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Trump Says He's Not Bothered By North Korea Missile Tests; Trump Praises North Korean Dictator, Slams Former Vice President Biden; Traffic Jams Creating Dangerous Conditions On Mount Everest; Two Dead After Tornado Slams El Reno, Oklahoma. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired May 27, 2019 - 10:00   ET

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

CHRISTOPHER GIBBS, FORMER USDA OFFICIAL: If you add 16 and 12 billion together, this is a lot of money and it's simply a band-aid.

[10:00:07]

And we can't continue these band-aid initiatives.

And when we have to lock -- walk long-term -- and, again, these markets in Asia were built over 30 years. And to have them just evaporate in front of our eyes is just mindboggling.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN NEWSROOM: I'm sorry. I'm sorry that you and so many American farmers and your families are having to go through this. I know there' been pain for a long time. I'm glad there's a lot of national attention on it now, but I'm hoping for a solution in whatever form that comes for you. Thank you, Christopher.

GIBBS: And, Poppy, if I could, I want to recognize Memorial Day here for the -- certainly all of the sacrifices that our soldiers have made. That makes it possible for me to be -- practice my civil disobedience and still need to feed my cows this afternoon and still get to sleep in my own bed tonight. I'm not a political prison. So this is Memorial Day. Let's keep that in mind.

HARLOW: So well-said, sir, thank you very much for that.

All right, good morning, everyone. Top of the hour. This is Monday morning. It is, of course, Memorial Day. And we honor those who have fallen. This is a special edition of CNN Newsroom. I'm Poppy Harlow. Jim Sciutto has the day off.

Right now, it's 11:00 P.M. in Tokyo where President Trump has just wrapped up a long day of ceremony and serious business, though he and Japan's Prime Minister clearly have different definitions of serious.

In a joint news conference after meeting on trade and global security, the President openly undercut Japanese leaders by declaring the latest North Korean missile tests no big deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: A lot of good things are happening, and very importantly, there has been no nuclear testing for two years. I looked at a chart the other day, during the past administration, there were many numbers that were very high, like 10 and 12 and 18, having to do with missile launches and nuclear testing. And for the last two years on the bottom, it had zero and zero. So I am very happy with the way it's going. And intelligent people agree with me.

REPORTER: You're not bothered at all by the small missiles?

TRUMP: No, I'm not. I am personally not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Okay. Over the weekend, both Japan's Prime Minister and the President's own National Security Adviser declared those missile launches a blatant violation of U.N. resolutions.

Let's go to my colleague, Boris Sanchez. He is in Tokyo covering the President. And from here, Boris, it seems there was one thing that Shinzo Abe was looking for in return for all the hoopla, and instead he got the opposite. Is that the case?

BORIZ SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: On North Korea, certainly. Shinzo Abe's response to President Trump's comments was polite and measured. Abe saying that the short range ballistic missile tests that North Korea conducted last month were of great regret.

But he has to walk a fine line here. He sort of has to please President Trump and court his support, specifically for a bilateral trade meeting that Abe wants with Chairman Kim Jong-un. But he also wants to call out Kim, not only for these missile tests but also for Japanese citizens who have been abducted by the North Koreans.

This also shows just how much President Trump trusts Kim Jong-un, taking his point of view over the outlook of leaders like Abe and his own advisers like John Bolton.

This isn't the only realm where President Trump is siding with Kim Jong-un. Let's not forget that last week, North Korean officials put out a statement mocking former Vice President and current presidential candidate Joe Biden, taunting his intelligence. President Trump was asked about that today. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Well, Kim Jong-un made a statement that Joe Biden is a low I.Q. individual. He probably is, based on his record. I think I agree with him on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Yes, the President citing the Iran nuclear deal as a reason that Joe Biden is a low I.Q. individual, in his own words.

We should point out the President wrapped up that banquet that you mentioned with the new Japanese Emperor, Emperor Naruhito. The President turned in for the evening along with the First Lady.

Tomorrow, he is set to tour a joint Japanese and American naval base here in Japan alongside Shinzo Abe. He's going to have some remarks for American troops who are based there before returning to Washington, Poppy.

HARLOW: Okay. Boris Sanchez live for us in Tokyo tonight, where the President is, thank you very much.

Let's talk more about all of these really significant developments over the weekend with Washington Post Reporter, Karoun Demirjian, New York Times National Security Correspondent, David Sanger, and Ron Brownstein, Senior Editor of The Atlantic. Good morning, one and all.

And, David, let me just begin with you given your expertise on North Korea. To hear the President say that, it's not all that surprising to hear him say it doesn't bother him at all.

[10:05:03]

He wants to, you know, keep at least, you know, the public relationship, I suppose, with Kim Jong-un on a solid front. But to say it and to sort of stand shoulder to shoulder with Kim Jong-un, who wasn't physically there, in Japan, where Shinzo Abe certainly views those missile tests as an existential threat, and to say it on Japanese soil in this moment, how big is that?

DAVID SANGER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, it's pretty big, Poppy, because not only can those missiles hit Japan, they can hit some of the tens of thousands of American soldiers and sailors who are based in Japan. They are clearly a violation, as John Bolton said, of the U.N. resolution. And I think the only question you have to ask yourself is, had the Iranians done the same launch of something of the same range, what would the President's reaction be?

So that tells you that he's tempering his reaction to what he believes is an ability to get Kim Jong-un to ultimately make a deal. That seems pretty evident to all of us right now that he's not going to make.

One final point on his -- in his press conference, he noted how few (ph) tests they're doing, and that's absolutely right and that's good. But what has happened is that in the year since the Singapore summit, they have continued to produce nuclear material, nuclear material that can go into bombs, and we believe they've probably produced more weapons. So he hasn't gotten the freeze that the Iran nuclear deal got in Iran.

HARLOW: That's a very important point. And, Ron Brownstein, to David's earlier point about look at how differently the President is reacting to these tests from a nuclear power, right, North Korea versus how he might react if Iran were to carry out the test, is that the key difference here?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, no. Look, I think we have seen in his foreign policy kind of, what is it, you know, sentence first, verdict afterwards. I mean, he works backwards from the conclusion that he is drawn about the country or the leader.

And you see in his reaction to this, to these North Korean provocations, how his desire to have a deal, his argument that he alone can fix it, that his personal relationship with the North Korean dictator is allowing him to make breakthroughs that no other president could, how that shifts the leverage to North Korea and kind of all aspects of the relationship, because it is so palpable that the President is reluctant at any point to acknowledge any bump in the road, much less that he is not going to get what he ultimately wants. And I think that has pressured him to forgive behavior from North Korea that, as David points out, he will be condemning from Iran or any other adversary.

HARLOW: Karoun, how much do you think John Bolton cares that the President is very publicly showing that he is on a different page here on a number of fronts? So John Bolton clearly thinks that these missile tests by North Korea violated U.N. resolutions and the President doesn't. John Bolton publicly is on a page on Iran that the President isn't with his comments on regime change over the weekend there. Does it matter? Is this just about, he works for the guy and they're going to have different views?

KAROUN DEMIRJIAN, CNN ANALYST: Well, I think everybody knew going into this pairing that Trump and Bolton did not start from the same ideological place when it came to how they view international threats and adversaries and allies and everything else. So it's not surprising that they would be at odds.

What's surprising in a way, I suppose, even though this is not that surprising for the Trump administration, is that you would see that being played out in public, in open forum, where Bolton makes a statement or announces something and then Trump directly undermines it via a Tweet or the next time he's at a podium, and that's what you're seeing going on here.

To some extent, it undermines what Bolton is able to say. But in another way, this kind of -- these divisions being played out on a public stage are not new for the Trump administration. And so it's kind of giving you a lens into what's going on, which is that there are some people trying to pull Trump over to the seriousness of these episodes and events and threats.

Now, having middle ground may not be as far over as John Bolton is, but it certainly doesn't seem that people are in agreement with the President and that the olive branches that he's giving to the North Korean leader in any way, shape, or form.

So, likely, it's some place in the middle. But this is just a discussion that we're seeing playing out in a way that's unorthodox for previous administrations, but in that sense, not that surprising given the range of opinions and given the actors that we're talking about here.

HARLOW: All right. Let's talk a little bit about U.S. politics at home playing out overseas, okay? Because the President didn't just contradict, guys, John Bolton and Shinzo Abe, frankly, while he was his guest there in Tokyo, he contradicted himself when he said over the weekend, quote, about democrats, quote, I think we will work with them. He was citing revamped trade deals with Canada and Mexico as an example. Ron Brownstein, seriously, what do we believe?

[10:10:00]

Like I'm not doing anything until you stop investigating me, or I think we can do it together. And by the way, the disaster aid, you know, relief legislation was signed at the end of the week.

BROWNSTEIN: You know, I was struck, Senator Ron Johnson was on television over the weekend, saying that they're basically echoing the President's line that you can't legislate and investigate.

You know, the House so far this year has shown historic degrees of unity, I mean, really unprecedented for any recent democratic majority.

HARLOW: 235 pieces of legislation in this Congress alone in the democratic-led house.

BROWNSTEIN: Universal background checks, legislation on pre-existing conditions, protecting rights for same-sex couples on the job and housing, on climate, a whole variety of issues that the Senate and the president has systematically refused to even engage with.

So, I mean, I think the expectations are pretty low about what is likely to come. You know, it's not clear even that the President can pressure the Democratic House to take up his revised NAFTA. I think that, you know, democrats have been sort of uncertain about trade but certainly they see opportunity in the kind of interview that you just did with farmers in the Midwest who did not move in big numbers against the republicans in 2018, and in some ways, voted to empower what they're now experiencing, but you have to ask how long the rope is and whether democrats are going to want to try to help him find a way to get off the ledge that he's climbed onto.

So I think infrastructure looks stalled as well. There's probably not a lot that is coming out, not only because of his calculations but also those of Mitch McConnell.

HARLOW: So, David, to Ron's point, the President needs Congress if he wants USMCA to actually become a reality. If he wants to be able to tout on the campaign trail, look what I did to NAFTA and look how much better, in his opinion, NAFTA 2.0 is. He can't do it without them.

SANGER: Absolutely not. And that's the strange part of the declaration last week that he wouldn't work with them while the investigations are under way. Well, clearly, in the House, the investigations are going to be going on for a while. The Senate Intelligence Committee, dominated by republicans, still hasn't turned out its report. So those investigations will be coming. And he's going to hit the moment where he not only needs that trade deal but he may need a series of others.

You know, you saw the other day that he routed around Congress to sell arms to the Saudis. But at some point, if he's going to have a bigger relationship, including nuclear trade with the Saudis that he wants, he's going to need Congress for that.

So he's been pretty selective here. And I think the big question on the China talks is going to be whether or not he gives away some of the longer term issues, the issues that have had to do with Huawei, the Chinese being inside the U.S. networks, in return for just getting more soybean purchases and so forth. So there's a concern not only about the farmers, like the one that you interviewed, but the question of whether or not he's properly focused on the long-term competitive issues.

HARLOW: You know, to your point, Karoun, I thought that the farmer we just had on, Christopher Gibbs of Ohio, card-carrying republican, made such an interesting point, talking about $28 billion in bailouts for farmers and a government shutdown over -- you know, just over $5 billion in wall funding. How long do you think the President can hang on to those Farmers, many of whom voted for him in the election, with bailouts paid for by the American taxpayer?

DEMIRJIAN: Well, I mean, bailouts are a more band-aid solution than a permanent solution for a problem. But the calendar he's fighting now is about 18 months, right? We're talking about what happens between now and November 2020, what people feel between now and November 2020. And that word, feel, is really important, because Trump has really made his presidency and his electoral victories over having this emotional pull on people.

I think a lot of times, when you talk to, you know, people that are supporting the President, not always, but many people that are supporting the President doing so even though if they took a really hard and fast look at just the policy positions and what their bottom line is. It's not necessarily that disadvantageous for them. But Trump does have this sort of charisma that overruns all of that and then just keep people with him, especially when you're talking about his base.

And so this really is the test. I don't know how to answer that question right now because this is really what's at stake for him in order to be able get re-elected, if that's destiny, about 18 months from now.

HARLOW: That's a great point. Thank you all very, very much, David Sanger, Ron Brownstein, Karoun Demirjian, I appreciate it.

So if you have missed this story over the weekend, look at that image. That is essentially a human traffic jam on Mt. Everest and people are dying because of it. Nine climbers have died so far this hiking season alone. We're going to take you live to Kathmandu next.

And deadly storms leveling homes and leaving behind a trail of destruction in Oklahoma.

[10:15:00]

We're live on the ground. And the real meaning, of course, behind Memorial Day, we honor and remember those who died in the greatest service to this country. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: All right. Hikers climbing to the top of Mt. Everest are, of course, already braving incredibly dangerous conditions. But it is getting worse. Look at that image. This is a literal human traffic jam trying to get to the summit.

Our Senior International Correspondent, Arwa Damon, is live in Kathmandu, Nepal. What can you tell us in terms of what you're finding as you're reporting on the ground there?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Poppy, that photograph was taken in what's known as the death zone, call that, because when you're at that altitude, your body is actually dying, it's degrading. Now, I'm joined by someone who is much more of an expert at this than I am, Mostafa Salameh. He's a Jordanian mountaineer who has seven of seven and both poles.

You've been to Everest before. How is this experience different to what you've seen?

MOSTAFA SALAMEH, JORDANIAN MOUNTAINEER: I think this time, come and lead in the first (INAUDIBLE) to climb Everest, coming to base camp, you see how crowded it was first. And I think the weather this year was the most bizarre weather I experienced since 2004. I've been coming here since 2004, every single year, and this was really strange weather that we experienced.

DAMON: And you ultimately decided not to go all the way to the summit with your climber. Why did you take that decision and how worried were you about this whole overcrowding phenomenon?

SALAMEH: Well, I think after reaching Camp 4 and she was going to the summit, I mean, you could see there were hundreds of people going that night, and she was going a little bit slow. So I knew she would make the summit, she wanted to go back to the summit. But I think coming down is going to be a nightmare because everyone, there is -- when you come to a hill or a step, there is one way to go. So if you want to go down, you have to wait. And there are lots of people have been waiting for hours. And this was my biggest worry and that's why I decided that she had to turn back, and because safety would be first. I turned back from Everest three times, I made it the fourth time.

DAMON: And most people actually end up dying on their way back down. You and I were also talking before about one of the concerns and challenges, and that is people not knowing their own bodies.

SALAMEH: Absolutely. I mean, there are people who died. I mean, 90 percent of people die on the way down. I mean, I have a friend of mine, a Bulgarian guy, who summited, came down, went to his stand, slept, and he never go up.

DAMON: He never woke up?

SALAMEH: No, he never woke up.

And you do need to know there're so much safety measurement as well that you have to take. I always believe you need to have a bottle of oxygen with you, because if anything happens, you can help yourself.

There're people who went up there without oxygen, without radio, without Sherpa. And that's what happened, and this is all the cause of the trouble this year. There're -- lots of people died this year because they push themselves, because they went through their limitation and they don't look at their body, because you have to listen to your body. You might feel strong here, but here -- but if your body have any problems, you have to turn back because that's how people die.

DAMON: Thank you.

And, Poppy, just to add to that, a lot of the challenges that people have been facing is this lack of experience. And then that's compounded by the hours-long wait within this death zone.

HARLOW: Arwa, I'm so glad that you had him with your there, thank you so much for being on the ground and that reporting, we appreciate it.

Also, back home, right now, the city of El Reno, Oklahoma is just beginning a long process of recovery. This after an EF-3 tornado leveled a hotel and a mobile home park. This is just west of Oklahoma City over the weekend. That tornado killed at least two people, and in total, at least six people are dead after severe weather swept across the state.

My colleague, Omar Jimenez, is in El Reno, Oklahoma following the weather all weekend. Take us through what you've seen.

OMAR JIMENEZ: Yes, Poppy. I want to give you an up-close look at the power that this EF-3 tornado had when it ripped through here. You can see how debris it threw literally, like pieces of paper slamming into these trucks here. And we were initially able to get much closer but crews are starting to get back to work on this. But, again, this is about as clear picture as you can get. An EF-3 tornado ran for about two miles. All of this happened in four minutes. That's how long it was on the ground here.

And we were hearing stories, people having to climb out from rubble as roofs collapsed in on them, as trailers, entire trailer in this trailer park was lifted up and slammed back down. Even for people who weren't in the direct path of the storm still had scary moments as this tornado, again, ripped through here in El Reno.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHELSIE MAYO, EL RENO RESIDENT: We just took the kids up out of bed and threw them in the closet and put pillows over them.

[10:25:00] We didn't know where it was. Our phones didn't go off. And in the next phone call, I received this from my mother who said that they were running to the shelter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And across the state, six people killed from flooding and severe weather over the course of this week and all 77 counties under a state of emergency here in Oklahoma. Poppy?

HARLOW: Wow. They need some reprieve from that deadly weather. Omar, thank you for being in El Reno for us this morning.

Well, the President now says he wants to work with democrats. Quite a sea change from what he said last week. Days ago, he said he wouldn't do anything with them until they stop investigating him. Don't hold your breath for that.

So is there hope to stop the gridlock on Capitol Hill?

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[10:30:00]