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U.S. Planning Timeline for Denuclearization; Sanders Asked to Leave Restaurant; Parkland Survivors Turn to Activism. Aired 6:30-7 ET
Aired June 25, 2018 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:31:08] ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: We are learning more about the Trump administration's next steps when it comes to North Korea. A defense official telling reporters the U.S. is now preparing a wish list of sorts, which includes specific asks for North Korea. And, among them, is a timeline for denuclearization.
CNN's Alexandra Field is live in Seoul with the very latest for us.
Good morning.
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Erica.
It's one thing to agree to work towards denuclearization, which is exactly what President Trump and Kim Jong-un did in Singapore, it's another thing to agree on what denuclearization means, how quickly it happens, and how it's verified. These are all key issues that the secretary of state has been tasked with. He'll be working with his counterparts in North Korea to hammer all that out.
At the same time, we are hearing from a U.S. defense official that the U.S. is working toward its plan of how to implement this agreement. And that does mean that there will be key asks, as well as a timeline, and probably most crucially data points for North Korea. This official says that those data points will be indications of whether or not North Korea is acting in good faith when it says that it is ready to work toward denuclearization.
You'll remember that back in Singapore, a host of promises were made. President Trump agreed to put an end to what he called war games. And the Pentagon has now said it will, in fact, stop those military exercises consistent with the president's word. And North Korea, for its part, had said that it would destroy a missile engine testing facility as a show of good faith toward denuclearization. No indication of whether that's been done.
But they have also agreed that they would return the remains of some U.S. soldiers. And U.S. officials are preparing to retrieve the remains of nearly 200 U.S. soldiers. They've sent about 100 wooden coffins to the DMZ. They are now waiting for North Korea to do its part by handing over the remains. Those remains will then be shipped onto Hawaii, where they'll have to go -- undergo DNA testing. And that's when we'll know whether or not they are, in fact, the remains of U.S. service men. They could, of course, also include the remains of those who fought alongside the U.S. in that was. It's an important step forward for families who have waited decades for this.
John.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: An important, welcomed step for those families. Key, though, does the United States' definition of denuclearize jive with that of Kim Jong-un? We'll see perhaps over the next several weeks.
Thanks so much, Alexandra. Appreciate it.
All right, so should someone from the White House, a supporter of the president, get to eat at a restaurant run by people who do not support the president? We will debate this very shortly without shouting. At least we will try.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:37:22] BERMAN: A Virginia restaurant owner asked White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders to leave her restaurant over the weekend. The owner told "The Washington Post" she did it to uphold her own morals. But her decision has created a controversy that really lit up social media all weekend.
Joining us now, Christine Quinn, the former city council speaker in New York City and president of Women in Need, and Ben Ferguson, a CNN political commentator, host of "The Ben Ferguson Show."
Two things I need to tell you about my restaurant. Number one, we serve meat and only meat. Secondly, we always try to have a civil discourse here, so let me preface it with that.
Christine Quinn --
BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I like it.
BERMAN: Christine, the decision to ask Sarah Sanders to leave. Do you feel as though it was appropriate?
CHRISTINE QUINN, FORMER CITY COUNCIL SPEAKER, NEW YORK CITY: I feel that, you know, Sarah Sanders has reaped what she has sowed. She has stood in front of that podium for months on end, supporting discrimination against transgender troops, supporting the Supreme Court decision that said the baker didn't have to bake wedding cakes for LGBT couples. She supported discrimination against immigrants and right now supported this unbelievably immoral policy separating children from families.
So I'm sure this stings to Sarah to fell what it's like to have someone say you can't come into my establishment. But you can't have it both ways. You can't stand up there and support a president and policies that say it's OK for a baker to say this group, this protected class, can't get service from us and then you go in a restaurant and be asked to leave and cry crocodile tears. You can't do that. This woman in the restaurant felt she had to make a stand, and she did.
FERGUSON: Well, let me jump in.
BERMAN: Hang on one second, Ben.
QUINN: But, again, Sarah, look what you're doing every day. You've created this environment. You've planted these seeds and now you're responsible.
BERMAN: Ben.
FERGUSON: Yes. Two things. One, she wasn't crying about it. Second of all, the Supreme Court said that that baker overwhelming, in an overwhelming decision, had the right to refuse service based on his religious grounds. The third thing is, this is just really bad for Democrats.
BERMAN: No. No. No, no, no. Hang on, Ben, I wanted to give you full time here. Just to be clear what the Supreme Court said. They said that that case was decide on a technicality. They didn't make any big sweeping decision on religious grounds or not.
FERGUSON: It --
BERMAN: But that's -- let's not argue about the Supreme Court decision in that case.
Go ahead.
FERGUSON: All right, if you interpret -- if you -- hold on, if you interpret it that way -- if you interpret it that way, when you have seven Supreme Court justices that are saying, and I think it was a little bit more than a technicality, I would disagree with you on that one.
My point is, to say that somehow because the Supreme Court agreed on something, that then the restaurant should go out there and attack conservatives, look, if Democrats want to do this, that's fine. I think it's a really bad look when every day you're screaming about how Donald Trump's a terrible person and then you have a woman who comes into a restaurant with her family and you say, get out of my restaurant. You have the right to do that. Let's also be clear. She has the -- this restaurant owner has a right to do it.
[06:40:06] I just think this is an incredibly stupid move. I think it's unbelievably disappoint for people that claim that they want others to be tolerant of their viewpoints and their ideas to be completely tolerant of somebody that disagrees with then.
And when you go out to have dinner with your family, you're going out to have dinner with your family. You're not there to make a political statement. She wasn't there to make a political statement. And, unfortunately, this owner decided to go the lowest level, the same level, by the way --
BERMAN: All right --
FERGUSON: That liberals say the president should never go to --
BERMAN: Ben, hang on -- hang on.
FERGUSON: And criticize him for it all the time.
BERMAN: OK, Ben.
Christine Quinn, Michelle Obama said they go low, we go high. Is it going high?
QUINN: This is one where a woman felt she had to stand up. I mean and then --
BERMAN: Is it going high, though? It -- what's wrong -- what's wrong with restaurants where we can all eat?
FERGUSON: It's not going high.
QUINN: What's wrong with a policy where you're discriminating against transgender people? Where I've been told I can be denied service by establishments because I'm a lesbian. What's wrong with that? And now Ben is concerned we're discriminating against conservatives.
FERGUSON: That's not what the Supreme Court said.
BERMAN: Hang on, Ben. Hang on, Ben.
QUINN: The -- and that's a bad thing. Discriminating against anyone is a bad thing, but the Trump administration has created a moment in our society where a vast majority of what they've done domestically is about discrimination. So if Sarah Sanders doesn't like (INAUDIBLE) --
FERGUSON: Look --
BERMAN: Hang on, Ben. Hang on, Ben. Hang on, Ben. Ben --
QUINN: If Sarah and Ben don't like discrimination, they should stop supporting policies that discriminate.
BERMAN: Ben, let me ask you this, two things. Number one --
FERGUSON: They -- but, John --
BERMAN: Hang on, Ben. Hang on. Hang on. Hang on.
FERGUSON: This hypocrisy --
BERMAN: I want to move this along. I really do.
So, Ben, should Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, have drawn attention to this on the official White House Twitter account, highlighted the restaurant, shone the spotlight on it after -- on the official account, number one? And, number two --
FERGUSON: John -- John --
BERMAN: Hang on. Hang on, Ben. And, number two --
FERGUSON: All right, let me answer that. Let me answer that.
BERMAN: Hang on -- hang on, you can answer both after I ask you the second question here. Number two, has the president, in a way, contributed to this level of discourse? Has he created a situation --
FERGUSON: All right, let's --
BERMAN: Where this discussion has become what it is?
FERGUSON: Let's -- let's be clear. It's an incredibly cheap shot to imply that Sarah Huckabee Sanders went out there and tried to out this restaurant. That did not happen. She was asked about it by the media after one of the people that was serving her at the table said, I only had to serve her for two minutes and I kicked her -- the owner kicked her and her family out of the restaurant.
She responded the next morning after a media inquiry. So to imply that Sarah Huckabee Sanders somehow exploited this or made it worse, no, she was confirming what happened, how it happened and letting people know that, yes, she was asked to leave and she left politely. So we can't pin this on her on that responding the very -- the next morning. She didn't go out and tweet on her way out of the restaurant saying, this evil restaurant kicked me and my family out, boycott them. That's not what she did.
You look at the restaurant owner. You look at the media attention it got. She was confirming that she was asked to leave a restaurant. That is completely appropriate by Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
The second thing for the president, I'll go back to the point I was going to make a second ago. The hypocrisy from the left is this president has created this environment so you deserve what you get now. Again, if that is your argument, then don't go out there and support a restaurant that is going to the level that you claim that Donald Trump is going to all the time and then have members of Congress who are saying, we're going to come after every person that works with Donald Trump. We're going to silence you. We're not going to let you pump gas without being -- again, as she put it, virtually -- basically terrorized and harassed. (INAUDIBLE) was harassed. We're going to harass her.
BERMAN: All right, hang on one second. Hang on one second.
All right, I'm going to go back to Christine for the last word here.
I do want to note that Sarah Sanders' tweet the next morning was polite. By all accounts, the restaurant owner very polite also. The two people who have been most polite here apparently, at least in their conversation, were the owner and Sarah, but go ahead, Christine.
QUINN: No, if you listen to what Ben just said, he didn't deny the administration was discriminatory. He didn't deny the policies were discriminatory.
FERGUSON: I -- they're not discriminating. I'll -- I'll -- I just cleared it up there.
QUINN: He said that people shouldn't match discriminatory behavior with other discriminatory behavior.
FERGUSON: That's not what I said.
QUINN: Again, this is an administration that has supported the Supreme Court's decision --
FERGUSON: It's -- again, Christine -- Christine, look, you know me well enough to know that's not what I said.
QUINN: Saying that establishments cannot serve and cater to LGBT clientele. They've supported discrimination against the transgender community.
FERGUSON: Then be -- criticize the Supreme Court then.
QUINN: They're ripping babies from their mother's arms.
FERGUSON: Again, that's not what the Supreme Court said.
BERMAN: Ben, hang on.
QUINN: He -- this is a -- this is an unfortunate moment in our society to be calm and -- and not descriptive about it. And this woman stood up and had to do what she had to do. And you can't have it both ways. If you're going to support discriminary (ph) policies, discrimination will happen.
FERGUSON: So -- so you're saying any conservative that goes out there should be discriminated against, using your words. So you're saying that if I go out to a restaurant today and somebody doesn't like me --
QUINN: I am saying --
BERMAN: Hang on. Hang on. Hang on. We've got 20 seconds left. We've got 20 seconds left. Christine, (INAUDIBLE).
QUINN: I am saying that the Trump administration has reaped what they have sowed. They have set a climate of discrimination and they now can't, oh, shucks, how did this happen.
FERGUSON: Christine --
BERMAN: Ben, ten seconds. Ten seconds. Go ahead, Ben.
FERGUSON: I'll make it very clear. If Democrats are going to go out there and complain every day about this administration and then they go out and attack conservatives and don't let them eat in their restaurants, and then attack people who are just having a meal with their families, do not ever lecture me about what is appropriate or inappropriate in political discourse when you're clearly doing it -- and congresswoman are saying that we need to harass conservatives with Trump.
BERMAN: All right.
QUINN: You know what --
[06:45:09] BERMAN: Hang on, guys. Hang on. Hang on. Hang on. What we're going to do is we're going to wrap it up here. This is a discussion clearly that will continue. I appreciate you both being here this morning.
Christine, thanks so much.
FERGUSON: Thanks, John.
BERMAN: Erica.
HILL: All right, John, thanks.
Some positive news after a frightening crash involving a congressional candidate, Katie Arrington. We'll update you on her condition.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: So overnight we learned that federal prosecutors have scrapped their planned interview with Stormy Daniels. That was supposed to take place in just a few hours. In a tweet her attorney, Michael Avenatti, said the meeting was canceled because of media attention. The interview was expected to focus on the $130,000 hush money payment that Daniels received from the president's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, to keep her quiet about an alleged affair with the president.
HILL: South Carolina Congressional Candidate Katie Arrington is expected to make a full recovery after being seriously injured in a car wreck. Her campaign says Arrington had two major surgeries on Sunday. Doctors do not predict any neurological deficits or limitations. Arrington was a passenger in a car on Friday when a vehicle traveling in the wrong direction hit them. The driver of that vehicle died.
[06:50:07] BERMAN: All right, one of the Parkland students, perhaps in the face in some ways of the survivors of that massacre, with a new book out about activism. Stick around, we're going to speak to them.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HILL: They survived the shooting at their high school in Parkland, Florida. Now, David and Lauren Hogg are turning their pain into activism in their new book "#NeverAgain: A New Generation Draws the Line."
And David and Lauren Hogg joins us now.
Good to have both of you with us this morning.
There's a lot in here, including a number of remembrances, all of the victims.
And, Lauren, I know specifically you lost four friends. How important was it for you that a portion of this book really focus on who they were and let other people into that world?
LAUREN HOGG, AUTHOR OF "#NEVERAGAIN": Yes, so it was extremely important to me because, as in the book I mentioned, I have grown up in a time where I was born after Columbine. I was nine when Sandy Hook happened. And I've seen time after time these things happen. And the victims' faces go on the TV for about a week, and then they just go away.
[06:55:15] And that, honesty, is one of my biggest fears. I don't want people to forget my friends because I think something that we do as humans, I think we see these people's faces on the TV and we don't see them as people, we see these victims as kind of these characters, because I think it's easier for us to look at these victims as not real because it's easier for us to believe that something like this can't happen then that it really can and it is happening every day.
HILL: And in terms of that, in the book you write, and I'm going to paraphrase a little bit here. After February 14th, we knew how fast time could stop. And you talk about everything that you have learned in school, everything you've studied about what came before. Going on to say, but it all seemed a little bit distant, a little bit like a dream. Either it happened before we were born or it was happening somewhere else. When it happened to us, we woke up.
David --
L. HOGG: Absolutely.
HILL: David, just expand on that a little bit for us here, because you've also acknowledge the fact that you come from a pretty privileged school in terms of what you're learning and how you're learning and even what you're seeing in the parents and the families around you. What did it do specifically to wake you up in a way that has lasted?
DAVID HOGG, AUTHOR OF "#NEVERAGAIN": I think the education at my high school as a public high school in a privileged community was able to give me is what -- it what's enabled me to be able to -- and all of us to be able to speak out like we have been, because of my experience in speech in -- in TV production. That's part of the reason why we've been able to speak out so eloquently and fight for so long is because we've studied movements in U.S. history. We've talked about how to debate people and public speaking and speech and debate and how the news cycle works in TV production. It's a combination of all these things that enabled us to make sure that we -- that our friends weren't forgot and that we're still able to speak out against this more than four months later.
HILL: And, Lauren, I know you've both made the point in the past, but in the book too, you talk about the fact that this isn't just about what happened at your school. This is about what's happening every single day in different communities that are not seeing the same attention.
L. HOGG: Absolutely. And I think with March For Our Lives we can -- and we've made this decision and we've talked about this so often, we can't only -- if we're going to be talking about guns and gun reform, we can't only talk about mass shootings and school shootings, because that's only part of the issue. We have to look at the whole issue. And we can't personally speak on violence -- gun violence like inner-city gun violence. That's why we're going into these places, like the south side of Chicago and inner city D.C., because if we're going to fix the whole problem, we need to look at all the issues that contribute to the problem.
HILL: There's been a lot of support for you guys. There's been a lot of pushback as well. And we have heard about a good amount of it, not just on this network, but also we see it on social media. Part of the reason too you wanted to write this book, David, was so people could understand who you really are.
D. HOGG: Yes, definitely. It was so that people can understand that Lauren and I are -- we're just -- you know, we were kids before this and we kind of lived carelessly, as kids should, before this. And I hope that one day America will be able to return to that, but I know that Lauren and I will never be able to. But hopefully in the future our -- our children will be able to. And that was a huge reason for writing this book.
HILL: You have these ten --
D. HOGG: Just to get the message out there and -- yes.
HILL: In terms of that message to, David, just running a little tight on time, you have these 10 common sense measures that you both believe are achievable. Do you think the conversation is moving forward? Are you able to have a real conversation at this point about these 10 suggestions that you have?
D. HOGG: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. I've spoken to many NRA members on our road to change and I think that we can have a conversation, not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans and human beings. And I hope people learn empathy from this book, not to mention all the proceeds from it are going to charity that we could be making otherwise. So it's going to March For Our Lives, Change the Ref (ph), and Chicago Strong.
HILL: All right, David and Lauren Hogg, appreciate it, as always. Thank you.
L. HOGG: Thank you.
D. HOGG: Thank you.
HILL: And thanks to our international viewers for watching. For you CNN "TALK" is next. For our viewers here in the U.S., NEW DAY continues right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Trump called for these immigrants to not be afforded due process.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No person can be deprived of due process of law.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: We need policies which deal with immigration in a rationale way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We confuse toughness with cruelty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a human rights crisis that's developed in America.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This restaurant owner's perfectly within her rights to ask Sarah to leave.
BERMAN: Iowa farmers hit hard by increasing tariffs. Something that could affect their support for President Trump.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm worried some. I'm concerned.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we'll get more vocal as it gets more painful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.
BERMAN: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. Alisyn is off. Erica Hill joins me.
Also joining us this morning, John Avlon.
[07:00:00] Let me just warn you, there is no due process here at this table this morning. Not at all.
JOHN AVLON, CNN ANCHOR: Duly noted.
HILL: At least we know where he stands.
AVLON: Exactly.
BERMAN: Thank you very much.
Why are we saying this? Well, it seems the president is trying to grab more power this morning and upend the legal system at the border.
