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Trump, North Korean Leader Set to Meet for Summit; Pompeo: Complete Denuclearization Only Outcome U.S. Will Accept; Judge Blocks Deportation of Pizza Delivery Man; Perry: 'I Don't Know What Trump Will Present at Meeting with Kim'. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired June 11, 2018 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to the viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Monday, June 11. Alisyn is in New York. I'm John Berman here in Singapore.
[05:57:44] You've been watching U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo brief the press. We are just hours away from the historic summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. And we did just learn a few details about this meeting.
We just learned that it will be a one-on-one affair, largely. President Trump and Kim Jong-un will meet together in a room completely alone except for their translators for up to two hours before members of the various delegations come in. The secretary of the state also said that the goal of this meeting will be to set the condition, probably, for future meetings. The ultimate goal is denuclearization, in order to get there. And only if the North Koreans get there, he says, will the U.S. lift sanctions on that country. He did say the U.S. is prepared to do things it has never done before in this relationship and in these negotiations.
We're going to analyze all of this in just a moment.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, to be a fly on the wall for that one-on-one meeting, John. So obviously, you'll bring us all the developments as soon as they break in Singapore.
Meanwhile, President Trump is escalating his war of words with America's closest allies after pulling out of this joint G-7 statement. As the president's top economic advisers claim that Justin Trudeau of Canada betrayed President Trump. They also go as far as to say, there is a special place in hell -- that's a quote -- for leaders who engage in bad-faith diplomacy with President Trump.
So, so much has happened, John, this weekend in terms of allies versus the president sitting down with a man regarded as a dictator. I mean, this is -- the paradox of all of this is not lost in all of our foreign policy experts, who we will be speaking with throughout the program.
BERMAN: Yes, no question about that. The president getting ready to sit down with one of America's greatest adversaries even as he leaves behind some of America's closest friends that he has greatly offended in just the last few days. Let's get to our top story we just did here from the secretary of
state. Our White House correspondent, Kaitlan Collins, helping us cover that. Kaitlan, what have we learned now?
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo just left the room after briefing reporters. He took a few questions. Essentially gave us an overview of what the president's been doing for the last few days. He said that President Trump did speak with the leaders of South Korea and Japan today ahead of that upcoming meeting with Kim Jong-un.
We're less than 24 hours away now from that first handshake between the two of them. And during this briefing with reporters, Pompeo said the president is confident about tomorrow, he's eager about it. He really highlighted what kind of historic sit-down this is going to be.
But once again, he did go back to what does the United States want to get from North Korea here? Mike Pompeo said that the goal has always been the same, and it still is. Complete denuclearization.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: This president will ensure that no potential agreement will fail to adequately address the North Korean threat. The ultimate objective we seek from diplomacy with North Korea has not changed. The complete and verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is the only outcome that the United States will accept.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Now, two more things there that Pompeo said during the briefing. He was asked what kind of safety assurances is the U.S. prepared to offer North Korea? Because he did say that they are prepared to offer the North Koreans these security assurances, essentially, to ensure that denuclearization does not end poorly for them.
Now, a reporter asked, does that mean potential troop withdrawal from the border in the Korean Peninsula. It's 25,000 U.S. troops that are there. And Mike Pompeo didn't answer that question. He said not to read into that. But he did say that they would be unique and different security options for the North Koreans if they do show that they're committed to that.
Now, he was also asked about that contentious G-7 summit that President Trump upended when he said he wasn't going to sign that communique that the leaders had agreed on, that joint statement after those days of talks and diplomacy that had gone on.
And the tables were kind of turned on Pompeo here. Instead of asked how the United States is supposed to trust North Korea and whatever commitments they make to denuclearization, he was asked how is North Korea supposed to trust the United States and President Trump after seeing the way that President Trump is now reacting to United States' allies. Mike Pompeo said he doesn't think those are the same. He said it was
a ludicrous comparison. He said essentially both of these leaders will have to come together and trust each other here. We do know that when they meet tomorrow, they will be meeting one on one when they first sit down. Only their translators will be in the room. That raises the question of how are we going to know what exactly transpired during that meeting. We'll only have two people to give us accounts. That is Kim Jong-un and President Trump. The only other people that will be in that room are their translators.
So that does undermine, really, what the objective here for that meeting tomorrow is. That is that President Trump wants to establish a personal type of relationship with the North Korean leader, John.
BERMAN: All right. Kaitlan, stand by for a moment, if you will.
As Kaitlan noted, there is irony in the fact that the president is here in Singapore, reaching out to this long-term adversary, even as he creates this unprecedented friction with some of America's closest allies.
The president and his top aides are launching this all-out assault against Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Paula Newton is live in Iowa with that side of the story. It has been a remarkable 48 hours in this very, what was once, I should say, Paula, a very close relationship.
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So this rolls on (ph). I'm surprised I can even still talk to you, that the transmission, the communication is still working.
You know, it is incredible to me, John, that as the president left that summit in Canada, when he woke up in Singapore after all those hours on the airplane, he continued, added to a tweet storm that he had started some 36 hours prior. The latest salvo saying that "fair trade is fool trade." And then taking, again, square aim at Justin Trudeau, saying that he "acted all hurt." What we understand is that when the president left that G-7 summit, he thought he was being quite magnanimous, quite helpful, had signed up to a few trade positions and the entire communique.
Then he heard Justin Trudeau say that, look, they will retaliate on steel and aluminum tariffs July 1 if those American tariffs also go in. And apparently, that just set him off.
And what Peter Navarro and Larry Kudlow, two of the president's advisers, said, is that what they had said -- and I'm going to show you that in a minute -- came from Air Force One. The sentiment was from Air Force One. And that makes the following comments even more incredible. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KUDLOW, DIRECTOR, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: He really kind of stabbed us in the back. He actually, you know what? He did a great disservice to the whole G-7. PETER NAVARRO, ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT: There's a special place in
hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad-faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[06:05;09] NEWTON: Yes, in both of our countries, John, that's what they refer to as trash talk.
Having said that, the president seems like he is hellbent on making it clear he was not happy. Justin Trudeau, for his part, refuses, really, to respond to this. His reflex is deescalate the situation. That is not going to be easy.
The shame here, John, is that I even heard from both American and Canadian officials during the summit that real progress had been made. Now, instead, people are wondering whether or not the president may unilaterally pull out of NAFTA in the coming weeks.
BERMAN: All right. Paula Newton in Ottawa.
And of course, the fallout from that, from the G-7 really has chased the president here to Singapore. We just heard Secretary of State Mike Pompeo facing questions about what happened in Canada there.
So I want to bring back Kaitlan Collins. I want to bring in CNN chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto. And there is a connection between the G-7 summit and this meeting between the United States and North Korea. According to Larry Kudlow, the president's chief economic adviser, let me just remind you what he told Jake Tapper yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KUDLOW: He is not going to permit any show of weakness on the trip to negotiate with North Korea, nor should he.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: So this was about North Korea?
KUDLOW: Of course it was, in large part.
TAPPER: So because Trudeau said that as Trump was going to Singapore?
KUDLOW: One thing reads to another.
TAPPER: Oh, I see. OK.
KUDLOW: They are all related. Kim must not see American weakness.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Kim cannot see American weakness, Jim. Sort of the president flexing on his way here. So how do you reconcile that? That flexing with what we just heard from Mike Pompeo, who really, again, seemed to lower the bar for the summit, saying, you know, the goal is here to set conditions for future talks. We're willing to give security guarantees to the North Koreans that we've never given before.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, it is hard to see any intellectual consistency in the argument that Kudlow is making. Right?
So if you're talking about showing strength, what's odd is in the preceding 24 hours the U.S. apparently showed strength by attacking its closest ally and neighbor but making a friendly gesture to Russia.
You'll remember, President Trump talking twice about readmitting Russia into the G-7, which would then, of course, be the G-8, despite the fact that the reason it was kicked out, which is the annexation of Crimea, the invasion of Eastern Ukraine. That has not changed.
Why would it make sense to show strength by division within the western alliance, which you would want to keep unified going into a nuclear negotiation, you'd imagine, against, you know, a nation that they agree is a threat to -- for our peace, North Korea.
But at the same time with a nuclear Russian power the west believes, is unified in believing, is a threat to western security, that you make -- you offer an olive branch to him. It's -- you know, that sort of show of strength doesn't -- at least it's not consistent in those previous 24 hours. So it's something of an odd argument to make.
You know, on North Korea, the words from Pompeo that stood out to me in his press conference just a few moments ago is he said, "We are still waiting to see if North Korea is sincere about denuclearizing."
So here we are -- similar comments were made last week after he met with his North Korean counterpart in New York. The president said the same. Typically, when you have the leaders sit down, you've had a commitment of some sort. You've been convinced that you're sitting down for a reason, because the other side has assured you that we want to go this path.
You have those leaders sitting down, and when Trump walks into the room, he apparently, at least as of right now, doesn't know that North Korea is sincere about denuclearizing. That's remarkable.
BERMAN: I will say that the secretary of state did tell us that the working group -- there's a United States and a North Korean working group right now led by an ambassador-level American still meeting at this moment as far as we know. And he says that meeting will reach its logical conclusion much faster than anticipated. We don't know what that means.
SCIUTTO: Well, we don't know. And I'm told that one of the sticking points now is getting North Korea to commit on paper to denuclearizing. Not a general commitment but what the words are that are written down. So it would be, you know, a valuable takeaway to say, "Yes, we have this. The president can show it. We have this commitment in writing." And it sounds like, from Secretary Pompeo's public comments there, that they don't yet have that comment.
BERMAN: No, it's clear they don't have it yet. He said they want to set the condition for future meetings here. Presumably, those future meetings would hit that point.
Kaitlan, on the subject of strength that Jim brought up, that is apparently such an important thing for this administration. I was struck by the fact that Mike Pompeo, the U.S. secretary of state, made a point to say that there are 5,000 members of the media here covering it. Almost to announce to the president there's a crowd size issue here. He loves crowds. There are 5,000 members of the media here.
And also, the White House making clear that it will be a one-on-one meeting, at least at first. Kim and Trump alone with translators for up to two hours, making clear the president is up to this in their minds, Kaitlan.
COLLINS: Yes, we really got a lot of what the vague idea of what tomorrow is going to look like from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo but not a lot of details there, John. Not -- we didn't really get a readout of who is going to be in the meeting after Trump and Kim Jong- un meet one on on one. Will it include Pompeo himself, John Bolton; the press secretary, Sarah Sanders; and other officials that are here, working on behalf of the president. We really didn't get a lot of details on what that's going to look like.
But he did make clear they are still waiting to see what exactly the North Koreans are serious about, what they're willing to commit to tomorrow. A lot of buildup to that meeting that is happening in less than 24 hours.
But Jim is right. He didn't really say that they already had an agreement there. But it seems as if they've heard -- this administration has heard the criticism that they haven't done enough preparation for this, because he directly refuted a report that said they didn't have the technical expertise to deal with denuclearization. This administration doesn't have the technical expertise. He said that that is just flat-out wrong.
But also he was saying that the president is going into this with confidence and eagerness, that he's looking forward to that. But didn't really give a lot of concrete examples of what -- what they want to walk away from this with and what would be unexpected when they leave here if they didn't get what they wanted. He really left it open for anything to happen tomorrow.
And I think we've seen that from them in recent days, kind of dangling potential of next meetings happening, further summits, potentially, between the president and Kim Jong-un. So that is what we heard from Secretary of State Pompeo there. He said that those sanctions will remain in place if North Korea doesn't show that they are going to denuclearize. So that is worth noting. He said those economic sanctions could increase if North Korea doesn't make the right steps here.
He also talked about potential U.S. economic investment in North Korea, saying that that could also happen if, quote, "North Korea takes the right steps."
But we are seeing how the fallout from that G-7 summit is following the president even here. I can't stress enough just how unusual that is. That is a submit that is supposed to be by the books and not a lot of news coming out of it. But the way that the president reacted to that, is even following the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, here, and he was getting several questions about it, which clearly irritated him a little bit.
So it just goes to show what the president's moves in Canada are still following here -- him here, even in Singapore, John.
BERMAN: Yes. The secretary of state should not have been irritated by that question. He should have known that question was coming.
And Jim, I think there's something symbolic about the fact that the president will be alone in that room with Kim Jong-un. Because right now, the president is alone on the world stage, by his own making. I mean, he has pushed away the closest allies the United States has.
SCIUTTO: He has. At a time when you need those allies, right? I mean, there's strength in unity, particularly when you're facing North Korea.
Him alone in the room, I will tell you this. I don't know how his advisers necessarily feel about that. But there are diplomats in this region, as you know, many interested parties, China, South Korea as well, equally, Japan, who are concerned about how far Trump will go, right, without their agreement. North Korea -- South Korea, rather, and Japan, they're much closer to the North Koreans. They've got skin in this game, no question. Rightfully so. But they have concern. Will he give up more than we are comfortable with?
And there are, frankly, folks in the U.S. national security environment who are concerned, will he give up than they're comfortable with, as well? I mean, think about the troops on that peninsula, U.S. troops. That's not just about North Korea. That's also about China.
BERMAN: And I think there's great concern how the president feels about those troops. He had suggested he could pull out U.S. troops even before the idea of negotiation with North Korea were anywhere near a possibility.
Jim, stick around. We have a lot more to discuss.
In the meantime, Alisyn, let's go back to you in New York.
CAMEROTA: OK, John. Obviously, we'll be following all of the developments there in Singapore. And we'll have lots of lawmakers on to talk about this disruption of the international order.
Meanwhile, back here at home, actor Robert de Niro sending a profane message to the president from the Tony Awards. What you did not hear if you were watching at home. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:17:53] CAMEROTA: A federal judge in New York temporarily blocking a pizza delivery man from being deported. He was detained by immigration officials when he tried to deliver food to an Army base. CNN's Polo Sandoval is here with the latest details.
What do we know, Polo?
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, Pablo Villavicencio, he's a 35-year-old New York-area delivery guy who tried to make a delivery at a Brooklyn area Army base when military police officers ran a background check on him so as to be able to access that facility. And automatically, they were able to notice this pending deportation warrant that was issued after Mr. Villavicencio had failed to self- deport eight years ago, as he said he did.
ICE was called. ICE detained him. He was nearly deported when his lawyer filed that emergency stay that was granted over the weekend here.
On the defense side, his lawyer telling me that this was not the first base visit for Mr. Villavicencio. And despite knowing that he lived with this constant risk of deportation, he didn't suspect that it would go down on the 1st of June. He also has no criminal record in the process and was in the process of getting that green card.
And that 2010 voluntary departure order not the result of any kind of police action against him. It was strictly administrative. It's also unclear whether or not he actually signed off on that, that a background check, the Army base. Also ICE insisting that they did.
These kinds of cases, certainly, not that unique, but in this case, though, this certainly getting extra attention because of the location of the arrest, of course, at an Army base. And also, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo standing behind this man, hoping that he will be able to stay in the United States, Alisyn.
He has about five weeks to get with his attorneys to try to present this case. ICE will, of course, try to remove him. In the meantime, though, his family hopes that he will be able to stay in the United States -- Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: OK. Polo, thank you very much for all the developments on that story.
Now to entertainment and politics. Of course, politics took center stage at the Tony Awards Sunday night with actor Robert de Niro unloading on President Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT DE NIRO, ACTOR: (EXPLETIVE DELETED)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: All right. The reason you don't hear anything there is because de Niro's words, which included an "F" bomb about the president, were bleeped on the CBS broadcast. So the TV audience did not know what this crowd, the live audience, was cheering about or what Robert de Niro was making that gesture about.
[06:20:13] Meanwhile, one of the emotional highlights of the night were these students from Stoneman Douglas High School from the drama department. They performed the classic song "Seasons of Love" from the musical "Rent."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I remember only a week later, on February 14, a perfect day, where all these lessons in my life --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: That was their teacher, Melody Herzfeld, who was honored with a special Tony Award for excellence in theater education, because she saved students that day.
As for the awards themselves, "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" won the Tony for Best Play while "The Band's Visit" won Best Musical and three out of the four acting awards.
OK. Meanwhile, horse racing fans, now to sports, had to wait 37 years for a triple crown winner. And now we've had two in just the past four years. Lindsay Czarniak has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report." Very exciting.
LINDSEY CZARNIAK, CNN SPORTS: It was a fantastic weekend for horse racing. And both of those horses you mentioned were horses of Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert. Baffert thanked, when he unloaded Justify, his horse this weekend, the other horses went nuts. It's like they could feel his greatness. Isn't that amazing?
CAMEROTA: Even horses like celebrities.
CZARNIAK: They do. They all feel it. Justify did not run his first race until February of this year. But now he's the 13th horse to ever win the triple crown.
Justify dominated the Belmont Stakes over the weekend, leading wire- to-wire. He joins Seattle Slew as the only two horses to win the triple crown undefeated.
Baffert, who trained American Barrel back in 2015, is now just one of two trainers in history to win two triple crowns. He explained the adoration of Justify after the race.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB BAFFERT, OWNER OF JUSTIFY: I think everybody wants to see this happen, because he's such -- he's a beautiful horse. And it's just -- it's like he has to win. He's just so tough. He's just an imposing horse.
MIKE SMITH, JOCKEY FOR JUSTIFY: He's the greatest of all time. He just won a triple crown, man. He's my champion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CZARNIAK: So now what happens next is he heads to Churchill Downs later today. And Justify will get a week or so off before figuring out what's next.
His breeding rights, by the way, reportedly worth a record $75 million. So don't expect a lot of alone time, in other words.
Coming in second at the Belmont was Gronkowski, the horse named after Rod Gronkowski. The Patriots tight end actually owns a small stake in the horse. And this was a huge upset. Watch Gronk here as he's watching him climb up. Because the odds of him winning were 24-1. Gronk the man.
Speaking about Gronk the horse, he went all the way from last place to take second. So there was a moment there that he actually thought maybe his horse would do it. You know how entertaining he is.
CAMEROTA: That was entertaining. That was even more entertaining than watching the horse run around.
CZARNIAK: Oh, yes.
CAMEROTA: That was great. Lindsay, thank you very much.
CZARNIAK: Thank you.
CAMEROTA: OK. So with President Trump about to meet Kim Jong-un, you would expect cabinet members like Energy Secretary Perry to be fully briefed on the president's plan. Or maybe not. We have a CNN exclusive behind the scenes is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:27:31] CAMEROTA: President Trump is set to meet Kim Jong-un in just a matter of hours. So how is his cabinet trying to prepare for what happens after this summit and what do cabinet members like Energy Secretary Rick Perry know about the president's strategy going in?
CNN's Rene Marsh is live with her exclusive interview. What did you learn, Rene?
RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.
Well, Secretary Perry is not in Singapore for the historic summit, but the Department of Energy will lead the technical aspect of any nuclear agreement. The agency's nuclear experts are in charge, as you know, of maintaining the United States' nuclear stockpiles. And those DOE nuclear physicists and other scientists there, they have the unique expertise. They are the ones who know how these nuclear weapons work, how they're made, the components that go into them.
And on the heels of the president's comment that he doesn't need to prepare for the summit, I asked Energy Secretary Rick Perry how is his agency preparing. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARSH: The framework is in place?
RICK PERRY, U.S. ENERGY SECRETARY: There has been planning going on for this for some time.
MARSH: A framework is in place?
PERRY: The Department of Energy will play an integral role. They're the lead agency. If we're successful, as we hope the president is, in his negotiations to allow for the denuclearization of the peninsula, the Department of Energy will play a significant, if not lead role.
MARSH: So the framework is in place?
PERRY: The plans are -- have been being worked on for weeks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARSH: All right. Well, you see there he didn't directly answer whether a framework exists. Two former officials, one with DOE, and one with NSE formerly, they say at this point, at the very least, a framework of all the technical information that the U.S. needs from North Korea, like information about their nuclear reactors, should exist.
It's unclear, though, if Perry was playing coy or if there, indeed, is no framework in place just yet.
I would also want to add, Alisyn, Perry also told me during that interview that he wasn't quite sure what the president was going to be presenting in that meeting.
It is important to note Perry is a member of the National Security Council. Perhaps again it's an effort for him to protect the process. And perhaps he's playing coy as far as these negotiations. But one former national security adviser told me that, if that's the case, the better answer would have been, "No comment, adding that saying that he doesn't know indicates perhaps he could be getting shut out of the process. If that is the case, that person said it would be quite troubling -- Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: He really didn't want to answer your question. I mean, you tried.
MARSH: Yes, he didn't. And we don't know why. Again, you know, does it -- is it because he doesn't have a lot of information or is it because he's trying to protect the process? Unclear.