Transcripts For MSNBCW The 11th Hour With Brian Williams 201

MSNBCW The 11th Hour With Brian Williams July 2, 2019

About his summit with kim jongun in the korean peninsulas demilitarized zone. Quote, it was great being with kim jongun this weekend. We had a great meeting. He looks really well and very healthy. In the meantime our teams will be work on solutions to long and persistent problems. No rush, but im sure well ultimately get this. The New York Times reports the administration is weighing whether to accept a deal that would limit north koreas arsenal. Quote, it would amount to a freeze, one that enshrines the status quo and accepts the north as a Nuclear Power something Administration Officials said they would never stand for. John bolton, who did not accompany his boss to the meeting, responded to the times reporting the denial, quote, neither the staff nor i have discussed nor heard of any desire to settle for a Nuclear Freeze by north korea. Meanwhile, trump is also wasting no time in comparing his strategy for north korea to the previous administration, claiming the obama officials sought meetings with the korean dictator but were rebuffed. President obama wanted to meet, and chairman kim would not meet him. The Obama Administration was begging for a meeting. They were begging for meetings constantly. And chairman kim would not meet with him. Reporter obamas former National Security adviser susan rice had something to say about that, quote, at the risk of stating the obvious, this is horse expletive. As we mentioned trump is escalating threats towards iran. Today tehran said it exceeded the limit for enriched uranium. That wont give iran enough to produce a single nuclear weapon, but it does move the country in that direction. Late today, trump was asked about this latest development. Any message to iran . No, no message to iran. They know what theyre doing. They know what theyre playing with, and i think theyre playing with fire. Moments after that, trump was asked about his planned salute to he recalls later this week in washington. You may recall he attempted to mount a military parade for two years but those plans had to be scrapped the New York Times write that the president believes, quote, the inclusion of tanks and other weapons in the july 4th celebration would transform the capital citys event into the celebration he wanted. After watching bastille day, he said, we may have one like that. He said. A Republican National committee spokeswoman confirmed the bloc received a grouch free tickets but wont say how many. Here for a leadoff discussion on a monday night, Ashley Parker for the the washington post. Gordon cheng, author of nuclear showdown, north korea takes on the world, and annie orny, White House Reporter with the New York Times. Gordon, i want to start with you about this tweet that the president sent out talking about kim jongun and how healthy he looks and how really, really well he is. What is that tweet an answer to . This is really strange. Its an answer to certain observers who were there yesterday and heard kim wheeze. You remember kim walked from what the North Koreans call the monkey house to the demilitarization line and over to the summit house. They said he was really winded and i think what President Trump was doing is responding to that narrative thats been carried on one of the other cable networks. Ashley, donald trump appeared this weekend, or at least he said this weekend he advanced u. S. Interests. Whats the word from white house staff on what actually happened . One thing thats been tricky is when they have been pressed publicly and privately, other than the fact that yes, it had the drama and the showmanship the president loves and it was historic in the fact that he became the first sitting president to walk into north korea they cant tangibly tell you what this actually means for u. S. Policy towards north korea, any deal or relationship with north korea, what has changed. You know, what sort of the new deliverable or goal is from the summit that fell apart in hanoi or the meeting in singapore. There frankly just is not a clear answer. Annie, the president was very dismissive of media efforts to question him about the meeting with kim jongun. Lets play a little of what head to say. You made this very public invitation to kim jongun. Will it be a bad sign if he doesnt show up . No. Of course i thought of that. If he didnt even was going same or similar circumstance oh, he was stood up. But chairman kim we have made tremendous slides. Only the fake news says we werent. A lot of progress has been made. I watched a lot of fake news. Its like the difference between day and night. They have no appreciation for whats been done. None. Annie, whats the big deal with the president . Why did he so badly want this meeting and the picture and the walk into north korea more than he seems to want to have some substantive agreement . Well, he likes firsts and he likes to be in the history books and he will now be in the history books to be the First American president to step foot over that line and into the soil. In these rebuttals to what he calls the fake news media, she has like ashley said, he continues to say we are getting it wrong, huge strides have been made, but theres no clear agenda that the white house is telling us was achieved. One piece of the puzzle that donald trump consistently overlooks is the wins hes giving to kim jongun by giving him the platform of meeting three times now with the american president as equals. That handshake was all over the north korean media. It was a huge propaganda win for kim jongun and donald trump liked the photos and pageantry as well, but he never really addresses that by meeting hymn, hes elevating kim jongun to be an equal leader of the free world and he doesnt seem to acknowledge that piece of the puzzle. Gordon lets address that. A former National Security aide to both president s bush and obama was quoted as saying in the the New York Times, the relationship has not become a lubricant, but an impediment because kim refuses to deal with officials blow trump. Shes right. After the singapore summit in june last summer they did set up working teams and the North Koreans decided not to have the discussions because he thought they would get a much better deal if they talked to President Trump. Thats been a theme. The one thing President Trump has done is who is not in that room, and that issue is the chinese. The chinese has been a maligned influence and have always been involved in our discussions with the North Koreans. Trump has pushed the chinese aside. They tried to get back into it. That was one of the themes at the osaka g20. Trump didnt take the bait. Theres a good side and a bad side to the personal diplomacy. We are going to have to see how it work out. To the extent that trump is embroiled in the trade war with china, which depending on what hour youre looking at it is getting worse or better does that meeting with kim jongun play into that . I think it does. Because xi jinping has been trying to dangle cooperation on north korea in front of trump to get trade. This is consistent chinese policy. They have been doing this for about a decade and a half. Its worked up until now. These issues of trade and north korea and maybe even the issue of hong kong are all going get mixed together and theyre going get solved or not solved together. Ashley i want to talk to you about an introduction the president made overseas where he introduced the secretary of state mike pompeo and his daughter ivanka trump to a gathering of u. S. Troops. Lets take a listen together. Come on, mike. And you know who else i have . Has anyone ever heard of ivanka . Come on up, ivanka. Shes going steal the show. What a beautiful couple. Mike. Beauty and the beast, mike. Ashley, you covered a lot of unusual things at the white house. A lot of weird things. That was a little bit weird. Sure. I mean, sort of the beauty and the beast on the one hand its a weird way to refer to your daughter. At the same time its kind of a trumpian flourish. I think the more stark thing was that the president was elevating his daughter, who is a senior white house adviser, but sort of on to the same footing as the secretary of state. And this entire trip was notable for the ways in which ivanka was intentionally elevated, was front and center, was, you know, playing a role in some ways almost of the first lady, a first lady would traditionally play, being in conversations with World Leaders, being in the meeting with the North Koreans, and this is the president , you know, making a very clear decision do this intentionally, deliberately. Its sending a signal to the world that if you are a Foreign Government and you want to deal with the president and this white house, maybe the best way is not through the National Security adviser or the secretary of state, but its through the president s children and his daughter. We saw some of the pictures indicated ivanka trump and Jared Kushner in prominent role this is weekend. She was caught in a conversation which has been shared around the internet several times because it sort of illustrated what ashley is talking about, the first daughter, implying herself into various important global discussions. Lets watch that. A lot of people start listening. And the same with the defense side in terms of the whole sort of business and very male dominant. Again, unusual, annie. That ivanka trump seems perhaps a little bit out of her depth in some of these conversations and these World Leaders are struggling to figure out what to do with her. The body language in that clip is really interesting to watch. You see la guard not making eye contact with her while shes speaking. They look like theyre being polite because its the president s daughter who hes elevated but it seems awkward in that they dont know shes a family member, a white house adviser, is she a diplomat . What is her actually job . Its still a question that remains unclear two and a half years into the conversation. One thing i noticed this generated criticism because it looks like ivanka is trying to insert herself in a place. In the beginning of this administration there was hope that jared and ivanka were the secret liberal saviors of the world. The progressives and liberals started to brand her as come police it when it turned out she wasnt changing the president s views on things. She didnt get him to stay in the paris accord and other things. She didnt seem to have any overt influence on him. Now the hashtag thats trending is unwanted ivanka, which is poking fun at her for trying to insert herself into situations where she has no place. It signifies to me how her role people assume shes all in for trump and now just dislike her because they think she has no right to be there and hasnt earned her place. Its interesting to see how the criticism shifted. Gordon, earlier i was looking for sound of the president for the president commenting on what the july fourth is going look like in washington. Lets play that. We were going to have a great fourth of july in washington, d. C. Like no other. Its going to be special. Its going to be about the country. Its an absolute to america. Im going to be here, say a few words. We are going to have planes going overhead. The best fighter jets in the world and other planes too. And we are going to have tanks stationed outside. Got to be careful because the roads tend not to like to carry heavy tanks. We have brand new sherman tanks, abram tanks and we have some incredible equipment, military equipment on display. Brand new, and we are very proud of it. Maybe mistaken. I dont know that we have brand new sherman tanks. This is part of the tough guy image. Likes talking about the military, propels that to World Leaders, until hes in the room with a world leader or next to a world leader. With mohammad bin salman it was all smiles and handshakes with vladimir putin, when telling him not to interfere in the election its smiles and winks. With kim jongun it was, as you saw, big smiles and hand shakes. Two sides to this president. They are. One thing about this military parade, the chinese and North Koreans do military parades. They take years to practice. Clearly ours are not going measure up to what the chinese and north korean normally do. Theyre going to be chortling. Im happy we are into military parades but this is what theyre going to be talking about. This is going to be awful for us. Ashley, whats going on with this military parade. Not the parade, but this military show of force . This has clearly been song on the president s mind since he was at the bastille parade in 2007. Hes wanted this to happen. Earlier i believe it was reported he wants some of these at his inaugurations. Look, the president is someone who likes pageantry. He likes parades, to kind of put it simply and bluntly. And he likes shows of military force. You mentioned before that he was cozy with putin and chairman kim and other the saudi leader. Few look at him generally, he does have a penchant for cozying up to strong men, and those are typically the people where an american president goes and tries to send over american diplomacy and american values. Thats not what the president does, but he has a fascination with strong men. With that comes the military and hes trying create that back in the united states. Once again, the fascination with strength and strong leaders, very tough and authoritarian. Part of it is this former reality tv star, this showman who just likes the flair and the pageantry and pomp of parades. Ashley parker thank you. Gordon cheng, annie carny. Thank you for helping us get started on a monday night. We now have evidence that Kamala Harris debate performance struck a chord. New numbers have her surging. Well show you the polling coming up next. Jared kushner once described russias meddling as a coup of facebook adds, but a new report claims that far from the truth. The 11th hour just Getting Started on a monday night. At comcast, we didnt build the nations largest gigspeed network just to make businesses run faster. We built it to help them go beyond. Because beyond risk. Welcome to the neighborhood, guys. There is reward. Beyond work and life. Who else could he be . There is the moment. Beyond technology. There is human ingenuity. Every day, comcast business is helping businesses go beyond the expected, to do the extraordinary. Take your business beyond. Brand new polling today from cnn chose Kamala Harris surging after her debate performance last week. Joe biden is still leading the democratic field with 22 , but hes down ten points since may while harris is up nine points. Senator Elizabeth Warren also up eight points the new poll reveals 41 of democratic voters think Kamala Harris did the best job in the debate. Thats well ahead of her competitors. Warren at 13 , biden at 10 and the New York Times reports republicans view harris as a threat. Quote, after her breakout performance in the democratic president ial primary debate thursday night, Trump Campaign aids and al lice acknowledge that had harris, a black former prosecutor from the donor ladened state of california could prove to be a vexing adversary. Back with us, Juana Summers and ken press from the the wall street journal. Juana lets start with you. Obviously there was going to be some movement after those debates. The polling seems to reflect what people were watching in that debate. A sense that on the first night, Elizabeth Warren did well, on the second night, Kamala Harris had a strong moment versus joe biden and that joe biden didnt deliver the performance of his life. Sure, i think thats right. I cover the Harris Campaign and from speaking to her aids in the aftermath of the debate its clear they felt like she had a strong performance. Its something they counted on and were telegraphing were weeks as a prosecutor and a member of congress who has really stood out because of her ability to question trump Administration Officials and appointees, they expected this to go write well for her. Youre seeing some of that bear out in that cnn poll. I think theyre particularly looking forward to continuing to draw contrasts from other candidates, i think the biggest moment of the debate was where she pressed the former Vice President on the issue of bussing and they had this fiveminute long back and forth. I think theyre going to be looking for more opportunities to draw sharp contrasts. Not just talk agent her political differences. He she also used to moment for her personal story, too. Ken, you were in the room when joe biden first, for better or worse, stepped in it by talking about his ability to talk with people with whom he doesnt share political views and talked about the senators from the south. At some point, now they he knows what Kamala Harris attack looks like, have that not be between them, race . The first debate means the second debate for joe biden will be extremely important. Hell have to be well prepared. But it shows the challenge that he has had. He has a very long record and when hes not talking about trump, when hes not able to talk about the future and he has to defend his record, hes in a difficult place, and his polling, you know, shows that, you know, with the decline that hes having. I would say in the poll, though, it does still show biden at 43 in terms of someone who voters think could defeat trump, so he still seems to have an edge against the field at large, but this shows just how fluid this race is and should be for the

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