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U.S. President Donald Trump: Summit With North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un A Huge Success; Presidential Sales Pitch To Kim Jong-Un Of A Prosperous Future For North Korea; Time Warner And AT&T Merger; Golden State Warriors Celebration; Tiger Woods' Yacht. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired June 13, 2018 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. Ahead this hour, meeting of the century, the handshakes, the flags, the signing and North Korea's state-controlled media is covering the historic Singapore summit.
No salary, no problem, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner managed to make more than $80 million working as unpaid White House advisers.
And a federal judge defies the president, approving the AT&T-Time Warner deal which Candidate Donald Trump said would never happen under his watch.
Hello. Welcome to our viewers all around the world. Great to have you with us. I'm John Vause. NEWSROOM LA starts right now.
U.S. President Donald Trump is heading back to Washington basking in his own glory. He says his summit with North Korea Leader Kim Jong-un was a huge success. A few hours ago, he tweeted, this, "The world has taken a big step back from potential nuclear catastrophe. No more rocket launches, nuclear testing or research. The hostages are back home with their families. Thank you to Chairman Kim. Our day together was historic."
He signed a pledge to pursue nuclear denuclearization with Kim Jong- un, but the pact is short on details and the president made a massive concession. In a mood that appeared to blindside Seoul, Mr. Trump put an end to joint military exercises with South Korea, a longstanding demand of the North.
We have more now from CNN's Jim Sciutto.
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JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Trump and Kim have left Singapore and now diplomats here in Asia, lawmakers back in Washington are taking stock of the summit itself, and by the simple arithmetic of what each side came to Singapore with and in balance, the U.S. president, President Trump making some quite specific promises.
Promises to end joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises, calling them provocative, something a U.S. president has not done before. Also putting on the table the possibility of withdrawing U.S. troops from the Korean Peninsula. Troops that are there not just to protect South Korea, but also to project American force in Asia.
From the North Korean side, no specificity, no specific promises on the timeline of denuclearization, also no specific promises on how verification would come of denuclearization if and when it happens.
Even not taking a step of giving stock, taking stock of exactly what weapons it has, which would be a normal first step to nuclear negotiations like this. Now the president, his aides say that that will be for negotiations and it's a hard negotiation on the specifics are beginning now.
That is certainly true. It is also certainly true that we are in a very different place than where we were a few months ago when the prospect of war was very real, when there were discussions inside the administration of a military strike on North Korea.
The question is, now what comes out of these talks going forward. You've had the symbolism here in Singapore. Will there be substance to follow that symbolism? Jim Sciutto, CNN, Singapore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Let's go now to Anna Coren live in Seoul, South Korea. Good to see you.
ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, John. It seems like the excitement of that historic summit in Singapore has somewhat died down where we are here in Seoul. And the hard work now begins, that is up to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. He is on his way to Seoul to debrief the South Korean President Moon Jae in and his cabinet on those one-on-one discussions between President Trump and Kim Jong-un.
But before we talk next step, let's discuss, the big picture with our esteemed panel. Joining us from San Francisco, Philip Yun, the executive director of Ploughshares Fund, an organization that organization that stops the spread of nuclear weapons.
[00:05:12] Also, Paul Carroll, senior adviser of N Square, an organization against nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, and of course, out of Beijing, CNN's very own, Matt Rivers, giving us the Chinese perspective.
Philip, if I can first start with you. Obviously, yesterday, a historic day. There is no denying that. President Trump coming out and saying that he and Kim Jong-un signed up, very, very comprehensive agreement. But tell me was it in your opinion?
PHILIP YUN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PLOUGHSHARES FUND: Well, you know, I'm holding judgment overall. You know, on its substance, the statement was fairly on a dime, lacking detail. It didn't define denuclearization in a way in terms of when it was going to happen and what the scope of it was.
I quite frankly was anticipating a larger downpayment based on what the pre-summit conversation was like where, for example, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, you know, maybe they'll give up some nukes.
On the good side, this does show that diplomacy actually can work. You know, remember one year ago, as we said earlier, we thought we were actually going to possibly have a unilateral strike by the United States on North Korea. That's how high tensions were.
And one of the things that I think are really good about this is that President Trump has come smack against the hard wall of reality that denuclearization is not going to come within two years. It's just not going to happen.
They are talking now about a face sort of process here. So, having been involved in these on the other side, ultimately, I don't know, we don't know what has been said, what understanding is there exist.
So, I'm willing to give them a little time. We're in the fourth quarter. It seems like we are pretty far behind, but I'm willing to wait until that happened and see where we are then.
COREN: Paul, if I can ask you about that surprise announcements that President Trump made in his one hour and 5-minute press conference that he was going to cancel those joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States. It certainly blindsided the South Koreans as well as the U.S. forces here on the Korean Peninsula?
PAUL CARROLL, SENIOR ADVISER, N SQUARE: Absolutely. I agree, you know, we're sort of all waking up. We all had a party yesterday and today we are dealing a little bit with the hangover. You know, what exactly did we do? What exactly did we say?
And I agree with Philip that, you know, time will tell. Secretary of State Pompeo has clearly been given this portfolio, this task and it's a tall order. It's not just the U.S., the South Koreans, Japanese. You know, it's a multilateral effort.
The press conference and President Trump's very sort of cavalier mentioning of canceling these annual military exercises, these training exercises, and then also positing that, and maybe we'll withdraw troops at some point.
This is classic President Trump. Not only with the allies not consulted, our own military was not consulted. He likes to sort of break eggs and see what happens, and this is not the way that you implement something this serious and this complex.
We're left to sort of pick up pieces. So, there's two things going on here. One is, how will we move the ball forward, and the second is meanwhile, we've got to sort of spectator interference and the spectator is the quarterback. COREN: Yes, I mean, you have the South Korea Defense Ministry asking for clarification on what Donald Trump meant by those comments. Clearly, that's not sitting well with the South Koreans.
CARROLL: No, not at all, and in fact, something else to think about here. It's one thing to have had a summit and given Kim Jong-un the prestige that they have sought for so long.
And I agree with the observations, in fact, the criticisms that President Trump just gave them something. There was a concession. They got something out of this summit. And we haven't really gotten anything yet.
Meanwhile, the sanctions regime, not just U.S. sanctions, but the multilateral sanctions regime that is credited by some for bringing North Korea to the table is likely to be weakened.
President Trump himself even mentioned the Chinese sort of rolling some back or allowing a little more flexibility with North Korea and then he even said in the press conference, but that's OK.
So, if you're willing to let go of the leverage that you believe brought the North to the table, who's to say what's going to happen?
COREN: Yes, well, if I can now bring Matt into the conversation then to talk about those very sanctions, obviously, Donald Trump, hinting in that press conference that China is easing somewhat on North Korea and even China made that statement following the summit that they need to be adjustment made to those sanctions. What's been the reaction in China?
[00:10:07] MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, I think when you're sitting in the halls of power here in Beijing, if you're a government official and you're looking at what happened in Singapore yesterday, you might not know exactly how this is going to play out over the next several weeks.
But if you take just what happened yesterday, you're thinking, this is a pretty good day. This went really well for the Chinese for a number of different reasons. We can start with the sanctions there.
The fact that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs took that opportunity in a statement or in a press conference, took the opportunity to the summit to bring up the fact that sanctions could be adjusted.
They didn't say they were going to back off. They didn't say they weren't going to enforce the sanctions, but the Chinese didn't want to really put those sanctions on in the first place.
Nearly every single analyst that I speak to here in China will say, look, China does want any excuse to try and back away from those sanctions, the summit might help them with that.
But then move forward to, look at what President Trump said about the troops on the Korean Peninsula. He said they are not on a table as of yet, but down the road he wants them removed. Do you know who else wants those troops removed? The Chinese government. They hate the fact that the U.S. has troops on the Korean Peninsula. They have been threatened by that fact for decades now.
And then move on to these military exercises or war games as President Trump called them. When those exercises are conducted, they are not just looking at North Korea, they're also done with an eye on China.
China knows that. China hates these military exercises almost as much as the North Koreans so, and so by President Trump saying we're going to get rid of those exercises while seemingly not getting anything in return at least publicly so far. The Chinese is absolutely without question very happy about that.
COREN: Philip, if I can ask you now about the North Korean propaganda machine, it is in overdrive and Kim Jong-un, when we finally see the pictures of him landing in Pyongyang will be welcomed as a Rockstar and a legitimate international player, something that he so desperately wanted.
But some of the headlines coming from the North Korean state media, Philip, the meeting of the century. It's portraying Trump as conceding to Kim's demands in so far as canceling those joint military exercises. Kim Jong-un clearly the winner here.
YUN: Yes, I think very much so. When he came into the summit, there are a few things that he needed to have. One is this whole notion of legitimacy, and then, and as a result of this, he is now an equal par with the president of the United States.
And due to his, what I think his depth diplomacy he has had a meeting with the president of China, South Korea. He probably will have a meeting with the Russian president at some point, and I don't doubt at some point in the future, something with Japan will happen.
So, he's basically on par with all the big powers now. His image, international image has been completely rehabilitated. Even though many of us know that the North Koreans are quite rational and assumed that Kim Jong-un was pretty strategic in the way he thought about things.
People thought about North Korea and Kim Jong-un as kind of crazy and irrational. That clearly is no longer the case as he was strolling down (inaudible) in Singapore. And then he got some benefits, the sanctions relief may happen at some point.
He got the concession on the military exercises and the other thing with respect to his people, he's done something that his father and his grandfather was not able to do. Granted he's got a lot more leverage than they did, but that's not -- boy that's going to be lost in the translation.
Among the Korean people, they are going to be seeing him as delivering something and needing the president that something that his father and grandfather didn't do, those are big. Those are very big. COREN: Yes, he certainly cemented his place in North Korean history. Philip Yun, Paul Carroll out of San Francisco, and our Matt Rivers in Beijing, many thanks for your analysis. John, back to you in Los Angeles.
VAUSE: Anna, thank you. We'll take a short break. When we come back, we'll have the presidential sales pitch to Kim Jong-un, a 4- minute long movie like trailer with a Trumpian vision of a prosperous future for North Korea if only they give up the nukes.
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VAUSE: For Donald Trump, a deal is a deal, whether he's selling condos in Florida or negotiating denuclearization with a rogue regime, it's still just a deal. Before, during and after his meeting with Kim Jong-un, the U.S. president has taken up a potential economic win forth of North Korea if only Pyongyang would abandon its nuclear and missile program.
And always the salesman, Mr. Trump arrived in Singapore with a 4- minute long video showing his vision for a prosperous North Korean future.
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VAUSE: OK. Joining me now, political strategist, Democrat, Mack Silva (ph), and Republican political strategist, Peter Vanherst (ph). Good to see you both. This is a movie where Donald Trump is the hero. We'll deal with the truly bizarre nature of the video in a moment because this was put out by the White House.
But Mack, half-way through, there is sort of (inaudible) effect of melting implying the destruction of North Korea, the overtones here are ominous. What they are saying is, you know, the failure to (inaudible) or denuclearize much as we wanted is, will lead directly to all-out war and destruction.
MACK SILVA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Right. I mean, and remember Trump has threatened them before with fire and fury but -- what I find fascinating about this is, this is sort of a speak loudly and carry a little stick style of diplomacy. You know, it's the big threats but then at the end of the day, we give away the star and we don't get anything in return.
VAUSE: (Inaudible) gives away things in the art of the deal. Peter, apparently, Kim Jong-un and others for the delegation, they gathered around an iPad to watch this video, and after, you know, this clip was played to reporters in Singapore, the president who is very, very pleased with himself. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We had it made up by some -- I hope he liked it. I thought it was good. I thought it was interesting enough to show, one in English and one in Korean. And we had it made up -- I showed it to him today, actually during the meeting, toward the end of the meeting, and I think he loved it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So, Peter, a lot of people, journalists in the room when they played that video, there was sort of this uncertainty of what it actually was. They thought actually it was North Korea propaganda.
PETER VANHERST, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: That's pretty fine. I mean, honestly, I'm really surprised they can actually afford an iPad with all the sanctions.
VAUSE: Maybe they borrowed one.
VANHERST: Maybe they borrowed one from us with all the sanctions that the U.S. and China put on them. But look, here's the deal with this, I really disagree with Mack respectfully about the -- you know, speak loudly and carry a little stick.
I think this is speak loudly and carry a much bigger stick. This is the first time in decades that America has actually taken a real stand against North Korea. All these so-called experts that we had before, both on the Republican and the Democratic side, they've had the same exact policies towards North Korea.
A year ago, we were scared that we were going to get nuked by North Korea. Now we are out actually starting to --
VAUSE: I think everyone was terrified they're going to be nuked because Donald Trump is talking about going to war and no U.S. president had talked about going to war before.
VANHERST: Well, here's the thing. I mean, when Obama basically transitioned to having Trump, you know, takeover as the United States president, he warned Trump.
[00:20:05] Obamacare is not the biggest thing, tax reform is not the biggest thing, it's North Korea. He warned him. Look, you need to go out and you need to actually address this as a real threat.
And it's funny that it took three reality TV stars, Donald Trump, Dennis Rodman, and Lo Kim to actually get this done.
VAUSE: OK. Here's another unforgettable clip from the video, take a look.
(VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: You know, Mack, this idea that somehow, you know, the North Korean regime wants to open up the economy to investments. It's going to be the Miami of Asia, you know, McDonalds and Marriotts everywhere, this is ludicrous. That's not what they are looking for.
They are looking for a Chinese-style market economy at best and the regime wants the money. They know North Koreans to have any money or independence or access to information, to even take this video seriously, it completely misses the mark.
SILVA: Right. Well, on top of that, I mean, number one, Kim Jong-un is a young leader. It means he wants more than anything is to stay in power for a long, long time and you don't do that by opening up a market economy. You do that by tight controls over things so that you're able to keep a very small group of people who don't have any ability to take you out.
VAUSE: Yes, and you know, this was the first meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un, the first time a sitting U.S. president who met with the leader of North Korea, clearly, this meeting and Kim Jong-un much quite the mark on the U.S. president. This is sort of typical what he's been saying in the past 24 hours.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT TRUMP: He's smart and loves his people. He loves his country. He wants a lot of good things and that's why he's doing this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But he starved them? He's been brutal to them, he still loves his people?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Look, he's doing what he's seen done. If you look at it. But I really have to go by today and by yesterday and by a couple of weeks ago, because that's really when this whole thing started.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Good for Greta for pushing him back on that answer, but you know, this is a brutal authoritarian government. Kim Jong-un loves his people, in 2014, a U.N. report said, the North Korean government committed atrocities similar to Nazi-Germany.
VANHERST: Well, actually, I mean, one of the biggest human rights violators now is China. Both of them are absolutely atrocious, but China is petrified of losing their influence in North Korea that's why they were willing to at least put sanctions on them to appease people on the global stage.
And I think it's really important that we take some reasonable step towards denuclearizing the North Korean --
VAUSE: Absolutely. But do you think the president has not actually summed up the character of Kim Jong-un correctly when he says he loves his people?
VANHERST: I think the president very much knows that North Korea is a brutal abuser of human rights, but this is not the forum to go out and say this. This was the first of many meetings. This was the time to essentially, yes, have a show, and to show the world that, yes, we're actually taking steps (inaudible).
VAUSE: Right.
VANHERST: You can't just go out and just bully Kim Jong-un. He is a bully. He's atrocious. I hate the guy, but ultimately, you can't just go out there and slam him in front of all these reporters. As much as I would like to see that because he deserves it, you can't go out --
SILVA: This is not without precedent, I mean, if you are an authoritarian strong man, Donald Trump is going to praise you. Whether it's Vladimir it's Vladimir Putin, Rodrigo Duterte, Kim Jong- un. The only people he seems to be going after are our allies like Justin Trudeau.
VAUSE: At first, I thought this video it was kind of a (inaudible) film in a while, maybe a little odd house, but eventually I realize that I've seen this type of movie making before.
(VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: You know, this idea of getting a nuclear deal is like selling a condo. It does seem to be very much part of Donald Trump's thinking and listen to what he said when he was in Singapore.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT TRUMP: They have great beaches. You see that whenever they are exploding their canons into the ocean, right? I said, boy, look at that -- wouldn't that make a great condo be on -- and I explained it, I said, you know, instead of doing that, you could have the best hotels in the world right there. Think of it from a real estate perspective.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Peter, what does it say when we will see images like these ones here -- and our terrified, but the president of the United States thinks great real estate potential.
VANHERST: I got to say it's pretty funny. He definitely did get a much better narrator in this new video and look, President Trump may not make the best comparisons to all these things, I'll give you guys that one -- but definitely I think he's just going out there and he's trying to make point.
And look, from the North Korean's perspective, everyone is starving. The regime is crumbling and hey, for Kim, you know, condo development is probably -- I mean, we laugh at that as Americans, that's probably big for him.
[00:25:05] And that's a sad state of affairs there to say the least.
VAUSE: OK, let's get very quickly onto Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. They may not get paid for their work as White House senior advisers, headline number from last year, $83 million according to financial disclosures. (Inaudible) reveal that in 2017, Ivanka Trump earned $3.9 million from her stake in the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.
Trump said on her form that she had trademarks related to her name and initials registered around the world including in Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, China, Russia, Qatar and the Philippines. Mack, this seems very swampy and that list of countries seems very familiar.
SILVA: Yes, absolutely. And this has been a problem from the start is the fact that there are entities not just with Ivanka but with Donald when you look at Mar-a-Lago where anybody can pay money and put it directly into the pockets of the family of the president of the United States. That's a problem. That's something that historically has not been the case. Traditionally, even Jimmy Carter gave up his peanut farms, you know.
VAUSE: Yes, I mean, that was a scandal at the time. If this was a President Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton was working as a senior adviser for her mom and earned $82 million, you're going to be setting your hair on fire --
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: You didn't see anything wrong with this. Do you think this is all completely OK (inaudible) $82 million?
SILVA: I think they are very wealthy. I think that the fact that we are sitting here talking about condos instead of North Korea blowing us up, is a fantastic thing. I mean, seriously, we're talking about condos, how much Jared and Ivanka made. They're billionaires. They're all wealthy. They're going to still make a lot of money and I think that the fact that we're talking about this is a good sign of progress, seriously.
VAUSE: OK, we're out of time. We'll leave at that. Peter, welcome. Good to have you with us. Mack, good to see you again. Thank you.
OK, it's an $85-billion deal that will reshape the media industry. Up next here, how a U.S. federal judge do a sweeping victory to AT&T's take of Time Warner.
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VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause. We'll check the headlines this hour. U.S. President Donald Trump is lavishing praise on North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un calling him talented and loved by his country and trustworthy.
He says he believes Kim will dismantle his nuclear weapons and in a surprise mood, following their summit in Singapore, Trump has suspended joint military exercises with South Korea.
[00:30:01] A Total in 600 migrants in three ships, are now headed to Spain. Some were moved from overcrowded vessels to two others ships. The doctors onboard fears the four-day journey maybe too much for the already stressed passengers. The Spanish government agreed to take stranded migrants after they were refuse entry by Italy.
And the British government has won key vote on an amendment to Brexit legislation after giving concessions to rebel conservative law makers. The Justice Minister Phillip Lee quit ahead of the vote, warning Brexit would damage businesses in his constituency.
A US Federal Court has cleared the way for the second biggest showbiz merger ever, an $85.4 billion dollar taker of Time Warner, parent company of CNN, by telecommunications giant AT&T. After a six-week trial, Judge Richard Leon said the government had failed to prove the deal would substantially lessen competition. The Justice Department, is yet to decide on an appeal burden, in a statement said, "We continue to believe that the pay-TV market will be less competitive and less innovative as a result of this merger between AT&T and Time Warner.
Nonetheless, the court's decision is expected to reshape the media business and over the floodgates for a rush of mega merges.
Well, for one hour on the legal ruling, the politics and what this means for consumers, CNN's Chief Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin is with us from Washington and Brian Stelter, CNN Senior Media Correspondent and Host of ARRIVAL is also standing by in New York.
Jeffrey, first to you, the federal judge here issued an opinion, not an order, why did he do that, and does it matter anyway given how blunt and absolutely his findings were getting every argument put forward by the Department of Justice.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: It matters because when a judge lays out a ruling in such enormous detail, 170 page opinion, in makes it that much harder for an appeal's court to overturn it. The clock is ticking here, Time Warner say, they're going to settle -- they are going to close this merger next week, and the only way to stop it at this point, is for the government to go to the Court of Appeals and try to get what's called a stay, a delay.
But the judge's order because it's so detailed and because he goes out of his way to say that he thinks a stay is unjustified, it really looks like the government's options to stop this merger, are dwelling down too insignificance.
VAUSE: Very quickly, what do you make of the language and the tone used by Judge Leon at least 12 exclamation points in that opinion, or words and phrases like, please probably got, the survey was inherently unreliable and produces inflated results, exclamation point, and go figure.
TOOBIN: Well, it really is a complete repudiation of the government's case. And it really raises the question of why this case was filed in the first place. As even I suspect many of our international viewers will know, Donald Trump and now President Trump has always hated CNN.
He calls us fake news. He thinks we're bad at our work. And he invade against this merger as the -- as a candidate and even in his early days as president. He also said that he played no role in the decision of his Justice Department to bring this lawsuit. But the fact that the case had so little merit, and the fact that the President, you know, was so much against the merger, really does raise the question, which was not resolved in this court case, of how much influence he had in the decision to bring this now defeated case.
And it's really a troubling issue of whether the president is engineering lawsuits against the people he regards his enemies.
VAUSE: Well, let's go back to the 2016 election campaign. Let's listen to then candidate Donald Trump, when he actually put that promise before, that he said this deal, it wasn't -- it was not going to happen. Listen to the candidate Donald Trump.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: AT&T is buying Time Warner and does CNN, a deal we will not approve in my administration because it's too much concentration of power in the hands of too few.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And, Brian, in many ways, that argument that the candidate Donald Trump put forward during the election, was very similar to the argument that the DOJ was using.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: YES, that's what DOJ and the trustee make and (inaudible) has said and what his lawyers said in Court. However, the judge did repute that in this ruling today. It's notable that Time Warner, not AT&T but Time Warner, these are the statement after the ruling. And it said, this was political, that this was baseless and this case shouldn't have been brought it all. So in other words, Time Warner now same publically, what executives have privately had been feeling for many months, that this did seem like it was an issue of political interference by Trump or his aides into the DOJ.
[00:35:03] But as Jeffrey Toobin was saying, that's not necessarily proof of that right now. They are may be proof in the future, there are some lawsuits in the works, some FOIA request, trying to get documents trying to see if there was interference, but certainly that cloud was hanging over this trial, the entire time and it will continue to hangover and now that the judge aside with AT&T.
Meantime, the company is moving forward. Unless there is a stay as Jeff was describing. AT&T will take over Time Warner including this channel, CNN, by this time next week. So the deal will move pretty quickly now that the judge has weighted in.
VAUSE: Yes. After the opinion was issued, we heard from the lead, the AT&T saying this merger, it will be all good, for all consumers, as what he said, listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANIEL PETROCELLI, AT&T ATTORNEY: As the evidence of the trial showed, this will only serve to benefit consumers. Just as we've seen from all of the other vertically integrated companies that are providing so many wonderful new offerings and innovations to consumers as they're watching television in so many new and different ways. And this is just an iteration of that process.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: You know, Brian, this new combine company will ultimately see 100 million wireless subscribers and 25 million pay-TV homes data with some of the most valuable, some are like well-known channels in the world including HBO and CNN. But what will be the difference for consumer missed on just a day to day level, what we makes noticeable for them, about this new company?
In the short-term nothing, but again in the months and years to come, AT&T will try to make your phone and your entertainment experience come together in interesting ways. You know, you think about this just an ordinary daily experience. If I'm trying to watch HBO West World, my phone sometimes doesn't know where I left off. AT&T might be able to improve things like that.
AT&T might be able to send you better alerts, think about the CNN app. Maybe if the AT&T phone, your phone service, knows where you are, it can better tell on those alerts. But there are also some clear business reasons why AT&T wants to own Time Warner, it has to do with advertising. Much more targeted advertising, this is still really about the data that AT&T can collect off about its users, and apply whether you're watching West World or watching CNN or watching something else.
So we're going to see a lot of experimentation in those ways. AT&T has said, this is not about raising prices, but we are generally seeing prices going up across the board, buy it for many providers. One solution to that are a better smaller bundles of channels. So you don't have to have a thousand channels, you're going to have a hundred. AT&T has been trying to do that, so it's Google and others, and then we're going to see even more of that experimentation going on as well.
TOOBIN: And, John, if I can just add one thing. You know, Amy Truslow (ph) is always about defining the market, who's competing with whom. And what this merger -- one of the issues that really was raise by this as merger was that, the telecommunications companies and content companies, they are not competing against the people they use to be competing, against.
VAUSE: Right.
TOOBIN: You know, Time Warner, you know, used to compete against NBC and against Fox, and we still do. But, there are also Facebook, Amazon, Google, that are starting to get into programming in distribution as well. The definition of the market is expanding and that's one reason why the judge said, look, we can't stop this merger because the market is so much bigger than it used to be. There are so many more competitors in it. And it's not the place of the government to stop a merger in that kind of circumstance. VAUSE: And, actually, the deal with Hatch and the Time Warner (inaudible) were back in 2016, and the chief executives of both companies as you say, they solicit way competing with the new tech companies like Netflix and Amazon. And so, Brian, with so many other mergers now in the world, and expected to get the green light, you know, the media business as we know right is about to change forever.
STELTER: Yes. This deal with Hatch almost 600 days ago, and there's been some opportunity cost attached to how long this process is taken. You know, think about where AT&T might have wanted to be a year, from a year ago, but was delayed because of this legal process.
Now, however, because of this green light from the judge, we're seeing other companies makes moves. Comcast in just a few hours is going to make a Murdoch's 21st Century Fox assets, challenging Disney, which already has a deal to buy those fox assets. It's overseeing a lot of challenges and a lot of competition out there, and essentially a game of musical chairs.
Because not all these companies are going to be around, a few years from now, where seeing consolidation by the tech giants, like Google, like Facebook, like Netflix, and well as telecom companies like AT&T and Verizon. So we're seeing the CBS, the Discovery is trying to figure out where they're going to live, where they're going to end up a couple of years from now. And Comcast making a bit for Fox, is the first step in what is really a domino effect as a result of this announcement today.
VAUSE: Yes. What is it mean for me, anyway, Time is already changing right now, Jeffrey and Brian, thank you so very much. Appreciate it.
STELTER: Thanks.
[00:40:01] VAUSE: And still to come, what's in the name, we'll tell you what the (inaudible) signatures of Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un reveal about these two men.
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VAUSE: Welcome back. One has been mocked for having little hands, the other has been ridiculed as Little Rocket Man but Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un had of one thing in common, big signatures. Here's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's such a political odd couple linked even in a latte, President Trump and Kim Jung-un have been turned into everything from bubble heads to trolls. But you know what's really strange to see together, their signatures.
TRUMP: OK.
MOOS: We're used to seeing President Trump's chainsaw signature but this is how Kim Jong-un signs his name and most of the world had never before seen it until this signing ceremony. TRUMP: Thank you very much. It's fantastic.
MOOS: Reaction on Twitter ranged from Kim Jong-un has a cute signature to preposterous. Others noted its rising trajectory looks like a missile, like a flying rocket. Actually, space is something a handwriting analyst picks up on immediately.
JAMIE MASON COHEN, CERTIFIED HANDWRITING ANALYST: Elongated space between each letter that he needs space from people. He doesn't like for people to get too close to him.
MOOS: Contrasted with President Trump's hands-on personality reflected in his crowded signature.
COHEN: Trump clearly loves himself because of the size of certain letters. Trump's writing looks like a freight train that lacks compassion that goes on instinct.
MOOS: While Kim's is deliberative. And though their signatures couldn't look more different, our expert says they do indicate similarities.
COHEN: They don't forgive easily, they hold on to grudges.
MOOS: Both men apply a lot of pressure when they write.
COHEN: I was not surprised by the anger strokes because I have seen those types of strokes in other dictators.
MOOS: President Trump's signature graced the pen placed on the table for Kim to use but instead at the last second, his sister and close advisor pulled a switcheroo.
TRUMP: So we're signing a very important document.
MOOS: And holding that pen with the hands of a much shorter man making President Trump's hands finally loom large. Jeanne Moos, CNN New York.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And now moment to highlight small fluffy animal's doing weird stuff. They're good folk of Minneapolis had been taken with a skyscraper scaling raccoon, there he is. Building workers had try to rescue the said raccoon when it took off climbing 20 stories in the flash at this hour, the small fluffy guy is still there, oblivious to his or her new found fame on social media. I think it's still there.
Thank you for watching CNN Newsroom live from Los Angeles. Next (inaudible) squirrel, I'm John Vause. Stay tune, World Sports is next, you're watching CNN.
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[00:46:10] KATE RILEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL SPORTS ANCHOR: Hello and welcome everyone to World Sports. I'm Kate Riley at CNN Center, the World Cup in Russia starts in a mass of hours.
The host nation will open the tournaments against Saudi Arabia in Moscow. Meanwhile world champions, Germany arrived in Russia on Tuesday with a bit of rain too ahead of the team's first game against Mexico on Sunday night. Well, the team are staying to southwest of Moscow with Vatutinki and co-favorite (inaudible) along with Brazil.
Well, CNN's Amanda Davies is on the ground for us in Russia and headed to the tournament. She have the time to catch up with one of the greatest ever footballers who have lived, that's Ronaldo, and let's just remind you why the Brazilian has such legendary status.
AMANDA DAVIES: By the age of 23, he had scored over 200 goals for it's club and country. Ronaldo won the FIFA World Player of the Year three times '96, '97 and 2002 and they were really good years for him because he also won the Ballon d'Or in '97 and 2002 as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMANDA DAVIES, CNN CORRESPONDENTS: It's perhaps no coincidence the fans we've seen on the best form so far have been those from Brazil. The tournament favorites along with Germany is such a different looking Brazil to one that was in such tough as four years ago have to suffer in that epic 7-1 semi-final defeat at the hands of Germany, that widely regarded as one of the top teams to beat.
And a little bit early on, I close up with a man who knows all about that pressure of performing for Brazil. Two-time World Cup winner, three-time World Player of the year, Ronaldo who began by telling me his personal favorite World Cup Moments.
RONALDO LUIS NAZARIO DE LIMA, FOOTBALL PLAYER: For sure the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, we won and not just because we won but before the World Cup, I got a very difficult injury and long time for recovering and after all that and after two years, I recover. We won the World Cup and that is my favorite World Cup I ever had.
DAVIES: Of course, one man coming into this World Cup coming from an injury is Neymar.
NAZARIO DE LIMA: Yes.
DAVIES: How much does that play on your mind heading a major tournament, particularly when, you know, like you did, he had the back problems in 2014.
NAZARIO DE LIMA: Yes, I had the -- and we hope he's our greatest hope and so we hope that he can be our top scorer and can bring the World Cup to Brazil.
DAVIES: When you were playing how much did you read about what was being talked about, said about you, about the team, about the chances?
NAZARIO DE LIMA: Yes. My generation was at the beginning of internet fast communication, fast information but now is too fast. But, yes, we read a lot, we received a lot of information from Brazil. People are so excited and Brazil waited for another win. It's in a long time we wait for --
DAVIES: Sixteen years since the final.
NAZARIO DE LIMA: Yes. For us it's a long time, believe in me.
DAVIES: And is this going to change this year?
NAZARIO DE LIMA: We hope so, I hope so and we are ready. I think Brazil has a very good team for that.
DAVIES: While the mood in the Brazil camp certainly seems pretty relax, led by Neymar. Philippe Coutinho got something of a deconstructed cake for his birthday, he was absolutely covered in eggs and flour during that training session. He has got a few days to wash it off ahead of that opening game now. They don't take to the pitch against Switzerland until Sunday.
[00:50:01] The main action to look forward to here on Wednesday though that big decision about who will host the 2026 World Cup, either the United bid from the USA, Mexico and Canada, or Africa's Morocco, the suggestion is the vote will be much closer than some may think. Back to you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RILEY: Many thanks, Amanda. Well, the last time that FIFA rewarded a World Cup was eight years. And you will remember that one as a rather controversial double vote for Russia and Qatar back in 2010. Much has changed at football's world governing bodies since then.
Sepp Blatter is no longer president. More people will vote this time and the process should be transparent. We will find out who voted for whom. It is expected that the 201 of FIFA's 2011 member federations will vote and whoever gets the simple majority will be declared the winner and as Amanda explained earlier, it's expected to be a close one.
According to her, a report by FIFA, the United States bid, trumps Morocco in four of the five categories. Of course, they are hoping to get the bid alongside Mexico and Canada. Apparently, they have best of facilities accommodation and transport. This is all important as the 2026 tournament will have a 48 teams competing. But Morocco will be shaped at to run according to, well, football's governing body coming up from the show. There's a party in the USA, in fact there was more than one as both coast got celebration style.
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RILEY: If you ever been to the Hamptons in New York, you will know the traffic there can be a nightmare. Tiger Woods knows all about that. He has left his car at home for the US open at Shinnecock Hills this weekend, opting instead to use offshore in his own private yacht is worth $20 million, that can sleep up to 17 people. It has a theatre, gym and Jacuzzi, no less on board and it's called "Privacy".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TIGER WOODS, PRO-GOLF PLAYER: So far, it's been nice to kind of, you know, get away from the tournament scene and go there to my dinghy there, and just really enjoy it.
MALE SPEAKER: Must be real funny now that the biggest yacht in the New York though.
WOODS: That's I'm not opposed to that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RILEY: Well, I guess, there are an awful a lot of wealthy people up in the Hamptons in New York. Well earlier, I spoke with our own Vince Cellini, he was in Shinnecock for us this week. And I started by asking what time was things about his chances this week end?
VINCE CELLINI, CNN ANCHOR: One of the things that works in his favors this week is that this is an event that's very close to his heart, when he was great desire for. And you can hear that when he talks about the US Open for sure. And, you know, if you think about it, Kate, his greatest moments in Majors may have come in US Opens.
[00:54:58] In 2000 at Pebble Beach, finishing 1,200, a record scorer, 2008 playing on basically one good leg and winning a Torrey Pines as he made that incredible put to force to play off, a play off that he won against Rocco Mediate. And Tiger on Tuesday, at his press conference, refer to this as his national championship. He has nine US GA wins including three US Opens.
So there's a sentimentality to this event and he feels he is moving closer, Kate, as he comes to Shinnecock.
RILEY: What needs to happen for Tiger to put all together this week, Vince?
CELLINI: Well, that's interesting as well. Tiger knows the US open better than most to have obviously as he has won three times here. But what he really has to do is put together a complete performance and do that for four days.
He knows that's been quite a challenge for him, but he see some raise of hopes. Some flashes, some glimpses. He used to talk about just winning majors and how important that was. Now, he is just talking about winning, but he understands he has chosen a very, very difficult profession.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOODS: Golf was always frustrating. There's always something that isn't quite right. And that's where we us players have to make that adjustments. And, you know, we've seen the term as I played in this year is always something. And hopefully, that, you know, that's one of those weeks where I have put it all together and even about. And, you know, let's see what happens.
(END VIDEO CLIP) RILEY: You know, Kate, it's interesting, that's something for Tiger of late has been has padding and particularly, those four to five footers in tournaments, and that's would wins or loses your US Open. He knows this. He has put in a ton of work in the last week. He has tried to check all of those boxes and try to apply it. But we'll see if that actually turns out to be the case.
The big thing is, he is back in US Open and that's big for him and it's certainly big for this event. It's raising things, like a boat and like a harbor that raises boats, giants boats, like Tiger Woods.
RILEY: Yes, (inaudible). Thank you, Vince. Appreciate it.
CELLINI: Sure.
RILEY: She say it was a day of celebrations on both coast here on the United States. First, Washington tend to see a red of the capital celebration, there first ever Stanley Cup win. Meanwhile, over on the West Coast, there was party time once again for the Golden State Warriors, they're not getting bored of this all day.
So for the third time in four years, the Californians are NBA champions on their marking the third win over the Cleveland Cavaliers nonetheless. For the parade through the streets of Auckland there, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, Clay Thompson, Steve Kerr and the rest of the Warriors all laughing up with the fans.
Well, sports can be so beautiful, so it is a shame that there has to be a loser at the end of it. But the very best of the ones who can always remember the bigger pitch, this clip from high states high school baseball game in the US is really quite wonderful, Ty Koen pitching Jack Kocon, one of his oldest friends. And he strikes him out to get the win, but while his teammates all loose themselves with celebration, he makes a V line for his mate to console him. That makes him a champion in every sense of the world.
Yes, more of that in the future plays.
Thanks so much for joining us. That is it for this edition of World Sports. I'm Kate Riley. Stay with us. The news is next.
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VAUSE: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.
Ahead, this hour, Donald Trump sale speech to Kim Jong-un flattering the young North Korean dictator with a help of a flashy video with dreams of (inaudible) take glory.
Plus, the ruling which could set off a Russia media mega mergers, a judge case a huge deal between two giants, AT&T and Time Warner, a deal Donald Trump wanted to stop. And when sports and politics collide, the World Cup kicking off this week in Russia, all right.
Great to have you with us for this second hour, I'm John Vause. And this is NEWSROOM LA. U.S. President Donald Trump says the world has step back from the brink of nuclear annihilation, thanks to him. And some assistance from the --
