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New Day

Trump Heads to G-7 Summit Amid Trade Feud; Setting Expectations for North Korea Summit; Anthony Bourdain Dead at 61. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired June 08, 2018 - 07:00   ET

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

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LARRY KUDLOW, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF ECONOMIC ADVISOR: There's no question that there will be differences of perspective.

[07:00:18] MARC SHORT, WHITE HOUSE LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR: The president is looking at set a level playing field. He's using our tariffs to help get him back to the negotiating table.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trump thought that he was going to break out the big guns and have all of these other countries grovel. And instead, they retaliated.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to have great success. I don't think it will be in one meeting.

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I'm worried that he is so eager to produce a great photo-op, that he's going to get taken.

RICK SANTORUM, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think the president will be fully prepared.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A long-time Senate staffer arrested for lying to FBI agents in a leak investigation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Leaks are a significant problem. But the answer is not to invade a reporter's privilege.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the first time that they've actually seized the records of a reporter to order to try to prove some sort of illegal leak.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

BERMAN: All right. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. A busy hour ahead, to be sure.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Indeed.

BERMAN: A huge morning in American diplomacy. Maybe a major shift, as well. President Trump leaving for Quebec and the G-7 summit this hour. Could it be, at least symbolically, the G-6 by the time he gets there?

He is expected to get a chilly reception to say the least. Some of the oldest and closest U.S. allies very disappointed with the president.

CNN has learned that the president was reluctant to attend the G-7 meeting, hedging as late as yesterday afternoon. And we are also told by the White House, though, he plans to come out swinging.

CAMEROTA: And President Trump plans to leave the G-7 early mid- morning tomorrow and head directly to Singapore, the site, of course, of the U.S./North Korea summit on Tuesday. He's expressing optimism ahead of that meeting with Kim Jong-un.

In terms of how he's preparing, the president says he does not need to do much preparing because it's, quote, "all about attitude." He also says if all goes well, he may invite the North Korean dictator to Washington.

So we begin our coverage with CNN's Boris Sanchez. He is live in Quebec City with what will be happening there today -- Boris.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, there, Alisyn.

Yes, President Trump preparing to leave for Quebec within the next half hour or so. And he is, as often the president does, busy on Twitter this morning, attacking our neighbor to the north in Canada. The president also writing, quote, "Looking forward to straightening out unfair trade deals with the G-7 countries. If it doesn't happen, we will come out even better."

These fresh attacks on Canada and some other G-7 countries coming as the president is set for some bilateral meetings today with his French and Canadian counterparts. The president, we hear from sources, will aggressively defend his "America first" policies which some of our closest allies described as not only illegal but also insulting.

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SANCHEZ (voice-over): President Trump cutting his time at the G-7 summit short amid a public war of words with the leaders of two of America's closest allies. One source telling CNN that, as late as Thursday afternoon, President Trump was questioning why to even attend the summit at all, asking aides what the point would be after President Macron sent this pointed message, quote, "The American president may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a six-country agreement, if need be."

The president's advisers told him that canceling the trip entirely would look like he was backing away from a fight that he started. So one source says Mr. Trump told aides he'll enter the talks swinging.

A short time later, President Trump firing off a number of tweets, writing, quote, "Please tell Prime Minister Trudeau and President Macron that they are charging the U.S. massive tariffs and create nonmonetary barriers" before noting, "Look forward to seeing them tomorrow."

KUDLOW: We're talking everything through. There may be disagreements. I regard this as much like a family quarrel. I'm always the optimist. I believe it can be worked out.

SANCHEZ: President Trump also calling Trudeau indignant after the Canadian prime minister vowed to confront Mr. Trump over tariffs.

EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): His unacceptable actions are hurting his own citizens. It is American jobs which will be lost because of the actions of the United States and its administration.

SANCHEZ: The harsh rhetoric in stark contrast to the optimism President Trump is expressing ahead of his summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.

TRUMP: I think I'm very well-prepared. I don't think I have to prepare very much. It's about attitude. It's about willingness to get things done.

SANCHEZ: But President Trump also reiterating that he's willing to walk away from negotiations.

TRUMP: If they don't denuclearize, that will not be acceptable. We cannot take sanctions off.

Maximum pressure is absolutely in effect. We don't use the term anymore, because we're going into a friendly negotiation. If you hear me saying we're going to use maximum pressure, you'll know the negotiation did not do well, frankly.

SANCHEZ: The president suggesting that the summit could be extended and that he would not hesitate to invite Kim to the White House if the talks go well.

TRUMP: I think it would be well-received. I think he would look at it very favorably. So I think that could happen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: And the president is going to be skipping a number of sessions here at the G-7, focusing on climate change and the environment.

Perhaps not surprising fog or a president that has claimed that climate change is a hoax being perpetrated by the Chinese. He will then leave Quebec City and head straight to Singapore for that historic summit with the North Korean dictator -- Alisyn and John.

CAMEROTA: All right, Boris. Thank you for telling us all that, setting the table for us.

Joining us now to talk about it, we have reporter and editor at large for CNN Politics Chris Cillizza and Robin Wright. She is a distinguished scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center and a joint senior fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace. She was just in the DMZ last month.

So, Robin, you are the perfect person to talk to on both of these points. Let's start with the G-7.

As you know, the president is going reluctantly, and he's leaving early. His feeling is that he wants a level playing field with trade and that somehow the U.S., even with our closest allies, has gotten the short end of the stick. So how does this work today?

ROBIN WRIGHT, WOODROW WILSON CENTER: Well, I think the real danger is not just what happens over the weekend. It's the kind of dismantling of the fabric, unraveling of the fabric that the United States has spent 70 years building of the West.

These are seven economies that account for almost 50 percent of the world's economic power. And this comes at a time of rising power from China. So this alliance actually is very important to our future, not just with our allies but in our joint place in the world. And the president likes to think of himself as a disruptor.

The danger is that he's also derailing a system with seven of these countries, also members of NATO. It has a spillover effect on our NATO alliance, our sense of joint security. The president has also dissed NATO.

So it comes as the United States is taking on its most valuable, most treasured and most historic allies.

BERMAN: I can see, though, Chris, the president listening to what Robin just said and saying, "Yes, uh-huh. That's exactly what I'm doing. I've never professed to be as deeply committed to the post- World War II order as other leaders in this country have been." In fact, to a certain extent, I ran against it and, in fact, did you listen to my inauguration speech?

CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT AND EDITOR AT LARGE: Yes, I would take out that "To a certain extent, I ran against it" part, John. That's what he ran. He ran as, "Everyone who has held this job in the modern era is dumb, makes bad trade deals, and gives away American -- gives away America's greatness. I will restore America's greatness."

But I think what Robin's point that's really important is we shouldn't be surprised Donald Trump is taking this approach. But we should look with some level of trepidation on what this approach will produce.

We know what more a traditional approach, sort of what we get from that. Friendly with our allies. Not hostile with our enemies but firm with our enemies.

This is an unsettling. This is a -- I don't even know if it's an attempt to sort of recalculation. I think it's just he's saying this didn't work in his mind. We're going to go to the opposite direction.

We don't know what happens when you do that. Typically, when you unsettle things, there are unforeseen consequences that happen. Some may be good. Donald Trump would argue, "Well, I'm sitting down with Kim Jong-un. No American president has done that before me."

But it is without question uncharted territory. And I think, yes, that's what he promised. And he may -- and he may well deliver it. It's just what is it that's being delivered.

CAMEROTA: Yes, and very quickly before we move on to North Korea, Robin, here's what Macron, French president said: "The American president may not mind being isolated. But neither do we mind signing a six-country agreement, if need be. Because these six countries represent values. They represent an economic market which has the weight of history behind it and which is now a true international force."

What happens to Americans if there is just a six-country agreement and the U.S. is cut out?

WRIGHT: I've covered the summit since 1980. And I have to say it's just stunning that the six would issue such a public rebuke.

You know, President Trump does have a mandate at home, but he does not have a mandate internationally. And he really risks alienating at -- you know, at a time we may need our allies for something down the road.

I think particularly President Macron and Prime Minister Trudeau have worked harder than any other leaders to work with the president, and they feel gobsmacked at the moment that the president is basically turning on them and is engaged in a Twitter war.

[07:10:15] BERMAN: We have seen, literally seen with our eyes how hard Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, has worked to get close to the president. Because he has literally done it physically, you know, getting as close as he can.

CAMEROTA: Handshake by handshake.

BERMAN: Handshake by handshake, hug by hug, kiss by kiss. I mean, he has draped himself all over the president. So to see this split right now is -- you know, it's very -- that was then. I mean, what's it going to be like now? Will he even get a handshake? I mean, you know, and I make light of it, Chris, but it's a serious issue.

CILLIZZA: Look, Macron made a calculation. And Trudeau made a similar one, I think, that they could -- knowing that Donald Trump likes to be praised, likes to be venerated, that if they did that in the interest of diplomacy, he would become more pliable.

He on the other hand, I think, assumed, because they were nice to him, they would do what he wanted.

It feels as those this -- these relationships were always sort of headed in the direction they appear to be headed now, which are the views of Donald Trump on things like immigration and trade climate are simply at direct odds with the views of people like Macron and Trudeau. So for all the handshakes and all the friendliness, there are always these underlying policy disagreements. I think what both sides are learning is this. Emmanuel Macron and

Justin Trudeau are learning that being nice to Donald Trump only gets you so far. And I think Donald Trump is realizing, "Wait a minute. I thought these guys liked me and would do exactly what I want."

But remember, if Donald Trump is making America great again, Justin Trudeau is trying to make Canada great -- great again. France, same thing for Macron. So you -- you don't just get to do whatever you want, regardless of what it means for other countries when we are talking about diplomacy.

CAMEROTA: Robin, let's move on to North Korea. So as you said, last month you were at the DMZ. And in 2000, you traveled there with Madeleine Albright. So you know a little bit about this rocky territory. What do you expect to see at this summit?

WRIGHT: Well, one of the things that was most striking in talking with the South Koreans right after their summit with Kim Jong-un was how, for a 34-year-old who's been in power for seven years, how in command he was of the subject, that he came into a room and he commanded the room, that he commanded the table, that he commanded the discussion. That he never needed a note. He never referred to an aide. That he really engaged in substantive ways.

And the danger, whether the president was joking or not about his own preparations, is that this is a very complicated subject. And North Korea is estimated to have up to 10,000 tunnels under its mountainous terrain that it is hiding some of its weapons of mass destruction, not just its nuclear arms. And so what lies ahead is one of the most complex negotiations the United States has ever engaged in.

At least with the Soviet Union, we knew what they had. We had diplomatic relations, avenues of discussion. We had worked on options for decades. We're walking into a meeting with literally 11 days of, you know, agreement just to have the summit.

BERMAN: I didn't take it as a joke at all, Chris, when the president said it's not about preparation; it's about attitude. I think he was telling us exactly how he views it.

CILLIZZA: Yes. I think that's sort of a life mantra. You know, if you need three words to explain Donald Trump, "It's about attitude" is - - is pretty good.

He doesn't believe that he needs to prepare. He believes that his gut is right. And much better than the intellectuals, the so-called elites who tell him how he should think or how he should act. He believes the 2016 campaign was a total ultimate validation of that view.

I would offer that running a company or running for president in terms of preparation, though you probably should prepare. But in terms of preparation is not the challenge, as Robin notes, that trying to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, with the negative outcome there being potentially catastrophic is. This is a different animal. That said, Donald Trump is Donald Trump. He will not change his total

and complete confidence in his own abilities, whether or not the facts bear out that he should.

CAMEROTA: Look, I mean, having reported on and been around the president and met the president many times before he was president, he sees things in a black and white way, Robin.

And so it will be -- go like this: "OK, Mr. Kim Jong-un, are you going to denuclearize or not?" I mean, that's his starting -- that's where -- what he wants to know. That he's going to try to get out of it. And then if it ends up being just a meet-and-greet and just being a sort of pleasant meeting, is that a loss, or is that a win?

[07:15:15] WRIGHT: Look, any kind of diplomacy is always a win. And it certainly, at this stage, prevents some kind of military action or option.

But the one danger is what we saw when Kennedy met Khrushchev. The suave Bostonian thought he could charm the early communist. And it was the most disastrous U.S. summit, arguably, in a century of summits. And it didn't work, and Khrushchev ended up walking circles literally around Kennedy. Kennedy said later that he was savage.

The danger is that, in taking on this extraordinary challenge of North Korea, with which we 've been technically at war now since 1950, we have so many things to resolve, that this is an opening. Great that we have an opening, and a process has been started. But the prospect that the president, even if he gets -- makes enormous strides, the prospect that North Korea is disarmed or its nuclear weapons, its fissile, material programs, its biological weapons is finished by the time Trump is -- finishes his presidency is very remote.

BERMAN: Robin Wright, Chris Cillizza, thank you very much for being with us.

Again, we're expecting the president to head off to the G-7 very shortly. We'll bring that to you live when it does happen.

A long-time Senate staffer arrested and a journalist's records seized as the White House seeks to crack down on leaks. But is there cause for concern here?

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BERMAN: We have some terribly sad news to report this morning. Heartbreaking and devastating. World-renowned chef, best-selling author, award-winning host of "Parts Unknown," and our friend Anthony Bourdain has died.

Over the last five years on CNN, Tony traveled the globe doing what he loved most, uncovering little-known places, exploring food and celebrating life and diverse cultures. Let us tell you what we know so far this morning about this. Our senior media correspondent, Brian Stelter, host of "RELIABLE SOURCES," joins us.

Brian, what have we learned?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Anthony was found dead this morning in his hotel room in France. He had hung himself in his hotel room.

According to CNN, he was on a shoot for an upcoming season of his acclaimed series "Parts Unknown." Of course, Anthony has been with us here at CNN for five years, a beloved member of the CNN family and, really, one of the faces of this network. He helped change CNN when he took a risk coming here in 2013.

[07:20:16] And along the way, his series, "Parts Unknown", has won almost every award possible. He loved producing this series, traveling the globe, talking with people about life and love and death. Of course, his show was essentially, you know, technically about cooking, about culture. But really, it was about the human condition. It was about exploring what makes us all tick. And I think that is one of the many reasons why he was so beloved here.

What we do know is that he was found dead this morning in his hotel room. We have little information other than that. He was 61 years old.

CAMEROTA: Brian, this is so devastating. And it is going to come as a shock and devastating to so many people, not just our CNN family, of course. Obviously, his own family and obviously, all of the viewers. I mean, I can't tell you how often -- I'm sure we have all had it -- around the world wherever we are, people always ask me about Anthony Bourdain. It so resonated. What -- his message and what he was doing and how he was using food as a vehicle to talk about life and cultures. People loved him. They loved that show.

Is there any more -- I mean, I just interviewed him. The idea -- and he was just, it seemed, his usual self when he came in to talk about his new season of "Parts Unknown." Is there any more information about what happened or why?

STELTER: Sadly, no. We know that his friend found him in his hotel room early this morning. That's all we know about the state of what happened. He was there shooting an upcoming season of "Parts Unknown." Right now the 11th season of the series has been airing on CNN. He was working on an upcoming episode in France, in Strasbourg, France.

CNN has issued a statement that I'll go ahead and read. "It is with extraordinary sadness that we can confirm the death of our friend and colleague. His love of great adventure, new friends, fine food and drink and the remarkable stories of the world made him a unique story teller." And then the CNN statement adds, "His talents never cease to amaze us, and we will miss him very much. Our thoughts and prayers are with his daughter and family at this incredibly difficult time."

Now, obviously, we waited to go on the air today --

BERMAN: Yes.

STELTER: -- until his family had been notified of this.

And to your point, Alisyn, certainly, Anthony had his share of demons. He has talked about drug abuse in his -- in his past in a different stage of his life. But I don't have any -- any further information on what could have led to this event.

CAMEROTA: I mean, and it seemed like he had overcome those. That was part of the show. I know that -- look, he --

BERMAN: It was harrowing. He talked about it openly. This was in the '80s. You know, he drank on the show a lot and openly, and we saw it all there. So we just -- we just don't know. I mean, there are so many unknowns.

What we do know about Anthony Bourdain is the remarkable contribution he gave. And I really don't care about the TV, but to life and to our lives and how much he loved and cared about what he did. He was the walking embodiment of passion.

And he was also a little bit of a walking contradiction. He talked about food. The show was about food. It was about life. One of the things he told me, actually, once is he goes, "I wish people would take less time taking pictures of food and more time having sex." That was his way of saying, "You're missing the point of all of this, right?"

STELTER: Right.

CAMEROTA: Right.

BERMAN: You're missing the point if all you're doing is looking how the plate is laid out here, if you're not appreciating everything that goes along with it.

And he was so passionate about everything he did. On the other hand, you know, he would go to these countries -- he just went to Uruguay, for instance. They did a piece about Uruguayan food, and they eat a lot of meat there.

But he ended up doing a piece about freedom of the press and about -- about right-wing dictatorships and about what all that all means, because he couldn't help but try to understand how people lived and why people lived. He said, you know, "I'm not a hard journalist. I'm just out here looking." But you know what? He asked the important questions.

CAMEROTA: Yes, and by the way, he also told us about how he had just gone to West Virginia and about how, you know, -- the impressions that people in the northeast have, say, of West Virginia and vice versa and how we think that we're more polarized.

But obviously, we are all -- we have more similarities and commonalities than we know, and we're more connected. And he was into talking about bridging that divide and that connection.

BERMAN: It was also -- he's a pivotal figure in some of the biggest trends, you know, in this country over the last year having to do, of course, with food. And he wrote the book "Kitchen Confidential" in 2000, and it turned the world upside-down.

STELTER: Yes, let's go back in time a little bit. In 1999 he writes this famous article for "The New Yorker" about what happens behind the scenes in restaurants, and that becomes his book "Kitchen Confidential" in 2000. A runaway bestseller. People still read it today and love that book.

He went on to write other books, but it was "Kitchen Confidential" and his -- and his experience as a chef that launched him into television and into superstardom, becoming an international celebrity, even if he didn't always love that.

[07:25:09] He had a show on the Food Network, then on the Travel Channel, and then here on CNN in 2013.

And I'm just thinking about what it was like when he was here visiting us in New York, when he was here in between his shoots. He lit up every room that he walked into here at CNN. When he was in the building, you knew it. He was this larger-than-life figure, not only because he was so tall but because he was so warm and passionate about what he was doing and about life.

He -- you know, I'm thinking about the last time he was here. It must not have been that long ago. When he was starting to work on promoting this current season. And even just the pat on the back, even the smallest moments with Bourdain you held onto, because he was so special.

CAMEROTA: You know, I think we have to talk about something that we try not to talk about often on the air, but that's, of course, suicide. After Kate Spade this week, which has also rocked the country and the world. And this will, as well. And I just need to say that suicide rates have gone up across the United States. From 1999 to 2016, they're up 25 percent.

BERMAN: This is a number that just came out just yesterday.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BERMAN: This number came out just yesterday. The suicide numbers are growing.

CAMEROTA: They're growing. These are the new CDC suicide rates. Something is happening.

And I think that -- look, this is obviously a subject of stigma -- there's a lot of stigma around it; there's a lot of shame around it. I know on TV we try not to talk about it, because we do worry that somehow it will give people ideas.

STELTER: Right.

CAMEROTA: But I think that, obviously, depressed and troubled people already have this idea. And you know, with Kate Spade, part of the conversation was we do all need to do a better job of reaching out and finding out -- well, you know, if something -- there are signs sometimes of somebody's behavior or appearance or sleep patterns changing or their social media. Tracking their social media.

BERMAN: I checked. Anthony -- Tony, the last time he tweeted was four days ago. You know?

CAMEROTA: And it was a perfectly normal tweet.

BERMAN: Who knows? Who knows?

STELTER: Just now, when I found this out an hour ago, I went back and watched one of his acceptance speeches for one of his awards when he won the Peabody. He was talking about why he does what he does. But I think we may have this clip if we can take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY BOURDAIN, HOST, "PARTS UNKNOWN": We ask very simple questions. What makes you happy? What do you eat? What do you like to cook? And everywhere in the world we go and ask these very simple questions, we tend to get some really astonishing answers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STELTER: See, I love that line so much. It's a journalistic instinct but more importantly, it's a human instinct. Wanting to ask simple questions, wanting to get those answers. We may never get an answer about exactly what happened here. But he taught us so much through his work and through his life.

BERMAN: And I just -- again, he felt so deeply -- you know, he went to Haiti once. This is another story he told me. He went to Haiti once. They were trying to deal there with hunger and recover from the earthquake. He was there with his crew. He felt so bad about what he saw, he bought out a restaurant, one of the few places that were holding food. He was like, "You know what? Screw this. We're going to buy out this restaurant, have them feed as many people as they possibly can." Because they just wanted to do something.

Then what happened is actually, there was a food riot almost there at that restaurant. And Anthony sort of struggled -- kind of struggled to understand what happened, what he caused, why he did what he did. He just felt, you know what I'm saying?

CAMEROTA: I do. I know exactly what you're saying. He and he bonded a lot about Provincetown. You know, that's one of my favorite places in the world. It's a beach town, obviously, at the tip of Cape Cod.

BERMAN: He worked cutting fish.

CAMEROTA: Yes. I think it was his first job, maybe, out of college.

BERMAN: Talking about the fryer and the burner stuff flying everywhere. CAMEROTA: He says -- we talked about how we both misspent our youth, part of our youth there. And that's a passionate place. And he was very passionate about it. You know, when he loved something, he loved it.

BERMAN: And when he hated something, he hated it. And in fact, he -- in some ways, he loved to hate it. You know, another thing he once said, you know, "Where is the difference between happy Anthony and angry Anthony?" And I think he said -- he said, "Happy Anthony is angry."

STELTER: He was such a poet, such a writer throughout his life. I think as much as anything of him being a television star and chef, he had a way with words that was remarkable. And it came through in every episode of his program; it came through in every book.

And to your point about Provincetown, and I was thinking about his West Virginia episode recently. He took us to far-flung places. He took us to places we'll never go. But he also brought us home sometimes. And he was as interested in telling those stories closer to home here in the U.S. as he was around the world. There was -- there was a bit of everything.

I do think it's worth, for viewers who are just joining us, we have been talking about suicide. He did take his own life, according to a note from CNN president Jeff Zucker that just went out to our network. I know so many hearts are broken here at this network right now and around the world that we should share the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number.

BERMAN: Yes.

STELTER: And we can put it on the screen, as well. The number for anyone seeking help is 1-800-273-8255. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

CAMEROTA: And I just want to say, you know, there are dark days in every person's life. You know? There are dark days where you feel hopeless. There are dark weeks and months.