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EARLY START

President Trump In London For 3-Day State Visit; President Trump Denies Calling Meghan Markle "Nasty"; Virginia Beach Gunman Resigned Before Mass Shooting. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired June 3, 2019 - 05:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:31:47] BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump just arrived in London after breaking diplomatic etiquette with remarks that risk insulting his royal hosts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There is no basis whatsoever for impeachment -- none.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, the president defiant as Congress returns to Washington today.

SANCHEZ: And, two 2020 Democrats booed at their own convention. What each candidate said to set off the crowd. We'll take you to out to California in just a bit.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Boris Sanchez in for Dave Briggs.

ROMANS: Nice to have you here. Dave's got a day of R&R, but nice to see you sitting in today. I'm Christine Romans this Monday morning, and it's 32 minutes past the hour.

And the president just arrived in the U.K. for a 3-day state visit. Here he is, the president, emerging from Air Force One just last hour with the first lady. And he's already -- already -- well, trampling on diplomatic etiquette, not only with remarks that risk insulting his royal hosts but also by diving right into the U.K.'s messy political landscape.

He made these remarks about Brexiteer Boris Johnson, the front-runner to become the next prime minister, before leaving Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Well, I may meet with him. He's been a friend of mine. He's been very nice. I have a very good relationship with him.

I have a very good relationship with Nigel Farage -- with many people over there -- and we'll see what happens. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The president also getting into a spat with London Mayor Sadiq Khan. Khan called the president a global threat. So, in true Trump form, he punched back and compared him to the mayor of New York.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: No, I don't think much of him. I think that he's a -- he's the twin of de Blasio, except shorter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Mayor de Blasio is six-foot-five inches tall.

Let's go live to London and bring in CNN's Clarissa Ward -- Clarissa.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Christine. I mean, the Britains really have been bracing themselves for what this 3-day state visit, which is a big honor, with President Trump will bring. Whose feathers will be ruffled, which diplomatic protocols will be flouted, which tweets will be tweeted?

And as you said, President Trump, so far, has not disappointed. Just as he was landing, Christine, at Stansted Airport outside of London, he tweeted about London's mayor Sadiq Khan, calling him a "stone-cold loser." Certainly, not the kind of language that people here in the U.K. are used to hearing, especially at this kind of a dignified event.

Now having said that, it's very clear that everyone in the U.K. understands the sort of eccentricities of President Trump and so they expect this sort of thing.

And they are still laying on a major ceremony here for him over the next couple of days. Today, he's currently taking a rest at Winfield House behind me. That's the U.S. ambassador here's residence.

Then he'll go on to Buckingham Palace. He'll have a private lunch with the Queen and with Prince Harry, although there are some concerns that that might be tense given that over the weekend President Trump, speaking to "The Sun" tabloid, said when he heard that Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex -- Prince Harry's wife -- had thought about moving to Canada after President Trump was elected -- he said, "I didn't know she was that nasty."

[05:35:12] Now, after that lunch, there will be a wreath-laying at Westminster Abbey. They'll be a private tea with Prince Charles during which the president has said he hopes to raise his thoughts on climate change.

And then, of course, there will be the state banquet, and this really is Britain at its best, Christine. This is about pomp and circumstance, and it's about pageantry.

And why is this so important? It's important because the U.K., right now, needs this relationship to improve. The special relationship, as it's been called historically, is definitely challenged in this moment. And as the U.K. looks forward into a post-Brexit world, it needs the support of the U.S. and it needs to negotiate a trade deal with the U.S.

So, notwithstanding some of the distractions that we may -- that we have come to expect, indeed, from President Trump regarding traditional protocol, this is a fundamentally important trip for the U.K. and there is a lot that people are hoping to get out of it -- Christine.

ROMANS: Yes, absolutely. All right, Clarissa Ward in London for us. Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Well, we heard from Clarissa, what President Trump said about the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle. The president, though, is denying that he ever called her "nasty." Listen to what he said -- what he told reporters outside the White House before departing for the U.K.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Are you -- are you going to apologize to the royal family or can you clarify your comments about Duchess Meghan Markle?

TRUMP: No, I made no bad comment. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: "I made no bad comment."

Let's rewind and listen to what the president actually told "The Sun" tabloid on Saturday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: She said she'd move to Calgary if you got elected. It turned out she moved to Britain.

TRUMP: Well, that'd be good. There are a lot of people moving here, so what can I say. No, I didn't know that she was nasty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Don't believe your lying eyes and ears.

ROMANS: Oh, all right.

Joining us now is Julian Zelizer, a CNN political analyst and professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University.

And look, I don't think it's a surprise that the president insulted Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex. I mean, he throws insults, especially when he feels as if he has been affronted.

But, the fact that he is no telling us that this is fake and that he didn't do it when it is on tape, that's the part that's troubling. The president saying don't believe what you're hearing -- that is classic Trump.

JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, CO-AUTHOR, "FAULT LINES: A HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES SINCE 1974": No, absolutely. He raises doubts about what you've seen and heard and creates a kind of confusion. And this is a small story --

ROMANS: Yes.

ZELIZER: -- but this multiplies into big stories, from voter fraud to other kinds of issues about the economy. And it leaves people a little bit unsettled and he tries to use that to his political advantage.

ROMANS: That's a small part of the story.

The big part of the story, I think, to take the real big overview is that this is 75 years to the week this week that the U.S. and the U.K. together basically -- well, saved Europe and rewrote the global power structure for another 75 years. And at this very moment, both of these countries are moving inward and rejecting the power structure that they designed. That's the backdrop of this whole event here.

ZELIZER: That's a big-picture look at what's going on, so those relationships formed in World War II and the Cold War, very close alliance is now really under challenge. It's frayed for many reasons, not just President Trump but change is going on within England.

And so, this trip raises the question of where is this all going.

ROMANS: What does a successful trip look like? I mean, what is -- what is a win for both countries?

ZELIZER: In some ways, not making big mistakes is kind of what everyone's looking for, which is not the best way to have a diplomatic -- you don't want a big --

SANCHEZ: That's a high bar, Julian.

ZELIZER: It's -- right -- no, it's not. That's the point.

ROMANS: That's what I do when I go to work every day, right?

SANCHEZ: Right.

ZELIZER: But a win would be to have some kind of path as England settles its own internal decisions about Brexit --

ROMANS: Right.

ZELIZER: -- about its own relations that relations with the U.S. won't be coming apart.

SANCHEZ: True. ZELIZER: And we just don't know how that's going to unfold.

SANCHEZ: Now, a big part of the conversation stateside still revolves around impeachment.

Let's put up this graphic. It's essentially a poll that CNN conducted toward the end of May, asking voters how they felt on the issue of impeachment.

The majority of people say that they do not believe that President Trump should be impeached. Fifty-four percent say no, 41 percent say yes.

Julian, you wrote for cnn.com over the weekend talking about how Nancy Pelosi shouldn't be hesitating in pursuing impeachment proceedings. A lot of people don't feel that it's politically the right move to make right now, but you suggest that Democrats should move forward anyway.

ZELIZER: Well, even that poll -- 43 -- 42-43 percent support it is exactly where it was with Nixon in March of 1974 when we were deep into the crisis of Watergate.

I think, ultimately, Speaker Pelosi can't make these decisions based on political prognostications because I don't think they're actually as clear as she says. I think at some level the party needs to decide based on issues of accountability and the evidence about what the president did.

[05:40:10] And I think there is a lot at this point to say proceedings are warranted regardless of a majority of the polls.

ROMANS: But what about the policy? I mean, do -- go ahead.

SANCHEZ: I just think that a lot of Democrats are being cautious, in part, because of what we saw with Bill Clinton --

ROMANS: Right.

SANCHEZ: -- where Republicans --

ROMANS: Right, exactly.

ZELIZER: Yes.

SANCHEZ: -- going after impeachment in the late 90s led to more support for the president because he painted it as a --

ROMANS: Exactly.

SANCHEZ: -- bipartisan persecution of him.

The president has already laid grounds to say that this is a partisan effort to go after him. Couldn't this backfire?

ZELIZER: It could backfire, but it could also backfire not doing anything. In the end, politically, they could play right into President Trump's hands, saying the Democrats basically agreed there was nothing there over these two years.

And, Bill Clinton and Donald Trump are two very different presidents and the substance of the accusations are incredibly different. So, sometimes, historical analogies can trap --

ROMANS: Yes.

ZELIZER: -- a party into making the wrong decision.

ROMANS: So, they -- a similar economy under both, though, I think it's interesting.

ZELIZER: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

ROMANS: And, President Clinton got more credit for the economy, I think, than President Trump is right now.

Let's talk a little bit about San Francisco this weekend.

ZELIZER: Yes.

ROMANS: The California Democrats with this big convention and you got booing of two of them. This was a progressive crowd --

SANCHEZ: Yes.

ROMANS: -- I think.

What do we take away from the Democratic field from what we saw in California this weekend? I mean, to me, it says that this is a wide field with a lot of different positions.

ZELIZER: It is. It's a -- it's a pretty divided group and there is this debate internally on the party about what should our principles be and the center versus the left has become a big debate.

California, itself, is interesting in that the primary is coming very early. So in some ways, this is going to be as important as Iowa. And so, the politics are very different in terms of how to position yourself.

And, someone like Kamala Harris has a chance in this state to really make a big show.

And so, this convention is actually more than appealing to the left. It's dealing with a major decision-maker in the Democratic primary.

ROMANS: We were showing you John Hickenlooper, who was booed for saying socialism is not the answer.

ZELIZER: Right.

ROMANS: And I thought it was so interesting because here -- then you have the President of the United States, a Republican, who is basically manipulating inside the American economy, picking winners and losers --

SANCHEZ: Right.

ZELIZER: No, right.

ROMANS: -- in a very anti-capitalist way.

SANCHEZ: Subsidizing farmers.

ZELIZER: Strong-arm government decisions.

ROMANS: Right? And it was like wait a minute, which party are we talking about with socialism here? I'm confused sometimes.

ZELIZER: No, absolutely. And in many ways, the president is quite radical --

ROMANS: Right.

ZELIZER: -- in how he deals with the economy.

ROMANS: Right.

ZELIZER: So, the Democrats look moderate as a whole --

ROMANS: But --

ZELIZER: -- in comparison.

ROMANS: Oh, but the -- but the White House will try to paint the Democrats as socialists --

ZELIZER: Of course.

ROMANS: -- no question.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

ROMANS: All right. Julian, nice to see you this Monday morning. Thank you, sir.

ZELIZER: Thanks.

SANCHEZ: Thank you so much for getting up early for us.

ROMANS: All right, 42 minutes past the hour.

A shark attack at a North Carolina beach. We've got those details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:47:04] SANCHEZ: President Trump is weighing in on the Virginia Beach massacre. The president was asked Sunday if he would support restrictions to gun suppressors or silencers like the one used by the gunman in Friday's deadly shooting. Listen to his response. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I don't like them at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: We now know the gunman resigned from his job as an engineer with the city before killing 12 people and wounding four others. According to a co-worker, this suspect was brushing his teeth in the men's room and exchanging pleasantries with him just moments before opening fire.

Miguel Marquez has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Boris, what may be most disturbing about this situation is that nothing seemed to push this individual over the edge into this.

We know that he e-mailed his resignation the morning before all this took place, but the city manager saying that he had not been fired. That there was no process for him to be fired underway.

There were no disciplinary issues that the department was dealing with. That he was in good standing with the department.

This is the memorial -- the official memorial. There's a couple of them around town right now that is now starting to grow here at the police station not far from where all of this took place. This is sort of a massive complex -- government complex.

The police department is here. Two detectives were sitting at the police department when they heard this -- that this was going on. One had the presence of mind to don a protective vest or protective gear as they rushed out the door. They engaged the suspect.

The chief of police gives us a few more details.

CHIEF JAMES CERVERA, VIRGINIA BEACH POLICE DEPARTMENT: As the suspect was firing, he was moving. They were returning fire and at one point, the suspect was firing through the door and through the wall at the officers and then, the firing stopped. They eventually breached the door.

SANCHEZ: This memorial has been growing now for some time. There are now 12 crosses. There are names of each of the victims, their pictures, and people are signing the crosses.

People coming here for a little bit of a connection, essentially, dropping off flowers, taking a knee, saying a prayer, and hoping that this community can bet beyond this.

Virginia Beach, Virginia now on the grim list of U.S. cities that have suffered this sort of violence -- Christine, Boris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Miguel. Thank you for that this morning.

A North Carolina teenager is recovering in the hospital this morning after she was bitten by a shark. Authorities say 17-year-old Paige Winter was swimming off the Atlantic Beach in Carteret County on Sunday when she was attacked by a shark.

She was airlifted to a hospital in Greenville, North Carolina and treated for deep lacerations to her legs, pelvis, and hands. The teen is listed in good condition.

SANCHEZ: And watch this. It could be a scene from a disaster movie.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Cruise ship crashing into tourist boat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: It happened this weekend in Venice. An out-of-control cruise ship crashing into a tourist boat, sending people on the dock running for their lives. It happened on Sunday in one of Venice's busiest canals.

[05:50:08] The operator of the cruise ship, the MSC Opera, said in a statement the vessel experienced a technical issue while heading toward the terminal for mooring. Officials with the local Port Authority say that four people suffered minor injuries.

ROMANS: All right, let's get a check on "CNN Business" this Monday morning.

Global stock markets are down around the world after Beijing says it will not back down in the trade war with the U.S. Beijing squarely blaming the U.S. for a breakdown in talks.

On Wall Street, you've got futures lower again here this morning about one-third of a percent, so we'll watch to see if this holds into the opening bell.

Friday was a tough day. The Dow fell 355 points on the president's threat to punish Mexico with tariffs. It was the Dow's sixth week in a row lower. That's the longest losing streak since June 2011.

The S&P 500 lost 1.3 percent, the Nasdaq fell 1.5 percent.

And look for May -- those numbers there on your screen, I think are really interesting. The Dow and the S&P down six percent -- the worst month since that terrible December.

The Nasdaq fell seven percent on the month. That was the worst May for tech stocks since 2010.

Now, despite rising trade war tensions, some perspective here. Stocks are at least 21 percent higher since President Trump's inauguration day.

All right.

High fuel prices, trade tensions, and the 737 MAX grounding all add up to a terrible year for the airline industry. The International Air Transport Association expects the aviation industry will earn $28 billion in profit this year. That's the lowest forecast for the industry since 2014. The trade group also expects airlines' costs to grow 7.4 percent his year, mainly because of higher oil prices.

While the group didn't mention the Boeing groundings in its forecast, that plane -- the 737 -- still one of the industry's most important. Airlines are dealing with canceled flights because of that crisis and that's hurting their profits.

All right.

There's a new king at the box office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Scene from "Godzilla."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Yes, that's "Godzilla." It took the number one spot over the weekend bringing in just over $49 million. The film beat out Disney's "Aladdin" and the Elton John picture, "Rocketman."

The past few months have been great for Hollywood and two of the year's biggest films haven't even hit theaters yet. Disney's remake of "The Lion King" -- that debuts July 19th --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Scene from "The Lion King."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: -- and many industry analysts think it could be one of the highest-grossing films of the year.

And there's this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Scene from "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Yes, Disney will also release "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" in December.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [05:57:01] SANCHEZ: Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has said the future is female and intersectional. That led to this interesting moment during a Fox News town hall Sunday night -- watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What I mean by our future is female is that we want more women's voices heard. I was so inspired by the 2018 election -- those 120 women who ran in the red and purple places across the country -- broke through -- our first two Muslim-American women, our first two Native American women, young women, diverse women.

And so, we want women to have a seat at the table.

CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR, "FOX NEWS SUNDAY": What about men?

GILLIBRAND: They're already there. Did you not know?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: During the town hall, Gillibrand even slammed Fox News, itself, for what she called the network's false narrative on abortion rights.

ROMANS: All right.

Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School got a surprise visitor at their graduation ceremony on Sunday, retired NBA star, Dwayne Wade.

It's been over a year since 17 people were killed in the Valentine's Day massacre at the Parkland, Florida high school.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DWAYNE WADE, RETIRED NBA PLAYER: What's up?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: At the end of this speech, Wade chanted a mantra from one of his favorite movies, "Red Tails."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WADE: Nothing's difficult -- through adversity -- to the last man, to the last minute, to the last second, we fight. We fight! We fight! Let go!

Thank you, guys. MSD strong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: You know, Wade was touched by the story of Parkland victim Joaquin Oliver whose parents buried him in a Miami Heat jersey with Wade's number three. The future Hall of Famer dedicated the rest of the 2018 season to Joaquin and played with the teen's name etched on his sneakers.

SANCHEZ: Love Dwayne Wade.

A clutch 3-pointer sealing a win for the Golden State Warriors Sunday night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Curry throws it, Livingston has it, back to Iguodala. Iguodala puts it up -- it's good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Iggy showing why he's a former finals MVP.

The NBA Finals now tied at one game apiece. The Warriors winning over the Toronto Raptors. The series now moving to Oakland for game three Wednesday night.

Not clear if Kevin Durant is even going to play in game three. It's getting interesting.

ROMANS: It is getting interesting.

All right, it is Monday. I hope you have a great rest of your day. Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.

SANCHEZ: And, I'm Boris Sanchez. "NEW DAY" starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The president is setting the stage of his trip to the U.K. but comments about the Duchess caught everyone's attention.

TRUMP: I didn't know that she was nasty.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They realize he's not going to change. They're just tolerating him until they don't have to deal with him anymore.

REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC): If we sufficiently educate the public we can move on an impeachment vote and it will stand.

TRUMP: There was no collusion. There is no basis whatsoever for impeachment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, there's not one Republican in the Senate that would vote for an impeachment, so why waste your time?

(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 Monday, June third, 6:00 here in New York. And we begin with breaking news. President Trump beginning his state visit to the U.K. and shattering diplomatic etiquette in the process. The president attacking London's.

END