Origins of U.S. Hong Kong Involvement
SCIUTTO: My colleagues and I are learning new details this morning about a call between the president and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, in which President Trump promised that the U.S. would remain silent about pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, while U.S. and China continued their trade talks. Widespread demonstrations have continued for months in Hong Kong, some leading to violent clashes between protestors and police. Just a few days ago, an 18-year-old protestor was shot in the chest by a Hong Kong police officer. Joining me now, CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger. She and I reported out this story together.</s>GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.</s>SCIUTTO: So the U.S. president gets on a call with the Chinese president, the leader of an authoritarian country, and says, I'm not going to raise pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. How significant is that?</s>BORGER: Well, it's the way Trump does business. And given everything else that's going on, it's just part -- a piece of this, it's all a piece of this. But it's sort of like, you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. And for a president who says he's being tough with China, he's -- you know, they're going to beg him for a trade deal, you know, he offers to say, OK, I'm not going to touch a human rights concern, which the United States has apparently --</s>SCIUTTO: A priority for the U.S. for decades, yes.</s>BORGER: Exactly. I'm not going to touch this, so long as these trade talks continue. And you know, I think it's significant in that sense.</s>SCIUTTO: We -- one detail that's interesting here is that this message clearly went out in the administration --</s>BORGER: Oh, totally.</s>SCIUTTO: -- everybody's got to shut up. Tell us how that played out.</s>BORGER: And -- and this is important for people to understand, Because the State Department is big and has a lot of people working there, and there's someone named Kurt Tong, who was the U.S. general counsel in Hong Kong. And he was scheduled to give a couple of speeches in Washington about the circumstances in Hong Kong, what's going on, the human rights considerations, et cetera, et cetera. And the message came to him from the State Department, no. You have to cancel these speeches because we in the State Department are not allowed to speak about Hong Kong because this has come from on high.</s>SCIUTTO: Yes.</s>BORGER: And so this is how this kind of stuff filters down. I should point out that Tong did eventually give a speech on Hong Kong, but that was only after he left the State Department. But his orders were, from the Pompeo-led State Department, you are not allowed to speak about this. So, effectively, he was muzzled from talking about this human rights concern.</s>SCIUTTO: Listen, I spent two years in government. In China, the easiest thing for a U.S. official to do is to call out support for human rights --</s>BORGER: Exactly.</s>SCIUTTO: -- and democracy in a country like this. You know, I had the White House trade advisor, Peter Navarro, who's directly involved, as you know, in these talks with China. And I asked him a very simple point-blank question. Did you ever bring up investigating Biden in trade talks? Listen to how he dodged that question. I want to get your reaction.</s>SCIUTTO: Have you ever raised investigating Joe Biden or his son during your contacts with Chinese officials?</s>PETER NAVARRO, DIRECTOR, WHITE HOUSE OFFICE OF TRADE AND MANUFACTURING POLICY: Me personally?</s>SCIUTTO: Yes.</s>NAVARRO: Now, here's the thing. I will never talk about what happens inside the White House. How is it that a U.S. president, going forward, is ever going to be able to have a candid conversation with a foreign leader about any sensitive matter, if the jackals are always wanting (ph) to get things revealed? You guys want every transcript revealed of everything.</s>SCIUTTO: -- well, but just before we go, I'll just give you the opportunity. Have you ever raised investigating Joe Biden or his son in Chinese negotiations?</s>NAVARRO: Have -- have you ever given me a source that's -- other than anonymous, for any of this crap?</s>SCIUTTO: Frequent talking point.</s>BORGER: I think that's a non-answer.</s>SCIUTTO: Why can't he answer? I didn't --</s>BORGER: Because maybe he -- look, it's a non-answer. And he's clearly on his talking points. And, by the way, I would remind Peter Navarro that it was the president who wanted the transcript released.</s>SCIUTTO: Right.</s>BORGER: It wasn't us -- what did he call us? Jackals?</s>SCIUTTO: Yes. Jackals.</s>BORGER: And -- that's a new one. And I -- but it was the president who said, release the transcript because his phone conversation was perfect and beautiful.</s>SCIUTTO: Yes. And beautiful.</s>BORGER: And beautiful. And so this -- these things don't happen in a vacuum. You weren't asking that question in a vacuum. You were asking that question because there's a possibility that, yes, Biden was raised. But, you know, I think that what's interesting to me, this morning, that we're hearing, the talking points are going out to Republicans on Capitol Hill. All of them are about the Democrats, they're about the media. Not one talking point that I have read is about saying what Donald Trump did is</s>OK -- SCIUTTO: Right.</s>BORGER: -- not one. And Peter Navarro could not say that either.</s>SCIUTTO: Gloria Borger, nice to work with you on this story.</s>BORGER: Thanks.</s>SCIUTTO: Here's a look at "What to Watch," coming up today.</s>TEXT: What to Watch... 11:40 a.m. Eastern, A.G. Barr speaks at DOJ event; 4:00 p.m. Eastern, Dem candidates speak at forum; 4:30 p.m. Eastern, Trump delivers remarks at summit</s>SCIUTTO: Well, despite the fast-paced developments in the impeachment inquiry and Ukraine scandal, President Trump is not getting much pushback from lawmakers in his own party. Why are most Republicans staying silent? And how long can they keep it up?