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CNN This Morning
Biden Shores Up Support For Ukraine At G7 Summit In Italy; Possibility Of 2nd Trump Presidency Hangs Over G7 Summit; Today: Pope Francis To Address World Leaders In Italy. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired June 14, 2024 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:39]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Friday, June 14th.
Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:
President Biden promising to stick by Ukraine as former President Trump brags about his relationship with Vladimir Putin.
Roads submerged, homes full of floodwaters, and South Florida getting even more rain.
Plus, Donald Trump calling Milwaukee a horrible city. That's where he's holding the Republican convention. Now, the city's mayor is responding.
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CAVALIER JOHNSON, MILWAUKEE MAYOR: At the end of the day, when a -- in a state that's decided on a razor's edge, that may ultimately cost Trump the election.
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HUNT: All right, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington. A live look at -- look at that sunrise in New York City. I love it.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us on this Friday morning. We made it.
President Biden meeting this morning with world leaders at the G7 Summit in Italy. The president is trying to galvanize support for Ukraine.
On day one of the G7, President Biden and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy locked up a plan to send tens of billions of dollars in frozen Russian assets to Kyiv. There's also a new security agreement between the U.S. and Ukraine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Would we stand with Ukraine? Would we stand for sovereignty, freedom, and against tyranny? The United States, the G7 countries around the world have consistently answered that question by saying, yes, we will, we will say it again. Yes, again and again and again. We're going to stand with Ukraine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Of course, hanging over all of it is the possible shift in that commitment in the wake of any change in the November election. Former President Trump is opposed to additional Ukraine aid and openly skeptical of NATO. He could rip up the bilateral agreement that Biden just signed if he returns to office.
Trump's affinity for strongmen like Russian President Vladimir Putin has been on display over the years. Here he is on a recent episode of the social media influencer, that's one way to put it, Logan Paul's podcast.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOGAN PAUL, PODCAST HOST: What's your relationship like with Vladimir Putin?
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think very good, but I was tough with him.
No, I had a very good relationship, that's a good thing. Not a bad thing. And I'm trying to tell people, no, it's a good thing.
I tell the press all the time, no, the fact that I get along with Kim Jong-un, North Korea.
PAUL: That's crazy. That's crazy (ph).
TRUMP: -- President Xi, it's all good stuff getting along.
I got along with the tough ones much better than I got along with the weak one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. Joining me now from the G7 summit in Italy is Tyler Pager. He is the White House reporter for "The Washington Post".
Tyler, good morning. I'm very grateful to have you on this morning.
Can you just take us inside this summit as you've been reporting on it from around the sidelines here, in terms of the support for Ukraine that the president is trying to make, the contrast with Donald Trump?
TYLER PAGER, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Yeah, it's great to be with you, Kasie. Thanks for having me.
And I was with the president much of yesterday as much as the press was allowed to see the president as he went through these meetings here in the Apulia region of Italy at the G7. And as you said, a lot of the discussion focused on Ukraine. It was a
top priority of Biden and his counterparts to get this deal done, to tap frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine, and its continued war for with Russia.
And one of the big things hanging over this summit is the potential change in leadership in the United States, but not just in the United States, but many of the Western leaders who are part of the G7 are facing elections back at home.
So these domestic troubles are spilling into this international setting as it feels there's an extra sense of urgency to try to lock can some of these security agreements and funding arrangements to ensure Ukraine has support for the long -- the long haul.
But one of the things as you mentioned, Kasie, is that this agreement that the president signed with Zelenskyy yesterday, both of them touting, as evidenced of a prolonged partnership is just one at the executive level.
So should there be a new president come next January, that could be ripped up. And so, nothing there is set in stone, but it is a sign that the president here is trying to signal the U.S.'s longstanding commitment to Ukraine.
[05:05:02]
But I think there, there's some anxiety about what a future administration that is not led by President Biden could do to this relationship?
HUNT: Tyler, how much of that concern at not just around Ukraine, but more broadly from these European leaders, their aides, others around them about the prospect of another Donald Trump presidency?
PAGER: Yeah, I think it's an undercurrent of a lot of the discussions here. We've seen the president talk about NATO and allies that he thinks are not -- President Trump -- former President Trump, that is, talk about NATO and allies that he does not pay enough for security arrangements, a few months ago saying that he would let Russia do whatever it wanted to allies that were -- that he -- you know, did not think were doing their fair share in the security arrangements, that spooked a lot of European allies and the European allies and officials are closely watching this election and see what American see is that there is a razor thin margin between the two candidates, and polls show it is a very tight reelection race.
So I think they are welcoming President Biden, who has promised America's leadership on the world stage will remain, but it's an open question, you know? American voters will decide in November, whether or not to send President Biden back to the White House or keep him in the White House for four more years.
And I think that's creating a good deal of anxiety for European officials in European leaders who have welcomed the stability and the commitment that America has made since Biden has returned to or die -- has been in the White House.
HUNT: Sure. So, Tyler, let's watch just a little bit more of the speech that Biden I gave yesterday at the G7. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Our goal is to strengthen Ukraine's credible defense and deterrence capabilities for the long term. A lasting peace for Ukraine must be underwritten by Ukraine's own ability to defend itself now and to deter future aggression.
We've taken three major steps at the G7 that collectively show Putin we cannot -- he cannot wait us out. He cannot divide us. And we'll be with Ukraine until they prevail in this war.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So, of course, that kind of underscoring at where the president was on this international issue.
But I will say, Tyler, there is something here at home that also is continued to overshadow or at least if not overshadow, then remain firmly in a prominent place in the background for the Biden family. And that's this question about Hunter Biden. And we heard Karine Jean- Pierre, the press secretary yesterday, leave some room for the possibility that the president might commute Hunter's sentence, but the president was asked directly about this in the course of the last day.
I want to show you what he said there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I am satisfied that I'm not going to do anything. I said I abide by the jury decision, I will do that. And I will not pardon him.
REPORTER: Mr. President, do you plan on commuting Hunter's sentence?
BIDEN: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So Tyler, again, one of these moments in this happens somewhat frequently with the president where he's kind of walking off the stage and then he makes news while he's not actually even standing at the microphone.
What do you make of what he said there? He seemed to try to be clear he's not going to commute Hunter's sentence?
PAGER: Yeah. That is what -- you know, we were -- I was standing there as reporters were shouting questions, trying to get the president to answer, and he responded with no, when multiple reporters were asking same variation of the question of would you commute your son -- your son's sentence. Obviously, this has been a huge family drama playing out in a Delaware courtroom over the last week and a half or so.
And, you know, what's striking here in Italy is that three of Hunter's daughter accompanied the president on the trip here, and two of them were sitting in the front row last night at that press conference where the president answered the question about his son.
The president's aides have been deeply worried about the fact and the toll that this has taken on the president. Obviously, he's put out a number of statements talking about how proud he is of his son, but, you know, a strong statement there from the president that he would not pardon his son or commute his sentence. That, of course, comes before Hunter has been sentenced. There's a chance that he's not sentenced to any sort of jail time, just probation or for other disciplinary measures. But we'll wait to see what the judge ultimately decides in that case there.
HUNT: All right. Tyler Pager for us this morning -- Tyler, very grateful to have you. Thank you very much for starting us off.
All right. Coming up next here, Pope Francis, about to become the first pope to address the G7. On his agenda? Artificial intelligence.
Plus, Russia decides whether jailed U.S. reporter Evan Gershkovich will stand trial.
Plus, it's Donald Trump's 78th birthday. His gift from Republicans.
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[05:14:25]
HUNT: All right. Moments ago, Pope Francis left the Vatican on his way to southern Italy and the G7 summit. He will be addressing world leaders today.
It's a first for any pope. He is expected to address artificial intelligence in his speech and joining global leaders in pushing for stronger A.I. oversight.
He addressed the topic in a letter earlier this year after this photo. It's a deepfake of him in a white puffer jacket. It did go viral and you I can see why looking at it.
The pope wrote, quote: We need but think of the longstanding problem of disinformation in the form of fake news, which today can employ deepfakes, namely the creation, diffusion of images that appear perfectly plausible but false.
[05:15:08]
I too have been an object of this.
CNN's Max Foster joins us live now from London.
Max, good morning to you. This, of course, I always -- it gets a little amusing. I like, I enjoy
the image of the pope, but it's a really serious thing and the pope is called for this international treaty to deal with A.I.
How -- what's the significance of his -- of his appearance there today?
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, did anyone really think that that was the pope? I mean, I think young people are a bit more switched on than he gives them credit for, you know? This has -- this made them a bit of a legend on TikTok and social media, I think, and you know it's not him. But anyway, there -- obviously, there's good and bad of A.I. and he's aware of that, as I understand it.
But he's particularly concerned about, it's using conflict, for example, imagine an A.I. controlled, you know, weapon system. He thinks it needs regulation he's gone to the G7, which is the first time the Pope has been to the G7. So that's how seriously he's taking it.
And, you know, he's there for those big issues, isn't he, at these events. So, it's climate, but I think, you know, you're starting to see him pushing A.I. as a thing that the world needs to be thinking about a bit more.
HUNT: Right. And, you know, we actually had former president Donald Trump did an interview view with a -- let's him a social media influencer. I don't think that quite captures it, but Logan, Paul, who is, you know, I mean, you actually may know. You've got a lot of contexts. You've got kids that are of the age that they're consuming all this stuff all the time.
But they talked about A.I. Actually, let's watch what Donald Trump said he would do to his speech writer, considering that now, he has a high available to them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I had a speech rewritten by A.I. out there, one of the top people. He said, oh, you're going to make a speech? Yeah. He goes click, click, click, and like 15 seconds later he shows me my speech --
PAUL: That's --
TRUMP: -- written --
PAUL: That's great.
TRUMP: -- so beautifully. I said, I'm going to use this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you say to your speechwriter after that? You're fired.
TRUMP: Yeah, I said, you're fired, Vince. (END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So, he's joking about it. But again, serious that you know, there are people that just a couple of clicks can create something that's really compelling, that makes it look like a politician has said something.
I mean, the implications of that when someone is president of the United States are potentially huge.
FOSTER: Well, I've got a view on this, if I'm honest.
HUNT: Share it.
FOSTER: Should I share it? I don't know if I should.
HUNT: Yes, you should.
FOSTER: Anyway, I will. My view is that, you know, that's different. So if Donald Trump is being shown a speech that's written by A.I., he's obviously going to look over it and see if he agrees with it. If he agrees with it, then he -- the speech goes out. I think that's one thing.
I think you can have an A.I.-generated things long as it's endorsed by the person behind it. The issue is obviously when you're making up characters and making up speeches, or if, you know, a speech is attributed to him, which doesn't belong to him. But I think that this is what I'm saying about the pope and that picture, that young people are --
HUNT: Yeah.
FOSTER: -- quite attuned to this. So they would, if they saw a deepfake of Donald Trump and they would question it because they do, the first question id ask is did he write it? And if he didn't write, it's like the pope. Did he actually wear it? They're going to be asking that question.
So I think that, you know, it's whether or not its endorsed by the actual figure. People will need to start looking for that more.
HUNT: Yeah, no, I absolutely see the distinction that you're making in terms of, okay, can we use A.I. to generate things that then I can as a human being consumed understand and say, yes, this is this is me.
But let's listen to a little bit more of what Trump said because I think it gets at the second piece of this. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It is alarming when I saw a picture made promoting a product and I could not tell -- the voice was perfect the lips moved perfectly with every word the way -- you couldn't have, if you were a lip reader, you'd say it's absolutely perfect. And that's scary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So there he's saying that it's taken the next step and he saw something of him where he's promoting a product he's not promoting.
FOSTER: Yeah. I mean, this is what the pope is trying to do, isn't it? He's trying -- he's warning of this and saying it needs to be regulated.
My question is, can you really regulate it? Are you ever going to stop these deepfakes? I think the question really is for people to be aware that they exist. And the more they exist, the more they're going to question them and they need to just -- you can figure out whether or not they are real by working out whether or not the persons endorsed it.
You know, I think that people aren't just going to believe or Donald Trump deepfake necessarily in -- as we go forward and seeing more of them, they're going to be -- you know, they're going to -- they're going to be the one that he's endorsed.
I don't know if you remember, there was a -- Imran Khan was in prison during his recent election and he -- his team, he wrote a speech, and his team created a deepfake of Imran Khan giving the speech.
[05:20:11]
And that sort of made sense to me because there's no way he could have done it and they made it very clear it came from him.
HUNT: That is wild.
All right, especially considering the implications. I mean, there's a sentencing for one of our major presidential candidates on July 11th.
Max Foster, thank you. Always happy to have you, especially on Friday.
FOSTER: Thanks, Kasie.
HUNT: Have a great -- have a great weekend.
All right. Coming up next here, a fifth day of rain for storm-battered South Florida.
Plus, the pope hosting more than 100 comedians and entertainers at the Vatican. We've got a lot of the pope in the show this morning. We'll show you his message, ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN COLBERT, COMEDIAN: I'm going with some of my buddies because among others, the U.S. delegation includes Jim Gaffigan, Conan O'Brien, Tig Notaro, Whoopi Goldberg, Jimmy Fallon, and Chris Rock.
Chris, Chris, please, for safety sake, I would just keep Mary Magdalene's name out of your mouth because the pope wears a big ring.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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[05:25:33]
HUNT: All right, 24 minutes past the hour.
Here's your morning round up.
Imprisoned American journalist Evan Gershkovich will stand trial in Russia after prosecutors formally accused him of spying for the CIA. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison. The U.S. military may dismantle the humanitarian floating pier that they built off the Gaza coast, again, and move it back to Israel temporarily because of rough seas, it broke apart earlier this month due to similar conditions.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit by the survivors of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre to get reparations paid out by the city for damages. There are only two survivors still alive.
A manhunt is over in Houston for escaped inmate Joshua Sanders. Police say the 35-year-old got away after a court appearance, commandeering the car of a court employee on Thursday. He was captured overnight.
All right. Coming up next here --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY FALLON, COMEDIAN: Trump's birth should be fun. The last time people gathered to say, are you one, are you two, are you three? They were counting guilty verdicts.
Yeah. Down at Mar-a-Lago, they're planning a big party with candy ankle monitors and a bouncy jailhouse.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Donald Trump celebrating his birthday early on Capitol Hill. What Republicans gave him as a gift.
Plus, why the pope is hanging out with a bunch of comedians at the Vatican tonight.
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