Admin Official: Iranian Foreign Minister Arrival At G7 "A Curveball"; White House Adviser Stephen Miller Defends Immigration Policies
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST, CNN NEWSROOM: Hello, again, everyone. Thank you so much for being with me this Sunday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. All right, we begin in Southern France where right now the leaders of the G7 Summit have gathered now for an official dinner. This is just moments ago. They were gathering outside before going in. You see nice friendly kisses there with President Trump and Angela Merkel of Germany. This is a rather unique moment of this three-day event when all seven of the leaders of the world's major economies seen together, looks like an image of unity, right? This coming as President Trump sends rather mixed messages over his growing trade war with China. Initially, the President saying he has second thoughts about the escalating standoff with Beijing and then later, the White House reversed course saying the President's only regret was not raising tariffs even higher on the Chinese. Adding intrigue and confusion amid the global tensions, Iran's foreign minister's surprise arrival at the summit to meet on the sidelines with his French counterpart. A Trump Administration official calling the visit a "Curveball earlier today President Trump was asked about the news of Iran's Javad Zarif's arrival.</s>REPORTER: Mr. President, on a separate issue, there are reports that the Iranian Foreign Minister is coming to Biarritz. Can you confirm that and if you plan to meet with him?</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: No comments.</s>WHITFIELD: The Iranian official says he came at the invitation of France to review an anti-nuke commitment which the U.S. has withdrawn from. The French President says G7 leaders are looking for a way to ease the growing tension between the U.S. and Iran. CNN's Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta is covering all these developments for us at the summit. So, Jim, you know, this surprise visit, the White House calling it a curveball, what is meant by that?</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, I think it means that they weren't really expecting this to take place at least not heading into this summit. And then it took place and I think some of the back story here, Fredricka, is that the French President Emmanuel Macron would very much like to get President Trump onboard with this multilateral approach to curbing Iran's nuclear ambition ambitions. The President doesn't want to do that, he wants to take on Iran by himself. And that's why you heard the Treasury Secretary earlier in the day saying the President would meet with Iranian leaders if that were to come to pass. He has no preconditions for that but it didn't end up happening. Javad Zarif met with the French President Emmanuel Macron but did not meet with President Trump. We're seeing these leaders going into their dinner tonight here at the G7, just saw what they describe as the family photo just a few moments ago. And you saw the President and President Macron exchanging some words. They've been doing this throughout this G7 summit. As you saw, earlier in the day, the President was making those comments about having second thoughts about his trade war with China and then the White House reversing on that. There have been so many distractions for this President on this trip and a lot of that overshadowed what was going to be something the White House wanted to rally around and that is the President announcing this new trade agreement with the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. So the President as we have seen at many of these summits on the world stage, he makes his own waves and sometimes those waves overcome his message of the day and some of the things they would like to tout coming out of these summits and that happened here today, Fredricka.</s>WHITFIELD: All while that is taking place, you had a conversation with White House Adviser Stephen Miller who has been leading up the Trump Administration's immigration approach and policies. What did he have to say?</s>ACOSTA: That's right. Yes, he typically travels with the President on these trips, Fredricka, because he writes a lot of the President's speeches so it wasn't a big surprise to see Stephen Miller here but he was talking about the issue of immigration. He has been the architect many of the administration's controversial immigration policies and he was talking to reporters earlier this afternoon here in France about this new policy that the administration has to hold migrant families with children longer than the 20-day requirement that is part of the so-called Flores Settlement. I pressed Stephen Miller on whether or not if the administration can scrap the requirements that are baked into that agreement.</s>ACOSTA: Whether or not the administration is comfortable with the prospect of detaining children for extensive periods of time. Here's what he had to say.</s>ACOSTA: What about the people who don't want to see - Americans don't want to see kids detained far long period of time.</s>STEPHEN MILLER, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE ADVISOR: What Americans don't want to see are children being smuggled in record numbers across our border to take advantage of a loophole created by our court system. Americans want to see an immigration system that doesn't put children in harm's way. The only way to accomplish that end is to make sure that smuggling a child does not guarantee entry or admission into the country.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why should--</s>MILLER: This change will dramatically reduce instances of child smuggling including instances of fraudulent families which we've seen a huge uptick in recent years, again, to try to take advantage of the Flores ruling.</s>ACOSTA: Then they get locked up in the U.S. then they're locked up on the border.</s>MILLER: This will end the incentive for child smuggling, hopefully all decent people can agree our immigration system should have no incentives, no rewards for the smuggling of children which is heinous and must be stopped.</s>ACOSTA: And the President totally on board on policy?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why do people--</s>ACOSTA: Thanks, Stephen.</s>ACOSTA: And so, Fredricka, you hear Stephen Miller there trying to defend the administration's policy saying this is going to end the incentive for child smuggling but as you and I have been talking about, you don't only see children coming to the border with the U.S. and Mexico because of child smuggling, in many cases, you have families coming across the border, many times mothers and children and those children are not being smuggled. And so what you saw there during that exchange is Stephen Miller, the architect of many of these immigration policies for the administration, not really answering the question about these - the prospect of lengthy child detentions if the administration is successful with this new policy.</s>WHITFIELD: Right. And also trying to change the narrative of the intention of the crossing of the border involving so many children by this blanket statement of, you know, child smuggling. All right. Jim Acosta, thank you so much.</s>ACOSTA: That's right.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. With me now is Vali Nasr, he is a Professor at the School for Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, also an expert on Iran and the middle east. Vali, good to see you I want to talk to you mostly about this surprise visit of Iran's Foreign Minister at the invitation of France. So catching so many of the other leaders, particularly the U.S. by surprise, the U.S. in fact, calling it a curve ball. So in your view, you know, how clever or, perhaps, cunning was this invitation?</s>VALI NASR, PROFESSOR, SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES AT JOHN HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: It might be a curve ball for officials in the administration like John Bolton or Secretary Pompeo, but I'm not sure it was a curve ball for President Trump. I think the perception has been that all the initiatives that have happened before like when Prime Minister of Japan went to Iran was undermined by the White House, by Bolton and Pompeo. President Macron decided to do something that would sideline those American leaders that he thought were undermining an engagement with Iran. He had met with Iran's Foreign Minister in Paris a week ago. He had lunch with President Trump yesterday. So I would assume that Macron was negotiating already between Iran and President Trump directly. And President Trump, perhaps, knew that this was going on and by having the Iranian Foreign Minister come to Biarritz, it was a way of nailing down at least certain elements that he was talking to both parties about.</s>WHITFIELD: In your view, is this Macron trying to - trying hard to try and bring, you know, Trump, you know, in some face-to-face conversation with an Iranian representative, not the Foreign Minister, than perhaps this is a prelude to the kind of talks that the President has been boasting that he'd be an advocate of?</s>NASR: I think so. First of all, the Iranian Foreign Minister coming to Biarritz is a very big signal because he would have come to Biarritz with approval of Iran's Supreme Leader and Iranian President. He didn't come there on his own. So that - this already shows that Iran is willing to engage Trump. And I think before they get into kind of a big talk about the nuclear issues and the larger issues, they have to arrive at some preliminary agreements that would de-escalate tensions that have been at heightened between them. That means tanker attacks in the Persian Gulf. Drone attacks threats that have been going back and forth between Iran and the U.S. But perhaps the two sides can make an agreement that would de-escalate the situation and pave the way for engagement. And I think the Iranians by coming to Biarritz have suggested that they're willing to engage and perhaps Macron heard things from Trump at lunch but then he conveyed to the Iranian Foreign Minister when he had his meeting with him.</s>WHITFIELD: Do you see potentially the other G7 leaders are more willing, and maybe at this G7 summit more willing to come into agreement or talks with Iran and this kind of underscores a G6 plus 1, you know, kind of concept, that it would be the U.S. would be the only one left out?</s>NASR: No, I think that theory has already been disproved.</s>NASR: I mean we've had two years when the Europeans have been able to do absolutely nothing to save the nuclear deal. They've been under pressure from the United States not to do business with Iran and they have basically complied. The main function of the others is basically now to play the role of the intermediary which Macron is doing. You know, Macron is saying I cannot keep this deal going by myself, France cannot do business with Iran but maybe what I can do is talk to both sides and see whether I can play the role as a mediator and seems France is much more successful as a mediator than it is as a war power that could keep the deal alive.</s>WHITFIELD: So this meeting, you know, also coming after the Israeli military says it foiled an imminent large-scale attack by Iranian forces in Northern Israel with a series of air strikes near the Syrian capital of Damascus. So could that incident have played a role in Iran's decision to say, yes, I'll show up?</s>NASR: No, I don't think so. I think Israel has been hitting Iranian targets in Syria for the better part of the last four, five months and they have been all fairly severe. They have even hit Iranian targets inside of Iraq. It has killed mere myriads of Iranian revolutionary guard commanders and soldiers in the past number of months. This is nothing new. Maybe it's a little bit more intense than the past ones but it's nothing new. And the process between Iran and the United States unraveling, turning into tanker attacks, talk of talks, failed attempts to engage, has also been going on for a while. And Macron started his process of starting to use the G7 as a way of breaking through to President Trump and to Iran about two, three weeks ago, and he met with the Iranian Foreign Minister last week. He met with Trump at lunch yesterday and talked about Iran at length with Trump. So this is a project that Macron embraced knowing the G7 would be happening that he would have an opportunity corner Trump. Let me just say quickly, that Macron already surprised Trump idea by asking for an impromptu lunch with Trump which was not on the agenda.</s>WHITFIELD: That's true, two surprises.</s>NASR: It really started yesterday.</s>WHITFIELD: Okay. All right, Vali Nasr, always good to see you. It's been too long. Thanks for coming back.</s>NASR: Thank you.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Still ahead, two town halls one big night 2020 Presidential Candidate Steve Bullock and Bill De Blasio take to the stage and it comes as the two try to secure their spots for the next democratic debate. Plus, celebrities descend on Dayton, Ohio, the scene of a mass shooting just three weeks ago. How they're inviting others to take a stand against gun violence.