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Any Minute: South Korean President Meets With Biden At WH; AZ GOP Official's Warning: Don't Reuse The Audit Voting Machines. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired May 21, 2021 - 12:30   ET

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

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[12:30:00]

JENNIFER WEISSELBERG, FMR. DAUGHTER-IN-LAW OF TRUMP ORG. CFO ALLEN WEISSELBERG: There's nothing legal going on there. They need to be accountable for what they've done.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will Allen Weisselberg flip on Trump?

WEISSELBERG: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: She does not think, you know, she thinks Mr. Weisselberg will flip when it comes to it. And we have to be careful. There's a divorce involved here. There are family relationships involved here but her take that essentially that the enterprise is an illegal enterprise. I assume when the former president hears that he bristles and more.

MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I don't think it thrills the former president. And I would say that another reason why he is doing these rallies or talking about doing these rallies, it's not just about raising money, John, but it's also about giving him something that he can point to and say, look, see these investigators are going after me, because I'm so formidable for 2024. And it's trying to conflate the legal and political and the public relations aspect of it, which is what he has done throughout his presidency.

And well before that, I do think that Jennifer Weisselberg is offering these prosecutors a window, certainly into mindset. And yes, there is a contentious divorce involved, but a mindset as well as documents that they can use from certain Weisselberg accounts to compare against the Trump tax return documents that those prosecutors now have. And I think that that's really vital.

KING: It is really been. Maggie Haberman, grateful for the reporting and insights, we'll continue to watch how this one plays out the unpredictability of Trump world. Appreciate it. Up next, the Biden worldview is an about face from Trump pressure on Israel's Prime Minister and today on what to do about North Korea conversation, guess what a summit with Kim Jong-un, not an option.

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[12:36:03]

KING: Any moment now President Biden meets with South Korea's president at the White House. You see the pictures there at the West Wing. The North Korean nuclear problem is a certain topic and one of the giant global resets. Team Biden believes the Trump White House foolishly rewarded Kim Jong-un with summits even though North Korea did nothing to unwind its nuclear weapons program.

The visit also coincides with another global test. The Israel-Hamas fighting is on hold for now after 11 days. Remember, during the Trump presidency, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a 24/7 green light. This week President Biden tried a different approach public support for Israel's right to defend itself, but a series of private conversations that grew increasingly tense until the White House went public with a ceasefire demand. The President says his way works.

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My administration will continue our quiet relentless diplomacy toward that end. I believe we have a genuine opportunity to make progress. And I'm committed to working for it.

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KING: Joining our conversation is the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, Richard Haass. He's also the author of the newly revised "The World: A Brief Introduction," Richard, grateful for your time on this important day. A former colleague of yours at the State Department, Aaron David Miller said this of what he saw from the President yesterday, a wash rinse and repeat statement heavily tilted toward Israel, Egypt, understandably against Hamas, and at least a mention of the PA, the Palestinian Authority. Clear signal that there will be no heavy public left on Israeli-Palestinian issue.

Do you agree with that? And did we learn anything about the relatively young Presidency of Joe Biden in how he views the world in recent days?

RICHARD HAASS, PRESIDENT, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: I think we learned a few things. I think we learn that a priority is still things domestic. He is not looking for heavy foreign policy entanglements. I think there's no strong case to get seriously involved in the Israeli- Palestinian issue, simply because John, the pieces are not present. They're not even close to being present that any diplomat no matter how talented could realize progress.

And I think this piece -- this ceasefire largely came about and I don't mean this to be critical, less because of what the United States said or did. But really, because both Hamas and the government of Israel concluded that continued warfare wasn't serving their interests. Hamas had made its point but that it was representing the Palestinians. But meanwhile, people were getting killed and they couldn't defend them. And Israel was coming under an increasing international criticism and into increasing criticism within the United States.

KING: Prime Minister Netanyahu could do no wrong in the Trump presidency. What is different? And why does it matter in the relationship with the Biden White House?

HAASS: Well, the President gave him a degree of space, but didn't give them carte blanche. And I think what this President is really trying to do is, one, keep the Democratic Party intact. He's got a large domestic agenda. And there are elements of the Democratic Party whose enthusiasm for the Israeli Prime Minister is shall we say muted. And then also there's a big thing to come, which is called Iran (ph). And the United States and Israel, Joe Biden and Bibi Netanyahu are likely going to have to deal with that.

And that's potentially going to be far more contentious than anything we've seen in the last two weeks, so both of them need to keep a working relationship with the other.

KING: What are your thoughts on the meeting today? South Korea's president is at the White House, North Korea always at the top of the list when it comes to that. I believe you share the view of the president that Donald Trump foolishly gave away too many summits with Kim Jong-un and got nothing for it and that North Korea's nuclear program is stronger now than it was at the end of the Obama administration. What reset needs to be done there like the Middle East? It's one of the world's intractables. Is there much this new president can do?

HAASS: The short answer is no. When we give North Korea a lot of attention, we don't make a lot of progress. When we give them no attention, we don't make progress. We can sanction them. The only thing that seems to be steady is their conventional military might is a constant, and they've dramatically increased their nuclear missile arsenals.

[12:40:08]

I think the best we can hope for is what you might call something for something. We may get some limits on say the growth of their arsenal, maybe a little bit more transparency about what they're actually doing in exchange for a degree of sanctions relief. But we can talk about denuclearization until the cows come home, John, it's not going to happen.

KING: Right. And the bigger player in the neighborhood, you know this full well, it's something that does get a lot of President Biden's attention. He just said this in an interview with David Brooks in the New York Times. We're at a kind of a place where the rest of the world is beginning to look to China. The most devastating comment made after I was elected, it wasn't so

much about me, but it was by the Irish Taoiseach, the Prime Minister saying that, well, America can't lead. They can't even get their arms around COVID. The President has repeatedly talked about how he views the mission of his presidency, when it comes to the world stage of reestablishing, you know, a stronger America because of the threat from China, how?

HAASS: Look, we can become stronger and we should become stronger. A smart immigration policy would help. Obviously getting COVID under control is a massive accomplishment, getting the economy back on track, improving infrastructure, education, all sorts of ways we can get America more competitive with China, we can have a bigger foreign aid and trade policy, something we haven't done.

But there's one other thing here, we need Chinese help if we are going to put any pressure on North Korea, 90 percent of North Korea's trade goes in and out through China. So it's one of the reasons that we also need to have a dimension of cooperation inside an overall relationship with China that includes large elements and competition. That's where diplomacy and statecraft will be tested. Can we find ways to cooperate in a context where we compete or even worse?

KING: In the early stages of watching many of these questions, at least the beginning of the answers. Richard Haass grateful for your time today, it's good to see you. We'll circle back when we can have a conversation again. Thank you very much.

HAASS: Thank you, John.

KING: Thank you.

Up next for us back to domestic politics and a serious warning from the Arizona Secretary of State about the machines used in that state's alleged election audit.

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[12:46:56]

KING: Republicans who back a so called audit of Joe Biden's November win in Arizona say Trump backers in other states are eager to copy the process. That process includes remarkably, the government handing over election ballots and equipment to a private company. Now Arizona Secretary of State has a warning about that. She says any voting machines removed from government control cannot be trusted, and therefore should not be used in future elections.

Still with us, Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post and Jonathan Martin of the New York Times. I'll start with you, Mr. Martin. This process is nuts to begin with. I'm sorry, sorry, it just is. You have a government --

JONATHAN MARTIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: A clinical term I think.

KING: You have a government that has legal recount processes and check the equipment processes after exhausting those because of Republicans in the Arizona Senate handing the ballots and the machines over to a private company for a process run by conspiracy theorists. Now, Katie Hobbs, the Democratic Secretary of State says those machines should not be put back into service.

MARTIN: Yes, they're trying to mollify the sort of hardcore primary base that exists in that state that still in thrall to Donald Trump. And this is all about the primary process in the GOP, I think you have state senators who are operating this way, because they live in fear of the primary threat that's on their right.

The challenge in a place like Arizona, as we will know, after the last two cycles is that the general election there now mean something. And then if you get pulled to the right too much, it's going to hurt you in the general. That's why the state now has two Democratic senators and why it went Democrat last year for president for the first time in a quarter century. So this is the challenge the GOP has, John, at large.

KING: And that's the challenge we have in our business. And the challenge you have if you're especially, I guess, if you're a Republican in any of these states, is to try to sort the truth from the conspiracy, I could use a stronger word, I'll just say stuff, including listen to Karoun. This is John Brakey. He's a Trump supporter. He's a quote unquote observer of the audit. Like the former president, some people involved here, just keep saying things because then they hope people will believe they're true.

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JOHN BRAKEY, TRUMP SUPPORTER ASSISTING ARIZONA ELECTION AUDIT: Is that there's accusations at 40,000 ballots were flown in --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To Arizona?

BRAKEY: -- into Arizona, and it was stuffed into the box. OK. And it came from the south east part of the world, Asia. OK. And what they're doing is to find out if there's bamboo in the paper.

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KAROUN DEMIRJIAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I mean, I don't particularly know if there's a particularly large American expat community in Southeast Asia. But generally speaking, this is just evidence of, you can always insert like allegations, accusations, conspiracy theories, unknowns into this process period.

And what's going on right now, frankly, I mean, I'm not saying the Secretary of State has a legitimate concern about breaking the chain of custody of these machines and how can you trust them going back in because everybody's trying to sway things to their advantage.

But we're in a kind of dire and very bleak situation. If everything gets so questioned that you have to throw out the voting machines and spend millions of dollars and start from scratch because you're just going to recycle the exact same arguments plus more. And so we're now like completely in this kind of never ending cycle where the clip you just played, you know, what's going to be the new thing. We can't learn from past experience when we keep recreating the conspiracy will.

[12:50:21]

KING: You have to believe in the process then you can fight for the next election. But Joe Biden is the president. He won Arizona. He also won Georgia where, listen, this is Vernon Jones. He's now running against Governor Kemp who Donald Trump does not like because Governor Kemp certified the election for Joe Biden, why because Joe Biden won. They recounted the votes. There were plenty of chances to challenge it in court. They were all thrown out. Vernon Jones says what they're doing in Arizona seems to make sense. We should try it in Georgia.

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VERNON JONES (R-GA), GOV. CANDIDATE: I found myself trouble by the recent findings coming out of Arizona, as they conduct forensic audits of their own, led by their state legislatures. That is why I'm calling on Brian Kemp today, this day to own a forensic audit of all 159 counties in the state of Georgia.

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KING: It's -- here's where the problem starts. I find myself troubled by the recent findings coming out of Arizona, there are no findings coming out of Arizona. There are people who started with a conclusion, saying things without evidence. Those are not findings. Those are conspiracy theories.

MARTIN: Two things. First of all, that gentleman Vernon Jones is thinking about challenging Brian Kemp in next year's primary for governor in Georgia. So I think that could be a front of mine. But I think, John, the larger issue here is that it's now almost June of 2021. And the 2020 race really hasn't ended for the sort of hardcore primary voter and activist in the GOP.

And the reason it hasn't ended is because Donald Trump himself does not want it to end. He is still litigating it every day. He has not yet thrown in the towel. And that makes it harder for everybody else to move on, including, by the way members of Congress who very much want to advance (ph).

KING: Right. But there are some people who think continuing this crazy stuff, keeps those people animated and maybe gets into turnout in the midterm election year where it's important, especially in these House races. So there's some people think there's a madness to the method, if you will, we will get there.

Up next for us, the Biden White House wants you to swipe right to get a date for a vaccine.

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[12:56:57] KING: Topping our Political Radar today, the Union representing rank and file U.S. Capitol Police officer says more than 70 officers have resigned or retired since the January 6th insurrection. That's slightly more than what the force usually sees by this point every year. And the Union chairman says it's a continuing challenge to not only stop more of them from leaving, but to sign up new offices to replace them.

The Labor Secretary, the former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is denying that he knew about past domestic abuse allegations against the man he appointed as Boston's police commissioner. Walsh tapped Dennis White for that job shortly after he was nominated for labor secretary earlier this year. Democratic Massachusetts Congressman Seth Moulton tells the Boston Globe, if it turns out Walsh did no and he's lying that he should resign. But the Congressman says let's wait for more information to come out.

The Biden administration now joining the dating game in the name of public health, its COVID vaccine outreach now includes enlisting dating apps and offering incentives to users who are vaccinated. Here's a mock up right here of what that will look like on popular dating sites like Tinder and Hinge. Daters get access to premium content and can filter potential matches by vaccination status. You can even book a vaccine appointment through the apps.

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ANDY SLAVITT, SENIOR ADVISER TO WHITE HOUSE COVID-19 RESPONSE TEAM: Today, dating sites like Bumble, Tinder, Hinge, Match, OKCupid, BLK, Chispa, Plenty of Fish, and Badoo are announcing a series of features to encourage vaccinations and help people with that universe -- help people meet people who have that universally attractive quality. They've been vaccinated against COVID-19. We have finally found the one thing that makes us all more attractive, a vaccination.

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KING: Karoun Demirjian and Jonathan Martin is still with me. My favorite part is Dr. Fauci doing this while Andy Slavitt was going through all that. But --

MARTIN: Not since Trump last year has Fauci been so chagrined.

KING: But the White House tells us according to research from OKCupid, people who are vaccinated or plan to get vaccinated received 14 percent more matches than people who don't plan to get vaccinated. So another reason to get a vaccine, it'll help you get a date.

MARTIN: It's going to be a shocker all summer, John.

KING: You did it. You did it, didn't you?

DEMIRJIAN: Congratulations.

KING: He did it. He did it. DEMIRJIAN: I mean, look, I don't think either of you have actually ever been on any of these apps. So just speaking from experience, I think that you know, anything helps, but the same vaccine is not necessarily compatibility. So I started as everybody is perfection, I hope it helps but still --

MARTIN: No. But certainly, they'll be creative. I think some states are doing lotteries where they're, you know, actually giving away money. Other states sort of offering free tickets to baseball games.

DEMIRJIAN: It's for having people on the margins wherever they can -- which is fine.

MARTIN: You get folks who won't get it done, and you got to give them an incentive. In some cases, that's money or it's free tickets. In this case, it could be a date.

DEMIRJIAN: But it may not be a soul mate.

MARTIN: Time will tell.

DEMIRJIAN: Time will tell.

KING: Wow.

MARTIN: You know, by the way --

KING: I agree. The use of --

MARTIN: Exactly.

KING: The use of technology to reach people that might not listen to a politician even though I thought Andy was pretty compelling there going through the list.

DEMIRJIAN: It's like your dad getting into the dating app, which is just place you don't want to go though.

[13:00:02]

KING: I've been told that app. I have been told that. All right, thank you guys for coming in today. So that right there. Thanks for joining us in Inside Politics. Have a fantastic weekend. We'll see you back here on Monday. Ana Cabrera picks up our coverage right now.