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Overnight, U.S. Doubles Tariffs on Chinese Imports; NYT: Rudy Giuliani Plans Ukraine Trip to Push for Inquiries to Help Trump; More Rain to Hit Flood-Ravaged Texas This Weekend; Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX) is Interviewed about the Trade War with China. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired May 10, 2019 - 07:00   ET

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: -- with China. NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[07:00:05] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The U.S. tariffs have kicked in. China will retaliate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: China has a high degree of national resolve. It's high-stakes poker.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Both sides are starting to dig their heels in. It's a lose-lose situation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's going to run on the economy. If this is a prolonged trade war, that will put a dent in that.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: At the end of the testimony, no collusion. And essentially, no obstruction.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Do you think that he had criminal intent?

JAMES COMEY, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: It sure looks like it. He did.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's speaking as a former prosecutor. We now have over 800 who have said the same thing.

TRUMP: My son was totally exonerated by Mueller.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This report did not exonerate his son. This isn't the end.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can understand his frustration. How much longer is this going to go on?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

CAMEROTA: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. Happy Friday.

BERMAN: It is Friday. CAMEROTA: It has been a long, busy news week.

BERMAN: I've been telling you it's Friday for the last hour.

CAMEROTA: And I haven't believed you, because it is also a busy news morning.

We begin with the trade war between the U.S. and China that is escalating in a big way this morning. President Trump more than doubling tariffs on Chinese imports, from 10 percent to 25 percent, on $200 billion. China is vowing to retaliate. We just don't know how yet. So the world's two largest economies are set to resume talks in two hours.

BERMAN: Meanwhile, President Trump's attorney, Rudy Giuliani, is planning to visit Ukraine to persuade the incoming government to pursue investigations into Joe Biden. Make sure you let that sink in. The president's lawyer is trying to convince another country to meddle in the U.S. election.

Also this morning, new questions are emerging about Attorney General Bill Barr. Did he tell the truth when senators asked him if the president ever ordered him to investigate anyone? Statements like this one from President Trump have a lot of people wondering.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: What I'd like to see with Iran, I'd like to see them call me. You know, John Kerry speaks to them a lot. John Kerry tells them not to call. That's a violation of the Logan Act. And frankly, he should be prosecuted on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right. Joining us now to discuss all of this, Kaitlan Collins, CNN White House correspondent; Michael Smerconish, host of CNN's "SMERCONISH"; and Frank Bruni, "New York Times" op-ed columnist and a CNN contributor.

Kaitlan, I want to start with you on the very latest on the U.S.-China trade talks. You've been doing some reporting on what's going on overnight and where we are this morning, because the president more than doubled the tariffs on $200 billion worth of goods at midnight.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And the thinking, John, had been before that that, if the talks went well last night, those tariffs might not have gone into effect at midnight, but they did. So that is where we are now. And those talks are scheduled to resume in the next two hours or so, we're told.

But the question is of what they're going to achieve today by meeting. Now, people do think it's a good sign that they are meeting again for the second day in a row.

The talks were scheduled to happen yesterday and today. I think it's a good sign that they got through last night that dinner that the treasury secretary and the president's chief trade negotiator had with the Chinese delegation. But the question is what they're going to achieve today.

Because the Chinese have said in their statement that they're going to have to respond to this increase in the tariffs, though they haven't said exactly how they'll respond or when. So clearly, they think that there could be some progress made today.

But the people we've spoken with just do not think they are going to reach any kind of a big agreement today, which is a pretty big difference than where we were about two weeks ago, how the U.S. officials were feeling about these talks.

CAMEROTA: Michael, it does sound as though China reneged on some parts of the agreement that the U.S., at least, thought were settled. And so the president is frustrated, understandably, by that. And is doing these tariffs in retaliation.

But it's just hard to know how, frankly, concerned to be or seriously to take it since, as you know, the president often makes a grand announcement or even some grand action and reverses course later that day.

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, HOST, "SMERCONISH": Well, he's working with a net in this instance. Because as you've been reporting all morning long, this doesn't impact those goods that are already approaching our shores.

If there should be some kind of a resolution today, then I think he'll be able to proclaim a political victory, given that he made a pledge during the 2016 campaign that he would address this imbalance that exists in trade and the theft of our intellectual property.

I can't help but think that the White House believes this is the moment where their best position to make an agreement because of the GDP numbers and because we're essentially at full employment, and there's a perception that the Chinese economy is far more vulnerable than ours.

BERMAN: I will say there is reason to believe that they will not make a deal today. The president wrote just moments ago, "Talks with China continue in a very congenial manner. There is absolutely no need to rush."

Now, that might get to the point Michael was making there, that these tariffs won't be felt until the goods actually arrive on U.S. soil. But there's another aspect to this, which is yes, maybe the president does want a deal today. But, Frank, being tough on China is not necessarily bad politics.

FRANK BRUNI, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: No. I think -- I think it makes him look strong in his eyes and a lot of people's eyes. And as was mentioned, this is him following through on something he said during his campaign, right? And he hasn't met all of his campaign promises.

And so in the short term, I think this isn't a bad look for him at all. But the question is, if this goes on, right, if consumer prices go up on certain products, if Americans begin to feel this in a way that is deleterious, what happens then?

Donald Trump has staked his whole presidency on the economy. It's the thing he brags about more than anything else. And if Americans begin to feel less wealthy, if they have less purchasing power, if the prices of things that they want to purchase go up, I think he's going to have a hard time explaining that; if they turn around and say, "I feel less wealthy under your presidency than I do now." And that's where this could be, you know, three, six, nine months from now if this goes on and there's no resolution.

CAMEROTA: All right. Kaitlan, let's talk about this jaw-dropping development, finding out that Rudy Giuliani wants to go to Ukraine --

BERMAN: Is advertising.

CAMEROTA: He's advertising and talking about going to Ukraine to get them to investigate President Trump's political opponents. Let me just read this. This is from "The New York Times." Rudy Giuliani says this: "We're not meddling in an election. We're meddling in an investigation, which we have the right to do. There's nothing illegal about it. Somebody could say it's improper. And this isn't foreign policy. I'm asking them to do an investigation that they're already -- that they're doing already. And that other people are telling them to stop. And I'm going to give them reasons why they shouldn't stop it. Because that information will be very, very helpful to my client" -- the president -- "and may turn out to be helpful to my government."

So let me just get this straight, Kaitlan. First, they were looking for help from Russia. Now in this election, they're looking for help from Ukraine. How does it make sense for Rudy Giuliani to advertise this?

COLLINS: There are people in the White House who wish Rudy Giuliani would stop making comments like the ones he's making there to "The New York Times," because they do not think it's helpful.

The people inside the White House and inside the Justice Department think that they're responding properly to the Russia investigation and the outcome of the Mueller report, especially as it relates to the attorney general. And they do not find it ever helpful, typically, based on people we've spoken to inside the West Wing, that when Rudy Giuliani makes comments like this, very stunning comments saying that he's seeking help from other governments so he can discredit some of these investigations or prop up the president, that is not something that the White House wants to hear from the president's outside attorney.

And there is a lot of consternation inside the West Wing about what Rudy Giuliani does, especially when he does things like this, which is not what they would want him to go, not only and do but also to say publicly and on the record to "The New York Times."

BERMAN: This has to do with a story that first broke in "The New York Times" a couple weeks ago. Bloomberg's done some follow-up about whether Joe Biden as vice president used undue influence to stifle a Ukrainian investigation into his son Hunter Biden. Now both "The Times" and Bloomberg point out there's no evidence that Biden, Joe Biden, used any undue influence there.

But Rudy Giuliani has been on the phone, texting, calling, trying to drum up this story for months. And he admits it. He admits it. He's proud of it. And now he's talking to "The New York Times," saying, "I'm going to Ukraine to try to get them to investigate Joe Biden."

And I just find that staggering, Michael. Particularly the phrase -- again, this is a quote. "Some people might say it's improper." Some people might say it's improper to welcome the assistance of a foreign country in an election. Some people might say it's even more improper to try to go and attract that involvement -- Michael.

SMERCONISH: If two months ago Joe Biden had determined, you know what, he's had enough. His long and distinguished career is over, family considerations necessitate that he not run for president, would Rudy be making that trip now? And the answer is of course not.

So it lays bare the very partisan nature of the visit. It's a shame that we have a tendency to take a look at these events, based on which outlets report them, and then decide whether we think they have merit.

And to Kaitlan's point, by Rudy being the person to give this heft, he's actually undercutting the president's eventual argument if he wants this claim to be taken as legitimate.

CAMEROTA: But Frank, why does President Trump need Ukraine's help to win the election?

BRUNI: He'll take help anywhere he can get it from, right? But the notion that this is not meddling in an election is ridiculous.

CAMEROTA: It's about the election. They wouldn't be doing this is the election weren't --

BRUNI: Well, of course it's about the election, because as we sit here today, Joe Biden is 20, 25, 30 points ahead of every other Democrat in polls. And if you were making a prediction today, I don't think this is how it's going to play out.

But if you were playing a prediction and you were playing the smart money, you would say Joe Biden is going to be the nominee. And certainly, that's something that the Trump administration is considering. So to have Rudy Giuliani out there trying to create big trouble for Joe Biden --

CAMEROTA: During the election.

BRUNI: -- that is the quintessence of meddling in an election.

BERMAN: And again, you'll see this every night on FOX. To Michael's point, I mean, this is a story that FOX is pushing. And we will continue to follow it from every angle. [07:10:06] I want to play some sound from Kamala Harris, Senator

Kamala Harris of California, questioning the attorney general just last week. Remember when she was pressing him, and he was squirrely on whether or not the president had asked him to investigate anybody. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Has the president or anyone at the White House ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone? Yes or no, please, sir.

WILLIAM BARR, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Yes, but I'm trying to grapple with the word "suggest." I mean, there have been discussions of matters out there that they have not asked me to open an investigation. But --

HARRIS: Perhaps they've suggested?

BARR: I don't know. I wouldn't say suggest.

HARRIS: Hinted?

BARR: I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: That was quite a moment.

BERMAN: So squirrely, right? Is it squirrely?

CAMEROTA: At least squirrely. I mean, he was really struggling with the word "suggest."

BERMAN: Well, so now -- and Michael, I'll put it to you. Now we learn from the president himself that he's been talking to advisers about investigating John Kerry for violations of the Logan Act for discussions that John Kerry had with people in Iran more than a year ago about the sanctions there.

So is it possible that the president asked William Barr to investigate John Kerry? Senator Kamala Harris has now written a letter to Barr as a follow up, saying, "Hey, what's going on here?"

SMERCONISH: I guess it's possible. That may be what she was after. That may be what the president has in mind.

I was wondering, in this back and forth, why would the Iranians listen to John Kerry? If we accept the president at face value, that he'd be receptive to some form of contact from the Iranian leadership. But John Kerry, who today has no portfolio, tells them not to do so. Why would they listen to Kerry and not be receptive to having dialogue with the president? That part made no sense to me.

BERMAN: Just that part?

SMERCONISH: For now.

BERMAN: OK.

CAMEROTA: All right. Kaitlan, Michael, Frank, thank you all very much.

BERMAN: Be sure to watch "SMERCONISH" tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. right here on CNN.

CAMEROTA: OK. Breaking news, the threat of more flooding is very real today across Texas and the southeast. Schools are closed in the Houston metro area this morning after torrential rain in just the past 24 hours. And more rain is on the way.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is live in Houston for us with more. What's the situation at this hour, Ed?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, Houston is the city that floods. And it has been a treacherous night. Not just here in the city of Houston but across the region here in southeast Texas.

This is one road here in downtown Houston. This is water getting pushed out one of the main bayous that cuts through downtown Houston, getting pushed back up in here into the city streets.

And emergency officials have been dealing with situations like this popping up all over the region. In fact, overnight, there were nearly 40 motorists that were stranded in their cars along Interstate 10. Portions of that highway have been shut down. All of those motorists have since been rescued in the overnight hours.

But it has been a long night as the rainfall has fallen for hours and hours here. So the threat of more flooding continues as the bayou system here in Southeast Texas continues to fill up. That threat of flooding really becomes a dangerous and treacherous situation and will be throughout the day here in the Houston area -- John.

BERMAN: Ed, I've got to say, I feel like it wasn't that long ago I saw you standing in flood waters in Houston. It keeps on happening again and again. Ed Lavandera for us down there. Thanks very much.

President Trump escalating the trade war with China, more than doubling tariffs overnight. We're going to get reaction from a Republican member of Congress, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [07:17:40] BERMAN: If you are just waking up, A, I'm envious. B, you are waking up to an all-out trade war.

President Trump has more than doubled tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. It went into effect at midnight.

Joining us now is Republican Congressman Will Hurd of Texas.

Congressman, thanks so much for being with us. You are critical of this move and this posture from the president. Why? REP. WILL HURD (R-TX): Well, let's start with -- with the facts. We

are, indeed, having to deal with an aggressive China, who's been doing things for years like hacking into our systems, stealing our intellectual property, using it for themselves to undercut U.S. businesses. They've been flooding the market with cheap steel, you know, that is in opposition to a number of international agreements.

So China is -- has been and still is engaged in a number of economic activities that is negative to the U.S. economy and, ultimately, our allies and the rest of the economy.

But the way you deal with that is not with using a tit-for-tat tariff war. Because ultimately, a tariff, we should think of a tariff like a sales tax.

BERMAN: On whom?

HURD: On American consumers. All right? So it's going to be -- it's going to be more expensive for Americans to buy products. All right? And so that is why this has a long-term impact on the U.S. economy.

Also, we need to realize that one of the things that we should be doing is thinking about how do we compete with China in other markets? And I think one way to do that is to focus on North American competitiveness. We should be working with Mexico and Canada on countering this threat in China.

So the steps we should be taking, if a U.S. company can't do something in China, then a Chinese company can't do that in the United States of America. That's -- that's simple reciprocity. And that would ultimately balance this -- this problem that we're dealing with in China. That's something also doesn't require negotiations with the Chinese. This is something that we can do by ourselves on our own.

And the other thing that we have to remember, that China is an authoritarian government, which means, guess what? They don't care about pain impacted, you know, that -- of their electorate. They don't have an electorate. Of their citizens. And so it's going to -- they are going to be able to withstand pain longer than the U.S. economy can. And so you don't want to -- you don't want to get into this tit-for-tat with an authoritarian government.

[07:20:20] BERMAN: A sales tax on the American consumer. And just to be clear, this is not because -- your opposition to tariffs isn't because you're soft on China. I've heard you, in some instances, being tough on China than most on some issues. Take artificial intelligence, which is wonky, and we don't have time to really delve into it now. But you believe that China is edging us out in what could be the very battle for the future and for survival, which is in artificial intelligence.

HURD: One hundred percent. It's an existential threat to our economy.

Here's another thing we can do today. There's a company called ZTE. It's a Chinese company that manufacturers handsets. I think -- cell phones, in essence. And so I think they're the largest producer of cell phones. It's found multiple times that they violated a number of international treaties. And what we should have done is we should have had a ban on U.S. manufactured integrated circuits. And that would have killed ZTE. It's one of their most important companies.

That would show that we're being tough and that we're not going to allow these kind of practices by the Chinese government.

BERMAN: And ironically, the president gave a pass to ZTE the same time he was imposing tariffs, in this case doubling tariffs overnight.

So stay tuned. We'll check back in with you in a few hours. I'm very interested where these trade talks go. It could get much worse, or they could have a deal in the next few hours.

I want to talk to you also about, obviously, various aspects of the Russia investigation.

HURD: Sure.

BERMAN: Let me first play some sound overnight. Former FBI director James Comey was part of a CNN town hall. And he was very critical of the current attorney general. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: What do you think of the way Attorney General Barr has behaved?

COMEY: I think he acted in a way that's less than honorable in the way he described it in writing and described it during a press conference, and continues to talk as if he's the president's lawyer. That is not the attorney general's job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: William Barr, less than honorable. Your response?

HURD: Well, I've had many disagreements with -- with Jim Comey. Jim Comey, I think, takes steps when he was part of the FBI that he probably shouldn't have.

I think where we are in all of this is it's time to have Mueller come to Congress and explain and talk about and be able to ask him questions to understand the perceived differences between, you know, his opinion of the Mueller report and the interpretation that was done by William Barr.

The Judiciary Committees are the committee where that should happen. And I would hope that all the members of the Judiciary Committee, especially senior Democrats, would actually go in and read the less redacted version of the Mueller report that has already been provided. I think there is a version that only has seven lines, you know, marked out that senior leaders -- senior Democratic leaders are able -- are able to view. Let's -- let's do that. Let's hear from Mueller. And then also what

we need to be talking about is how are we going to deal with what Republicans and Democrats actually agree on? That the Russians tried to manipulate our elections and that they're going to try to do it again in 2020, and they're doing it with our allies. And they're using disinformation to do that. And we do not have a counter disinformation strategy.

This is something I've been talking about since previously to the 2016 election. We need to have a strategy on how to deal with this kind of Russian covert action in the future. And we need to start those conversations now, because our elections, obviously, are right around the corner.

BERMAN: Let me try to follow up on two points quickly, if I can, because we're running out of time. No. 1, you say you do want Congress to hear from Robert Mueller, presumably soon. You acknowledge that's different from what we're hearing from Lindsey Graham and some Republicans, particularly in the Senate.

HURD: I don't know what they're saying on that topic. But I do believe that this can settle things by actually -- you know, we're talking about a report. One dude's opinion of a report written by another dude. Let's have that dude that wrote the report come to Congress and talk about that and people get to ask him questions. And then, again, we should be talking about this disinformation strategy and how to deal with it in the future.

BERMAN: You may be the first person who's ever called Robert Mueller a dude.

HURD: I don't -- No disrespect to the attorney general or -- or Bob Mueller.

BERMAN: No disrespect to any dude, for that matter.

Congressman, I also want to ask you. Your committee has put in a subpoena from -- bipartisan subpoena. Both leaders, the ranking member and the chairman of your Intelligence Committee, they want the counter-intelligence information that was gleaned as part of the Mueller investigation.

A, why is that important? And B, if DOJ stonewalls and doesn't hand over anything, which they haven't in other requests, is it worth holding the Justice Department in contempt?

[07:25:00] HURD: The contempt question, I think we're a ways away from that. I think this is a good sign that there's bipartisan support on trying to get to -- you know, uncover this information.

And why is this important? A part of this is to get a better understanding of what the Russians were trying to do in our elections so that we can prepare for it in the future, that we can make sure that our intelligence services are doing what they need in order to collect information to prevent this from happening in the future.

BERMAN: Everyone should agree on that, one would think.

HURD: Amen, brother.

BERMAN: Congressman Will Hurd, great to have you with us. Thank you, dude. I really appreciate your time this morning.

HURD: Good to see you.

CAMEROTA: Somehow framing it in '80s terminology, I understand it suddenly.

BERMAN: It just became so easy.

CAMEROTA: Yes. Thank you, Congressman.

BERMAN: The dude abides. That's how Robert Mueller should respond, you know, to the request to testify. "The dude abides."

CAMEROTA: Maybe he will.

BERMAN: Just going to say.

CAMEROTA: Fired FBI director James Comey says he has no doubt when it comes to President Trump and obstruction of justice. You'll hear from him next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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