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Hala Gorani Tonight
British PM May Apologizes To Caribbean Immigrants; Macron: Strikes For Honor Of Intl Community; Fox Host's Ties To Trump's Attorney; Trump Holds Meeting With Japanese PM. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired April 17, 2018 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:00:21]
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Live from Paris this evening, I'm Hala Gorani.
Tonight, we are following live events on several stories. The U.S. president and the Japanese prime minister are meeting this hour in Florida.
We should hear from them in about 30 minutes. They just shook hands.
The Security Council is convening again this hour over the alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria.
And we should also learn more from a U.S. aviation official about why a Southwest flight was forced to make an emergency landing in very difficult
circumstances.
We are monitoring all of this for you, but we began with this live from Paris. The global economy is troubled by the prospect of trade wars
between the U.S. and China. Asian countries are also worried about North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
So, it should be the perfect time for a summit between the leaders of the U.S. and Japan to make headlines, however, it is almost impossible to
ignore the controversies surrounding Donald Trump.
Just a short time ago, porn star, Stormy Daniels went on television in the U.S. to release a sketch of the man whom she says threatened to kill her in
2011. Daniels offered a $100,000 reward for the man's identity and explain why it took her years to report the threat. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STORMY DANIELS, PLAINTIFF IN TRUMP LAWSUIT: I would have gone to the police and would have gone, OK, a man approached me, this is what he said
to me. He told leave Mr. Trump alone and their very next question, the detective would ask me, why would somebody tell you to leave Mr. Trump
alone, and I would have had to answer that question, which was not public at that time.
And I would have to tell an entire police department and police reports are public record, I know that for --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Stormy Daniels who says she had an affair with Donald Trump, and by the way, speaking of the U.S. president, he is hosting the prime
minister of Japan at Mar-a-Lago. Let's listen in.
(PRESIDENT TRUMP AND JAPAN PRIME MINISTER'S PRESS CONFERENCE)
[15:12:13]
GORANI: All right. I was just waiting there to see if the president or the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would take any questions, they
didn't. This is the very beginning of a two-day meeting between the American president, Donald Trump, at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach residence,
with the prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe.
Shinzo Abe said that the top priority in these discussions would the economy, obviously, but also the North Korean nuclear program, with the
hope that North Korea would eventually completely get rid of its nuclear ability.
Donald Trump said that the talks would include elements of trade discussions that have been negotiated in the weeks prior to this particular
summit at Mar-a-Lago including Japan buying some military equipment from the United States and the United States buying some Japanese products.
And then this is a question I personally had, why Mar-a-Lago and not the White House? Well, the U.S. president, Donald Trump, said leaders request
to be here at what is called the Southern White House.
Let's get to Mar-a-Lago and also to Washington, D.C. Kaitlan Collins is in Florida, Josh Rogin joins us from Washington, D.C. So, there we had kind
of an outline from the two leaders about what these talks would be about as controversies continue to swirl around the president -- Kaitlan.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, that's right. You heard directly from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe exactly what we expected them to
talk about, those two things, North Korea and the economy, and by economy, he meant trade.
Of course, North Korea is a big one here. The Japanese were actually caught quite off guard when President Trump did announce a few months ago
that he did accept an invitation from the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, to meet with him in the coming months.
You saw President Trump say there that he expects that meeting to happen by early June, if not before then, before he did couch that statement saying
that if things do not work out, they may not meet at all.
Of course, the other thing they are going to talk about is trade because those steel and aluminum tariff that the president recently imposed, he did
not grant Japan a waiver there, the biggest U.S. ally that didn't get a waiver for that.
Something that has certainly ruffled feathers other with the Japanese. So, those are going to be the things that we are going to be watching for those
developments coming out of here. (Inaudible) kind of smooth over this relationship that actually started out pretty chummy between these two
leaders.
President Trump has met with him more than any other leader and also spoken with him more than any other leader. So, it will be interesting to see if
that -- that things warm up while they are here for the next two days or that tension between the two leaders remain.
GORANI: And this is not the first time Shinzo Abe visits Mar-a-Lago. Josh Rogin, on his Twitter account, his Twitter page, the president called
Shinzo Abe a truly fine gentleman. Shinzo Abe referred to the president as Donald, just by his first name. So, on a first name basis there.
[15:15:05] These two leaders, I wouldn't necessarily have expected those two in particular to get along, but it seems likely they seemed to like
each other quite a lot.
JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it's no coincidence Japanese Prime Minister Abe made a valiant and successful effort to get in with the
Trump administration before any other world leader. He went to Trump Tower right after the election. He was the first and not the last world leader
to visit Trump in Mar-a-Lago.
He's made an in-road with Trump and they have become close and Trump does trust him, and they do share a certain conservative nationalistic ideology.
The question, of course, is what does that get Japan and Abe in the end?
If he can't his can't get his trade waiver, if he can't get what he wants on North Korea, then what good is it to be really good friends with a
president in Trump who changes his mind all the time.
He is not really a huge fan of alliances and does not necessarily translate goodwill into things that these leaders want and need.
GORANI: Kaitlan, how much are these controversies -- I am talking, of course, about Michael Cohen, about Stormy Daniels making the television
rounds today. She was on "The View," a talk show in America, how much is that hanging over this meeting between the president and the Japanese prime
minister.
COLLINS: Entirely you can almost (inaudible) instead of focusing on this upcoming summit for the last week, of course, we have been talking about
Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels as well as several other things have been facing the president.
But those two in particular and my sources who know the president well say that the Michael Cohen investigation has really consumed the president and
that is the reason for his dark mood in recent days.
Not as much so is that book from that fired FBI Director James Comey, of course, that definitely publicly attacked the president saying he is
morally unfit to be president, but it's really Michael Cohen, the president's longtime lawyer, someone, he's known for several years when
he's had very candid conversations with.
It's that rate of his offices, the seizure of that material and investigation into him that has really taking over the president over the
last few days. Certainly, that has been the subject of discussion here in the White House.
And even White House aides, it's not just the president, even White House aides are worried about that investigation into Michael Cohen as well,
someone who has been spotted at the White House several times.
So that certainly has been a big factor. The summit might be a welcome reprieve for the president to get away from Washington, to get away from
all of that, and spend the next two days with another leader.
GORANI: And I want to lastly ask, Josh, Kaitlan mentioned Michael Cohen, obviously the president's personal attorney. Michael Avenatti, another
Michael is the attorney for Stormy Daniels, the porn star, who said she had an affair with the president in 2006.
And he says he believes Michael Cohen might become a big problem for the president. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL AVENATTI, STORMY DANIELS' ATTORNEY: There is no question in my mind that Michael Cohen, A, is going to be indicted within the next three
months likely, and B, he is going to roll on the president -- no question in my mind.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: So, there you have it. So, Josh, this is becoming more and more of a headache for the U.S. president because it is not going away and it's
on television almost all day in America.
ROGIN: Right. And we do not know whether Michael Cohen will be indicted soon. We don't know what he'll be tried with and we definitely don't know
if he's going to turn on the president, but it begs the question, how can President Trump focus on all of these important things.
Bombing Syria, meeting with Kim Jong-un, changing our economic policy, confronting China, when he spends all of his time worrying about the
investigation and spends all of his time tweeting about the investigation.
President's time is the most valuable thing in the federal government, and there is a lot going on and there is no doubt that these various scandals
and the pressures they caused are affecting President Trump's performance on important domestic and international issues.
GORANI: All right. Kaitlan Collins at Mar-a-Lago, thanks very much. Josh Rogin in Washington, appreciate it.
Still to come, a Southwest flight forced to make an emergency landing in the U.S. just a few hours ago. We are learning new details about what led
to this. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:21:27]
GORANI: Welcome back. Ten days after that suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria, international inspectors have finally entered Douma. We
are hearing that from Syria's state-run news agency.
Now earlier, France's Foreign Ministry says, it is, quote, "very likely that evidence from Douma could disappear." Western nations are blaming the
Syrian government for the attack, Russia is denying that it took place at all. It is saying images like these are staged or staged to frame the
regime.
Let's get to Ben Wedeman. He's tracking developments from Beirut. Why -- because there were reports that the OPCW, the chemical weapons inspectors,
were blocked from entering Douma. Is that the case, were they delayed, and if so, why, do we know?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, they were delayed. Keep in mind, Hala, that the OPCW delegation arrived in
Damascus just hours after that U.S., French, and British set of missile strikes on Syria on Saturday evening at about 7:00 local time.
They met with Syrian officials, and then it appears until perhaps today they finally got some access to Douma, but before that they were being told
that there were U.N. -- they needed U.N. security clearance even though OPCW is not part of the United Nations.
In the past they have used United Nations cars to get around the country, but frankly, it was a fog of confusion trying to figure out what was going
on. Now, the Syrian government did offer to bring 22 people from Douma to give testimony to the OPCW.
Now today, Syrian state media said they went. The Russians said they went to Doumas, members of the White Helmets, those Syrian civil defense
workers, who normally work on the opposition side of things said they went.
We do not know if they are going to go back tomorrow. The interesting thing is that there was a crew from the American television network, CBS,
that did go to Douma yesterday, they spoke to people who said, yes, the town was attacked with chemical weapons.
The reporter saw and showed on camera a missile, he said, that that he was told he had contained chemical elements, but at this point, it is a very
confusing situation and it is not at all clear what is going on -- Hala.
GORANI: Right. And it appears as though the journalist got there before the inspectors and the bombing happened before any conclusion was made.
So, we will keep our eye on this story. Thanks so much, Ben Wedeman in Beirut.
In the United States, one person is dead, seven are injured after a Southwest Airlines flight made an emergency landing. It happened in
Philadelphia were ambulances met the plane on the tarmac.
The flight was heading from New York to Dallas, Texas before pilots diverted it to Pennsylvania. Passengers described hearing a bang and
feeling the plane dropped. One said shrapnel appeared to hit a window. The National Transportation Safety Board says its team is heading there.
And Richard Quest joins me now. Richard, we have just received a recording from the control -- between the control tower and the pilot of the
Southwest Airlines plane. I want our viewers to listen and then we will talk about it.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": Sure.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Southwest 1380 turn -- start turning southbound there. There is a Southwest 737 on a (inaudible) turning southbound.
[15:25:07] Start looking for the airport (inaudible) to your right and slightly behind you there and altitude is your discretion. Use caution for
the downtown (inaudible) 2,200 per CMVA.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Could you have the medical meet us there on the runway as well. We've got injured passengers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Injured passengers, OK, and are you -- is your airplane physically on fire.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On fire (inaudible) part of it is missing. They said there is a hole and someone went out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry. You said there is a hole, and somebody went out?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Southwest 1380, it doesn't matter. We'll work it out there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: All right. So, there you have it. You are hearing the control room talk with the pilot and a female voice as well. Tell us what we are
hearing here. Clearly, there was a huge emergency on that plane.
QUEST: Yes, you are listening to the co-pilot and you are listening to air traffic control, and the thing that I find striking about that was the
total calm in the voice of both of them. They are getting on with the job that is necessary to be done.
The plane at this point is stable or at least it's flying and things are well under control, and even in the end when the co-pilot says someone went
out and he does not (inaudible) we'll deal with it.
What appears to have happened there, as the picture on the screen at the moment shows is an uncontrolled or uncontained engine incident whether the
turbines, the fan blades at the front of the engine, an explosion of some sort which ruptures the engine.
It is not held by the (inaudible) which is designed to do that, and they send liberated pieces (inaudible) to the engine then enter the fuselage,
and in this case, destroyed the integrity of the fuselage, creating an explosive decompression event.
The plane is 30,000 feet. It decompresses very fast because of the window going out anything nearby get sucked out. Now we do not believe, or we do
not know whether the passenger was sucked out, but certainly the (inaudible) of the event has left one person dead.
GORANI: And so, the plane landed with just one functioning engine and another one on fire?
QUEST: No, there is no fire (inaudible) by all accounts, no fire, and we listen to what the co-pilot saying, there is no fire. The plane landing on
one engine is a nonevent in that sense. They do that all the time. It was almost (inaudible) thing.
The issue here is the integrity of the aircraft fuselage, the structure. After an event like this, it can be very badly damaged. We saw that in
Qantas 32 from Singapore, the A380.
What will be interesting here, Hala, and crucial is that this is very similar to a Southwest incident just a short, a couple of years ago, very
similar, almost exactly the same. Let number one engine uncontained failure, fuselage breached.
And that's something that the investigators will be looking at. Firstly, what caused the failure? Secondly, how to protect further the fuselage and
therefore, the passengers in these events?
GORANI: All right. Richard Quest, we'll see you at the top of the hour with "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" with more on this story and the top business
news stories of the day.
Still to come, they were welcomed with open arms decades ago. In fact, the U.K. asked them to come. Now, Theresa May is apologizing to Caribbean
immigrants. We'll tell you why and whether they accept her apology next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:30:08] HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, it is a scene that has run through so many of the stories we've covered during the past
few years. Identity. A feeling of belonging to a nation, whether or not you've immigrated, whether you are settling in Europe after fleeing war in
the Middle East or whether an undocumented immigrant under the threat of deportation from the U.S. is living and feeling very insecure.
The feeling of being in the country that you're supposed to be and cannot be overstated. For more than half a century, thousands of Caribbean
migrants has felt apart of Britain and they were. Many arrived as children by the boatload, literally and we're welcome with open arms by a country
desperate to rebuild after World War II. Now, though the Prime Minister Theresa May is having to apologize for her government treatment of them
amid fears some but now be deported. Isa Soares spoke with one.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ISA SOARES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Anthony Bryan came to London from Jamaica September 1965, when he was just 8 years of age. And the
first sight left him in awe.
ANTHONY BRYAN, WINDRUSH CHILD: All I remember is the last, because when I came out -- when a plane came in England, I saw the lights and how big it
was. It was nice. They loved it. I loved it when I saw it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today is the arrival of more than 400 happy Jamaicans.
SOARES: Anthony is one of an estimated 500,000 commonwealth citizens who came here to repress the British government. To help rebuild the U.K.
after the Second World War. But over 50 years later, he's been arrested and detained twice by the country he has always called home.
Did you ever think you were going to be deported?
BRYAN: I did. They had a ticket for me.
SOARES: Really?
BRYAN: They had a ticket. They'll told me that they're were going to move me out on Wednesday. I was sweating about it. I was nervous about it.
SOARES: The British government recently tightened its migration rules, requiring employers and others to demand evidence of citizenship or
immigration status. But some like Anthony who came here with his children with their parents, never got the proper paperwork.
BRYAN: It's been hard, because I couldn't do nothing. I couldn't go to doctors. I have to go -- I got to go to the hospital past 6:00. I
couldn't go to the dentist. I couldn't rent nowhere.
SOARES: His story though is not unique. It's estimated around 50,000 Caribbean migrants are also living with uncertainty. And British Prime
Minister, Theresa May is being blamed for causing it while in charge of the home office.
THERESA MAY, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: And particularly the Windrush generation.
SOARES: An embarrassment now for her as prime minister, as she hosts the Caribbean heads of government. Eventually, an apology has come.
MAY: And I want to apologize to you today, because we are genuinely sorry for any anxiety that has been caused.
SOARES: The government has announced the creation of a new task force to make sure the Windrush generation will no longer be classified as being in
the U.K. illegally.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe that a writing is being done at this level.
SOARES: Despite the assurances, questions still remain after is and how many people have being deported. Clarity that comes soon enough to this
generation, many of whom devoted their lives to this country.
Isa Soares, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: So, how do Caribbean leaders react to that May apology? Let's speak now to Mark Brantley, he's the foreign minister of the Caribbean
country, Saint Kitts and Nevis, where some of the immigrants came from all those years ago and part of the Windrush generation. Sir, thanks for being
with us. Just before I get to you and get your reaction, I want to remind our viewers what Theresa May told Caribbean leaders and you were in that
room today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAY: I take this very seriously. The home secretary apologize to House of Commons yesterday for an anxiety cause and I want to apologize to you
today, because we are genuinely sorry for any anxiety that has been caused.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[15:35:10] GORANI: So, Foreign Minister Brantley, you were in that room. Do you accept the British Prime Minister's apology?
MARK BRANTLEY, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, ST. KITTS AND NEVIS: Yes, we accept the apology. We think that it is the start, a new start to a
dialogue, and a discussion. Of course, the apology doesn't go far enough for those families who had been affected, who have gone through the agony
and the anguish of being denied entry, being deported, being denied health care, being denied housing, bank accounts, in the country that they've
always known. In fact, the only country that they've known. Many as you say came here. We put estimates at 500,000 which represented at the time
some 15 percent of the entire population of the West Indies as we were referred to. And they came here at the time when clearly they were all
British subjects. We were all British colonies at the time. And we -- the call went out. Britain called in us to come and help to rebuild this
country. And so it is a tragedy that all these years later, these people who had given their life to this country, to the building of this country,
the rebuilding of this country after World War II could now face this type of action.
And so we welcome the apology. We think it is a positive step forward. Perhaps Prime Minister May who was home secretary when these new rules were
introduced is best placed now to correct what is clearly an injustice to these people.
GORANI: Right. I was going to say, she was home secretary when these new rules tightening the requirements for people to prove their illegal
residence of Britain to receive public money. By the way, did this affect any of the citizens of your nation, Saint Kitts, with these deportations or
people? Can you tell us more about that?
BRANTLEY: Well, we are advised certainly a high commissioner, Commissioner Isaac who was here in London, together with the high commissioner from
Barbados, he's excellency Guy, he had really led this charge for the Caribbean. I think we owe them a debt of gratitude and we're proud of
them. And based on the reports and the briefings that we all had, it appears that a small number of our own nationals had been affected. We are
aware of a couple who left and on return into this country. Were given six months to stay. And imagine the trauma for them being given six months and
the only country that they've ever known. If many came as indeed as children, many came on their parent's passport. And so it's a situation
where for them it is difficult. But we are very, very happy at what we're hearing. The signals that we're getting, both from Home Secretary Amber
Rudd and from Prime Minister Theresa May.
And we are hopeful that with this new recognition by them that the mechanisms now will be put in place to ensure those from Windrush
generation are treated fairly, treated properly and of course, as I've said, there's now the added question of compensation. How do you
compensate for lives that had been so badly affected, for people who might had been deported or denied access to health care? There are reports of
people who are suffering from various illnesses who could not access health care under these new rules. So this is for us a very serious issue it has
now come up in this commanded consumer attention on the world stage, as we prepare for the commonwealth heads of government meeting and the
commonwealth, we are a family. The United Kingdom is a critical part of that family, and we insist from the Caribbean community that our people be
treated fairly.
GORANI: Sure. Foreign minister, there were reports that Caribbean leaders, I presume that includes yourself, requested to see the prime
minister for three days before the meeting was granted. And that was perceived by some as being unnecessary in terms of delay. Is it accurate?
Did you request a meeting and have to wait three days before it was granted?
BRANTLEY: I'm unsure of how long we had to wait, but there was, it appears, some initial either lack of response or reluctance, it seems to
have this meeting. I will not put it any higher than that. We are at a junction now when everybody's here and I could imagine that Prime Minister
Theresa May's schedule is quite difficult. But this issue is so important, but ultimately we were able to have a meeting at number 10 yesterday. And
as I said, we required please at the statements that have now emanated from the British government. We feel that it is the right position to take and
what we are now concerned about is how do we put those statements interaction to ensure that Caribbean people benefit from what has now been
promised. And so that now is where we are looking to, to the process and to ensure that the home office does what it says it will do and that those
of the Windrush generation were here.
We had, just by example, a town hall meeting in (INAUDIBLE) just a few days ago. The honorable prime minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Timothy Harris
and myself, we met over 200 of our people who are here. First and second generation. Or one woman raised the concern saying that her mom was one of
these undocumented nationals here and she as a consequence, and her daughter were having difficulty clearly getting paperwork and being
regularized. So this is an issue now that is generational.
[15:40:25] GORANI: Yes, absolutely. Mark Brantley, the foreign minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis, thanks very much. Now waiting for action to back
up some of those words we're hearing from the prime minister. Thanks so much for joining us with these controversies surrounding the treatment of
citizens from the Windrush generation. Appreciate your time.
And I want to get back to those western strikes on Syria. Today, we heard an impassion defense of them from the French president, Emmanuel Macron.
He was speaking to the European parliament (INAUDIBLE) the president said his nation's air strikes along with American and British forces were
defense of the honor of the international community and human rights. Here's part of what Macron said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EMMANUEL MACRON, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): We are shocked by the images that we've seen of children, women who had been attacked by
chlorine. Let us -- you know, the same people. We need to stand up. We need to defend our rights. What are we going to say? Our rights just for
us, principles just for us? What about reality, realize that's for everyone else? No. Simply isn't acceptable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, President Macron was applauded by the European parliament there. He's very firmly (INAUDIBLE) Iran on that platform. He's arguing --
arguably transforming France's role in Europe and the world. I want to discuss all of this as we're here in Paris with is Thierry Arnaud the chief
political correspondent for BFM TV. Hello, Gillian, nice to see you. So we're seeing Emmanuel Macron here trying to rally the troops, trying to say
that Europe must be this engine, this worldwide diplomatic and economic engine.
THIERRY ARNAUD, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, BFM TV: Yes, that's pretty much the heart of his campaign. Remember, he was the only one having these
European flags in pretty much all of his rallies. So, Europe and fighting those wanted to turn Europe into some of nation's, the populist, his
opponent Marine Le Pen and winning against those guys, was really for him the start of a very strong European ambition.
GORANI: And within the context of Brexit, within the context of increased nationalism elsewhere. He's meeting with Angela Merkel on Thursday. Are
those two -- I mean, are the blips of the plan for those France-Germany, it's always been as a core of Europe, do they want to solidify this?
ARNAUD: It's very much an open question at this point. It was a very strong ambition at the start when it was election. In September, he made a
very strong speech about how to kick start Europe again. And one of the few things he wanted to do was sign a new treaty with Germany earlier this
year. That didn't happen. And you know why that it didn't happen, there were the German elections, it was a struggle for Angela Merkel to build a
collation. It lasted for months and now they have to start from scratch again to some extent and a lot basis can they do that? I do not truly
really know exactly what he can expect from Angela Merkel in Thursday.
GORANI: But let's talk about his style, because incredibly, new and interesting stylistic choices are being made by this president. First of
all, one thing struck me. The day of the Syria strikes, this really, really just all-encompassing social media strategy, was involved the
provocation of the picture of him sitting at a conference table, kind of an American style situation room.
ARNAUD: Absolutely. And I think that was --
GORANI: Let's put that up, by the way.
ARNAUD: It's not the first time he does that. One of the various striking, American style initiative when he was elected was the first few
bills he got through. He would sit at his desk and sign those bills in front of TV cameras, which never happened in France before. So he clearly
took that relations - lessons from what happened in the United States.
GORANI: Does he want to be like a French Obama? What's his -- a MacrObama? I don't know. Anything says or Kennedy? Or what's his role
model?
ARNAUD: I think it's a fair comparison. I think Obama was a big influence on his campaign and certainly his big influence as well on the start -- on
the first few months of his presidency in terms of style, in terms of who wants to project the image of a charismatic leader full of energy and
ambition. And so far he's doing that pretty well.
GORANI: (INAUDIBLE) attach my earpiece which has come off. But let me ask you though also about that interview he gave BFM TV, your network.
Normally, French presidents, they are in this gilded and it is palace environment. They received on the 14 of July Bastille Day to a very kind
of -- I asked a tilted polite journalist who asked very kind of respected questions.
ARNAUD: Respected questions.
GORANI: Yes. But in this case, it was quite different.
[15:45:59] ARNAUD: Yes. And I think that's typical Macron. I think he looked around and he asked his advisers, what are the two biggest nastiest
rollers you can bring that will really go at it for two hours? And so they came up with this idea to do BFM TV and (INAUDIBLE) which is a website that
is clearly on the left and he knew what he was getting into. He knew he was going to be hostile. He knew he was going to be provocative. But his
attitude was bring it on.
GORANI: That's helped him, because favorability-wise, he's not doing too chorally.
ARNAUD: No.
GORANI: He's around, what, 45 percent?
ARNAUD: yes, he's in the low 40s, which is not fantastic, but it's not that bad. I think he wanted to basically show it could -- it could take
anything you would throw at him and come up on top.
GORANI: There's a risk of those. Some people are calling him maybe arrogant, maybe a little Napoleonic. That he's kind of -- and he's trying
to reform a job's market in this country, there are strikes, rolling strikes over the next several months. Will he -- will he be the president
who gets jobs reform through? Substantial ones.
ARNAUD: Well, it's being -- he has one thing going for him and he has one thing that is a problem for him at this point. The one thing that is going
for him is that people credit him with a true intention to push things, to put the envelope, to make drastic changes and to do what he said out to do
when he was campaigning. And so that works for him.
What doesn't work for him and what is becoming a real trouble problem is that when you ask the French people what they think about what's in the
reforms? They would tell you, seven out of ten, that they feel that the reform are unfair, that the advantage people -- that they play to the
advantage of people who are already well-off, who are affluent, he's called (INAUDIBLE) the president called the rich people. So he's not been able to
explain.
GORANI: Is that the perception or the reality? Because there is a problem here with the employment market. It's very rigid, it's highly taxed. He
wants to liberalize all this.
ARNAUD: Exactly. Yes.
GORANI: making attractive for foreign investors.
ARNAUD: and it's clearly and that's what he says and that's what his advisers are saying as well. He's clearly in the most difficult time for
him, because it's the time where when you're trying to push everything across and it doesn't have any results yet because it's too early. But
that image of him as (INAUDIBLE) is starting to stick and it's a problem.
GORANI: All right. Thierry Arnaud, as always, thanks so much for dropping by here in Paris.
Coming up, a Fox News host finds himself becoming the top story. We'll tell you what the network is doing or not doing about Sean Hannity's ties
to Trump's lawyer. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:50:00] GORANI: An audible gasp rose off from a Manhattan courtroom Monday, as the lawyer revealed the name of a third man who Donald Trump's
lawyer counts of the client. Sean Hannity is the most popular conservative commentator in the U.S. A household name and major star at Fox where he
anchors a nightly show. Forbes says he raked in $36 million last year. Hannity coverage tends to be -- tends to be very friendly towards the U.S.
president, while Mr. Trump also has an affinity for Hannity. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will say this. You have been so great and I'm very proud of you.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: All the accomplishments of the president, keeping his promise, checking off his list.
TRUMP: And Hannity, how good is that? That he's saying? And he's a great guy. And he's an honest guy.
HANNITY: Take a look on your screen right there. Here is a list of President Trump's accomplishments for 2017.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: So there you have it. You have a situation where Donald Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen has, as a client, Sean Hannity a Fox News
host who has been covering the trump administration and Michael Cohen without ever revealing that he had been the client of Michael Cohen.
All right. Are you still following? Oliver Darcy joins me now from New York with more.
So this brings up a major conflict of interest situation for the Fox News host, doesn't it?
OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: Right. Because Hannity was covering - so yesterday in federal court, of course it was revealed that
Michael Cohen's mystery third client was Sean Hannity. And Hannity had covered the raid of Michael Cohen by the FBI last week and he had really
attacked the raid and said that it was evidence that a special prosecutor, Robert Mueller's investigation had gone out of bounds and he never
disclosed the fact that he actually obtained legal services from Michael Cohen which is a glaring conflict of interest. So this has been the
question that people been asking Fox.
Fox actually just put out a statement. I want to read that to you. It says, "While Fox News was unaware of Sean Hannity's informal relationship
with Michael Cohen and was surprised by the announcement in court yesterday, we have reviewed the matter and spoken to Sean and he continues
to have our full support."
So Fox News is standing by Sean Hannity, but there are a lot of questions about whether this was a conflict of interest and whether he should face a
disciplinary action.
GORANI: This is what Sean Hannity had to say about all of this on his program yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Let me set the record straight. Here's the truth. Michael Cohen never represented me in any legal manner. I never retained his services.
I never received an invoice. I never paid Michael Cohen for legal fees. I did have occasional brief conversations with Michael Cohen. He's a great
attorney -- about legal questions I had or I was looking for input and perspective. My discussions with Michael Cohen never rose to any level
that I needed to tell anyone that I was asking him questions. I have no personal interest in his legal matter. That's all there is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: You would expect -- you would expect, Oliver Darcy, and use network if one of their star anchors admitted that they'd asked the lawyer
of the president of the United States whom they have covered time and time again they've asked that lawyer for legal advice and had an informal --
even if it's informal relationship, that at the very least that host should be somehow questioned for potentially questionable ethical behavior. But
that's not happening at all here with Fox.
DARCY: No. And like they said, they said they're OK with this. Even Hannity was confronted by a frequent guest on his show yesterday, the
lawyer Alan Dershowitz who said that Hannity should have at least disclose this informal relationship that he says he had with Cohen. Hannity
disagrees. He says he has his right to privacy. But when you are a host and millions of people are tuning into you for a news and analysis, you
would expect that the host would be upfront with the audience and just disclose the fact that they -- he does have a stake in the race.
GORANI: All right. Especially since he's covered Michael Cohen has covered him many, many times. Oliver Darcy, thanks very much for joining
us on this. I appreciate it. We'll be back after a quick break. Stay with us.
DARCY: Thank you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:55:38] GORANI: Let's take a look quickly on what's going on at Mar-a- Lago at the top of the hour. We heard from Shinzo Abe, the Japanese Prime Minister and the U.S. President. Let's listen in for a quick moment at the
president before we go.
TRUMP: It's great to have both of our representatives us.
We're talking North Korea, we're talking military, we're talking trade. A lot of progress has already been made. And as you know, we've been
discussing these things for weeks and even months prior to this meeting which truly will call a summit and there's been a lot of progress.
Shinzo and I have developed a very close relationship. We speak all the time and the nations, I think, have never been closer than they are right
now.
Mr. Prime Minister, thank you very much for being here.
SHINZO ABE, PRIME MINISTER OF JAPAN (through translator): Prior to this modern discussion, the one on one (INAUDIBLE) already has in very in depth
discussion with North Korea and also the economic crisis.
And on those two points, we actually successfully force a new to understanding. So I'm very happy to see the outcome of our one on one
discussion.
On this, the North Korea, for the first time in the history of the world, there will be a summit meeting between the United States and North Korea.
And also prior to the U.S.-North Korea summit meeting, the summit meeting between and North Korea have been planned to take place. And so the
Pyeongchang Winter Olympic games in South Korea, we have heard major change in terms of the North Korea (INAUDIBLE) that was unwavering conviction as
well as the determination that you demonstrated the issue of North Korea, so your stand made it possible to achieve this major change.
END
