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Inside Politics

Trade War Worries As Tariff Tit-for-Tat Heats Up; Cohen Deletes Reference to Trump From Twitter Profile; Gallup Poll: 47 Percent "Extremely Proud" To Be American. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired July 04, 2018 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:03] MICHAEL SHEAR, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: -- institution of Hollywood around them and sort of cover up around the behavior, right? We've seen that in the lot of these instances where large institutions whether they're colleges or -- in Weinstein's case, the sort of kind of Hollywood, you know, institution of Hollywood around them.

And the question becomes, did people enable the behavior? Did people hide the behavior? Did people look the other way? And I think those two forces will come together as we understand.

Like, will there be a critical mass of people to both testify to the behavior, and then also to testify to the sort of the alleged cover-up of --

JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: I think the Penn State example of several years ago gives you a sense of how this will play out in every front. We'll watch it, and again, you know, good for the congressman saying he's going to communicate and cooperate with the investigation. We'll see how this one plays out going forward.

Up next, why that tit-for-tat between President Trump and America's trading partners could end up giving you a bigger grocery bill.

Before we go to break, let's take a peek here at the iconic boardwalk in Coney Island on this Fourth of July.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Live pictures here of Myrtle Beach on this Independence Day, the Fourth of July. Good day to go to the beach, have a little break. Maybe we'll do that after work today.

As we celebrate America's birthday, one of the big conversations around the world is America first and the big debate over the president's trade policy.

[12:35:02] Let's take a peek right now at what tariffs that are in place or potentially in place. The United States fighting Canada, fighting Mexico, fighting the European Union and fighting China. As the president says, I promised during the campaign to get tough or trade, and now I'm going to do it.

So, tariffs or potential tariffs against the United States, $3.2 billion from Canada. Mexico has $3 billion in the pipeline, the European Union, a little over $3 billion in the pipeline. $37 billion threatened from China. This against U.S. products.

So, let's take a look at it for the Fourth of July. Fireworks at the moment not covered by the end of the tariffs. But, $900 million the American Pyrotechnic Association says will be spent on fireworks by Americans this year. China makes 99 percent of those that you use in your backyard. Do it safely if you're doing it today.

Seventy percent of the display fireworks is just one way to bring the trade fight at the Fourth of July. At the moment, not involved in the tariff fight but China a big player in just about everything we do here in the United States.

Now, think about your cookout or your picnic today. If tariffs go into effect, like the Canadians threat and the Europeans threat, like China is threatening, there will be against pork. You're having ribs today at your barbecue? Prices there might go up. Canned drinks? Soda, beer, aluminum tariffs going up.

Ketchup, California and Florida growers could be targeted by that as punitive retaliatory targeted tariffs. Whiskey, if you're from Kentucky or Tennessee, big whiskey for these states, you too. What you pay and imagine this. The American -- the National Retail Federation says America spends $75 on average per person for their entertainment, their food, their alcohol, for the Fourth of July barbecue. What you pay this year could go up next year if this trade war kicks in at full force.

The chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel saying she is prepared to fight back but she wishes the president would negotiate a solution.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): We now have tariffs on aluminum and steel and we have a discussion which is very serious. It appears cars too will be imposed with tariffs when they are imported into the United States.

Ladies and gentlemen, this has the character of a trade conflict. I don't want to use any other word for now. It's worth every effort to try to defuse this conflict so it does not turn into a war. But this, obviously, takes two.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Relatively conciliatory language there because if you think about all politics is local, the president very unpopular across most of Europe. So you could see a European leader, and you will see all the European leaders being more feisty in saying, fine, this is going to help me at home to pick a fight with the president. She's trying to say can we turn the temperature down here and cut a deal?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think a lot of the rest of the world is forcing Trump to be on the forefront of this. The president keeps saying we're in a trade war already and we're already losing that's why I'm doing this.

We saw China today announcing they're going to make sure that Trump's tariffs go into place first, and then they'll retaliate. So that it's clear that in the optics of this, that President Trump is the one waging a trade war on Europe. And waging a trade war on China, and potentially waging a trade war on allies in Canada and Mexico.

So that the narrative is pretty clear here. The president is in his behavior, in some ways, moving away from the principles of the WTO that, by the way, the United States created. And creating problems for United States consumers that all these other countries are going to say, we were only forced to do what we had no choice but to do which is defend ourselves.

KING: And where's the off ramp?

SHEAR: Well, there doesn't look like there's an immediate off ramp and part of the problem is, to the extent you could have a policy dispute between the United States and its allies over this particular issue and say to each other, you know, we're friends, let's work this out. We disagree about this policy issue but we have a good relationship so we'll figure it out. The relationship itself is in tatters, right?

I mean, he's about -- President Trump is about to go to Europe for the NATO meeting and is going to have terribly tough conversations about other issues. He just was at the G7 and blew that meeting up over this issue. It's difficult to see how Angela Merkel and the other European leaders and President Trump sit down and work this out when the relationship itself is so bad.

KING: And a lot -- listen, this is Bruce Heyman, the former U.S. ambassador to Canada but he's not alone in making this argument. The president thinks and the president believe this long before he got involved in politics that America comes out on the short end of all the trade deals. Bruce Heyman is saying, wait a minute, unemployment is under four percent. Until you got into this fight, the stock market was going like this. Maybe, Mr. President, you should think again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRUCE HEYMAN, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO CANADA: He thinks somehow everybody in the world is taking advantage of the United States of America. Amazing how we've been able to grow our economy, become the number one economy in the world under all of these really bad agreements we have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: But the president doesn't accept that argument.

ELIANA JOHNSON, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, POLITICO: He doesn't. And, you know, I've had somebody -- you know, White House aides say that no matter how many times you explain to the president that a trade deficit doesn't mean that we're getting taken advantage by another -- of by another country or that it's a bad deal for the U.S., he doesn't perceive it that way.

[12:40:13] So I think you ask about off ramps. I think that there are many, many Trump aides who will be trying to provide him off ramps should he ever get to a point that he is looking for one.

KING: Somehow that he can somehow declare victory or we'll see if they can cut a deal as we go forward.

Up next for us here, Michael Cohen. Remember him? Makes a small but potentially very important change to his Twitter profile.

And as we go to break, we continue to watch July 4th parades around the country. Here, Aurora, Illinois. Love that. Happy Independence Day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Topping our political radar today, Fourth of July gas prices, the highest they've been in four years. AAA says the national average is $2.86 a gallon for regular unleaded. But the price varies of course dramatically depending on where you live. Gasbuddy.com shows the cheapest gas mostly in the southeast while drivers out west are paying the most by far.

Alan Dershowitz may be the talk of Martha's Vineyard this July 4th after saying he feels shunned by his fellow islanders because he supports President Trump's view that the special counsel investigation has gone off the rails.

[12:45:01] The Harvard law professor says he can live with the cold shoulder he's getting from his mostly liberal neighbors but laments what it says to him about America. Tweeting he's proud of taking an unpopular principled position even if it gets him shunned by what he calls, quote, partisan zealots.

Dershowitz goes on to call it a dangerous sign of the times when people go out of their way to avoid points of view they disagree with.

Take a peek here, look closely, Michael Cohen's Twitter page. You'll notice a very important difference compared to just an hour ago. He used to refer to himself as the president's personal attorney. Not anymore.

Cohen, of course the subject of intense speculation over whether he might turn on the president and cooperate with the feds to avoid or reduce criminal charges. He said this week he'll put his family and country above all else.

President Trump is enjoying one of his favorite pastimes this Independence Day. He's at his golf club in Sterling, Virginia right now. He'll attend a picnic for military families a bit later. The president combining the two last nights speaking at this week's PGA tour event which is dedicated to the military. The president thanking our men and women in uniform and praising some of the golf pros on hand.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE United States: John Daly, John, John. Boy, he's -- John, I played with John in a tournament that we won, meaning that he won, he won. You know, it's funny, he won and then I go back. Everyone says how did you do? I won!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Well, what do we make? Michael Cohen, reinventing himself.

SHEAR: I guess we'll know for sure when he updates the Twitter bio again to say cooperating witness. If that happens then we'll know for sure.

PHILLIP: Obviously this relationship is over. And just like you would with any bad boyfriend, you break up with them and you scrub your social media feed of all of remaining mentions of his name. And that's what Michael Cohen is doing.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: And he's doing it on the president's preferred medium. We know how much president Trump loves Twitter. So people have already been tweeting about this. Been noting this change to his Twitter bio. It's certainly is another way for Cohen to send a signal to President Trump that, you know, he's losing his allegiance.

KING: Well, the president didn't respond after he had the interview with George Stephanopoulos the other day and all the coverage of that. So maybe this is attempt number two of getting a response from the president. We shall see.

Up next, how proud are you to be an American on this Independence Day? Well, sadly, it just may depend on whether you're a Democrat or Republican or and independent. As we go to break, look here at the boardwalk, seaside Heights in New Jersey.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:51:00] KING: Important pictures to show you here. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren spending their Fourth of July in Iraq. You see pictures of them visiting troops. They're moving on to Baghdad as well. Good for them (INAUDIBLE) the American service men and service women on this Independence Day back home.

On this Independence Day back home, are you proud to be an American? Hope so. If so, how proud? Let's take a look at some new numbers.

This is from the Gallup Organization. Forty-seven percent, so nearly half of Americans say they're extreme proud to be Americans. Now the 25 percent say they're very proud. Sixteen percent say they're only moderately proud, three percent say not at all, seven percent only a little.

And like everything else in the country on this question here raised politics, it's divided a lot by party lines. Forty-seven percent of all Americans, remember that's down four points from last year. Only a third of Democrats are extremely proud to be an American. That's dropped 11 points.

You can guess why. Republicans, 74 percent say they're extremely proud. That's up a little bit. Independents has dropped about four points since last year. That's a tough constituency for President Trump.

You see all this play out as we go through it here. Are you proud or embarrassed to have Donald Trump as your president? Half of Americans say they're embarrassed. Thirty-one percent say proud, 18 percent say neither. Views of the president impact views of just about everything else, including whether you're proud to be an American.

Now on this debate, Democrats would say maybe I'm less proud this year because I don't like Donald Trump. Rush Limbaugh would say the Democrats are the problem here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUSH LIMBAUGH, CONSERVATIVE RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Be American. Go out and do what you would normally be inclined to do, but don't be intimidated into flying the flag. Don't be intimidated by any patriotic activity. Whatever it is, guilt or hatred, there is a rising percentage of the Democrat Party that simply doesn't like this country and does not think America should remain America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Even the Fourth of July is subject to our polarization. Really?

SHEAR: I think -- it was interesting with those statistics that you showed. You showed year over year, right, which would have meant July of 2017, Trump was president then. It would have been interesting I think to see 2016 where you would have seen a bigger switch, right. You would have probably seen more Democrats saying they're proud of America and --

KING: Fewer Republicans.

SHEAR: -- fewer Republicans.

JOHNSON: Well, Trump had clinched the nomination, so well.

SHEAR: Right. So who knows. Maybe go back to '15, you know, or whatever. But I do think that what it shows is less about fundamentally where America is and, you know, broadly and more about this partisan divide specifically about our politics in the White House.

KING: Right. The peak, extremely proud was 70 percent in 2003 which was a year and a half removed from 9/11 which of course the country rallied around without a doubt.

So this is the Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell. We talked earlier in the program about how critical is the Supreme Court nomination. Listen to the majority leader here, he's home in Kentucky this week. And he said, yes, he understands some Democrats are completely freaked out by Trump. He says, guess what, some Republicans are completely unnerved by President Trump too.

Mitch McConnell says take the long view. America is 242 years old today. We'll be OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MAJORITY LEADER: Whether you're freaked out on the left or freaked out on the right, don't worry. Nobody can break this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Can we at least all agree on that or no?

(CROSSTALK)

JOHNSON: -- admits the panic that we live in, you know, day-to-day.

PHILLIP: But I think a lot of people are worried that maybe no one can break it but they can certainly damage it. I mean, I think that's really the concern.

MURRAY: Well, sure. But like a lot of Republicans felt that way, you know, when Obama was president. I mean, the reality is this is still a country where both sides are allowed to be freaked out. Both sides are allowed to be out there publically explaining who is freaking them out and why. Because this is still a country where you have a lot of freewill and you have a right, a lot of rights, and that has not changed based on who the president is.

SHEAR: And the definition of somebody who never seems to be freaked out is Mitch McConnell.

[12:55:01] I don't know what I would do if I saw a freak-out by Mitch --

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIP: Maybe calmer than most.

KING: That was his freaked out look. What are you talking about. Well, his counterpart, again, this is not just Chuck Schumer. We live in a 365-day a year political cycle now, 24/7, trying to use the Fourth of July to make a point. Here, tweeting out, "Today I'm celebrating the freedom, all caps, of women to make their own health care decisions as established by the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade. Today, I'm celebrating the freedom of every American to choose to marry the person they love as established by the Supreme Court in Obergefell versus Hidges. Will you join me @real Donald Trump?"

Trying to keep his liberal base happy and stir up a little conversation on Independence Day. PHILLIP: Politics does not take a day off apparently not even on the Fourth of July. I'm actually surprised we haven't seen more from the president but he's made it clear, he thinks America --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's golfing.

PHILLIP: Yes, he's golfing. He said he thinks America is great but if you'd ask him two years ago he probably would have said America is going down the toilet. So, I mean, look, partisanship is what rules --

(INAUDIBLE)

KING: Well, I'm going to work this in and I'll probably get yelled at by somebody. But Hillary Clinton tweeting on the Fourth of July, "242 years ago we set out to build a more perfect union. We're not finished yet. Happy Fourth of July."

Now you could say that any Fourth of July because we never will be finished. But some people will take that as her making a point.

MURRAY: Well, sure, look, America is very much still a work in progress. And it's going to ebb and flow. And that's going to freak some people out, whatever direction you're going like it did under Obama, like it's doing now under Trump. Still the United States of America.

KING: Take it from the old guy at the table, 242 is the new 30.

Thanks for joining us on the INSIDE POLITICS. Jim Sciutto is in for Wolf Blitzer. He'll pick up our coverage after a quick break. Have a fabulous Independence Day. Stay safe.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)