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CNN NEWSROOM

Trump Claims Tariff Threat Sped Up Deal With Mexico; Red Sox Legend David Ortiz Shot In Dominican Republic; Democratic Candidates Make Pitch to Iowa caucus. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired June 10, 2019 - 10:00   ET

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


JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NEWSROOM: -- as negotiator-in-chief.

[10:00:01]

This as a trade deal with Mexico over immigration faces real skepticism.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN NEWSROOM: Yes. The President now declaring the art of this deal was his tariff threat. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: This is something the U.S. has been trying to get for over 20 years with Mexico. They've never been able to do it.

As soon as I put tariffs on the table, it was done. It took two days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: But did tariffs really speed up this deal? Make it happen? The New York Times reporting is that a lot of this deal was hammered out months ago.

SCIUTTO: Abby Phillip is at the White House with more. Abby, what do we know? What elements of this deal were already on the table in effect and what elements were brought about by these last minute negotiations?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim and Poppy, it seems that this contention that the deal was mostly hammered out before the President's tariff threat has really gotten under his skin. But according to The New York Times, and, really, according to what we have all been reporting for some time, there have been several elements of this deal that were already on the table.

For example, take this idea that the U.S. will now work with Mexico to keep asylum seekers in Mexico while their claims are adjudicated. Well, Kirstjen Nielsen announced that all the way back in December, in a public hearing before a House committee.

And then there is also an element of the deal that is where the Mexicans are going to deploy National Guard troops throughout Mexico to interdict some of these migrants as they're coming up to the U.S. southern border. That part of the deal was also worked out in talks with the former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen over the last several months. Though it is true that in this deal, the numbers that we're talking about are higher than they had talked about before, but Mexico had basically already agreed to that.

And president trump in an interview with CNBC this morning really defended this deal and slammed The New York Times yet again, claiming that what we just laid out there is basically untrue. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The New York Times wrote a story like I already made the deal. It's nonsense. We talked about it for months and months and months. And they wouldn't get there. And we just said, hey, look, if you don't get there, we're just going to have to charge you hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes.

And we would have been just fine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: So President Trump is claiming that this would never have happened were it not for his tariff threat, but it seems clear Mexico had already agreed to many of these tenants of this deal for the last several months.

There are some aspects of this deal that speed up the implementation of these agreements. But some of these agreements were already on the table, already agreed to. And President Trump is defending now his tariff deal in the wake of this new reporting, Jim and Poppy.

HARLOW: Abby, sort of lost in this -- you know, when was this thing hammered out and when was it not, et cetera, is the fact that the U.S. got some stuff here, yes, but did not get a big thing that it wanted from Mexico, and that was for Mexico to agree to actually carry out the asylum proceedings within Mexico or whatever the first country is that those migrants cross into, usually Mexico because we're talking about the northern triangle. The U.S. did not get Mexico to concede to that.

PHILLIP: Exactly. This was a major part of what the U.S. wanted. They wanted to be able to say that if you pass through Mexico and you didn't seek to claim asylum in Mexico first, you could not then come and claim asylum in the United States.

Mexico did not agree to that. So we are really where we have been from the very beginning. And President Trump has been so frustrated with this asylum process, but his failure to get that in this deal seems to indicate that they were not able to get Mexico to move forward on a major priority for him, particularly because he believes that these migrants coming from Central America are really gaming the system, coming to the U.S., claiming asylum without first claiming it in Mexico.

HARLOW: Okay. Abby Phillip, appreciate the reporting, setting the facts out there for us. Thanks so much. Jim.

SCIUTTO: Facts matter. They do. And we're going to stay on top of them.

We're joined now by James Jones, former Democratic Congressman from Oklahoma, and also from 1993 to 1997, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico. Ambassador Jones, thanks so much for joining us this morning.

JAMES JONES, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO MEXICO: Thank you for having me.

SCIUTTO: So you have been involved in this relationship between the U.S. And Mexico for some time. The President claims that his tariff threat made the difference here, made the deal. But based on your reading of this agreement, did the U.S. gain much that wasn't already on the table?

JONES: No. As a matter of fact, the President shouldn't worry about who claims credit. He can claim credit for the fact that the two governments have been talking to each other for several months now and have been working out what they apparently agreed to last week.

The Mexican government is new, roughly Lopez Obrador government came into being last December. Immediately, he started revamping the federal police force and the migration police force.

[10:05:04]

And that's what's now known as the National Guard. And that's the group that's going to be put into the southern border to help manage the immigration and migration issues.

HARLOW: You know, Ambassador, last week on the show, we had on Carla Provost, who's the Chief of Customs and Border Protection. And she agreed with many analysts who note that one of the push factors for migrants from the northern triangle, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala coming into the U.S. has to do with their broken economies. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEOC CLIP)

HARLOW: And you're saying what you're seeing there on the border is that not having that economic aide is driving more. It's part of the push factor is what you said, correct?

CHIEF CARLA PROVOST, U.S. BORDER PATRO: I am saying that aliens are saying that economic factors in their country are those push factors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: It's notable because the Trump administration cut all that aid, cut the $420 billion in aid to those countries earlier this year. How much would that stem the tide, reinstituting that aid?

Ambassador, can you hear us?

JONES: Yes.

HARLOW: I just wonder how much you think that would improve the situation if those countries were to get more economic aid.

JONES: Well, I think targeted aid would be very helpful to them. Number one, the drought in Central America, the lack of jobs and the security, the lack of security with the gangs preying on the citizens in those three countries have been a big factor. So, long-term, we have to deal with that. And the United States is the only one wealthy enough to help them get over that particular hump for a long-term security.

And the short-term, we have to improve the management of the people who are leaving those three countries, and that has to be done on a regional basis. And that's something I think all countries are continuing to talk about and see if we can't get some sort of an agreement on a regional basis to manage these migration flows.

SCIUTTO: You have been watching the numbers, like all of us, and the numbers in May, just remarkable. 144,000 more, in fact, migrants apprehended, encountered at the border. That's triple May of 2018, tripling in a year there. What is your best understanding as to why those migrants numbers are rising so much now?

JONES: Well, I have been down at the border three times in the last few months as part of a subcommittee to try to develop, to try recommend some new policies on dealing with family and children at the border. In that process we have interviewed several of these migrants. And they leave primarily for economic reasons. There's a drought there. It's basically ruined the coffee industry, and that's where many of the jobs were located for the people who are trying to get to the United States or Mexico. The second thing is the lack of security. Gang activity has been really prevalent in those three countries. So that's been the short-term answer.

On the long-term, you have to have jobs at home or you're going to continue to have this migration phenomenon. And it affects both Mexico and the United States. We had 144,000, but Mexico had several tens of thousands themselves. And it's a problem that they want to solve too.

HARLOW: Ambassador, we really appreciate your time and perspective, especially given those three trips you've taken to help deal with this crisis for families and for children. Thank you so much.

JONES: Thank you.

HARLOW: All right. So let's now turn to this stunning news overnight. Red Sox legend David Ortiz is recovering this morning after he was shot in the back. This happened at a nightclub in his native Dominican Republic.

SCIUTTO: Yes, this video just alarming to watch. Pay attention to the top half of the screen there in that bubble. That's the moment when this shooter shoots him in the back. That suspect or suspects now in custody. Some of them -- one of them was attacked by the crowd after this happened. Just an alarming thing to watch there.

HARLOW: Alexandra Field is following this. She joins us now. Of course, the entire MLB community, Boston, I guess, you now, breathing a collective sigh of relief this morning that he is in stable condition, but still, the fact that this could happen, and especially if he was the intended target.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. This is a man who is so revered, both, of course, in his home country and, of course, in Boston, really, throughout the U.S., as this giant of baseball, as this legend of a man, a living legend, really. The question police have not answered is whether or not he was in fact the intended target, and if so, why somebody would be targeting David Ortiz.

[10:10:03]

What they said is that they believe that the shooter arrived on a motorcycle. You see again that disturbing video which appears to show the moments of the shooting, David Ortiz falling to the ground, the bullet going through his back into his stomach. He was rushed to a hospital where emergency surgery was performed overnight. His father giving reporters the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEO ORIZ, FATHER OF DAVID ORTIZ: The operation is over and he is stable. We're just waiting for doctors to take him out of the surgery room. He's resting now. Now, there are no other damages we know of. He is stable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FIELD: Again, several people have been taken into custody, suspected to have ties to the shooting, police, of course, talking to them. One of those people in the hospital after he was attacked by bystanders who witnessed the shooting and we know that police are still trying to talk to David Ortiz, Big Papi himself.

HARLOW: And it's just so much more than just his skill. I mean, he's just meant so much to America and to the city of Boston.

FIELD: This extends way beyond skill, way beyond sport. And this is somebody who became even more of a legend in Boston. Because Boston is, of course, a special place where sports seems really truly do bring people together in a very lively way.

HARLOW: Just as John Berman.

FIELD: Absolutely. John Berman, one of the super fans. But you'll remember that David Ortiz was somebody who really came to help the city heal after the Boston marathon bombings. He really ascended to the national stage as sort of a symbol of Boston and somebody who came out in a very colorful and moving way to help people to begin to move forward and to show some unity and solidarity. So people across Boston pulling for him.

HARLOW: Of course, all right. We are all pulling for him. Alex, thanks for the reporting. I appreciate very much.

Also, at any moment, we're expecting new rulings from the Supreme Court, this as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg warns the court may be sharply divided on these final cases of this term.

SCIUTTO: And some big cases to be decided.

Plus, democratic presidential hopefuls descend on Iowa again and again. But who is actually making an impact? We've got some new polling.

Plus, increasing calls from democrats to open an impeachment inquiry, an official one, against President Trump. Is it getting closer to becoming a reality?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:15:00]

SCIUTTO: It is a big week in democratic presidential politics. Campaigning for the Iowa caucuses begins in earnest, though the caucuses are still eight months away. Things start early. The unofficial kickoff came at a weekend event in Cedar Rapids attended by 19 of the 23 candidates, each of whom got five minutes to direct state party leaders and organizers, kind of like speed dating or elevator pitch -- pitches for politics, Poppy.

HARLOW: Something like that. Well, this morning, it is more clear than ever what dems in Iowa are looking for. There's a new CNN/Des Moines register poll out, and it is fascinating. It shows the top three issues by far for voters are abortion rights, climate action and a ban on assault-style weapons.

Still, only five candidates are drawing more than 2 percent. Look at that. It's really interesting. A lot, of course, can change in eight months.

Let's go to our colleague, M.J. Lee. She is following the fight for Iowa. How are those candidates outside the top five trying to break through?

M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT; Well, we saw that this weekend, Poppy. This was an incredibly busy weekend in Oowa with the majority of the 23 democratic candidates running for president convening in that state, and notably absent, of course, was Joe Biden. His campaign said that he had a previously scheduled family eEvent to attend, so he was not there.

But even in his absence, we saw some of his rivals making jabs at the former Vice President. Even if it wasn't by name and otherwise, the other candidates using their five minutes to try to lay out their vision, to talk about the policy issues that were important for them, and also try to paint a picture of how they would take on President Trump in the general election.

Now, the campaigning spills over into today. We have a number of candidates who are still fanned out across the State of Iowa today, including, as you see on that map there, Elizabeth Warren, John Hickenlooper, Kamala Harris. They're all campaigning throughout Iowa today.

I should note that tomorrow, Joe Biden will make an appearance, will visit Iowa tomorrow on the same day that President Trump is also slated to be in Iowa. So that could make for obviously a very interesting split screen moment in Iowa tomorrow.

SCIUTTO: So it's coming down to the wire for some of these candidates to be able to make the debate based on those numbers, 1 percent in the polls, 65,000 individual donors. Who's not going to make it?

LEE: Yes. I mean, we are just two weeks out now from the first democratic debates, and the deadline to try to qualify for the first and second debates coming up later this month is this Wednesday.

And just a reminder for our viewers on how you can qualify for the first debate. You need to get at least 1 percent support in three polls. And you also or I should say, you have to get 65,000 unique donors, including 200 donors from 20 different states.

Now, the requirements, I should say, do get a little more stringent once we are looking at the third and fourth democratic debates.

[10:20:05]

Take a look here. 2 percent in four polls and you also need to get 130,000 unique donors, including 400 in at least 20 states.

So this inevitably means that certain folks are not going to qualify before Wednesday for the first and second democratic debates, including Governor Bullock. Of course, that moment is going to be such an important moment for all of these candidates, taking the national stage to try to make one more pitch to voters who are looking at the 23 candidates and trying to figure out which of those candidates am I most interested in, Jim and Poppy.

SCIUTTO: Well, it's still going to be a pretty crowded stage with the 20 or so there already. M.J. Lee, thanks very much.

HARLOW: Let's talk about this. Laura Barron-Lopez is the National Political Reporter for Politico, and from The Washington Post, Congressional Reporter and CNN Political Analyst, Karoun Demirjian. Good morning, ladies, thank you for being here.

Let me begin with you first, Laura. In terms of the Biden that wasn't there but was so there this weekend, right? And I think it felt to me like this weekend was a change within the Democratic Party in terms of the candidates that they're not holding back. This was a take on Biden even if you don't say his name.

LAURA BARRON- LOPEZ, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, POLITICO: Yes. I think that more and more, we're going to see these candidates take jabs at Biden and potentially get very specific and finally name him because that is going to be the way that they set this contrast and that they can hopefully catch up to him.

And it appears that Biden has this strategy of not going to every event that the rest of the field goes to, trying to continue this image of him as the frontrunner far and apart from them and appearing, you know, against Trump as often as possible, and really pitting this as him or Trump battle and ignoring the rest of the field.

SCIUTTO: Karoun, you now, you look at the data, the polling data on what are the top voting issues for democrats. Perhaps we could put it up on the screen again. But down on the list are things like free college education, think Elizabeth Warren, voting rights for all felons, Bernie sanders behind that, the Green New Deal much higher up, abortion rights, climate change, restore assault weapons ban.

In the numbers, it seems that some of the more liberal end of the spectrum progressive policies just don't have the support that those liberal end of the spectrum candidates are claiming at they are -- you know, at least as far as the issues they're focusing on.

KAROUN DEMIRJIAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. Look, if those issues were completely front and center and the number one and two items on the list, there wouldn't really be a debate in the Democratic Party right now about whether they want somebody who is appealing to more of the liberal end of the party or whether they want somebody who's more in the mainstream.

You wouldn't have this back and forth between do we go with someone like Joe Biden or do we go with somebody Sanders or Warren or any of the other number of candidates that out there, but just to give you that example.

I think that what you see though in -- when Warren, when Sanders, when others make this pitch of needing to speak to this part of the party, it's a way to move maybe part of the party that wouldn't be moved to go and vote, especially in the primary season, otherwise, and it's playing for the fringes. You're talking about the bulk of the Democratic Party possibly likely voting to get somebody into office that is not Donald Trump.

So you're making a play for everybody else in the party that basically needs to become engaged. At least that's what it seems to be that when Sanders and Warren are making these pitches. They can't really make that this is the heart and soul of the Democratic Party potentially, but the fact that those issues are on the list, they think that means that it appeals to some voters. So that if everybody is kind of ticking off the number one, number two, number three issues on the list in the party, then people may make the decision based on where everybody splits on things that may not be a voter's number one priorities.

But when you're trying to choose between 20 and, you know, 20 of them agree on what a few of the issues are, that's when the diversity of opinions and viewpoints starts to make a difference.

HARLOW: So, Laura, the rise of Mayor Pete Buttigieg is remarkable in this poll, up at 15 percent, neck and neck with Senator Bernie Sanders, you know, who almost got the democratic nomination for the presidency last time around, with Senator Elizabeth Warren, but he is facing continued criticism for the lack of diversity at his rallies, et cetera, specifically the lack of African-American presence there, and yet still in this polling. He is besting two prominent African- American Senators, members of the congressional black caucus, Senator Kamala Harris and Senator Cory Booker. How do you read that?

LOPEZ: Well, I think it's important to note that polls, you know, capture a screenshot and a small sample and it still is really early. And it's also important to note that Buttigieg actually doesn't really have that many people, staffers on the ground in Iowa.

So it is remarkable that he is polling this high, but it will be interesting to see if that falls away because he has struggled, his campaign has struggled to get this ground game up and going.

[10:25:05]

I was just speaking to the campaign last week. They still don't have people really in any of the early voting states from Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada to South Carolina.

The big difference there is that Warren is also polling high up with Buttigieg and Sanders, and she has steadily risen. We have seen an increase in her across the polls, but this Iowa one is really noticeable. And she has 50 staffers on the ground and is going to announce more in Iowa this week.

So that ground game may prove pivotal the closer we get to the Iowa caucus.

SCIUTTO: Karoun, Laura, good to have both of you. Thanks very much.

DEMIRJIAN: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: The number of democrats calling for impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump is growing by the day. But one democratic congressman says there is not enough evidence yet to proceed. He's going to join us. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:30:00]

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