Return to Transcripts main page

Inside Politics

Biden Meets With World Leaders At First G7 Summit As President; Deputy AG Ask DOJ IG To Investigate Handling Of Apples Subpoenas; Trump Struggles To Recruit GOP Challenger To GA Gov. Kemp. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired June 11, 2021 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00]

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And so they had their first session earlier. They have another one again tonight. The Queen is going to be present for the dinner later on tonight. And all this is building up to that high stakes Summit with the Russian President later on next week. And we have been hearing from sources, John, we should note that right now, we are not currently expecting Biden to hold a joint press conference with Putin after that meeting ends.

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Well, that's a disappointment, although I guess I could understand both sides perspective, but that's a disappointment from our perspective. Kaitlan Collins, grateful for the live reporting.

Let's bring it back in the studio with our panel and Kaitlan raises two key points. Number one, the optics do matter, the optics do matter of seeing people getting along, seeing people together meeting after COVID. But still as we deal with COVID is important, but there are substances.

I just look at some of the headlines of the "Daily Express" quoting the Prime Minister, Biden is a breath of fresh air. Oh baby what love in says the "Daily Mail." A little contrary and in "The Guardian" bitter standoff over Brexit sours the start of the G7 Summit. Margaret, you write about this today in "Axios." So Joe Biden's first foreign trip as U.S. president is a carefully-managed mix of multilateralism and message discipline so far, and a deliberate contrast to his predecessor's M.O. on the international stage.

Yes, we all know Biden isn't Trump. But Trump enjoyed the disruption. He enjoyed criticizing and mocking some of his other leaders sometimes to their face, sometimes at his press conferences at these meetings. So that is different. The question is, to what end?

MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, Biden is already finding and has always known, it's harder to put things back together than it is to tear them down or to shake them up. So some of the big differences that we know are out there that are going to be impossible to resolve in the Summit over a couple of days in England. You know, Nord Stream 2, what is happening. So I guess it's resolved. But trade, a lot of questions over trade.

But some common areas, a shared belief between the Biden ministration and Americans, European partners on climate change. And this shared desire to have some kind of an end to the race to the bottom on loopholes for taxing, right? So for corporate taxes, so companies are sort of running around trying to find the country to be the best deal, and nobody has any money in the bank at the end of it.

These are some shared areas. But the main thing is, if you look at the order in which President Biden has arranged this trip, it is allies first, G7, right, NATO, E.U., all leading up to that Putin Summit. So that what he can try to show, Vladimir Putin is, you mess with us, the United States, on cyber, on human rights, on our elections, you're messing with the entire western bloc. And that is very clearly his aim, whether he's going to succeed, whether it will change anything, what the U.S. is prepared to do offensively for retribution. Those are all questions we have yet to see the answers to those. But that's what all the imagery and build up is about it, yes.

KING: Right. And so, you know, time gets to that effect in its cover, where you see the President of the United States, and if you look at his trademark sunglasses in the eyes, you see the reflection of Mr. Putin. And that is the big event at the end of the meeting, when you hear that there will not be a joint or at least not likely to be a joint press conference.

I can understand why the Russians might not want that. I can understand why the U.S. side might not want that. But if you remember, you know, Donald Trump stood next to Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. He said, well, he told me that he didn't interfere in the election. And I believe him. I was there when George W. Bush said I looked into his soul. So that is always an interesting moment, perhaps we will be denied that. But what should we look for? Should we look for much out of the spirit?

KAROUN DEMIRJIAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Out of the Biden-Putin meeting, I mean, I think that you need to look at -- the relationship is so broken at this point. And there's really no easy way for Biden to try to heal it without looking like he's capitulating in some way. So in a sense, I think you have to look for which what either one of them says coming out of it. And presumably, it's still going to be fairly hostile going forward, because there's an incentive for both sides to stay in a sort of, you know, Dukes up fighting, you're my enemy type of position. It makes them look way too weak at home, if they do anything, but that.

And so given that state of affairs, I think it's going to be a lot of preserved status quo. And as Margaret was saying, it's more important that you see the healing happen on the home side of the fence. And the true proof of that pudding, frankly, is going to be after all this traveling is done. I mean, you're talking about a bunch of countries that are going to be going into very uneven recovery periods. And that's going to strain their relationships, especially when trade issues around the table, especially when questions about vaccines, question about travel are on the table. And that's all going to affect the nice feeling that we come out of this week with. [12:34:31]

KING: We'll see yes, as the clock ticks. We need to end this conversation there because when we come back working on some breaking news, the Biden Justice Department taking steps now to investigate what the Trump Justice Department did to investigate lawmakers on Capitol Hill, lawmakers who at least as we know so far, were critics of the former president.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Important new development breaking now on today's major news story. We now know the Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco is asking the Department of Justice to investigate the Department's handling of subpoenas in the Trump era leak investigation targeting Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee. Let's get straight to CNN's Evan Perez more information. Evan, what do we know?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, this is something that the Democrats in particular were asking for Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell who are the two members, and of course, whose staff were the targets of these subpoenas. They want an internal investigation by the Justice Department and that is what they're going to get. Lisa Monaco has now referred this to the office of Michael Horowitz, who's the Inspector General at the Justice Department to look at the handling of this especially I think that the part that I think a lot of people that the Justice Department are uncomfortable with and are concerned about is the fact that this was a very broad, frankly, a fishing expedition that targeted not only the members but current and former staff, and even their families.

[12:40:15]

The fact that there is someone who was a minor, someone who's a teenager, whose device was part of this dragnet of metadata that was that was taken from Apple back in 2018, is something that is raising a lot of concerns. The question, of course is, why didn't the Department hand -- do this earlier? We now know that this has been referred. I think Democrats are very, very upset that the Attorney General Merrick Garland has not really gotten on the phone with them to explain what happened here, what the scope of this was, and they don't really understand even still, what exactly was under investigation.

There's been a lot of displeasure on the part of Democrats at the Justice Department has not provided enough information. I think you're going to hear more about that. But of course, John, now that it's under investigation by the Inspector General, it may take some, a little more time for them to get some of those answers.

KING: Right. And let's walk -- let me walk through this with you in the sense that the Inspector General, his name has come up several times in recent years.

PEREZ: Yes.

KING: Mr. Horowitz, he is well respected within the Department. What authority does he have? As we know, this started under Jeff Sessions. And it was reinvigorated if you will, under Attorney General Barr.

PEREZ: Right.

KING: Democrats in Congress say they want answers from those two individuals. Can the Inspector General, does he have to rely on documents and staff members? Or if he has a question for Bill Barr, can he say I need you in the chair, sir?

PEREZ: See, that's going to be the problem. There's going to be a record that's going to be all the career people that at least four people who are handling this, who are still in the Department, John Demers, who's the head of the National Security Division is on his way out the door. He cannot -- Horowitz's office cannot compel former people to provide testimony. He can invite them and they can cooperate. But you're right. I mean, some of those answers may not be as forthcoming as the Democrats would like it to be.

KING: Right. Something we have learned before in other investigations.

PEREZ: That's right.

KING: Evan Perez, appreciate the hustle on the breaking news.

PEREZ: Sure.

KING: We know you'll stay on top of it.

When we come back, 10 senators say they have a bipartisan infrastructure deal. Is it a breakthrough or will it be a bust?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:46:58]

KING: A group of 10 senators says it is succeeding where others have failed, meaning they say they have a deal on a big bipartisan infrastructure package. Now, don't schedule the ribbon cutting on that bridge just yet. Questions need to be answered as part of a wait and see response, a tepid one at that, from the Biden White House. The highlights of this plan, $1.2 trillion in total spending over eight years, 579 billion of that is new spending.

The focus goes on core physical infrastructure, think roads, bridges, things like that. The 10 senators involved, you see them here, five are Democrats, five Republicans. They say this can be paid for without tax hikes. Our panel is back with us now. And that, Tarini, is one of the big questions the Biden administration is part of its tepid, we need answers is, how you're going to pay for this? So, is this real? Or is this just another bipartisan mirage and then we'll go partisan?

TARINI PARTI, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Right. The deal is new. But it seems the problem I think is the same, which is the pay force here. And that's part of the reason why the Biden administration in its statement said there's still questions that need to be answered, because the red line that the President has said for him on this deal is that he doesn't want to raise taxes for people making less than $400,000 a year.

So the pay force in this current plan include indexing gas taxes with inflation so that for the President might violate his redline. So I think, you know, this deal, of course, is still very new. And we don't know all the details of it. But I think there's -- the White House is going to have a lot of questions about the pay force in particular.

KING: Right. And so the White House has those questions about the pay force. It also has a lot of incoming from progressive who say this package is too small. This package is missing a lot. The President is the leader of the Democratic Party, which means he'll get answers from that bipartisan group. But he's going to have to answer this question from Senator Ed Markey.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ED MARKEY (D-MA): They have a package which is climate denial masquerading as bipartisanship. We can't have an infrastructure bill in 2021 that doesn't have climate at its center, no climate, no deal. That's the only way in which we can respond.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: And so?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: And he's not the only one. It's not just the climate issues. I mean, remember where we started here. This was a bill that the Biden administration thought was going to include human infrastructure, it was going to include really a transformation of what we thought about as what the government's role was in incentivizing work and rewarding people who are caregivers, et cetera. That seems to be all out the window at this point.

And so there are the Ed Markey's of the world, there are the Jamaal Bowman's of the world, the progressives who say, this is just way too small. And we're chopping this down for Republicans who aren't going to vote with us anyway. And then I think on top of that, you also have a situation where it's not clear whether this bill is even, you know, going to get the votes that it needs. I mean, you may still end up going through reconciliation, even with a bipartisan bill. That's like half of what --

KING: And that's the plan B or Plan C or plan Z, right? Bernie Sanders, the Budget Committee Chairman drafts a big reconciliation bill, and then the Democrats to see if they have 50 votes.

DEMIRJIAN: Well, that's exactly the question, right?

KING: Yes.

[12:50:00]

DEMIRJIAN: And look at the Democrats that are on this bipartisan panel. They don't look anything like that. I mean, they politically don't look anything like the Ed Markey's and Jamaal Bowman's of this world. And you don't have a cohesive 50 with the Democrats. So you can't really --

TALEV: Right. So, come up with a plan that's a quarter of what the President wanted. Wait until he's on an eight day trip, drop it, ta- da. It's basically done.

KING: Maybe the President might want to stay overseas a couple extra days. Let this one come down. Appreciate everybody coming in.

Up next for us, Donald Trump wants revenge against the Republican governor of Georgia. But Donald Trump is having a problem.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:55:08]

KING: Topping our Political Radar today Donald Trump is dealing with another Georgia disappointment. This one is about his effort to get revenge in 2022 against a Republican governor who refused to help Trump cheat in 2020. Let's bring in CNN's Michael Warren. This if we viewed Donald Trump as a college coach, this would be a recruiting failure.

MICHAEL WARREN, CNN REPORTER: Yes. That's right. We know for months that Trump has been trying to get somebody to challenge Brian Kemp in the Republican primary next year. He tried to get Doug Collins the former congressman who ran for Senate last year. To do it, Doug Collins says he's not running. Now, Burt Jones, a state senator, very early supporter of Donald Trump way back in the July of 2015. He was supporting Donald Trump trying to get Burt Jones to run for governor.

He was at Mar-a-Lago meeting with Trump last month. The former president made it clear he wanted him to run for Governor. Burt Jones says I think I'd rather run for lieutenant governor. It's an open seat. And that's what I'm told that he's very much leading in that direction. It's a real failure of the former president to really play kingmaker in the Republican Party. And it shows a bit of resilience too on the part of Brian Kemp who did resist those calls from Trump late last year to somehow change the results of the election. He remains somewhat popular, even among Republicans who are pro Trump in Georgia. And it's hard to topple a sitting governor in a primary.

KING: It's an interesting point. We can put up on the screen some of the tweets the scornful, awful tweets that former president has said about Brian Kemp, the hapless governor of Georgia. Who is the worst governor, Kemp for Ducey in Arizona? He calls Kemp a disgrace to the great people of Georgia.

And so that what makes that does make your point interesting. So I want to reinforce it, that Donald Trump who still views himself, as the head of the party, still views himself as I say jump, you say how high, among Republicans is in a state that has plenty of Trump supporters failing.

WARREN: That's right. And look, we shouldn't sort of make too much of a divide between Trump and Kemp. On most policy issues, they are in full alignment. It's just on this one issue of the 2020 election. The President, the former president should say is having a really hard time letting go while the Georgia Republican Party smarting from all those losses in 2020 and 2021. They're trying to move forward. That's where you see this sort of divide.

KING: Right. And you see it this, you know, Georgia is a great example to look at. But you see this elsewhere as well in other Governor's races, other Senate races.

WARREN: That's right.

KING: And the question is, and many, you know, quote in your piece of Democratic strategies, as you're saying Trump gets involved. It helps us not the Republicans. The question is, how widespread is this and how is he have successes elsewhere?

WARREN: Yes, I think that that is a big question. And you'll look at Georgia as a perfect example of this. The Democrats look at his intervention before those runoff elections in January. He said without Donald Trump, we wouldn't have control of the Senate.

KING: Yes, Mitch McConnell thinks he lost the majority because of Trump in Georgia. And he's worried he won't get it back next year because of Trump in lots of places. Michael Warren, appreciate the reporting.

Some other quick headlines now, Vice President Kamala Harris kicking off a nationwide vaccination tour on Monday. First stop will be Greenville, South Carolina. This morning, Harris was at Washington D.C. childcare center to highlight efforts to expand childcare programs and funding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In so many places in our country, childcare costs more than college tuition where parents then have to make a decision either I work because I want to work because I enjoy my job, or I stay home and not work because if I go to work I'm spending more on childcare than my salary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: The First Lady, Jill Biden today teaming up with the Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton for a roundtable. You see it there, a roundtable discussion about early childhood education. Also toward a preschool in Cornwall, the First Lady has been a teacher of course for more than four decades currently professor at a Community College in Northern Virginia.

The Texas Governor Greg Abbott says the Lone Star State will build its own wall along its border with Mexico. No details yet on when this will happen. Although Laredo's mayor says he thinks it's going to be more of a fence. Governor Abbott also says he's going to ramp up arrests of undocumented immigrants crossing the border and he says he will add new jail space.

The five leading Democratic candidates for New York City mayor squared off last night. You see it there in their final campaign debate. It was interesting from beginning to end. At the outset, questions about whether one of the leading candidates actually lived in New York City. Then as things wind down, the getting to know your questions included, what can't you live without? Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATHRYN GARCIA, NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL CANDIDATE: Well, I've been living without it. I'd really like a mini patty.

ANDREW YANG, NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL CANDIDATE: My wife Evelyn.

MAYA WILEY, NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL CANDIDATE: My kids and my cats.

ERIC ADAMS, NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL CANDIDATE: Have bubble baths with warm weather -- warm roses sit inside. Men, like that too.

SCOTT STRINGER, NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL CANDIDATE: I need coffee in the morning but it's got to be with sweetener, all right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you brought it with you?

STRINGER: I keep it in my wallet in case I can't find it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the wallet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Never ever, 30 plus years covering politics, bubble baths in a debate for office. There you have it the bubble baths.

[13:00:02]

Thanks for spending time with us today during all the breaking news. Thanks for spending time with this week. We will see you Monday, have a fantastic weekend. Don't go anywhere busy News Day. Ana Cabrera picks up our coverage right now.