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State of the Union
World Leaders Arrive in London for Queen Elizabeth's Funeral; Interview with Mayor Eric Adams (D-NY) About Migrant Crisis; President Biden, First Lady Pay Their Respects to the Queen; President Biden Signs Condolence Book for Queen Elizabeth II; World Leaders Arrive in London for Queen Elizabeth's Funeral; GOP Governor Escalate Immigration Fight, Send Migrants from Southwest Border to Democrat-Led Cities in North. Aired 12-1p ET
Aired September 18, 2022 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:00:00]
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: For a U.S. president and British monarch to speak, Jake, this week, when he did speak to King Charles, conveying his condolences obviously for the loss of Queen Elizabeth II, and so that's going to be the focus of today, of President Biden's visit here.
Tomorrow he is going to be representing the United States at this funeral. Obviously it is a very small contingency from the United States that is coming, just President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden that were invited to this funeral to come tomorrow. And that will be really his two-day visit here to London, paying tribute to the Queen.
You know, Jake, he first met the Queen back in 1982 when he was a senator from Delaware. And he was on a congressional visit here to London. And then he last saw her as president, when she of course visited G-7 leaders, hosted them when they were visiting the Cornish Coast, and then she hosted President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden for tea at Windsor Castle. And he said afterwards something that you've heard from other U.S. presidents and former first ladies which is that she reminded them of their mother, reminded them of their grandmother.
They often have this maternal memory of meeting here and talking to her, and also talking about how she had these political questions as well for him, questioning, you know, insights into what was going on with China, what was going on with Russia, you know, talked about their conversations that they had the last time he saw the Queen in person.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: And Max, in addition to your excellent reporting on the royals, you're also a subject. And you personally paid your respect to the Queen's casket earlier today. If you don't mind stepping outside of your role as a journalist, and just telling us what that experience was like for you and what the mood was like inside Westminster Hall.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR AND ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I wanted to get a sense of what it would be like for President Biden appearing there. I wasn't there actually as a subject, I was there as a member of the media. I want to say that because I -- you know, I didn't queue up. I was, you know, there were very long queues there. And I didn't jump the queue. It was a media opportunity.
I just asked if I could go and stand there, so I didn't go up to the casket. I was there at a distance, very much looking at other people paying their respects. And I just wanted to soak up the atmosphere really. And it was that extraordinary because I've been in that hall many times. It's got this stone floor. And normally it's quite echoey and noisy because people are cluttering along the floor.
But they've got this -- if you look there, you can see carpets on either side of the coffin, and people walking on the carpets, so its utterly silent. It's quite eerie. And then of course people have queued up for 10, 15, 20 hours, and they come into this spectacular room, and it looks like a painting, and they're really struck by it. And they go up to the coffin and they have three, four seconds to nod their heads or curtsy and then they moved on.
And what struck me as they move away they're constantly looking over their shoulders as if it is the last good-by for them. But it almost felt spiritual, even though so many people were there for the moment of history, a lot of them there to thank her as monarch, but a lot of them also, you know, connecting somehow with the spirituality of the moment. It's quite a profound place to be. And I think President Biden would have felt that when he was in there.
TAPPER: And Max, just to clarify, it's rare for someone to lie in state in Westminster, I believe. In the U.S. it happens much more often in the Congress. Is that right, though? It's not -- it doesn't happen every time there is a death of a former prime minister or a monarch.
FOSTER: No. So state funerals are only for monarchs. The one exception was in 1965 for Winston Churchill. The Queen's mother did lie in state, but it wasn't a full ceremonial like this. So it is an extremely rare honor. And, you know, there's so much that goes into it. It's not something you can, of course, do, and you know, it certainly isn't done for prime ministers. So there are different levels. There's a state funeral, then there's a ceremonial funeral. And that often -- that's what Diana had, for example, what Prince Philip had. But this is a full state funeral with the full lying-in state.
TAPPER: And Kate, the leaders are nearly 200 countries are coming to London to pay their respects to the Queen. Obviously that underlines her importance as a global figure.
KATE WILLIAMS, CNN ROYAL HISTORIAN: Yes, the Queen was such a global figure. She travelled to 120 countries, a million miles, 42 times around the world. And so many of the tributes given by world leaders have stressed her work on the world stage. President Biden was talking about that as well. And for her coronation we saw 130 heads of state and state representatives. Now we're seeing 200 estimates. I mean, this really is a great global meeting from all over the world,
and reflects both her efforts on the diplomatic stage and the world stage, and also how many lives she touched. And it really shows us that this is the end of an era. I don't think we'll see this in the monarchy again, this great moment that Max was talking about. The lying in state. And we've only had four in the 20th century. And now this is the first in the 21st century. And what a great moment that we are witnessing here in London.
[12:05:02]
TAPPER: And Kaitlan, President Biden and the first lady will be representing the United States at those ceremonies. The other living former presidents were not invited to those events.
COLLINS: Right. And that's not anything -- that isn't kind of message that the royal family is sending. That's simply because of limits, Jake. There are so many world leaders here, so many dignitaries, ambassadors that are of course have descended upon London for this funeral. And so the plan -- I was told by someone who was involved in the planning of the funeral was that they extended the invitation to the president of the United States, he brings a plus one. Obviously that is obviously the first lady, Jill Biden, here.
And while the president does have other aides accompanying him on this trip, it's a much smaller group of aides than typically travels with him and they won't be going actually inside the funeral, Jake. And that just speaks to the level of the space restrictions here of what tomorrow is going to look like. And that's not a surprise to U.S. This is of course a funeral that have been long planned, long in the works, and so they did have insights into what exactly the planning was going to look like.
And it also speaks to the level of security, Jake, here on the ground, which is enormous, really, frankly, for anything that you've seen in London in recent years because of so many world leaders being here, and getting them to and from the funeral. And simple things like typically these world leaders would take helicopters to different locations. That's not something that you're seeing. It really just speaks to the level of planning that has gone into this for how long it's gone.
But no, you won't see any other former U.S. presidents here, no former President Trump, former President Obama or former President Bush or former President Carter -- Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Thanks one and all. We are waiting for President Biden to sign that condolence book for the Queen. We'll bring you that moment when it happens.
But now let's take a closer look at an issue dominating headlines here in the United States. The migrant crisis this afternoon. Blue state leaders in New York, and Washington, and Boston are scrambling to care for the thousands of asylum seekers that were shipped up north without warning by Republican governors in Texas and Florida. Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis says this is just the beginning, he
will use, quote, "every penny" of an allocated $12 million to relocate more migrants out of Florida, as he and Texas Governor Abbott, both of whom have said -- have presidential ambitions say it's time for blue states to share their burden.
Joining me now is the mayor of New York City, Democrat, Eric Adams.
Mr. Mayor, thanks so much for joining us. So more than 11,000 asylum seekers have passed through New York's shelter system since May including roughly 2500 bused to New York from Texas. You have warned that New York is, quote, "nearing its breaking point." And you've talked about maybe bringing cruise ships to temporarily shelter these migrants.
What help do you need from President Biden and the federal government right now that you aren't already getting, and how much longer can New York continue without more resources?
MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D), NEW YORK: Well, we should be clear that this is, as I stated, a humanitarian crisis created by human hands. And it is an all-hands-on-deck moment where we're all supposed to come together and coordinate. Coordination during a crisis is something that we must do together. And that's the federal government. That is also the governor of the state of Texas as well as the governor of the state of Florida.
We should not be really treating other cities and municipalities in the manner that we're witnessing now. And so we need resources for housing, resources to make sure that we can properly give people the medical care, all of the basic necessities that you would give new arrivals that enter a city.
TAPPER: How long until you run out of resources for these migrants?
ADAMS: Well, we're not. We're going to follow the law as well as our moral obligation and responsibilities. It's going to be challenging. We're experiencing the challenges in doing so. But we're obligated by law here in the city of New York. As has been mentioned over and over again, this is a right-to-shelter city. And we're going to fulfill our obligations.
TAPPER: What's your message to Governor Abbott and Governor DeSantis about the migrants they shipped to New York and other blue state areas?
ADAMS: Well, I think it's a message for the entire country. These are two governors who are hiding up some of the actions that they've done around gun control which is really proliferating our country with guns. It's what they did with the women's right to choose. You see, this is their way of covering up what many people have been really concerned about, the erosions of basic human rights.
We're saying crisis calls for coordination. We received a minimum of six buses early this morning. Over 11,000 individuals, asylum seeking migrants have come to the city already. It is time for us to coordinate this humanitarian crisis that our country is facing.
[12:10:09]
TAPPER: So you're struggling to process the 2500 migrants sent to you from Texas. Meanwhile, the El Paso sector of the border sees an average of 1700 migrants crossing every single day, a record 1.9 million migrants have been apprehended on the southwest border this fiscal year alone. Even if you think what these governors are doing is horrific, it seems like you agree this is a crisis that needs more attention from the Biden administration.
ADAMS: No. I believe it's a crisis that needs more coordination from our country. You know, this is one country -- this is a country that's always been capable of handling those who are seeking to participate in American dream. And that coordination should be not only on the federal level, the state level, but even city to city. And we reached out to the El Paso mayor as well as our team attempted to reach out to Governor Abbott.
They refused to do any formal coordination. They think the politics of treating people in an inhumane manner to cover up, I believe, what they've done around human rights, the erosion of it for these last few years is what they believe is the best way to handle it. I just disagree.
TAPPER: Would you like to see President Biden and Democrats in Congress make immigration reform a priority using their political capital to finally fix this problem? There hasn't been, as you know, any major immigration reform since the Reagan years.
ADAMS: I reached out and traveled to Washington, D.C. and had great conversations with the White House as well as with Senator Schumer, Senator Gillibrand, and other lawmakers to discuss this issue. I think one of the most important parts that we should move forward is to allow those new arrivals to be able to work. They came here to pursue the American dream. I don't think it really is logical to allow people to be here for months without the ability to seek employment, particularly during a time when we are seeking employees on various sectors in our city.
TAPPER: Yes. I mean, we're in the middle of a worker shortage right now, as I don't need to tell you. It's a big problem all over the country. New York is one of the only cities in the United States with a right-to-shelter law. Meaning that anyone seeking a place to stay must be given one. But you said this week that because of this, quote, "new and unforeseen reality," New York's, quote, "prior practices must be reassessed," unquote. Are you considering changing New York's right-to-shelter law?
ADAMS: No, not at all. We're not considering it. We don't believe we should change the right-to-shelter law. What needs to be looked at is the actual practices because I'm sure 40 years ago when this law was put into place no one thought that we would receive 11,000 -- over 11,000 migrants or asylum seekers. And so it's the practices in parts of it that we want to reexamine to make sure that we can actually carry out an influx. That law was put in place for the individuals who were living in New
York and needed shelter under emergency situation. This is a humanitarian crisis and it needs to be viewed that way.
TAPPER: Where are you going to put up all these individuals who need shelters if you're running out of pace?
ADAMS: We're consistently pivoting and shifting to make sure we can accommodate. We opened 23 emergency shelters. We had a smooth transition of close to 1500 students that moved into our educational facilities. We're going to continue to shift our resources to whatever locations we have from the emergency hotels or the emergency shelter locations.
We are used to adjusting. We did it during covid. We did it during 9/11. This is a city that clearly understands how to stand up and operate according to the crises that are in front of us.
TAPPER: Many of the migrants flown to Martha's Vineyard by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis say they were falsely told that jobs and housing would be waiting for them when they arrived. Were any of the migrants that have arrived in New York, have they been similarly misled?
ADAMS: Yes, they have been. And it's really unfortunate when you watch government misrepresent where you're sending people. In some cases we had those who were COVID positive on the buses with individuals who were dehydrated, didn't have proper food. Some were even tagged like you would tag an animal. It's really unfortunate that a country that is known for the humanitarian actions, this is a blight on our entire country.
But again, it falls in line with some of the inhumane and some of the changes that you're seeing and some of the basic laws, of women's right to choose and gun reform in this country, coming from particular locations like Ron DeSantis and Abbott.
[12:15:16]
So when one wants to travel to another location and they're forced to go to New York City, these are the things that we have witnessed based on our preliminary interviews and conversations with those migrant seekers and asylum seekers.
TAPPER: And right now, we see First Lady Jill Biden and President Joe Biden signing the condolence book, the official condolence book for Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II at Lancaster House. We are having some problems with the pool signal, which does freeze up every now and then so apologies for that, but what they are doing is part of the tradition of a major state funeral such as this. Previously President Biden signed the condolence book at the British embassy in Washington, D.C.
He wrote in that book, Kaitlan Collins, let me bring you in. He wrote in that book at the embassy, "The American people mourn today with people throughout the U.K. and the Commonwealth. Elizabeth II defined an era. She led with enduring strength and dignity, devoting her whole life to serving her people. Jill and I will never forget meeting her and experiencing her warmth and kindness. She will be forever remembered.
Kaitlan Collins, the fact that he'll probably write something similar in this condolence book.
COLLINS: Yes, Jake, that was his first stop that he made, to pay his respects to her after she passed. They lowered the flags at the White House and other federal buildings that day of course, something that remained several days after that until her funeral tomorrow actually happens tomorrow. And so that was just part of paying respects to her.
Now he and the first lady are signing the condolence book in London. Writing a tribute to her. Then they're going to go to a reception that is hosted by King Charles.
And Jake, I think one thing that people have reflected on since the Queen passed, is just this long-standing relationship that she had with so many U.S. presidents. There are very few figures who can say that they met 13 sitting U.S. presidents, 14 in total, every single one except -- since Harry Truman, since -- with the exception of Lyndon B. Johnson. And she really had this remarkable experiences with them, whether she was hosting them or they were hosting her at the White House in the United States, or at their homes.
You know, she rode horses with them. She went to Baltimore Orioles games with them. She had all these memories with this president. And when you look back at the way that they are paying tribute to her, a lot of them talked about how clever she was, her wit, they talk about her warmth and her kindness, and a lot of them really paying tribute to her. This long standing figure who interacted and had this rare relationship with U.S. presidents like she did.
And you know, when I was mentioning earlier that President Biden remarked that she had inquired about President Xi of China and President Putin of Russia, it's something that Bill Clinton also said when he was recalling his meetings with the Queen, talking about how she asked for his political insights on certain matters. And that she was very inquisitive about American politics.
And It's just really fascinating to look back at her relationship with so many different presidents. You know, a lot of them sometimes had awkward moments when it came to protocol and how to act around the Queen, whether they be Republican or Democrat, and it's just really remarkable to look back at the different interactions and meetings she had with these presidents.
TAPPER: And Max Foster, as we're watching these images come in of president and first lady Biden saying the official condolence book for Her Majesty the Queen at Lancaster house. Tell me what we're -- just a brief overview of what we can expect for the funeral tomorrow.
FOSTER: I think it will start early and it'll start early because you've got so many, as Kaitlan was saying, so many heads of state in town for this moment. I mean, in that book we've been getting updates about who's been signing it just before President Biden was the Swiss president and Palestinian prime minister. We've got the Somalian president, the Tanzanian president, the Tunisian minister and counselor for the president there, endless presidents in town.
We're not being given a list of who's going to the funeral, but we've got -- Kate and I were talking earlier, we think it's pretty much, you know, the full 200, isn't there, apart from their plus ones as well, apart from the obvious ones like Putin and Xi unable to come. So I think them arriving will be quite extraordinary and then you'll have a deep and meaningful service in Westminster Abbey, and the profession from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey, then a really profound I think procession between Westminster Abbey and Admiralty Arch. Is it Admiralty Arch?
WILLIAMS: Yes, and the Wellington Arch.
FOSTER: The Welling Arch where the family will be walking behind. I think that will be very powerful.
[12:20:02]
And you'll have about 100 sailors pulling the coffin and that's going to be a big ceremonial moment. And then she'll be interred in Windsor. A lot of the we won't see when she's actually buried. But we will see the service there in Windsor.
TAPPER: And as you just -- just to interrupt for one second, Max.
Max, yes, just want to show, on the right side of your screen there, for folks watching, you see all sorts of world leaders from all over the globe coming to pay their respects at Buckingham Palace, and we've been seeing that for hours and hours, Max. I'm sorry to interrupt. Please continue.
FOSTER: Well, yes, you've got the Irish president there, for example. So these are all heads of state and their partners. And also some other foreign dignitaries as well invited. So we'll wait to see who's there. We think this is, for modern times, at least, the biggest gathering of heads of state. We can't think of a time when more heads of state are gathered in one city, in one location, than this particular event. And of course the funeral tomorrow.
So to be a fly on the wall in there, I can see there -- some monarchs as well from Europe. We're only getting the arrivals I think live. We are going to get some images inside, and possibly some video inside, we're not entirely sure. But it's a very closed event, but it's fascinating, isn't it, to see them all going in there?
WILLIAMS: Yes.
TAPPER: And Kate, you were saying earlier 129 world leaders came for the Queen's coronation in I believe 1953, and we're expecting a larger number than that for her funeral, both because the world is smaller today in terms of ease of travel, but also because of the figure she was, her 70-year reign and all that she meant to so many people.
WILLIAMS: Yes. The 70-year reign of the Queen, that came to the throne in 1952, crowned in 1953, and that was seen as a great world moment, 129 world leaders, the greatest before had been her great-grandfather, Edward VII with 70. And really, the fact that we have so many monarchies, Max was just pointing out some of the royal families there, and many of them are related to Queen Elizabeth, and all these presidents, all these prime ministers from all over the world.
And the fact is that she's met so many of them. She only stopped doing foreign travel in 2012 when she was in her 80s. Up until then she was traveling frequently on state visits. And she continued to host, but she stopped the overseas travel in her 80s, and really so many of them she's met. So many of these people have individual experience of her, they talked about her warmth, they talk -- just as Kaitlan was saying earlier, they talked or the presidents talked about how they had fun experiences with her.
They rode horses with her, they swapped recipes, and really, I think, it reflects how she had this great diplomatic role, but also she really specialized in putting people at their ease. And whether you were a new president or whether you're a president who had been in the job for many years, she saw it as her job to understand about your country, to research about your country, and really I think show what an interest she had in the world. And I just don't think we'll see her like again. The absolute brilliance that she had as on the world stage, and she can never expected that. She was born when air travel as she said was an impossible thing. And now there she was traveling around the world.
TAPPER: And Max, it's also true that the British empire is quite different than it was in 1952, 1953. Right now we're seeing President Biden, we're seeing images of President Biden walking in to sign -- is this the condolence book at Buckingham Palace? I guess. And First Lady Biden is there as well.
FOSTER: Yes.
TAPPER: Let's just listen in for a second as the president and first lady are there.
In any case, Max, what I was saying before is obviously the U.K. is quite different today than it was in 1952, 1953 when the Queen assumed the throne and was coronated. Obviously it was once said that the sun never sets on the British empire, and that can no longer be said. She was the monarch during a time of self-determination by former British colonies.
FOSTER: The empire was collapsing, people were -- countries were gaining independence one after another. One of the great credits to the Queen's reign by historian is the managed decline, as they call it, of the empire and the reinvention of the empire as it were through the commonwealth. So creating independent association of states, that was the idea of the commonwealth. She was head of the commonwealth, and what was quite clever about that is it was no longer the empire, but she still retained her international, her global footprint, so she retained her global status -- '
TAPPER: We're going to listen in. JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've had an opportunity to
meet with an awful lot of consequential people. All I can say is that the ones who stand out in your mind are those whose relationships and interaction with you are consistent with their reputation.
When the Queen had us to the castle for tea and we were joking crumpets, she kept offering more, I keep eating everything she put in front of me, but she was the same in person as her image. Decent, honorable, and all about service.
And our hearts go out to the royal family, King Charles and all the family. It's a loss that leaves a giant hole, and sometimes you think you'll never overcome it, but as I've told the king, she's going to be with him every step of the way, every minute, every moment, and that's a reassuring notion.
So to all the people of England, all the people of the United Kingdom, our hearts go out to you and you were fortunate to have had her for 70 years. We all were. The world is better for her. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President, why does she remind you of your mother?
BIDEN: Just because of the way she touched, when she leaned over. The way -- she had that look like, are you OK? Anything I can do for you? What do you need? And then also make sure you do what you're supposed to do.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What do you think she meant for the wider world, throughout the U.K.?
BIDEN: Well, I think, look, the American press has heard me say for a long time but I think the thing that is -- maybe it's too much, excuse the expression, the Irish of it, but it's about treating people with dignity. I talk about how my mother and father thought that everyone, no matter who they were, no matter what their station, no matter where they were from, deserved to be treated with dignity.
And that's exactly what she communicated. Just the way she walked by, just the way she acted. And I think she gave a sense of maybe, above all, a notion of service. We all owe something. There's something within our capacity to do, that can make thing, not just the world better, but your neighborhood better, your household better, your workplace better. And that's what she communicated to me, anyway, and it was an honor to meet her. An honor to meet her.
Thank you. Which way are we going?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This way.
TAPPER: All right, Kaitlan Collins, we just heard President Biden talking about his experience with Queen Elizabeth II, how she was the same person in private as she was in public, and how she had the dignity and her dedication to service, and somebody asked about the comment the president had made earlier about how the Queen reminded him of his late mother, Catherine Finnegan Biden, who died in 2010 at the age of 93. And he talked about that as well, Kaitlan.
COLLINS: Yes. He was asked why he thought or why she reminded him of his mother, and he said she had this look about her whenever they med, of course when she hosted President Biden and First Lady Joe Biden for tea at Windsor Castle last year. And he said that she had this look about, are you OK? But also saying that you needed to look like make sure that you were doing what you needed to be doing. And he talked, Jake, about how, of course, they had tea. He said she kept offering him food. But also, he talked about how when he met her, her reputation -- her in-person demeanor matched her reputation. When she said she was decent. She was honorable, and she was all about service. And of course, that's what so much of the memories about her, Jake, in the last week, have been about, have been focused on what she was like, and what her public service was like.
And that's something that Biden is really focused on, as he has, you know, commemorated her loss and talked about her -- was her public commitment and talking about what that was like. So, remember, she hosted President Biden, First Lady Jill Biden for tea privately. They met for quite some time. They talked about personal stories. They talked about politics and the world politics. And that was after she had hosted G7 leaders for another reception at that summit on the Cornish Coast, Jake. And so, now he is here signing this condolence book, and talking about why it was that she reminded him of his mother.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: And Max Foster, we should note that the last official time that we saw the Queen was when she greeted the brand-new Prime Minister, Liz Truss, who the Queen passed away, I think a couple of days after that she was a symbol of stability and consistency in the U.K. And now the U.K. is at a time where you have a brand-new PM, and a brand-new monarch for the first time in recent memory.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I interviewed Prince Charles, a few years ago, up in on the Balmoral Estate and about his relationship with the United States. He talks about visiting more than 20 times and how he always had such a fond welcome when he went there. So, I think it'd be interesting to hear his conversation. President Biden tonight, you'd certainly wants to continue, you know, what we always call at least the special relationship with the United States, the Queen was at the heart of that relationship. And the King, I think, will want to definitely continue that. So, I think that President Biden's visit is extremely important today and his relationship with King Charles as the first President of King Charles's reign. I think that would be really fundamental.
We always talk about how Churchill was the Queen's first president. We will also be talking about how Biden was the King's first president as well. But as you say, incredible time for the British nation to have lost both the Prime Minister and the Monarch in a week. And we're all readjusting to this new period at the same time as the economy is collapsing, but no one's talking about it, because we were so focused on the funeral. So, I think coming out of this week is going to be a big period of adjustment for the United Kingdom, adjusting to what's been happening this week. But also, the reality of what's happening into the winter and Liz Truss will have to get back on TVs and start doing her real day job, which is not supporting the King, but was actually running the country.
COLLINS: And, Jake, you also saw President Biden there talking about his call this week with King Charles where, you know, he was talking about loss. And that is obviously something that has really defined major aspects of President Biden's life. As you noted, he's lost his own mother, but also when he lost his wife and his daughter. And he talked about what he told King Charles and the way the words that he used to comfort him, which was saying, you know, that despite the loss of Queen Elizabeth that saying she'll still be there with you every step of the way.
And, Jake, I think we should also just remember, it's really rare for a U.S. president to have a phone conversation with a British monarch as President Biden did this week. But that was one of his first calls after she had passed.
TAPPER: And Kate, Queen Elizabeth was able to keep the monarchy relevant to the 21st century, even at a time that a lot of people throughout the world and certainly in the U.K. are questioning whether or not the monarchy should continue. And it's going to be a big challenge for King Charles, to keep the monarchy relevant and prove its necessity?
FOSTER: Just to point out the King and Queen of Jordan arriving there at Buckingham Palace.
KATE WILLIAMS, CNN ROYAL HISTORIAN: And yes, Jake, as you say, King Charles has a rocky, a difficult road ahead. There has been his huge outpouring of sympathy. There's a lot of support for him. And his job now is to convert that outpouring of sympathy for the death of his mother into support for his reign. His approval ratings weren't always high before he came to the throne. And there are difficult days ahead as Max for saying we have an economic on the brink of economic recession here in the United Kingdom. There is a potential heating crisis. There's problem that people may not be able to heat their homes this winter. And how does a man who lives in a palace with 775 rooms relate to that?
And also, the monarchy itself, many countries that have the monarch as head of states such as Jamaica, Australia, Antigua, Belize, they were all talking about opening the process of becoming republics.
[12:35:07]
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern who's here. We saw her paying her respects. Just yesterday, she said that New Zealand will be Republic in her lifetime. So, these are the questions that King Charles has to negotiate.
I also see the Commonwealth will change and fragment countries wish to ally with other places other than Britain, and they see aspects of the Commonwealth as having its roots in Empire, the oppression and exploitation of empire. So great changes over head. And I think King Charles has many challenges both in the U.K. and abroad to negotiate these great changes. And these -- the rocky road that the U.K. is going through to negotiate it with grace and dignity and he has a lot on his plate and he doesn't have the personal popularity that his mother did. And the question is, is whether or not he will manage to get to that and have a reign that was as popular as hers. It's going to be tough.
TAPPER: We're waiting right now to see President Biden and First Lady Biden as they come to Buckingham Palace. We're going to squeeze in a very quick break right now. And we'll be right back with more coverage of these events in the U.K. today. Stay with us.
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[12:40:02]
TAPPER: Welcome back to the State of the Union. We're live right now, I'm Jake Tapper. We're waiting for President and First Lady Biden to arrive at a reception for heads of state with King Charles III at Buckingham Palace. When those images come, we will bring them to you live.
Kaitlan Collins, who's in the U.K., along with other members of our panel. We're waiting for the President to arrive at this reception. The President has said he wants to maintain a, "close relationship with King Charles III." I assume we expect that relationship to be similar to what we've seen in the past and also that it would be managed mainly with the Prime Minister Liz Truss, not with the monarch.
COLLINS: Yeah, Jake, really two new relationships here for President Biden to chart, not just with King Charles, someone he spoke with on the phone this week. But this will be the first time that he is actually seeing him, since he's become King Charles, but obviously also the new British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who of course, took over and was in office just for a few days before the Queen fast. And so those are two things.
You know, tonight, it will be King Charles hosting President Biden, First Lady Joe Biden and these other world leaders and dignitaries and heads of state that are visiting here for the funeral of Buckingham Palace tonight. But then, of course, in just a matter of days, once President Biden has returned to the United States, that's when he's going to have that first meeting in-person with the new British Prime Minister.
He had actually had a call with her the day that the Queen passed, before she had passed or health was being called into question. There were concerns. And they had had a call focused on Ukraine, Jake, where he actually had checked in with the new British Prime Minister on how she was doing. We are told they will not be meeting privately while President Biden is here on the ground in London. They will be meeting in a few days in New York, when the world leaders are going to gather there for the United Nations General Assembly.
And so yeah, you're right, Jake, it is to new relationships for President Biden, but obviously, the one with the Queen has been such a factor in every U.S. presidency since Harry Truman, you know, when the Queen Elizabeth met Harry Truman, she was a princess at the time. She was about 25 years old, I believe. But it's been a fascinating to see how from presidency to presidency, you know, and how quickly they've changed, she has welcomed new leaders or gone and visited those presidents in the United States, whether it be at the White House, or often she would visit them at their homes.
And so, with the exception of Lyndon B. Johnson, that was the first -- the only sitting president that she did not meet since Harry Truman. And so yeah, it is a new relationship with King Charles, one that they will chart forward tonight. President Biden recalling that phone call that they had this week where he conveyed his condolences, but also talked about the personal loss here, and dealing with grief itself.
TAPPER: Yeah, and Max, as Kaitlan notes, Biden will be the first president to deal with -- we're saying, here's the Prime Minister, Liz Truss, the brand-new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and her husband. They're walking in right now. We're expecting President Biden in any moment to do the same. This will be the first time that the U.S. president has dealt with a monarch who isn't Queen Elizabeth, since Harry Truman in 1952. And Biden will also be dealing with the brand-new Prime Minister Liz Truss. It's a hugely new and somewhat uncertain era in the U.S.-U.K. relationship.
FOSTER: Yeah, it's all up for redefinition, isn't it? But I think Boris Johnson was famously massively pro-American. He was obviously had American passport for a long time. Liz Truss sees her premiership as creating a more independent United Kingdom, when you suggest to Downing Street that the special relationship is less important. They very much play that down. She just says, she wants to also reach out to countries like India, and other nations as well around the world. I think she's under a lot of pressure to maintain that relationship. And King Charles is under a lot of pressure to maintain that relationship, which is why, you know, the Queen always prioritize American presidents when it came to visits to the United Kingdom also, when she was visiting the United States as well.
Of course, there isn't a formal relationship, but it's hugely important on the global stage and for Britain to have a global standing to have that very close relationship. There we are, the president of France arriving now. A very close relationship with America.
France is the other one as well. You'll remember, Jake, we talked about how Liz Truss said some rather discourteous things that were seen about President Macron when she was running for election to run the leadership. These put that behind them as well. France, another very important relationship.
We also saw before that a lot of the Middle Eastern monarchs arriving, and they are absolute Monarchs. They have a very different type of style of monarchy and government than the United Kingdom. But again, the Queen always retains relationships with all the monarchs around the world, even the king of Greece who are the former king of Greece should invite him to events and he doesn't have a country to preside over, he was deposed many years ago. So those moments are always very important to the Queen. Will they be as important to the new King? We'll have to see. We'll get a sense of that for the images coming out tonight, I think.
[12:45:17] TAPPER: And Kaitlan, as has been pointed out, by both historians and late-night comedians, both President Biden and King Charles have in common that they spent their entire lives waiting for the big job, and they finally got the big job in their 70s in the twilight of their years.
COLLINS: It's a bit striking how similar those backgrounds are. Obviously, they're vastly different in other ways, as well, Jake, but that is a through line for both of them that they did have this time where you're right, you know, President Biden is someone who ran for office, you know, and wanted to be president decades ago. And the factors and decisions there and obviously, two very different processes. But they do have a lot of similarities in this sense when it comes to that. And so, it is remarkable. You know, King Charles is 73. President Biden is 79. The two of them coming face to face tonight, for the first time since King Charles has become King Charles. And with President Biden, in office, obviously.
And so, it is remarkable to see, you know, just the through line in them. And what that looks like for them as now they're both in these very new roles, charting this path forward, charting this relationship forward. And you know, as Max was saying, it's not this formal relationship. It's obviously the British Prime Minister that President Biden is going to be having many conversations with when it comes not just to Brexit, to the Northern Ireland protocol to Ukraine, all of these conversations and big topics that they have to discuss. But also, the relationship with King Charles is a significant one as well.
TAPPER: And we were -- we are not expecting to see Vladimir Putin. He was not invited because of the invasion of Ukraine. We're going to squeeze in one more quick break here, and we'll be right back.
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[12:51:37]
TAPPER: Welcome back to State of the Union. I'm Jake Tapper. We're waiting for President Biden and First Lady Biden to arrive at a reception or heads of state at a reception with King Charles III at Buckingham Palace. We're going to bring it to you when it happens.
Let's turn back stateside to the upcoming midterm elections from an expected red wave to who knows what's going to happen. With just over seven weeks until election day the Republican Party is trying to recalibrate its message but so far, they cannot seem to agree on what exactly it should be.
Joining us now from Pierre, South Dakota is Republican Senator Mike Rounds. Senator Rounds. Thanks so much for joining us. Let me start with immigration. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, flew planes of migrants from Texas to Martha's Vineyard this week, without any warning to local officials. I get that the immigration system is a mess, and has needed reform for decades. But these are people fleeing Marxism in Venezuela. Many were, they say falsely told there would be jobs and housing waiting for them when they arrived in Massachusetts, do you support what Abbott and DeSantis are doing?
SEN. MIKE ROUNDS, (R) FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: They're doing their best to try to send a message to the rest of the nation about the plight of those individuals that are coming from south of the border. You're talking about 3.4 million people just since the start of this Biden administration that have crossed the border, and they're coming into southern states. What is the governor supposed to do? They're trying to send a message to the rest of the country that this is not acceptable, and that their states can't handle that type of an inflow. That's the equivalent of four times the population of my state of South Dakota. But Jake is more than that. It's also everything else was coming across the border at the same time. We're 1200 miles away from the border here in South Dakota. And yet the drug trafficking still affects our state as well.
Our Native American population reservations have got huge inflows of drug trafficking coming in our state into some of the heaviest poverty areas of the entire country. So, it's affecting all of our states, but the administration is not doing anything about it.
TAPPER: So that as I said, this immigration crisis has been going on literally for decades, there hasn't been a major immigration bill, since Ronald Reagan was president. But as you did not note, and I did earlier in the show, one of the buses sent by a Texas Governor Greg Abbott dropped off about 50 migrants in front of the Vice President's residence, including a one-month-old baby. There isn't any heads up being given to Mayor Adams you just heard from him, or the individuals on Martha's Vineyard. I get they're trying to send a message. They're trying to get the attention. But there also, isn't there a degree of trolling going on here? And do you really have no issue with using human beings, a one-month-old baby, little kids to make a political point like this?
ROUNDS: You have to put it in perspective of what's happening at the southern border right now. This is every single day 1000s of individuals coming across with babies, and they're coming into those states, those governors are facing that, not just at the terms of 50 of them, they're talking about hundreds of them, if not 1000s per day. And so, I mean, do any of us like the situation that we're in? Absolutely not. A matter of fact, I would suspect fact that the individuals in the southern states that are trying to find a way to get the attention of the administration would love to have other alternatives to them, it's been 606 days since Joe Biden took office.
[12:55:11]
And this problem has done nothing except continue to develop. This is a national problem. And yet these governors along the southern border, so the ones that are faced with trying to, to address it.
TAPPER: Right.
ROUNDS: And it's not just 50 of these individuals coming across, it's 1000s. And it's on a daily basis.
TAPPER: Right. Of course, the immigration laws in this country do allow people to come to this country to seek asylum. It seems to me that the larger solution that needs to happen here, and I don't know that you would disagree, is a comprehensive immigration bill that would include border security. And then, you know, perhaps in order for there to be a compromise, a pathway to citizenship for people who have been here for decades.
In the more than 20 years, I've been in this town. I've seen people like President George W. Bush and Senator Lindsey Graham and Senator Marco Rubio, trying to get immigration reform done, working with Democrats, every time they were defeated by House Republicans who wouldn't go along with any sort of compromise. Would you support, restarting bipartisan negotiations, to try and -- to try to finally fix this broken immigration system?
ROUNDS: Those discussions are ongoing in the United States Senate. In fact, the last time that there was a hard push was in 2017, myself and Senator Angus King, co-sponsored the measure together on behalf of a bipartisan group. We got 54 votes in the Senate at that time. And that included addressing the folks that have been brought here through no fault of their own, the dreamers. We address chain migration. We addressed a pathway to citizenship over an extended period of year. We thought we had a pretty good approach. Nothing has happened during this administration.
Yes. Would we like to step forward again, and try approach and approach again? Absolutely. Do we have to address it? Yes. Do we have to have a border security before anything else can happen? We've got to be able to defend that border, we've got to be able to make a border that actually works. Otherwise, why should people pay any attention to the laws that we've gotten? What good would it do to reform them if we're not going to enforce them?
TAPPER: Let's turn to abortion because this week, your Republican colleagues, Senator Lindsey Graham introduced a bill that would ban abortion nationwide after 15 weeks, do you support the bill?
ROUNDS: No, I think right now, we should allow the states to explore the different possibilities about the appropriate way. Here in South Dakota, we have one which is what I actually signed into law when I was governor back in 2005, 2006. And I think the individual states will come up with a multiple or a whole lot of different ideas about how to appropriately discuss abortion in general. And then I think there will be a consensus over a period of years, but at this point, to have Congress step back and have to tell all of the states that we know better than them, how to handle this is probably not the right direction to go.
We actually looked at when before the last decision, we actually looked as a group of us trying to ban any abortion past 20 weeks. We weren't successful at that time. I don't think any proposal today would be successful in the House and the Senate. I think a better approach probably will be to allow the states to work through this and to find the appropriate language on a state-by-state basis and to find that common ground. After that maybe Congress steps in again. But at this point, I think the states are in a better shape to explore and to find the right direction on a state-by-state basis.
TAPPER: You're on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, Congressman Mike Turner of Ohio told me that he does not think that the U.S. should swap a convicted Russian arms dealer in exchange for jailed Americans in Russia, Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner. He thinks that Viktor Bout is just too dangerous. Do you agree or do you think the U.S. should be willing to make the swap?
ROUNDS: I'm on the Armed Services Committee, and I'm also on the Foreign Relations Committee. We have not had a classified discussion about what the impact would be. I know that this is up to the President to make up his mind and that we probably won't have a say in it. So, I'm going to withhold judgment at this point. I don't mind being critical of the administration. But I don't want to be critical of the administration on their decision-making process without having all the facts in front of me.
TAPPER: All right, Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota. Good to see you sir. Thank you so much for joining us today.
ROUNDS: Thank you, sir.
TAPPER: And you are right now looking at video of President and First Lady Biden arriving at the reception for heads of state with King Charles III at Buckingham Palace. Tomorrow, of course, the Bidens and all of the world leaders will all attend Queen Elizabeth's funeral and you can watch CNN special coverage of that, tomorrow morning starting at 5 a.m. Eastern. Until then, thank you so much for spending your Sunday morning with us. Fareed Zakaria GPS is up next. Let's listen into the Biden's as they walk in.
