Return to Transcripts main page
Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Mexican President Cancels Meeting with Trump; Speaking with Heads of State; President Heads to the Pentagon. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired January 27, 2017 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Building a border wall. The White House laying out plans to get Mexico to pay after Mexico's president canceled a planned trip to Washington.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN ANCHOR: All this as the president gets ready to host the British prime minister. But it's the conversation Trump now has planned for tomorrow that's bound to stir up Washington.
ROMANS: And President Trump will visit the Pentagon for the first time since taking office. He will meet with top military brass to get started on his new plan to defeat ISIS.
There is so much going on. Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
MARQUEZ: It's going to be a busy time.
I'm Miguel Marquez. It is 29 minutes past the hour.
Breaking overnight: an administration official tells CNN that President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to speak on the phone on Saturday. It will be the first conversation since Mr. Trump took office.
No matter how that call goes, it will likely be smoother than the president's first foray into diplomacy with our neighbor Mexico. The White House suggesting that it may try to pay for the border wall with a 20 percent tax on imports from Mexico -- though it walked that back a bit later in the day.
[04:30:02] That proposal came after Mexico's president canceled the planned meeting with Mr. Trump. The Mexican leader under intense pressure at home after President Trump signed an executive order laying the ground work for the border wall and vowed again to make Mexico pay for it. All this comes just hours ahead of President Trump's first face-to-face meeting with a foreign leader.
Let's bring in senior White House correspondent Jeff Zeleny for the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Miguel, President Trump is going to be meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May here at the White House today. It is the first meeting with a foreign leader of his young presidency. It's the first time he will have a chance to take a measure of her and vice versa, her of him. They'll be holding a press conference here as well, talking about so many issues between these countries and indeed around the world.
But it is a dust-up with another foreign leader, the president of Mexico, that is really causing the first diplomatic standoff of this new administration. Yesterday, President Trump said that he agreed with the Mexican president to cancel a meeting next week between the two leaders.
In fact, that is not exactly how it went down. The Mexican president said he would not come to the U.S. next week because of the issue over the border wall and who will pay for it.
This is how President Trump explained it in a meeting in Philadelphia Thursday with Republicans.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The president of Mexico and myself have agreed to cancel our planned meeting scheduled for next week. Unless Mexico is going to treat the United States fairly with respect, such a meeting would be fruitless and I want to go a different route. We have no choice.
ZELENY: Saying such a meeting would be fruitless, but that does not take away a challenge how the wall will be paid for. It is something that House and Senate Republican leaders do not agree on at all. On the House side, they are discussing putting a 20 percent tax on goods coming into the U.S. The Senate Republicans think that is a bad idea. Donald Trump is going to have them work it out, but it's going to be a cost of some $12 billion to $15 billion to build that wall if this plan goes forward here.
So, even as the British prime minister visits the White House today, still discussions, still ongoing controversy over that cancelled meeting with the Mexican president next week -- Christine and Miguel.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ: Thanks, Jeff Zeleny.
We have new details this morning on the cancellation of President Trump's meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. Mexican officials were in Washington planning for Pena N Nieto's visit next week when President Trump tweeted that if Mexico won't pay for what he called the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the meeting altogether. So they did.
CNN's Leyla Santiago has more on what went on behind the scenes and how it's all being received in Mexico.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Miguel, we're getting new details on exactly how this cancellation went down.
According to Mexico's new foreign minister, he was at the White House meeting with Trump's staff, discussing the trip from Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto when he got word of that tweet. He asked for a break, stepped outside, called the Mexican president directly who then ordered him to go inside and tell them the meeting was off. But he's asked him to do that in a cordial matter. And that is how the cancellation went down.
This, by the way, going over pretty well with people here in Mexico. The Mexican senators who called for President Enrique Pena Nieto to cancel the trip, they're giving him a thumb's up. Former President Vicente Fox, he also said, good call, way to protect Mexico's interests.
And as I've been out here, talking to people just on the streets, they seem to be pretty happy about this. And I think they feel that finally they are not being bullied, as if a sense of dignity has been restored -- Christine, Miguel.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right, Leyla Santiago.
The White House floating this idea of 20 percent tariff on Mexican imports. And to be clear, there's no proposal on the table. It's something the administration is discussing. But that 20 percent tariff on everything imported from Mexico, they say it would pay for the border wall. It would also hurt the U.S. economy and frankly raise prices at big box stores and gas stations.
The U.S. imported $296 billion worth of goods from Mexico in the year 2015. Twenty percent of that is $59 billion. That's more than double the estimates of the wall.
Here is an important note: Mexican companies would not be paying that tariff. It wouldn't be Mexican companies paying to build a wall. It would be U.S. companies who would pay for it. The importer of record pays the tax for the privilege of bringing the goods in, and then presumably, they pass those higher costs down to the supply chain to you, the consumer. Tariff would hit industries that send goods back and forth, like automakers.
Did you know 40 percent of the parts in the Mexican-made car originate in the United States, right? So, make the parts here, send them there, put them in a car there, export the car somewhere else.
[04:35:02] Experts warned it could have serious consequences for both economies. Seventy seven percent of Mexico's exports went into the U.S. in 2015.
OK. So, what does Senator Lindsey Graham think about the proposal for a tax on Mexican imports to pay for the border wall? The South Carolina Republican making his feelings very clear in a pair of tweets. "Border security, yes, tariffs, no. Mexico is the third largest trading partner. Any tariff we can levy, they can levy huge barrier to economic growth."
Graham putting the twist on the president's signature tweeting style. He's writing this, "Simply put with policy proposal which drives up cost of corona, tequila or margaritas is a big time bad idea. Mucho sad."
MARQUEZ: He is on the side of corona and tequila, and margaritas. That's --
ROMANS: There's also chemicals, electrical machinery, and agriculture products, too.
MARQUEZ: That too.
ROMANS: Those are bigger categories.
MARQUEZ: You're too sensible.
As for British prime minister's Oval Office meeting today with President Trump, she is expected to explore ways to boost trade between the U.S. and Britain. May warmly praised the president for his election victory. In a speech Thursday at the Republican retreat in Philadelphia, the prime minister said, while the U.S. and U.K. share the burden of global leadership, there are limits to intervention moving forward.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THERESA MAY, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: It is in our interests, those of Britain and America together, to stand strong together, to defend our values, our interests and the very ideas in which we believe. This cannot mean a return to the failed policies of the past. The days of Britain and America intervening in sovereign countries in attempt to remake the world in our own image are over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ: May's speech frustrated some Democrats who said she should not have gone to the Republican retreat, but instead should have spoken with members of both parties when she arrived in Washington.
ROMANS: President Trump makes his first visit to the Pentagon as commander in chief today. He will preside over the swearing in of his new defense secretary, General James Mattis. He is expected to meet with the Joint Chiefs of Staff to present them with a series of objectives for fighting ISIS. The president is asking the military to use those objectives to develop a more aggressive strategy for defeating the terror group.
MARQUEZ: And the president making a stop at the Hall of Heroes in the Pentagon where he signs a series of executive orders relating to national security. White House is not offering up details. President Trump is expected to begin the process of toughening refugee and visa policies for terror-prone countries. He says something he addressed last night on FOX News.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The people that we're going against, they don't wear uniforms. They're sneaky, dirty rats. And they blow people up in a shopping center. They blow people up in a church. These are bad people.
When you are fighting Germany and they had their uniforms, and Japan, and they had their uniforms, and they had their flags on the plane, and the whole thing. We are fighting sneaky rats right now that are sick and demented, and we're going to win.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ: Now, President Trump was expected to sign an executive order yesterday, launching an investigation into his false claim of voter fraud. That signing was postponed without explanation.
ROMANS: Vice President Mike Pence will be the featured speaker at today's annual March for Life anti-abortion rally in Washington. It is the first time in the 44-year history of the event that anyone as high ranking as vice president has attended. March for Life organizers are hoping for huge crowds at the National Mall to compete with the turnout from last week's national women's march which drew hundreds of thousands of people. March for Life officials have been aggressively urging their followers to attend. But they say they have no way to gauge how many demonstrators will actually show up.
MARQUEZ: President Trump's chief strategist, Steve Bannon, is ramping up the administration's, quote, "running war with the media." Bannon is a former Breitbart news executive, giving a rare interview to "The New York Times" and he did not hold back at all, saying, "The media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while. The media here is the opposition party. They don't understand this country. They still do not understand why Donald Trump is the president of the United States."
Bannon added this, "The elite media got it dead wrong, a humiliating defeat that they will never wash away." He also accused the press of being outright activists for the Clinton campaign.
ROMANS: Sources telling CNN that President Trump pressured the head of the National Park Service to find photographic proof to support his claims about the inauguration crowd size. Mr. Trump was said to be outraged over tweets that negatively compare the size of his inaugural crowd to Barack Obama's in 2009.
[04:40:01] The sources say he called acting director Michael Reynolds to complain that one such message was retweeted on the Park Service official Twitter account.
MARQUEZ: A huge shakeup at the State Department. Several high ranking officials being told their services are no longer needed in the Trump administration. Why all that experience walked out the door? We'll have that, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROMANS: The Trump administration cleaning house at the State Department. Four top management officials receiving a letter informing them their services are no longer needed. Among them being shown the door, Under Secretary Patrick Kennedy who's been at the State Department since 1973. The move leaves a huge management void for incoming Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who has no diplomatic experience.
We have more this morning from CNN's Michelle Kosinski.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[04:45:02] MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN SENIOR DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miguel and Christine.
Yes, it's clear, even though the new secretary of state hasn't been confirmed that the new administration is starting to clean house. This is an entire top level tier here at the State Department. They have decades of experience each. I mean, combined it is more than 150 years of service.
And even though their career State Department people, they've gotten to the point where their current high level positions had to be appointed by a president and then confirmed by the Senate. So, as the process works, they submit their resignations now that there's a new administration. But it was expected that at least some of them would be asked to stay on, given their experience. I mean, when you think about it, decades here at the State Department. They have been through multiple administrations, including changes in party.
But what happened was they were told their services were no longer needed. They were not asked to stay on until their positions can be filled. That comes as a big surprise here to many. It's being called the single biggest loss of institutional memory that anyone can think of.
And it is absolutely the prerogative of a new administration to change out top people. But the concern is, with so much experience and knowledge of how the vast operation that is the State Department works, those positions are tough to fill -- Miguel and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Of course, not unusual for a new administration to see opportunities for new policies to take hold in many areas of the government. Personnel at the Pentagon starting to get a sense for how the administration may handle things.
CNN national security reporter Ryan Browne live from Washington with the details.
What can you tell us about the mood and the feeling there at the Pentagon as they're moving forward here?
RYAN BROWNE, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Good morning, Christine. You know, at the Pentagon, there's definitely a sense of things staying put for now. I mean, there's been no significant changes to policies or authorities or missions. The fight against ISIS kind of continues, the mission in Afghanistan continues. There's been no major shakeup.
And the sense is Secretary Mattis is really taking his time to assess the situation to meet with commanders to kind of -- to talk to key allies and kind of make -- kind of make his own assessment before any real changes are coming.
Now, as you know, President Trump is due to visit the Pentagon today and talk a little bit about the ISIS fight. So, there could be movement in that direction in the coming weeks and days. But there hasn't been any direct orders for changes. Now, that being said, there were some leaked executive orders that had policies that would have impacted the Pentagon. One kind of talking about bringing back waterboarding potentially and other interrogation techniques that are legally considered torture, as well as one talking about having the Department of Defense set up safe zones for refugees in Syria. But of those weren't really shared with the Defense Department according to official we spoke to, prior to them being leaked to media athletes.
Now, this could be an area of contention down the road. But for right now, the department feels it is being micro managed less under the current administration than they were in the previous one.
ROMANS: Interesting. All right. Well, these are early days. Let's see how that plays out. Thank you so much for that. Nice to see you this morning bright and early, Ryan.
BROWNE: Good to see you.
MARQUEZ: Now, the head of the U.S. border patrol, Mark Morgan, is also stepping down. His departure after just six months on the job and a day after the president announced plans for ratcheting up immigration enforcement and building a border wall. Morgan had clashed with the border patrol union which endorsed Trump for president. It's not clear whether he actually quit or was forced out.
ROMANS: You will not be seeing many TV commercials urging Americans to sign up for Obamacare. The Trump administration is pulling those ads. They were scheduled to run during the final few days of the open enrollment period. With president and congressional Republicans vowing to repeal the Affordable Care Act, $5 million of worth of commercial replacements have now been canceled.
All right. Google is known for big ideas, creative innovation. The moon shots in Google and Alphabet, name of the parent company. Some of its most ambitious projects cost the company more than $1 billion in just three months.
We're going to get a check on CNN Money Stream, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [04:53:24] MARQUEZ: As many major U.S. cities push back on President Trump's crackdown on sanctuary cities, Miami's Cuban born Mayor Carlos Jimenez says he'll comply, saying it basically comes down to money. Trump's executive order threatens to cut federal grants for any counties or cities that refuse to cooperate with customs enforcement, which means the city could lose millions. Trump responded to Jimenez's move, calling it the right decision. Strong.
ROMANS: In court today, the four suspects accused of torturing a young man with special needs and streaming it on Facebook live. They appear before a Chicago judge. Prosecutors say the suspects kidnapped the 18-year-old victim who is diagnosed with schizophrenia and ADD and allegedly taunted him and sliced his scalp. According to investigators, when a neighbor threatened to call 911 because of the noise, the victim saw a chance to escape and took it. All four suspects have been charged with committing a hate crime.
MARQUEZ: That story.
The man suspected of killing five people at the Ft. Lauderdale airport could face the death penalty or life in prison if he is convicted. Twenty-six-year-old Esteban Santiago was charged Thursday at a federal indictment. Prosecutors say he opened fire in the airport's baggage claim area earlier this month, killing five people and wounding six others. Santiago reportedly told FBI agents he carried out the attack on behalf of ISIS.
Now, lake-effect snow, we love that this time of year, hitting the Northeast. Meteorologsit Julie Martin joins us with the forecast.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JULIE MARTIN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Miguel and Christine, winter making a big comeback here.
[04:55:01] A lot of cold air in place, even some lake-effect snow cranking up through the weekend. Some people could be getting one to two feet of snow in some of the usual suspects. The Tug Hill Plateau here going to get the bulk of it. If you are traveling along the I-81 or the New York thruway, down toward Buffalo, going to want to use extra caution over the next 24 to 48 hours.
Again, some of those totals through Saturday and through Sunday could be up to two feet. But that's really the big weather-maker over the weekend. The rest of the U.S. remaining relatively quiet and cold, high pressure in place. Take a look at some of these temperatures, though.
This is a look at the high temperature this afternoon -- 42 degrees for you in New York City. Considerably colder. You were up in the high 50s on Thursday. That wind chill is going to feel like 36. We're looking at a wind chill of around 20 in Chicago. And in Minneapolis, it's going to feel like 19.
So, get ready.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Julie Martin, thank you.
That's the weather, here's your money. CNN Money Stream right now.
Dow futures ticking slightly higher right now. That average sitting at record high for the Dow. Stocks in Europe and Asia are mixed. Another big round of corporate earnings this morning. Optimism about President Trump's economic plans pushing the dollar higher as well.
With all the focus on the Dow 20,000 this week, one important reminder: most Americans are not cashing in. Recent bank rate surveys asked if you are investing, 54 percent of respondents said no. That includes individual stocks, retirement accounts and mutual fund. So, a reminder that the biggest benefit of the stock market rally, the investing class, people who are making money with their money.
A big report is due later this morning. A first look at economic growth for the fourth quarter, follows a 3.5 percent growth rate in Q3. You can see the estimate. That was the best in two years.
The economists forecast a slower pace in the fourth quarter, about 2.2 percent. Though still better than earlier in the year. The other big question is how will the Trump administration react? This report measures that final three months of President Obama's tenure, but for more than half of that, Donald Trump was the president-elect.
It will be interesting to see how he responds to the economic figures coming out from the government.
And finally, some of the coolest and ambitious projects at Google are costing a lot of money, billions of dollars. Google parent company Alphabet says it lost 1.1 billion bucks from so-called moon shots during the fourth quarter. That includes projects like self-driving cars, life scientist research, high speed Internet access and likely many more that are still secret. Since forming the parent company, Alphabet has been trying to cut costs in some areas. It's been difficult with the moon shot, which burns you a total of $3.6 billion in 2016.
Check out the CNN Money Stream app. It's business news personalized, stories, videos, tweets, topics you all want in one feed. Download it on the App Store or Google Play. I've got to say, they've got the money, they've got the deep pockets and they like to really take big risks on cool ideas.
MARQUEZ: And presumably, they are learning things.
ROMANS: Absolutely. Many cases, it is money well spent.
MARQUEZ: Well, they also turned a profit. So, they can lose that much but still make money.
ROMANS: Exactly. Deep pockets. Deep pockets.
MARQUEZ: Unbelievable. Guess what? EARLY START continues now.
(MUSIC)
ROMANS: Building a border wall. The White House laying out ideas to get Mexico to pay for it after Mexico's president calls off a trip to Washington.
MARQUEZ: All this as the president gets ready to host the first foreign leader at the White House today. And overnight, we learned he will speak with another leader tomorrow. And you don't want to miss who that is.
ROMANS: And President Trump making first visit to the Pentagon to get started on a new plan to bring down ISIS.
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
MARQUEZ: And I'm Miguel Marquez. Happy Friday. It is January 27th, 5:00 a.m. here on the East Coast.
Breaking overnight: an administration official tells CNN that President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to speak on the phone on Saturday, tomorrow. It will be their first conversation since Mr. Trump took office.
No matter how that call goes, it will likely be smoother than the first foray into global diplomacy with Mexico. The White House suggesting that it may try to pay for the border wall, with the 20 percent tax on imports from Mexico, though it walked that back a bit later in the day. That proposal came after Mexico's president canceled the planned meeting with Mr. Trump. The Mexican leader under intense pressure at home after President Trump signed an executive order laying the groundwork for the border wall and vowed again to make Mexico pay for it.
All of this comes hours ahead of President Trump's first face-to-face meeting with a foreign leader.
Let's bring in senior White House correspondent Jeff Zeleny for the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZELENY: Christine and Miguel, President Trump is going to be meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May here at the White House today. It is the first meeting with a foreign leader of his young presidency. It's the first time he will have a chance to take a measure of her and vice versa, her of him. They'll be holding a press conference here as well, talking about so many issues between these countries and indeed around the world.
But it is a dust-up with another foreign leader, the president of Mexico, that is really causing the first diplomatic standoff of this new administration. Yesterday, President Trump said that he agreed with the Mexican president to cancel a meeting next week between the two leaders.
