Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

President Trump Makes History at DMZ with Kim Jong-un; Trump and Xi Agree to Restart U.S.-China Trade Talks; Police Clash with Demonstrators in Hong Kong. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired July 01, 2019 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:00] DAVE BRIGGS, CO-HOST, EARLY START: Breaking overnight, protesters in Hong Kong smashed the front glass at the legislative building. Thousands in the streets to mark 22 years since Hong Kong's handover from Britain to China.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CO-HOST, EARLY START: And Kevin Durant is coming to New York, but it's not the blockbuster the Knicks were hoping for. Good morning and welcome to EARLY START, I'm Michelle Kosinski in for Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: Good morning to you. Yes, folks here in New York are split. Nets fans are thrilled, Knicks fans feel nixed. I'm Dave Briggs, Monday, July 1st, where did June go?

KOSINSKI: I know --

BRIGGS: Where did it go?

KOSINSKI: I know, but you have your 4th of July socks already to go, it's a little early, Dave --

BRIGGS: I do have 4th of July socks on, but you can't see them --

KOSINSKI: Are you really that patriotic?

BRIGGS: I am. I'm ready --

KOSINSKI: Except for --

BRIGGS: I'm ready for the fireworks.

KOSINSKI: All right --

BRIGGS: Speaking of fireworks, it's 5 a.m. in the East, and while you were enjoying that Summer weekend, there was history at the DMZ. The president meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un and becoming the first sitting U.S. president to cross into North Korean territory.

The two leaders met for nearly an hour, agreeing to restart nuclear talks, all part of a weekend full of activity that could reshape U.S. relationships in Asia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is my honor. I

didn't really expect it. We were in Japan for the G-20, we came over, and I said, hey, I'm over here, I want to call up Chairman Kim, and we got to meet and stepping across that line was a great honor.

A lot of progress has been made. A lot of friendships have been made and this has been in particular a great friendship. So, I just want to thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSINSKI: Doubtful how great a friend Kim Jong-un has been to the United States, but no doubt President Trump loves those historic optics. Overnight, North Korean state media describing the Trump-Kim DMZ Summit as an amazing event. But will it amount to anything beyond a photo op?

Of course, that is the question, and here's CNN's Paula Hancocks live near those DMZ to take on at least part of that debate. Paula?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Michelle, it's the key now, isn't it? Can this be more than a hand-shake diplomacy? And what comes next is very important. We heard from President Trump, he said that they would put their teams in place although the U.S. already has a negotiating team in place.

And they would meet within the next two to three weeks to start talking. Of course, the working level talks are very important when it comes to this. You can't just have a top-down approach. Now, the "New York Times" is also reporting on the fact that Trump administration officials are telling them that they may settle for a nuclear freeze.

This is something that has been tried by past U.S. presidents with varying degrees of success, but at the end, these deals always fell through. That would tacitly be accepting really that North Korea is a nuclear state. Now, we also understand that they're talking about the fact that this deal that was talked about in Hanoi back in February, you remember Michelle, we were both there.

The fact that they were talking about Yongbyon Nuclear facility, the main nuclear producing facility in North Korea would be shattered and would be closed down in return for some sanctions relief. That was not accepted by Washington at the time. President Trump saying they wanted some of the non-disclosed sights that North Korea hasn't admitted to, to be part of that deal as well.

But interestingly, while President Trump was standing next to President Moon Jae-in of South Korea in Seoul at the presidential office, President Moon did mention this deal again, saying that that could be a possible suggestion and President Trump did not deny it.

But let's listen to what President Trump said at the DMZ straight after the meeting with Kim Jong-un.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: We want to get it right, we don't want to -- we're not looking

for speed, we're looking to get it right. And in the meantime, there's been no nuclear tests, there's been no ballistic missiles. There's been a lot of goodwill and there continues to be, maybe if anything, better. I think probably after today, better than it was even before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: Now, clearly, there's no rush when it comes to Kim Jong-un. He is expecting or hoping to be leader for life. There's of course, a term limit when it comes to President Trump. So, critics say that there is pressure and there is a rush when it comes to his plan, Michelle?

KOSINSKI: Right, and stunning to hear talk of a deal like that after two years of the goal of complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization. Thanks, Paula.

BRIGGS: All right, a temporary truce in the U.S.-China trade war. During the G-20, President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to table new tariffs and continue negotiations. The president telling "Fox News", he is optimistic about a new deal with China.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You just recently, hours ago, met with the Chinese President Xi Jinping.

TRUMP: I did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you closer, do you think after that meeting to a trade deal?

TRUMP: I think so. We had a very good meeting, he wants to make a deal, I want to make a deal, very big deal, probably I guess you'd say the largest deal ever made of any kind, not only trade. We got along very well, we understand each other.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:05:00] BRIGGS: White House Chief Economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Sunday, there's no guarantee that a deal will happen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KUDLOW, CHIEF ECONOMIC ADVISER, WHITE HOUSE: As the president said, continuing the talks which had been interrupted for a while is a very big deal. No promises, there's no deal made, there's no timetable. I want to emphasize that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Investors do like the news of a temporary truce. Wall Street futures are positive ahead of the opening bell. And something to remember, existing tariffs on Chinese goods are still in place and will continue to hit U.S. businesses. Futures are also higher after Trump said he would lift some restrictions on Chinese tech giant Huawei ending a ban on American companies from using Huawei telecom here.

Trump said Huawei will be saved for the end of trade talks between Washington and Beijing.

KOSINSKI: Kamala Harris' campaign punching back in the face of online attacks about her race. Including the one from Donald Trump Jr., as reactions to a strong debate performance poured in, some on Twitter suggested Harris was unfairly portraying herself as African-American since she's the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother.

One of them from an alt-right commentator retweeted by Trump Jr., since deleted. A spokesperson tells the "New York Times", he was just asking if it was true. Harris campaign officials dismissing the attack though saying, quote, "this is the same type of racist attack his father used to attack Barack Obama. It didn't work then and it won't work now."

Following the Pride march in San Francisco Sunday, Harris was asked if she was surprised by some of the online backlash from the black community?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are a nation that has a lot to be proud of and there are aspect of our history that we cannot be proud of. And there's also (INAUDIBLE) a history of race, there's been segregation in this country is real. That conversation may not --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Harris' 2020 Democratic rivals coming to her defense. Cory Booker for one tweeting well, this. We'll let you read it for yourselves. Others are weighing in on Twitter and on TV.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIAN CASTRO, FORMER UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF HOUSING & URBAN DEVELOPMENT & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The tweet of Donald Trump Jr. was the act of a coward. You see what they do. Put something out there and then he deletes it, so that he can say it was just a mistake.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have a president who is a racist and apparently based on a statement yesterday, his son is following in his footsteps.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Wow, meantime, the Harris campaign confirms two more endorsements from members of the congressional black caucus. Congressman Bobby Rush and Congresswoman Frederica Wilson. Kamala Harris leads Joe Biden by one and "CBC" endorsement, she has six, Biden with five.

KOSINSKI: Cory Booker is renewing his criticism of Joe Biden on civil rights issues. Biden has faced backlash for touting his ability to work with two late segregationist senators. That came before Kamala Harris called him out during the debate for his record against federally-mandated busing. On CNN's "MEET THE PRESS" Sunday, Booker suggested Biden was not up to the task of reconciliation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When it comes to difficult issues with race, if you can't talk openly and honestly about your own development on these issues --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes --

BOOKER: I think it's very hard to lead our country forward, and right now the vice president to me is not doing a good job at bringing folks together. In fact, he's caused -- and I've heard this from people all around the country, he's causing a lot of frustration and even pain with his words.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSINSKI: Booker and Biden both called on the other to apologize weeks ago after the initial controversy. They later spoke though, neither apologized.

BRIGGS: Joe Biden finds himself once again in hot water over comments at a private fund-raiser. This time, it was this weekend at an event in Seattle. Biden suggesting public sentiment towards gay rights issues has come far in a short period of time. And to illustrate that point, he said five years ago, if someone had a business meeting in Seattle, made fun of a gay waiter, people would just let it go.

The audience reportedly pushed back, declaring, not in Seattle. Biden recalled in 2012 as vice president that he supported same-sex marriage before President Obama. The former president announced his support after Biden's comments.

KOSINSKI: And from coast to coast and around the world, Pride was on display Sunday. Marches in Istanbul, Ecuador and Nepal, and the biggest celebration of all in New York City. Massive crowds sporting rainbow colors filled the streets, they gathered to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the stonewall uprising that propelled the gay rights movement.

Marking the occasion, a bill banning use of the so-called Gay and Trans-Panic legal defense was signed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. The strategy allowed someone to argue a violent act was caused by reaction to someone's sexual orientation or gender identity.

[05:10:00] BRIGGS: It's tough ahead. A team of FAA investigators headed to the scene of a deadly private plane crash in Texas. Ten people were killed, two members of the flight crew and eight passengers on board. Authorities are still in the process of notifying the victims' next of kin. The NTSB says the Beechcraft Super King Air 350 aircraft crashed into a hanger Sunday morning shortly after taking off from the airport in Addison, Texas, that's near Dallas.

Officials are reviewing videos of the incident as they try to determine what caused the crash.

KOSINSKI: Those pictures --

BRIGGS: Yes --

KOSINSKI: Well, a tense standoff overnight in Hong Kong. Pro democracy demonstrators taking a violent turn, some of them shattering the glass on that legislative building. We're live there next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:15:00] BRIGGS: Breaking overnight from Hong Kong. Protesters are flooding the streets, clashing with protesters. Police trying to hold back these protesters storming that legislative building. Just look at that scene there, wow. They've broken glass windows in one spot, trying to do the same elsewhere.

Absolute chaos you're seeing unfold there in Hong Kong. Nic Robertson is live outside that very building in Hong Kong where it appears to have calmed some. Nic, this presumably is about far more than that controversial Extradition Bill.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: This has a lot to do with the Extradition Bill, it has a lot to do with the violence the police used at the last protest, and it has everything to do with the democracy that the young population here in Hong Kong holds so dear because their parents held dear to those democratic values. Their grandparents did.

And when Britain 22 years ago today handed Hong Kong back over, the concern always was that China would impinge its undemocratic values on their Democratic values here. And the legislation you just mentioned by the government to extradite some criminals to mainland China for trial is the tip of that iceberg.

But what we are witnessing now is the -- is the young population here. Again, I am outside the government building, the legislative council building, if you like, the White House of Hong Kong. The protesters have moved around to a different corner of the building. Half an hour ago, I was standing outside a smashed window, the police were behind it.

The protesters had broken through there, now they're trying to break into the doors of just around another side of the government building. It seems to be in some ways symbolic because when they break the windows, they leave them. But here, there's no police lined up behind these windows. It is a systematic thud of the crowd using everything they can find, metal bars.

They're ripping up some of the barricades that the police have put out here to stop them getting access and literally ripping those up, tearing them apart and using trolleys full of rocks, whatever they can to get inside the building.

Our view is slightly obscured by the mass of umbrellas there that I can just hear that glass crunching with each thud of the -- of the -- of the rocks, of the metal bars that the people here, the protesters, the young protesters are using. Of course, meanwhile not far away, hundreds of thousands of people in peaceful protests here in Hong Kong as they do every year marking the anniversary of the handover from British rule.

This year is something extraordinary. It is different, it is chaos and no one knows where it is going today. Dave?

BRIGGS: And for those just realizing the situation, the umbrellas, the hard hats, the symbols of this movement that is showing no signs of slowing down. Nic Robertson live for us in Hong Kong, 5:17 p.m. there, thanks, Nic.

KOSINSKI: U.S. Customs and Border Protection will have to allow health experts into a detention facility holding migrant children. A California judge says by July 12th, CBP needs to ensure the sites are safe and sanitary and to assess the kids' medical needs.

Conditions at some facilities including one in Clint, Texas, have been described as filthy. That got the attention of plenty of lawmakers, including some 2020 presidential Democratic candidates. CNN's Natasha Chen has more from Clint, Texas.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Dave and Michelle, Beto O'Rourke addressed a very enthusiastic crowd here. He has said that on day one of his presidency, he would use his executive authority to stop the inhumane treatment of children, to reunite families, to rescind the travel ban, reform the asylum system, and also remove the fear of deportation for Dreamers and people under TPS, the temporary protected Status.

Now, there is a little bit of difference between presidential candidates who have come here in the last couple of days. Julian Castro was here on Saturday re-emphasizing that he would like to decriminalize crossing into the United States between ports of entry.

I asked Beto O'Rourke about where he differs on that issue. He said he would rather rewrite that section of law, rewrite section 1325 as part of a bigger picture of his immigration reform. Now, he also proposes that people can apply for asylum from their home countries.

I asked O'Rourke whether that would put some folks at greater risk of danger if they are already feeling threatened and having to apply for asylum at home. He gave an example of a woman who risked her life, nearly died crossing into the U.S. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[05:20:00] BETO O'ROURKE, FORMER UNITED STATES CONGRESSMAN: If she could apply for asylum back home in Guatemala, and if we would handle that asylum claim expeditiously with respect to her, and then allow her to come to this country if she meets the conditions for asylum, that spares her and her children that very dangerous journey.

But let me be very clear. If she nonetheless decides to make that journey, I don't think that shouldn't in any way undermine her claim of asylum.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: Later today, we are expecting a large delegation of mostly Democratic members of the house along with state representatives. They will be touring this Clint facility and then speaking to us afterwards about what they're seeing inside. Dave and Michelle, back to you.

KOSINSKI: Thanks, Natasha. And remember, it's a judge having to rule that these sites have to be safe and sanitary.

BRIGGS: Yes --

KOSINSKI: OK, it took a judge to ensure that to happen.

BRIGGS: It's clearly going to remain the central issue in the 2020 debate moving forward --

KOSINSKI: Right --

BRIGGS: For now, and the Republicans seem to like where this debate is headed. So, it's going to be interesting in the months ahead. All right, we are talking some sports ahead. Kevin Durant shocking the basketball world, yes, he is coming to New York, not to you, Knicks. He's going to be a Nets.

Coy Wire with the story in the "BLEACHER REPORT".

[05:25:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIGGS: All right, the NBA saw a seismic shift in power as free agency got underway Sunday night. Coy Wire has that story in the "BLEACHER REPORT", yes, KD is coming to New York! Not new, Knicks, good morning my friend --

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS REPORTER: Knicks fans feel like they got punched in the gut, they're gasping for air, but there's nothing there, Dave. Brand new super team forming in the NBA. The Brooklyn Nets landing arguably the biggest prize on the free agent market Kevin Durant from the Warriors in a reported 4-year, $164 million deal.

The 30-year-old is a ten-time all-star, four-time scoring champ, league MVP, he's had 12 seasons in the league. He'll likely miss all of next season though, rehabbing that ruptured Achilles he suffered in the NBA finals. Brooklyn fans can still get excited for next season though, the team reportedly also signing all-star Kyrie Irving from Boston.

Both he and Durant reportedly taking less money so they can also bring in former all-star DeAndre Jordan to Nets. Last in attendance in the NBA last season, but there's a new big three in Brooklyn. As their dynasty line-up comes to an end, the Golden State Warriors are making moves to morph into a new look contender with Nets point-guard D'Angelo Russell reportedly joining Steph Curry and Klay Thompson.

The former first-round pick out of Ohio State in 2015 received his first all-star selection last season. And the MLB's first-ever series on European soil started and ends with a bang. The Yankees and Red Sox combining for 50 runs in their two-game series in London, the Yankees were losing in the 7th yesterday until Gary Sanchez's go- ahead-two-run single started an avalanche.

New York scoring 9 runs in the seventh, then Didi Gregorius goes yard in the eighth, standing the Yankees, MLB record home run streak to 31 straight games, the Yankees overcome a four-run deficit to beat the Red Sox 12-8. Dave, the Red Sox scored 21 runs in these two games and they didn't win either of them.

BRIGGS: Yes, I was looking at it, the New York Giants, their first London game, they scored 13 points. That's in football and the New York Yankees scored 17. Not a fan of baseball at 330 foot fences in the corner. Did you enjoy it?

WIRE: Oh, it's really exciting when you think about baseball and all the runs, and talk about pace of play. And there were some fans over there in Europe who loved all that, but there were still some, Dave, who said, my gosh, this sport is just so slow. So, really interesting perspective out of Europe.

KOSINSKI: Yes --

BRIGGS: Yes, they nailed "Sweet Caroline", that was my favorite part of the weekend series --

WIRE: Yes sir --

BRIGGS: Coy Wire, thank you, my friend. Michelle, what's coming up?

KOSINSKI: Yes, I think they love the novelty of it.

BRIGGS: Yes, that's exactly right --

KOSINSKI: They get all excited over there --

BRIGGS: Not a lot of baseball fans there --

KOSINSKI: Anything American like a sport coming -- you know, well, of course, that's why they do it.

BRIGGS: Had to be New York and Boston.

KOSINSKI: They either don't.

BRIGGS: To be relevant, yes --

KOSINSKI: Yes, well, President Trump is now the first sitting commander-in-chief to cross into North Korea, a designation he no doubt loves, but the question, can this moment be met with fruitful nuclear talks?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END