Return to Transcripts main page

CNN NEWSROOM

Interview with Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) about the Democratic Debate; President Trump Jokes with Putin About Election Meddling; Theresa May Warns Putin to Stop "Irresponsible and Destabilizing Activity"; Trump and Putin Meet for First Time Since Mueller Report Release. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired June 28, 2019 - 09:00   ET

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


[09:00:04] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: All right. This morning, everyone, the big question, did Senator Kamala Harris do long-term damage last night to Vice President Joe Biden. The 2020 candidate taking on the frontrunner in a powerful exchange over race. That was what dominated the debate last night. We are on top of it.

Good Friday morning, everyone. Good Friday morning to you. I'm Poppy Harlow in New York. Jim Sciutto is joining us live from Osaka, Japan. He is at the G-20 summit, critically important meeting where hours ago President Trump was face-to-face with Russia's president Vladimir Putin for the first time since the Mueller report -- Jim.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: That's right, Poppy. And the first time since that infamous moment in Helsinki when the president took Putin's side over that of U.S. intelligence agencies doubting whether Russia had interfered in the election. He had an opportunity here to confront the Russian president. What did he do in front of reporters? He made a joke, he made light of it.

Him smiling, the Russian president smiling as well, and I'll tell you, Poppy, they had another moment of warmth if you would call it that later when the president made a joke as well about the problems both of them have with reporters. It was a remarkable moment, a disappointing moment to witness here in Osaka -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Yes. I can only imagine. All right, Jim, thank you. Back to you in just a moment.

While Jim is all over the president on the world stage, we are focusing on the debate stage this morning. An aide to Senator Harris says her fundraising boomed last night after the debate. And we'll hear from Biden today as he speaks to Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition Conference. That is this afternoon in Chicago.

As Kamala Harris went after Joe Biden last night, the eight other candidates on stage seemed to disappear for those moments and Biden looked like maybe he wished he could, too. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and careers on the segregation of race in this country. And it was not only that but you also worked with them to oppose busing, and, you know, there was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bussed to school every day. And that little girl was me.

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You mischaracterize my position across the board. I did not praise racists. That is not true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: All right, let's bring in my colleague Jessica Dean. She joins us from Washington.

Jess, we have a lot of reporting on Biden's actions and words as a senator in the '70s on this issue of busing. But tell us a little bit more about that exchange last night.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, to you, Poppy. That's right. This is the exchange that everybody is talking about this morning after that two-hour debate last night. And Biden's team came out into the spin room last night and said, look, we would put his record on civil rights up against anybody else's. They let -- go back in that time and time again to pointing out examples of what they say are sterling examples of him furthering civil rights for people all across America.

And when it came to that busing issue particularly, his deputy campaign manager saying, look, when it comes to that, we go back to the '70s. Leaders in Delaware were telling him at the time that busing was not the best way to integrate schools. They were trying to give that some context. There was also some back and forth with Harris and Biden about where the federal government should step in those cases. What are state rights in those cases or local rights in those cases.

So a lot of back and forth on that. As for Biden going forward now as you mentioned we're going to see him in Chicago this afternoon speaking at the Reverend Jesse Jackson's event there. We'll see if he has anything to say on this. We haven't been given any indication one way or another. So we're just going to have to wait and see what he says this afternoon if he chooses to address this again or just continue to move ahead -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Yes. And the Reverend Jesse Jackson will join us at the top of the next hour to talk about that. Ahead of --

DEAN: Great.

HARLOW: Ahead of Biden's appearance. Jess, thank you so much.

Senator Harris is repeating her line of attack on Biden this morning. Let's talk about it with our senior political analyst Mark Preston.

Good morning to you, Mark. What's your takeaway. MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hey, good morning, Poppy.

Yes, look, heading into last night's debate we thought the big showdown would be between Bernie Sanders and with Joe Biden. However, we were all wrong. It was Kamala Harris. It's only been 12 hours now, Poppy, and it's paying off for this California senator. In fact she has had her second highest day of fundraising. Her first highest day of course was when she launched her campaign. But the overnight campaign contributions according to her campaign are rolling in.

Now listen to what she had to say this morning. As you said she is not backing down from her criticism of Vice President Joe Biden last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So he shouldn't have worked with them is what you're saying?

HARRIS: I'm saying -- no, I'm saying that the characterization and that the nostalgia about who they were, I find to be misplaced.

[09:05:06] And it was hurtful to me to hear that we would be nostalgic about people who if they had their way, I would not serve in the United States Senate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PRESTON: Yes, today we have Kamala Harris will be heading down to the detention facility down in Homestead, Florida, where all the Democratic presidential candidates seem to be going right now as the nation is trying to deal with this immigrant crisis but all the spotlight and attention right now is shifting towards Kamala Harris after that moment last night, that very, very amazing moment last night on that --

HARLOW: Yes.

PRESTON: On that stage.

HARLOW: And then, Mark, moments after we saw a tweet from her team mid-debate, let's pull it up because it has this picture of her a little girl and it says, "There was a little girl in California who was bused to school, that girl was me," that's the picture of her. Their capitalizing on this moment.

Look, there have been moments like this where people think, oh, it's over, the frontrunner will no longer be the frontrunner, and they turn things around. Right? That's what history has shown us. Like at Reagan's first debate with Mondale, for example. So for Joe Biden, what's the reset here?

PRESTON: Well, you know, certainly a number of things that he can do. It'll be interesting if he tries to attack this head on and perhaps show a little bit more sympathy and empathy for Kamala Harris. Now, what's interesting, because Joe Biden, that is his greatest skill. We heard Van Jones say that last night -- Van Jones, and that's absolutely true what Joe Biden was unable to do last night was to actually show that.

And in fact, had he done so, I think he would have done much better now. Will he try to clean it up? Absolutely. We'll see what happens and what he says in just a few hours out in Chicago. But the big question is, is -- will he be harmed? Probably not. Is he hurt? Certainly in the nearer term, yes. But really one thing is for certain is that Kamala Harris made a moment last night and she is on the rise.

HARLOW: Yes, she did. Mark Preston, thank you, my friend.

Let's talk more about this. Joining me now is Democratic Congressman Gregory Meeks of New York.

Thank you so much for coming in.

REP. GREGORY MEEKS (D-NY): Great to be with you.

HARLOW: A late night for everyone watching that. Thank you so much. So let me just get your fellow member of Congress, Senator Harris. You also served on the Congressional Black Caucus with her. That was the moment, right, her line, that little girl was me, dominated last night. What was your reaction to that exchange?

MEEKS: Well, it did dominate. It made things resonate in my head when I first looked at it. You know, the person -- you know, I thought of Muhammad Ali, to be quite honest with you, who I loved dearly. And I thought about his career. And he wasn't the same at the end of his career than he was at the beginning of his career.

HARLOW: You're talking about Biden?

MEEKS: That's exactly right. And so the question is, so clearly the first round has gone to Kamala Harris. And the question is, there's going to be a second round.

HARLOW: Right.

MEEKS: So is it that he can come back or not? The second round is going to become tremendously important.

HARLOW: So let's talk about -- the second round is on CNN, by the way. It's our debate in about a month in Detroit.

Let's talk about, though, even though you have a second round you can't change the past. You can evolve for sure. Right? Humans evolve. But let me just remind our viewers of the past here. Because he called Kamala Harris' characterization of busing and what he did a mischaracterization. But here's what we have. In 1977 he wrote this. This is a letter from Biden.

"My bill strikes at the heart of injustice of court-ordered busing. I believe there's a growing sentiment in Congress to curb on necessary busing." He also wrote later in 1977 in June to then Senator James Eastland, the fierce opponent of desegregation, quote, "I want you to know I very much appreciate your help during this week's committee meeting attempting to bring my anti-busing legislation to a vote." Are her attacks on Biden over busing fair?

MEEKS: Absolutely.

HARLOW: She's right?

MEEKS: Listen, I can tell you about my own experiences in those senators. I'm older than Senator Harris. I remember I was bused also. I remember traveling with my parents who are from the south, leaving New York, having to change trains in Washington, D.C. and at that time from the back to the front because the front was hotter. And then getting off the train and being instructed by my parents what I can and cannot do.

I remember in my lifetime seeing black and white signs going to the bathroom and water fountains, and my parents grabbing me and telling me where I could and couldn't -- so it's very real and very emotional if you're an African-American.

HARLOW: So what would Vice President Biden have to do or say then in the next debate to make you feel like he has evolved from that 1977 Joe Biden?

MEEKS: He has to say that I have evolved, as many people on other issues, that I now understand that that, and how hurtful and harmful it was.

HARLOW: OK.

MEEKS: I mean, he could have done that last night. It is --

HARLOW: And he didn't.

MEEKS: He did not. That is very -- it is very, very -- you know, even -- it is very hurtful to African-Americans, what took place. It's deep and systemic and still in this society.

HARLOW: Let's pause for a moment. We'll have much more time out of this, to keep talking about this.

[09:10:03] I just want to listen to this moment. This is live. This is Kamala Harris in Homestead, Florida, at the detention facility.

SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're here to fight for you. We're going to --

HARRIS: Let me see that face. Look at that. Let me see that smile.

(CROSSTALK)

GILLIBRAND: To make sure that (INAUDIBLE). We make sure that we represent you. We are going to fight against President Trump, who was horrible and harmful, inhumane --

HARLOW: OK, and there you have Senator Kirsten Gillibrand also talking to that woman. We'll try to re-rack and play it for you a little bit later. So after last night then -- because you've been a big supporter for

Vice President Biden through the years as well. Who has more of your support this morning? I'm not asking for an all-out endorsement but honestly.

MEEKS: Well, as I said there's a second round. I'm hoping, you know, this is --

HARLOW: But this morning, who is it?

MEEKS: Well, the first round clearly Biden is on the ropes.

HARLOW: OK.

MEEKS: There's no question. You can get off the ropes. You can get hit in the first round and get off the ropes, but there is no question that he got hit last night and he's on the ropes.

HARLOW: OK. Let's turn to immigration here. Right now we just saw Kamala Harris, Senator Gillibrand, others, at this migrant detention facility in Homestead, Florida. They're holding about 2,000 migrant children right now. As I understand it, we looked back at the votes this week. You did not vote on the House version of the $4.5 billion in proposed aid, most of that to go help these facilities to help improve the deplorable conditions for children.

Then you voted no on the Senate version of the bill. You leave for vacation today and the Office of Refugee Resettlement runs out of money by Sunday. So you didn't vote on the House bill for money for them and you voted no on the Senate bill, so you -- I mean, are you essentially OK with leaving those facilities with no more funds?

MEEKS: The reason why I did not vote before because I was involved in the New York political race for the district attorney of Queens County as the chair of the Queens County Democratic Organization, so I was not in Washington, D.C. doing my responsibilities on this very important race, you know, with criminal justice in New York.

The reason why I voted no yesterday and it was a very hard vote, but when I looked at what ICE was doing, the same yesterday, there was an individual that was picked up in my district by ICE and -- to be deported. The day before there was another individual, a mother who was pregnant who was picked up and separated from the families. And when I look at what this bill was doing and I thought that we should negotiate it more, it's a hard decision. It wasn't easy.

HARLOW: I understand that.

MEEKS: I do not want --

HARLOW: I hear what you're wrestling with. I just - to button it up here, I mean on Wednesday of this week you said on CNN, quote, "We've got to make sure that we give the money that's necessary to the refugee agency before they run out of funding shortly." That shortly is Sunday, and you didn't vote to do that, sir. MEEKS: Well, I conquer in that I thought that the House bill and that

we should have done more negotiating with the Senate to also make sure that we are protecting some of those individuals that are here. My -- you know, I have constituents also, and some of their family members and others that they know are being picked up. And so given that fact, I have to make a very grueling decision yesterday on which way to go.

HARLOW: Understood.

MEEKS: And the fact that I -- you know, I've got to tell you, I just don't trust this president and I don't trust McConnell because they have proven that they don't have immigrants hearts at the forefront.

HARLOW: Congressman Gregory Meeks, we know your time is valuable, and I appreciate it this morning on both these fronts. Thank you very much.

MEEKS: You got it.

HARLOW: All right, so for the first time they have been face-to-face since the Mueller report wrapped up. But instead of coming down hard on Vladimir Putin for interfering in our democracy, in U.S. elections, the president jokes with him about it? Seriously. Jim saw it and he's live at the G-20 for us today.

Plus, Mayor Pete Buttigieg tries out a new risky strategy at last night's debate when it comes to race issues in South Bend. Humility when pressed over diversity in the city's police department, he said, quote, "I couldn't get it done." Did that resonate?

And as the humanitarian crisis at the border sparks outrage across the country we'll take you live again there to Homestead, Florida, where 2020 candidates are visiting a migrant detention facility.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:15:00] SCIUTTO: Welcome to Osaka, Japan, the site of this year's G-20 Summit. And this morning at the summit, President Trump and Vladimir Putin face-to-face for the first time since the release of the Mueller report, a report that very clearly details Russia's ongoing efforts to undermine U.S. elections. It's also the first time since those two presidents since stood next to each other in public from that famous -- infamous I should say, Helsinki moment.

But what does President Trump do here? He jokes about election interference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will you tell Russia not to meddle in the 2020 elections?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes, of course, I will, don't meddle in the election, please.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Well, President Putin sharing in that laugh as well. And while President Trump laughed it off, the U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May did warn Putin that the two countries could not normalize relations until Russia stopped, quote, "its irresponsible and destabilizing activities that threaten the U.K. and its allies."

The British Prime Minister able to confront the Russian president, the U.S. president refusing once again to do so. Let's discuss now with CNN's Kaitlan Collins, she's live with me here in Osaka, and David Sanger; national security correspondent for "The New York Times".

Kaitlan, if I could begin with you here. This is not the first time the president has lost an opportunity to confront -- given away an opportunity to confront the Russian president on interference. You asked White House officials, do they have an explanation for why he doesn't do it?

[09:20:00] KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: They say that even in the West Wing, they don't bring up Russia unless it's absolutely necessary with the president because they know it's something -- it's a subject that can set the president off because it makes him think that people are questioning the fact that he's a legitimate president. So, that's the word, it gets complicated as to whether actually confronting Vladimir Putin over Russian interference in the election.

And not only have we seen the president not confront Vladimir Putin over it, we've seen him accept Vladimir Putin's denials.

SCIUTTO: Yes --

COLLINS: And what's interesting about this is, you see the president saying time and time again against these accusations that he's too soft on Russia, that he is the toughest president ever on Vladimir Putin, even not just Obama, but any president. But it's hard to see how what he says to Vladimir Putin today making light of this --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

COLLINS: Boisterous argument.

SCIUTTO: Well, and also, listen, this is an administration that has watered down sanctions on Russia, so it's not backed up its claim frequently made by this president and the administration not backed up by the facts. David Sanger, this is an issue with rhetoric here to have a U.S. president sit next to the man who U.S. Intelligence has assessed directed interference in that election and crucially will attempt to attack again in 2020.

But it's also about steps taken. President Trump has held one cabinet-level meeting on election security. What difference does it make that the U.S. president does not treat election security as a priority? Can the U.S. properly defend itself without the commander- in-chief invested in this? DAVID SANGER, NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT, NEW YORK TIMES: Well,

Jim, it certainly cannot command a government in which there are many desperate agencies working on this problem if no one believes that the president himself is truly committed to it.

You know, what struck me watching the tape of this is that it was just a few days ago that the president's own National Security Council held a briefing for a large number of reporters, gathering people from the administration who were working on election security and disinformation issues for 2020 to convince us of how seriously that they're taking the issue.

And then the president turns around and does this off-hand remark that basically signals to Putin forget all of that noise, this isn't really that central an issue. And that seeps through the administration. Now, I think the -- below the president's level, there's been actual activity that states are doing a better job.

I think the government's more focused on disinformation than it was. We reported two weeks ago that the U.S. cyber command has gone into the Russian power grid to begin some deterrence against the Russians. But the president constantly undercuts these efforts by not signaling --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

SANGER: The right message to President Putin.

SCIUTTO: And frankly, given President Putin a propaganda victory, right? By in effect supporting Putin's denials that it led interference in the U.S. election. There was not a moment Kaitlan Collins we witnessed today a moment of warmth I suppose you can call it between President Trump and Putin where President Trump took a shot at reporters in a sort of flip way, seemingly funny. I mean, it seems that he thinks it was funny. Let's have a listen to it and I want to get your reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Fake news. You don't have the problem in Russia, we have -- you don't have it, we have it.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT, RUSSIA: Yes, we have the problem. The same.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Let's be clear, that man right there, President Putin leads a government that imprisons journalists, it kills journalists and has literally thrown journalists out of windows. Just a couple of weeks ago, they imprisoned an investigative journalist on fake charges. You cover this White House, it's not the first time he's attacked the press. How different is it when he sort of claims a sort of kinship with the Russian president who treats the press like prisoners and worse? COLLINS: Well, and that's the thing. The president and his allies

say, when he says something is fake news, that's just his way of pushing back on a story that he finds inaccurate or unfair to him. But when he's in the room with someone like Vladimir Putin where in Russia they literally kill journalists --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

COLLINS: They imprison them, they treat them terribly. You see how that message really transcends across the world with strong leaders --

SCIUTTO: Does the president not know that that's how Russia treats journalists?

COLLINS: The president surely knows because when the president has been confronted before about what kind of person Vladimir Putin is and the way he's treated not only reporters, but people generally. The president has said, well, the U.S. can't really say that it has clean hands in that situation either.

So, it's interesting how the president sees those things, but you see that that's a message that not only gets through to Vladimir Putin, but also in the Philippines and in Turkey.

SCIUTTO: Yes --

COLLINS: And it changes the way -- and it gives these people more authority they feel like to be able to say something like this. And it's interesting because sometimes the president's allies will defend his use of fake news, but when it comes to something like this, there are very few people in the administration who will say it's a wise decision to go into a meeting with someone like Vladimir Putin who is not running a democracy and make a comment like that.

SCIUTTO: Well, let's see if the president is challenged on both of these moments. There was bipartisan criticism of the president's Helsinki moment when he sided with Putin over U.S. Intelligence agencies.

[09:25:00] We'll see if particularly Republican lawmakers hold him to account here. Kaitlan Collins, David Sanger, thanks to both of you. Buttigieg takes the blame. It was a remarkable moment in the debate yesterday. Williamson calls for love and Biden, well, he felt the heat. We're going to dive into the biggest takeaways from last night's Democratic presidential debate, that's coming up right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

POPPY HARLOW, CO-HOST, NEWSROOM: All right, welcome back. If you didn't stay up to watch the debate, here are the recap of the highlights. Senator Kamala Harris is not.

[09:30:00]