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Trump's Ex Campaign Chief Hires New Legal Team after FBI Raid; A Look at Kim Jong-Un's Past Amid U.S./North Korea Tensions; Transgender Veteran Responds to Trump on Military Transgender Ban; Taylor Swift Testifies in Groping Allegation Trial. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired August 11, 2017 - 14:30   ET

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


[14:30:00] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: If this investigation doesn't involve the president personally, which his attorneys maintain, lawyers care about the Manafort raid? Why?

MARK O'MARA, CNN LEGAL ANLAYST: Well, I'm not sure why they decided to comment. I'm not even sure why the president decided to comment. This is an ongoing potential investigation, now maybe criminal.

But look, a warrant comes from an impartial magistrate based on probable cause. My clients have been subject to literally hundreds and hundreds of warrants and investigations. It is a tool that prosecutors use. The fact that it was no-knock is important, because it shows that they're not going to give the target an opportunity to destroy evidence. The fact that it was in the morning, quite honestly, they do that when people are asleep because it is safer for the agents who are going in. To suggest that it's tough or it was rough, they could think so, but it's a normal tool used.

But if I was Manafort or his lawyer, I would be concerned because they are looking at information that are going focus on him or some other target.

BALDWIN: Team Manafort, again, they say he's been entirely cooperative. But then you have the no-knock warrant and now tough new lawyers.

O'MARA: Yes. You don't issue a search warrant against someone who's been fully cooperative unless that cooperation, within it, they're not telling you the truth.

BALDWIN: Mark, thank you so much.

O'MARA: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up next here on CNN, first, it was the line about "fire and fury." Now it's "locked and loaded." This war of words between President Trump and the North Korean leader rapidly heating up. What Kim Jong-Un's past could tell us about his next moves.

And President Trump says he just did the U.S. military a great favor by banning all transgender members of the military. A transgender veteran will join me live next to respond to the president.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:36:16] BALDWIN: This week's "CNN Hero" was volunteering at a school in Harlem and was shocked to learn that so many students couldn't properly identify vegetables. Here is Tony Hillary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY HILLARY, CNN HERO: When children come in here and they fall in love with the land.

Got it.

That's lunch tomorrow.

In a bustling city like New York City, to find an oasis like this where you can go in and everything seems to slow down, this is their green safe place.

Look at that.

It's not just growing the vegetables. It's growing the children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Love it. You can check out his story or nominate a hero. Just go to cnnheroes.com.

While, a number of lawmakers now have been quite critical of President Trump's bellicose threats against North Korea, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the president is simply speaking in a language that Kim Jong-Un understands. That's what we heard from the State Department this week. But the rhetoric between the two leaders is actually quite similar. It reads like it came from the same military manual, some playbook, bombastic yet vague claims, unbridled nationalism.

But while we know a lot about what drives President Trump and his background, there is such a mystery surrounding Kim Jong-Un.

So, let's talk more about this with CNN international correspondent, Will Ripley, who has visited North Korea many, many times here for work. And also with us, Jenny Town, the assistant director at the U.S. Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University.

I want to get into trying to understand a little bit more about this, you know, leader of this rogue nation.

So, Will, we dug up this phone interview with someone who's believed to be Kim Jong-Un's high school classmate in Switzerland. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED CLASSMATE OF KIM JONG-UN (via telephone): I just know that the -- that one day he said to me, yes, I am the son of the leader of North Korea.

He was very quiet. He didn't speak with anyone. Maybe it was because that most of the people. They don't take the time to understand him.

For him, he didn't like to lose, like every one of us. For him, it was basketball, it was everything. He like the same things what every teenager likes. He does sports. He watch also -- we talk sometimes about girls, but not too much. So, he didn't go out at night with -- he never go out on disco or make party, never.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: What do we know about his schooling and his upbringing, Will?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He was educated in Switzerland and that was his former roommate speaking there. He's a huge basketball fan, spoke a little bit of German, but struggled with the language. And from all indications, people who watched him grow up as a child, he grew up surrounded by strong leaders, his grandfather, Kim Il-Sung, his father, Kim Jong-Il, both of whom were dictators of the country and ruled with absolute power. And people who saw him growing up seemed to sense that he understood power and quickly became a favorite of his father's. Even though he was the youngest son, he was singled out pretty early on as a potential successor. And then of course as his father's health deteriorated, you know, 2009, 2010, and then his father died in 2011, that's when Kim Jong-Un was appointed to be commander of the -- commander general of the army. And he started to be put into the public spotlight just about a year before his father's death. His father, by comparison, had nearly 20 years in the spotlight as Kim Il-Sung's chosen successor. But here in his late 20s, Kim Jong-Un is put into power. And over the course of six years, he's consolidated his power. He's executed all top officials who opposed him and thought he was too young, including his own uncle. And he rewrote the country's constitution to make North Korea a nuclear power and also try to grow the economy at the same time.

And from the North Korean perspective, their economy grew by almost 4 percent last year, because of trade largely with China. And they have an ICBM with a miniaturized nuclear warhead. So the word on the street in North Korea is they think he's taking the country in the right direction. Granted, it's an authoritarian regime, political dissent is not tolerated, so what else would somebody say to a Western journalist.

[14:40:40] BALDWIN: Just watching documentaries, seeing all the photos of Kim Jong-Un in the homes, and how people just genuflect and the whole thing.

Jenny, Will went through, you know, father and son. What are the similarities, and maybe, more significantly, what's the biggest difference between son and father?

DR. JENNY TOWN, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, U.S. INSTITUTE FOR KOREAN STUDIES, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: I think, you know, temperament-wise, they are very similar. And you know, they're both very power hungry. They're very brutal, very decisive. I think with Kim Jong-Un, what we've seen so far is that he's willing to take bigger risks. He didn't have that apprenticeship that his father did. He didn't have the luxury of having a reputation before he really got started. And so I think in the early days, especially, he had to make some very big, decisive moves in order to solidify his power.

But he's also shown to be much more of a man of the people, much more like his grandfather was, than what Kim Jong-Il was, because Kim Jong- Il was more of a recluse.

And so I think, you know, especially the younger people, when now the economy is really growing and they're a strong and powerful nation, as Kim Jong-Il had promised them to be, Kim Jong-Un is also now out with the people, talking to them, and has a much better rapport with the North Koreans than what his father did.

BALDWIN: When you look, Jenny, at both President Trump and Kim Jong- Un, you see the verbal volleys back and forth, the hyperbolic language laced with, you know, fiery, literally fiery language. But is Trump's response, the egging him on, is this what the leader of this rogue nation wants, is hoping for?

TOWN: You know, I don't think it's what he wants. But he's certainly prepared to respond. But it does play into a narrative where now, you know, it's much easier for him to point to a U.S. active threat. So you know, they spend a lot of time -- Kim Jong-Un spends a lot of time developing the story of why they think the U.S. is a nuclear threat to them, and points to the joint military exercises and the strategic overflights, and this hostile policy. And now this becomes a very real manifestation that he can point to and say this is hostile.

BALDWIN: Jenny Town and Will Ripley, thank you both very much on North Korea here.

Coming up, claiming the transgender ban is actually a big favor to the armed forces, but the U.S. Navy secretary today is pushing back on that, saying any patriot who wants to serve in the military should be able to do so. A transgender veteran joins me live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:47:52] BALDWIN: With military tension between the United States and North Korea escalating to the point now where the rogue nation is warning President Trump's rhetoric is driving the crisis to the brink of nuclear war, President Trump continues to defend his decision to ban transgender individuals from the U.S. military.

During his wide-ranging Q&A session with reporters on Thursday, the president said the transgender ban is actually a big favor to the armed forces.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's been a very difficult situation. And I think I'm doing a lot of people a favor by coming out and just saying it. As you know, it's been a very complicated issue for the military. It's been a very confusing issue for the military. And I think I'm doing the military a great favor. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Joining me now, Laila Ireland, a transgender military activist, who is not only married to a transgender Air Force staff sergeant, but she also served as a corporal in the U.S. Army.

So, Laila, thanks for being on and thanks so much for your service to this country.

LAILA IRELAND, TRANSGENDER MIILITARY ACTIVIST & FORMER CORPORAL, U.S. ARMY: Thank you for having me, Brooke.

BALDWIN: You heard the president. He says he's doing the military a great favor. Is he?

IRELAND: You know, it's very interesting. Those words -- the chosen words that he wanted to use. It's not a great favor for the military. In fact, it's a -- it's disheartening to hear that. You know, these service members are serving, and we've been serving for decades upon decades, and we are fighting for the same liberties and freedoms for every American that they all deserve. So, I think the favor, it's not a favor. You're disrupting the mission, and the mission is to take care of the American people and to protect this country.

BALDWIN: Well, someone very high up the chain has responded to this, the Navy secretary, Richard Spencer. Appears to be breaking with the president on the ban, saying that he'd carry out any order given. But added, "Any patriot who wanted to serve in the military should be able to do so."

My question to you, Laila, what kind of hope might this give to you that maybe you have some allies within the military who are expressing support?

[14:50:01] IRELAND: You know, and thank you for stating that I'm a transgender veteran. You know, I served my country honorably to protect the people, the liberties and the freedoms that all Americans deserve. The military has taught me to be a strong soldier, warrior, and a member of a team, to never quit, never accept defeat, and never leave a fallen comrade, and so we will continue to serve honorably in good faith and continue to shoot, move, communicate, until we are told not to do so. Our allies out there are doing the hard work out there to ensure that this policy amendment doesn't happen, because we're everyday Americans who are volunteering to keep this country safe, and that shouldn't be up for discussion.

BALDWIN: Well, so the big question is, I haven't seen any clarification on, how will this affect current active, you know, members of the military? Have you -- has your husband gotten any indication or guidance about just even his own future, serving the country?

IRELAND: You know, that's very -- that's a good question. My husband has been very fortunate to have a leadership that is willing to work with him on this issue, and completely transparent as well, very supportive. And that of the other community that we are in, this trans military community, leadership from all the other service members that I know are -- they're sounding off positively in support of their service members, because they understand that this ban is truly hurtful to the mission and to our nation.

BALDWIN: Laila Ireland, thank you so much. And keep using your voice.

IRELAND: Thank you so much, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, Taylor Swift, her body guard, the man assigned to protect her on the day she was allegedly, quote, "grabbed on her bare ass," by a radio deejay, takes the witness stand. Hear what he said about the picture at the center of the case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:56:30] BALDWIN: Taylor Swift back in the headlines. Moments ago, the prosecution rested in her trial. This comes a day after Taylor Swift took to the witness stand testifying against the man she accuses of groping her at this pre-concert event four years ago. The singer, quite blunt with her testimony of what she says was really happening in this photo. This is the quote she gave. This is Taylor Swift: "This is a photo of him with his hand up my skirt, with his hand on my ass. You can ask me a million questions, I'm never going to say anything different."

The attorney asks Swift why her skirt wasn't lifted up in the photo. Swift says, "Because my ass is located in the back of my body."

Correspondent Scott McLean joins me live from Denver where the trial is happening.

And so, Scott, I understand the body guard here gave more details in his testimony. What did he say?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPODNENT: Yes, so, Brooke, he actually gave conflicting testimony to Swift, saying that that photo, that one single frame in question, is not the moment that David Mueller has his hand up Taylor Swift's skirt. He said that it happened just before that, which as I said, conflicts with what Taylor Swift said. But this body guard says that he witnessed David Mueller's hand go up Taylor Swift's skirt but he didn't do anything about it at the time, didn't call for help, didn't confront Mueller, didn't radio for back- up, nothing. So why didn't he call for help? He says that he would have done something if Swift had signaled to him that she wanted him to do something. He said, "Sometimes she was I was a little too mean." That brought a little grin on Taylor Swift's face in the courtroom.

I should also point out, Brooke, that we heard from two other witnesses that were quite favorable to David Mueller, the plaintiff in this case. One was his former co-hosts, he said that he was always respectful to women and that he did not believe that he did this. And we also heard from David Mueller's former girlfriend, who said that he always maintained his story that he didn't do it and that he never changed it.

BALDWIN: Scott, keep us post there had in Denver. Thank you so much.

And to "The Nineties.". Raise your hand if you remember the sound of a dial-up modem. From C.D. ROMs to dial-up modems, the tech revolution of the nineties here, the focus of this week's CNN original series.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It spans the globe like a super highway and is called Internet. The Net began back in 1969. It was a tool of the Pentagon. But nowadays, just about anyone with a computer and a modem can join in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Internet was a really dorky, hard-to-use and extremely nerdy thing. None of your friends would have been on this, just fellow people in tech.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Internet really was not a huge factor in the early '90s, but Netscape changed things.

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: They're calling him the next Bill Gates. Fifteen months ago, fresh out of the University of Illinois, he helped start a company called Netscape.

At 11:00 a.m. this morning, the company's stock went public and Wall Street went bonkers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what do they produce that now makes the company worth $2.9 billion? This. The Netscape navigator, software which makes it easy for people to connect the global computer network called the Internet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The Internet. Make sure you tune in for a new episode of the CNN original series "The Nineties" this Sunday, 9:00 Eastern and Pacific, right here on CNN.

Thank you for watching CNN on this Friday afternoon. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

President Trump --