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Interview with Representative Jim Jordan; Trump and Macron Head to Presidential Palace in Paris; Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired July 13, 2017 - 10:30   ET

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


[10:30:00] REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH), FREEDOM CAUCUS MEMBER: Maybe we will learn something. Maybe I'll be proven wrong. But we'll learn. I'd like to at least have them come in and ask questions, answer our questions because there's the piece in "Forbes" talks about some of the methodology used. I think it's suspect.

HARLOW: All right. Congressman, how do you help these folks? Politics aside, you know, we know $45 billion more it looks like is going to be in this Senate version for opioid addiction and recovery. Is that enough? I mean, how are you going help the people in your community that are reeling right now?

JORDAN: Resources can certainly be part of the solution. But I think a lot of it, too, is families, churches, communities coming together, the right kind of counseling, the right kind of support system. I mean, that is probably more important than just financial resources.

All of that together is how you help them. And we need to make sure we can do all we can. But let's keep it all in context.

HARLOW: Congressman Jim Jordan, appreciate you sticking around.

JORDAN: You bet. Thank you.

HARLOW: Thank you for the time.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:35:02] HARLOW: All right. You are looking at live pictures right now. President Trump and President Emmanuel Macron of France. They are at Les Invalides that they have just toured Napoleon's tomb, along with the first ladies. Now they are back outside, just the two of them.

This, as they head to Elysee Palace a little bit later today before for that press conference. It is scheduled for noon Eastern Time. And then the four of them will dine together tonight in the Eiffel Tower.

Let's go to our White House reporter, Sara Murray.

If only, Sara, there were a microphone right there.

(LAUGHTER)

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: If only there were a microphone. Right? So we are now awaiting their arrival. This should be the next stop for President Trump and President Macron. We should be able to see them arrive here and then they'll of course have their bilateral meetings.

The main topic are expected to be Syria and counterterrorism. But you never know. President Trump has the tendency to talk about whatever he feels like and we know Emmanuel Macron has strong feelings about the U.S.'s decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord So those are certainly things that could come up. And then, then come the questions from the press. It will be another two-and-two. Two questions from the American press, two questions from the French press.

And you can bet that someone is going to get in a question to President Trump about his son's meeting with this Russian lawyer that came about with a string of e-mails that suggested that the Russian government was out to help President Trump. It's all written down there in black and white and Donald Trump Jr. took the meeting anyway.

Now President Trump has given a couple of interviews, given his thoughts on it essentially said he doesn't really blame his son, anyone would take that meeting. They were drinking from a fire hose at that stage in the campaign.

This will be the president's first time in front of the cameras in public possibly fielding that question. And not just the question of that meeting but why he and other White House officials gave blanket denials saying there were no contacts with Russian officials. No meetings with Russian officials and then we see time and time again that it's not just the president's son. It was also his son-in-law, senior adviser Jared Kushner. It was the attorney general.

A number of these administration officials who did in fact have contact with Russian officials that they failed to disclose previously -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Sara Murray, thank you very much.

Again, you are looking at live pictures of President Trump and President Macron here having their conversation.

Let's bring in our panel. Bakari Sellers is with us, CNN commentator, Alice Stewart, CNN political commentator, Republican strategist, Mary Katharine Ham, CNN political commentator, senior writer for "The Federalist," and we also I believe have our Mark Preston here, as we get them up.

Let me go to you -- let me go to you, Mary Katharine Ham. We're looking at these pictures. All smiles. All cordial. We don't have a microphone as I said. So we have no idea what the two are talking about. But what do you think is the thing of key importance heading into the press conference? MARY KATHARINE HAM, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, I think it

matters as we were talking about earlier who gets picked to ask questions. I do think this is a global story that people want to ask about his problems on the home front and this e-mail that Donald Trump Jr. released.

I think there's the question, too, he's always unpredictable in a press conference setting. He may just stick to talking about the stuff he talked about with Macron. But I think there's an element to this, too, that's interesting to me, when it gets close to his family, he reacts differently to things. His children, in particular he's obviously very protective and loving towards. And so I think that might throw an interesting twist.

HARLOW: That's a really important point.

Mark Preston -- do we have Mark Preston? Mark Preston as well. Katharine brings up -- Mary Katharine brings up a great point, and that is his family because this now, this Donald Jr. situation and these e-mails and this meeting with the Russian lawyer not only includes his son, it includes his son-in-law and one of his closest advisers, Jared Kushner.

So how are you -- what are you looking for in the president's response the first time he will hold a press conference since all of this news broke?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, one thing we do know about President Trump is at times he can be very unrestrained and he can go off script. And of course we've seen that time and time again.

This is one of the instances, though, where we've seen him to be very measured in what he has said about his son, what he has said about this issue, specifically when it comes to Twitter. Now when he takes the questions from the United States press, you know, shortly, it will be interesting to see how he actually responds.

If he responds in a very measured tone, it means that the president is taking the advice of his lawyers and he is being very careful with what words he chooses to use. If he's not, it means that he's not taking advice from his lawyers and that could open a whole another can of worms.

So there is, of course, a lot of pressure on President Trump. And it's worth noting while all of us in the United States are watching what he says, people all around the world are watching what he says, specifically in capitals and specifically in Moscow.

HARLOW: So, Bakari Sellers, to you, I mean, both of these men, they have a lot in common. Obviously shared security interests on the global front when it comes to terrorism. The situation in Syria, they have many shared economic interests.

[10:40:03] At the same time, you've got two new presidents, two alpha males, for sure, as we play out with the now world famous white knuckle handshake, and both unconventional.

What do you think is a win from both of them?

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN COMMENTATOR: Well, let me tell you what they don't have in common, Poppy. And let's start there. What they don't have in common is favorability ratings. President Macron is respected not only in France but he's also respected throughout the world. You have Donald Trump who's struggling here at home, hovering between 30 percent and 40 percent favorability. And we saw just after last week at the G-20 where many people look at America as being in a place of isolation.

But this is where Donald Trump excels. He excels in these one-on-one meetings where he's able to look presidential, where he had the setting and a backdrop which kind of reinforces this alpha male dominating type characteristic that he so thoroughly enjoys.

I think today both men are going to come out and do exactly what they went there for, to have these photo-ops, to have these moments of prestige. And when they leave, Donald Trump is still going to be covered with this cloud that's known as Russia and he's still going to have low approval ratings which is going to drive him insane.

And President Macron is going to leave and he's going to have still very high approval ratings in France and abroad and he's going to be looked at as someone who stood up to Donald Trump. So I think both men are going to go and get what they came with.

HARLOW: Alice Stewart, you are a communications whiz. You ran the communications shop working with Ted Cruz. We know that Donald Trump is sort of his own communications director, let's be honest. However, if you think back to the last time he was overseas which was just last week, and that speech he gave in Warsaw, in Poland, the headlines out of them were all positive, even his critics were having a hard time finding anything negative to say.

But then the headlines about the press conference that he held just a few hours before were completely opposite. The president is not giving a big speech like he did in Warsaw on this trip, but he is holding a press conference in just a few hours. Your advice would be?

ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: To focus on the issues at hand. I think he came away from Warsaw on tremendous footing. And I expect the same out of this trip to Paris. And what we're seeing already with two new leaders, as Mark had mentioned, is that we're going to find out at the end of the day, that it's much better to talk with someone than about them. And that's what we've had a great deal between the two of them.

And I think going into the news conference today I expect the president to call on a couple of friendly reporters that will ask questions about the news of the day. And I expect the French president to call on someone who will ask about climate change.

But I think it's important for the president to keep on message, talk about how he and Macron are going to work together with regard to counterterrorism and defeating ISIS in Syria and working together on many issues.

Also, with regard to the climate change, it's a great opportunity for him to reinforce his commitment all along to pulling out of the Paris Accord for simple reason. He supports American workers, American industry as well as our economy. But at the same time, he supports clean energy, protecting the environment and growing the economy. And these were not mutually exclusive.

So it's a good opportunity to reinforce the shared interest of us and France but also highlight why he's done what he's done that has caused some heartburn overseas.

HARLOW: Mark Preston, to you, is there a lesson here for President Trump in watching the press conference that Emmanuel Macron held with Vladimir Putin at Versailles where he certainly did not hold back? He really lit into Putin. Now given, this is a different relationship, but is there something to learn here about who he is dealing with now on the world stage?

Very different than President Duda of Poland who, you know, is not only on the same page with the president on a lot of fronts, very populist, nationalist, but also someone who is anything but friendly to the media, calls out fake media just like President Trump. So he's standing next with someone very different now.

PRESTON: That's a really -- it's an excellent question because as we see these pictures of these two men walking around. And we know they don't necessarily get along. What we hear from President Trump all the time, when he talks about his interactions with Vladimir Putin is that he pushed back on him. He asked many questions and he wouldn't allow Vladimir Putin to get away with talking about the election rigging or to say he didn't do it.

What we saw from the French president, though, is he actually did it in public. Right? He actually called Putin on the carpet and really stood his ground.

You are looking at two different personalities right now. You are looking at Donald Trump who's 71 years old. You've got the French President Macron at 39 years old. These are two men that have different visions about how things should happen globally, how a country should interact. But there is this shared vision. And I do think that this connective tissue is extremely important, and this is why you won't see or why you should see right now these two gentlemen getting along.

[10:45:06] That's the fact is, is that there's this war on terror. It's global. It's affecting both of these nations. And quite frankly, we haven't said this enough today, this is the 100th anniversary of the United States entering World War I.

HARLOW: It is.

PRESTON: So if you go back historically and see what our relationship is with France and Great Britain and other European nations, it says something about going forward when it comes to the fight on terror. HARLOW: It absolutely does. And that is of critical importance to

every single American and every single -- every single person in France as well, is how can these two countries maintain that strong relationship when it comes to fighting terror on a global front.

If you are just joining us, you're looking at pictures from moments ago of President Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, coming out of their motorcade as they met with President Macron.

Now you're looking at live pictures of the president's motorcade departing Les Invalides after touring Napoleon's Tomb. They are going to be driving to the Elysee Palace, which is just about 15 minutes away.

Let's go to our senior international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, who is in Paris. As you're watching this. So now the next stop on their two-day very full schedule, what is significant about where they are going now? This is ahead of the press conference.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. This gets a little bit more real. This is the sort of the tour of the light conversation, the strolling across the cobbled courtyard with Macron with his arms folded and President Trump with his arms gesticulating, making a point that double tap on the back of President Macron's back by President Trump, a sort of warm gesture there as they were walking up.

But now they go to, you know, the place where official business gets done. And we talked here about President Putin, they both met him recently. So, you know, there will be a chance for them both to compare notes and undoubtedly on that issue and on the issue of Ukraine, President Macron is really going to want to understand President Trump's positioning because on the face of it, they both have the same position when it comes to Ukraine, that they support the Minsk Agreement that was put in place by the Normandy Four, France, Germany, Ukraine and of course President Putin of Russia as well.

The United States supports the Minsk Agreement that sanctions should stay on Russia until Russia meets that agreement. But what else? What broader picture is there in President Trump's mind following his conversation with Vladimir Putin. That's something that President Macron will certainly want to get a sense of. They'll be feeling each other out, feeling where the commonalities and differences begin and end.

And another one that might come into the conversation that we haven't really talked about here today, tomorrow not only Bastille Day, it's the second anniversary of the Iran nuclear deal, which of course France and the United States both party to, something President Trump has criticized heavily on the campaign and subsequently, something France has been very quick to move in swiftly to Iran and signature business deals there. Significant business deals with Iran.

So, again, that will be an issue that Macron will want to sort of prove President Trump on to know what his limits, what his thresholds are, what his intentions are with Iran and the nuclear deal going forward.

The anniversary, again, of that, the second anniversary, is tomorrow. So it would seem to be difficult to escape that part of their conversation as well.

HARLOW: That's an important point. Nic Robertson, thank you so much, live from Paris.

As the president, President Trump is traveling over to the Elysee Palace, the office of President Macron. Right near the Champs- Elysees. We'll bring you back for more of that in just a moment. Stay with us. This is CNN special live coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:53:25] HARLOW: As we promised, live pictures from just a few moments ago, the president, President Trump, President Macron, arriving at Elysee Palace there in Paris. They've just driven from Les Invalides where they toured the Tomb of Napoleon to the Elysee Palace.

This of course is the office of President Macron. It has been the office of the president of France since 1848. So as with so much in Paris, a lot of history there.

You see them acknowledging all the cameras that are out as they enter for their talks. This all ahead of a joint press conference they will hold in just over an hour's time.

Meantime, hard turn here, to sports. Sam Querrey's magical run at Wimbledon continuing after an upset win against Andy Murray. The 29- year-old is the first American man to make it to the semifinals since 2009.

Andy Scholes in this morning's "Bleacher Report."

Good morning.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Poppy.

Sam Querrey is trying to become the first American man to win Wimbledon since Pete Sampras did it 17 years ago. He's now just two wins away after beating top seeded Andy Murray yesterday. Querrey has now defeated the top seeded defending champion at Wimbledon two years in a row. He beat Novak Djokovic last year.

And Querrey, from California, and a fun fact about him. He once went on the reality TV show, "Millionaire Matchmaker," to find a mate but unfortunately he did not find a match.

Querrey never been this far in a major tournament. He's going to take on Marin Cilic tomorrow in the semifinals.

Now the winner of that match could be taking on the great Roger Federer in the finals. Federer's resurgence continuing yesterday as he defeated Milos Raonic in straight sets to reach the semifinals. [10:55:05] Federer looking to win a record eighth Wimbledon title.

And at 35 years old, he'd be the oldest man to win the tournament in the modern era.

Venus Williams, meanwhile, two wins away from winning her sixth Wimbledon title. The 37-year-old hasn't won a major since 2008. Venus currently taking on Britain's Joanna Konta in the semifinals. Venus won the first set. Konta has the crowd behind her. She's trying to become the first British woman to win Wimbledon since 1977.

All right. Finally, the ESPYS were last night in L.A. The host this year was none other than Peyton Manning who seems to have gotten funnier in retirement. Peyton had plenty of jokes including a jab at last year's host, WWE's superstar John Cena.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEYTON MANNING, HOST, ESPYS: John Cena is an athlete, the same way that Ryan Lochte is a reliable witness. It's just -- it's just not an accurate statement. Right? Phelps, am I right? I'm right. Yes. Thank you, Phelps. Yes.

Right now my only rivals are in the insurance game. And I play for Team Nation One. And I got to compete with Flo from Progressive, Mr. Discount Double Check Aaron Rodgers, and that damn Aflac duck.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: And, Poppy, I don't think it gets any better than Peyton Manning.

HARLOW: No. They had the duck, Andy. They had the duck.

SCHOLES: The duck was front row, too.

HARLOW: That was amazing.

SCHOLES: Yes.

HARLOW: Thank you my friend, Andy Scholes, with the "Bleacher Report."

SCHOLES: All right.

HARLOW: Ahead, Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley says his team is writing a letter right now to Donald Trump Jr. requesting that he come testify before the Judiciary Committee the next week.

We'll have much more on that coming up. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Kate Bolduan. We are following breaking news right now with regard to Donald Trump Jr. and the Russia investigation.

Let's get right over to Capitol Hill from Manu Raju standing by with the news.

Manu, what are you picking up?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. The Senate Judiciary Committee wants to interview Donald Trump Jr. as soon as next week. I'm told by the chairman of that committee, Republican Chuck Grassley, that he's writing a letter today that will be sent over to Donald Trump Jr. asking him to appear in a public session before the Senate Judiciary Committee.