NYT: President Dictated Son's Russia Meeting Statement; Kim Jong-un's Growing Guest List; NYT: Trump Lawyers Say the President Can't Obstruct Himself
SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: He certainly didn't dictate.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the first time the president's attorneys have acknowledged that Trump dictated the statement.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Trump was, obviously, lying to his lawyers if the lawyers are now being honest about what went down.</s>ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY WEEKEND with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.</s>CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. We're so grateful you're keeping us company here. This morning, we want to tell you about a leaked letter to "The New York Times" acknowledging for the first time that the president dictated a statement about a controversial Trump Tower meeting, despite repeated denials that he did so in the past.</s>VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: More on that in a moment. Also coming up this hour, the breaking news that Kim Jong-un's guest list is growing. Syria's president, yes, Bashar al Assad, is the latest to court the North Korean dictator.</s>PAUL: And authorities are trying to figure out why a woman drove onto a field at a Little League game on Friday, killing a 68-year-old man.</s>BLACKWELL: Also, so many questions online. The USGS is forced to officially do tell people, do not toast marshmallows over volcanic lava.</s>PAUL: What?</s>BLACKWELL: Yes, people apparently asked. Well, President Trump's lawyers say their client cannot obstruct justice because he is the president and that means he is in charge of all the investigations.</s>PAUL: Well, according to "The New York Times," President Trump's lawyers made their case in a letter to Robert Mueller's office. This happened back in January, arguing their client should not have to sit down with the special counsel.</s>BLACKWELL: They say as president, Mr. Trump can grant pardons and fire an FBI director or end an investigation and, this is a quote, at any time and for any reason.</s>PAUL: CNN White House reporter Sarah Westwood is with us now. Sarah, what are you hearing from Washington about this discrepancy? He, you know, repeatedly it has been said that he did not dictate this letter. This letter, however, or the letter originally from his son.</s>BLACKWELL: Yes, the statement.</s>PAUL: But this completely dictates or rather distracts from what he said before.</s>WESTWOOD: Absolutely. One of many things we learned from this letter written by two of the president's lawyers at the time, Jay Sekulow and John Dowd. It represents a remarkable attempt to assert broad executive privilege over parts of the Russia investigation. It was hand-delivered to the special counsel's team in January and it lays out a detailed argument about why President Trump should not have to submit to a subpoena as Mueller decides to compels Trumps testimony. They argue why Trump did not and according to them, cannot obstruct justice because of his constitutional authority over the Justice Department. Obviously, that's an assertion that is likely to be challenged if Mueller uncovers evidence of obstruction or decides to press ahead with a subpoena. Now, the letter does shed some light on the preparation of a misleading statement that the president's son Donald Trump Jr. issued last year after his meeting with the Russian lawyer in Trump Tower came to light. In the letter, Dowd and Sekulow write, the president dictated a short but accurate response to "The New York Times" on behalf of his son Donald Trump Jr. That statement you'll recall described the 2016 meeting as one primary focused on adoption, but we know the meeting was presented to Trump junior as an effort by the Russians to pass on dirt about Hillary Clinton. Trump's attorney, Jay Sekulow, and the White House have repeatedly denied that the president had anything to do with writing this statement. Take a listen.</s>JAY SEKULOW, TRUMP'S LAWYER: That was written by Donald Trump Jr. and I'm sure in consultation with his lawyer. So, that wasn't written by the president. The president didn't sign off on anything. But the president was not involved in the drafting of the statement and did not issue the statement. It came from Donald Trump Jr.</s>SANDERS: He certainly didn't dictate but, you know, he -- like I said, he weighed in, offered suggestion like any father would do.</s>WESTWOOD: Now, the argument's Trump lawyers laid out in the letter are ones we've been hearing them make privately for months. CNN reported on this letter last month, but we're now getting a detailed look at how the president's lawyers are pushing back against Mueller -- Christi.</s>PAUL: All righty. Sarah Westwood, we appreciate it so much, thank you. Also have breaking news this hour. Kim Jong-un is getting ready to meet, apparently, yet another world leader. According to the North Korean News Agency, Syrian President Bashar al Assad is going to visit Pyongyang soon.</s>BLACKWELL: It's been a virtual parade. Let's list them off. Kim has already met with the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and received an invitation to see Vladimir Putin in Moscow. He held a surprise summit with China's leader Xi Jinping a few weeks ago. He's been talking to South Korea's Moon Jae-in. And remember, we're just nine days away from this historic with President Trump. CNN international correspondent Alexandra Field is live from Seoul. A lot of people are trying to get some influence and Bashar al Assad is next.</s>ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Christi, Victor, good morning to you. Yet another indication that Kim Jong-un is working to shore up his closest relationships before he heads into that all-important meeting with Donald Trump. Certainly, Syria and North Korea have a history of warm relations that stretches back to the 1960s. Kim Jong-un and the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had exchanged congratulatory messages and messages of support before, and it was this past winter that the U.N. alleged a report that there was evidence of continued cooperation between Syria and North Korea on chemical weapons and ballistic missiles. Now, it seems that the Syrian president will be the first foreign leader to travel to Pyongyang, North Korea to visit face-to-face with Kim Jong-un. North Korean state news saying that Assad said this: the world welcomes the remarkable events in the Korean peninsula brought about recently by the outstanding political caliber and wise leadership of Kim Jong-un. I'm sure that he will achieve the final victory and realize the reunification of Korea without fail. No date yes yet set for that meeting but the other big meaning between Trump and Kim Jong-un will happen on June 12th. In advance of that, you've got the U.S. secretary of defense in the region on other business. But he talked about the need to keep up the strong defenses against North Korea at this point going into meeting in order to allow the U.S. diplomats to negotiate from a position of strength. Take a listen to what he says.</s>JAMES MATTIS, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We welcome the Panmunjom declaration of peace and prosperity, reunification of the Korean peninsula that was announced in April. We can anticipate at best a bumpy road to the negotiations.</s>FIELD: A bumpy road, according to Secretary Mattis, ahead, clearly different in tone from President Trump who said that everyone is talking nicely and that there are good reasons to go ahead with this summit. But certainly, Christi and Victor, he has tempered expectations for what the summit can actually accomplish, the U.S. standing firm that its goal is complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization. But the State Department at this point is not willing to say what kind of elements could go into a deal like that, and what kind of shape that deal would take. The president, himself, saying the meeting on June 12th could be a starting point, one of many meetings like get to know you kind of meeting with Kim Jong-un -- Christi, Victor.</s>BLACKWELL: Alexander Field for us in Seoul, thank you so much.</s>PAUL: Gary Samore with us now, former nuclear adviser to President Obama and executive director for research at Balfour Center at Harvard. Thank you so much, Mr. Samore, for being with us. I want to start where she left off, Alexandra left off. Defense Secretary Mattis saying he believes a bumpy road. What do you think could be the biggest obstacles here?</s>GARY SAMORE, FORMER TRUMP NUCLEAR ADVISER FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA: The most basic issue that we want North Korea to give us its nuclear weapons and the North Koreans are not prepared to do that. So, that's a fundamental disagreement. I think the negotiations will focus on what kind of measures the North Koreans are prepared to take in the near term to limit their nuclear weapons and ballistic missile capability and what we would have to do in return in order for North Korea to take those steps. That's why these are difficult and protracted negotiations.</s>PAUL: We also have the news this morning that Syrian President Bashar al Assad is planning to visit North Korea and Kim Jong-un. If that meeting with Assad does take place with Kim Jong-un, how does that affect what the U.S. and South Korea have in store here?</s>SAMORE: Well, it's an important reminder one of the issues on the table for the U.S./North Korean negotiations is North Korean exports of weapons technology. In the past, they provided assistance to Syria's efforts to build nuclear weapons. There's an ongoing relationship in terms both missile technology and chemical weapons technology. So, one of the issues the U.S. will be negotiating with North Korea are restraints and limits on North Korean export activity.</s>PAUL: So, if this meeting goes well, what would you have to -- how would you characterize is a successful meeting between the U.S. and this first meeting with North Korea? What has to happen?</s>SAMORE: I think what we can expect is a very high level political commitment to nuclear-free Korean peninsula, to establishment of peace, establishment of normal relations between the U.S. and North Korea and then setting up a process of negotiations which will really be the difficult work after the summit. And as President Trump said, there could very easily be additional summits because these negotiations are going to take months, if not years, and it might be necessary for the leaders to intervene at various points in order to try to make progress.</s>PAUL: Do you believe that additional summits would be not just bilateral but possibly trilateral, that it would be more than just the U.S. and North Korea sitting face-to-face?</s>SAMORE: I think South Korean President Moon Jae-in would like to participate in a trilateral summit, and if at some point, that seems to make sense in terms of where the diplomacy is and there's no problem with that. I think the more difficult issue as I suggested is the substantive disagreements between Pyongyang and Washington over the pace and scope of disarmament on what the North Koreans would get in return on the linkage between nuclear disarmament and peace and normalization, and then, of course, the verification issues which would be very challenging. So, all of these issues are going to require very intensive negotiation over a long period of time.</s>PAUL: Gary Samore, we appreciate your time this morning, sir. Thank you.</s>SAMORE: Thank you.</s>BLACKWELL: The president is lashing out saying the special counsel will meddle in the midterm elections. The fate of the House and Senate are on the line. Will the GOP keep control? House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy joins Jake Tapper today, that's on "STATE OF THE UNION", to discuss, at 9:00 a.m. Eastern, right here on</s>CNN. PAUL: So, this morning, police are revealing how they finally caught the suspected Golden State killer by collecting a DNA while he was shopping. We have details on that.</s>BLACKWELL: Authorities in Maine are trying to figure out why a woman they say drove onto a field at a little league game on Friday and killed a 68-year-old man.</s>PAUL: And breaking news in Hawaii this hour. Authorities say as many as a dozen people are now cut off by lava. They don't have power. They don't have cell reception, land lines, or water. What is being done for them now?