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The Situation Room

Interview With Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC); Trump Meets With German Chancellor. Aired 11:30a-12:00p ET

Aired June 05, 2025 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

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[11:32:15]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Germany's new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, will have his first in-person meeting with President Trump today.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: And the visit comes as the Trump administration is ramping up its tariff threats against Europe, and there is no end in sight for the war in Ukraine.

CNN White House reporter Alayna Treene joins us now.

Alayna, what are we expecting from this meeting today?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, look, he's expected to arrive, Germany's new chancellor, I should say, really new chancellor -- he was elected almost a month ago to the day now. He is going to be arriving here momentarily.

You can see, or I'm not sure if you can see behind me, but some of the honor guard has already lined up for his arrival. But there are three main topics, we're told, to really expect the two leaders to discuss today. One, of course, is defense spending, given the NATO Summit is coming up later this month. The president is going to be attending that.

And, really, the Trump administration has been urging NATO member nations to increase their defense spending to 5 percent of GDP. That is up from 2 percent, which they normally spend of GDP. We have already heard Germany's foreign minister say, essentially, that he believes that number is too high.

So that's going to be a big topic of discussion. Of course, as well, trade is going to be a priority for particularly this Trump administration, but also Germany as well. They are a member of the United -- or -- excuse me -- the European Union, which means that they are just one country in a broader bloc that we are seeing the Trump administration really negotiate with.

But Germany is part -- is the biggest economy in the European Union. So they are going to play a very large role in that, Pamela and Wolf. And then the last topic, and we heard this actually from Friedrich Merz this morning when he spoke with German media at Blair House before coming here, he said, essentially, that he does really want to focus as well on the war between Russia and Ukraine.

We know that a big goal as well for many European countries, European allies of the United States is to try to bring the president and this administration board with their strategy, which is really to support Ukraine as much as possible and continue to try and deter Russia. So that's really going to be the three main topics.

Notably as well, though, I have to say, this is actually going to be the first time in a week now that reporters will have an opportunity to question President Donald Trump specifically. So that's going to be a big part of this as well.

I can anticipate, as we have seen with other meetings that have happened, press are going to push him on a number of questions, of course, his call this morning with China's President Xi Jinping, but also some of what we have seen unfold this week with Elon Musk and his pushback to the big spending bill.

Another thing in mind, though, and this is probably going to be at the top of mind for Germany's leadership today, is, we have seen these meetings kind of go different ways when it comes to bilateral meetings with the president when it comes to foreign leaders.

[11:35:05]

Specifically, you look at what happened with Ukrainian's President Zelenskyy, South Africa's president, who was just here last month. Those meetings quickly turned sour and really at some times seemed like an ambush from the Trump administration and the president himself on their countries.

And so I know that, from our reporting, we believe that Germany is aware of that and that the chancellor is going to try approach this meeting today with the president very carefully -- Pamela, Wolf.

BLITZER: Very carefully.

Yes, Alayna, quickly, they will have -- after the chancellor arrives over there at the West Wing, he will be escorted in by the president. Presumably, the president will greet him there. They will then have a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office before they have a formal lunch? Is that right?

TREENE: That is right.

And, initially, they actually thought it was going to be switched, Wolf and Pamela. But we have seen the White House now do this with a series of other foreign leaders who have come here to meet with him directly. They often like to have the bilateral meeting first, particularly because they invite the press in to really talk to both of them, ask questions of both leaders.

So we're likely going to see that happen now first before they go and move to having that lunch afterwards -- Pamela, Wolf. BLITZER: All right, we will see how that bilateral meeting goes in the Oval Office. We know what's happened in a few recent meetings along those lines as well.

Alayna Treene at the White House, thank you very much.

BROWN: All right, just ahead here in THE SITUATION ROOM, we are talking with Republican Senator Tim Scott, as some members of his party make it clear they're not on board with President Trump's agenda bill.

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[11:41:08]

BLITZER: All right, just moments ago, the German chancellor visiting the White House, arriving outside the West Wing.

You see the president there receiving the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, for this first very important meeting between these two major NATO allies. Lots to discuss, and they will be discussing a lot during their Oval Office meeting. There will be reporters inside who will be asking questions. We will have live coverage of that. And then they will have a little private lunch over at the White House as well.

We're watching this very closely, lots at stake right now -- Pamela.

BROWN: Certainly.

And the fate of President Trump's sweeping domestic agenda bill is in the Senate's hands right now. And Republicans admit there are issues to fix before it's ready for a vote. The president met yesterday with GOP members of the Senate Finance Committee to hear their concerns.

South Carolina Senator Tim Scott was there, and he joins us now.

Nice to have you on the show, Senator.

So, if you would.

SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC): Good morning, Pamela. I hope you're doing well. Thank you.

BROWN: We're doing great.

I know you have been very busy. You were just at the White House yesterday. Take us inside that meeting. I know your colleague from Wisconsin Ron Johnson was also there. He's been out smoking against the bill.

How did the president address that?

SCOTT: I think we had a really good meeting at the White House yesterday, without any question.

The president was enthusiastic. And, frankly, the Finance Committee, we're enthusiastic as well, because we are all on the same page as it relates to meeting the promises that were made on the campaign trail for the American people.

Pamela, yesterday, we talked a lot about the importance of not only closing the southern border, because it's been successfully done so far, but building the wall so we make sure we have a strong, permanent impediment there. We also talked about the importance of the tax cuts remaining.

Listen, when I helped write that package back in 2017, we cut the taxes for a single mom by 70 percent, delivering more than $4,000 for the average family. We talked a lot about that. We talked about the importance of taking care of our military. Inflation comes down when energy production goes up, so we talked about that as well.

There's no question that we want more spending cuts. And every committee in the Senate has been charged with the responsibility of finding more cuts. The good news is, as chairman of the Banking Committee, I found billions of dollars more of additional cuts.

BROWN: Where?

SCOTT: So we're excited about where we are in the process.

And this Independence Day, we will have already had a vote signing into law the one big, beautiful bill. So we're in good shape so far.

BROWN: Tell us a little bit more about the spending cuts you have identified, because I know that was a big sticking point for Senator Johnson.

SCOTT: Yes, certainly.

So if you look at the Banking Committee jurisdiction, one of the places that we have an opportunity to find more cuts is with the CFPB, a nebulous agency that spends too much time interfering with small businesses. We found billions of dollars of additional cuts there.

We believe that there's a lot of duplication within the same jurisdiction of the Banking Committee. We can find more billions of dollars of cuts there. But we also recognize that we -- if you can work, you should work.

So, in Medicaid overall, we believe that putting people back to work, using the Bill Clinton standard of work requirements, is a place where we save billions of dollars. So President Trump was still very clear. American recipients of Medicaid will be protected. They will not be harmed.

BROWN: I want to follow up on that.

SCOTT: That is great news for the public to hear.

BROWN: Because, as you know, that has been one of the key issues that has been talked about, particularly from Democrats. You know, 10.9 million people, according to the CBO, could lose their health care over the next 10 years if this bill passes. Now, I know you have taken issue in the past about how CBO scores. So I want to get ahead of you on that one.

SCOTT: Yes, ma'am.

BROWN: But the bottom line is, you have heard governors...

[11:45:00]

SCOTT: I hear you, Pamela. You're good.

BROWN: Well, you have heard governors from other states who have said people will lose Medicaid.

There are more than a million people on Medicaid in your home state of South Carolina. Can you say for certain no one who is vulnerable in your state of South Carolina will lose his or her health insurance if this bill passes?

SCOTT: Well, let me just be very clear to my South Carolina residents. Thank God for allowing me to be your senator, but I can say this with great clarity.

The one thing we know with great certainty is that the CBO has been wrong on tax cuts, and they consistently have been wrong, whether it's in 2017 or, frankly, the 1930s or the 1960s with the Kennedy tax cuts or the 1980s with the Reagan tax cuts or 2017.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: I know. I said that you would take issue with CBO. I know. But can you say for certain no one will lose her health insurance?

(CROSSTALK)

SCOTT: So this is really important, Pamela. Pamela, let me finish my thought here.

This is such an important point. When CBO estimates that something is going to happen and, frankly, with even the Inflation Reduction Act, they were off by 400 percent. You just can't look at those numbers at face value and say they're going to happen.

What we understand without question is when President Trump says he's going to protect Americans on Medicaid, we're going to protect Americans on Medicaid. At home in South Carolina, we believe, if you can work, you should work. That's doing the right thing.

There is a question about illegal immigration. I believe illegal immigrants should not be in America. Therefore, they should not be eligible for Medicaid. That is a simple, clear truth that I believe is undeniable and supported by not only South Carolinians, but by Americans. BROWN: Right. And, as you know, those who are here illegally are not

eligible for federal Medicaid. Now, how many have gotten on the rolls and how many have used emergency Medicaid, that's a different issue there.

SCOTT: Millions.

BROWN: But just how do you have a specific number of how many are enrolled?

SCOTT: Well, we know that the changes that we are looking at would reduce the number of illegal immigrants receiving Medicaid by millions of people.

That's good news because we need to use those dollars to take care of Americans. We want to make sure that, as we move forward as a country, we are compassionate about those Americans who desperately need Medicaid. We do that by focusing our attention taking care of the most vulnerable Americans in our country.

BROWN: OK, so it sounds like you're saying yes for certain that no vulnerable person in South Carolina will lose their Medicaid. Is that right?

SCOTT: I am saying with great clarity that our approach to Medicaid is to protect American recipients of Medicaid, yes, ma'am.

BROWN: Let me just follow up with you on Elon Musk. He's been trashing the bill. He said people should call their representatives and kill the bill. Are you concerned he could derail it?

SCOTT: No, listen, one thing we can say about Elon without any questions is thank God he worked for the government for a little while, because his DOGE cuts will actually make it easier for us to have a positive impact on our national debt.

He has found significant savings that will be passed on to Congress and we will be able to make those savings permanent. So his work at DOGE for finding those cuts incredibly important, Pamela. Now we go through the stage of looking for even more cuts and that's exactly what he wants. It's exactly what we're doing.

And the president said yesterday he was incredibly thankful for Elon's service, called him a genius. And so, frankly, what we know without question is we have one big Republican team working on behalf of America's priorities. Delivering that by the Fourth of July, cause for more fireworks.

BROWN: All right. I want to ask you about another issue in this. The president, as you know, has been very busy meeting with world leaders. There he is with the German chancellor. He also had this call with Russian President Putin.

And he says that Putin told him in a phone call that Russia will respond to Ukraine's weekend drone attacks. And he made no mention of warning Putin against doing so. Do you think President Trump missed an opportunity on this phone call to warn Putin not to retaliate and to threaten more sanctions against Russia as well, those secondary sanctions?

SCOTT: Yes, I can just tell you that without question that we here in the Senate have been working on legislation around sanctions for Russia for the last several weeks.

I think President Trump was very clear as it relates to making sure that he made it public that the retaliation was very likely. I am thankful to see the aggressive nature and posture that's taken by Ukraine defending themselves. So this is something that President Trump has tried his best to defuse the situation between the two countries.

And I hope that he continues to engage because it does seem to work effectively over time. The more he engages, the fewer scuffles and wars and tragedies we have around the world.

[11:50:06]

BROWN: Yes, the question is how much time. And, of course, there was that big drone attack.

SCOTT: Yes.

BROWN: So, to be continued, Senator Tim Scott.

As you see, the president is speaking, so we have to listen in to him. Thank you so much. We appreciate you coming on the show.

SCOTT: Yes, ma'am, have a good day.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... want to have other bad people coming into our country. But using the word bad, I'm being nice.

OK, questions.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: You put out on TRUTH Social a post regarding your conversation with President Xi.

TRUMP: Right.

QUESTION: Can you talk about whether or not you feel that trade talks, trade relations are back on track after appearing to be a little bit off track last week?

TRUMP: A little bit off track. It was only the complexity.

Yes, it's pretty complex stuff. We had a very good conversation with President Xi a little while ago just before your arrival. In fact, we just hung up. And they said you're here. I said, that's pretty good. Two great leaders of the world in a very short period of time.

We had a very good talk. And we have straightened out any complexity. It's very complex stuff. And we straightened it out. The agreement was we're going to have Scott and Howard and Jamieson will be going and meeting with their top people and continued forward.

But, no, I think we have everything. I think we're in very good shape with China and the trade deal. We have a deal with China, as you know, but we were straightening out some of the points having to do mostly with rare earth magnets and some other things.

QUESTION: Those reduced trade tariff rates, they remain in effect?

TRUMP: Yes, we have the deal. I mean, we have had a deal. We announced the deal and will be -- I guess you could say -- I wouldn't even say finalizing it up, Scott. I would say we have a deal and we're going to just make sure that everybody understands what the deal is. OK.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: We had a really good conversation. By the way, he invited me to China and I invited him here. We have both accepted. So I will be going there with the first lady at a certain point and he will be coming here hopefully with the first lady of China.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Go ahead, please.

QUESTION: Did you talk about the Chinese students? Are you allowing them to come to the U.S.?

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Chinese students are coming, no problem. No problem.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: It's our honor to have them, frankly. Look, we want to have foreign students, but we want them to be checked. The case of Harvard and Columbia and others, all we want to do is see their list. There's no problem with that.

This is anybody outside of our country, international students, because when we see some of the people that we have been watching, we say, where do these people come from? How is that possible? No, we want to have foreign students come. We're very honored by it, but we want to see their list. Harvard didn't want to give us the list.

They're going to be giving us the list now. I think they're starting to behave, actually, if you want to know the truth.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: On Russia, are you willing to put more pressure on Putin to end the war by imposing new sanctions on Russia and also on China?

TRUMP: Well, remember, I'm the one that ended Nord Stream 2 going to a place called Germany, comes to think of it. I'm sorry I did that.

But I ended Nord Stream 2. Nobody else did. And then, when Biden came in, he immediately approved it. That's the largest, essentially the largest pipeline in the world, going to Germany and other countries. And, by the way, we have so much oil and gas, you will not be able to buy it all. I mean, you literally -- we have so much.

And I hope we're going to make that a part of our trade deal because we have more than anybody else. We have actually the most by far in the world, probably double what anyone else has. So we will work on that. I'm sure that's something we will discuss today.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Mr. President, what do you expect from Germany and what do you expect from the chancellor?

TRUMP: Well, first of all, I'm glad to meet, because I have been dealing with the chancellor, and he's very -- a very good man to deal with.

He's difficult, I would say. Can I say that? It's a positive.

FRIEDRICH MERZ, GERMAN CHANCELLOR: Go ahead.

TRUMP: You wouldn't want me to say you're easy, right?

MERZ: No.

TRUMP: Yes. He's a very great representative of Germany. I think all we want is just going to have a good relationship. The rest, we will just sort of follow very easily. We will have a good trade deal.

I mean, I guess that will be mostly determined by the European Union, but you're a very big part of that.

MERZ: Yes, that's true. Yes.

TRUMP: You will be involved.

But we will end up hopefully with a trade deal or we will do something. We will do the tariffs. I mean, I'm OK with the tariffs or we make a deal with the trade. And I guess that's what we're discussing there.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Please, go ahead.

QUESTION: Mr. President? OK.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Is Germany doing enough on defense, Mr. President? Is Germany doing enough on defense?

TRUMP: What?

QUESTION: Defense spending.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is Germany doing enough on defense spending? Is Germany doing enough on defense?

[11:55:00]

QUESTION: The chancellor -- the chancellor wants -- the chancellor wants to spend 3.5.

TRUMP: Well, I don't know.

I mean, I haven't discussed it very much. I know that you're spending more money on defense now, and quite a bit more money.

MERZ: Yes, absolutely.

TRUMP: That's a positive thing.

I'm not sure that General MacArthur would have said it's positive. He wouldn't like it, but I sort of think it's good. You understand what I mean by that.

MERZ: Absolutely, I understand.

TRUMP: He made a statement, never let Germany rearm. And I said -- I always think about that when they say, sir, we're spending more money on defense. I say, ooh, is that a good thing or a bad thing? I think it's a good thing, but at least to a certain point. There will be a point when I will see, please don't arm anymore, if you don't want mind. We will be watching him.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: ... President Biden, Mr. President?

TRUMP: Yes, Biden. You say Biden?

(LAUGHTER)

QUESTION: Your predecessor dismissed your autopen investigation. He said he made all the decisions during his presidency. I'm curious your reaction to his dismissal.

TRUMP: Well, look, the autopen, I think, is the big scandal. Outside of the rigged election of 2020, I think the biggest scandal of the last many years is the autopen and who's using it.

I happen to think I know, OK, because I'm here. And I'm not a big autopen person, fortunately. I'm glad. I'm very glad. It's an easy way out. But it's a very bad thing, very dangerous. You ought to sign important documents. Usually, when they put documents in front of you, they're important. Even if you're signing ambassadorships or -- and I consider that

important. I think it's inappropriate. You have somebody that's demoting four years of their life or more to being an ambassador, I think you really deserve -- that person deserves to get a real signature, not an autopen signature.

And I can tell autopen easily. I can look at it, like two little pinholes from pulling the paper, right?

MERZ: Yes.

TRUMP: You always see the pinholes.

MERZ: Yes.

TRUMP: It's real easy to tell about autopen. I think it's very disrespectful to people when they get an autopen signature.

Outside -- autopen to me are used when thousands of letters come in from young people all over the country and you want to get them back. And people use autopens for that to send a little signature at the bottom of a letter where you have thousands of them. We get thousands of letters a week. And it's not possible to do. I'd like to do it myself. You can't do it.

To me, that's where autopens start and stop. But I don't think -- I don't -- I'm sure that he didn't know many of the things. Look, he was never for open borders. He was never for transgender for everybody. He was never for men playing in women's sports. I mean, he changed. I mean, all of these things that changed so radically, I don't think he had any idea that what was -- frankly, I said it during the debate and I say it now.

He didn't have much of an idea what was going on.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: But he shouldn't be -- I mean, essentially, whoever used the autopen was the president. And that is wrong. It's illegal. It's so bad. And it's so disrespectful to our country.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Mr. President, will you leave the -- your troops in Germany?

And if I may ask a question to the chancellor to answer in German for the German audience, how has your first encounter been?

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: The answer is yes. We will talk about that, but if they'd like to have them there. We have had a lot of them, about 45,000. It's a lot of troops. It's a city, when you think of it.

MERZ: More than that. TRUMP: That's good economic development. They're highly paid troops and they spend a lot of money in Germany. But the relationship with Germany is very important. Yes, we will be doing that, no problem.

MERZ: May I say a few words in German to the German audience?

TRUMP: Yes, please.

MERZ: So (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

QUESTION: Mr. President...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Do you speak English -- because you speak English. Is it as good as your German, would you say?

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: Do you feel more comfortable in...

MERZ: No, it's not my mother tongue. No, it's not my mother tongue, but I try to understand almost everything and to speak as good as I can.

TRUMP: Yes, very good. Very good. It's an achievement, actually.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Go ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President.

The criticism that I have seen and I'm sure you've seen regarding Elon Musk and your big, beautiful bill, what's your reaction to that? Do you think it in any way hurts passage in the Senate, which, of course, what it is you're seeking?

TRUMP: Well, look, I have always liked Elon. And I was very surprised. You saw the words he had for me, the words of -- and he hasn't said anything about me that's bad.

I'd rather have him criticize me than the bill, because the bill is incredible. It's the biggest cut in the history of our country. We have never cut. It's about $1.6 trillion in cuts. It's the biggest tax cut. Tax. You would say people -- people's taxes will go way down, but it's the biggest tax cut in history.

It's -- we have -- we are doing things in that bill that are unbelievable.