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Quest Means Business
Trump Denounces Indictment As Political Persecution; UK To Join Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Bloc; Macron To Head To China Next Week Amid Pension Protests; Biden Pledges Federal Support For Mississippi Tornado Victims. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired March 31, 2023 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:00:28]
RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST: There's an hour to go before the end of trading on Wall Street and it is the final session of the quarter. And look, I mean,
that is solid green. Right? Right there we had a peek over here gave it like a better new nose. I will go in the last hour. We've got an hour to go
the markets and the main events of the day everybody is talking about.
The main even of course, Donald Trump's lawyer says he's ready to fight his indictment as the former president prepares to turn himself in.
Britain's Prime Minister celebrates the UK's biggest post Brexit trade deal, joining the Transpacific Partnership, and the CEO of Qatar Airways
tells us how his company went from a pandemic bailout to the most profitable airline in the world.
Live from London tonight Friday, March 31. Last day of March, when is it going so fast? I'm Richard Quest, I mean business.
Good evening. We start with Donald Trump, who says the allegations against him are witch hunt. Donald Trump's becoming the first former U.S. president
to be indicted for a crime. And he says he'll travel to New York on Monday, when he says believed he'll travel to New York on Monday before his
arraignment on Tuesday.
The charges against him are currently sealed. It's believed there could be more than 30 of them.
Mr. Trump's lawyer said they were surprised at the timing of the indictment. Previous news had suggested it could be weeks away. Joe
Tacopina spoke about the President's reaction to the news.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS ANCHOR: -- then called President Trump What was his reaction?
JOE TACOPINA, ATTORNEY FOR DONALD TRUMP: Initially shock I will tell you.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Why was he shocked?
TACOPINA: After he got over that initial -- you know, George, because at the end of the day, we were really hoping he was hoping that that rule of
law would have prevailed.
He's not worried at all. I mean, he's upset, angry. He is being persecuted politically.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Now, the former president was originally asked to surrender on Friday, but his lawyer said more time was needed to coordinate the
logistics.
The Secret Service has now met with the New York Police Department and the district attorney investigators.
So, agents from the service will accompany the former President, as he is fingerprinted and photographed for the mug shots. They will make sure no
one comes too close to Mr. Trump as he travels through the courthouse. The former president is not expected to be handcuffed. Although he will of
course have a reading of the charges. He will be expected to plead and expected that he will be released upon his own recognizance.
Paula Reid, Senior Legal Affairs Correspondent is outside the courthouse in lower Manhattan.
Look, there will be plenty of time for us to get into the politics of all of this. At the moment it is just the legal novella, and the nuance and
newness of it all. That's got everybody worried and looking.
PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. And what's amazing right now is even the former president's lawyers don't
know exactly what the charges are. And this is remarkable that the district attorney potentially wanted Trump to turn himself in today, just based on
the logistics involved in an initial appearance for the former leader of the free world.
You can see right over my corner in terms of security, there is definitely an escalated police presence. And that is just a fraction of what we expect
on Tuesday during what will be a historic arraignment.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REID: A Manhattan Grand Jury voting to indict former president Donald Trump Thursday, while the case is still under seal. Sources tell CNN he faces
more than 30 counts related to business fraud. The former president responding to the indictment, calling the Manhattan district attorney Alvin
Bragg a disgrace and claiming the entire investigation is a witch hunt.
TACOPINA: He's ready to fight. You know, he's the toughest guy I know. He was shocked. You know, because we really were. I was shocked. Today, the
rule of law in the United States of America died.
REID: The indictment concludes a year's long probe investigating a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels to remain silent about an
alleged affair with Trump and affair Trump denies.
[15:05:00]
The case relies in part on the testimony of Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen, who has in the past pleaded guilty to nine federal
crimes, including lying.
MICHAEL COHEN, DONALD TRUMP'S FORMER ATTORNEY: I am a convicted felon. I am a disbarred lawyer, but I also brought the documents. There's plenty of
testimony corroborating testimony to go around.
REID: Cohen paid Daniels $130,000, just weeks before the 2016 presidential election. According to court filings, the Trump Organization reimbursed
Cohen $420,000.
CLARK BREWSTER, STORMY DANIELS' ATTORNEY: It's a fight against his rejection of truth and his manufacturing of stories that really motivated
her.
RIED: The Manhattan District Attorney's office was also asking questions during the grand jury proceedings about Karen McDougal. She was paid
$150,000 by the company that publishes the National Enquirer, to stay silent about another alleged affair with Trump. Trump has denied any affair
with McDougal.
Trump's longtime friend and then Chairman of the National Enquirer's parent company David Pecker is believed to have orchestrated the payment and was
one of the last witnesses to testify before the grand jury Monday. But even Trump's potential Republican presidential rivals criticizing the
indictment. Governor Ron DeSantis tweeting it's unAmerican. And Trump's former Vice President Mike Pence, telling CNN --
MIKE PENCE, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I think the unprecedented indictment of a former president of the United States on a campaign finance
issue is an outrage.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
REID: After Trump's initial appearance at this courthouse on Tuesday, his lawyer said they intend to fight this. They want to file a motion to
dismiss, use other motions to try to attack this case and kill it before it ever reaches trial.
QUEST: Thank you, Paula, at (INAUDIBLE) you all have your work cut out for you next week Aas this all goes ahead. The indictment is not expected to be
unsealed until the arraignment, that's Tuesday. We now believe he's facing more than 30 accounts.
Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg has been investigating the former president for years. It's all about the alleged hush-money payment to the
porn star stormy Daniels. Elie Honig is our senior legal analyst. He and the Manhattan DA served together as federal prosecutors he knows him well.
We'll get to that side in just a moment. Elie, how do you on the one hand, the legal mantra everybody's equal under the law, everybody must be treated
equal under the law, but at the same time accommodate the very real, both security and necessities and respect for a former president. How do you do
that?
ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: That is precisely the tightrope that officials will be trying to walk on Tuesday when Donald Trump surrenders.
On the one hand, Richard, you can guarantee the atmosphere down by the courthouse will be circus like it will be a mob scene around this. We've
never had a situation anything like this where a former president has to be escorted into a building by Secret Service.
On the other hand, however, despite all those appearances, what actually happens in the courtroom is going to be very, very routine. This is an
arraignment. This is the kind of proceeding that happens all day, every day in that courtroom, and in courtrooms all around the United States.
And if I'm the prosecutor, that's where I want to focus this. This is about the criminal justice process. It's going to be determined not by politics,
not by tweets or truth, socials, but by the facts and the law and our criminal justice procedures.
QUEST: All right, so the logistics of your like the sausage making will be messy. This -- but the actual accusations, so there's allegedly or possibly
more than 30 of them. If it sticks at just frankly, falsifying business accounts, it's a fine and go away and don't do it again. If it gets to
felony levels, I know there's the possibility of a sentence -- of a custodial sentence. But you don't believe that that would happen.
HONIG: I think it's very, very unlikely that even if this case, given what we know, right now we've not seen the indictment. But even if it results in
ultimate convictions, I don't think it's likely that this case would land Donald Trump in prison. You're correct.
There are potential misdemeanor charges for falsifying business records important to keep in mind, the crime was not paying hush money. The crime
is the way that they booked it, the way they recorded it falsifying those records. That's a misdemeanor, Richard, nobody's going to go to prison for
a first time misdemeanor.
If they can prove that that falsification was done in order to commit or conceal some second crime and the argument here appears to be are -- one of
the arguments that it's a campaign finance violation then it becomes what we call a Class E felony here in New York State.
[15:10:09]
Class A is the most serious. Class E is the least serious. The maximum for a Class E felony is four years. But the reality is, for a first time
nonviolent Class E felony, the majority of those are going to get no jail time.
QUEST: So now let's skate to the thinnest ice in all of this. You have said (ph) -- just already said it's a misdemeanor at one level, and it's a Class
E at another level. So it bearing in mind that and remembering that prosecutors all the time decide whether they will or won't prosecute
something, should they have prosecuted this one?
HONIG: So I think that's a very fair question to ask. And it's hard to answer without seeing the evidence. But I think it's important to know
this, the federal prosecutor's office where Alvin Bragg, the current DA, and I worked to get together right across the street from Alvin Bragg's
current office. They had this case federally, and when Donald Trump was leaving office in January of 2021, I report this in my book, and it's been
corroborated since, federal prosecutors met and decided, should we charge Donald Trump on this campaign finance law federally? And the answer was no.
So we know the Feds passed on it. We also know that Cy Vance, who had office for about a year before Alvin Bragg also did not charge this case.
So I think it's absolutely a fair question to ask and ask of Alvin Bragg. Why now? Why six and a half years later, after other prosecutors have
passed on it?
QUEST: So answer your own question?
HONIG: Well, there are two reasons. I'll give you the optimistic view and the pessimistic view, the optimistic view. The idealistic view is he's
found new evidence. And he has discovered something new. And he's reassessed and he disagrees with the judgment of those other prosecutors.
The pessimistic view is that this is a cynical political move by an elected democratic DA in a county here in Manhattan that is overwhelmingly
democratic.
So, we've certainly heard politicians on both sides of the aisle give voice to both of those opinions. And I think we have a better sense of which
one's correct as we learn more about the case.
QUEST: I just -- it's the bizarreness as they fingerprint him and take his photographs, and then the police have to search him. Meanwhile, the Secret
Service are standing four feet away, making sure that nobody touches the president or the former president. Without having been -- it's -- I don't -
- I can't think of a word for it.
HONIG: It's -- I'll suggest one, it's surreal. It really is.
QUEST: Yes.
HONIG: We've been a constitutional democracy for 230 plus years. This is the first time we've ever criminally charged and let's be candid, attempted
to imprison because that's what prosecutors will be looking to do a president or a former president. And yes, it is, you know, just today the
first official document in this case came out. It's a sort of just a formal document. It doesn't really say anything of much interest.
But you see the actual caption at the header at the top of the indictment and it says people of the State of New York versus Donald J. Trump, that is
a striking moment. I don't care if you love Donald Trump, hate Donald Trump feels somewhat in the middle. That is a striking and solemn moment for the
United States.
QUEST: You can always apply to come back and we'll let you have the king. That is an awfully. Elie, thank you. Good to see you. Have a good weekend.
HONIG: I'm not going to make that decision for the United States. Thank you, though.
QUEST: Thank you. Right? It is Quest Means Business tonight. OK, I'm sitting in London at the moment. Now, by any definition, I am a long way
from the Pacific Ocean. So why is the U.K. joining the Trans Pacific Partnership? Just look at the map. The government is calling it the biggest
trade deal since Brexit, the limitations are fairly obvious. Quest Means Business.
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QUEST: Great, so let's take a look at the map of Asia. And in fact, the map of the world. Now the United Kingdom is here. Well that matches of obvious.
And the countries of the Trans-Pacific Partnership or rather, gloriously larger name are over here. You've got those that are against the west coast
of the Americas and you've got the East Coast of course.
Now the U.S. is not a member, China obviously is not a member and you can see those that are, which is now which is really interesting. The
comprehensive progressive TPP is this free trade bloc of this lot all over here as you can see, which is what goes all the way down to Australia.
On the other hand, however, over here, you've got the United Kingdom, which is on over here and it's a long way back. Now, Donald Trump pulled the U.S.
out of the whole grip in 2017. So this is what you've got left and the Prime Minister of the U.K. Rishi Sunak has appeared in this glitzy video
celebrating the fact that the U.K. is now a member of an organization on the other side of the world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RISHI SUNAK, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: It will help us unlock the benefits of Brexit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For people across the UK.
SUNAK: And it will give us access to tariff free trade with some of the world's fastest growing economies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: That's all true. I take nothing from the Prime Minister. But the benefits of Britain joining will be modest at best. The U.K .already has
free trade agreements with pretty much all the members except Malaysia and Brunei. And the government's own estimates suggest it will add less than
1/10 of a percent to the size of the British economy over the cost of 10 years.
Little to offset the enormous impact of Brexit, which has left the U.K. economy five and a half percent smaller, according to the Center for
European reform.
William Bain is head of trade policy the British Chamber of Commerce joins me from Glasgow. I am being very careful, very careful not to be mealy
mouthed about this or not to be cynical about it, because it is true that U.K. will be joining this very large trade group. But I don't fully see the
major advantage.
WILLIAMS BAIN, HEAD OF TRADE POLICY, BRITISH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: Hi, Richard. Well, from where we are at the moment, obviously, having left the
European Union three years ago, we've got to really do two things in the view of British business. One is improve the trade deal that was negotiated
in 2020 with the E.U. and we trade about seven times more with the E.U. than we do with CPTPP.
But also, if there is going to be an independent British trade policy, we've got to get the right kind of deals and create the right kind of
opportunities and the rest of the world. And we think that, you know, the U.K. can walk and chew gum at the same time when it comes to EU and CPTPP.
QUEST: Right, but does the CPTPP arrangement will it be superseded by bilaterals for example, with Australia and New Zealand or does the extent
of this deal mean that essentially they've got what they need from those countries where they -- they were negotiating bilaterally anyway.
[15:20:04]
BAIN: Pretty much what we've been informed by government and the documents published today in in most areas. Essentially, the bilateral agreements
will dovetail into the commitments on tariffs and services which the U.K. and the CPTPP countries are making. I do think there are still some
outstanding issues around certain dairy quarters with Canada. But our belief is that the vast majority of the other issues have been dealt with
through (INAUDIBLE).
QUEST: Doesn't this prove the point that essentially, it is up to British business to find, if you like that Dunkirk spirit, to use the cliche, to go
and get these new markets? I mean, if the post Brexit U.K. economy is to succeed, then everybody can't go around, bemoaning the fact that the
situation is worse now than it was during E.U. membership.
BAIN: That's absolutely right, Richard. Now, if you look at, you know, the sort of fingers on the expansion of the sort of middle class in the CPTPP
region, while by 2030 40 percent of the global middle class expansion will occur in that region, if you include India and China, it was up to 90
percent.
So the U.K. is looking very much at this as an important growing consumer market, as is the E.U. --
QUEST: Right.
BAIN: -- as the US. So that's why, you know, our position amongst British business is that you have to look to expand these new markets, expand your
services exports, whilst at the same time we're looking at what you can do to improve that trade deal with the EU.
QUEST: Do you think that the -- there will be a deal, I know negotiations are underway, there will be a deal with the U.S. before you and I retire?
BAIN: It looks difficult at this point, Richard. But I think there's a lot of cooperation we can do. Even without a trade agreement. So on issues like
steel and iron, we should be cooperating. We need to have cooperation on issues like green subsidies as well on digital trade.
So I'm confident there's a lot that we can do to improve trade between the U.K. and the US. But a trade deal, yes, that does look awkward in the
foreseeable future.
QUEST: William Bain, whoever thought that the U.K. was part of Asia will have to rewrite the schoolbooks as well. Thank you, sir. Grateful you
joined us. Thank you.
The chief executive of Qatar Airways says his airlines planning for rapid growth as travel rebounds. Akbar Al-Baker told Eleni Giokos, the industry
is in the survival of the fittest mode.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AKBAR AL BAKER, CEO, QATAR AIRWAYS GROUP: As for us as an airline, it is back to normal as an airport. It was already back to normal very early in
the pandemic, because we are the only airport that we didn't shut our doors. We are the only airline that we also didn't completely stop. And
this is what made us to take millions of stranded passengers of other airlines back to their homes and back to their loved ones.
Yes, it has been a difficult and painful journey. But now we are nearly to the end of it.
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's interesting because a lot of airlines are going through a lot of pain, right? They need assistance.
They need bailouts, they need subsidies. It's a very different situation for Qatar Airways, so much so that you're increasing your schedule, and
you're going to new destinations. So tell me about the numbers.
AL BAKER: Frankly speaking, we got also an equity injection of $3 billion. But as the owner of my company is the State of Qatar, it was not a question
of getting state aid or subsidy, like other airlines got, who were exactly pushing against us on that. They took billions of dollars of state subsidy
help to pay their employees.
We only took an equity. We were the only airline that was giving huge amounts of refunds to our passengers nearly 1.9 billion in the first three
months, which no other airline did. And we did a good turnaround after taking an impairment on our airplanes and this is why the first year of the
pandemic we took a big loss 70 percent of it was due to the impairment on the airplanes that we wrote off and be grounded. And the next year, we were
the most profitable airline in the world.
GIOKOS: What do you think the fate of the airline industry is full the region while we see new players come on board? I think everyone wants to
increase capacity/
[15:25:06]
What is your prognosis for regional airlines?
AL BAKER: When I became the CEO of Qatar Airways, we were absolutely discounted because they were already big players in the market and we prove
that there is enough business and we prove that even a small airline can become a very big airline.
I don't see any issue with more entrants into the market. It will always be will be the survival of the fittest like I said earlier. People will always
look at the product. People will always look at the attention, the hospitality, the focus and attention. That really matters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Akbar Al-Baker of Qatar Airways. First there was plastic cards, now it was your phone. Now all you need to pay for things is your face. Smile
for the facial recognition software. We're going to take your shopping in Dubai.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANI WEISS, CEO, MAJID AL FUTTAIM RETAIL: Hello.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voiceover): They say a smile is worth 1,000 words. Thanks to Face Pay, it seems like it could be worth a whole lot more.
WEISS: OK, I'm going to say bye Face Pay.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Face Pay is a new payment option that's now being used by hypermarket chain Carrefour here in Dubai.
WEISS: Done. Thank you. We have noticed that our customers don't like to queue so much at the cash counter. The multiple time retail team been very
innovative in bringing self-checkout, scan and go, mobile scan and go.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A solution they say saves time by 75 percent.
WEISS: Regular credit card transaction takes approximately around 20 seconds as a transaction. While the Face Pay is only five seconds.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All the customer has to do is download a simple mobile application, add their phone number and credit card and the final step
smile for the camera.
WEISS: I'm going to use my selfie while smiling.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The technology was created by U.S. based company POPID. It's already being used in a number of small stores and cafes in the
States and Japan. And now that it's here in the UAE, it's being tested on a large scale retailer for the very first time.
WEISS: Since by dusting here in the store, we have seen more than 6,500 customer, almost 80 customers per day using this latest technology.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A similar form of this technology known as the Grab and Go model is being used at retailers like Amazon Go, Zippin and 711.
Customers simply grab their products and walk out without encountering a cashier. The store bills the credit card the moment the customer walks out.
But Face Pay on the other hand gives the customer the benefit of choice.
KARL TLAIS, FOUNDER AND STRATEGIC ADVISOR, IADVISORY: The opportunity is there to make payment not only with your biometric case credentials, but
also with your existing card and mobile device if you're already using that. So it improves that obviously experience for the consumer from a
fraud perspective and a security perspective.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And with this digital trade solution comes a great responsibility.
TLAIS: Clearly one of the challenges or requirements around this is to make sure that your data is protected, but also beyond that is making sure that
the securitization of that data is provided by the providers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The facial recognition market is expected to grow by more than 16 percent from 2023 to 2033 according to future market insights.
TLAIS: I think the next steps with biometric technology in relation to whether its payments or the consumer experience will be for mass events. I
think that's going to be a clear opportunity there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In Carrefour's planning to have this payment scheme rolled out across its stores in the UAE, accelerating the city's movement
towards a more digitized economy with a simple smile to the cashier as the first step.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: The issue of course is smiling at the first quarter. It's finished. It's been quite a first quarter. Anyway, it has been defined by (INAUDIBLE)
risers and banking crisis. After the break, Bain Capitol senior adviser Stephen Pagliuca is back with me. Quest Means Business, look at that at 1.6
percent on the NASDAQ.
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[15:32:34]
QUEST: Hello. I'm Richard Quest. Together we've got a lot more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. And we're talking to Stephen Pagliuca of Bain Capital, who will
wrap up the volatile first quarter of the year. And you'll have more from my visit with the European Parliament President Roberta Metsola who told me
we should focus on leader's legacies, not how they leave office.
We'll only get to that after I've updated you on the events of the day. Because this is CNN. And on this network. The news always comes first.
President Macron of France is scheduled to visit China next week. While facing protests back home wherever his pension reforms. He's traveling to
Beijing with the E.C. President Ursula von der Leyen. The visit will allow the French leader to represent Europe on the world stage.
Joe Biden is pledging federal support for tornado victims in Mississippi. The U.S. President and the First Lady visited areas hit hard last weekend
by deadly storms. The White House says the government will cover the full cost of the emergency response measures for the next 30 days.
Italy has temporarily banned ChatGPT over privacy concerns. Regulators in the country want to know how its developer OpenAI handles user data.
Italy's data protection agencies threatened to find OpenAI more than $20 million if it fails to comply with its rules.
Finland's Prime Minister's facing a tough election this weekend if she's to stay in power. The polls are suggesting a tight three-way strip between
Sanna Marin's center-left Coalition and the two right wing parties. Her opponents accused her of running up the national debt. She became prime
minister in 2019, any months before the pandemic.
It's a rally on Wall Street after new signs inflation is at least tempering if not exactly dramatically falling. The Dow is up more than one percent.
The feds preferred inflation gauge, the PCE index came in lower than economists had expected. And as a result, you're seeing this across the
board now. The S&P and the NASDAQ because in a data dependent, fed arguably there's no need to continue raising rates anymore.
Today is the end of a volatile first quarter that was fairly flat over the last few months. The NASDAQ and the S&P are squarely positive.
[15:35:01]
That marks the NASDAQ's first positive quarter since Q4 of '21. And it's after months of tough economic conditions. In the last three weeks, you and
I've been talking about banking crisis, and the ninth straight rate increase by the Fed. Stephen Pagliuca is a senior adviser for Bain Capital.
He is with me now from his glorious office in Boston. And so, Q1 comes to an end, it could have been a great deal worse with the banking crisis but
it seems as if that ship is steady.
STEPHEN PAGLIUCA, SENIOR ADVISER, BAIN CAPITAL: I agree, Richard. The -- I think the government stepped in and did all the right things. I think I got
to give them a lot of credit. Because this was a banking crisis really caused by lack of confidence, almost like a classic run, not a run because
banks had made terribly bad investments, a run because of accounting issues in terms of long term and short-term debt on their balance sheets causing
write offs.
So, fundamentally, this wasn't a situation like it was in 2008 where there were a lot of bad investments made and banks didn't have capital, banks had
plenty of capital. But there was a crisis incompetence and they did all the right things in to stop the run.
QUEST: The thing that's troubled me over the last few weeks, of course, is what you do in these situations in terms of the insured and the uninsured
deposits. $250,000, just about anybody on Silicon Valley will have had more and small businesses did have more. So, what do you think you do in those
situations? Everybody -- look, we all know the moral hazard argument. But at the same time, you can't have small businesses campaign the payroll.
PAGLIUCA: Yes. And I think moral hazard did come into play here because the executive of these banks lost all the equity and lost their jobs. So,
that's a pretty harsh penalty for what's happened. And banks are the lifeblood of small businesses, you can't have those deposits disappear. And
again, the FDI insurance was set up for exactly this situation to kind of fill in the gaps and to rent these runs.
And so, I think they had to guarantee the funds of the small businesses is the right thing to do. And it really wasn't a windfall for bankers or
corporations if they took huge losses on it. So, I think the right things happened and hopefully, it will continue to stabilize.
QUEST: Was it the right thing for the Swiss National Bank to prioritize equity over bonds for the ATI's?
PAGLIUCA: You know, I can't comment on that, you know, their national policies. But the primary directive would be to stabilize those banks in
Switzerland, and you couldn't have a situation where there's a run-on a -- on a fairly, you know, global bank. The banks here in the U.S., J.P.
Morgan, Bank of America, very well run, very well capitalized. And ironically, you know, the -- that's where a lot of deposits went.
If you remember the last crisis, the large banks -- many large banks had had huge issues. This time, it wasn't. And in fact, the large banks were
more diversified and had more capital and were very stable. So, this really is a situation about saving niche banks that suffered because of a lack of
diversification.
QUEST: Now, you've got -- over your right shoulder, you have a globe which I'm sure when you're looking at your investments and deciding where to put
the equity and the capital, you will look at that globe and you think, ah, which bits do I like? What parts of the world are of interest to me at the
moment? So, what do you like at the moment?
PAGLIUCA: Well, I think India continues to be a very strong grower and their governmental policies have been very pro-business. And so, Bain
Capital has a fantastic operation, India is seeing lots of opportunities. I would also say in general, you know, biotech and tech, which have taken a
beating in this latest market run are starting to come back up. And you know, tech and biotech are going to be 20-year trends for us.
And that kind of transcends the globe. There are opportunities in Europe, there are opportunities in the U.S., opportunities in Asia. And I think
Japan is an interesting place to invest as well. Because they are -- they are going towards a more market stock driven economy, classic economy and
those policies have been positive as well.
QUEST: So, I just did a quick Google search on your name and football clubs. And Bloomberg has a title Bain's Stephen Pagliuca eyes more England
football deals. Manchester Evening News says who is Stephen Pagliuca? Boston Celtics (INAUDIBLE) a profile amid Manchester United takeover talks.
And another one says, Pagliuca wants a European team. So, do you? Which one?
PAGLIUCA: You know, Richard, we have a sports group, a packs group and we're looking at many opportunities out there. As you know, I was one of
the final bidders for Chelsea and I had a huge appreciation for the Premier League.
[15:40:10]
So, we're looking at several opportunities. And we try to look at them to say, if we do them, you know, you know, how can we sustain them? Can we
win? What are the economics like and we can't come up with a specific one. But there are a lot of interesting clubs out there for sale right now. And
we have Atalanta in the -- in the Serie A. And that's doing very well. We've had a great relationship with the (INAUDIBLE) who are -- who are
really listening that club up as well.
QUEST: I look forward to your next move and development. It's good to see you, sir. I wish you a good weekend. Thank you very much.
PAGLIUCA: Thank you very much. Great to see you.
QUEST: Thank you. Now, as we continue tonight, all week of ocean conservation stories continues. Canada's Great Bear Rainforest where an
indigenous community has created their own marine protecting area.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: On Call to Earth, we're headed to a majestic place of the heart of British Columbia's Central Coast. As part of the Rolex Perpetual Planet
Initiative. We visit a First Nation community with its own marine protected area. They hope we will put a stop to the overfishing and it will preserve
an ecosystem that is vital to their livelihoods.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DOUGLAS NEASLOSS, CHIEF COUNCILLOR AND RESOURCE STEWARDSHIP DIRECTOR, KITASOO/XAI'XAIS FIRST NATION: The Great Bear Rainforest is extremely
special. I mean, I think it's probably one of the most biodiverse places on the planet. You still get wild things like bears and wolves and abundance
of salmon and a bunch of different sea life. You still have old growth forests. And in these areas largely are untouched by industry. And so, we
want to keep it like that.
My name is Muq'vas Glaw, which my language means white bear. My other name is Douglas Neasloss.
CRISTINA MITTERMEIER, CONSERVATION PHOTOGRAPHER: Doug Neasloss is one of those extraordinary leaders. He's been advocating for conservation and for
the sovereign management of the coastal waters of his nation, which is the Kitasoo/Xai'Xais nation. So, they have created the Kitasoo Bay MPA. And
it's amazing because that is their breadbasket. And he's done an incredible job of not just leading his people, but bringing the rest of Canada to his
point of view.
NEASLOSS: So, right now we're just getting ready to enter Kitasoo Bay and that's the area, it's probably the most important area. It's a holding area
for (INAUDIBLE) the old gatherer.
[15:45:02]
I think indigenous knowledge is super important and I think it needs to be integrated and all of the management that's out there whether it's wildlife
and management, fisheries management, ocean management.
We have a belief that if you take care of the land, the land will take care of you. And so, that's ingrained in all of our work here. It doesn't matter
if it's in stewardship, if it's in tourism, that's an economic development, we want to make sure that we have a place that the world can enjoy. And if
we don't have protection, we know that we're going to be in trouble.
Kitasoo Bay was declared by the military chiefs supported by the community and it was launched. So, the rest of the world knows about it. We've
engaged provincial governments, federal governments, we've engaged stakeholders, letting everyone know whether it's closed. We've left the
document open to collaborate. We're in this era of reconciliation, and how do we work together.
There's laws and practices that we practiced for thousands of years. And those practices are geared toward conservation and sustainability, and
stewardship. And so, I think when we are writing our manager plan, like the Kitasoo Bay manager plan, that is our opportunity to indigenized some of
these policies. This island is called Marvin Island. This is probably one of the most important seasonal harvesting areas we have.
And so, herring eggs is super important for the community. It's one of the first foods you would have access to after a long winter, what happens is
when the herring come in and lay all their eggs, people harvest the eggs, and they would prepare them here on the island.
MITTERMEIER: There's about 400 million indigenous people on this planet, they belong to about 5000 different tribes. And they're the largest
minority in the world. Together, they live in less than 20 percent of the land surface of planet Earth, but they manage 80 percent of the
biodiversity. So, should we be letting them make more decisions about how their territories are managed? Absolutely.
NEASLOSS: I think just by designating Kisatoo Bays in a digital protected area and unforeseen that making sure that the conservation is there,
sustainability is there, that stocks have a chance to rebuild and that our people will continue to have access to that. That Bay has sustained this
community for thousands of years. So, it's really -- it's really important that that bay survived.
But I also hope that this provides a model for all these other protected areas all over the world. I think Kitasoo Bay is a very strong example of
what we can do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Magnificent part of the world. And you'll want to see the half-hour program Call to Earth, Protectors of the Sea which is on this Saturday and
Sunday. In other words, tomorrow and the next day. Don't miss it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:50:01]
QUEST: Breaking news. A large and destructive tornado touched down near state of Arkansas. It just west of the state capitol Little Rock. You see
the pictures here a moment ago. It's expected to move north of the downtown area over the next half hour. The National Weather Service is warning of
severe tornadoes across the American Midwest and South East. Only days after the tornado Mississippi which, of course, killed so many people.
The President and the First Lady of visiting hard hit areas there today.
Now, yes, of course, I was in Brussels and one of Europe's most influential women, says we should remember leaders who stepped down for what they did
not for their decision to bail out. When I was with the President of the European Parliament, she gave me her take on the resignations of Nicola
Sturgeon and Jacinda Ardern. I sat down with the president, Roberta Metsola after she gave me a grand tour of the European Parliament.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: When you see President of the European Parliament, do you sort of -- that's me?
ROBERTA METSOLA, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: Actually (INAUDIBLE) you know, depends on the title. It's -- yes, it takes a bit of getting used to.
Now, I just walked past.
QUEST: What are you voting on?
METSOLA: All of this. Big legislative. So, these are very normal stuff we have a (INAUDIBLE) this one, European Europe's cases report. This general
product, sales recognition, legislative, equal pay for equal work between men and women. That's the bell sounding, big legislation. We've been
waiting for it for years.
So, I preside the votes, which means that I opened the votes, some of them are by show of
hands, some of them are --
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: -- casting in the event of?
METSOLA: In the bureau. So, with the role of vice presidents, yes, there was a cost thing. But it's rare. But it actually happens, you know, that
you have an equal amount, exactly equal amount. We have a service in this house that focuses on voting plenary, it's sometimes very complicated,
sometimes very long. But the majorities --
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: -- buying everybody's heads together and say, oh, for God's sake, just get on with it?
METSOLA: Quite a lot. But I guess that's normal now. You know, you will see there are 705 members of European Parliament. You can see where everybody's
sitting. So, you know -- so we have Hemicycle here, which is, you know, a very nice one cozy, you can really -- and you can hear everything. You
could hear instance comments, compliments, everything.
QUEST: And it's all done by grouping, of course. Political grouping. The left to the right.
METSOLA: Yes. And then, so the majorities are sometimes right on the middle. We won't see today --
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: Where would you put yourself?
METSOLA: Well, I come from this political group. And I would put myself right --
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: Oh, wishy washy center.
METSOLA: No, nothing wishy washy about that. Pro-European.
QUEST: Wow.
METSOLA: So, this is a debate that's happening before. So, you have quite a lot to tell, the moment rule of law, big thing. If you hear someone
Spanish, it, you know, it's talking about Spain.
QUEST: It is the Parliament being (INAUDIBLE)
METSOLA: We have been extremely tough. This has been a parliament that has long looked for the rule of law. Conditions being met by all member states.
So, all countries and we use for that for many years. And that's thanks to this room where we look at each member sit and say, on this, you need to
improve. And we take credit for the fact that improvements have been made. A lot needs to be done in many countries. This is the discussion is
happening now.
And on everything we on -- with every single country, we negotiate with this class, and we go ahead.
QUEST: With a young family and a war, a crisis of corruption or whatever. How do you do it? I mean, that's what -- people are saying, either you are
Superwoman or you are mad, or you have extreme --
METSOLA: It's a little bit of both. Yes.
QUEST: Or you have extremely would help at home?
METSOLA: A little bit of everything. First, perhaps you could ask any man or father or any parents sitting opposite to you the same question. I've
always said that because I remember as a young candidate, then I was young, you know, little boys I had, two boys age two and one. The single question
people would ask me, are those poor boys? My answer would be, are you asking my husband the same thing? Nobody did. Nobody did.
So how do we do it? It takes loads of organization. Grandparents, I can say this. Under schedule that is practically inflexible.
[15:55:05]
Even though sometimes it has to become flexible.
QUEST: So, when you heard the Prime Minister of New Zealand and then the First Minister of Scotland, do you admire what they've done? And as you've
still got fuel in the tank, do you secretly think what's going to happen to me when I get too empty?
METSOLA: I think everybody should ask themselves that question. And it requires, you know, balance of everything and making sure that you give
yourself the time that -- for example, I take maybe 12 minutes of the day I have for myself to listen to audiobooks. I listen to political biographies.
That's my -- as boring as it sounds. That's what I love to read.
I will miss Jacinda. You know, I met her a few months ago. And I thought, she's one of the most amazing women I've ever met. I then thought that she
could, you know --
QUEST: So, were you disappointed? Where you -- little bit inside, that she had been proven to be human?
METSOLA: You know what I was disappointed about? The reaction to her saying that. That that's what they focused on, rather than on the fact that she
had twice been such a successfully elected prime minister, that she had managed a terror attack. So, what's so difficult but so skillfully with
such humanity, I wanted -- and I want us to focus on her legacy rather than on what you said on the last meeting when she said, I'm out.
And that's what I think we should do more of when we look at politics and politicians or anyone really, who says, this was my chapter. Now it's the
end of it.
QUEST: You've got a long -- you have a long way to go.
METSOLA: I don't know how many chapters left. But, you know, in politics, you always, you know, expect the unexpected and be ready for anything. It
could be anything.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: It could be anything. Let me show you into the first -- second -- first quarter. And here we go. We're up over 1.2 percent. Just about at
session highs were over 400 points higher, a moment or two ago. And the triple stack is also showing extremely good gains for the NASDAQ, which is
up 1.7 percent. I'll have a profitable moment for you after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Tonight's a profitable moment. Since I'm in London, it seems only fair and right that we're going to focus on the U.K. joining the CTTP or
whatever it is. It used to be the TTPs, the Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership. Now we may be thousands of miles away from London -- in
London, from Asia.
But the deal does make a certain sense. It's part of this idea that a renewed trade of Britain has to look for new markets and particularly those
that are growing. So, whilst at first blush, the numbers are extremely small in terms of the increase in trade. It is what it says about the
U.K.'s mindset. It is the ability of U.K. industry companies to take advantage and that was always going to be the question.
It came to the post-Brexit world. Just how prepared was Britain to actually take advantage of opportunities. We'll just call upon about what had been
lost.
[16:00:05]
And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for tonight. I'm Richard Quest in London. Whatever you're up to in the weekend ahead, I hope it is profitable. It's a
good day on Dow. The market is up heavily. Best of the day. Have a lovely weekend. I'll be back with you next week.
END
