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Russia and U.S. Disagree Over Trump-Putin Meddling Talk; Moscow Views Trump-Putin Meeting as Positive; Peaceful Protest at the G-20 Summit Followed Violent One; President Trump to Meet with President Xi of China; U.S. Global Leadership Missing at G-20 Summit?; New Device for Good Posture; Aired 7-8a ET

Aired July 08, 2017 - 07:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[07:00:00] JEANNE MOOS, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): -- move, surpassed only by the time he pushed Montenegro's prime minister out of the way, but holding a golf club isn't nearly as high in testosterone as holding a gun and compared to being airlifted onto a sub at sea?

The most macho thing we've seen President Trump board was a truck.

Moss. Jeanne Moss, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The president confronted Vladimir Putin on U.S. concerns that Russia meddled in last year's election.

REX TILLERSON, SECRETARY OF STATE: President Putin denied such involvement.

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): Not a singing fact has been presented.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it's going very well. Look forward to a lot of very positive things happening.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: He used the language that this concerns the American people. He never said as far as we know that this concerns him.

REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D), CALIFORNIA: What's troublesome is that it does not appear that it is his concern.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Clashes continued well into the night on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Melania Trump was on lockdown as protests raged outside her Hamburg hotel. By dinner time the Trumps emerged. The first lady's companion was none other than Vladimir Putin. ANNOUNCER: This is "NEW DAY WEEKEND" with Victor Blackwell and

Christie Paul.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. A critical meeting ahead for the president on the final day of the G-20 Summit. Tackling the growing nuclear crisis in North Korea.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: And in just a few hours, President Trump will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, hoping to use the country's leverage to stop the regime's ballistic missile program. However, the meeting comes as tensions clearly rising over U.S. military action near China.

BLACKWELL: President Trump is also trying to make good on plans for a new trade deal with the U.K. But as the president tries to talk trade he cannot escape the questions about Russia's interference in the 2016 election. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'd like to thank Prime Minister May for being with us. We've had tremendous talks. There's no country that could possibly be closer than our countries and for a long time, and I just want to say thank you very much. We're working on a trade deal which will be a very, very big deal, very powerful deal, great for both countries. And I think we'll have that done very, very quickly.

We have all of our trade people. We have Wilbur Ross with us. We have all of the trade people. Rex and I had a tremendous meeting yesterday with President Putin and we've had really great meetings with a lot of people. We're having a lot today, but Prime Minister May and I have developed a very special relationship and I think trade will be a very big factor between our two countries so I want to thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President, did the Russians lie about your meeting yesterday?

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I will be going to London, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: When will you be going, sir?

TRUMP: We'll work that out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So the questions here come after another he said-he said the president is now in. Russia's foreign minister is telling reporters that President Trump accepted President Putin's word that the Kremlin was not involved in the 2016 election or trying to meddle at all. But a senior Trump administration official immediately denied that claim. PAUL: In the meantime, police are gearing up for what could be a

third day of violent protest. Right now demonstrators are gathered peacefully. That's what we're seeing this morning, but this was the scene last night. Thousands of people were on the streets. There were fires that were set, there were bottles that were hurled. There was looting of businesses and more than 200 police officers have been injured in it all thus far.

BLACKWELL: We have a team of reporters and political analysts around the globe standing by. We're going to start with CNN senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta live in Hamburg, Germany.

Jim, let's start with this discrepancy and the significance as it relates to the discussion over meddling in the 2016 election.

ACOSTA: Yes, it's a pretty big discrepancy, Christie and Victor, coming out of that meeting yesterday. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, they both were giving different accounts as to what went on in that meeting. Of course, they did agree that yes, President Trump did raise these concerns, American concerns, about Russian meddling in last year's election.

There was a question as to whether or not the president was conveying his own feelings in all of this or whether he was just bringing up his own frustrations that this is a big story that sort of dominates everything on the political scene back in Washington. But he did raise those concerns but coming out of that meeting the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, told reporters that President Trump accepted Vladimir Putin's denial that the Russians were meddling in last year's election. This claim of noninterference.

[07:05:08] The president, you heard in that audio we just played a few moments ago, was asked about this. He did not answer the question, but take a listen to both Tillerson and Lavrov as they have this sort of he said-he said over what went on in this meeting. Here's what he said.

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TILLERSON: Well, the two presidents, I think rightly, focused on is how do we move forward. How do we move forward from here? Because it's not clear to me that we will ever come to some agreed upon resolution of that question between the two nations, so the question is what do we do now?

LAVROV (through translator): President Trump said he heard Putin's very clear statements that this is not true and that the Russian government did not interfere in the elections and that he accepts these statements. That's all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Now senior administration official told CNN that, no, the president did not accept Vladimir Putin's claim of noninterference in the last election and so this is going to continue to be a nagging question for this White House, for this president.

We don't expect the president to hold any kind of news conference. We haven't been apprised of any kind of on-camera briefing that's going to occur involving the president. Perhaps we might hear from some officials later on today so that question might get asked of officials here before this G-20 Summit wraps up but it continues to be a nagging question.

And as you mentioned, Christi and Victor, yes, the subject of North Korea is going to come up later on today as the president sits down with Chinese President Xi. Keep in mind, that is also a very interesting sort of subplot or subdrama, I suppose, as this G-20 Summit wraps up. Just a couple of days ago the president was saying well, perhaps he can't rely on Xi anymore in terms of putting pressure on North Korea.

That is something that the president may get asked about while he's meeting with Chinese President Xi and of course the president has banked much of his policy on using China to put pressure on North Korea and he hasn't gotten the results that he's wanted so far -- Christi and Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right. Jim Acosta for there in Hamburg, thanks so much.

PAUL: So how are people in Moscow reacting to the first meeting between President Trump and Vladimir Putin?

We're going to bring in Ivan Watson, senior international correspondent who is in Moscow.

Ivan, what are you hearing there this morning? And good morning to you.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christi. Russian officials seems pretty delighted with this meeting. You have a top lawmaker here tweeting about how this is essentially a breakthrough, that there very low expectations but now that they've met this has marked a breakthrough for Russian and U.S. relations.

I've got a copy of a tabloid newspaper here called Komsomolskaya Pravda, which does a kind of photo-by-photo breakdown of when the cameras were in the room with a psychiatrist, a psychologist arguing that judging by the body language in these photos and how President Trump extended his hand that it shows that -- that Putin dominated that meeting.

Of course other people may have other interpretations of that, but it does sound like this has been welcomed by, again, Russian officials as a big step forward. We -- you know, one of the top lawmakers have said -- has pointed out, however, that one of the things the Russians would have liked to have had, a removal of U.S. sanctions against Russia that have been in place since Russia invaded and annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

Sanctions that were strengthened at the outgoing Obama administration with the seizure of the two Russian diplomatic compounds in the U.S. that Putin did not succeed in getting those back. As one senior Russian lawmaker put it we may have to exist in parallel realities right now, one with the U.S. continuing to put pressure on Russia with these sanctions.

On the other hand will be negotiating and working with the U.S. in places like Syria where the two presidents agreed that they would try to set up a limited cease fire in southwestern Syria with the help of the Jordanian government and with the Russian military police on the ground trying to enforce that in one pocket of the much broader and deadly civil war in Syria -- Christi and Victor.

PAUL: Ivan, it was interesting, you just mentioned how it's being characterized as a breakthrough, this meeting. Specifically, what do you hear might be the breakthrough moment for -- for people who are watching there in Russia?

WATSON: First of all, the fact that you had a Russian and U.S. president meeting for the first time in nearly two years. It hasn't happened since September of 2015. Second, the fact that here these two leaders want to negotiate and work forward on a number of areas. The big looming question that is dominating Washington about allegations of Russian involvement in the 2016 election.

[07:10:03] Well, now it seems the two presidents have agreed to set up a working group that will look at cyber hacking, that will look at the question of interference in the U.S. election, and meanwhile, the Russian Foreign minister came out of that meeting saying that hey, President Trump accepted that -- accepted our denials that we did not meddle in the U.S. election.

That has since been disputed by a White House official. There are diverging accounts of how that exactly went down in the meeting, but it looks from the Russian perspective like they're almost getting a free pass now at the accusations of very serious meddling in that 2016 election.

PAUL: All right. Ivan Watson, we appreciate the perspective there. Thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: More protests of the G-20 today. German officials say more than 200 police officers have been injured during the unrest over the past few days. More than 100 protesters have been arrested and on this, the last day of the summit, Hamburg authorities are preparing for the worst.

Let's go now to CNN senior international correspondent Atika Shubert. She's there with some of the protesters.

What are you seeing? Anything like we've seen overnight with the fires that were set?

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No, absolutely not. In fact this is a very festive protest. There's been a lot of music, I've seen singing pirates, I've seen kids holding up signs that say, save the planet. So this is a very family oriented, festival- like protest march.

It is however very large. If my camera can quickly show you just how far back it goes, they're expecting as many as 100,000 on the street today. So this is a march that's going to go through and meet up with other marches.

Even though it is very festive, it's a huge policing challenge. There are thousands of riot police out here to make sure it stays this party-like atmosphere and doesn't get violent at all.

BLACKWELL: All right. Atika Shubert there, just ahead of one of those protest marches.

Atika, thanks so much.

PAUL: Want to bring in Tara Palmeri, CNN political analyst and White House correspondent for Politico, as we talk about all the happenings in the last 24 hours here.

And rather, Tara, than looking back as we just heard what the take is there in Russia from Ivan, help us understand, based on what we know of this meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Where does Russia and the U.S. go now?

TARA PALMERI, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: They agreed to a cease fire in Syria so we'll see if that commitment is actually made, but you saw that President Donald Trump stuck to his commitment to try to warm the relationship between the U.S. and Russia. This was something he vowed on the campaign trail despite the investigation into Russian meddling and, you know, accusations going both ways about the dealing with how they're dealing with Syria.

What we're seeing now is possibly a change in the relationship, but like we've seen in the past, many presidents before him like President Bush and Obama thought that they had a new moment with Russia and that they had turned the page from the prior administration who had by the end of their terms had very frosty relationships, but with Putin he is very used to dealing with a new president.

He's used to really charming them and maybe perhaps telling them all things that they want to hear and creating an impression of cooperation between Russia and the U.S., which ends up often unraveling because of broken promises or just disagreements.

PAUL: Tara, I want to get to a moment that happened just a little while ago that perked some ears up here. Ivanka Trump was on stage to help roll out the Women's Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative which is providing financial and other support to women entrepreneurs in developing countries.

A lot of people have wondered based on some comments that President Trump has made about women how he could be involved in that empowerment forum so to speak but he said something interesting about his daughter. Let's listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: I'm very proud of my daughter Ivanka. Always have been. From day one. I have to tell you that, from day one. She's always been great. Champion. She's a champion.

If she weren't my daughter it would be so much easier for her. Might be the only bad thing she has going if you want to know the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: So he's given a little bit of levity there about his relationship obviously to his daughter and what it does to her reputation, so to speak, but what is your reaction to that comment and what do we know? Give us a sense of Ivanka's power or influence on the world stage.

PALMERI: I think it's really difficult for Ivanka to -- to play this game of being close to her father who has made disparaging comments about women while also touting women's empowerment. I reported a few weeks ago that Trump is considering closing the White House Office of Women and Girls.

[07:15:07] They don't think it's a valuable office in the White House. This is something that you would naturally see Ivanka being the leader of this office. So there's obviously some friction about how Ivanka wants to promote women's issues, paid leave, and what her father sees as a priority, and I think making light of it perhaps is the only way to move forward.

But she clearly has an agenda and she clearly has an influence on him, probably more so than anyone else in that White House, but I think she knows the limits of her power, and I've been told from, you know, White House officials that even for family you don't want to be seen as too powerful over Trump because it can cause you to be ostracized but she seems to be the favorite child that she's walking a tight rope and she's trying to play it safe, I think, so that she can have long- term influence over this administration.

PAUL: All right. Tara Palmeri, grateful to have your insights. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: We are now just a few hours from a crucial meeting for President Trump. He's sitting down with the Chinese president. Question, can the leaders commit to a strategy to deal with North Korea?

PAUL: Also, I don't need to tell you it's a stifling heat wave if you are there. Temperatures are going to reach triple digits again today. We'll talk about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:32] BLACKWELL: In just a few hours President Trump will meet with the Chinese president and this is a really critical point for the leaders of these two countries. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the U.S. still hopes that China will help to deter North Korea from developing a nuclear weapon. PAUL: In the last few days, though, the U.S. military performed two

air drills near the Korean Peninsula sending bombers to put on a show of force with other American allies in the reason and now the U.S. plans to test its missile defense system, the same system that China views as a threat, the THAAD system there.

Retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton here to break down this new military action. Also we start with CNN Asia Pacific editor Andrew Stevens live in Beijing.

So, Andrew, we have to believe North Korea is going to be first and foremost on the agenda for today's meeting. Yes?

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN ASIA-PACIFIC EDITOR: Absolutely. Christi, no doubt about that whatsoever. Donald Trump has made it very clear that he thinks China can do a lot more in bringing North Korea to heel. And he's been pushing this line not just recently but for some time now.

Think back to April in Mar-a-Lago when Xi Jinping and Donald Trump met and it was sort of being described as a bromance, all warm and fuzzy, but from that nothing happened as far as U.S. administration's concerned over China's putting more pressure on North Korea.

So the relationship between the U.S. and China has been souring since then, so Xi and Trump meet once again to talk about North Korea, once again following this ICBM launch, and there's still no meeting of minds. There's still big daylight between these two on what to do next. The only thing now is that the relationship is getting worse.

So pushing forward is going to be very, very difficult for Trump to get Xi on board and remember, too, you talked about these military -- these military maneuvers by the U.S. and South Korea, this is what the Chinese say has to stop before they can get North Korea to the negotiating table.

Both the Russians and the Chinese made this very clear in the last few days that talks are the only way forward. The U.S. hasn't really pushed that line yet. As we know military options are still on the table, but at this stage this meeting is just very, very difficult to get a steer on which way it's going to go -- Christi.

PAUL: All right. Andrew Stevens, good to see you this morning. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: All right. Let's bring in now Colonel Cedric Leighton. He's a CNN military analyst. Retired Air Force colonel and former member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Good morning to you, Colonel. And I want to start with the THAAD missile defense system designed to intercept short and mid range missiles potentially coming from North Korea. It's going to be tested sometime in the next couple of days. An official says the test was not prompted by the North's ICBM test.

But I wonder in the context of North Korea -- we'll talk about China in a moment -- what are the potential implications and the significance of this test now?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, good morning, Victor. Yes, I think the implications are pretty substantial and, you know, sometimes the military does things not necessarily in a vacuum but they have a set timetable to do things like testing the THAAD system.

The fact that that test is happening in the wake of the ICBM launch by North Korea really does mean that the United States is sending several messages, some of them perhaps not as intended as they -- as is really the case, but what they want to do is they want to send a message to the North Koreans that they are prepared to defend South Korea, that they're also prepared to make sure that the system works from a purely operational standpoint.

So when you do something like this, you're definitely putting not only North Korea, but China on notice that, A, we are here to stay and B, if the system works, it's going to be a viable alternative to some of the things that are out there and could potentially change what the Chinese would view as the balance of power in the region.

BLACKWELL: And it's interesting that this announcement comes between the meetings of two world leaders who believe that the THAAD missile system could be a threat. Russia doesn't like this system, China doesn't like this system, however the U.S. waited until after the meeting with Putin but made sure it was announced before the meeting with Xi.

Let me move on here to what this could mean for the ratcheting up of rhetoric, of demonstrations, this one upmanship. What's your degree of concern that there will be some reaction, some response, maybe a test, another nuclear test from North Korea after this announcement of the THAAD system?

[07:25:03] LEIGHTON: I think this is a very distinct possibility because when the North Koreans look at something like the THAAD system they're basically taking a cue from the Chinese and they also see it as a threat because it minimizes the effectiveness of their offensive weapons.

And as you correctly noted it is designed for short range and intermediate range missiles, not designed for intercontinental missiles but the fact that that is a system that is right there in their backyard as they would see it, that makes a huge difference and it is going to be something that the North Koreans will take into account. It is highly likely I believe that they will test the either a nuclear device or perhaps another missile in the next few days.

BLACKWELL: All right. Colonel Cedric Leighton, thanks so much for being with us this morning.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Victor. Any time.

BLACKWELL: All right. At the G-20 President Trump commits $50 million to a program championed by his daughter. How he and Ivanka Trump say it will help women around the world. PAUL: Also we talk about what really happened between Vladimir Putin

and Donald Trump with a former KGB agent. His take in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:27] BLACKWELL: Final day of the G-20 Summit and President Trump has several meetings with world leaders today in Hamburg before heading back to Washington. He started his day with British Prime Minister Theresa May. The president talked about the bond between the two countries and said he would soon visit the U.K. And that meeting came a day after the head liner, the president's more than two-hour talk with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Now there is another high stakes meeting looming today. In a few hours President Trump will sit down with the Chinese president Xi Jinping. Now already today the president joined his daughter Ivanka in announcing a $50 million pledge to encourage job opportunities for women around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IVANKA TRUMP, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S DAUGHTER: So creating gender parody and ultimately encouraging female entrepreneurship pays real dividends when you think about even just the percentage of likelihood to reinvest capital and income earned by women back into their families and back into their communities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Meanwhile, a short distance away the ongoing protests have turned violent there. We're told more than 200 officers have been injured.

PAUL: So one meeting, two sides of the story. Both the U.S. and Russia have their own versions of what happened as President Trump met with President Putin.

Jack Barsky, former KGB agent, has some of his own thoughts about that. He's the author of "Deep Undercover" as well.

So first of all, Jack, thank you for being here. What's your takeaway? What stood out to you based on what we heard on this meeting from both sides?

JACK BARSKY, FORMER KGB AGENT: I think this could have been predicted. I'm not in the prediction business but I've said this before. The two players were not evenly matched.

PAUL: Is that because -- because President Putin, at the end of the day he was a spy, he is an adroit politician and President Trump prides himself on being an unconventional politician. Is that part of it?

BARSKY: Absolutely. Now take the spy thing out of the picture. You know, he's being described I guess as the accomplished spy master. That's part of the myth that he's built up about himself, you know, his -- his position as a spy, you know, by the way, was in East Germany, not too far away where I grew up.

I work with people like him. He was -- I actually met one of his ex- bosses who lives here in the United States and he described him as a unimpressive, unimaginary bureaucrat but what he became was a master politician. If you get to the top after the Soviet Union fell apart and there was a free-for-all you've got -- you know how to play politics and that is where the mismatch is.

PAUL: So what were the vulnerabilities perhaps that you saw? Did the U.S. walk away with a success here in some regard?

BARSKY: Well, you know, what do you call a success? This was ultimately still just a shake your hands and be nice to each other kind of meeting. It was more of a grandstanding situation with regard to how you appear on the world scene. And from that perspective looks like we lost again.

PAUL: Did you expect that?

BARSKY: Yes.

PAUL: I mean, did you expect that it would be a nice handshake and that there would not be necessarily a confrontation? I mean, is there anything that you suspect may have happened behind closed doors that we are not privy too obviously?

BARSKY: We're not and you know, you don't know how they spin this. Right? When they come out of this, the two secretaries of state, but I -- I was hoping for just a, you know, drive by short meeting, you know, shake hands, how are you doing, and nothing much will come out of -- nothing much out of substance will come out of a face-to-face between these two guys. The real work needs to be done by professionals that work at a different level.

PAUL: The fact that Russia did not get what they wanted going in as we suspected was the removal of the sanctions.

BARSKY: Right.

PAUL: Regarding Ukraine. How bothersome is that to Putin? Is that at all seen in his country as a failure in some capacity?

BARSKY: Not immediately, but I think long-term he has to worry about this stuff because you know, as we -- we might think that Putin is very firmly in his saddle. He's getting ready for another re-election campaign. The 2012 election for instance in Russia was one of those situations where he actually was a little bit worried and it took quite a bit of doing and manipulation to get the majority back.

[07:35:01] So you know, the sanctions are hurting him. The lower energy prices in the world are hurting him. So, yes, he would like this removed, but on the other hand, he -- he is not going to give up the -- what he perceives to be now the being one up over Trump because it's also just playing to his dialogue, and to his people, saying, see, we are big again, we are great again, we are rebuilding the Russian empire. So there's a lot of mixed things in place and even Putin doesn't seem

to have a very clear agenda because, you know, there's an internal conflict within him and within the society.

PAUL: And real quickly, North Korea, any ground -- any common ground do you see ever coming with Russia and U.S. when it comes to North Korea?

BARSKY: Well, it's more China that's really in play here.

PAUL: Is it?

BARSKY: I don't think Russia has that much influence. At this point, I don't -- it's a shame that, you know, to me this summit achieved nothing. You would hope that, you know, people reasonably might have people who work behind the scenes because ultimately the fact still remains that Russia has more nukes than it takes to blow the world up 10 times over and you've got to worry about that.

PAUL: All right. Jack Barsky, your insight is always so appreciated. Thank you for being here.

BARSKY: Thank you.

PAUL: Absolutely. Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right. Still to come, the president on the world stage. What the president's approach to the G-20 and their response tell us about his role and America's role around the globe.

And dozens of protesters occupy an Ohio senator's office. Why they were protesting. We're going to see more of this video as they're dragged away in handcuffs.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Well, mortgage rates moved up this week. Here's your look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:41:06] BLACKWELL: Well, some say the G-20 Summit is already showcasing the president's evolution on the world stage particularly the president's meeting with President Putin showed a tougher approach.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the president pressed Putin on Russia's meddling in the U.S. election, although the Russians dispute that. Along with several topics on the agenda signal a possible diplomacy shift?

Let's talk about this. Joining me now to discuss, CNN presidential historian, Douglas Brinkley,

Douglas, good morning to you. So let's first start with this meeting between Presidents Trump and Putin. Former presidents Bush and Obama initially had positive responses to Putin after their first meeting. They attempted to restart the U.S./Russia relationship. How does President Trump's first meeting measure up to those predecessors?

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, those predecessors really kind of swooned over Putin at first and then they backed away from him and realized he was dishonest, he was somebody we couldn't trust or do business with.

Donald Trump hasn't come to their conclusions yet. He still seems to be, you know, taken with Putin. All of the 2016 presidential election he kept praising Putin to holy heaven. He even intimated at one point that he had previously met him which we now know he hadn't so this was a big deal for Donald Trump.

This is the one person on the world stage that he seems to be most tied to, most obsessed with, most wanting to work with, and I think the two-hour plus meeting went pretty well. It was a little more than a meet and greet, and I think it begins at least a dialogue between these two leaders.

BLACKWELL: So let's look at this in a broader contest. The theme of this summit, "Shaping an Interconnected World." We heard from the German Chancellor Angela Merkel just a few moments ago about the Paris climate deal and she said that they'll have to reshape their discussions now that the U.S. has withdrawn.

In that context, listen to what David Gergen said who has been adviser to four U.S. presidents about President Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: This is the first time I've seen a president come to a G-20 meeting in which he's no longer regarded as the leader. No longer regarded as the world leader and Europe is going its own separate way. Japan just signed this big trade agreement with Europe. That is troubling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: What's your assessment of that?

BRINKLEY: I completely agree with David Gergen. I've never seen a G- 20 meeting where the United States seems so small. I mean, there you are in Germany, one of our closest allies, and Donald Trump has an 8 percent approval rating in that country.

We were the leader of the Paris Climate Accord. It was really American fortitude that got that done and Donald Trump willy-nilly pulled out of it, disappointing all of our European allies and lo and behold, Putin has stepped into the void saying, well, I'm all for the Paris Climate Accord. It makes the United States look small.

We're shrinking all over the world since Donald Trump has become president. He's not even wanted in London or Paris, you know, countries and cities, places that typically an American president gets a rousing ovation.

BLACKWELL: The president will be sitting down with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a little less than two hours from now and we know that the president has tweeted several times during his administration that he tried to get China to have some influence over North Korea, but it didn't work.

The U.S. has been trying to deter North Korea from pursuing their nuclear ambitions since the Clinton administration. What do you make of the president I guess saying that this opportunity has been exhausted in the first five months of his administration?

BRINKLEY: Well, it's troubling. And North Korea is troubling and the fact that they have something of an ICBM is troubling and that it can get so close to Alaska and Japan.

[07:45:10] But what can the United States do? I think it's important that Donald Trump tries to once again convince China to put economic sanctions, brutal ones on North Korea, join in alliance with the United States to stop North Korea. One doubts that will happen.

So we're left with very limited options, none that are very good and it's going to continue to be a festering problem for Donald Trump because we can't go to war in the Korean Peninsula, we can't do surgical strikes like we did in Syria, so we're really left with hoping for a regime change in North Korea with no idea how we can orchestrate that.

BLACKWELL: And finally, on the relationship between the U.S. and Europe, this morning we saw the meeting between the president and the Prime Minister Theresa May, and they talked about a trade deal. You'll remember that President Obama said ahead of the Brexit vote that the UK would potentially go to the back of the queue if they withdrew from the EU.

Now that the U.S. has inked this trade deal with the UK, what is the message then to Europe?

BRINKLEY: That there is a special relationship between the United States and UK. All of continental Europe has always been suspicious of that. If you're France or Germany or other European countries today you're just rolling your eyes saying, look, in the end, Great Britain or the UK always folds in with the United States.

I think it's Donald Trump's searching to have a world leader that he's comfortable with. Remember George W. Bush and Tony Blair and how important that friendship was. He seems to be trying to connect with May in the same way but Donald Trump, again, he's so disliked in the United Kingdom overall that it -- I would think most British politicians really don't want to be in a photo-op with him at this point.

BLACKWELL: And we know that Theresa May after that snap election had to piecemeal together a majority to continue governing and we saw what the potential effect could have been of her visit here earlier in the Trump administration.

Douglas Brinkley, always good to have your perspective.

BRINKLEY: Thanks, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Sure.

PAUL: There is a sweltering heat wave bearing down on Southern California today. It is not pretty. How bad it's going to get, how long it's going to last. We've got it all for you. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:51:26] PAUL: Is the sun up where you are yet? Because it is going to be a scorcher, particularly out west. Record-breaking heat wave expected for much of Southern California. Palm Springs already seeing triple-digit temperatures. And it's not just California.

CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar has today's outlook. Good morning, Allison.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And good morning to you.

(WEATHER REPORT)

PAUL: Clearly. Allison Chinchar, all right. Thank you, ma'am.

BLACKWELL: Senator Mitch McConnell's suggestion to hold bipartisan talks on a new health care bill, let's say, surprised some in the White House. Officials tell CNN that some are caught off guard by his comments earlier this week.

Right now lawmakers are on recess but some are facing their constituents back at home. The majority leader told Kentuckians that if Republicans cannot do it on their own, some other kind of action must occur.

Meantime, let's take you to Ohio. Several demonstrators, some of them disability activists, were arrested at a Republican senator's office. This is Rob Portman's office. They've been protesting against the GOP health care bill since Thursday.

You'll see here the officers dragging them away. They were blocking doors.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, he was back at his home state telling residents that he expects senators will resume work on passing a new health care bill as soon as possible.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: Let's have a system that stabilizes the health care marketplace. Let people buy what they want to buy, give people an advance refundable tax credit to go buy health insurance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right. Just two days left in this break, they're back on Capitol Hill on Monday. PAUL: All right. Up next, Vice President Mike Pence, lighten up the

Internet with some laughs. When a roaming hands gets him into some trouble at NASA no less.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:58:53] PAUL: Well, this week's "Staying Well" features a new device that you wear on your shirt to keep you aware of your back posture. And they say this will improve your health. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a small device that promises big gains for your back health.

(On camera): There we go.

Can you describe to me how this whole system works?

MONISHA PERKASH, CEO, LUMO BODYTECH: So Lumo Lift attaches to your shirt magnetically and when you slouch it will vibrate to remind you to straighten up. Also it connects to an app on your smartphone and on that app it will track your posture habits that helps you to be aware of your posture, so that you can self correct and develop the muscle memory to hold yourself in a good form.

Posture is so important to your general health. It's correlated with back pain as well as good breathing, good digestion. It affects your energy level. It's affects your confidence. Back pain is the second most frequent reason why people go to the doctor. It's outnumbered only by the common cold.

CRANE (voice-over): While posture devices like this may be helpful, physical therapists Karena Wu has concerns.

KARENA WU, CLINICAL DIRECTOR, ACTIVECARE PHYSICAL THERAPY: You have to remember to charge it, put it on and actually use it and then you have to remember to attend to it because of how easily one can ignore sensory stimuli once you get used to it it's more about making a conscious effort to say, oh, you know what, let me sit up for good upright posture because I know my health will be --