Tougher Sanctions on Russia Approved; Trump Embracing New Immigration Legislation; Science Breakthrough Discovery; President Trump Signs a 'Flawed Bill; Outrage on New Immigration Proposal
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN: -- grudgingly signs bill imposing sanctions on three countries. He says it's flawed. And Russia, Iran, and North Korea all agree. But Mr. Trump is fully supportive of a new plan to slash legal immigration into the U.S. He says it will help the economy. Others disagree. And a medical breakthrough. Scientists alter human embryos to remove a genetic disease. The study's co-author will join us live. Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States, and of course all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church, and this is CNN Newsroom. U.S President Donald Trump is lashing out at Congress after reluctantly signing their bill laying new sanctions on Russia. It had almost unanimously support on Capitol Hill. But Mr. Trump took issue with one thing above all. The bill prevents him from undoing sanctions against Moscow without congressional approval. He says that's a mistake because it limits his ability to strike good deals for the American people. The sanctions target Russian energy and defense sectors. There are also penalties for banks and foreign government working with North Korea. And Iran gets punished as well for allege human rights violations and its weapons programs. Mr. Trump elaborated on his objections saying this. "Since this bill was first introduced I have expressed my concerns to Congress about the many ways it improperly encroaches on executive power, disadvantages American companies and hurts the interests of our European allies. The bill remains seriously flawed, particularly because it encroaches on the executive branch's authority to negotiate. Yet, despite its problems I am signing this bill for the sake of national unity." Our Oren Liebermann joins us now from Moscow with more on this. So, Oren, despite President Trump reluctantly signing this bill, Russia's prime minister has gone on the attack calling the new sanctions against his country a full-fledged trade war. What else did he have to say about this and how is this all playing out all across Russia?</s>OREN LIEBERMANN, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well, it wasn't just what he said. It was the timing of what the Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that was interesting. Because the first reaction came from Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov who said there will be no more retaliations from Russia against the U.S., essentially saying that the closing of two U.S. diplomatic compounds here in Russia and the cutting of U.S. staff here was enough. Then just a few hours later, a few hours after President Trump signed the sanctions bill we got this statement from Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. He said "The Trump administration demonstrated complete impotence, in the most humiliating manner, transferring executive powers to Congress." A very different tone, and yet still the prevailing message from Russia is that there will be no more retaliations diplomatically against the U.S. for now, though they have left the option open.</s>CHURCH: Yes. And I wanted to talk about that because of course, Russia's President Vladimir Putin, as you point out, has already cut U.S. diplomatic staff or ordered for it to be cut in response to the imminent sanctions. What more retaliation might we see, maybe not now, but later further down the track?</s>LIEBERMANN: Well, Putin certainly left open the possibility. And in his most recent statement about the sanctions bill and at that point was just a bill, he talked about all of the areas that Russia and the U.S. cooperate. Perhaps that was a veiled threat into all the other options he has for retaliation. He talked about cooperation on Syria, on North Korea, as well as in the space agencies, in the space administrations. Here is what the foreign ministry said their most recent statement that came out after Trump signed the sanctions bill. They say, "We reserve the right to other countermeasures. It's about time for American, amateurs of sanctions that plunge the U.S. into Russophobic hysteria to get rid of illusions and to understand that no threats and attempts to exert pressure will force Russia to change its course or sacrifice national interest." So, a bit of a mixed message, or perhaps a strategic messaging there, whereas the foreign ministry taking a very hard line in U.S., whereas Putin has seemed to take a softer tone. Now, it is worth pointing out that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will meet this weekend in the Philippines, even if they exchange a few nice statements and talk about sanctions there isn't any hope it seems, or much hope I should say on the U.S. side or the Russian side that they can do anything to change the relations right now, which are in a word, poor.</s>CHURCH: Yes, indeed. Not high expectations coming out for that meeting, indeed. Oren Liebermann joining us there from Moscow, just after 10 in the morning there. Many thanks. As we mentioned the new sanctions also target North Korea and Iran. The U.S. is taking action against Pyongyang for its repeated missile tests and nuclear ambitions. We will have more about that ahead this hour. Meanwhile, Iran says the U.S. sanctions violate the spirit, if not the letter of the 2015 nuclear deal. The country's deputy foreign minister is vowing a very clever response. Now President Trump is backing a plan to slash legal immigration to the United States by 50 percent. The proposal would award visas using a points system based on age, education and income potential. But the plan is already meeting with stiff resistance. CNN's Jim Acosta has the details.</s>JIM ACOSTA, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN: As the president rolled out a new immigration plan that prioritizes English-speaking people coming into the U.S. the White House sent one of its top policy advisor Stephen Miller to defend the proposal as All-American. But Miller bristled when reminded of what the Statue of Liberty has said to generations of immigrants. "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."</s>ACOSTA: Are you trying to change what it means to be an immigrant coming into to this country if you're telling you have to speak English. Can't people learn how to speak when they get here?</s>STEPHEN MILLER, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF POLICY ADVISOR: Well, first of all, right now it's a requirement that to be naturalized you have to speak English. So the notion that speaking English wouldn't be part of the immigration system would be actually very ahistorical. Secondly, I don't want to get off into a whole thing about history here but the Statue of Liberty is a symbol of liberty enlightening the world. It's a symbol of American liberty enlightening the world. The poem that you're referring to was added later is not actually part of the original Statue of Liberty. But more fundamentally, the history...</s>ACOSTA: You're saying...</s>MILLER: But more fundamentally, the history...</s>ACOSTA: You're saying that that does not represent what the country is always thought of as immigration coming into this country?</s>MILLER: I'm saying that the notion of...</s>ACOSTA: Stephen, I'm sorry.</s>MILLER: No. May I ask you a question?</s>ACOSTA: That sounds like -- that sounds like some national park revisionism. Are we're just going to bring in people from Great Britain and Australia?</s>MILLER: Jim, I can honestly say I am shocked at your statement that you think that only people from Great Britain and Australia would know English. It's actually -- it reveals your cosmopolitan bias to a shocking degree, that in your mind -- no, this is an amazing -- this is an amazing moment. This is an amazing moment. I just want to say...</s>ACOSTA: It sounds like you're trying to engineer the racial and ethnic flow of people into this country.</s>MILLER: Jim, that is one of the most outrageous, insulting, ignorant and foolish things you ever said and for you that still a really -- that the notion that you think that this is a racist bill is so wrong.</s>ACOSTA: The president unveils his bill immigration plan in front of the cameras. But when it came to one of the biggest pieces of legislation of his administration, a Russia sanctions bill, Mr. Trump chose to remain behind closed doors. The president signed the measure passed overwhelmingly in Congress than protested in a statement that this legislation is significantly flawed. Labeling portions that limit his ability to lift sanctions on Russia as clearly unconstitutional provisions. The president's response one day after the White House conceded he weighed on a misleading statement for his son about a meeting with the Russian attorney through some Republicans as over-the-top.</s>BILL CASSIDY, (R) UNITED STATES SENATOR: I'm kind of chuckling, that's such a Trumpian statement. The fact is though is that the legislative branch has a role on this, we're exhorting that role.</s>ACOSTA: The president was forced to swallow the sanctions bill as do questions are being raised about his credibility that boil down to his overall trustworthiness. Take what happened on Monday when he bragged that even the president of Mexico was praising his success in slowing unauthorized border crossing.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As you know, the border was a tremendous problem and now close to 80 percent stoppage, and even the president of Mexico called me.</s>ACOSTA: The problem is the Mexican government says that call didn't happen. Adding in a statement, "President Enrique Pena Nieto has not been in a recent communication via telephone with President Donald Trump."</s>TRUMP: Who the hell wants to speak about politics when I'm in front of the Boy Scouts, right?</s>ACOSTA: Then there's the president's recent controversial speech to the Boy Scouts. That he turned into a political rally. The president told the Wall Street Journal "I got a call from the head of the Boy Scouts saying it was the greatest speech that was ever made to them and they were very thankful." But a Boy Scouts official told CNN there was no such call.</s>SARAH HUCKABEE-SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: On Mexico he was referencing the conversation that they had had at the G20 summit where they specifically talked about the issues that he referenced. In terms of the Boy Scouts, multiple members of the Boy Scout leadership following his speech there that day congratulated him, praise him and offered a quite -- I'm looking lower, quite powerful compliments following his speech.</s>ACOSTA: As of the president's immigration proposal top Republicans are already questioning whether we were going anywhere up on Capitol Hill. South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham complained the White House plan could harm the state's agricultural and tourism industries. Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.</s>CHURCH: Inderjeet Parmar is a professor of international politics at City University. And he joins me now from our London studios.</s>INDERJEET PARMAR PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICS, CITY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON: Good morning.</s>CHURCH: Thanks so much for being with us.</s>PARMAR: You're welcome.</s>CHURCH: Let's start with immigration. I would like to ask you this. How did legal immigration suddenly takes center stage when Donald Trump can on the issue of illegal immigration and how does cutting back on legal immigrants benefit the United States?</s>PARMAR: Well, I think the whole immigration issue whether it's legal or illegal is probably the most the best issue for President Trump. He's got something like a 44 percent approval for his immigration stance. And as your pocket showed I think this administration is in a fairly deep hole on a whole number of fronts which are mentioned in your report as well, and I think very often that the immigration card or the race card whether it's illegal or legal often it's played when there is a crisis in terms of the credibility of the administration. And we know from approval numbers that is going down. The key issue is that immigration, legal immigration has a kind of mixed record in some respects, most people do believe that legal immigration has major social and economic benefits, and but the bill as outlined yesterday by President Trump is really focused on stoking people's fears. Its fears about national security, fears about threats to their jobs. And it's pretty part of that America first Americans needing protection from the rest of the world kind of rhetoric, which was the hallmark of his campaign. So the impact of legal immigration economically speaking is generally considered to be very positive, but I think this is seeking to regain the agenda, if you like, the public narrative in favor of an area which President actually generally is much more popular in.</s>CHURCH: Yes. You mentioned his approval ratings, let's go to those because President Trump is now down to 33 percent. That's according to the Quinnipiac University poll, 61 percent disapprove of the job he's doing. It's a new low for the U.S. president. Can it go any lower, and how does this compared to other U.S. presidents just six months into their administration?</s>PARMAR: Right. That's very, very important. I think the clear impact poll generally tends to be on the low side. The poll that President Trump says it is his favorite poll the Rasmussen, I see even that is showing that something like 38 percent approval only and 61 percent disapproval. So the one he likes to quote the most is also showing him below 40 percent for the first time. This is an historic low. And I think from what I've looked at President Gerald Ford had the lowest approval rating at this point in his administration that came off that he declared that he is going to pardon President Richard Nixon for the various mysteries and the crimes, et cetera related to Watergate. So President Trump is on a generally downward slide. And I think when you look at those numbers and you try to break them down a bit more his strongly disapprove number has gone up. That is about 50 percent, and his strongly approved numbers going down to about 25 percent. So, what we're seeing is underneath the kind of bold approved/disapproved figures is actually those people who are strongly disapproving is going up. And I think he's probably hitting close to the bedrock of his support within the United States overall. And I think this is probably quite dangerous too, and I think that is a real clue as to why the immigration issue, which is also linked with Attorney General Jeff Sessions announcing that they're going to have a look at the so-called racial quotas in universities. The whole call for deep mass deportations and so on, as well. So I think it's the whole package of things which are going on and all of this really in the end comes down to the use of nativism to really divert attention from a whole series of failures of this administration up to this point.</s>CHURCH: Now it's worth noting too the Quinnipiac poll also looked at Mr. Trump's honesty and found only 34 percent of those people polled thought he was on a 62 percent found him dishonest.</s>PARMAR: Yes.</s>CHURCH: This coming of course on the heels of President Trump making false claims he received those two phone calls offering glowing praise from Mexico's president and from the head of the Boy Scout and the day before that, we learned Mr. Trump weighed in on a misleading statement for son in relation to that meeting with a Russian lawyer. New lows in credibility and in approval, what impact could this all have on his presidency do you think going forward?</s>PARMAR: Very important question. I think we are only just over six months into this presidency but one key number, which I think is very important and instructive at this point is straight after his inauguration something like 55 to 57 percent of people polled in the United States, said that the United States was heading in the right direction. Today or yesterday, rather, when I look on the figures I think lost where on the 33 percent of Americans think this administration that America is headed in the right direction. A very large proportion of the electorate also believes that President Trump with all his the kind of things that he's saying which you mentioned just now is probably his own worst enemy. That's his entire presidential style, which is kind of centered around him. Him and his particular, kind of small coterie and nothing else really matters. This is a kind of patrimonial politics and I think the American electorate overall, we're only six months in, overall, from going from 55 percent Americans going in the right direction to 33 percent, it suggests that there is a kind of long phone slide which is going on. And I suspect that that is going to deepen. But I think this raising of the legal immigration question on which I think there's something like 55 to 66 percent sort of support in the American publication. I think that may well stabilize him for a little while. Unfortunately, there's not much likelihood of this law that he's proposing being discussed anytime soon. Given that there is a backlog of other unpassed legislation particularly on healthcare, for example.</s>CHURCH: All right. Inderjeet Parmar, so much to discuss. And as you point out only six months in. Many thanks.</s>PARMAR: Thank you very much.</s>CHURCH: We'll take a short break here, but still to come, the dangers posed by North Korea's latest missile launch a major airline says one of its planes was very close to Friday's test. Plus, Venezuela's president postpones the first day of work for his new assembly as some question the election he called a sweeping victory. And researchers have found a way to edit diseases out of genes but some critics worry could lead to genetically edited children.