Trump's Top Economic Adviser Gary Cohn Resigning; Stormy Daniels Sues Trump over Affair; Two Koreas to Hold First Summit in a Decade
ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.</s>JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Ahead this hour, the White House senior economic adviser draws a line in the sand and quits over tariffs, a decision which spooked stock markets and sparked fears that protectionists now have the president's ear.</s>SESAY (voice-over): Plus a possible breakthrough on the Korean Peninsula. Pyongyang says it's willing to talk about giving up its nukes.</s>VAUSE (voice-over): And the U.K. threatens retaliation if it can prove that Russia poisoned its former spy.</s>SESAY (voice-over): Hello and thank you for joining us. I'm Isha Sesay.</s>VAUSE (voice-over): Great to have you with us for another hour here. I'm John Vause and this is the second hour of NEWSROOM L.A.</s>SESAY: President Donald Trump is doubling down on his decision to slap tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to the U.S. It's already threatening to start a trade war and now it's prompted the resignation of the president's top economic adviser, the White House says Gary Cohn will be leaving his job in the coming weeks.</s>VAUSE: Mr. Trump says the tariff's unnecessary to fix a global trade imbalance but then he added, "Relax. It won't be as bad as many expect."</s>DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When we're behind on every single country, trade wars aren't so bad. We're going to straighten it out and we'll do it in a very loving way. It'll be a loving, loving way. They'll like us better and they will respect us much more.</s>VAUSE: Well, U.S. stock futures are pointing sharply lower after the news of Cohn's departure. CNN's Andrew Stevens is live in Seoul. And Andrew, the U.S. markets seemed rattled when this announcement came out. There was a big drop in the Dow. Has there been much of an impact on the Asia markets? And also I guess the concern here is that his departure could, in fact, have a ripple effect across on economic policy that comes out of the White House now.</s>ANDREW STEVENS, CNN ASIA PACIFIC EDITOR: Yes. I think if there was a doomsday clock for a trade war it would've taken a tick towards midnight with the resignation of Gary Cohn, John. Cohn was seen as the -- as the free trade guy, the global commerce guy, the globalist wing of the Trump administration. And Wall Street liked that and many, many senior Republicans liked that as well. And he fought a long and hard fight to try to dissuade Donald Trump from putting these tariffs on aluminum and steel in. We still don't know the full details of that yet but obviously in the end he's thrown his hands up because Donald Trump is committed to introducing them, which means that the ascendancy now in a Trump administration policy is being led by Peter Navarro and Wilbur Ross. They sought to economic nationalists. Navarro wrote a book called, "Death by China," which gives you fairly clear indication of what he thinks of global trade imbalances. Now they would be seen to be the people who are now leading Donald Trump and that can only spell bad news for new tariffs as we know and retaliation from Canada, who said they would and from the Europeans who said they would. As far as -- very quickly, just as far as the markets here go, they're quite surprisingly calm so far, John. And I can only put that down to the fact that they're maybe waiting to see who will replace Gary Cohn. There has been talk of Larry Kudlow. Now Larry Kudlow is a CNBC commentator and a confidant and sort of informal advisor to Donald Trump. But he's also anti-tariffs as well. So that will be interesting. Maybe Donald Trump wants to keep this yin and yang thing going on in the White House, where he gets two polar opposite views and he decides after listening to the</s>VAUSE: It's hard to find anybody, who, at the very least, did not say economics at that high school who actually thinks tariffs are a good idea. So that could be part of the problem. Andrew, good to see you. Thank you. Well, joining me now for more on this, California talk radio host Ethan Bearman and California Republican National Committee man Shawn Steel. Welcome back, guys. OK. So, Ethan, with regard to the president's comment about doing this all with love and earning respect by doing this, what, we're going to have tender tariffs now, I guess that's the thing. But that statement by the president on any objective measure is asinine.</s>ETHAN BEARMAN, TALK SHOW RADIO HOST: It's ridiculous. First off, I mean, we knew that he wanted to go this path because he did run his campaign on economic protectionism; that's how he's going to restore and make America great again and whatever dies that means. But what's so ham-fisted is this approach. If it's really China, is the great trading issue for the United States, why are punishing Canada and E.U., our close friends and allies --</s>BEARMAN: -- and major trading partners that we don't want to start a trade war with? It's insane to me.</s>VAUSE: Yes, and Mexico; I think China's like way down the list of steel importers for the U.S. The president, though, despite what -- despite the resignation of Gary Cohn and whatever he's been saying, he's not backing away from this tariffs part. Listen to this.</s>TRUMP: The European Union has been particularly tough on the United States. They make it almost impossible for us to do business with them. And yet they send their cars and everything else back into the United States. And they can do whatever they'd like. But if they do that, then we put a big tax of 25 percent on their cars and, believe me, they won't be doing it for very long.</s>VAUSE: And, Shawn, here is the reality: the United States is the third-largest car exporter in the world, sending almost 70,000 cars to Britain, France, Norway and Switzerland in 2014. This according to the Commerce Department. There is a 10 percent tax on U.S. cars in the E.U. The U.S. taxes European cars here, 2.5 percent. So that's an issue. And if it is a problem, that can be fixed maybe with a flush cutter (ph), not a 25 percent sledgehammer. This approach just seems to be destroying all before it.</s>SHAWN STEEL, CALIFORNIA REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: John, I got some good news for you. Not to worry. You're going to get a good night's sleep. The rest of the world is going to be fine, number one. This is Trump's master political genius. He is not talking to you. He is not talking to the wealthy elite. He is talking to the steelworkers in the Midwest, the ones that got him elected. That's number one. Number two, notice that Gary Cohn resigning several weeks from now with a beautiful letter to Donald Trump saying it was a great pleasure serving you, if it was a terrible firing and a terrible conflict, he'd be out the door today but it's not. Number three, you're right. It's either going to be Larry Kudlow or Stephen Moore. These are -- these are --</s>VAUSE: -- anti-tariff guys.</s>STEEL: -- and, by the way, I'm anti-tariff as a rule. Now here's the good news. There's negotiations right now with NAFTA. Everybody knows Donald Trump doesn't like it. A lot of Democrats used to not like it. A lot of Democrats used to like workers. They since have forgotten them. Trump hasn't forgotten so he's softening up Mexico and Canada. I tell you one thing, no tariffs against Europe, no tariffs against Canada but probably something against the Chinese.</s>STEVE BANNON, FORMER TRUMP CHIEF STRATEGIST: Donald Trump does not want to start a trade war. However, he is going to get on the table and the only way he can get it on the table -- because there's been enough happy talk. There's been enough WTO meetings. There's been enough of these conferences. There's been enough strategic economic dialogue with the Chinese. It's all happy talk. Now President Trump has pulled the trigger.</s>VAUSE: OK, so, Ethan, could this just be a clever strategy by the president? Could he playing three-dimensional chess as opposed to "Hungry Hungry Hippo"?</s>BEARMAN: I'm going with "Hungry Hungry Hippo." And the issue here is just that is not how we approach the world. Everything is not a reality show negotiation, which is how he's approaching it. Yes, I'm going to put a 25 percent tariff so now come to the table and we'll discuss whether it's a 10 percent or not. That's not how you treat friends. That's how you treat enemies. That's how you treat people you don't trust. Are you kidding me? The European Union, the U.K., Canada, these are trading partners. These are friends. These are allies. These are people that we want to be close to and we have shared values with. We don't treat them like those that maybe have been abusing -- I mean, we might have some agreement here on how to approach China or may not how to approach it but that we have real abuses happening with China. It is not --</s>VAUSE: -- dealt with but maybe not this way.</s>BEARMAN: Exactly.</s>VAUSE: Shawn, if this is a strategy for this negotiating point, is it worth for the president to lose his senior economic adviser in the process?</s>STEEL: Probably so because this is -- the politics are much bigger and he's got hundreds of economic advisers. He's got about five really key economic advisers. And I'm predicting a free market person is going to probably replace him and he's not -- and I think Gary Cohn's done a good job. As you know, it's been published. He lost $200 million for taking this job in the first place. So I think he's probably been one of the most successful economic advisers, certainly compared to Obama who had nothing but eight years of misery.</s>VAUSE: OK, yes. OK, with Cohn leaving, there is another high-profile job vacancy at the White House, which, according to the president, that's should be pretty easy to fill.</s>TRUMP: Then I read where, oh, gee, maybe people don't want to work for Trump and, believe me, everybody wants to work in the White House. So many people want to come in. I have a choice of anybody. I could take any position in the White House and I'll have a choice of the 10 top people having to do with that position. Everybody wants to be there. The White House has tremendous energy, has tremendous spirit. It is a great place to be working. It's just a great place to work. The White House has a tremendous energy and we have tremendous talent.</s>VAUSE: Ethan, I don't know anybody who wants to work at the -- I mean, there are a lot of people obviously but</s>VAUSE: -- because they weren't on the Trump train early enough or because they're not ideologically pure. But it's a very thin pool that they're pulling from.</s>BEARMAN: It's not just a thin pool, it's how long are you going to keep the job? Who wants to go through that kind of psychological abuse? Again, he is playing games. It's like your gladiators are in the arena fighting to the death for this man and there's hope -- I heard people talking about Hope Hicks when she left, that she was working 24 hours a day. She had four phones. This was an abusive position that she was taken advantage of. And now, great, she's going to make millions of dollars probably working for the Republican Party upon leaving the White House. So for some of those people, it's a lucrative way to be abused for six months and then make 1 million bucks after the fact. But I don't know a lot of people --</s>VAUSE: And Sean Spicer, the former communications -- press secretary, he's having a hard time. He's trying to get a second gig. It's not just the</s>KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He's referred to him as, quote, "General Jackass." He's blamed him for the a low morale in the West Wing and he's also said he needs to apologize for the fallout from that Rob Porter resignation. And we are now learning that the president has actually emboldened Anthony Scaramucci to continue making those criticisms of John Kelly.</s>VAUSE: Shawn, this is like "Mean Girls."</s>STEEL: On the other hand, I don't believe it. I think it's false --</s>STEEL: -- Anthony is the greatest self promoter around. He is very articulate, loves being on TV. There is no proof that has put him up to this. First of all, that's the toughest job in the world and people just don't last long in the White House. I've known this my entire political life and it keeps a staffer -- it wears you out and you've got the weight of the world working on you. Secondly, Trump is a taskmaster but he's been that his entire life. So none of this worries me. It's people searching desperately for a story where there's none to be had. But it's great drama.</s>VAUSE: OK.</s>VAUSE: You want drama, I got more drama. OK, stay with us because there could be more legal problems ahead for the president with a lawsuit filed by the adult film star, Stormy Daniels. She says she had an affair with Donald Trump before he was president. She is now suing over a nondisclosure agreement she had made with Trump's lawyers, arguing it is not valid. Details from Sara Sidner.</s>SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, there are public court documents that allege Donald Trump knew all about the hush money paid to adult film star and director Stormy Daniels before the presidential election, 10 days before, if the allegations are true. Now if they're true, it could mean that Donald Trump violated federal election campaign laws. The lawsuit alleges that adult film star Stormy Daniels was paid $130,000 in hush money and that Donald Trump and his attorney, Michael Cohen, knew about it. The court documents say Clifford signed a non-disclosure agreement but that the agreement is, in fact invalid because Donald Trump never signed it. And there is a copy showing that his attorney signed it but that he did not. The lawsuit also alleges that Stormy Daniels wanted to tell her story after the now-infamous "Access Hollywood" tapes that I'm sure you remember, where Donald Trump is heard saying that he grabs women in the most private of parts and kisses women without their consent. The court docs say, in part, "The attempts to intimidate Ms. Clifford" -- that is Stormy Daniels' official name, Stephanie Clifford -- "the attempts to intimidate Stephanie Clifford into silence and shut her up in order to protect Mr. Trump continue unabated; for example, only days ago on or about February 27th, 2018, Mr. Trump's attorney, Mr. Cohen surreptitiously initiated a bogus arbitration proceeding against Ms. Clifford in Los Angeles. Remarkably he did so without even providing Ms. Clifford with notice of the proceeding and basic due process." That is just one of the allegations in this lawsuit. Lastly, the lawsuit does explain why there is a signed statement from Stormy Daniels in the possession of Donald Trump's personal attorney denying that she ever had an affair with Mr. Trump in 2006. The lawsuit says that, "In January of 2018 and concern the truth would be disclosed, Mr. Cohen, through intimidation and coercive tactics forced Ms. Clifford into signing a false statement, wherein she stated that reports of her relationship with Mr. Trump were false." Some of these details are very important. There is a group that has already made a complaint to the Federal Election Commission, saying that he, Donald Trump himself, and his attorney violated election campaign finance laws. All of that will have to be figured out. Right now we have not heard from Donald Trump though, all along, the White House and Donald Trump's personal attorney, Mr. Cohen, have denied that any affair ever happened -- John.</s>VAUSE: Sara, thank you --</s>VAUSE: -- for that report. Back to Ethan and Shawn now. For the record, I'd like to point out that Trump's alias, according to those court documents is David Dennison. I think we have the lawsuit to show you. We'll get it up there eventually. Which is an interesting name for the president to choose. I guess he didn't know he was going to be president back then. There it is. But, Shawn, the key here, this lawsuit is that Trump allegedly had direct knowledge of payment of hush money. We were told that Michael Cohen, his longtime personal attorney, just paid that money out of his own pocket out of the goodness of his heart. But if Trump knew about it and it was a campaign contribution, that is an issue with the</s>FEC. STEEL: John, you're raising some very serious point. Did she actually cash the check and keep the money? If she kept the money, is she backing out on the NDA? If it's a nondisclosure agreement she took the money, I think Trump ought to be able to sue her. But apparently he's not part of the contract so the attorney that signed the deal</s>VAUSE: You're 20 years back, that's where you -- ?</s>STEEL: -- and they completely abandoned and --</s>VAUSE: -- you had to go back 20 years to Monica Lewinsky?</s>STEEL: It's still on the table and at least --</s>BEARMAN: So if you're going back that far, then we're going to go back to Donald Trump cheating on his wife, Ivana, with Marla Maples and they had the confrontation. Look, the history of Donald Trump --</s>STEEL: Nobody cares. That's the --</s>VAUSE: Maybe the FEC will care when it is proven that this 130 grand that was paid to Ms. Stormy Daniels was, in fact, you know, can be actually labeled as a campaign donation because it kept this out of the headlines and Donald Trump is in violation of --</s>STEEL: -- a campaign donation to pay a porn star to be quiet, that's nonsense.</s>VAUSE: A couple weeks before the election, that's not a campaign donation?</s>STEEL: Hardly. It sounds like it's an opportunity for Ms. Stormy to have a great life with $130,000 and then to run out of money in about a month. I mean, it's silly stuff but it's fun --</s>BEARMAN: -- we can't tell the intelligence chiefs to actually do something nor can the State Department spend their money to do anything about the Russians, either.</s>STEEL: I want you to be a man and tell me, this makes good TV. Let's face it.</s>SESAY: All right then. Quick break here. North Korea seems willing to talk to the U.S. about giving up its nuclear weapons. There's</s>VAUSE: And a U.S. aircraft carrier receives a very warm welcome in Vietnam. But