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EARLY START

Day Two Of President Trump's State Visit To Britain; Big Tech Faces Antitrust Probe; World Marks 30-Year Anniversary Of Tiananmen Massacre. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired June 4, 2019 - 05:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:31:48] DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump sitting down with the British prime minister just hours after trading toasts with the Queen.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: "The Washington Post" says Republicans in Congress could revolt against the president's new tariffs on Mexico.

BRIGGS: Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon all targeted as House lawmakers join federal regulators taking aim at big tech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX TREBEK, HOST, "JEOPARDY!": What a game. Oh my gosh. What a way to start the week.

Not too many people want to play against James, but I do want you --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: A librarian from Chicago takes down "JEOPARDY!" champ James Holzhauer, ending his $2.4 million run.

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

And I guess some pictures of this leaked over the weekend, so that was the other scandal.

BRIGGS: Yes, and a few people on Twitter let the cat out of the bag early and they were not happy with him.

I'm Dave Briggs, 5:32 Eastern time on a Tuesday. It is 10:30 in the U.K. and that's where we begin this morning.

Over the next few hours, President Trump and the British Prime Minister Theresa May, who is outgoing, will be spending a lot of time together and it's anyone's guess how this will go.

First up on the schedule, a business roundtable that began just moments ago at St. James Palace. Then, the president and prime minister host a breakfast attended by the Duke of York and prominent U.S. and British business leaders.

Bilateral talks will follow later in the day. The two leaders already had a rocky relationship before the president publicly second-guessed the prime minister this week on her Brexit strategy.

Let's go live to London and welcome in CNN's Nic Robertson. Nic, it should be a very interesting day in this special relationship.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: And, President Trump seemed to want to make it a little more special for the outgoing prime minister, doing pretty much what he did during his visit last summer, which was criticize Theresa May in the newspapers. But when he gets in a room with her, he's very nice to her.

Today, he said she should stick around and not leave her job, essentially, at the end of the week, as she's planning to do. That she could work out a new trade relationship between the two countries. He said that she was doing a fantastic job for the country and that it was an honor to work with her.

And on that free trade deal, he said that it would be substantial and it would be fair, obviously, trying to ally (ph) British concerns there that a Britain outside of the European Union would have much less leverage over negotiating a favorable deal with the United States.

And that meeting -- that business meeting this morning all about pointing out the strength of the relationship. Right now, those CEOs from 10 different companies sitting around the table there. Theresa May talking about how this can be deepened and strengthened.

After this meeting, President Trump will be coming here to Downing Street. He may get a glimpse of some of the protesters on the streets here in London. They're not so numerous as yet.

They are putting up that now-infamous Trump baby blimp. That is going to be floated up in the air this morning. But we understand from the police that they won't be able to -- the protesters won't be able to get close to where President Trump and Theresa May will be meeting here on Downing Street.

That although they will get just down the road from here, they will not be -- get in a position to have sight of Downing Street. Therefore, President Trump may not have sight of them. So, the protesters may, again, be elusive to him however many they are in number, Dave.

BRIGGS: Joining that Trump baby is what we're told is a 16-foot Trump on a golden toilet, tweeting. Nic Robertson, get us some photos of that later on today. Thank you.

[05:35:09] President Trump and the first lady attended a state banquet last night hosted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace. The president walking with the Queen here as Melania Trump chatted with Prince Charles.

In brief speeches before the dinner, both the Queen and Mr. Trump celebrated the special relationship between the U.S. and Britain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: She has embodied the spirit of dignity, duty, and patriotism that beats proudly in every British heart. On behalf of all Americans, I offer a toast to the eternal friendship of our people, the vitality of our nations, and to the long-cherished and truly remarkable reign of Her Majesty, the Queen.

ELIZABETH II, QUEEN OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: Ladies and gentlemen, I invite you all to rise and drink a toast to President and Mrs. Trump to the continued friendship between our two nations and to the health, prosperity, and happiness of the people of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Prior to the event, the first couple had tea with Charles and Camilla.

And earlier in the day, Britain rolled out the red carpet for President Trump, receiving him with a royal troop salute.

ROMANS: All right.

But back home, according to "The Washington Post," congressional Republicans may be planning a revolt to block President Trump's new tariffs on Mexico. If there is a vote it could also wind up blocking billions of dollars in border wall funding announced by the president in February when he declared a national emergency.

Senate Majority Whip John Thune tells the "Post," "We have a lot of members who are very concerned about where this is headed. Congress is going to want to be heard from in terms of trying to limit Trump's tariff authority."

The president is threatening to impose a five percent tariff on Mexican imports beginning next week. And then, that rate rises incrementally to 25 percent by October first. Again, the first time we've seen using trade as a tool for a completely separate issue, which is immigration.

BRIGGS: This is a big story in the nation's capital. Let's go there and bring in "Washington Post" reporter Karoun Demirjian. Karoun, good morning to you.

ROMANS: Hi, Karoun.

BRIGGS: We've said this many times, in particular with the national emergency declaration on the border, but this is another moment of truth for the Republican Party. You're seeing Senators Kennedy, Cornyn, Tumey, and Ernst, as well as John Thune, really speaking out against the president here.

And here's what John Thune told "The Washington Post." "We have a lot of members who are very concerned, I think, about where this is headed." He added, "Congress is going to want to probably be heard from in terms of trying to limit Trump's tariff authority."

What can and what do you expect them to really do here when push comes to shove against a president they're very reluctant to push back against?

KAROUN DEMIRJIAN, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Well, the question is, do they go beyond expressing concern and disagreements to actually taking a legislative step that could block the president?

BRIGGS: Yes.

DEMIRJIAN: Congress could try to pass a resolution of disapproval that would keep the president from being able to move forward with these tariffs. Of course, they'd have to get a strong enough coalition that the president couldn't veto that first.

But they do have that option to try to work to put up roadblocks that would effectively make it difficult or too impossible for the president to do this. But that takes not just chutzpah in the GOP to stand up to the president, but reaching across the aisle with Democrats, too, to make sure that whatever move they take will stand.

Now, to do that it would be fairly revolutionary for the GOP as well because they have -- at various points we've heard discord in the party about moves that the president has made. But this kind of cuts to the heart of what really matters to a lot of their constituents very, very deeply and this goes to just the way that we perceive terrorists. The president has sold them as if they are just --

ROMANS: Sure.

DEMIRJIAN: -- a punishment on others.

A lot of these lawmakers know that it's going to be their people that end up paying this, which is kind of like a tax, which just goes against everything they stand for. So does that kind of cut to the quick enough that they make the move is the big question.

ROMANS: Which is why I think you see Sen. Joni Ernst on that list.

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: And I think that's why Chuck Schumer --

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: -- has started this -- Sen. Chuck Schumer, from Iowa, is starting to sound a little tougher --

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: -- against some of the president's --

BRIGGS: In one month -- this first month will be a $17 billion tax increase on U.S. businesses -- ROMANS: Right.

BRIGGS: -- and consumers. It is a tax increase, plain and simple.

ROMANS: Let's talk about Congress and big tech because you've got the Nasdaq now falling into correction territory -- a really tough month because of trade.

But then now because of what looks as though it's going to be Congress looking into whether big tech should be regulated more thoroughly, whether there should be maybe a breakup. We've been hearing that on the campaign trail from some Democrats they should break up big tech. These stocks tumbled all day yesterday because it looks like that threat is real.

What are you looking at or what are you hearing in terms of Congress and its oversight now of these big tech companies, which have been plagued by scandal after scandal?

[05:40:00] DEMIRJIAN: Scandal after scandal. Look, you didn't really have -- as much as you had discussions, generally speaking, about the Internet and these companies, you didn't really have this sort of focused scrutiny until after people got really serious at looking at what happened in the 2016 elections --

ROMANS: Right.

DEMIRJIAN: -- and how these companies were often used to -- for manipulative purposes.

And so, there's been incredible resolve in Congress to be upset about it. To look at things like this -- to do something. They haven't defined what that something really is, though, very well until, potentially, this point.

I mean, look, this is going to be a very broad inquiry. We still don't know exactly what their end game plan is. Is it to break up these companies? Is it just to impose more regulations?

But really, Congress has not done much to tread into the Internet space even though we've had an Internet world, really, that we've been living in for decades at this point. But this is going to potentially give them an opportunity to make some of these moves.

The question is how forceful do they want to be and can they do something that both appeals to Democrats, Republicans, privacy advocates, corporate advocates? There's a big coalition here to work through. But this seems to be the point at which we're going to see something happen.

And look, in the process, the side benefit may be that we see lawmakers learning more about how the Internet works --

ROMANS: Works, yes.

DEMIRJIAN: -- which has always been a little bit of handicap -- ROMANS: Yes.

DEMIRJIAN: -- for them. This process is that they're trying to regulate something that they fundamentally don't understand --

ROMANS: Right.

DEMIRJIAN: -- as well as the tech companies do.

So this is a way for them to get up to speed and actually think about what makes sense to do at the end of the day.

ROMANS: Well, that's been the big concern is that Congress is going to regulate this very high-tech, complicated industry. I mean, do they -- do they have that skill set? That's been the big question.

BRIGGS: Watch campaign donations from big tech to Congress ahead of the 2020 cycle --

DEMIRJIAN: (INAUDIBLE).

BRIGGS: -- and this conversation might change.

But let's circle back to our top story, which is the president in the U.K. and a visit that started with him anger-tweeting at CNN and our parent company AT&T, as well as the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, with some pomp and circumstance in between, which he loves.

How will this trip be remembered, and how will it button up with that press availability -- Theresa May side-by-side with the president, probably talking Brexit and trade?

DEMIRJIAN: Well, this is a moment for the president. He's trying to make nice with the -- with the British. But it also is a question of how much is it going to matter going down the line?

Theresa May isn't going to be in charge anymore. The Queen is a figurehead. The president has stirred up things with the mayor, but that was kind of always the way that things were anyhow.

So, are they really going to talk about some substantive trade deals? Maybe this will lead to the feeling of goodwill with the country because there has been a lot of acrimony between -- as you've seen, the protesters in the streets, the acrimony between the British and the United States lately over President Trump --

Will this be turning the page on a new chapter or will this just kind of be calming everybody down because we're in an era right now where the president is slapping tariffs left and right on many other countries, including allies. So will he take a more open-minded approach -- open trade approach, really, with the U.K., which is really the most important thing for them?

But I don't think you can necessarily take the temperature of exactly how things go forward from here because everybody he's meeting with is not going to be who's going to be the decision makers -- ROMANS: Right.

DEMIRJIAN: -- in the months ahead. And so, that could completely change the environment that they're -- everybody's in.

BRIGGS: All right. Karoun Demirjian, thanks so much, from "The Washington Post" and CNN here.

She mentioned taking the temperature. We took the temperature of the U.K. front pages. Let's just give you a glimpse at what they're saying over there upon the president's visit to the U.K.

TEXT: "The Guardian" -- "Tea and antipathy: insults mark start of Trump visit."

BRIGGS: You've got to remember, he has a 21 percent approval rating there. Thousands are expected to protest today.

TEXT: "Daily Mirror" -- "Pomp & Protest."

BRIGGS: And that one probably nails it the best -- "Pomp & Protest." That will really represent these couple of days.

TEXT: "Daily Mail" -- The Winners...and Stone Cold Losers."

BRIGGS: But, does he want to support Theresa May, Christine --

ROMANS: Yes.

BRIGGS: -- after really endorsing Boris Johnson ahead of her exit? It will be an interesting couple of hours. "NEW DAY" will have that press availability.

ROMANS: And meanwhile, people around the world are publicly marking 30 years since the Tiananmen Square massacre. We're going to go live to Hong Kong, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:47:58] BRIGGS: Five forty-seven p.m. in Beijing where 30 years ago today the world witnessed a massacre in Tiananmen Square. Hundreds of people killed in Beijing as the People's Liberation Army cracked down on pro-democracy protesters.

Events will be held and speeches will be made around the world today, but not in China. Any coverage or discussion of the event will be tightly censored there.

Let's go live to Hong Kong and bring in CNN's Ivan Watson. Good morning, Ivan.

Matt Rivers just checked in with us a bit ago from Beijing where there is not a whisper of it. What's the situation there?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's kind of remarkable because this is the only place in modern day China -- this former British colony -- where people can gather and commemorate not only the massacre of hundreds, perhaps thousands of demonstrators 30 years ago today in Beijing, but they can also honor the weeks of pro-democracy protests that occupied Tiananmen Square that led up to that fateful decision to send in the tanks and the troops who began gunning unarmed demonstrators down.

And I just spoke with one of the organizers here and he says not only are they trying to keep the memory alive -- and his t-shirt said, in Chinese, "Never Forget" -- but they're also fighting for their own freedom because many Hong Kongers fear that the democratic freedoms they enjoy as part of the deal that was made to hand Hong Kong back to Beijing's control decades ago -- that those freedoms are now under threat as the central government in Beijing slowly and incrementally tightens its grip over this island city.

So, people here feel like they've got to fight for their own freedoms while also fighting to keep the memory of what happened 30 years ago, in Beijing, alive.

Just this weekend, I heard the Chinese defense minister, in Singapore, defending the crackdown, saying hey, look at 30 years of economic growth -- essentially, justifying the crackdown and saying that there was a bargain.

And in response, one of the organizers here says it's a shame because that economic growth is built on bloodshed -- Dave and Christine.

[05:50:12] ROMANS: Wow.

BRIGGS: All right, Ivan Watson. A very important story today, 30 years since Tiananmen Square. Thank you.

Back here, the long reign of "JEOPARDY!" James Holzhauer is over.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TREBEK: So, Emma, it's up to you. If you came up with the correct response, you're going to be the new "JEOPARDY!" champion.

Did you? You did. What did you wager? Oh gosh, $20,000.

What a payday -- $46,801.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Sealed with a high-five from James. Emma Boettcher, a Princeton-educated librarian from Chicago who wrote a masters paper at North Carolina on "JEOPARDY!" dethroned the champ.

Holzhauer's remarkable run ended after 32 straight wins. He was less than $60,000 away from Ken Jenning's all-time record for "JEOPARDY!" earnings.

Don't shed tears for James, though. The professional gambler from Las Vegas won more than $2.4 million during his "JEOPARDY!" reign.

ROMANS: All right. Speaking of money, let's get a check on "CNN Business" this Tuesday morning.

Taking a look at markets around the world, really a mixed performance. I would call this treading water here. On Wall Street right now, one of the indications for the opening bell may be slightly higher here, although nothing is even registering one percent.

Stocks closed lower Monday as investors worried about the possible crackdown of the tech industry and lingering trade fears. The Dow finished up just five points. I would say that's actually kind of remarkable that it's treading water this way with so many cross- currents. The S&P 500 closed lower.

News that big tech companies face antitrust scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers and regulators has pushed the Nasdaq now into correction territory. It is 10 percent off its recent high.

The Nasdaq ended the day down 1.6 percent. It is now 11 percent down from the highs at the beginning of May.

A tough, tough month for tech investors. Tech stocks were hit hard by the news of the antitrust probe of the industry. Google closed down six percent, Facebook fell 7 1/2 percent.

All right, I'll show you what Jay-Z's got. He's got a spot on the Forbe's billionaires list. He is now the first billionaire rapper.

The rapper, whose real name, of course, is Sean Carter, owns a stake in Uber, his streaming service title, an art collection, a sports management company, real estate, and his extensive music catalog.

He is now the fifth black billionaire in the U.S., joining Robert Smith, the billionaire investor, of course, who pledged to pay off Morehouse grad's student loans. Oprah is also on that list. Congratulations to him.

It's the end of an era. Apple announcing it is replacing iTunes with a new trio of apps called Music, T.V., and Podcasts.

Remember, iTunes launched back in 2001. This was the game changer. It changed the way people buy and listen to music.

The move to phase out iTunes is not a complete surprise. Apple's been pushing users toward its Apple music subscription service.

An Apple spokesperson said users will still be able to purchase and download songs through iTunes. iTunes gift cards will also stay active.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:57:25] BRIGGS: A Miley Cyrus getting far too close for comfort in Barcelona this past weekend. Video shows the fan grabbing Cyrus and trying to kiss her as she was leaving her hotel with her husband, Liam Hemsworth. She was said to be unsettled by the incident but doing just fine.

The Stanley Cup Final now a best of three series. The Blues beat the Bruins 4-2 last night in St. Louis to even the Cup Final at two games apiece. The win for the Blues -- believe it or not -- their first- ever Stanley Cup Final home win in franchise history.

The series now goes back to Boston for game five Thursday night.

While you were sleeping, comics had a field day -- oh, here's -- first, we saw Jon Hamm there -- pardon me -- cheering on the crowd. The mad man with the playoff beard rocking the crowd.

Let's get now to the "Late-Night Laughs" across the pond. While you were sleeping, they had some fun with this presidential trip to the U.K.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, CBS "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": Trump also met with the Queen and greeted her with the ceremonial fist bump. Come on, man.

He got the classic royal tour, complete with a review of the famous Royal Guardsmen. How do you get your hair that much height? What do you do?

I cannot imagine how much Aqua Net you've got up there. Nobody smoke -- nobody smoke around this guy.

Then there was the traditional exchange of gifts. Queen Elizabeth gave Trump a first-edition copy of Churchill's World War II book. Look, thank you so much, but don't tell me how it ends, all right?

TREVOR NOAH, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW": That's right. The Queen's gift for Donald Trump was a book. Either she doesn't know Trump or she's trolling him. Why would you give Donald Trump a book? Everyone knows the man doesn't read.

I wish I was there when the Queen gave him his gift.

She's like, "Here you go, Donald. A book about World War II."

He's like, "Wow, this is sad."

"Yes, many lives were lost."

"No, I mean the fact that I have to read. It's so sad."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: All right, thanks for joining us. I'm Dave Briggs.

Christine Romans has the effort to break up big tech, right now, on "NEW DAY."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: Stick around and let's do this deal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Trump is set to meet with outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here you have a man who knows nothing about the European Union giving kind of trade advice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People will actually share his view about the way Brexit is being handled.

ROMANS: New details from Joe Biden revealing a key new policy plan.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Our country is in a time of crisis. The time for small ideas is over.

TREBEK: What did you wager? Oh, gosh, $20,000. What a payday.

END