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Soon: Trump Leaves for Finland to Meet Putin; Crowds Protest After Man is Fatally Shot By Chicago Police; Mexican Mom, American Son Differ on Border Solution; Serena Routed in Wimbledon Final. Aired 7- 8a ET

Aired July 15, 2018 - 07:00   ET

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


VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: -- the president's promise of determination?

[07:00:03] Do you believe it was valid? Do you believe it's waned? What do you think?

CAMERON KASKY: Well, I'm not sure. I believe that even Trump's strongest supporters know a promise from Trump is worth a bit less than nothing. I will never take anything Trump says in any sort of account unless I see him put the pen down.

BLACKWELL: All right. Cameron Kasky, thanks so much for being with us.

KASKY: Thanks a lot, sir. Take care.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Focus now turns here to Helsinki.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump seems to think that Vladimir Putin is his friend, that Russia is our friend, when that is simply not the case.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think I'd have a very good relationship with President Putin.

UNIDENTIFEID MALE: He is Putin's poodle and he is not going to hold Putin accountable.

TRUMP: Anything you do, oh, it's Russia. He loves Russia. I love the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president feels he can go in and give Vladimir Putin a big hug and everything is going to be fine.

TRUMP: Will I be prepared? Totally prepared. I've been preparing for this stuff my whole life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His warm embrace of Putin has the eyes of the world on this summit.

(END VIDEOTAPE) ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY WEEKEND with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: Good Sunday morning to you.

In just a few hours, President Trump will be off to Helsinki for this face-to-face meeting with Russian President Putin tomorrow.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, before he gets down to business, he did get another round of golf in Scotland this morning and also talked about his expectations from the summit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Nothing bad is going come out of it and may be some good will come out, but I go in with low expectations. I'm not going in with high expectations. I don't -- I don't really -- I can't tell you what's going to happen. But I can tell you what I'll be asking for and we'll see if something comes of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: This is the third leg of the president's official business tour here in Europe. You see here that were the talks in Brussels with the NATO leaders and in this followed by U.K. where the president met with British Prime Minister Theresa May.

PAUL: And this morning, May told the BBC that President Trump told her to sue the E.U.

CNN's Abby Phillip is in Glasgow, Scotland, where President Trump is wrapping up the weekend.

CNN's Nic Robertson is in Helsinki, Finland, where the president is headed, as we said, next, for his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. That, of course, happens tomorrow.

BLACKWELL: Yes, we will start in Scotland with Abby.

Abby, what's the president's doing today? What's on his agenda before he heads to Helsinki?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, good morning, Victor and Christi.

It's already been a very consequential trip to Europe and it's going to become even more consequential. Over the last two days, the president has been here in Scotland at his golf resort in Turnberry and he has been playing some golf but we also now know making some phone calls preparing for this meeting with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki tomorrow.

Yesterday, the president spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu on the phone, they talked about Netanyahu's meeting this past week with Vladimir Putin and they also talked ahead of President Trump's own sit-down tomorrow. The two topics of discussion for the two men, Syria and Iran, two major conflicts in the Middle East that the president has been very much focused on.

But there is also a second issue, the issue of domestic politics which has kind of been injected in this whole conversation on Friday when the special counsel handed down 12 indictments of Russian nationals accused of hacking in to the DNC and meddling in the 2016 election. Now, President Trump is under a lot of pressure right now to say exactly what he is going to do to confront Putin on this issue in that meeting in Helsinki.

The president, though, has made it clear that he is not really willing to condemn Putin in a couple of tweets sent out yesterday and he actually blamed President Obama for the hacking, saying that Obama should have done more to stop Putin from doing this. So, this really sets a tone, a kind of combative tone going into the meeting in Helsinki. The president unwilling to criticize Putin and criticizing his Democratic opponents back in the United States.

I just have one more update for you on some of the activity that's been happening here in Scotland. There have been several protests, including some at the president's golf resort in Turnberry. There were some protests yesterday and also a Greenpeace protester appeared to have flown a paraglider over the golf resort while President Trump was outside on Friday night.

We have now learned from Scotland police that that protester, a 55- year-old man, has been arrested. He was carrying a banner that said, Trump well below par. Greenpeace claimed credit for the protests. They put out a statement explaining how they did it, but it's really a remarkable moment here because that is something that, frankly, really should not have happened.

The Secret Service released a statement only to say that local police here are taking care of it.

[07:05:02] But it's a stunning security breach. That paraglider flying what appears to be right over President Trump as he is outside at his golf course on Friday night, Victor and Christi.

BLACKWELL: It really is remarkable how close he was able to get. The video shows that.

Abby Phillip for us there in Glasgow, thanks so much.

Let's go now to Helsinki and CNN's international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is there.

PAUL: We heard about the protesters from Abby? What about there? How is he being received in Helsinki or planning to be received?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Sure. There are protesters here and called today family protests. The protest is about human rights so you can apply, or the people at least applying to President Putin, of course, Russia a neighbor here to Helsinki. But they're also applying it to President Trump's policy.

So it is sort of a small low-key demonstration. We are told sort of a smaller demonstration will happen Monday during the summit. It will be sort of more hard line left wing activists, if you will, protesting against both President Putin and against President Trump.

I think the scale of protests we have seen in Britain, that is not going to be repeated here. That certainly is the expectation of the moment. The venue here, the presidential palace where the pair will be meeting, the atmosphere hotting up quite literally, scorching sunshine here in Helsinki, and that presidential palace in about 24 hours now will be the venue where President Putin and President Trump will sit down together to hit some of those hot, hot issues that they are both facing.

PAUL: All right. Nic Robertson, we appreciate it so much. Thank you.

I want to go now to Jill Dougherty, CNN contributor and global fellow for Woodrow Wilson Center.

BLACKWELL: Jill, good morning to you. First, we want to start with what we're getting from CBS News and this new sound coming from the interview with Jeff Glor there. Let's watch this video and then we'll talk about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF GLOR, CBS NEWS: What's your goal from the Putin meeting?

TRUMP: I'll let you know after the meeting. I have absolutely -- it was mutually agreed. Let's have a meeting. I think it's a good thing to meet. I do believe in meetings.

Look, I believe that having a meeting with Chairman Kim was a good thing. I think having meetings with the president of China was a very good thing. I believe it's really good.

So having meetings with Russia, China, and North Korea, I believe in it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So the president says he'll tell us what the goal is after the meeting. And it's understandable. No president wants to go into a meeting with another world leader and say I'm going to come out with x and not come out with that, right?

But the president here seems to be keeping the expectations so loose that I don't think people really understand what is on the table, not what could be but what they are going to talk about.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I mean, it depends on what they actually are going to talk about, because their ideas about what they should talk about, Victor, beginning with arms control. I think that would be number one. Extending the new START agreement and looking at the INF treaty, et cetera, that's number one.

You have Syria. You have Ukraine and, of course, the biggest thing of all, at least recently, the interference in the 2016 election. And so, I'm sure that President Trump actually does have things that he wants to talk about or feels that he needs to talk about.

The question is the dynamic with Putin because Putin comes, let's look at him for a second. He comes totally prepared. Here is a man who has been in power 18 years and all of these issues he knows inside and out. And then also, there is that let's call it personal chemistry dynamic which really will be fascinating.

I think that may be the most interesting of all, because Donald Trump thinks that he can kind of charm, cajole, et cetera, the other person. Whereas, Vladimir Putin did this for a living as an FSB -- KGB, I should say, agent, and is really skilled looking at the other pen and drawing him put I've seen him many times. What he does is he plays to that other person. He very quickly and candidly assesses what that other person wants and then he plays to it.

And this is kind of a different dynamic. This is not a businessman, Vladimir Putin. This is a trained intelligence operative who wants to get a goal. It may simply be let's work together because we have to work together, forget about NATO, forget about Europe. You and I can solve all of the problems. That could be the dynamic here.

PAUL: From the U.S. standpoint, the focus on President Trump is going to be whether or not he pushes Putin on the hacking that all of is intel agents have told him is, indeed, a reality.

[07:10:03] Do you -- what would make this -- what would have to happen to make this meeting a success for pushes Putin on the hacking that all of is intel agents have told him is, indeed, a reality.

What would make this -- what would have to happen to make this meeting a success for President Trump?

DOUGHERTY: Well, for President Trump, let's say the United States to go in there very straight ahead and say we have evidence and we have released a lot of it in these indictments that just came out. We know what you did. And to say just as directly, if you do it again, there will be consequences and to be very strict about that.

The question is, will Donald Trump do that? Because we've already seen -- we just reported a few minutes ago, that the disconnect between those indictments and what his intel people are saying and the FBI and what he believes actually happened. He dismisses it. So, can he go in and believing, you know, full throttle that this actually happened and confront Putin or can't he?

And s, believe me, Putin will be ready. You know, I was thinking what could Putin do? Putin might throw it right back in his face and say, listen, the United States interferes in Russia. He could very welcome up with some details of how the United States, you know, the intel looks at what is happening in Russia, even those indictments were based on incredible intelligence collected by the Americans.

So, there could be very, very interesting and totally unpredictable.

PAUL: Interesting.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Jill Dougherty, CNN contributor and global fellow for Woodrow Wilson Center, thank you so much for helping us understand this a little bit better.

And there will be a special edition of "STATE OF THE UNION" with Jake Tapper live from Finland today. It's at 8:00 a.m. Eastern and at noon. Tune in to hear from Senators Mark Warner and Rand Paul.

PAUL: Serena Williams' quest for history is on hold. The tennis great shared some inspiring words about what motivated her to make it as far as she did at Wimbledon.

BLACKWELL: Plus, after two months apart, an immigrant mother and her son are reunited in Seattle. You'll see this special moment.

PAUL: And also, police and protesters clashing in Chicago. Look at these pictures we are getting in. Officers shot and killed a man on the city's south side, this is part of a result of that. A firsthand look at the violence from last night's demonstration.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:16:34] BLACKWELL: Look at the screen. These are some of the violent demonstrations that were happening on Chicago's south side last night after police officers shot and killed a man. Several protesters were arrested and now police are asking for patience as they launch an internal investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL (voice-over): Tense moments in Chicago as police and protesters face off after a fatal police shooting. In this video recorded by "Chicago Sun Times" reporter Nader Issa, police are seen beating protester with batons. Issa reported that police rushed protesters who had been throwing bottles. Issa says he was also pushed to the ground by police.

POLICE OFFICER: Take your phone and get out now! Grab your property and get out!

BLACKWELL: Chicago police confirmed that at least four people were arrested and several officers were injured by rocks and bottles. Police also say their squad cars were damaged.

The protest started shortly after police shot and killed a man on the city's south side. Now, police have not identified that man but, according to the chief, officers thought the man had a gun because there was, quote, a bulge around his waistband.

FRED WALLER, CHIEF OF PATROL, CHICAGO POLICE: After that, they approached the subject who became combative and as he became combative flailing away, he broke free from the officers what they thought he appeared to be reaching for a weapon, which he did have a weapon on him, and officers tragically shot this man. BLACKWELL: A police spokesman says the shooting was recorded on a

body camera. The chief says police found a gun at the scene but the man did not shoot at officers. Authorities say officers involved will be placed on administrative leave for 30 days.

The city's police accountability office is asking for patience as the investigation begins but protesters want accountability now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoever shot this man was dead wrong. He was unarmed. And they shot an unarmed black man again.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shot that man five times because he had a holster, he didn't have even a gun in the holster.

REPORTER: What was your reaction when you saw that?

UNIDENTIFIE FEMALE: I run for cover before I get one of the bullets because they ain't got no name on them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: City leaders in Chicago promised reforms after the shooting of Laquan McDonald in 2014. The three officers were charged in that shooting. They are expected to go on trial later this year.

PAUL: In the Middle East, Hamas and Islamic Jihad say they've reached a cease-fire with Israeli, but Israeli's prime minister says it will consider arson attacks the same way it considers rocket and mortar launches, that Israeli will respond to any attack against it.

Take a look at the most recent pictures we are getting in from the area over the last 24 hours. The Gaza border saw an uptick in fighting. The Palestinian health ministry says two Palestinian teenagers were killed in an Israeli airstrike amid mortar fire from Gaza.

BLACKWELL: President Trump heads to Finland in just a couple of hours ahead of his meeting with Vladimir Putin. And one of Russia's neighbors has a warning for President Trump ahead of that sit-down.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:24:24] BLACKWELL: All right. One morning of relaxation before crucial meeting on the world stage. President Trump golfing at his resort in Scotland this morning, just hours before he leaves for a summit with Vladimir Putin.

PAUL: Despite calls to cancel tomorrow's sit-down, the White House says it is moving forward and President Trump says he is hopeful but he's going in with low expectations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GLOR: What is your goal from the Putin meeting?

TRUMP: I'll let you know after the meeting. I have absolutely -- it was mutually agreed. Let's have a meeting. I think it's a good thing to meet. I do believe in meetings.

Look, I believe that having a meeting with Chairman Kim was a good thing and I think having meetings with the president of China was a very good thing.

[07:25:06] I believe it's really good. So having meetings with Russia, China, North Korea, I believe in it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Joining me now is CNN political analyst Amie Parnes, and columnist at "The Daily Beast" and "Roll Call", Patricia Murphy.

Ladies, welcome back.

AMIE PARNES, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Let's listen to a little more of this interview with the president from CBS News.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GLOR: The Russians who were indicted, would you ask Putin to send them here?

TRUMP: Well, I might. I hadn't thought of that but certainly I'll be asking about it. But again, this was during the Obama administration. They were doing whatever it was during the Obama administration, and I heard that they were trying or people who were trying to hack into the RNC, too, the Republican National Committee, but we had much better defenses. I've been told that by a number of people. We had much better defenses so they couldn't. I think the DNC should be ashamed of themselves for allowing themselves to be hacked.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: I might, but I hadn't thought of that. Amie, what does this tell us, if anything -- and maybe I'm overanalyzing what the president said here -- about the seriousness with which he received those indictments on Friday?

PARNES: Well, you're right in using the word "might." It doesn't command any sense of power or any -- he isn't displaying any anger about this and that is really surprising, because he's essentially choosing to believe Vladimir Putin over his own country and over his own Justice Department and his own intelligence. And that, to a lot of people, including some Republicans, is very problematic.

BLACKWELL: Patricia, to you. Let's talk about one of the other elements potentially on the table for this meeting, and that's Crimea and Russia's annexation of. Listen to the president. This was Thursday after the NATO summit and how -- excuse me. I just heard something from the control room. Do we have it? OK.

So, the president did say something, indeed, about Crimea, that this was something that happened during the Obama administration and we'll see if he'll recognize it. That, obviously, contradicts U.S. policy, the statement he just signed from NATO, and I think because these indictments just came down, that sometime that is overlooked about just how dramatic it would be if the president were to say, the U.S. now will recognize or completely ignores the issue of the annexation of Crimea.

PATRICIA MURPHY, THE DAILY BEAST: Well, it would be remarkable but it doesn't seem to be coming, and it does seem to be a pattern with President Trump that he doesn't necessarily recognize U.S. policy. He recognizes Trump policy. So, anything that happened under the Obama administration in his mind doesn't seem to apply to this administration. And even when he was talking about the hacking of the DNC, he seemed to blame the Democrats more than the Russians for the fact the hacking occurred.

And I think the concern among Democrats and Republicans about the president going into this meeting is that it's not just about hacking our election system. We heard from Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, on Friday, who said that the Russians are persistently and on a daily base hacking our election systems' local infrastructure, potentially nuclear facilities, military facilities.

This is a very deeply darkly serious situation between the United States and Russia and we don't hear about that exchange from the president about that level of seriousness is sinking into him.

BLACKWELL: Here is the president on Thursday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You know, people like to say, oh, Crimea. But the fact is they built bridges to Crimea. They just opened a big bridge that was started years ago. They built, I think, a submarine port, substantially added billions of dollars.

So, that was on Barack Obama's watch. That was not on Trump's watch. Would I have allowed it to happen? No, I would not have allowed it to happen, but he did allow it to happen. So, that was his determination. What will happen with Crimea from this point on? That I can't tell

you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now, Amy, Barack Obama element aside which is a continuing theme, obviously. Another theme we are seeing again is putting this in economic framework, whether it's NATO, whether it's the E.U., Canada, Germany, it always comes down to dollars and cents. You heard him mention the port, the bridge, billions of dollars. That's how the president appears to approach all of these, these relationships.

PARNES: Right. He is a businessman at heart and that is what he is trying to do here. He is trying to -- but once again, he is not even detailing what his plan would be when he is pressed on this time and again. He is essentially saying, I don't know. All I know this happened under Obama and I can't tell you what would happen under my watch.

And so, I think we need to sort of see what comes out of the summit and what he wants to do under his watch and he is reluctant to do that.

BLACKWELL: Patricia, we know the president likes to make a deal or come out with a deal. He said that expectations for this are low and, you know, he'll tell us the goal after the meeting.

[07:30:00] But if he wants to go in and make a deal, what potentially could be on the table that would not outrage members of his own party at home or NATO allies he just met with a few days ago?

PATRICIA MURPHY, COLUMNIST, THE DAILY BEAST AND ROLL CALL: I think it's actually probably a guide to lower expectations for one-on-one meeting with Vladimir Putin. It's very rare that you would come out with anything that you could shake around as a huge victory. I think what Democrats and Republicans at home really want to see is the fact that he is directly confronted Vladimir Putin on the fact that he did try to meddle in the elections in 2016 that he is continuing to do that in 2018.

BLACKWELL: But there's no evidence he's going to do that. There's no indication he is interested in doing that.

MURPHY: There's not and that's why people are worried. That is why they are so concerned about this meeting. He is not saying he is going to do that.

He said, actually, yesterday, he said, well, even if I did confront him on this and I plan to, I don't think he is going to confess to it in a big Perry Mason moment. So, it's not so much that Vladimir Putin needs to admit to it, it's that the U.S. president needs to confront him on it. And that is what U.S. lawmakers are certainly looking for out of this meeting.

BLACKWELL: We'll see if that happens. We know the first portion of the meeting, according to what we know from our people there, will be one-on-one and then administration officials will come in. There is this bilateral press availability afterwards and see if they take questions.

Amie, finally to you. The president is spending the second day of this weekend on -- at his golf resort playing golf. Has or how has the president prepared for this meeting on Monday or is this the Singapore style I've been preparing all my life preparation and then he goes in and has this conversation?

AMIE PARNES, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think that's right. I think he knows this is a guy who is very aware of optics and the optics around it. But I think the thing that is really most perplexing, as we have discussed, is that he hasn't really -- he still is blaming politics, still blaming Obama, still blaming the DNC. He hasn't expressed the outrage that people want to see from him, how dare these people, 12 Russians nationalists get involved in this and what's to come? And, you know, setting the precedent what will happen in 2018 and

2020, you know, something that could involve his own election. I think people really want the answers and I don't know if we will ever know, as you said, because that first meeting is one-on-one.

BLACKWELL: Amie Parnes and Patricia Murphy, thank you both.

MURPHY: Thank you.

PARNES: Thank you.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: When 700 million people tune in to watch, it has to be pretty good, you'd think, right? We have got the tale of the tape for today's World Cup Championship.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:36:56] BLACKWELL: Twenty-four minutes until the top of the hour.

And a Honduran woman and her 6-year-old son are back together this morning, two months after they were separated at the border. The mother who was seeking asylum is the first parent to be reunited with her child in Washington state. Her son spent time in custody in New York.

PAUL: That reunion is happening as the federal judge who ordered the Trump White House to bring those families back together is slamming a senior Health and Human Services official. In a filing, that official complies that implying with that order would be harmful to the kids. Now, the judge is firing saying his words, quote, HHS appears to be operating in a vacuum, entirely divorced from the undisputed circumstances of the case, end quote.

BLACKWELL: And while that judge says that the facts are undisputed when it comes to reuniting children with their parents, for one formerly undocumented Mexican woman and her American-born son, finding common ground on the immigration crisis is not as clear-cut.

PAUL: Yes. In fact, the issue has exposed somewhat of a generational divide in their family and others as well.

CNN's Rosa Flores traveled to Texas to talk to them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lydia Quiroz is like many Hispanic women in South Texas.

LYDIA QUIROZ, FORMER UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANT WHO SUPPORTS TRUMP ON IMMIGRATION: My parents were migrants.

FLORES: She leans Democratic, voted for Hillary Clinton and disagrees with President Trump on every single issue, except for one, immigration.

L. QUIROZ: Yes. That's about it. FLORES: Ironic given that she was born in Mexico.

L. QUIROZ: And not by choice.

FLORES: And lived undocumented in the U.S. for more than two decades, something that could have gotten her deported under the very policies she now supports.

In what ways do you support President Trump?

L. QUIROZ: The immigration, you know, what he says that too many people are coming over and because, like I said, a lot of people are good people but not everybody.

FLORES: Too many immigrants are coming over?

L. QUIROZ: Yes, yes.

FLORES: Quiroz's 29-year-old son born in the U.S. says he feels more connected to his Mexican roots than she does and is no fan of anti- immigrant rhetoric.

DAVID QUIROZ, OPPOSED TO TRUMP'S IMMIGRATION POLICIES: What I have problem is they have blatantly said they are using that as method of deterrence, a deterrent to keep people from coming to this country.

FLORES: This generational divide is not uncommon according to professor of Mexican-American Studies Maritza De La Trinidad.

MARITZA DE LA TRINIDAD, MEXICAN-AMERICAN STUDIES PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS RIO GRANDE VALLEY: What you're talking about are people who insist that there are American citizens. They are Americans, not Mexican, because they are here now and they have made it, you know. And so, now, it's time to pull up the ladder and not let anyone else in.

FLORES: Shining of one's her taken is more common than you might think. According to the Pew Research Center, 11 percent of Hispanic Americans don't identify as Hispanic or Latino. In the overwhelmingly Hispanic Rio Grande Valley, that hardly makes Linda Quiroz unique.

L. QUIROZ: I was proud to be a U.S. citizen.

[07:40:01] FLORES: And even though Quiroz, now a naturalized citizen, is a strong supporter of Trump's immigration policies, she says that won't be enough for him to earn her vote in 2020.

QUIROZ: Sorry, Donald Trump!

FLORES: Rosa Flores, CNN, McAllen, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Our thanks to Rosa Flores.

Back to Finland now, where President Trump will be headed in a few hours with his big preparation summit with Vladimir Putin.

PAUL: CNN senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen is live from Helsinki right now.

I know that there is -- there are some planned protests. What are you hearing from the people there, Fred?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, hi, Christi.

They come out here to protest early this morning and it's a protest that isn't necessarily as big as the ones we saw the past couple of days in the United Kingdom or in London but it certainly is one that is growing and one has very strong political message and interesting, because, of course, this is not necessarily a protest against the visit of President Trump but against the visit of Vladimir Putin as well. And there are many people who are saying, look, you guys can come here, but we don't welcome your politics here in Helsinki.

So, there are a lot of here who are highly for instance of U.S. immigration policies, actually a lot of environmental organizations as well who are obviously very angry about the U.S. leaving the Paris climate accords. And there's Ukrainian groups that are talking about some of the things that the Russians have been doing in Ukraine with the war that's been going on over there. In total, you can tell this is a very peaceful crowd, it's a very jolly crowd, I would say.

But, at the same time, they do have a very strong political message. They do say they don't want these leaders here. They want to show them that they disagree with their politics. And you could tell, it's a very beautiful nice day here in Helsinki. So, that is something I think also contributing to the fact that these crowds are rising.

This protest only really started about half an hour ago, so there are still people who are pouring in and they want certainly to be here today. They want to be here tomorrow to make sure that the two leaders, when they get here, hear their message and hear their anger at some of the policies with Russia and the U.S. -- guys.

PAUL: All right. Fred Pleitgen, thank you so much. Giving us a good picture what is happening there today.

BLACKWELL: Absolutely.

President Trump teeing off at Turnberry, his property there in Scotland. It has really annoyed some ethics watchdogs. Coming up, the government's former chief ethics officer weighs in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:46:31] PAUL: President Trump hitting the links at his property in Scotland ahead of his meeting with Vladimir Putin. Turning to Twitter yesterday, the president, he lavished praised on the Scottish weather and his Scottish property.

Some ethics watchdogs, though, are saying the president mentioning his business could pose ethical problems.

CNN contributor and former head of the Office for Government Ethics, Walter Shaub, with us.

Walter, always good to see you. Thank you.

This has been a conversation since he ran for office, is this going to be an issue? And I know that you find many issues with this. We know that the president has spent 166 days at a Trump-branded property since he has become president, 127 days playing golf. He has described this place where he is now as magical.

If it's an ethical violation, is there a consequence of some sort that should be adhered to?

WALTER SHAUB, FORMER DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT ETHICS: Well, unfortunately, the president is exempted from the various conflict of interests and misuse of position rules. The reason for that has to do with the fact that we don't want to limit his ability to actually do his job. At the same time, past presidents understood they should act as though they are covered and respect the dignity of their office and not turn it into an advertising hub for their private properties.

PAUL: So, the boldness with which he uses is what turns stomachs so to speak?

SHAUB: Yes, yes, in many ways. I mean, the thing is he should have divested his properties but if he wasn't going to do that, there were so many things he could have done to mitigate the impact of these conflicting financial interests. He could have said, I won't visit my properties, I won't talk about my properties, I won't let White House officials attend events at my properties.

And that last one would have deterred foreign governments from trying to cut curry favor by holding events at his hotel in Washington.

But he has done quite the opposite. He has been visiting them as you put up the numbers, that is about a third of his time in office, has been at one of his properties and about a fourth of them has been spent golfing.

So, this is the opposite of trying to scale back and not capitalize. He's -- every one of these trips is an advertisement because it brings the press out to his properties.

PAUL: And while, as you say, there is no formal consequence for him, but within political borders, does it undermine the U.S. message to our allies or anyone else?

SHAUB: Yes, I think it does, particularly in this case where he is on the eve of meeting with Vladimir Putin who is a skilled, experienced and very intelligent leader and Trump is golfing and tweeting at his political enemies and talking about how he won an election back in 2016, instead of sitting in his room studying and preparing.

And when asked do you have -- are you going to ask him questions about what he did? Do you have a plan for what you hope to achieve? He says, I'll tell you later, which makes it sound like he is not prepared for this.

So I think that does undermine the credibility of this mission. I think the other thing I'd point is almost one year to the day, I looked into a camera and told him to stop visiting his properties. So I'll do it again. Please stop visiting your properties.

PAUL: All right. And real quickly, he seems to be tweeting and praising properties from his personal account as opposed to his official presidential account.

[07:50:04] Does that matter here?

SHAUB: You know, I think in the case of other officials at a lower level like Sarah Sanders, I would give them credit for using their private account instead of their official account. But there's no distinction when you're the president of the United States. And so, while you're not subject to the rules, you also don't get the benefit of the distinction, the rules draw between your private and your official account.

PAUL: All right. Walter Shaub, always appreciate your insight and your perspective. Thank you for being here.

SHAUB: Thanks.

PAUL: Sure.

BLACKWELL: The World Cup comes down to today. France and Croatia might be both European nations, but the teams and their histories could not be more different.

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[0755:53] BLACKWELL: Yes, we have the World Cup Championship. Yes we have the marquee match-up for the Wimbledon men's finals but we're starting with Serena Williams.

PAUL: So happy Kristina is here with us now.

I know she lost but there was a lot of class going on.

KRISTINA FITZPATRICK, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. It seems like the whole world was rooting for her. How can you not right now? I know you're disappointed, Victor.

BLACKWELL: I am.

FITZPATRICK: A lot of fans are out there disappointed. She just looked lost at times on the court while Angelique Kerber brought her A-game.

Royalty was in attendance with Duchesses Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle there to support Markle, a friend of Serena's. Tiger Woods was in the house too. But you could tell early on this was not the Serena we had seen

throughout the tournament. Kerber broke Serena's serve early and often. The final never really competitive as Kerber won in straight sets, earning her third grand slam title on the court.

Afterward, an emotional Serena opened up about how motherhood has motivated her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERENA WILLIAMS, PRO TENNIS PLAYER: To all of the moms out there, you know, I was playing for you today and I tried but -- you know, Angelique played really well. She played out of her mind, and, you know. So, it was really good and I look forward to just continuing to be back out here and do what I do best.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FITZPATRICK: One mom touched by this, the wife of Novak Djokovic, who tweeted, how amazing it was for Serena to be out there playing at all.

She actually gave birth to her daughter one day before Serena delivered 10 months ago. Mrs. Djokovic will be back out at center court this morning to watch her husband go for his fifth Wimbledon title. He'll have to play on less that be a day of rest after beating Nadal, before being postponed to Saturday morning. Djokovic faces South African Kevin Anderson who's looking for his first grand slam title at the age of 32. The men's final starts at 9:00 a.m. Eastern.

It's time to crown a World Cup Champion at 11:00 Eastern this morning. France and Croatia play in what might be the biggest David versus Goliath match up in championship game history. You're looking live now at the scene in Moscow where Croatia fans are partying in a fan zone. Croatia, a country with just 4.5 million people and playing in the its first ever title game is the smallest to make it there since Uruguay in 1950.

The French team is no stranger to the stage, having played in two previous World Cup finals and several more European championships. So, it should be a good day for everyone watching the finale of the World Cup. We've been watching for weeks now.

PAUL: They're partying three hours before the game there.

BLACKWELL: Only three hours?

FITZPATRICK: That's a light start.

PAUL: I know, this is going to be interesting in many ways I think.

FITZPATRICK: Absolutely.

BLACKWELL: Thank you, Kristina.

FITZPATRICK: Thank you, guys.

PAUL: Thanks.

So, before you leave us this morning, visitors at a New Orleans zoo, they got an alarming warning yesterday when a male jaguar escaped its enclosure at the Audubon Zoo. This happened yesterday morning and it's not pretty.

BLACKWELL: OK. So, no people were harmed in this issue but by the time the zoo keepers were able to track down this big cat, they returned it to the habitat, four alpacas and emu and a fox had all been killed. Now, three other animals were injured but expected to survive. The park was closed at the time and again, no people were hurt.

A full review is happening right now to determine how the jaguar escaped its habitat and today the zoo is reopening.

You know, I wonder for people going to the zoo today, would they like to have the study completed first before they go back to the zoo? Wouldn't we want to know how this cat got out before we say, hey, everybody come on back.

PAUL: I thing they want to know that the cat is contained.

BLACKWELL: OK.

PAUL: There's no risk of that --

BLACKWELL: I want to know how it got out before I come back to the zoo.

PAUL: You're not going to the zoo today.

BLACKWELL: It's a good thing.

PAUL: It is, yes.

We hope you make good memories today. Thank you for sharing your time with us.

BLACKWELL: A special "STATE OF THE UNION" with Jake Tapper in Finland starts right now.