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New Day

North Korea Detains Fourth American Citizen; Kushner's Sister In China: Invest $500,000 and Immigrate To U.S.; Emmanuel Macron Wins France's Presidential Election. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired May 08, 2017 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:31:36]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We do have some breaking news right now. Texas Governor Greg Abbott signing the state's ban on sanctuary cities into law with an unannounced appearance on Facebook Live. This move designed to avoid the expected protests for the ceremonial bill signing. Abbott saying that he hopes to prevent lawlessness. The law takes effect September 1st.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, big day in court today, the Justice Department is heading back there in hopes of pumping new life into the president's halted travel ban. All of the judges on the Fourth Circuit Court of appeals will be there in Virginia hearing the government's case after the federal judge in March blocked a key portion of the revised ban from taking effect that's why it's halted. The judge calling the executive order unconstitutional based on statements the president made during the campaign. That's going to be the big thing to watch. Will all those statements hold as present?

CAMEROTA: OK, so fresh off his victory, France's President-Elect Emmanuel Macron is marking victory in Europe day joining outgoing President Francois Hollande in a wreath laying ceremony in Paris. Remembrance of the German surrender in World War II coming as Macron pledges to unite France following that bruising campaign.

President Trump among the world leaders offering congratulations, tweeting that he looks forward to working with Macron.

CUOMO: He seemed to be backing Le Pen in that election and then Macron got 2 out of every 3 votes.

A second American professor detained in North Korea accused of planning hostile acts. He is believed to be the fourth U.S. citizen detained by that reclusive regime escalating tensions.

CNN's Ivan Watson live in Seoul, South Korea, with more. Ivan, what do we know?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Chris, just moments ago, I met with Kim Hak-song's (ph) wife, Kim Mi-ok (ph), and understandably she is very shaken up right now with the news that her husband has been detained on suspicion of these very potentially serious crimes in North Korea.

She gave me a short statement to share, quote, "I'm speechless and in shock. This is a man who was selfless and devoted. I hope the investigation will be short and he will be released. I hope he can return soon to the family that he loves."

Now she describes him, he is a naturalized American citizen and an ethnic Korean. He was born in China and she says that he has been working in North Korea to help with food shortage problems there, helping with basically a model farm to grow rice.

Now he is the second U.S. academic working with Pyongyang University of Science and Technology to be detained in just over two weeks. The situation is very, very serious because the two other Americans that we know are detained in North Korea from earlier arrests faced 10 and 15--year sentences of hard labor -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right, Ivan, please keep us posted on everything you learn there. Thank you for that reporting.

Well, Jared Kushner's sister is apparently trying to entice Chinese investors with easy paths to American visas. Is this a conflict of interest or business as usual? We explore it next.

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[06:38:45]

CUOMO: Jared Kushner's sister courting investors in China with a federal visa program. She was in China on Sunday seeking $150 million from investors. Interested in EB-5 visas, that is a program that grants permanent residency in the U.S. for those who finance projects at a certain level of investment creating a certain amount of jobs in the United States.

Let's bring back Abby Phillip, David Gregory, and bring in CNN political analyst, David Drucker. So Brother Gregory, how do you see this? The plan is legit. She wasn't trying to entice. She was enticing by doing this. What do you make of it? Is it a conflict of interest, business as usual or conflation of those two things?

DAVID GREROGY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I know I think it is business as usual, which is you have a vast family business that encompasses two different, you know, related businesses that are at work seeking to profit off the presidency. It's really unseemly.

There has not been anywhere near the kind of work to be done to shut this down. I think there has to be vigilance on the part of the press corps and others to catalog this and stay on top of it. It is like the tax returns.

[06:40:01]Where, you know, we just have reality of a business that is in effect part of the presidency as they do business around the world.

CAMEROTA: Abby, just to be clear, ethics laws prohibit government officials from profiting personally from their public sector work. What does that mean for Jared Kushner's sister?

CAMEROTA: Nothing.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. And what does it mean for both Jared Kushner's family business and Ivanka Trump's business and even Donald Trump's business? Which are not even really an arm's length away from these officials. They are being run by other people in their (inaudible), but they are still profiting in the long run off of those companies.

And so what we have seen is people like Jared's sister going about their daily business, but not even doing a wink and a nod, but really just pointing over there and saying, hey, my brother's father-in-law is the president of the United States.

And meanwhile, 24 hours prior, President Trump signed basically an extension of this visa program, which had been really a lot of people calling for reforms to it for many, many years. He just signed an extension to it just 24 hours before this presentation happened. So it is a big problem and it is a problem across the Trump family.

Ivanka Trump's son to her now running his business. These businesses are -- there is no protection here for taxpayers and Americans who want their public officials to not be profiting in the long run or in the short run from their political office.

CUOMO: Just to be clear. Not just the taxes, but you remember that big table with all of the folders on it that showed that Trump's assets were being refiled? We have no proof to this day that all that paper work was even filed.

PHILLIP: They acknowledged that the paper work was not even real. That it was just a prop.

CUOMO: That was a prop, but supposedly they were going to do it. So you have to go to these different secretaries of state and do these things. Young lawyers like I used to be, you know, they got paid 50 percent of the job. So we don't know.

But David, the Republicans will say this is a nothing burger. Everybody knows that these are business people. That's what they voted for this. They want this acumen, but if that is true to Abby's reporting, why at that event where Kushner's sister was soliciting money. Did they keep journalists out?

DAVID DRUCKER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, because it bothers them. They don't like the connection being broadcast for everybody to see. Look, this is so interesting and it's a great example of how politics is so situational.

Republicans in part won the White House because of unflattering reporting about Hillary Clinton and her family's foundation.

The access that the foundation had to the government while secretary of state, a lot more extensive than people realized at the time and what kind of access would her family foundation have if she won the White House.

Remember, the Republicans in Congress promised that the investigations out of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee and Energy and Commerce, and everywhere else, were going to continue if she won the presidency.

There were a lot of conservative outside groups that were prepared to launch these investigations. But this is what happens where you have, number one, a president with current business operations.

You know, we really have not seen this before. Usually we will get wealthy people in office. They've sort of receded from business career. We've never had a situation like this and even though the president likes to say that he is now president focused on that and his family is separate, we know that is not the case.

And part of the reason that isn't the case is because his sons who are running his family business are active. Donald Trump Jr. is headed to Montana this week to campaign for Greg (inaudible), the Republican in a special election out there.

My only point there is they are active political players in the Republican Party and as members of this administration. They have not done anything vis-a-vis a blind trust or anything to cut the cord and say we are going to keep the business operational, but we are going to step away from making decisions on a daily basis. They just have not done that.

GREGORY: Can we just also insert Bill and Hillary Clinton's name into one of these scenarios as David is alluding to and see how Republicans in this town would be acting? I mean, these are the people who accused them of murdering, you know, Vince Foster. All these conspiracy theories that were involved with White Water. The pay to play with regard to the foundation and yet, they just kind hang back here on Trump.

CAMEROTA: Panel, thank you very much.

CUOMO: All right. The New York Yankees beating the world champion Cubs in a marathon game that started Sunday and ended this morning. It included some record setting futility. What does that mean? You will learn in the "Bleacher Report" ahead.

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[06:48:53]

CUOMO: Just hours after learning about the death of his grandfather, Houston Rockets guard, Patrick Beverley came through with an inspiring performance against the Spurs. We have Coy Wire with this morning's "Bleacher Report." You know sometimes you cannot do anything when you are in pain, other times you can do great things.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: It gives you strength. That is right, Chris. Beverley learned about the passing of his grandfather, Reese Morris, a military man, after waking up from a nap before yesterday's playoff game.

He's going to go be with his family in Chicago, but they told him to stay and play. Before the game, he broke down in tears several times during his pre-game routine. Beverley, though, would start the game with this goose-bump inducing moment, knocking down the very first bucket of the game, a three-pointer.

He then taps his heart and points up to the sky honoring the man who helped raise him as a child. Rockets win 125-104, and after the game, Beverley spoke about the man who meant the world to him.

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PATRICK BEVERLEY, HOUSTON ROCKETS GUARD: To have somebody that was right there supporting me the whole way, wore my jerseys every single day of his life, to have a person like that taken from you is hard. So hard. You know, there's a bigger plan and I'm going to keep my faith. Of course, I'll be there for my family.

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[06:50:09]WIRE: Extra innings for the Cubs and Yankees at Wrigley Field last night. In the 12th inning, the Cub's Kyle Schwarber, he showed that he wasn't going to give up, showing why they say that he plays baseball with a football player's mentality. This game goes 18 innings after over 6 hours until after 2 a.m. Eastern. A combined 48 strikeouts, a new Major League record. Alisyn, the Yankees win 5-4 and end up sweeping their series with the defending world champs.

CAMEROTA: That's great, Coy. What a beautiful reflection on his grandfather, Beverley's grandfather. Grandparents are so important. Just a great reminder. Coy, thank you.

WIRE: You're welcome.

CAMEROTA: So France's new president vows to unify his country. CNN's Christiane Amanpour joins us next with the challenges for him.

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CUOMO: All right. You just had a huge personal and policy development in the French election. You have the youngest leader elected in France, 39-year-old Emmanuel Macron. The oldest since Napoleon.

But on the policy side, they are saying that this was the end of no- nothing populism. Macron got 66 percent of the vote over Le Pen who the American president was backing. So what are the implications?

[06:55:06]Let's bring in CNN chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour. He was seen as having an edge, but 2 of every 3 votes? What is the implication?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's big. He got a bigger total than even they expected after the first round. That says a lot for him going forward. It says a lot for Marine Le Pen losing, not even getting to 40 percent, which she hoped to do.

But it also says that the center held here in France. Europe is celebrating because this is a huge important country, the second biggest economy in Europe and obviously the sixth biggest economy in the world. Europe believes this will save the European Union.

Now, today is VE day, which is obviously the celebration of European victory against the Nazi war machine. It comes one day after the extreme far right candidate herself was defeated.

Macron came out publicly with the current president, Francois Hollande, to pay tribute, lay a wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier and meet with veterans.

But make no mistake about it, he knows there are challenges ahead and big ones. To that end, his spokeswoman last night told me that while they are happy, they are not taking anything for granted.

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LAURENCE HAIM, EMMANUEL MACRON SPOKESWOMAN: We're feeling happy and relieved, but we feel that we are showing to the world that we won against populism. It was very important for us to do that. So we are happy, but (inaudible) about the huge responsibility that we have. It is just the beginning of something big. We have now to win the next step, which is going to be an election in one month. We want all people in France to be united.

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AMANPOUR: Well, you could imagine that means yet another election as she said in June. That will be the parliamentary. Macron has to go from zero, literally no parliamentarians, because he doesn't have a party yet to a majority, a working majority.

As you know, he needs that to pass legislation and he needs it to pass reforms that he promised the French people, but this is a big deal. Obviously, President Trump has immediately congratulated him and said looking forward to working together.

It's assumed that President Trump and certainly his more nationalistic aides like Steve Bannon, et cetera, had hoped that this populist wave would continue and that Le Pen might win, but he will meet Macron at the G7 in Cecily, at the NATO summit, and they will have their first, you know, working get togethers.

CUOMO: And Christiane, we know that you've been reporting there all weekend and it was such a festive scene after he won for the people in Paris. I know you likened it to a Paris disco. As the sun comes up, they still have as you pointed out, all of the challenges I mean, certainly, immigration. They've been plagued by as we know horrific terror attacks. Where does he start on those?

AMANPOUR: Well, here's the thing, Marine Le Pen tried to run on a campaign of fear and hatred and loathing, and inward looking, you know, bang down the hatches. The French did not buy it in the end. But let's not forget that there was a good number of people who abstained from this round and a good number of people who spoiled their ballots and 11 million people nearly who voted for Marine Le Pen, the far right extremist candidate.

Therefore it means that are still issues at play that need to be dealt with and that Macron knows that he will sink or swim on being able to deliver.

Even the Europeans know and the German foreign minister basically congratulated him and said if Macron cannot deliver the reform then in five years, at the end of his term, he said Mrs. Le Pen could be the next president of France.

Therefore, we in Europe he said, have to help him and stop this just sort of march towards austerity and we have to be able to give some help to our partner in Europe to be able to deliver these reforms. So that's a big deal coming from Germany of all places. And you know, there's a --

CUOMO: All right, well, Christiane, no question this was a big blow to what is being called no nothing populism. But what is the practical effect of the working that government? We will see in the parliament elections that upcoming. Thank you so much for keeping us ahead of this story. I appreciate it.

CAMEROTA: And thanks to the international viewers for watching, for you CNN NEWSROOM is next. For our U.S. viewers, there is this fraternity scandal rocking Penn state. Eighteen people are charged in connection with a death of a student there. All the details are startling. We will have them for you along with the victim's side when NEW DAY continues right now.

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