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Trump To Sign "Right-To-Try" Bill; President Trump Going On A Diet; Kim Yong-chol: North Korea's Go-To Diplomat. Aired 12:30-1p ET
Aired May 30, 2018 - 12:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:33:45] JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Welcome back. You see we're keeping an eye on this event at the White House. The President is speaking as he signs legislation. It's called the right to try act. It allows terminally ill patients to try experimental drugs if they try other things and they haven't succeeded.
The President is signing the bill. We'll listen in for any news there, if there's news at that event.
Now to the President last night on the campaign trail, rallygoers in Nashville getting a good glimpse at the President's 2018 midterm election campaign plan. And if you fall the 2016 race, well, I think there are a lot of parallels. Attack the opponents. In this case, the Democratic Senate candidate Phil Bredesen, a former two-term Tennessee Governor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Marsha's very liberal Democrat opponent, Phil Bredesen. I never heard of this guy. Who is he? Who is he? He's an absolute total tool of Chuck Schumer. And of course, the MS-13-lover Nancy Pelosi.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Never heard of him, but he's a tool of Chuck Schumer. Also part of the President's playbook, play to the base. Even though some Republican strategists worry the President's tone, listen here, might not sell in the suburbs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They're more interested in taking care of criminals than they are in taking care of you. The Democrats want to use it as a campaign issue.
[12:35:09] And I keep saying, I hope they do. If you want your country to be safe, then you must go out and get the Democrats the hell out of office because there's no common sense.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KING: It's a fascinating test. The President trusts his instincts, the President -- this President and no one ever told him he was going to lose --
JONATHAN MARTIN, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Yes.
KING: And he thinks do it the same way. Use the 2016 playbook and use it again in 2018.
MARTIN: Yes.
KING: Tennessee will be one of the many fascinating tests whether it works.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: California Republicans, call your office. Because, you know, he is right, that in a national race where he's trying to get the base out when he's running against a Democratic candidate who does not have a lot of, you know, raw support among many in her base, it's a winner.
MARTIN: To be kind.
BASH: To be kind. With, you know, suburban districts, as you mentioned, or districts where you were, John, out in California, where the -- not the Democrats, the Republicans there are so apoplectic and concerned about the immigration issue going so far to the right, that they are bucking their own leadership to try to get a vote on something that the base that the President is talking about considers amnesty. So it is quite simple in some ways, but it is about as complicated in a midterm year where you're playing to the base, but you're also really very much playing to a lot of these suburban --
KING: Right. But there's no question listening to him. He is not getting into the nuance of the national map in this district or that district. He thinks we have an intensity problem.
MARTIN: Yes.
KIING: Democrats are more intensity. I'm going to gin up my base by talking immigration.
MICHAEL BENDER, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: What other options are there really? I mean, the President isn't doing an incredible job. His team is doing incredible job raising money. And so we're also -- you know, I'm not sure of any House races that they're trying to get him out there, you know, into the district where he's refused.
So then other than, you know, he's actually pretty good at this, at riling up the base and motivating them, whether it's going to work or not is another question. But outside that, how do you use the President in the midterm year?
MARTIN: I totally agree that this is the best way to use him, stick him in red states where the Senate is at stake and have him drive a hard line message on immigration. It's jarring to hear that kind of language from an American president, because it's so different from what we're used to from that office.
But as 2016 proved, jarring as it may be, it can be pretty dam effective. And especially in large lose of red America and that's where, John, the Senate is being fought this year. And you've got these Americas. You got two maps, two campaigns at once. The House map and the Senate map.
And the House map is much more driven by purple suburbs. The Senate map, though, is in states where Trump not only won. And a lot of them he won overwhelmingly, Tennessee, North Dakota, Indiana, Montana, West Virginia, Missouri. That's Trump country. It was in 2016. It still is now.
And the issue there is that the GOP needs to really drive down the Democratic incumbents or candidates and consolidate the base around their candidates. And a lot of these aren't that well known. And that's Trump last night trying to do that in some really raw language.
KING: And Marsha Blackburn, let's listen to her. She's the candidate in Tennessee. She has been a Trump supporter from the beginning.
MARTIN: Yes.
KING: She's made a strategic calculation, and it's probably the right one for a Republican. It's risky, but it's probably still the right one because we saw Democrats in 2010, 2014, run from Obama.
MARTIN: Right.
KING: You still lose. He's your president. He's a larger than life figure. You're not going to get away from him.
MARTIN: You're going to see too.
KING: So listen to Marsha Blackburn saying, hey look, yes, sure it's not perfect, but I think overall the President is still very popular in my state.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MARSHA BLACKBURN (R), TENNESSEE SENATE CANDIDATE: I say the President is coming where people really appreciate him. He is very popular in Tennessee. What a great place to do it. Some place that you have tremendous support, he carried the state. And people are saying we want to be certain that we hold the House and the Senate so the President can continue to push forward this agenda.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: It's what she's got. And she's a good candidate. I don't mean it in a bad way. The question is, can she sell that? If we look at every race so far, the special elections last year, the elections this year, the President has a problem with suburban women who don't like his tone, don't like his tweets, don't like the way he conducts himself. And that's Phil Bredesen, he probably can win those people in four-state ride runs.
JUANA SUMMERS, CNN POLITICS SENIOR WRITER: You know it's absolutely right. And I think that we're seeing the President in states like Tennessee being deployed in places where he neither knock some punches at Democrats or he can help boost fund-raising or to put more media attention on these states.
The other thing though as Jonathan was talking about how it's jarring to care some of these things that strikes me John, though, is it's both jarring and also the President in rallies like when we heard it last night, he's saying some things that are either exaggerated or not perhaps true, yet again to gin up that base. And you have these people agitated (ph) some of those things I think perhaps won't -- while it's not those suburban women and those purple areas of the country that we're talking about.
KING: One should play out.
[12:40:03] MARTIN: And if you're Trump or if you're a Trump adviser, you probably made the calculus that, if you're not in crisis mode right now in the House, you're on the verge of crisis mode. And if you lose the House, obviously, you can't afford to lose the Senate. So, you know, have him go this far and use this kind of language in those red states and protect what he can.
KING: That's an excellent point. The House is more complicated. I think the President will have less of a role in that. He'll do those, as you mention, some of the Trump states if you will. One of those Trump states, Democrats, by the way, have this event, showdown in Indiana, a lot of Republicans will grown than that he got the invitation but there is.
Up next for us, President Trump cuts back on the carbs and swaps his steak for, yes, Dover sole. New detail on the President's quest to shed some pounds and promote fitness, that's next.
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[12:45:13] KING: The President at a health care event right now, signing legislation about drug use by terminally ill patients. Later today, he has a sports and fitness event at the White House. As we wait for that event, we're also learning some new details about the President's efforts to set a better example.
CNN's Kaitlan Collins joins me now. Kaitlan, tell us about the President's new health regimen and who is behind helping him try to lose a few pounds?
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, the President is having this event here at the White House today, highlighting health and fitness. Well, questions are being raised about the President's own health and fitness.
As you recall, back in January, the President's doctor came out to the briefing room. And while he told reporters he believed the President was in good health, he did say that he was 6'3" and 239 pounds and had set a weight loss goal of 10 to 15 pounds over the coming year. So questions are how he was going to do that through diet and exercise.
Now as far as the diet, the President has changed his diet, John, and we're told the chefs in the White House kitchen have been told to limit the calorie and fat intake of some of the meals that they prepare for the President who often eats here at the White House.
And he has traded his well-done steaks that he usually drowns in ketchup with Dover sole, and those cheese burgers he eats after he plays a realm of golf, now only come with the bottom bun and no longer the top half of the bun. So the President certainly has changed his eating sense (ph) since that medical evaluation by Dr. Ronny Jackson.
But as far as exercise, from what we can tell, the President doesn't seem to have implemented any new routines into his exercise routine. He has said before he doubts the benefit of exercise for people his age and then said he prefers to play golf, though we should know that when he does go play around the golf, he uses a cart instead of walking, as like some people choose to do. So, a great deal of irony here today, John, as the President is holding this event. These questions about his own weight loss battle that are still going on in the White House.
KING: A great deal of irony. The understatement of the day from Kaitlan Collins live at the White House. Kaitlan, thank you. We'll watch that event later today.
Up next for us here, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo heading to New York to meet with North Korea's go-to diplomat. The subject, can we keep on track that June 12 summit meeting. What the United States wants to hear from the North Koreans. That's next.
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[12:51:31] KING: Welcome back. A top North Korean official on his way to New York right now. The Trump White House is hoping he arrives with major commitments about eliminating Pyongyang's nuclear program. Kim Yong-chol is here to meet with the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and their talks will determine whether the White House is willing to go ahead with that Singapore summit between President Trump and Kim Jong-Un.
A source telling CNN the administration is looking for a big gesture from North Korea, some kind of proof that the country is serious, the regime is serious about negotiating a path to denuclearization. What kind of commitment is big enough? It's a process that would take years. It is a process that everybody, including the President and his team, are skeptical North Korea really is committed to. So what is this essentially right hand man of Kim Jong-un have to come to New York with to get them to think, OK, this is worth it?
BENDER: I mean, the President has been clear, the post season from this administration have been clear. They want total denuclearization. You know, he's shown a little bit of willingness to hedge on the time period and how quickly that has to happen. But, I mean, he's been adamant about that. So anything short of that is going to raise real questions about what they're going to Singapore for, what they're taking this meeting for.
And even inside the White House, inside this administration, there are vastly different viewpoints on what is going to happen just within the next few days. There is a real goal for this thing to happen sooner than later. But there are just a million doubts and a million variables within Mr. Trump's -- President Trump's own team about whether it will.
KING: And this is a reminder as Kim Yong-chol comes to New York about the kind of people you have to deal with. If you're going to deal with North Korea, this is who you have to deal with. He is former spy chief. He's allegedly was behind that 2014 hack on Sony, that was a big deal. The top official in charge of relations with the South. Allegedly behind the sinking of a South Korea navy ship. The most senior official from North Korea to visit the United States since 2000. So a bad actor. Named in the United States sanctions against North Korea.
Again, if you're going to deal with a rogue regime, you have to deal with rogue people. The question is, can Mike Pompeo get enough to convince the President to go forward. Or maybe the bigger question is, if Mike Pompeo doesn't get enough, can he convince the President not to go forward because the President wants this meeting.
MARTIN: He clearly wants the meeting, right? Isn't the issue like -- the real issue here that the folks around Trump eventually are going to have to say that you can't do this if this is going to be really bad for us in the long-term? Because the President clearly is dying for that photo op. He wants to be able to have the sort of back and forth, he wants the historic moment. You can just feel it how he's trying to do this, right?
BASH: True. But then the question is whether or not they can use -- if they want to go forward, and he can't be convinced otherwise whether they can use the remaining weeks to change and lower the expectations, that this is an opening dialogue, because he's getting praise from even his biggest detractors for even being willing to sit down with Kim Jong-un. So that is option c maybe to just try to change the expectations and change the parameters and say maybe this is the --
KING: Yes. To that point, or flip the equation to the sense that just weeks ago, everyone said, well, locked and loaded, fire and fury, that's so reckless and irresponsible Mr. President. Could he make the case? Yes, I decided to go ahead with this meeting. Yes, I sat down face to face with Kim Jong-un because I wanted to give it every last chance.
He didn't come to the table at any serious commitment. Therefore, maximum pressure, more sanctions and when I get tougher now, they'll criticize me, I tried.
SUMMERS: Absolutely. I think that's certainly the case. And obviously if somehow this does work out, they meet, they have this meeting, this would be a huge diplomatic triumph for these two nations that have been clashing. And one thing I'm curious in watching is, you know, you saw the President come out with this letter effectively calling off the summit not so long ago (ph). We still have what, 12, 13 days until the summit is scheduled to take place. What's going to happen then? Will there be changes in the posture towards North Korean.
[12:55:12] KING: Specificity about the agenda. We'll see. Good luck, Secretary Pompeo.
Coming up for us, a reality show superstar makes her way to the White House for some at least on paper, serious discussions.
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KING: Topping our political radar today, if you keep up with the Kardashians, one of them urging President Trump to pardon a low-level drug offender named Marie Johnson. Today, Kim Kardashian-West will be at the White House to talk prison reform and perhaps make her case in person while she believes Johnson deserves a pardon.
The reality TV icon scheduled to meet with Jared Kushner and we're told she may also get an Oval Office sit down with the President of the United States. Just moments ago, the Texas Governor Greg Abbott, unveiling his plan for improving campus safety, that after the shooting that killed 10 people at Santa Fe high school in Texas. Among the things the Governor is recommending, the schools have more armed resource officers, better training for handling active shooter situations and new rules for reporting people who are declared unfit to carry a weapon. Above all, Governor Abbott says mental health should be the focus.
Thanks for joining us on INSIDE POLITICS. Wolf starts right now.
