiger Woods designing a Trump branded golf course in Dubai. He has a villa named after him at Trump's Miami golf club. We know these two go way back. The difference now is that Trump is President. How does he stand to benefit from this?

KOPKO: It's tough to say. At this point, but certainly this is a way of elevating potentially the brand of any golf course or any properties within the Trump portfolio. Whether that was the President's motivation, we can't really say. Only President Trump room can answer that, for sure. But certainly this is not exactly a normal selection in regard to having a business relationship with this particular recipient. The almost 600 recipients that have been announced since 1963 I can't think of another medal recipient that has this type of business relationship with the President of the United States.

BALDWIN: All right, again, it happens tonight at the White House. Kyle Kopko, thank you so much.

KOPKO: Thank you.

BALDWIN: You got it.

We want to get you back to our breaking news this afternoon. Now more than 370 former federal prosecutors have signed this letter that says President Trump would have been charged with obstruction of justice if we weren't in the White House. We'll be right back.

[15:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CECILY STRONG, NBC, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE: Chaos in Tripoli this afternoon as multiple militias fight for control of the city. Brooke Baldwin joined by former CIA analyst Arthur Wenzel.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: Shout out to Cecily Strong in "Saturday Night Live" for the love this weekend. I know it's been an "SNL" night when my phone blows up Sunday morning. So thanks you guys.

The show had plenty of parodies like usual, but for one special signature solo, no costume change was needed. Comedian Adam Sandler hosted for the first time since "SNL" fired him 24 years ago and Sandler paid tribute to his fellow funny man and friend, Chris Farley.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAM SANDLER, COMEDIAN (singing): We tell him, slow down, you'll end up like Belushi and Candy. He said, those guys are my heroes. That's all fine and dandy.

I ain't making that stuff up, that's the truth about my boy, Chris Farley

I saw him in the office crying with his headphones on, listening to a KC and the Sunshine Band song. I said, buddy, how's the hell that making you so sad. Then he laughed and said, just thinking about my dad.

[15:55:00] The last big hang we had was at Timmy Meadows' wedding party. We laughed all night long, all because of Farley. But a few months later, the party came to an end we flew out to Madison to bury our friend. Nothing was harder than saying good-bye, except watching Chris' father have his turn to cry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: CNN contributor Nischelle Turner is host of "Entertainment Tonight." And Nischelle, you know, watching "Saturday Night," you could tell from Sandler's performance, he was surprised by how much the emotion got to him.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It's not often that "Saturday Night Live" makes you cry. That's for darned sure, Brooke. Yes, you know, when I was watching it, I was really excited to see Adam Sandler host, because it's the first time since he was let go from the broadcast that he's been back, 24 years ago. And I didn't know what to expect, but I certainly didn't expect this. We got Chris Rock to come back. We got some of his other friends to come back. And I know how much he loved Chris Farley. But to see the emotion in this, and he had to fight back tears several times.

But the line about him crying with the headphones on and then the next time they all hung was at Tim Meadows' wedding and then he died four months later. And they saw his dad reciprocate and his dad was the one crying. It like it me like a ton of bricks. It was one of the most beautiful and powerful moments that I've seen, you know, on that show. And particularly in television in a really long time. So it was a really special moment for Adam.

BALDWIN: Something else in watching, you know -- did you know that they were all fired from the show? TURNER: No. No, and I don't think that any of us new. I mean, Adam

came on, he sang about it, why hadn't he been back? Well he was fired. Then Chris Rock came in, he sang about it. What happened with him when he left? He was fired. And then Pete Davidson came in and he said, no, you haven't been fired, but get ready because you probably will be fired. So yes, it was a lot of that. So that was a couple of revelations. I never knew that. I mean, you kind of think when you're as big a star as they are, that they leave the program on their own volition. But no, Adam Sandler was fired from "SNL." Chris Rock was fired from "SNL." Wow.

BALDWIN: Yes, wow, had no idea.

TURNER: Yes, wow.

BALDWIN: How about the big announcement over at CBS this morning and a milestone for evening news? Yes, wow for women. CBS just announced Nora O'Donnell will be taking the helm and Nora retweeted a congrats from Katie Couric. We know Nora will become just the third woman ever to solo anchor the evening news. I love that she had quoted Cronkite this morning in saying she would give it, you know, everything. So these are the three women. Only the three but --

TURNER: Come on rarefied air.

BALDWIN: You go, girl.

TURNER: Yes, indeed. I mean, Nora O'Donnell is whip smart. She deserves this job. She's worked her butt off in the years that she's been White House correspondent, anchor of the morning news and everything else in between. This is a huge honor for her. To take over this job, not only is she going to take it over, she's moving the show to Washington, D.C., which is revolutionary in its own right.

But in their estimation, they want to be where the newsmakers are. And that's where they feel like that the center of news is right now in this country. So they're going to do the snow from Washington, D.C.

But, yes, it's a very big honor for her. I say, my hats off to her as a woman, I say, go girl. And I'm ready for this. And I think it's about time to think that in the history of network news, there have only been two other women to solo anchor a show in 2019 is still very mind boggling -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: So they'll have a woman in the evening. They've got Margaret on Sunday morning. And then Miss Gayle. Love some Gayle King.

TURNER: Talk about getting their just desserts. Yes, absolutely. I mean, she's got a new three-year deal there to be the anchor of the morning news. She's going to be joined by two new people. Oprah gave her the advice when she was going through her latest contract negotiations. Get everything you want and get it now. Because this is the time you have the most leverage. And reportedly, she got everything she wanted. And she got it now. Good for you. BALDWIN: Good for her.

TURNER: Yes, indeed.

BALDWIN: And lastly, "Game of Thrones" --

TURNER: Oh, boy.

BALDWIN: What's going on -- my Twitter was blowing up this morning with the coffee cup, right? How much did they pay each episode of the season? It's like gazillion of dollars and there wasn't some script supervisor to be like, move the Grande Frappuccino from the set.

TURNER: Right. Latte to the left. You know, it's funny. My favorite tweet that I saw this morning was, it took two years to make six episodes and this is what we got? Sometimes stuff happens and Starbucks responded and said, we're just surprised she didn't order a dragon drink.

Stuff happens. You are right. Nischelle, thank you. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thanks for being with me. "THE LEAD" starts now.

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