Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

U.S. Economy Slows in Q2; U.S. Rapper Charged in Sweden; U.S. Teen Detained by CBP; Frat Suspends Students; Marines Arrested at Camp Pendleton. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired July 26, 2019 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's been revised down below 4 percent. So you're not getting those numbers, you guys, that the president said his policies were going to -- we're going to harken. It's just not there.

Still, it is stable economic growth, 2.1 percent. I don't see anything here that says, oh, the Fed should be staving off a crisis, even though the president would like the Fed to cut interest rates a lot.

There's the annual pictures. So, for last year, not hitting that 3 percent number that the president had promised. 2017 was -- again, it looks a lot like any of the other years of the 10 years of this expansion, you guys.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Christine, what prompted the slow down, and I'm curious how you think the Fed will look at these numbers as it considers further interest rate cuts.

ROMANS: It's a great question. OK, so the first quarter, 3.1 percent, part of that was companies rushing out and building their inventories as they say ahead of what they knew would be higher tariffs. So they wanted to get ahead of higher costs because of the president's trade war. So there was some inventory building and then, of course, that means you don't need to buy all that stuff as much because you already have it on hand, so that can take a little bit of -- off the number.

Also we're watching here for Boeing and what impact Boeing might have on here. You mentioned in your -- in your introduction about the consumer. Consumer spending has been strong. I mean where businesses have started to be a little -- a little shy, I would say, about spending money and building -- and building their business, consumers are still out there spending like crazy --

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

ROMANS: In part because their wages are going up and because gas prices have been going down this year so they've got more disposable income.

HARLOW: OK, Romans, the brain. I just want to nickname you "the brain," Romans. Thank you very much, Christine.

ROMANS: Takes one to know one. SCIUTTO: The money brain.

HARLOW: You too, Jim. You too.

ROMANS: Takes one to know one.

SCIUTTO: Oh, you flatter us. You flatter us. You're the brain as well.

HARLOW: All right.

SCIUTTO: The Justice Department met with a bipartisan group of attorneys general from eight states to talk about taking possible anti-trust actions against big technology companies. The meeting came just one day after the DOJ announced the launch of a formal anti-trust review. The Justice Department did not name which companies were under review, but a lot of these names are going to sound familiar, Amazon, Apple, FaceBook, Google, they've all come under scrutiny over concerns that they are too big, too powerful. What does that mean for you and me as consumers?

HARLOW: Yes, we'll watch that closely.

Also, wait for this, a high school student born in Texas is now free after being detained by immigration officials for over three weeks. He says he was told, you have no rights.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:36:39] SCIUTTO: This morning, the government of Sweden, a U.S. ally, is responding to President Trump's assertion that the country is letting down the African-American community here by refusing to release a rapper, A$AP Rocky. He is being held on assault charges there. A spokesperson for the Swedish prime minister says the government is not allowed and will not attempt to influence the legal proceedings which are now ongoing. Seems a very basic statement, but perhaps necessary to repeat in light of the president's tweet.

HARLOW: For sure. So, A$AP Rocky is set to face trial on Tuesday. The president has been pushing for him to be released over and over again in numerous tweets.

Let's go to the White House. Kaitlan Collins is there.

It's a big deal on a number of fronts, Kailtan, to have the president pushing so hard against a U.S. ally on this, basically saying they're -- they're doing their justice system wrong.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and it's one that's been welcomed by celebrities who have been pushing this case, trying to get a high (INAUDIBLE) of interest in it and the president seems to have elevated it now because not only has he directly lobbied the Swedish prime minister trying to get A$AP Rocky released from jail in a phone call over the weekend, but the president is also now continuing to lash out now that nothing has changed in the immediate future after the president first made that call. We know this case first came to the president's attention he says

because of the first lady, Melania Trump, when he brought it up in the Oval Office just a few weeks ago -- or last week, actually, speaking about it, but also by other celebrities that the president has worked with on things like criminal justice reform. People like Kim Kardashian West, who has made a number of trips to the White House before and also a series of phone calls. And that's really something that has essentially just gotten the president's interest here.

Now, of course, the president is lashing out. He's being incredibly critical right now because he doesn't feel that those efforts have been able to make any kind of progress here, or any kind of difference. Even though the president says he watched the tapes of this alleged incident and he believes that A$AP Rocky is in the right here.

So, of course, the question going forward is whether or not the president continues to elevate this fight or if they wait to see what plays out when he does go to this trial.

But one thing we should note, another question that some people have been surprised the president has raised this, is that he has not raised the case yet on his Twitter feed about that American official who was detained by immigration -- or that American citizen who was detained by immigration officials for several weeks for no reason.

SCIUTTO: We should remind people, we showed a clip of it, that A$AP Rocky was caught on video assaulting someone on the street, including using a bottle to hit him.

Kaitlan, I wonder, does the president see some political advantage here in making this a sort of public case for him?

COLLINS: Well, I think something -- this pattern we've seen emerge since the president has taken office is that people have realized if they appeal to the president on a personal level, sometimes it can help gain -- get his interest in something like this. Something like this where the president said he wasn't familiar with this case until the first lady, Melania Trump, brought it up with him.

But, of course, the president is the one tweeting about it, talking about African-American communities and why he thinks this is important to him just last night when he was lashing out at the Swedish prime minister, talking about those tapes that you just referenced, which, you know, the president says he did watch those and he believes that those -- the people that were in the other video were the ones that were instigating it an that's why the president says he's getting involved in this -- on this manner.

HARLOW: Kaitlan Collins, thank you so much. Keep us posted.

As Kaitlan just said, the president has not spoken out about that American citizen, Francisco Galicia. He is an 18-year-old American wrongfully detained by immigration officials who say that he was -- and he says that he was told he had, quote, no rights. [09:40:10] SCIUTTO: He's a U.S. citizen. Galicia says the conditions

at a Customs and Border Protection facility were so terrible he almost agreed to be deported just to get out of those conditions.

HARLOW: Wow.

SCIUTTO: CNN's Nick Valencia, he has the story.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jim and Poppy, Francisco Galicia and his attorney believe that he was racially profiled. Now, he sat down with CNN for an interview, and he was surprisingly in good spirits, but he does say that this experience has changed him.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA (voice over): Francisco Galicia is home at last, but the reminders of his detention are never far away. Sitting in his south Texas home, the 18-year-old Americans says what he wept through should never have happened, even if immigration officials allege he's partly to blame.

VALENCIA (on camera): Immigration officials say that there was confusion about your status because there was conflicting documents. Do you think that this was about the documents or do you think that this was about something else?

FRANCISCO GALICIA, U.S. CITIZEN (through translator): They thought they were superior. They looked at us with such distaste. I think it was like a certain type of racism.

VALENCIA (voice over): For three weeks he slept on the concrete with nearly 70 others who were doing the same.

VALENCIA (on camera): They didn't even treat you like human beings?

GALICIA (Speaking In English): No.

VALENCIA (voice over): He survived off bologna sandwiches and says every three to four days he was given a wet wipe to clean himself.

VALENCIA (on camera): You didn't shower at all?

GALICIA (Speaking In English): No. (INAUDIBLE) for 23 days.

VALENCIA: You didn't show for 23 days.

GALICIA (through translator): For 23 days with a bad diet. I lost nearly 30 pounds.

VALENCIA (voice over): In his 27 days in custody, Galicia said no one ever believed he was American. At one point, tired of trying to explain himself, he considered self-deporting to Mexico.

VALENCIA (on camera): They just mess with your mind.

GALICIA: Si. VALENCIA: How? Explain.

GALICIA (through translator): The truth, threatening me that they were going to press charges, charges for falsifying documents, the whole time insulting me that how could I not know where I was from?

VALENCIA (voice over): This all started on June 27th when Galicia, along with his brother and two friends, left their home in Edinburg and head north. They were stopped at a checkpoint in Falfurrias, about 100 miles north of the border, while on their way to Ranger College in central Texas for a soccer camp. Galicia, who was born in the U.S. but grew up in Mexico, was carrying documents proving he was an American, but he also carried a tourist visa that mistakenly listed his birth country as Mexico.

This individual provided conflicting reports regarding status of citizenship after being apprehended. Situations including conflicting reports from the individual and multiple birth certificates can and should take more time to verify, CBP and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a joint statement Wednesday.

Galicia thinks border agents would have believed he was American if not for his broken English.

VALENCIA (on camera): There are going to be people that watch this interview and say that you live in the United States, you're an American, you should be speaking English. What do you -- you smile. What do you say to those people?

GALICIA (through translator): I don't speak English, but I'm going to learn it and I'll speak it later.

VALENCIA: Is this more of a reason to learn English now?

GALICIA (through translator): I have to learn it to talk to everyone, and everyone so that the next time this happens they'll believe me.

VALENCIA (voice over): Somehow he's able to laugh about his time in custody, which he said ended after media picked up his story. But just a few days removed from detention, he spends a lot of time thinking about those who aren't as lucky.

VALENCIA (on camera): Our president talks about how there's a lot of bad actors, a lot of -- a lot of people that are here to do harm among those that are coming to this country. But you're telling me you felt more scared being in the presence of the ICE officials and the officials -- immigration officials than you did with the migrants.

When you were -- when you were there, how many of the migrants would you say were here to do harm to the United States?

GALICIA (through translator): None. None wanted to come to do harm. All came in search for a better future.

VALENCIA: (voice over): After being locked up with them, he now considers some of them friends. He keeps a handful of phone numbers on tiny pieces of paper he received from those friends while in the facility. He's calling families in central America to tell them their loved ones are still alive.

GALICIA (through translator): To see the suffering of other people, it made me understand many things. One can live his life here in a certain way while others suffer.

VALENCIA (on camera): You speak for them now?

GALICIA (through translator): Yes. I mean I try to because they can't talk. I'm like their eyes and ears from there inside.

VALENCIA (voice over): Walking outside, Galicia says the air to him smells fresher than before. Things look and feel different, too. And so does he. Even though he lives on the border, prior to his detention, he never paid attention to the migrant crisis. Now he's lived it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: While CBP and ICE didn't directly respond to the allegations, they did send CNN a statement, which read in part, we are committed to fair treatment of migrants in our custody and continue to take appropriate steps to verify all facts of this situation.

[09:45:06] Meanwhile, Galicia says if the U.S. government was to apologize for what happened, that an "I'm sorry" is not good enough and someone needs to be held accountable. His lawyer tells me they plan on filing a federal lawsuit for his wrongful detention.

Jim. Poppy.

SCIUTTO: A view from inside those detention centers from a U.S. citizen no less.

HARLOW: Wow. Amazing.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: Amazing that this could happen, right, Jim?

SCIUTTO: Yes. It took three weeks to get out. It's remarkable.

HARLOW: Wow. Yes.

SCIUTTO: We're going to continue -- continue to follow that story.

Meanwhile, another story we're following this hour, three college students are in trouble, understandably, for a disturbing photo posing with guns in front of a bullet riddled civil rights memorial.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:50:10] SCIUTTO: A fraternity has suspended three of its members at the University of Mississippi after the men posed with guns in front of a sign memorializing murdered African-American teenager Emmett Till. Remember the history here. Till was a 14-year-old kid in 1955 when he was kidnapped, tortured and murdered by a group of white men.

HARLOW: Of course his death was a seminal moment in the civil rights movement. But the commemorative sign has been a frequent target of vandals, including being shot at.

Our reporter, Martin Savidge, is with us now.

Marty, I'm so glad you're on this story. The students have been suspended from the fraternity, but not from the school.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, they haven't.

And let me give you an update of what the university is saying. There are -- they've identified two of the students that are in the photo. Remember there are three. And of the two they say one is currently a junior at the University of Mississippi. The other, they say, is not currently enrolled. And, as we have pointed out, the third we don't know yet.

This photo came to light back in March, actually, when it was posted on Instagram, but it became nationally known this week thanks to the work of an investigative journalist well known here in Mississippi working with Propublica and he published a story about it.

But as you say, the University of Mississippi is basically saying that they are bothered by this photo. Their words are, it's offensive and it's hurtful. But they also say it does not violate a student code of conduct. And they also note that that photo was taken at a site that is located off campus. Well off campus. So, in other words, it implies the university really isn't planning any further action on this.

The fraternity of which they were involved, that's Kappa Alpha, has taken action. It's suspended the three students. They put out a statement as well and it reads like this. This photo is inappropriate, insensitive and unacceptable. It does not represent our chapter.

We should point out that this particular fraternity has had some racial controversy in the past. And then there is the photo itself showing at least two of the men holding guns. We're not showing their faces because we have not contacted them directly. We're hoping to do that. But the fact that this is Emmett Till's site where his body was recovered, that is why it is so inappropriate to see smiling faces holding guns. It really is awful. That sign has been removed, by the way. A new one is on the way.

SCIUTTO: And, Martin, just to be clear, the university is planning no discipline for this?

SAVIDGE: Not as of yet. Now, remember that there is the possibility of a federal investigation. Already the attorney for the northern district of Mississippi, U.S. attorney, has taken the photo and the information and passed it on to the justice center. So there is likely to be a lot of pressure, both public and official, coming to the university here. But right now they say that there is no action other than them being suspended from the fraternity.

HARLOW: Wow. I'm glad you're on the story, Marty. I'm glad Propublica dug on this and found it. It's really important. Thank you very much.

SAVIDGE: Yes.

HARLOW: More than a dozen U.S. Marines arrested and accused of human smuggling. What we've uncovered is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:58:01] HARLOW: Sixteen U.S. Marines have been arrested at Camp Pendleton. This is in California. Accused of various crimes, including, get this, human smuggling and drug related offenses.

SCIUTTO: Yes, it's really an amazing case. This all started earlier this month when Border Patrol agents say they caught two Marines allegedly transporting undocumented immigrants into the U.S. for money.

CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr, she's following this story.

What do we know?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning to both of you.

That first case earlier this month when two Marines were arrested apparently gave investigators the intelligence that led them to yesterday's event. So, picture this, the Marines are standing in line, morning formation at Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego, and suddenly NCIS agents are there and 16 Marines are under detention for allegations of human smuggling and drug offenses. Another eight Marines were also pulled out of line. They are being questioned for possible drug offenses.

The Marines are saying this is about smuggling people potentially across the border who are undocumented, but it's not related to the border mission that the U.S. military is participating in with domestic law enforcement agencies. So a big investigation going underway looking to see if there could be possible other arrests.

And this comes at a time when there's other high-profile misconduct. We've just learned, as you know, that a SEAL team was kicked out of Iraq by their own leadership for drinking, which is illegal there, you cannot drink in a war zone, and possible allegations of sexual assault. Another Navy SEAL unit was under investigation for cocaine use. It's all leading to a lot of questions about where the leadership is in all of these units.

Poppy. Jim.

SCIUTTO: Yes, and the leadership always concerned about what that does to the image, of course, of the military and these units.

HARLOW: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thanks very much.

STARR: Sure.

HARLOW: All right, top of the hour. Good morning, everyone, I'm Poppy Harlow.

[10:00:03] SCIUTTO: And I'm Jim Sciutto. It's Friday.

HARLOW: Yes.

SCIUTTO: So how much time do you need to heal a political rift?

END