Return to Transcripts main page

CNN NEWSROOM

Stocks Set for Flat Open; Trump Unleashes Insults; Grimm Vying for Congressional Seat; Trump Rallies for McMaster; Romney Poised for Win in Utah; Trump Rips into Fallon. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired June 26, 2018 - 09:30   ET

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


[09:30:00] CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN MONEY AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: And if there's one thing that Wall Street hates, it's uncertainty, it's question marks, and that's what we're hearing a lot of today. That's what I've been hearing consistently throughout these year -- throughout this year.

Poppy, just to put some context around that 200 point move yesterday, you know, we've seen these 200 point moves all year long. What was different about yesterday was the fact that tech stocks got hit. And tech stocks have been pretty much the safe bet. The Nasdaq, the tech heavy Nasdaq, is still up 9 percent for the year. And that's going to create more unease in the market, the fact that the safe bet in the market was hit will create more unease.

Look, I was speaking to some of the investors here on the floor this morning. They were telling me, the bulls, they want to buy. Corporate earnings are strong. The job market is strong. There is still these questions, however, that are creating overhang in the market and preventing some of that buying from happening.

Right now, the board looks green, so it looks like investors have a cooler head today. But we'll see what happens.

Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, making up some of those losses. And, as you know, this is why, you know, a big driver for why the president's chief economic adviser Gary Cohn left, right? We got tax reform done and then he said, you put these tariffs on, they're going to eat into all the progress we've made. He's not there with the ear of the president anymore.

ALESCI: That's right.

HARLOW: Cristina Alesci, thank you, on the floor of the exchange.

Civility in politics. Is there room anymore? White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders says she hopes so. And that was exactly her message at the podium yesterday. She addressed being refused to be served at a restaurant because she worked for the president. But just hours after her call for civility, it was clear her boss didn't get the memo.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They're only good at one thing. What's their term? Resist! It's the party of Maxine Waters. Do you believe her? No, no. No, no. This has become the party of Maxine Waters and Nancy Pelosi.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: All right, let's not forget the times that during the campaign he seemed to egg on exactly that division.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Get him out. Try not to hurt him. If you do, I'll defend you in court. Don't worry about it.

If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously.

I'd like to punch him in the face, I'll tell you.

I don't know if I would have done well, but I would have been out there fighting, folks. I don't know if I would have done well, but I would have been boom, boom, boom. Beat that --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: With me now, Sabrina Siddiqui, politics reporter at "The Guardian," and A.B. Stoddard, associate editor and columnist at "RealClearPolitics."

So, to you both. The man that for ten days ran the president's communications team doesn't like what he's seeing. Here's what Anthony Scaramucci told Erin Burnett last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: I would like to see him more turn the corner on this stuff and take the higher ground so that we can stop with this sort of nonsense on your great show and we can talk about the economic advantages that are taking place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Sabrina, politically, why do you think the president's not heeding that advice?

SABRINA SIDDIQUI, POLITICS REPORTER, "THE GUARDIAN": Well, I think it's because it's, frankly, hard to define civility in the age of President Trump. The tone is very much set from the top. And you have a president who has made derogatory comments about immigrants, Muslims, women and other minorities. He has routinely attacked his political opponents in language that is coarse and vulgar, sometimes bordering on threatening. And so it becomes really difficult for then his administration to argue that they should somehow be off-limits when they are the ones who, in many ways, have pushed well beyond the norms of civil discourse.

I do think that you have differing views, of course. You had Democrats like Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, both leaders in Congress --

HARLOW: Sure.

SIDDIQUI: Condemning, for example, a Maxine Waters and her criticism. But I think that there is -- are very strong feelings about some of the policies that this administration is pushing and so some people feel that political dissent is one way to push back.

HARLOW: A.B., you make an interesting point and you say, look, voters in the vast middle are looking for politicians who want to solve problems, not politicians who want to wage war. So we are at a point where both sides are waging war, right, from certain members. So who -- who wins politically in that, Republicans or Democrats?

A.B. STODDARD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR AND COLUMNIST, "REALCLEARPOLITICS": I think it's going to be an interesting test in the midterms just because I've been asking members of Congress -- Republican members all year, who is the Republican voter who's going to turn out to defend your majority? Trump voters love Trump and he's not on the ballot. And they always say, that's a really good question. So whether or not this fight that is being led by President Trump on immigration and, you know, the foils of Maxine Waters and Nancy Pelosi and everything like that is going to get the vote -- the voters into the car to preserve that House majority for Republicans is still an open question.

[09:35:08] I certainly think Democrats will depress the voters in the middle that they need. Disenchanted Republicans who are critical of President Trump don't feel like voting for the Republican majority that is acquiesced and stood by him no matter what. Independent voters. I think Democrats are really going to lose this fight if they -- because they really have to -- they have to take the majority back.

HARLOW: Right.

STODDARD: If you're looking at 2020, that's another thing. Why does the Democratic Party want to put up someone who's just going to be as divisive as President Trump when they're trying to offer voters a new path?

HARLOW: Well, I hear you. Some analysis in "The New York Times' this morning, though, Sabrina, I thought was interesting on that point. Quote, many progressives feel that the president's incendiary messaging and actions must be met with something far stronger than another round of news releases from politicians.

What do you make of that point for Democrats heading into the midterms and into 2020? SIDDIQUI: Well, I think that non-violent political dissent has long

been a bedrock of American democracy. And so there is -- are certainly progressives who feel that some of these policies merit more of a response and so they do feel that they are justified in pushing back against the administration in some forms that might not be the most conventional, whether that's turning someone away at a restaurant, even if people disagree, or whether that's approaching them and pushing back in public.

You think back, though, to the Tea Parties rallies of 2009. Those were incredibly heated town halls. Public officials faced a great deal of shouting matches from constituents over President Obama's health care law. And so you're seeing that now manifest itself more so on the left.

I think the only challenge, of course, is when the conversation turns away from the issue at hand and more around civility than, of course, one could argue that it distracts from the issue of child separation, which is far more of a winning issue of Democrats if they stay focused on the policy itself.

HARLOW: Yes. I will say, I was just lamenting yesterday about just, you know, explaining this to people's kids and I'm glad my kids aren't old enough to have to have this explained to them, right, because you're, like, this is just a pretty remarkable place we're at.

I want you both on what we heard from the president last night. Again he's continuing his attacks on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. This all sort of heated up at the G-7 a few weeks ago.

Here's how he addressed the prime minister.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Justin, what's your problem, Justin?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: OK. So, Justin, not, you know, Prime Minister Trudeau, et cetera.

But then, our Manu Raju points out, A.B., the way that he addressed Kim, Kim Jong-un of North Korea, was Chairman Kim. What's going on?

STODDARD: Well, it's very clear that he wants the summit that took place in Singapore and the agreement that was signed, the less than 400 word couple of paragraphs, to yield -- bear fruit and he wants it to be seen as a success, that we're on the path with North Korea to -- a deal on denuclearization. And we know that he said blistering things about Justin Trudeau in a tweet after leaving the G-7. He's not even trying to fix that situation. He wants us to know that, you know, there's -- that he's still in a standoff with him.

He has chosen to fight with allies. He's chosen to be friends with Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, who he's going to have a summit with in Vienna in a few weeks and have a rosy relationship with Chairman Kim. He thinks that this yields success and time will tell.

HARLOW: Sabrina, thank you. A.B., thank you. Nice to have you both.

SIDDIQUI: Thank you.

HARLOW: Fresh off a stint in federal prison, former Congressman Michael Grimm is fighting to get back his job. Will Republicans, in the age of Trump, welcome his return?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:43:00] HARLOW: In Staten Island tonight, a convicted felon who threw a reporter -- who said -- who threatened to throw a reporter off a balcony could win the Republican primary. He has a very real shot at being nominated once again after serving time in federal prison for tax evasion. And he could win without the president's backing.

This, as voters in seven states head to the polls today. They are primaries in New York, Oklahoma, Maryland, Colorado and Utah. And two states, Mississippi and South Carolina, have runoffs today.

In the Utah primary, Mitt Romney is expected -- expected to win the nomination for U.S. Senate seat against State Representative Mike Kennedy.

Our senior politics writer and analyst Harry Enten joins me now.

Important correction there, he threatened to throw a New York --

ENTEN: He threatened. He didn't actually throw him.

HARLOW: A former colleague of mine, a, you know, New York One reporter, threatened to throw him over a balcony. He didn't like a question that reporter asked. But he looks solid tonight.

ENTEN: He looks like he has a real chance of winning. There's only one public poll in the race. He was up by ten. But that poll was taken at the beginning of this month.

But Michael Grimm's a pretty popular candidate on Staten Island, especially among Republicans.

HARLOW: Why?

ENTEN: He speaks like Staten Islanders speak. And, more than that, he was great at constituent services. At Sandy. He got funding for them.

HARLOW: A lot of relief.

ENTEN: And more than that, he just sounds a lot like Donald Trump. And we see how popular Trump is publically.

HARLOW: But he did not get Trump's endorsement. Trump's endorsement went to Dan Donovan.

ENTEN: It did go to Dan Donovan. Dan Donovan was very loyal to Donald Trump and so Trump is a loyal guys. But Grimm really sounds a lot like Trump.

HARLOW: If Grimm wins tonight, and if Grimm wins the seat, what does that mean for the Republican Party?

ENTEN: I think it means that voters are very forgiving, especially if he wins that primary. But the fall campaign is far from certain at this point.

HARLOW: Yes.

ENTEN: If Grimm gets the nomination, Democrats have a real shot in that race.

HARLOW: OK. South Carolina. The president -- it's so important to him and he's so into loyalty that he went there.

ENTEN: Yes.

HARLOW: And he stumped for McMaster, who was the first state-wide elected official to back Trump way in early 2016.

ENTEN: Way back.

HARLOW: What's your read on this?

ENTEN: I -- again, very limited public polling available. McMaster is the favorite. There was one internal poll that suggested that his opponent Warren had some shot. But McMaster probably will win tonight.

[09:45:08] HARLOW: When you look at the president in these races in New York and in South Carolina backing people who are loyal but not Trump-like, what does that tell us?

ENTEN: Yes. I think that tells us about Donald Trump. That the number one thing for him is loyalty.

HARLOW: Yes.

ENTEN: But the question is, what's the number one thing for voters? And that's what tonight's primaries will help us answer.

HARLOW: So I'm fascinated by Utah. Let's talk about it. Our Dana Bash sat down with Mitt Romney. You'll see that interview in the next hour. But Mitt Romney, running for Senate. This is a guy who has spoken out against the president, who's called him a phony and a fraud. He just wrote an op-ed this week saying, I agree with a lot of his policies and what he's done, but I'll speak out against him on rhetoric and things I don't agree with. Where does this land?

ENTEN: This lands with Mitt Romney ending in the United States Senate. I mean that's essentially where it's ending up. If you look at the polling, Mitt Romney is well ahead, but Utah is a very unique state. Remember, Mitt Romney won that state by about 50 points in 2012. Donald Trump, not very well-liked for Republican in Utah. Only won it by about 20. So this is the one state where an anti-Trump or at least someone who isn't so friendly to Trump as a Republican can win. HARLOW: Harry Enten, thank you.

ENTEN: Thank you.

HARLOW: Talk to you soon.

All right, President Trump goes on a tirade against late night TV host Jimmy Fallon. Fallon fights back. We'll discuss it, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:50:44] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Jimmy Fallon. The guy screws up my hair. Just going back and forth. He apologized for humanizing me. Can you -- the poor guy. Because now he's going to lose all of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: The president of the United States in the middle of a feud with late night TV comic. That was President Trump ripping into Jimmy Fallon at the rally in South Carolina last night. And this feud started on Twitter with the president slamming the TV host on Sunday for, quote, whimpering to all that he did the famous hair show with me. Fallon had said he regrets humanizing the president when he messed with his hair back in September, 2016.

Last night Fallon didn't hold back. He responded to the president. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JIMMY FALLON": When I saw that Trump insulted me on Twitter, I was going to tweet back immediately, but I thought, I have more important things to do. But then I thought, wait, shouldn't he have more important things to do? He's the president of the -- what are you doing?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Shouldn't they have more important things to do? Hadas Gold, our media and politics reporter, how do you see it?

HADAS GOLD, CNN MEDIA AND POLITICS REPORTER: Poppy, this is a winning strategy for President Trump because if you think about it, late night has never been a very comfortable place for conservatives. If you think back to the days of Jay Leno, he was often thought of as the one late night host where conservatives and Republicans felt like they got a fair shot. But especially in this environment, late night has become the resistance for a lot of the people who are unhappy with President Trump and his policies.

Before the president himself, Jimmy Fallon, and especially NBC, have become sort of a sore spot for him because he used to be on NBC. And Jimmy Fallon, as we saw, was one of the few late night hosts that had him on in sort of that humanizing, funny way right before the election.

This all came about because Jimmy Fallon did a podcast recently where he talked about his regret over that and he actually got really emotional and teary about all of the hate that he got after doing that segment.

But, you have to keep in mind, Jimmy Fallon even mentioned this himself. It's not like his ratings have gone crazy, although the president tried to take credit for it saying, oh, you should thank me for your ratings. Jimmy Fallon is actually sort of in the bottom of the pile for the late night ratings. And he even mentioned it on his show last night.

But you have to wonder whether he's going to start taking on the president more, because as we've seen from his competitors, like Jimmy Kimmel, that is a winning strategy for them. The more they take on the president, the more their ratings grow. Now that Jimmy Fallon has made this donation to RAICES, maybe we're going to see him take on the president even more. Maybe his ratings will then grow as a result.

HARLOW: Right, he responded to the president by donating to the organization that we had on at the top of the hour that represents these families separated from their children at the border.

The president, again, took on the fourth estate (ph), took on the media last night, calling it the enemy of the American people. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They interviewed ten women on one of the opposing networks, you know, the enemy, the enemy of the people I call them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: He has done it before, but we can't just write it off as say, oh, he's said this before, he's said this before.

GOLD: No.

HARLOW: This is hugely significant and it's dangerous.

GOLD: Well, it is, because, to him, it might be a way to rile the crowd up. And even at one point last night in the rally he almost seemed surprised by how angry the crowd was getting and said, oh, you're worse than I am.

But it is incredibly dangerous rhetoric for the leader of a nation because you also have to keep in mind, it's a little -- it's not genuine from -- coming from the president because we know that behind the scenes he cares a lot about the media, he talks to reporters all of the time. It's sort of a fake war on the fake news, using his own terms.

But it's so dangerous for the leader of a country to do this because also, as we saw last night, to our own colleagues, that it does results in people getting extremely angry and extremely confrontational with reporters. We talk about civility in that we have this crisis of civility in the country. If you looked at that rally last night, people were not being -- a lot of them were not being civil to the reporters trying to just cover the rally, just cover the news.

HARLOW: Right. Exactly. Exactly.

Hadas, thank you for being here. Appreciate the analysis.

GOLD: Thanks, Poppy.

HARLOW: All right, moments from now, the president's clash with Harley-Davidson hitting closer to home for House Speaker Paul Ryan, of course, Wisconsin, and that's where Harley-Davidson is based. Will he talk about it in just moments? We're watching.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:59:36] HARLOW: Good morning, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow in New York.

President Trump warning Harley-Davidson that shifting production overseas to avoid European tariffs would be surrender and the beginning of the end for an iconic company. Background here. Harley- Davidson said this week it would move some of its production to Europe because of European tariffs that were a result of the Trump tariffs on Europe. Following all of that?

Bottom line, this is not a good look for the president to have Harley- Davidson move some of that production overseas. And he's mad about it. Really mad about it this morning.

[10:0005] We expect to hear more about the tariffs, Harley-Davidson and jobs when House Speaker Paul Ryan takes to the podium there any moment. We'll bring that to you live.

In the meantime, let's go to the White House where Abby Phillip is.