Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom Live 20180113 : comparemel

The president of the United States now denies calling some african nations shitholes. The comments were made during a closed door meeting on immigration in the oval office thursday. According to one source, donald trump is delighted by the controversy. Another source tells cnn some white house staffers believe it plays well with the president s base. There is plenty of outrage. The African Union which represents all 55 nations of the african continent is demanding both a retraction and an apology from mr. Trump. Despite the president s denial over exactly what he said regarding both haiti and africa, senators who were in the room at the time have confirmed mr. Trump uttered the offensive term. We get the whole story from cnns jim acosta. Today we gather in the white house to honor the memory of a Great American hero, the reverend dr. Martin luther king jr. Reporter it was a moment filled with sad irony. The same day the president signed a proclamation honoring civil rights hero Martin Luther king, mr. Trump was dodging questions about his own racially charged rhetoric. Mr. President , are you a racist . Reporter the president is running away from comments he made to a Bipartisan Group of lawmakers on immigration. On the subject of immigrants coming from africa, the president said, why are we having people from all these shithole countries coming wondering why more people dont come from norway. Later saying, why do we need more haitians . Take them out. Martin luther king jr. s nephew said the president talked to him privately about the controversy. The president simply said to me that im not the guy being described in the media. Reporter do you believe him . I dont think that President Trump is a racist in the traditional sense as we know in this country. I think President Trump is racially ignorant or racially uninformed. But i dont think that hes a racist in the traditional sense. Reporter the president ial tried to deny president tried to deny the remarks saying, never said anything dror tori about haitians, take them out, made up by dems. And this is not the language used. What was tough was the outlandish proposal made, a big setba setback. Senator dick durbin at the meeting said the president is not telling the truth. Said things which were hate filled, vile, and racist. He said, haitians . Do we need more haitians . He went on and started to describe the immigration from fre africa that was being protected in this bipartisan measure. Thats when he used these vile and vulgar comments, calling the nations they come from shitholes. Reporter tom dotton and david tom cotton and david perdue said, we do not recall the president saying these comments specifically. Gop senator Lindsey Graham who was also there all but confirmed the remarks saying in a statement, diversity has always been our strength, not our weakness. The president has a long history of making racially insensitive remarks from his comments on mexican immigrants theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists, and some i assume are good people. Reporter to his defense of white supremacist protesters. We are a people reporter in charlottesville last week. Good people in that group, but you also had people that were very people on both sides. Reporter the president s latest comments raised questions about past white house denials that its immigration policy is racially motivated. Trying to engineer the racial and ethnic flow of people into this country to that is one of the most outrageous, insulting, ignorant, and foolish things youve ever said. Reporter now lawmakers from both parties worry the president s remarks could jeopardize talks to reform the nations immigration system. I read those comments later last night. So first thing that came to mind was very unfortunate, unhelpful. The u. S. House speaker with those comments. On capitol hill, top House Democrats plan to unveil a congressional resolution next week to censure the president for those disparaging comments he made about developing countries. A sense sure against the president censure against the president means formally reprimanding him. One congressman is among those leading the charge. I think that congress should state for the record that we find these statements to be horrible, to be disturbing, and to be factually incorrect. So we will introduce a sencensu resolution. Im sure congress will maneuver so we dont have an upordown vote. Its important for the world to know that donald trump is not speaking for america when he says statements like that. Question is, do people around the world believe that. There is strong reaction to the president s comments globally, especially in africa. Cnns David Mckenzie joins us from johannesburg, south africa. David, hello to you. Its not like he took on a country or two. The president in his statement condemned an entire no comment. What has been entire continent. What has been the reaction . Reporter certainly thats the reaction from africans across this continent, that this was racist comments by the president of the United States. Now theres no real questioning whether its racist or not in this part of the world and throughout social media, people im speaking to on the phone, and my experience in covering more than 30 african countries over my career. You know, its very disheartening for africans to see the u. S. President speaking in Broad Strokes about their nations and about the race, frankly. Most people dont see this necessarily as describing certain countries but being more a racial issue about who is welcome in the eyes of the president into the u. S. And who is not welcome. And on a diplomatic front, it is damaging, say many, for the u. S. attempts to garner relationships here on the contine continent, the African Union, as you mentioned, saying that they demand an apology from the president of the u. S. I spoke to the spokesman of that continental body. She told me that, you know, frankly, she was shocked. And given the history of the u. S. With so many slaves from the african continent helping build the u. S. Economy, she said its it shows ignorance on the part of the u. S. President when dealing with issues like immigration. Natalie . Yeah. And this issue, is it going to have longterm effects perhaps with the u. S. And its relationships in africa, or can the words of the president somehow be isolated and they look at the United States apart from the words of our leader . Reporter there are two separate questions there. On whether or not this will fade or not, peoples memories are long. They dont necessarily forgive someone who is the leader of the free world in their eyes for making these is statements. Its not the first time africans have seen the president of the u. S. Make racially tinged remarks about people and places within the continent. Thats a difficult one. On the practical level, though, look at it like this south africa doesnt have a u. S. Ambassador. There are several countries in the continent that dont have ambassadors yet, more than a year in, around a year in to the presidency, there are Key State Department officials who havent been named. This shows to africans at least a lack of interest in the continent from the u. S. President as china and other countries come in and take advantage of that vacuum that the u. S. Potentially is creating. The african countries, many of them, growing at a faster rate than the u. S. In terms of the economy economies arent to be ignored when it comes to relationship building. Comments from the u. S. President are damage not only in terms of peopletopeople relationship but also for what the state department is trying to do on the continent in terms of building the governmental relationship between the u. S. And more than 50 countries on the continent. Yes, its very damaging. No, i dont think its going to fade away quickly. So unfortunate. David mckenzie for us. Thank you. Of course some of President Trumps reported comments specifically disparaged haiti, not just africa. The island nation is marking eight years since the earthquake that killed some 300,000 people. The Trump Administration apparently now wants to remove many of the survivors who fled to the u. S. After the earthquake. The Haitian Embassy is responding to the controversial by thanking those who offered words of support after the president s remarks, and the embassy says it looks forward to maintaining its longstanding relationship with the u. S. A sampling of residents we spoke with in haiti also was quite revealing. Here it is translator were not really shocked by what he said. We know who he is, and hes used to saying offensive things. This is another angry. Were angry, but were not really surprised by what he said. Translator the entire world should pray for trump. We need to pray for him. Translator we as haitians, we need to do better so people can respect us because if we dont respect ourselves first, no one will respect us. As haitians, he hit us hard. It shocked us. Its more than shocking, especially coming from an american president who made such a statement. Really amazing responses there. Heartfelt and heartbreaking. For her perspective, our professor at the soaz university of london joins us. Leslie, thanks for joining us. Thank you. Weve done a lot of donald trump interviews. This is one of the tougher, at least it is for me, considering what he has said. Can mr. Trump hurt the United States in oasis, economically and otherwise other ways, economically and otherwise, if he alienates africas continent . Its undoubtedly the case that this is doing tremendous damage to americas reputation, to the symbolism of america. Remember, america is important not only in terms of specific relationships that it builds in terms of its foreign aid and diplomacy and strategic partnerships, but its important as a symbol, as a country thats an immigrant nation thats founded on the idea, the basic idea that it welcomes immigrants to its borders, that it seeks to incorporate them into america fully as people, as citizens. And immigrants have made the most extraordinary important, and longstanding contributions to the United States of america. Its tremendously damaging, and its upsetting obviously for people, for leaders abroad. It makes it difficult for leaders abroad to explain to their people why they continue to work with the United States. Inevitably they need and must in many cases because of americas tremendous resources. It also plays very negatively within the United States. I think were seeing people are very distressed. Weve seen the opinion pieces, the public reactions. Congress is not sure how to respond. Its very damaging, and its tremendously disruptive. Republican leaders have been quite quiet, as a matter of fact. Donald trump has made racially charged comments in the past. There were undertones during the campaign that his slogan make America Great again was semi code for make America White again. Is this donald trump we are seeing now the man that people elected him voted for . I think there were a complex set of reasons, different across populations, go b why people elected donald trump. I would be reluctant to say the American People were looking or seeking to have a racist president. The comments are more than racist. Theyre pointed at countries that are weaker in general economically, militarily than the United States. Its this combination of race and of relative countries that have less power resources. When you bring that together, its a form of bullying that i think is tremendously dangerous. Hopefully what well see from the president is an apologiy. He owes that to the American People, to the american congress. I think people would like to hear him not ignore the American Impact and not deny it but to acknowledge and walk back. At a minimum to say his remarks didnt do himself or the country any justice. I think the preliminary implications cannot be understate. One of the most revered american heroes in our country is Martin Luther king jr. His nephew spoke privately with mr. Trump after assigning friday to remember mlk jr. As the nation celebrates the day in his honor. He was asked did he think donald trump was a racist. He said he didnt, but he thinks the president is racially ignorant and uninformed. Do you agree with that . Its very difficult im not entirely sure its helpful to try and decide whether or not donald trump as an individual is racist. The language hes used is clearly language that will inevitably be interm red as highly racially charged and racist and discriminatory and more importantly, as being targeted against people who engage with the United States productively, many who come and live and build their lives and contribute to american society. For that reason hes got to address the language and to if he wants to be successful politically and wants to contribute to americas diplomatic role and symbolic appeal abroad to rethink the use of the language. Right. One report says hes enjoying the controversy. I hope thats just a way of saying perhaps hes opened up an issue that the country needs to address in some way. We will see. Leslie, as always, thank you for being our guest. Thank you. The white house doctor says President Trumps health is excellent on. Friday, mr. Trump had his first medical exam since taking office. Not many details as wellhave be released, but past readings have shown height, weight, blood pressure. The physical exam at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center went exceptionally well, a statement reads, the president is in excellent health, and details will come out on tuesday. Well learn more then. President trump keeps the Iran Nuclear Deal for now. Coming up, what he says has to change for that deal to stay in place. Plus, in pakistan, protesters demand justice and answers for a little girl whose rape and murder rocked the country. Im jimmy, this is my definition of fresh since 1983. And im the founder of ugmonk. Before shipstation it was crazy. Its great when you see a hundred orders come in, a hundred orders come in, but then you realize ive got a hundred orders i have to ship out. Shipstation streamlined that wh the order data, the weights of , everything is seamlessly put into shipstation, so when we print the shipping ll everythings pretty much done. Its so much easier so now, were ready, bring on t. Shipstation. The number one ch of online sellers. Go to shipstation. Com tv and get two months free. And welcome back to cnn newsroom. Hes called it the worst deal ever, but u. S. President of the United States says hes giving the Iran Nuclear Deal one last chance. Friday he waived sanctions to keep the landmark agreement alive. But he also said the u. S. Would withdraw from the deal if major changes werent made. He wants more limits to Irans Nuclear development and for the deal to cover irans longrange missile program. For more on the Iran Nuclear Deal, im joined from london by sanam vaquil, associate at the north Africa Program and lecturer at Johns Hopkins University School of advanced international studies. Sanam, thank you for joining us. Thank you. First of all, your reaction to the president going along with u. S. Allies and approving the deal again . Well, trump is really passing the buck, giving his allies, cosignatories to the deal, specifically European Countries, another four months to try and strengthen or improve upon the deal. At the same time, hes trying to Pressure Congress and the iranians. So he has a multiprong objective here to build upon the deal and try to get all of these three parties to agree to extend the life of the deal beyond its current limits, to make sure that the United States can get behind what trump would like to be a stronger deal, one that would prevent iran from ever getting nuclear weapons. What are a couple of the elements that has him thinking this is a bad deal . Well, there are a few provisions. The first is the issue of sunset clauses. President trump thinks the deal should never expire. Hes heavily criticized the Obama Administration for agreeing to limits on the deal that would allow iran after 10, 15, and 25 years to return to a Peaceful Nuclear program. The second element that he would like to improve upon is to allow access to military sites inside the country. The third would be to include irans Ballistic Missile program in the deal, as well. And this is an agreement or building upon this agreement is what he wants to do only with his european counterparts. He doesnt require iran to accept these provisions. Rather, he wants to pressure europe to accept harder penalties against iran. While a nuclear deal is still in place for now, the u. S. Did impose new sanctions on iranians, mainly for human rights abuse and ties to its missile program. Iran says that has crossed a red line, and its response will be severe. What form could that take . Well, i think for the time being, the iranians are trying to demonstrate that they can be rhetorically strong against the United States. They are coming out of over a weeklong nationwide protests. This tens