Trump Criticizes "Shithole" Countries; Global Criticism of Trump Remark; Trump Touts Good Relationship With Kim Jong-un
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To all of our friends in Haiti and to all of our friends in Little Haiti who are so amazing.</s>DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: They're amazing but come from a shithole. The president's own words during immigration negotiations capping off a head-spinning day that included tweets putting a national security program potentially at risk.</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The president also with some bizarre claims in a new interview, apparently he has a good relationship with Kim Jong-un. He thinks an FBI agent committed treason by texting about him during the campaign.</s>BRIGGS: And a late-night tweet amid all this drama, the president falsely claims he canceled a London trip because the embassy was moved. Massive protests awaiting him may have had something to do with that. We'll check in there. We have reports this morning from the White House from Nairobi, Seoul, South Korea and London. Welcome back to EARLY START, everybody. I'm Dave Briggs.</s>ROMANS: All right. I'm Christine Romans. A lot to get through this morning. 32 minutes past the hour. Today the president signs a proclamation honoring Martin Luther King Day. Neither that proclamation nor any amount of spin is likely to quiet accusations of racism stemming from the president's latest comments. This is a man who of course has defended white supremacists, he has mocked a disabled reporter, he has called Mexicans rapists, he said a judge could not be fair because of his Mexican ancestry, the judge, by the way from Indiana. Don't let these or any other examples normalize these latest comments from the president of the United States. Quote, "Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here? We should bring in more people from places like Norway." He later added, "Why do we need more Haitians? Take them out."</s>BRIGGS: The remarks came during a Oval Office meeting Thursday with lawmakers. Sources tell CNN when the subject turned to immigrants from Haiti the president asked why we want Haitians and more Africans in the U.S.? The "Washington Post" was first to report the president's comments, which the "Post" says shocked lawmakers who were there. Late last night the Haitian government summoned the top U.S. diplomat there to discuss the president's remarks.</s>ROMANS: If you're expecting an on-camera response to the controversy from the White House it may not be today. There is no briefing on the schedule before the president leaves to spend the weekend at Mar-a- Lago. We are told the news about the president's remarks broke just as he was recording a video message for Martin Luther King Day.</s>BRIGGS: King's daughter Bernice has since weighed in with this tweet. "Only in a country still haunted by white supremacy and hounded by racism would a sitting president feel comfortable degrading Africa and Haiti while praising Norway. There's an ugly history that preceded Trump's comments today. Don't pretend as though America hasn't been racist."</s>ROMANS: Administration sources say the president told aides he thought the media was blowing his comment out of proportion. A White House official tells CNN the view there is that this story may enrage Washington but will likely resonate with Trump's base. For more let's go to CNN's Sara Murray at the White House.</s>SARA MURRAY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Dave and Christine. President Trump setting off a firestorm on Thursday when in a private meeting with lawmakers he was discussing immigration and the issue of restoring Temporary Protected Status came up particularly from people from African countries as well as Haiti. As for the White House, they responded they did not deny that the president made these remarks. Instead a spokesperson Raj Shah said in part. "President Trump is fighting for permanent solutions that make our country stronger by welcoming those who can contribute to our society, grow our economy and assimilate into our great nation." Back to you, guys.</s>BRIGGS: Sara Murray, thanks so much. The president's comments drawing widespread condemnation from lawmakers. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only African-American Republican in the Senate, calling the remarks disappointing. He says, "Our strength lies in our diversity including those who came here from Africa, the Caribbean and every other corner of the world. To deny these facts would be to ignore the brightest part of our history."</s>ROMANS: And this from Republican Congresswoman Mia Love of Utah whose parents are Haitian immigrants. "The president's comments are unkind, divisive, elitist and fly in the face of our nation's values. My parents came from one of those countries. They worked hard, paid taxes, and rose from nothing to take care of and provide opportunities for their children. The president must apologize to both the American people and the nations he so wantonly maligned."</s>BRIGGS: The outcry over the president's vulgar remarks has been global. Mexico's former president Vicente Fox tweeted at Trump, "Your mouth is the foulest shithole in the world. With what authority do you proclaim who's welcome in America and who's not? America's greatness is built on diversity or have you forgotten your immigrant background, Donald?" As for reaction in Africa let's turn to CNN's Farai Sevenzo in Nairobi, Kenya. Good morning to you, Farai.</s>FARAI SEVENZO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning again, Dave. Well, yes, the reaction is petering through, but already on social media, many African commentators are saying things that are quite unpalatable usually at this time of the morning, Dave. We have one man who says sadly we have shithole leaders like that man doing this to everybody every single day. We heard as well from the Somali Information Minister Abdirahman Omar Osman who said to me on the phone from Mogadishu that he has suspected that these comments were fake news, that if they were not fake news then they didn't deserve any reaction whatsoever. The South Sudanese have also been saying that they are a new country, only born in 2011, that it would leave it to other African countries to comment. Now remember, Dave, there's only three countries on that list of temporary protected status. That is Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia, which has been ridden by war for so long. And the disconnect that happens between the statement of the president and the work of his diplomats can be illustrated when in October a massive bomb window in Mogadishu and the charged affairs, American charged affairs led his entire staff to a Mogadishu hospital where they donated blood for the survivors of that blast. So Africans are reacting that they think that the diplomats who have always been there through the State Department are still doing their work but they are getting very conflicting messages from the leader of the free world at the moment.</s>BRIGGS: Indeed. Farai Sevenzo, live for us in Nairobi, Kenya. Thank you.</s>ROMANS: Another story developing at the White House, the president refusing to confirm whether he has talked directly to Kim Jong-un. Talked directly. Instead, teasing the possibility he did in an interview with the "Wall Street Journal." He says this, "I don't want to comment on it. I'm not saying I have or haven't. I just don't want to comment." But he did say he probably has a, quote, "very good relationship with the dictator."</s>BRIGGS: The president has recently expressed an openness to negotiating with North Korea. He's also promised to destroy the Kim regime with fire and fury if Kim's missile tests continue. The president now insists the stop and go strategy with North Korea is intentional. He tells the "Journal," "You'll see that a lot with me and then all of a sudden somebody's my best friend. I could give you 20 examples. You could give me 30. I'm a very flexible person."</s>ROMANS: When we asked a senior administration official if President Trump has actually spoken to or contacted Kim he told CNN, "That's not something we would discuss, but we are not aware this contact has occurred." So what is the view from Pyongyang regarding relationship with the United States? CNN's Will Ripley with more on that from Seoul, South Korea.</s>WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Dave and Christine, President Trump's remarks to the "Wall Street Journal" that he probably has a good relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un certainly took a lot of career watchers by surprise. Yes, there are backchannel communications between the U.S. and North Korea, at the United Nations in New York and elsewhere, for example, but every source that I've spoken with in the U.S. and North Korea over the last several years and certainly in recent months has given zero indication of any remote possibility of direct communication between the leaders of the United States and North Korea and there are plenty of reasons for that. Tensions between the two countries are at some of the highest levels they have been in years. Just last week President Trump was taunting Kim Jong-un about the size and strength of his nuclear button. Three months ago he told his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson via Twitter that he was wasting his time trying to engage with the North Koreans, and then of course who can forget "little rocket man" and the other insults President Trump has hurled at Kim Jong-un. Of course the North Korean leader has hurled them right back calling President Trump everything from a mentally deranged dotard to an old lunatic. Every source I have, every indication I'm getting, it is highly unlikely there's been communication between President Trump and Kim Jong-un. And nobody who follows the Korea situation would describe the relationship between those leaders as good -- Dave and Christine.</s>ROMANS: All right, Will. Thank you for that.</s>BRIGGS: Major protests were set to greet the president during a planned visit to London. Now the visit is off and the president's claim as to why even on this staggering day will still have you shaking your head.