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Biden's First Foreign Trip: Reassuring Allies And Confronting Putin; GOP Senators: No New Taxes To Pay For Infrastructure; Biden Agenda Held Up By Bipartisan Hurdles; Putin Summit Looms Over First Biden Foreign Trip. Aired 12-12:30p ET
Aired June 09, 2021 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Had she not been supported, they would have not used the name. So, was there permission, wasn't there permission, depends on who you believe, Erica.
ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: Oh the drama never ends. Max Foster, good to see you, thank you. Thanks to all of you for joining us. I'm Erica Hill. John King picks up right now.
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JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Hello everybody. Welcome to INSIDE POLITICS. I'm John King in Washington. Thank you for sharing your day with us. Right now, President Biden is aboard Air Force One en route to Europe for the first foreign trip of his presidency.
The giant policy challenges include repairing US standing on the world stage and staring down Vladimir Putin. Plus, the Democratic family feud the president leaves behind, his ambitious agenda is stalled and progressives are now mocking the president's view, the new infrastructure talks with yet another bipartisan group is somehow the gateway to progress.
Plus good COVID news coupled with a new warning. Half of the US population over the age of 12 is now fully vaccinated. But Dr. Anthony Fauci is warning, he says the Indian variant of the virus poses a giant threat.
Up first for us this hour, President Biden's eighth day high stakes debut on the world stage, his visit to Europe packed full of meetings with allies, anxious to move past the whiplash of the Trump Presidency and anxious to work with Washington now in sync on issues ranging from the NATO alliance to climate change to the global COVID vaccine challenge.
But the trip's conclusion in some ways hovers over the entire agenda, a summit staredown in Switzerland with the Russian President Vladimir Putin. Let's get straight to CNN's Arlette Saenz. She's in Falmouth, England.
President's en route, Arlette. What are the big issues ahead? ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, President Biden has made clear that an overarching goal of this trip is restoring those alliances that the United States has had, that have been afraid at times during the previous administration under President Trump.
But President Biden also wants to put adversaries like China and Russia on notice, including in that face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Now, shortly before the President took off just a few hours ago, the President outlined some of the goals of this trip, take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: --strengthening the alliance, make it clear to Putin and to China that Europe and United States are tight and the G7 is going to move.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAENZ: So just to take a look at some of the challenges that the President is facing heading into this trip, he will start off right here in Cornwall, as he seeks to restore those alliances of the United States, meeting with the British Prime Minister and also attending meetings for the G7 summit. There will be those meetings in NATO and the EU as well in Brussels.
Now part of the big discussion for the coming week will be the COVID- 19 pandemic, including vaccine distribution. The US has come under some - or faced some skepticism about its approach this far. But President Biden is expected to outline some type of plan for global production of the vaccine.
Also across the next week, the President and allies will be talking about countering China. And then there is that high stakes meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and all of this happening against the domestic backdrop, as many of the President's domestic agenda items seem in peril while he is on this trip abroad.
KING: Arlette Saenz, appreciate the live reporting. Fascinating eight days ahead for you. We will stay in touch throughout the journey. And the trip comes at a crossroads moment for the ambitious Biden domestic agenda, 140 days into his presidency.
Yes, the President has signed his COVID relief package into law, but not much else. Team Biden preaches patience and says the narrow Democratic margins in Congress leave the president little choice but to keep searching for bipartisan help, as he did again yesterday by reaching out to yet another group in Congress trying to create some sort of an infrastructure deal.
But some progressives now in open rebellion, calling the President's approach foolish and warning Democratic priorities like voting rights, climate change, gun controls, and more are languishing because of the President's approach. With us to share their reporting and their insights, CNN's Dana Bash, Seung Min Kim of The Washington Post, Lisa Lerer of The New York Times, and Julie Hirschfeld Davis, also from The New York Times.
It is a lot of talk day in Washington. You have Republicans saying it's the president's fault. You have progressives who are upset, and let's start there. This is Senator Elizabeth Warren a short time ago on Capitol Hill, an ally of this president, a competitor in the last campaign, but an ally of this president saying, sir give it up, the Republicans are not going to help you. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): Let's face it, it is time to move forward. The Republicans have held us up long enough. This isn't up to just one person. This is up to the 50 of us who now have the majority in the Senate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: The last part there, Julie Davis, is a shot at Joe Manchin.
JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, CONGRESSIONAL EDITOR, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Absolutely.
KING: And so, you have this Democratic family feud, if you will, family tension. Elizabeth Warren's right, it's not up to any one Senator, except she's wrong. When it's 50-50, it is - can be up to one Senator, if that Senator he or she says no.
DAVIS: It can be and in this case, that one Senator is a Senator who has said that there's not one specific policy thing, not one specific project, not one specific program that is holding him up. It's like he wants to see things be bipartisan.
[12:05:00]
And so that in effect, in some ways, gives Republicans a real veto power over what can happen and what can't. And at the very least on this infrastructure package, they're going to have to satisfy Joe Manchin and probably Kyrsten Sinema and maybe some other Democrats that they gave it enough of a try with bipartisanship before they can get them to go along with any kind of Plan B in terms of like pushing this through unilaterally or under reconciliation.
KING: And so, what progressives say is, Mr. President, listen closely to what the Republicans are saying, and they say Senator Manchin, Senator Sinema, Senator Hasson and so on, listen closely to what the Republicans are saying.
Just today, the leader Mitch McConnell went to the floor of the Senate and said it's all the president's fault because he's just in kowtow with the radical left, he won't give up his promises to the radical left. And listen here, two Senators, part of the new latest bipartisan push, say, sure we want to work with the president, but we're just not going to raise taxes. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ROB PORTMAN (R-OH): The last thing we want to do in an infrastructure package is to hurt the economy. As we come out of COVID, we want to actually help to keep the economy moving in the right direction. So, Texas would be a huge mistake.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you open to raising taxes?
SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): We are not raising now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: So if you're the President of the United States, Republicans are being adamant they won't pay for it, essentially. They won't pay for it. You campaigned and taking away the Trump tax cuts. This is why progressives say, why do you keep talking to them, when they keep saying essentially no.
SEUNG MIN KIM, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: And this is why these talks being led by Senator Romney and several other critical moderates in both the Republican and the Democratic caucus may end up where the Biden cabinet (ph) talks ended up yesterday, just kind of both sides agreeing to move on and to move on to something else.
And the interesting part about progressive is, are we going to get to a point where they're going to be pushing Biden, not just to go on without Republicans, we're pushing on specific policy demands. And when do you start to lose progressives, because as we know, in a 50- 57, any Senator can be a squeaky wheel if they choose to do so. It's just not very many have chosen to do so, except for Joe Manchin so far.
But you're also - you're starting to hear, for example, some Democratic Senators be really worried about the fact that climate provisions could be dropped from this legislation to get Republican support. And remember that Republican support, it's not just three or five votes you have to get, it's 10. And what can get 10 Republican votes that can also get 50 Democrats, there's not a lot here.
KING: And so the question is, is this all just Washington chatter, which happens inevitably? Or is there a plan at the White House in the sense that you either in the next week or so cut a deal with this new bipartisan group that is much smaller than what the President wants?
And then just come over here with Bernie Sanders, the Budget Committee Chairman, and have a much broader all-Democratic package. But the key is, can you get the Senators to sign on, that - can you get Manchin, Sinema, Hasson, et cetera, to say OK, you gave it enough try, we'll vote for this and we'll do this?
LISA LERER, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Well, that's the trick of the whole thing. We know that Biden has said he's not going to wait forever here. But the question is, how long does Joe Manchin need to feel that he has satisfied his desire for what it seems like this panel is saying is largely bipartisanship theater here.
If you look at - if you step back and look at the broader political dynamics, there's not a lot happening in either party that would favor any kind of bipartisan deal. Republicans, of course, are already sort of quietly saying that their plan is to run in the midterms, as Biden is a weak leader, which - they don't want to give them a win, and particularly not a bipartisan win. And McConnell said as much when he was back in his home state a month or so ago.
And Democrats made a lot of really big promises to their party, particularly those on the more progressive side of the spectrum, and many in their base are expecting them to deliver, if they're going to turn out in this midterm elections. So the overall political dynamics don't really favor any kind of deal. The question is, how long is long enough for the Biden administration to go through this?
KING: And can this president manage what is just a fundamentally difficult problem in the sense you have no votes to spare in the Senate and a lot of those House progressives now serving notice, you know what, we only have four or five votes to spare over here. And if we band together, we can become just as much a problem four or five of us as one Senator can over there.
And they point to an agenda that they - voting rights, police reform, guns, January 6 investigations, infrastructure. The Democrats want a lot more than just the infrastructure bill that right now is sort of Exhibit A in this debate.
This one is interesting to me, Dana. There's a lot of talk from the progressives, Mr. President give it up, a lot of talk in the media, is the Biden agenda stalled as he makes this first big overseas trips.
Ron Klain, the White House Chief of Staff, I'll say this again, as many times as needed. We have a LOT more work to do on building back better, BUT with COVID down, jobs up, and growth at a 40-year high, the Biden domestic agenda is coming along rather well, thank you.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes
KING: A Trumpian in that tweet there, all caps and a thank you at the end.
(LAUGHTER)
BASH: We just - we are missing a bigly and a sad exclamation point.
(LAUGHTER)
But listen, that is kind of Washington 101, you - he's trying to kind of reset expectations, reset the narrative, which is understandable. That is what his job is as the Chief of Staff at the White House at a time where things - on the graphic you just put up a lot of agenda items are kind of teetering right now, not dead but teetering right now.
[12:10:00] And I think that what you mentioned earlier about Bernie Sanders is one of the most important data points in this discussion right now, because he is the Budget Chair. He is the man who is going to, whether or not there is a bipartisan deal or not, which would be smaller than any progressive wants no matter what, he is going to put it together.
And by it, I mean a package that will include a lot of progressive highlights and a lot of progressive priorities. And Bernie Sanders is the Grand Poobah of the progressive movement. So if he can say, at the end of the day, to the people who have followed him for so long, this is the best we got, that is a big plus for Joe Biden, and he understands.
KING: And so if Bernie Sanders is willing to do that, come to the aid, if you will, of the Democratic President, even though he still says he's an independent, is there a Democratic Senator, is there a Manchin, a Sinema, a Hassan, anyone else, who would at that point walk away, walk away and essentially undermine their own presidency, undermine the Biden Presidency, that juncture is coming in what a month or so?
BASH: That will be a--
KING: Yes, is there a Democratic Senator who would still say no, under those circumstances, if the President spent another couple of weeks trying to work with this bipartisan group, either got a small deal or said it's not working here either, then they go this approach, is there - would Joe Manchin or Kyrsten Sinema undermine the Biden Presidency, say I still can't do it?
DAVIS: It is hard to say, but it's also hard to see. I mean, and I think that is why Ron Klain and people at the White House are not weeping into their tea right now, and they're a little bit - they have a little bit of optimism that, after this process, which is not going to be pretty, is not going to be pleasant, plays itself out, that at the end of the day, they'll be somewhere where they can rally Democrats together.
But as you said, they have zero margin for error in the Senate, they had a tiny margin for error in the House, which - let's not forget the House does have a role here, so if they're going to do reconciliation, they have to get it through the House.
They almost weren't able to pass a spending bill a couple of weeks ago, because the progressives said no, and they were ultimately able to persuade a couple of them to just vote present and let it happen. But this is a much bigger deal. So they're really going to have to work it and I think they expect that they'll be able to pull themselves together as Democrats at the end, but it's going to be very difficult.
KING: We have a very interesting several weeks ahead, and as they're consequential. Let's have a little fun before we do though. The President's leaving on his first international trip. We are all dealing with this unless you live maybe in New England and they haven't come out of the ground just yet, but they will - they will. (LAUGHTER)
The 17 year cicada invasion is upon us. Our Chief Cicada Correspondent, Manu Raju, had this experience up on Capitol Hill just last week.
(LAUGHTER)
And guess what, even the President of the United States, politicians, they're just like us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Watch out for the cicadas. I just got one - one got me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Got one - it got me. He did fact check himself there. I just got one - no, it got me.
(LAUGHTER)
So it goes, right, even the president.
KIM: Right, politicians are just like us. When you get attacked on The Hill, Senators complain about them, and now Joe Biden too.
BASH: And I will say after two of us at this table were at a very long day of literally baseball, I got into my car and this kitty (ph) came out of my purse on to my--
(LAUGHTER)
DAVIS: And they grounded the Biden press corps, right?
BASH: Oh yes, (inaudible) more importantly.
KING: It's a nice hum in the neighborhood, that's what I'd say.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
It'll be over soon, it's OK. It's all right. Up next for us, back to the substance, inside the Biden worldview, including his strategy to confront Vladimir Putin.
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KING: President Biden in the early hours of his first international trip as president. Let's walk through where he's going and what are the big meetings. Number one, just the journey. He's on Air Force One over the Atlantic right now, heading to the UK.
This is where he will have G7 meetings, right, G7 meetings here in the UK. The G7 summit, the world's largest economic powers getting together in person, that in and of itself in the COVID era is a big deal, the leaders meeting in person.
You see the president will discuss economic issues, security issues, cyber security issues with the other leaders. He also will get to visit with the queen. He's the President of the United States. Now Joe Biden has waited for this moment for more than four decades to be the President of the United States that includes the gift of a meeting with the Queen, Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle.
A lot of important meetings with allies, but then the trip concludes with a very important staredown with a foe on the global stage. Vladimir Putin, that meeting will take place in Geneva, Switzerland at the tail end of the meeting. First, Biden wants to tidy things up with the allies, create a united front, then sit down with Mr. Putin for a tough conversation.
Let's bring into our conversation, Susan Glasser, the CNN Global Affairs Analyst and staff writer for The New Yorker. Susan, it is the first trip of the Biden Presidency. And so one of the big sighs of relief you hear from the European and other Western Allies is that he's not Trump, in the sense that, when Trump went to these meetings, we can show you some of the headlines.
Trump trashed NATO with the G7, calling it bad as NAFTA. Donald Trump lashes out at America's key allies. Lemon says Donald Trump's about- face dynamites the G7. Der Spiegel called it a debacle.
So he's not Trump and the allies are relieved that they think they have a more consistent, more euro centric, more cooperative alliance built US president. But are there doubts or questions about Joe Biden on this first trip?
SUSAN GLASSER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, look, I think that the doubts to the extent they exist actually still revolve around the question of Donald Trump and the extent to which Trump and Trumpism remains a continuing political force here in the United States.
No question that European allies and partners across the board are more or less delighted for four years Trump kind of alternately horrified and shocked them, and they were really in kind of placate and minimize the damage mode for most of the time.
And remember, last year, Trump was supposed to be the host of the G7. It didn't even happen largely because European allies said no way are we going to come to Washington in the middle of this pandemic.
So I think the question really for Biden is how convincing can he be that America is really back as a realistic partner on the world stage, do we have our act together enough at home in order to be consistent and reliable global power?
[12:20:00] KING: Well, let's step back for one second for the personal triumph. This is for Joe Biden, now President Biden, in the sense that 40 years - of nearly 40 years in the Senate, including Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, traveled the world millions of miles as the United States Senator.
Then eight years as vice president, he has long wanted to be - ran for president twice before this time, and it worked out. His has long wanted this moment, what is it going to be like for Joe Biden to walk down Air Force One in the UK as the president?
GLASSER: Well, I think you're right to spotlight this, as Jen Psaki said the other day, how long has he been preparing for this trip, for 50 years. And there is something to that, I think that Biden, as you know, is a high touch politician. He's a believer in engagement with other world leaders as the way to get things done, to look eye and eye with people. This is something that he values.
And remember, he did almost for entire 2020 campaign hold up at home as well, because of the pandemic. And I think, as new fatigue has said in on the international stage too, and all of these leaders, for them it's going to be a powerful moment. The issue is, there's a gap between the big rhetorical promises of all this summiteering (ph) and the reality, that it's actually a kind of a series of get to know you meetings, of establishing new baselines, and there aren't an enormous number of concrete deliverables.
KING: There aren't a lot. One, the President does hope to have is what he wants to call global progress in the vaccine rollout. I just want to show you a map right here. The United States right now, one of the things that this President can brag about is among the western economic powers, the United States leads the world or at least is matched up with the UK in terms of fully vaccinating populations.
You see Canada lagging, France lagging, Germany lagging, Italy lagging, Japan lagging even more. They're going to announce - the president's going to announce a big US effort to help speed up the global vaccination rollout. How important is that, again, on the question of not just the specifics of the COVID vaccine, but that the United States now wants to take a lead role again?
GLASSER: Well, that's right. I think it's important that the US not just be rejoining international institutions or things like the Paris Climate Agreement, but actually exerting some form of leadership. So I think that's what this is designed for. The Biden team is calling it the three Cs that are at the top of its agenda with Europe, which is to say, COVID, climate, and China.
And all of those will be a big subject of discussions, not only in the NATO meetings, but also with the European Union leaders. And so I think multilateralism, it's not just a technique right, it has to deliver something. And I think the vaccines offer a short term win, not only international - sorry, domestically for the United States in terms of getting such a high percentage of its population vaccinated quickly. But it's a path for (ph) and by the way, Russia and China have not
been hesitant to cut deals with various Latin American countries, for example, and using their vaccines as a power of national interest.
KING: And so after the summit meeting with Putin will be a better time to analyze exactly what happened. But what are the hype expectations heading in. And if you listen here, Senator Chris Coons, a key ally of the president, and John Bolton, as someone who's quite skeptical of Putin, and Biden, listen to how they set the table.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): I think there's no better time for President Biden to make it clear in person to President Putin exactly what he intends to do, to push back on Russian aggression.
JOHN BOLTON, FORMER TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: I don't think there's much for him to gain. I think there is considerable downside. I think this meeting is premature, in the sense, I don't think Biden fully understands what his objectives with Russia are, or how to achieve them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Who's right?
(LAUGHTER)
GLASSER: Well, the truth is that, and John Bolton knows this very well, Joe Biden, the risks are low in a way of meeting with Putin in the sense that the low bar was set for him here by Donald Trump, and Biden by talking tough to Putin's face and having that be his message clears that low bar.
And anyone would, after the Helsinki Summit, which John Bolton, if you read his account, he was Trump's National Security Advisor, was horrified at what Trump did in that summit with Putin, which is the last time that an American President has had a summit with Putin. So in that sense, Biden is likely to be a winner here. Is there something concrete beyond that that's going to come out of it? I'm very, very dubious.
KING: Hope to answer that question when the summit is over, and we know more about it. Susan Glasser, grateful for your time and your insights today. Again, we'll continue the conversation down the road a few days.
Up next for us, Vice President Kamala Harris first foreign trip to solve the migration problem. Well, you might say it's created some new problems and questions for her.
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[12:25:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KING: Vice President Kamala Harris is back from her first foreign
trip, and some of the reviews are less than glowing. Some fellow progressives, for example, didn't like her tone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to be clear to folks in this region who are thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States-Mexico border. Do not come. Do not come.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Even some close allies in the White House are perplexed by this odd answer to an obvious question.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have any plans to visit the border.
