Return to Transcripts main page

EARLY START

Friends And Foes Rip Trump For Summit; Putin Denies Election Attack But Justifies DNC Hack Because "It Is True"; Judge Pauses Deportations Of Reunited Families; Bryce Harper Wins Home Run Derby. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired July 17, 2018 - 05:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:31:00] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: President Putin, he just said it's not Russia. I will say this. I don't see any reason why it would be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Disgraceful, bizarre, shameful, and that's just from Republicans. Allies from Capitol Hill to Fox News ripping the president's appeasement to Vladimir Putin.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Dave Briggs. Five thirty-one eastern time.

We start, of course, with the president back in Washington this morning after his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin that capped an overseas trip that could go down as one of the damaging in American history.

The president fending off widespread condemnations that he sold out the Intelligence Community with his answer to this question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN LEMIRE, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, ASSOCIATED PRESS: Just now, President Putin denied having anything to do with the election interference in 2016. Every U.S. intelligence agency has concluded that Russia did. What -- who -- my first question for you, sir, is who do you believe?

TRUMP: So let me just say that we have two thoughts. You have groups that are wondering why the FBI never took the server -- why haven't they taken the server? Why was the FBI told to leave the office of the Democratic National Committee?

With that being said, all I can do is ask the question. My people came to me -- Dan Coats came to me, and some others. They said they think it's Russia. I have President Putin -- he just said it's not Russia. I will say

this. I don't see any reason why it would be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The president also holding quote "both countries responsible" when asked if Russia is to blame for anything.

The joint news conference met with condemnation that was swift, broad, and unrelenting, even from voices normally in the president's corner. Dozens of Republicans spoke out against the president's comments including leaders of the House and the Senate.

BRIGGS: Among the strongest rejections was this from gravely ill Sen. John McCain, who called the news conference "one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory. It is clear that the summit in Helsinki was a tragic mistake.

ROMANS: The top headline of the "Drudge Report" giving Putin credit for dominating the summit.

Newt Gingrich tweeting the president's comments "were the most serious mistake of his presidency and must be corrected immediately."

There was more of the same on Fox News.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA INGRAHAM, HOST, FOX NEWS "THE INGRAHAM ANGLE": Trump, clearly, should not have created any semblance of moral equivalency between our Intel Community -- even if it has its flaws, which it does -- and the assurances of Vladimir Putin.

TOM DUPREE, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: This was the time and the place for the president to look Putin squarely in the eye and said you will be punished for what you did in 2016 and don't ever think about doing that again.

NEIL CAVUTO, HOST, FOX NEWS "YOUR WORLD": But he didn't and --

DUPREE: He didn't.

CAVUTO: -- that's what made it disgusting. That's what made his performance disgusting. I'm sorry, it's just the only way I feel. It's not a right or left thing to me, it's just wrong.

A U.S. president on foreign soil talking to our biggest enemy or adversary or competitor -- I don't know how we define them these days -- is essentially letting the guy get away with this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Neil Cavuto there.

Intel Community leaders standing by assessments of the Russian threat like Trump-appointed director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, who said Friday the warning lights are blinking.

He reaffirmed after the summit, "We have been clear in our assessments of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and their ongoing pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy. We will continue to provide unvarnished and objective intelligence in support of our national security."

That was not approved, according to our sources, by the White House.

ROMANS: Even the normally Trump-supported "Wall Street Journal" editorial board saying the president showed weakness. Quote, "Details from the private Trump-Putin talks in Helsinki will spill out in coming days, but Monday's joint press conference was a personal and national embarrassment."

"The Washington Post" went even further. Quote, "In Helsinki, Mr. Trump again insisted there was no collusion with Russia. Yet in refusing to acknowledge the plain facts about Russia's behavior while trashing his own country's justice system, Mr. Trump, in fact, was openly colluding with the criminal leader of a hostile (foreign) power."

[05:35:01] BRIGGS: The president attempted damage control on the way back to Washington, tweeting, "As I said today and many times before, I have great confidence in my intelligence people."

And as aides dealt with fallout from the summit, the White House e- mailed talking points to Republican surrogates. Among them, "The president won't let a focus on the past get in the way of a future progress with Russia."

One U.S. official directly involved in the summit put it this way. "This was not the plan."

Vladimir Putin got a pass from President Trump but not from Chris Wallace of Fox News.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WALLACE, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, ANCHOR, "FOX NEWS SUNDAY": May I give this to you to look at, sir?

VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA: (Motions to lay paper on the table).

WALLACE: Here?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: That was Wallace offering Putin a copy of special counsel Robert Mueller's indictment of 12 Russian military intelligence officers.

ROMANS: Some think, by the way, that should be required reading for Americans. That indictment really sort of lays it out there in great detail. BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: Let's bring back Philip Wegmann, commentary writer for "Washington Examiner." And, CNN senior media reporter Oliver Darcy.

Oliver, let me begin with you. On the media front, it was swift -- the condemnation.

OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: Yes.

ROMANS: Yesterday, you had Neville Chamberlain trending on Twitter -- Neville Chamberlain without an umbrella -- I heard some folks on Fox saying.

Does the president take this heart? Will he change his tone?

DARCY: Well, it's not surprising that the president received criticism in outlets like MSNBC or even papers like "The Washington Post".

But I think what might get under the president's skin and what might bother him is when he's turning on his favorite news channel, Fox News, and seeing a host calling his performance disgusting or when "The Wall Street Journal" is saying that he showed weakness abroad.

I think those things, criticism from allies -- from people who have been in Trump's corner -- are going to bother the president and I think he's going to need to figure out a way to kind of clean this mess up moving forward.

Will the press secretary come out and do a press conference today defending this performance? Will the president double down on his comments or he's going to recede a little bit?

ROMANS: Yes.

DARCY: You saw him kind of come back in that tweet he posted on Air Force One as he headed back to the United States. So it's going to be interesting to see how this plays forward moving into today.

ROMANS: There's nothing planned for today, right? There's nothing on the agenda in the White House.

BRIGGS: Nothing on the schedule. No White House press briefing.

But, Philip Wegmann, a couple of interesting press moments because the House leaders will talk this morning and then the Senate leaders will talk this afternoon. Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan were very critical of what took place yesterday.

What was your reaction and how should it play in Trump country where you elected a president to make America great again? You voted for the "America First" president.

PHILIP WEGMANN, COMMENTARY WRITER, "WASHINGTON EXAMINER": That's right. I think that what we saw yesterday is that a lot of Republicans realized that Trump had an opportunity to step into the shoes of Reagan and treat Russia like the geopolitical threat that Republicans have said that they are for decades.

Instead, President Trump softballs this summit with Putin and then he even throws his own director of National Intelligence underneath the bus. This is not something that is going to play well, I think, even in Trump country.

This grates with that "America First" message and saw that not just with McConnell and Ryan condemning what Trump said, but also a lot of representatives and senators even from Trump country.

I think about my hometown in Indiana where you have Sen. Todd Young and then you have Rep. Jim Banks, two very pro-Trump guys coming out and saying that this was a mistake.

ROMANS: Yes, it's fascinating here.

Let's listen to the -- you know, the president said something yesterday that really caught my attention. He is somebody who likes to talk tough. He likes to be blunt and he really respects strength.

This is what he said about Putin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Also, I have great confidence in my intelligence people but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Also Darcy, the optics here for the president -- the president who likes to be tough -- is that he respected and bowed to somebody tough and made himself look weak. It's remarkable that -- it's just perplexing that he would do that.

DARCY: Right, and it's not something that he's going to like being called on, right? He wants to be portrayed as this tough guy who is no-nonsense and won't take nonsense from anyone.

And right now, he's going to be turning on his favorite channel on Fox, he's going to be reading his favorite paper and seeing like the criticism on the front page of the "New York Post" where it says that he can see no evil. It makes him look weak and I think that's going to really bother him.

BRIGGS: Yes. Weakness is, above all, the things that bother this president the most. The word "lackey" is trending on Twitter this morning because, of course, it appears that he is Putin's lackey.

So the question is, Philip Wegmann, why? Everyone is asking why the president would do this. He wanted this summit and he wanted that question. He knew that question would be asked.

So why go there? Why take that question? Why show weakness? WEGMANN: Well, because this president is incapable of separating criticism of the electoral meddling from the Russians and his own 2016 success. He's not capable of saying yes, I won the presidential election despite real problems coming out of Russia.

[05:40:15] If he was able to separate his own ego from this very serious national security threat I think that he would be better off. Instead, he's not capable of doing that and as a result -- like Oliver was saying a second ago -- he does look weak.

I think that he is going to compare this to his trip to Singapore and he is going to see the reactions are very different here, even from Fox News and even from some of his own supporters. I think that this is going to go down as a serious mistake.

ROMANS: Oliver, we're showing Ari Fleischer there, who was a spokesman for President Bush.

BRIGGS: And, Newt Gingrich offered similar criticisms.

ROMANS: I wonder, Oliver, if what -- the people around the president here -- the people advising the president need to get out there and the talking points on the president's favorite T.V. shows and in the -- in his favorite newspapers need to be you won fair and square. You won fair and square despite the meddling, but there was meddling.

Just sort of flip it around and really --

DARCY: Right.

ROMANS: -- get him to understand that.

DARCY: I think that's -- you've got to appeal to his ego and I think that's what people who have -- who have been trying to lobby the president also do, right? They go on, they compliment him, but then they try to get to the real issues.

And so, yes, it will be interesting to see if any of that happens today on Fox -- that people go on and they say look, you won the election fair and square but there is this issue of Russian meddling that we need to take seriously and we can't just go to -- you can't go to foreign soil and really show with --

ROMANS: Yes.

DARCY: -- Mr. Vladimir Putin and blame the U.S. for poor Russia relations.

I think that's going to play very poorly with his base, it's going to obviously, poorly with Democrats, and it's something the president needs to address moving forward.

BRIGGS: It will be interesting because all those Republicans that we put up on that screen, most were all on paper -- paper statements. Will they run from the cameras and the microphones today when reporters and networks are looking for comments? Would guess one Ben Sasse would not. If you want to read some strong comments read what he had to say about this Trump-Putin meeting.

Oliver Darcy and Philip Wegmann, thank you, both.

ROMANS: Thanks, guys.

WEGMANN: Thank you.

BRIGGS: All right.

American politicians and world leaders are not the only ones stunned by the president's comments in Finland. Listen to the late-night comics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Where were those servers? I want to know where is the server and what is the server saying. Where is the server?

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, CBS "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": We know where the server is. He's standing right next to the master.

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, NBC "THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON": Putin did say that the meeting went very well. In fact, it went so well that Putin said he might make Trump president for another four years.

JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, ABC "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!": If you're wondering whether or not Vladimir Putin has an incriminating video of Donald Trump, we now know beyond a treasonable doubt that he does.

SETH MEYERS, HOST, NBC "LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS": President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a one-on-one meeting today that lasted over two hours. Poor Trump. That is a long time to hang out with your boss.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Others saying it looked like handler and asset on the stage.

BRIGGS: Yes. Jimmy Kimmel adding, "We haven't seen an American so owned by a Russian since "Rocky IV."

ROMANS: Oh.

BRIGGS: A Drago reference.

ROMANS: All right, all right -- "Rocky."

All right, 43 minutes past the hour.

If you ran into trouble on Amazon's Web site yesterday, Dave Briggs, you were not alone.

BRIGGS: Speaking of rocky. ROMANS: More on the prime day problems, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:47:32] BRIGGS: All right, "NEW DAY" is about 10 minutes away.

John Berman joining us with more reaction from a staggering summit. "See No Evil," the headline on the Trump-friendly "New York Post."

Good morning, John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I've got to tell you, the range of reaction overnight and this morning truly is stunning. The president chose Russia. Presented with the choice between his own intelligence agencies and Russia, the president, in front of the whole world, chose Russia.

So, on the show today we have Democrats, we have Republicans, we have Clinton officials, we have Reagan officials, all coming on to help understand where we are this morning.

Anthony Scaramucci, one-time communications director for the president -- what will he say about this? He's been very critical of the president on some issues, including trade. I'd have to believe that Mooch was not pleased with what he saw yesterday. It was a communications nightmare but it was much more --

BRIGGS: Yes.

BERMAN: -- than that as well.

And I'll tell you one other thing I'll be watching for this morning, guys, over the course of the show. The president's probably waking up right now. He got back to the White House overnight. Will he try to clean this up this morning? If he does --

BRIGGS: How would he?

BERMAN: Well look, I think that's the interesting thing. I mean, he does his executive time from the East Wing of the White House.

He could wake up and get on Twitter but that's so small. Twitter is so small compared to what happened yesterday which was the world stage standing next to the Russian leader.

You cannot undo that with a tweet. I'm not even sure he wants to --

BRIGGS: Yes.

BERMAN: -- undo it. But that's what we'll be watching for this morning.

ROMANS: Right.

BERMAN: I have to say the next four hours will be fascinating and crucial for this presidency. ROMANS: Nothing scheduled from the White House communications team --

BERMAN: Nope.

ROMANS: -- on camera today, right?

BERMAN: Nothing to see here.

ROMANS: Nothing to see here.

BRIGGS: But the House and Senate will speak this morning, so Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan -- all eyes on them to back up what they said on paper yesterday.

BERMAN: Well, let me tell you, this is what I expect to hear from Paul Ryan.

The tax cuts are helping the economy. I like the tax cuts. I'm really in favor of the tax cuts. And I wish the president hadn't of said that but I like the tax cuts.

BRIGGS: He was pretty critical yesterday. We shall see. It will be an interesting day to see how this unfolds.

BERMAN: It will be interesting, indeed.

ROMANS: I do -- I give your Paul Ryan impression a solid eight, John. A solid eight on the Paul Ryan impression.

BERMAN: Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

ROMANS: Thanks so much for that. Talk to you soon.

BRIGGS: There's a similar thing there.

ROMANS: Yes, there is.

All right, let's get a schoolboy -- charming schoolboy look at -- let's get a check on "CNN Money" this morning.

Global stocks mixed right now after Wall Street closed mostly lower. The S&P 500 falling, thanks to a drop in energy stocks.

Crude oil prices fell four percent. Big producers are taking steps to help relieve the right global supply. And get this -- the U.S. is considering releasing oil from America's emergency stockpiles.

[05:50:09] Earnings season is in full swing this week. Sixty S&P 500 companies are due to report. Investors expect a strong season.

You know, profits should be about 20 percent higher than last year. You can thank those tax cuts John Berman was talking about.

Netflix added five million subscribers last quarter but that wasn't good enough. Shares fell 13 percent overnight. Five million customers is one million fewer than Netflix had expected and could signal that its strong momentum is slowing. Still, Netflix has 130 million customers worldwide.

Had a strong but not stellar second quarter. What's not stellar for Netflix -- $3.9 billion in sales, up 40 percent from last year.

You know, anybody in Hollywood -- any Hollywood film company or media company would love that kind of growth but Netflix is already an expensive stock and Wall Street's expectations are high. Shares are up 109 percent this year.

Amazon, no doubt, hoping the second half of Prime Day goes better than the first. Prime Day is Amazon's annual sales bonanza.

The Web site offered -- it had periodic outages right after that sale began yesterday. Instead of scoring deals, a lot of people saw this -- an error page featuring the dogs of Amazon. Amazon worked quickly to resolve that issue.

Now, despite the problems, Amazon's stock hit an all-time high. That means this guy, Jeff Bezos, is now worth $150 billion, making him the richest person in modern history.

For perspective, Bezos is worth $55 billion more than the second- richest person, Microsoft founder Bill Gates. And I think he must be richer than Bill Gates and Warren Buffett combined if my math is right, but I don't know.

BRIGGS: Even more than Kylie Jenner --

ROMANS: Oh my goodness.

BRIGGS: -- soon to be a billionaire.

Ahead, big drama at the Home Run Derby. Bryce Harper with a late surge to send the home fans home happy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:56:23] ROMANS: A federal judge ordering the federal government to temporarily pause deportations of reunited families. The decision gives parents the opportunity to better understand their children's right to due process before they agree to be deported.

All this after it was revealed that potentially, hundreds of parents who were separated from their children at the border may have already been deported. More than 2,500 children between the ages of five and 17 remain separated from their parents. The parents of hundreds of kids have yet to be accounted for.

BRIGGS: In Hawaii, a frightening scene shows the moments a lava bomb hits a boat tour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(Lava bomb hits tour boat).

TOUR BOAT PASSENGERS: (Screaming). (END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: You can't see much but you sure can hear the terror.

The airborne hot lava punctured the boat's roof. The vessel immediately returned to shore.

Authorities say 23 people were injured; 13 of the victims treated at a local hospital.

It's unclear exactly where all this happened but about an hour's boat ride from the harbor to where lava is plunging into the sea.

The Kilauea volcano started erupting back in early May.

ROMANS: An Oregon woman who took a 250-foot plunge off a cliff lives to tell about it.

Angela Hernandez was stuck on a remote beach in Big Sur, California for seven days. In a Facebook post, Hernandez says she survived on rainwater she collected and walked up and down that beach screaming for help.

A husband and wife finally found her after discovering her destroyed vehicle. Hernandez even took a picture with the woman who rescued her.

Hernandez was immediately taken to the hospital where she was treated for a brain hemorrhage, fractured bones, a collapsed lung, and ruptured blood vessels. Wow, she's lucky to be alive.

BRIGGS: Indeed.

Bryce Harper is Major League Baseball's Home Run Derby champ and he won the title in front of his hometown fans in dramatic fashion. The Washington Nationals star slugging nine homers in the final 47 seconds of regulation time to tie Kyle Schwarber before defeating the Cubs star with a towering blast in bonus time, 19-18.

A bit of controversy brewing online as critics claim Harper's dad, who was pitching, broke the rules by not waiting for the previous ball to land before throwing the next pitch. But take into account how hard it is to hit nine homers in 47 seconds and it's an exhibition that made the fans very happy.

Bryce Harper -- a tough year but a great night for him.

ROMANS: Wow, all right.

Thanks for joining us this morning. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. "NEW DAY" starts right now. We'll see you tomorrow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: President Putin was extremely strong in his denial today.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: The president took the word of the KGB over the men and women of the CIA.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: It was the most cowardly surrender of American interest in modern history.

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: President Trump will always put the security of America first.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He did not put America first. He put himself first.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the coming days, it will be a time for all of us to stand up and say which side are we on?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Tuesday, July 17th, 6:00 here in New York.

John Avlon is here with us. We have a very good day --

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.

CAMEROTA: -- to try to talk about and analyze what happened yesterday.

There was a tidal wave of condemnation after President Trump, in an astonishing display of moral equivalency, gave Vladimir Putin the benefit of the doubt over the U.S. Intelligence Community.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: All I can do is ask the question. My people came to me -- Dan Coats came to me, and some others. They said they think it's Russia.

I have President Putin -- he just said it's not Russia. I will say this. I don't see any reason why it would be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)