Transcripts For CNNW Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer 20170601

Viewers in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. Announcer this is cnn breaking news. Breaking news tonight. A major decision by President Trump that may have huge global consequences. He just officially announced that the United States is withdrawing from the landmark paris climate agreement aimed at combatting Global Warming. The president says hes willing to negotiate a new deal thats more fair to americans but the backlash is already unfolding this hour. Also breaking. James comeys bomb shell testimony about his confrontations with the president. That will happen one week from today. The Senate Intelligence Committee Setting a date for the fired fbi director to speak publicly. Comey is expected to confirm that President Trump urged him to end his investigation of former National Security advisor michael flynn. Also tonight. Renewed focus on attorney general Jeff Sessions russia contacts. Cnn reporting that congressional investigators are exampling whether sessions had a third undisclosed meeting with the Russian Ambassador during the campaign. Two Senate Democrats now revealing that the asked the fbi to look into that matter, the possibility that sessions committed perjury. And Vladimir Putin, hes hinting that some russians may indeed have been responsible for u. S. Election meddling. The kremlin leader still flatly denies that a Government Role but he now suggests, patriotically minded private Russian Hackers may be to blame. Ill speak about all of that and much more with our guests including senator richard blumenthal, hes a democrat on the Judiciary Armed services committee. And our specialists are also standing by. Lets go to our White House Correspondent with more on the president s decision today to withdraw from the climate deal. Jim, a lot at stake for the president , a lot at stake potentially for the planet. Reporter for all of us and the Political Climate in washington more than the warming of the planet, the president did pull the u. S. Out of the paris accord. That puts the u. S. Along with in this case rogga and syria as the only countries not participating in the climate deal late this afternoon. White house officials could not even tell reporters whether the president even believes in Climate Change. With the earth hanging in the balance, President Trump stay trued to his political orbit, ending participation in the paris climate agreement. The. The United States with withdraw from the paris climate accord. Reporter after a fierce debate inside the white house, nationalist steve bannon who favored pulling out against his own daughter who advocated staying in, the administration will trier to hammer out a new climate deal, something of a consolation prize for ivanka. Were getting out but we will start to negotiate and we will see if we can make a deal thats fair and if we can, thats great. And if we cant, thats fine. Reporter the speech was steepd in Campaign Rhetoric as the campaign framed his choice as a win for American Workers. I was elected to represent the citizens of pittsburgh, not paris. Reporter and the nations mr. Trump accused of mocking the u. S. At what point does america get demeaned, at what point do they start laughing at us as a country . We want fair treatment for its citizens and we want fair treatment for our taxpayers. We dont want other leaders and other countries laughing at us any more and they wont be. Reporter the president s mood was cheered by conservative who feared the president would fail to keep a Campaign Promise time and again. Were going to cancel the paris climate agreement and stop unbelievable. And stop all payments of the United States tax dollars to u. N. Global warming programs. This is the moment we finally determine we would save our planet. Reporter former president obama who helped craft the paris deal criticized the decision saying, even as this administration joins a small handful of nations that reject the future, im confident that our state, cities and businesses will step up and do even more to lead the way and help protect for future generations the one planet weve got. Something the pittsburgh mayor tweeted he plans to do. The move is also being rejected by leading american ceos who had pleaded with the president to stay in the deal. Teslas is stepping down hes stepping down from the president s economic board. Climate change is real. Living paris is not good for america or the world. But the president s decision should come as no surprise. Hes tweeted in the past that Global Warming is a hoax created by the chinese to make the u. S. None competitive. Now its china european leaders warn who may reap the benefits. Translator we explained to mr. Trump that it would not be good for the world or the United States if america was to step off the world stage, because the vacuum will be filled and the chinese are in prime position to take on a leadership role. Reporter now ivanka trump and her husband were absent from the rose garden ceremony. They were observing a jewish holiday today but the official also noted that while ivanka stayed at home kushner chose to go to a meeting. When the president referenced a terrorist attack, please in ma mila just say it was a robbery and the president made that remark after being briefed by his National Security advisor, the white house appears to be blaming that on the National Security advisor. Thanks very much. Well have a lot more on the president s Climate Change decision. Thats coming up. Ill speak live with the president s chief Economic Advisor gary cohn who reported urged him to stay in the Paris Agreement. Well also be joined later this hour by the mayor of pittsburgh. Hes not happy that the president invoked his city to defend his withdrawal from the paris accord. Lets get to the russia investigation right now as anticipation clearly builds for james comey to break his silence next thursday, a week from today and testify openly about his private conversations with President Trump. Cnn Dianne Gallagher is following all the breaking developments for us. Members of the Senate Intelligence committee they certainly will have many questions for the fired fbi director. They certainly will. This is to say the least highly anticipated testimony that, remember, they werent sure was going to happen. So while senators are sure to grill comey on whether the president pressured him to go easy on now former National Security advisor michael flynn, also expect them to try and get answers about some other members of the administration as well. As long as hes giving permission by mr. Mueller to do so, theyre potentially we could have bomb she wills that begin to land next week. And when James Comey Testifies next thursday he could be asked about attorney general Jeff Sessions meeting with Russian Ambassador. Following cnns reporting that congressional investigators are companing whether session had an undisclosed meeting with the ambassador last year. If these allegations prove to be correct they would be very serious because afterall he failed to disclose his meetings with the Russian Ambassador when he testified so that is an enormously serious charge. Reporter today Democratic Senators al franken and Patrick Leahy released three letters in which they asked the fbi to investigate whether sessions lied to senators about previous meetings between sessions and kislyak, writing, quote, we are concerned about attorney general session lack of candor to the committee and his failure thus far to accept responsibility for testimony that could be construed as perjury. The department of justice responded saying the facts havent changed. The senator did not have any private or signed conversations with any russian officials at the may flour hotel. Former campaign carter page who the president recently tweeted would blow the democrats case away with his testimony was asked about his meetings with keesly yack. He was around for several days and i dont like talking about confidential information. Every one that was in that meeting had agreed that its off the record and were not going to disclose that. Reporter but the president tweeted today that the big story is about the unmasking and surveillance of people and house Intelligence Committee devin nunes tweeted this. Knew necessary who promises to step aside back in april after becoming the subject of a house ethics probe into whether he revealed classified intelligence targeting documents related to former obama officials in his probe of unmasking. We do oversight all the time of issues of unmasking and min maization so im not sure why there was a necessity to issue subpoenas to agencies that are already working with us unless the goal was to get publicity or to obscure the subpoenas that were going out in a bipartisan way. Reporter this as the u. S. Discusses whether to return these compound to russians after they were close last year by obama. Russian president Vladimir Putin also speaking out today suggesting he and President Trump arent friends. After stressing the two have never met. Translator he is a straightforward, sincere man. You cant really classify him as a traditional politician. He never worked in politics. Therefore, this is a person with a fresh view of things whether you like it or not, but theres always very often brings something good. Reporter now putin echoing what sounded like trump calling for a normalization of u. S. russia relationships and when it comes to the own personal relationships, the president wont be a able to say they havent met for long. The eyes of the world will be on that handshake. Thanks very much. Lets dig deeper right now in that possible third meeting between Jeff Sessions and the Russian Ambassador. Our chief National Security correspondent gym jim sciutto is part of the team that broke this story. Some members of congress seemed to be your reporting. What else you learning tonight . This is what we understand that congressional investigators as well as the fbi are looking into whether then senator Jeff Sessions had an additional private meeting with the Russian Ambassador. This in april 2016 at a larger event youre seeing some video there actually thats different video but a larger event at the may flour hotel in april of that year where President Trump gave his first major Foreign Policy speech. What theyre looking in to is whether before or after that meeting on the side there was a private meeting between sessions and the Russian Ambassador. They havent established it with certainty yet but theyre asking for more heres that meeting now. This is where trump gave that speech. So the question is at the Mayflower Hotel some where else in that building was a private meeting. Theyve asked sessions for more information including skengz as they seek to determine the answer to that question. Of course its relevant because earlier in his confirmation hearing he denied he had any meetings with russian officials. Then in march it was reported in the Washington Post he had two of them and he had to correct his testimony so the question now is was there another meeting that he is not closed. And tell us about whatever you can about what senators leahy and franken are asking the fbi to do . This is interesting, wolf, because after our story went to air last night, senator franken was interviewed and he revealed that he had sent letters to the fbi asking a very similar question and today cnn was the first to obtain those letters as it turns out, senators franken and leahy both members of the Judiciary Committee who of course was the body that confirmed sessions as the attorney general, they sent letters in march, april and may to the fbi asking the same question, was there another meeting that sessions had that he did not reveal, and because he had not revealed previous meetings whether it was possible that he had perjuried himself by doing so. So again what were learning then is theres another congressional body in this case the Judiciary Committee who is not taking sessions denial at face value, is asking for more information and is, in fact, asked the fbi to investigate it and as we reported last night we know the fbi is looking into this as part of their broader counterintelligence investigation. Very interesting. Great reporting, thanks very much. Lets get back to the breaking news on the president s decision today to withdraw from the paris climate agreement. Joining us now major richard blumenthal, hes a democrat. Senator thanks for joining us. Thank you, wolf. Let me get your reaction to the president s decision to have the United States pull out of the paris climate agreement, thats an agreement signed by nearly every other country on earth, nearly 200 countries, only two others have refused to sign. So what message did the president send to the rest of the world when this announcement . The message to the rest of the world is that the United States is abdicating leadership here. No one who abandons the field can fight and win and the United States essentially is going to sidelines in a small team of outliers like nicaragua and syria after working for years and years to enlist the rest of the world community. We heard for many, many years that there was nothing United States could do about Global Warming or Climate Change because china and india would not cooperate. Then 195 nations, including china and india joined this agreement and now we are becoming the outliers and abandoning it and were not only abandoning the agreement, were abandoning jobs and technology and innovation and the chinese are going to fill that gap and were going to lose jobs as a result. We know in connecticut because were at the forefront of job Creation Technology and innovation in this area and it will discourage that kind of innovation and investment but it will also mean that policies in washington will change and we will roll back efforts to make the air cleaner and the environment safer. The fallout could be enormous. Lets turn senator to another major story were following. Congressional investigators are now probing whether the attorney general Jeff Sessions had an undisclosed third meeting with russians ambassador to the United States, if it turns out that these meetings took place, do you believe the attorney general should resign as senators franken and leahy have suggested . If he has failed to be truthful yet again to the Judiciary Committee or to the public, he must resign. If he were in our shoes he would not tolerate this type of dis honesty. He testified falsely. He then corrected the record under oath. So this failure to disclose would be in effect a second instance of nontruthfulness and would require his resignation. Actually testify as should director comey and the white House Counsel but particularly after these questions have been raised, Jeff Sessions should come back as i have said he should before, but this new news makes it absolutely essential that he come back and clarify the record and explain why he failed to disclose these meetings. Following his recusal from the Russian Investigation in early march, the attorney general was asked by a reporter if there were any other meetings he failed to disclose. He responded and im quoting him now, i dont believe so. You know, we meet a lot of people. I dont believe so. Heres the question. Is meeting with a lot of people an adequate defense in this case . No, it is not because were talking here about the Russian Ambassador. These russian conversations and meetings were a focus of intense interest, both publicly and privately and he had an obligation to be careful and complete about his disclosures and wolf, there is a broader larger pattern here, which is concealment of conversations with the russians. Flynn did it on his disclosure and confidential clearance forms, then of course theyre now allegations that kushner did it and sessions as well. There is a concealment pattern here and the question is what are they hiding . Senator blumenthal, thanks for joining us. Thank you. Coming up. Why did the president reject the advice of some of his closest advisors and pull out of the paris climate agreement. Ill ask his chief Economic Advisor gary koenl. Hell join us live, stay with us. Come on, check out that stopandpop what do you think . My tradeoff analytics indicate no one creates more space on offense. This allows him to nail a jumper from a densely populated urban area. What youre trying to say is from way downtown . I am still learning. I can see that. I am still learning. Theres nothing more than my vacation. Me so when i need to book a hotel room, i want someone that makes it easy to find what i want. Booking. Com gets it. They offer free cancellation if my plans change. Visit booking. Com. Booking. Yeah. When heartburn hits fight back fast with new tums chewy bites. Fast relief in every bite. Crunchy outside. Chewy inside. Tum tum tum tum new tums chewy bites. The breaking news tonight, President Trump says hes pulling the United States out of the paris climate agreement despite global opposition including Many American Business Leaders who strongly oppose that decision. The withdraw process starts today but it will take more than three years to fully complete. Lets get some more with our specialists and our analysts. Take us inside the west wing, the white house. What are you hearing from your sources about how President Trump came up with this decision . Well, i mean a lot of it has played out in public just because of the fact that it was delayed so many times, his decision. But my understanding is that despite the fact that the people who have been speaking in public from ceos to World Leaders to even members of his own cabinet and family, they have been doing it in private. Trying to get him to say, you know what . Never mind, im not going to pull out of the Paris Agreement and he wasnt having it at all. I talked to one source that said he was 10,000 nonnegotiable on this because he said to people who were trying to convince him and, by the way, this attempt to convince him to reverse course was going on even as late as today. People who know him well calling him saying, please, change your minds. And his answer was much like he said in the rows garden, that he feels that america got a raw deal on this global agreement and that america is a laughing stock because of it and that he wants in order to renegotiate it, if he can, he has to pull out of it. So that was really his argument and i think, wolf, you know, because youve been covering donald trump since he was a businessman as well, this is something hes been pretty consistent on, when i say this im not talking about Climate Change, the notion of america getting raw deal after raw deal after raw deal on Multilateral International agreements whether it was trade or Something Like this, and so he felt like this is something that he was he would stick to. I have to say that the people i was talking to who were trying to convince him were shocked that he went so far in when he gave his speech and didnt even give even a leaf not necessarily an olive branch to those who thought he should stay in on the notion of Climate Change. Good point. Gloria theres been a lot of backlash already. Certainly president obama very opposed but even a bunch of republicans like susan collins. Did the president make the right calculation here . If youre talking about a political calculation as opposed to a global calculation, if youre asking me a political question, i will say that this is what donald trump promised during the campaign that he would do over and over again, and this is part of was part of his America First platform and as he said very clearly today, he was elected to represent the citizens of pittsburgh, not paris. Even though did not win pittsburgh as we know during the election, but he made it very clear and he said that there has been a massive redistribution of United States wealth to other countries and that he wanted to stop it. This is the language of his campaign. This is this is something his supporters believe in very strongly and so i think as he was listening to these other points of view, he listened to a lot of people, but he came from a perspective where this is what i promised and this is what i want to do, so its not a surprise and if he wants to keep his base happy, the next step is hes got to deliver. If he says this was a job killer, he has to prove now that he can be the job creator as a result of pulling out of this accord. When you look at this you want to weigh in . I understand why we view these matters in political terms and whats good for his base and whats not good for his base. The climate doesnt care about our politics. The climate is going to keep getting warmer and aunt ar ticka is going to melt and were going to have floods and our climate is going to change. Thats all going to happen and we are either going to prepare for it and try to amill rate it or were not and thats what seems to be the crucial fact here, not, you know what his base is going to be happy or not. Wolf, was asking me the political question and when jay tapper today asked the epa administrator, mr. Pruitt about whether the president believes in Climate Change he didnt really answer the question. Im sorry. The other thing is this is going to go on without the United States and thats the point. Globally you already had germany, italy and france say that this is not going to be renegotiated. China, a newspaper there that tends to say what the government would say, called this selfishness and they will step up to the plate where the United States has vacated it. The fact that were stepping back, doesnt mean there wont be progress. Very quickly. Our economy is bigger than all those places so the fact that were not going to make the changes that we were trying to make means that Global Warming is going to continue at a somewhat greater pace. Everybody stand by. Theres a lot more happening on the breaking news. The environmental and the economic implications of the president s decision to withdraw from the climate agreement. Ill speak live with the president s chief Economic Advisor, gary cohn. Also joining us later this our, the mayor of pittsburgh. Hes fuming that the president cited his city to justify quitting the paris accord. Well, that it feels like hes a part of our team. With one phone call, he sets me up with tailored products and services. And when my advisor is focused on my tech, i can focus on my small business. Itthat can make a worldces, of difference. Expedia, everything in one place, so you can travel the world better. Thithis is the new new york. E . Think again. We are building new airports all across the state. New roads and bridges. New mass transit. New business friendly environment. New lower taxes. And new University Partnerships to grow the businesses of tomorrow today. Learn more at esd. Ny. Gov and its also a story mail aabout people and while we make more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget. That your business is our business the United States postal service. Priority you were getting new reaction this hour to the breaking news. President trump officially announcing that the United States is pulling out of the paris climate agreement. The president saying hes open to renegotiating the accord which he calls a bad deal for americans, a deal he says that costs american jobs, but tonight World Leaders say the agreement wont be renegotiated including word from several of americas closest alleys. Joining us now the chief Economic Advisor to President Trump, gary cohn. Thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for having me, wolf. Its a pleasure. Lets get through some specifics. Last week you said the president was evolving on Climate Change but he just pulled out of an agreement that post experts believe is the best hope for preventing its worse effects. Does President Trump still believe Climate Change is a hoax . President trump believes is he was elected to grow the u. S. Economy and provide great Job Opportunities for american citizens. What he believes he did today was do exactly that. Hes always been committed to the American Workers and american jobs and the American Economy and this is part of his approach to grow the u. S. Economy. But he has said repeatedly during the campaign, he said very often that it was a hoax. At one point he tweeted the concept of Global Warming was created by and for the chinese in order to make u. S. Manufacturing noncompetitive. He tweeted ice storms roll from texas to tennessee and its freezing. Global warming is a total and very expensive hoax. Does the president still believe that . Wolf, as i said, what the president is committed to doing is protecting the United States and growing our economy. We started out talking about regulation and regulatory reform. We moved on to tax and tax reform and he is committed to growing our economy and providing better Job Opportunities for American Families and American Workers and that is what the president is committed to doing. But with all due respect, youre not answering the question. Do you know, have you discussed this with the president , does he still believe that Climate Change, Global Warming is a hoax . Im answering what the president s committed to. I know hes very committed to his role as president of the United States and being the leader and he believes his number one priority is to grow our economy and grow opportunities for our citizens. He commented today in his speech about the environment and his commitment to the environment. So is that a no, he no longer believes what he tweeted during the course of the campaign and years earlier that its a hoax . Look, youre going to have ask him. Youre going to have to ask him. I dont know what he was believing when he did that or didnt do that. I know what he believes today. I know what he believes in today about the economy and jobs and American Workers and creating a better america for our citizens. I would love to ask him that question. Weve invited him clearly many times to join us here on cnn. I would love to get his thoughts and thats a sensitive, very important issue. I want to move on. There was some stark disagreement inside the white house between those who supported the Paris Agreement and those who wanted the president to announce the u. S. Was pulling out. Youre seen as someone who was more of a globalist than an isolationist. Are you being forced, gary, to come out publicly support a decision with which you personally disagree . I am working the white house. I am here to support President Trump and im here to support him and his administrative decision. Im happy to be out here tonight speaking to you and be talking about what we are doing, again, for the American Economy. Ive been actively involved in regulatory reform. Ive been actively involved in tax reform. Im actively involved in all of the president s policies and i very much believe we have a unique opportunity to drive our economy ford forward and make america a great place tor our citizens. Only last week you said that coal in your words doesnt even make that much sense any more. Thats sharply different than what the president s rhetoric is all about. He wants to bring back coal jobs. He said as much in his speech today. Heres the question. Is he ignoring your advice . So wolf, i dont think thats what i said we wont even argue that. What i was talking about is the free markets. Im very much of a free marketer and when i made the comment about coal, i was talking about the price of coal today and in the world we live in today, we have made such unbelievable Technological Advancements in the world of natural gas and fracking that we are in a unique position in the United States where we have abundant supply of natural gas. Natural gas has become so cheap today in the free and open market that we enjoy in the United States that it has become the cheapest feed stock we have. It wont always be that way. I believe in all forms of feed stock. I believe that every one of the Energy Components in the u. S. Is an Important Energy component and in the cyclical nature of the world we live in, all of these different fee stocks at some point well make enormous amount of sense. I believe we should have a very diversified environments in the United States. Youre the president s chief Economic Advisor as you know, Major American Companies including Energy Companies like exxonmobil, they supported the paris climate agreement. They didnt want the u. S. To pull out of it, the ceos of g. E. , apple, so many other Companies Said pulling out would be bad for American Business. So explain and youre an expert, why the president is right and all of those Business Leaders are wrong . So, wolf, what the president did here and what is important to understand is when we came to the white house we inherited c. O. 2 targets to 26 to 28 by 2015 that were just unrealistic. We cannot get there in the United States without regulating carbon usage in this country. We do not want to be in the position of regulating carbon usage. We want to be in the position of growing economy and growing jobs which can really happened here and what you have to understand is we as a country have done an unbelievable job on diminishing our carbon output by ourselves. Our technological advantages and natural gas is putting us in a place where since 2006 weve already decreased weve increased natural gas that our Carbon Footprint is down by 12. 5 already. Were continuous decreasing our carbon output every year. We are one of the best environmental sound countries in the world today. All right. So you disagree clearly with those Business Leaders who say this was a major blunder on the part of the president. I know were almost outful time, the chief you were the chief operating officer at Goldman Sachs. The ceo, a man you know well, he just tweeted this and ill put it up on the screen. Todays decision is a setback for the environment and for the u. S. s leadership position in the world. What do you say to that . I didnt know he tweeted, first of all. What do i say to him, look, i think that the United States is a leader. Were a leader in technology. What were doing in this country and our new technological wave in what Silicon Valley has done in the entrepreneurial capital that we have done in modernizing our energy fleet and looking at solar and looking at all the new evolution thats happened, we are ahead of almost every other nation out there. Many other nations in the Paris Agreement are still increasing their co2 output. You take a big nation that we compete against, theyre not going to peek their co2 output until 2030. 13 years from now. Weve been going out every year by 1. 4 . Well continue to do that. You know, lloyd, well, it was his first ever tweet today. It was his first ever tweet. See. I didnt know he tweeted. He tweeted. He was very disappointed in the president s decision. I know you will got to go. Let me give you one final question, today the president said he has created one million new jobs since taking office but the bureau of labor statistics says only half a million jobs have been added to the economy since the president took office. So where are the other half a million jobs that the president is taking credit for . Where are they . I think the president was using the stats that came out this morning, the adp numbers that came out this morning. I think thats where that stat came from. But those are different than the bureau of labor statistics. Thats part of the government. Dont you support the bureau of labor statistics . Of course we support the government, but some of those numbers arent official yet for last month. So youre standing by what the president said that theres another half a million jobs that have been created since hes taken office that the bureau of labor statistics isnt familiar with . Im standing by if you add up the adp numbers you would get to the numbers that the president put in his speech today. Theres another half million just created this past month. The president talked about private sector jobs. Im not going to get in here and debate jobs. The government numbers talking about government jobs as well and the government could be losing jobs. Theres a lot of numbers that go around when you Start Talking about jobs and job creation. Which is a fair point and well leave it on that note. Thanks so much for joining us. My pleasure. Well definitely want you back. The breaking news continues here in the situation room. President trump cites pittsburgh in his decision to leave the paris climate agreement and the mayor is hitting right back. Hes standing by live. Well discuss when we come back. Positive role in what was going on in the world. Theres a jacket thats reflective for visibility. A sleeping bag jacket, jackets that turn into tents. 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Lets get some more with the mayor of pittsburgh, thanks so much for joining us. Thank you for the invitation. He said he was elected by the voters of pittsburgh, not paris. Your reaction to when you heard that. Youre the mayor of pittsburgh. Is this what the people of your beautiful city want . Well, let me say first i heard that he was not supporting the Paris Agreement and i was pretty upset and then i started getting a lot of questions about his reference to pittsburgh. The city of pittsburgh voted for Hillary Clinton with nearly 80 of the vote. He may be talking about all of western pennsylvania, but its a far cry from being pittsburgh. Pittsburgh in the past 30 years has come back from a depression. We had unemployment nearly 19 . We know what its like to have a very, very bad economy. But at the same time we didnt invest in our past, we invested in our future. We are the example of what the Paris Agreement could mean to jobs in the economy for the United States. And for him to use pittsburgh as the example, i can only say that it was a far stretch at best. So what will this decision mean as far as jobs in your city are concerned this, this decision by the president . It means a lot for jobs in this country. We realize where the world is going and its moving toward Renewable Energy very quickly. Under the Previous Administration we had gone into the mou to start to build out direct energy grids, basically a grid of microgrids around all of our large development. Were working with the university of pittsburgh in order to be able to capitalize on that and with Melon University and our companies that are located right here. Now, that basically means that funding will not be available, that goals that we have set will not be met and it doesnt mean that the worlds not going to still follow through with the Paris Agreement. It means those jobs and those companies will be financed in germany. I was going to say, mr. Mayor, Climate Change clearly a global challenge. How do you believe the president s decision will effect the fight against Climate Change. I think that those that have been at the front lines for the past 20 or more years now have a more serious commitment to make toward it, and were not going to find the help in the federal government, which means that citys around this country will ban together and ive been talking to mayors around the country who agree. We are all going to follow the Paris Agreement. Tomorrow ill issue an executive order saying that pittsburgh will meet our 2023 goals. Pittsburgh will meet our 2030 goals. Well still follow through and the basics of this and i was in paris. I was there with 500 mayors from around the world, the largest gathering of mayors ever in earths history. And the actual implementation of paris wasnt going to happen in washington any ways. It was going to happen in the cities around this country, and well double down and make sure it does. Thanks so much for joining us. Good luck to all the folks in pittsburgh. Thanks, wolf. Thank you very much. Lets get some reaction, lets get some analysis from our panel. Once again gloria you just heard the mayor of pittsburgh, a very different assessment than the president s chief Economic Advisor gary cohn. Your thoughts. He thinks that now theyre going to have to go it on their own as he just said to you. He feels that the president was clearly wrong but i think, you know, this is a challenge for democrats to start making the case as this mayor is doing on Environmental Issues and relating that to job creation and job growth and that is something they didnt do very well during the campaign, because it became an issue of, oh, youre the elite and youre against the coal miners in west virginia, and that is, i know, that is a case that democrats have to say its not true. Pittsburgh has a great working class and this is about jobs forren. So the mayor makes a good point, thats its going to have to start from the ground up this time. Dana bash, why is it so hard for white house officials to say that the president no longer believes that Climate Change is a hoax . Every many times hes undermined them with a tweet, so if i were working at this white house, i would do the same thing, and especially Something Like this, which is so incredibly controversial. The president started saying this on bit thor in 2012, maybe before that. They dont want to go there, especially somebody like gary kohn that its hard to believe that he thinks that Climate Change is a hoax, manmade or otherwise. Dont the American People deserve to know whether or not the president Still Believes that Climate Change, Global Warming is simply a hoax created by china . Absolutely, because its starting to affect their lives by pulling out of this agreement. One of the things that struck me that are gary kohn said, when you ask him one of the questions about america not leading anymore, he referenced silicon voofl. Well, youre going to start seeing World Leaders like perhaps in france reaching out to some of these companies to perhaps bring them over to their countries where there might be a more progressive Climate Change agenda. So that is one area where this could definitely backfire for this. Because youre seeing it because the large part of these companies believe that the United States should have stayed in the paris climate agreement. Gloria, the reaction from allies around the world, pretty stark right now, including the new president of france, emanuel macron. He tweeted clearly a snub at the president , to make the planet great again. Thats direct. Our president took a swipe at allies by talking about how the United States has essential live been used and how theyre not contributing their fair share. This sort of conspiratorial view of the rest of the world against america and that he would fight back on that. And so i think the point is, when you have American Business and the ceo you mentioned Goldman Sachs obviously, to gary kohn but when you have the ceo of general electric, exxon, chevron, on and on, apple, American Companies being opposed to what the president has done very strongly, youre going to see alliances pop up individually with european allies, i think, and if i were in europe, i would take advantage of that quite frankly. Yeah. And you know go ahead, jenna. The president s whole argument today was economic. And thats the main reason why he says that hes pulling out of paris, but theres something that president s before him, republican and democrat, alike, took into consideration that was beyond economics and that is a moral responsibility and a feeling that the United States should be a leader in the world. And this is one of those issues which is probably why youre seeing the kind of reaction from paris and all the other countries around the woshld who are part of this agreement that they cant believe what theyre seeing. They are used to that kind of United States. But thats not Donald Trumps United States. Thats not what he ran on. And this, to me, is the first major indicator, even more so than the travel ban because the travel ban was about the United States and what it means bn within these borders, but the first major indicator of donald trump and his Campaign Promises coming to fruition and seeing the implications for that for the United States as a global leader. You know, jackie what does it say about the role of steve bannon in this white house . Hes coupling come roaring back. I feel just a few weeks ago we were faulking ability how the more globalist members of the administration were rising and were getting a foot hold and this is something that steve bannon pushed. He reminded the president over and over again that this is what he promised, that this is what is standing up for the little guy looks like. And certainly now hes laying low because Steve Bannons also been burned by looking like he was taking credit for things. Can only lie with the president and this white house, the credit. That said, he really has reestablished himself as a force to contend with in this white house. He certainly seems to have done that exactly. Because you remember, gloria, the president at one point not that long ago having referred to sim simply as a guy who works for me. Well, and he still works for him. But this is clearly steve bannon triumphant. I dont know if you saw him today in the pictures, but he had a big smile on his face. This was something he was clearly pushing. I think he was on the downside when he was fighting with jared curb her. But i think also this is pure donald trump. This is trumpism. This is what donald trump believes. This is what he wanted to do. Spoke with a lot of people but in the end he did what he had to do, he thought. Yep. I want to end our program tonight with a celebration of cnns birthday. 37 years ago today on june 1st, 1980, ted turner launched the first 24hour Cable News Network dedicating the news channel for america. Teds boldt idea changed the world and the mission of this network has never been more important than it is today. Ted certainly alsoing changed the lives of all of us who have worked for cnn. Tonight we want to thank ted, thank all our viewers here in the United States and around the world. Erin burnett out front starts right now. Next breaking news. President trump pulls out of the prisz climate deal. He wants to renegotiate. World leaders say no way. Plus did the attorney general lie to congress about his meetings with the Russian Ambassador . We have new breaking details tonight. The date now set for the former fbi director jim comey to testify. Could the president of the United States block him . Lets go out front. Good evening, im erin burnett. Out front thoent, the breaking news, the United States out. President trump appearing late today in the rose garden announcing he is withdrawing the United States