France Attack Casts Shadow on Election; Moscovici Says Le Pen Has No Plan for France
PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR: Waste Management showing a lot of exuberance today. More exuberance than they showed on the markets all day, I can assure you. And that's the kind of days been. It's Friday, April 21st. French election authorities say they knew that the attacker was trying to contact ISIS before the shooting, but didn't have enough to charge him. Meantime, French voters head to the polls this weekend in a divisive presidential election. Dodd/Frank under the microscope after U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order to renew its regulations -- review, pardon me, its regulations. I'm Paula Newton at the IMF in Washington, the spring meetings. Apparently, lots of forecasts here for it to be a good spring. Apparently here too they mean business. Good evening, and welcome to the IMF World Bank spring meetings. It was quite subdued here I'd have to say. That's because most of the action has usually been going on a few blocks from us at the White House. We will get to absolutely all of that, but the catch word here these days is protectionism. But we want to get first to an update of course, on what has been going on in France. And we will hear from the finance ministers. Everyone here reacting to in fact, that terror attack, but first we want to get you an update on what exactly happened on Wednesday night. Now the suspected gunman named as Karim Cheurfi, is a French national. He was known to authorities and had a long criminal record. A note found in his pocket, in fact, praised ISIS. He traveled to Algeria earlier this year while he was on bail. The attack will certainly be on the voters' minds when they cast their ballots on Sunday. We get a full update now from CNN's Melissa Bell.</s>MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: The time, 9 p.m. and the timing, three days before the presidential elections. On the Champs-Elysees, the attacker identified as Karim Cheurfi, has just been killed after shooting at a police van with an automatic weapon. One police officer is dead, two others and a tourist are wounded. Within three hours the Islamic state had claimed responsibility. The following morning raids were carried out in a number of locations. Three members of Cheurfi's family were taken into custody. As the investigation gathered pace, the government met to discuss the security ahead of Sunday's vote and the likely political fallout. With less than 48 hours to go until polls opened France's Prime Minister expressed his fear that one candidate might try to add fuel to the fire.</s>BERNARD CAZENEUVE, FRENCH PRIME MINISTER (through translator): the candidates of the pro-national like every drama seeks to profit from and to control the situation to divide. She seeks to benefit from fear for exclusively political ends.</s>BELL: Marine Le Pen has put the fight against Islam is violence at the heart of her campaign. Controversially she wants all terrorist suspects to be thrown out of France and the country's borders closed. Within 12 hours of the attack she went on the offensive.</s>MARINE LE PEN, FRENCH PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, NATIONAL FRONT: I demand that an investigation be open with the objective of dissolving associated and cultural organizations that promote or finance fundamentalist ideologies. The hate preachers must be expelled. The Islamic mosques must be closed.</s>BELL: Le Pen repeated her intention of having all terror suspects, some 10 1/2 thousand people expelled if elected president. Shortly afterwards her main rival, the independent centrist, Emmanuel Macron, took to the airways with his reply.</s>EMMANUELLE MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, EN MARCHE!: Do not give into fear. Do not give into the vision. Do not give into intimidation.</s>BELL: With the campaign ending at midnight tonight, the only measure of the choice the French have made will be the poll itself. A poll is hard to call as it is likely to prove decisive.</s>NEWTON: And Melissa Bell is live for us in Paris tonight. You know, Melissa, already such a controversial election. We've been talking about how divisive it is and so many people have been talking about the resiliency of Parisians. And the French in general to what has been a long road to get to any stability and security when it comes to that whole terror controversy. Is there a feeling that this will significantly affect the outcome of the election?</s>BELL: I suppose the most worrying thing, Paula, is the timing of this. I mean, really coming as close as it did to the opening of polling stations on Sunday morning. And it was just three days before. The timing could not have been better or worse, depending on which side of the political divide you find yourself here in France. and as you mentioned, you alluded to it a moment ago, Paula, the divide is extremely great. We were already facing one of the hardest to call elections that anyone here in France can remember. Potentially one of the most transformative as well. Not for just French society, but for the French economy, for the French political system. There are 11 candidates that the French will be choosing from on Sunday. And many of them programs of radical reform a real rupture with all that's gone before. And what's interesting is that even now at this late stage and given how many weeks and months the French have been hearing from the candidates. We've had three live debates. So many people still undecided. We've been testing the mood out here on the streets of Paris and were just a stone's throw from where this attack happened just over 24 hours ago. And still people will tell you, well I'm just waiting to see. I haven't quite made up my mind. And I think that's possibly one of the most worrying aspects of this election is that there are so many people still waiting to decide before they going to cast their vote in what is likely to prove a crucial election here in France.</s>NEWTON: Yes, absolutely, Melissa. And you have been traveling from one side of France to the other. It's so interesting here at these IMF meetings that everyone from France and Europe who I've spoken to in the last couple of days, quite calm. Saying look, even if Madam Le Pen does well in the first round there is no way she will become the leader France. What you think. Melissa? I mean, we've been so stunned by so many political outcomes in the last year.</s>BELL: I think that's right, Paula. For a start, we've come to distrust the polls. We no longer believe that they can hear the voters. Perhaps they could before this populist wave started to sweep the Western world. In the belief is here that that might be the case once again. Now how is that unspoken vote likely to express itself. There is of course the populist vote for Marine Le Pen. Have the pollsters managed to gauge it properly? Could she managed to reach that crucial 50 percent in the second-round runoff that would lead her to the Elysee Palace. I think at this stage we simply don't know how great that anger out in France is. It's very difficult to hear as we've seen in previous elections. What were also hearing -- and this is another interesting thing about this election, which might make it slightly different -- you know, the mainstream Republican candidate, who this was really to lose, Francois Fillon, when he first took the Republican candidature just a few months ago. It looked like he had an open road to the Elysee. There was the question of the fact that Socialists had been in power for so long. He was even incredibly popular. And then his judicial difficulties. We've been spending time with some of his voters who say, his judicial difficulties didn't mean that his vote simply went away, it just went underground. So, what they're suggesting is that it is the mainstream vote that the pollsters are having trouble hearing ahead of this particular poll. Either way, you have this massive uncertainty. You have four leading candidates who are all within about 20 percent of voting intentions going into the first round. With the possibility that all those undecided people might at the very last minute decide well in fact, they're going to back this or that candidate because here she looks like they are most likely to take on the candidate that they least favor. There is a lot of tactical voting. A great deal of uncertainty. And really, we are not going to be any clearer in particular about this particular attack 24 hours ago, just a stone's throw from here, has played into the narrative in particular of Martine Le Pen, the far-right candidate, until about 8 p.m. local time on Sunday night.</s>NEWTON: Yes, so much to look out for. We'll continue to stay with you, Melissa, throughout the weekend to get updates. And thanks for indulging us with those insights, which we can't really give you in a couple of hours, because of French law. So, good thing we got a lot of analysis in there before we can no longer do it. Melissa, again, thanks so much.</s>BELL: Just in time.</s>NEWTON: U.S. President Donald Trump, no he was not left out of this. He's tweeted about the consequences that he thinks the attack in Paris will have. "The people of France will not take much more of this. Will have a big effect on presidential election!" The French finance minister, Michel Sapin, has told me he doesn't think it's an endorsement of the far-right candidate, Marine Le Pen. Now Donald Trump later said to the Associated Press, he said as much, it's not an endorsement, but. And there are many buts, and so I asked Mr. Sapin about what this attack means for France.</s>MICHEL SAPIN, FRENCH FINANCE MINISTER (through translator): The terrorist attacks against France, other countries are also affected. But these terror attacks against France are not against a society or in economy. They're commanded from aboard. They are against a country that fights for freedom. A country that carries out offensives with its allies in Syria, in Iraq, in northern Africa, in Mali and Niger, to fight terrorists. We can see that the more the terrorists are weakened on an international level, the more they try to use terrorism on a territory to trouble the population. I think the French have shown this several times and continue to show this, this time, that they are not shaken by this. They are touched and moved, but it's not shaking their determination in the fight against terrorism.</s>NEWTON: And you know that the President tweeted this morning.</s>SAPIN: Really?</s>NEWTON: That he thinks that the terror attacks will affect the elections.</s>SAPIN: I don't think Mr. Trump is the best specialist in French politics. Well I guess everyone can tweet what they want to. But one thing, don't mistake Mr. Trump and Madame Le Pen. Mr. Trump comes from political life in America. A big political party, the Republican Party. He has a majority in Congress even if it's a majority with who he has to discuss. Madame Le Pen is not the same thing at all. She doesn't come from a big democratic party. In France, she is really on the outside. She is from the extreme right. She is not the same as Mr. Trump. I always tell people to watch out and don't compare the two. It's not very nice for Mr. Trump to be compared to someone who is a racist, xenophobe, who is against all the values of a democracy.</s>NEWTON: But President Trump seemed to be supporting her in the tweet today.</s>SAPIN: I don't think this is the reality. It's not what he thinks.</s>NEWTON: Because he thinks the terror attack will affect the election.</s>SAPIN: Maybe, but it doesn't mean he supports Marine Le Pen. I will leave it without commentary. In every case the French people determine themselves along their own debates, their own interests, and I know that the French people will make their choice for democracy to conform with their republican values.</s>NEWTON: Incredibly strong statements there from the French finance minister about the election campaign. While the eyes of the world on Francis this weekend, Britain is now on that crowded calendar of European elections. Earlier I spoke to the U.K. finance minister, Philip Hammond. The Chancellor explained why Theresa May took the risk to dissolve Parliament.</s>PHILIP HAMMOND, BRITISH FINANCE MINISTER: I've been clear for some time, in my own mind, that we would strengthen our hand in our negotiations with the European Union if we had an early election. And the prime minister got a new mandate and cleared a five-year run with strong stable government that will allow us to negotiate the deal, exit the EU and implement that deal under Theresa May's leadership.</s>NEWTON: That's pre-guessing what the voters are going to tell you though. It's still a risk.</s>HAMMOND: Of course --</s>NEWTON: A risk the Conservative Party's lost very recently.</s>HAMMOND: So, every prime minister when they make that decision to go to the Queen and ask her to dissolve parliament is taking a risk. And we don't take anything for granted. But we have set out very clearly what we see as the way forward with the European Union in the Article 50 letter that we served. We set out the kind of Brexit that we believe would be good for Britain and good for Britain's future. And were asking the voters to endorse that vision. As well as our vision for Britain's economy in the future. Our plan for Britain.</s>NEWTON: And the plan for Britain cannot be Brexit. That can't be the plan. If you're looking at British voters, or indeed, the investors that you're trying to appeal to hear, what is it? I mean, what kind of vision do you see?</s>HAMMOND: It's about building Britain's economy to be resilient in the future. It's about addressing our productivity challenges in the U.K. economy through investments and skills and infrastructure. It's about ensuring that the growth that we've generating is inclusive growth. It gives everybody a chance to participate in the success of the economy. And that's a big challenge for all developed economies as more and more of our voters feel that they are being excluded by the growth of the economy. So, the prime minister has set out her vision of how we need to do this in the U.K. and our circumstances are a bit different from circumstances in the U.S. or in other countries. So, it's a tailored plan for Britain to get Britain match fit to exploit the opportunities that leaving the European Union will present to us to make our way in the world as a global Britain. An outward looking Britain, doing trade deals with our partners around the world. As well as maintaining a close relationship with our European neighbors.</s>NEWTON: Trade deals, as Madame Lagarde was sitting here warning about protectionism. Here are a few blocks away, President Trump, look like he might be engaging in a trade war. What makes you think that you have any special relationship with the U.S. government that you'll get a strong deal. Let's face it, that would be linchpin of any strong and resilient economy that you have a trading economy.</s>HAMMOND: Of course, it will. And we are a trading economy. And what we're hearing very clearly from the administration, from the President himself, from both sides of Congress, is that there is an appetite to do a trade deal with Britain. When the president talks about unfair trade, he's talking about unbalanced trade between countries that have different levels of development, different labor costs. It doesn't have an imbalance with Canada. He called them. Oh, he's just about to turn the tables on that trade relation.</s>HAMMOND: We have very well matched economies. We think will be able to do a trade deal between the U.K. and the U.S., which works for both countries. Recognizing the fact that we're similarly developed economies. Similar labor costs.</s>NEWTON: There are serious concussive affects to the economy that are incoming. That's what I know your hearing from investors.</s>HAMMOND: I mean look, clearly if we don't get this negotiation with the European Union right, there will be consequences for the British economy. We have to get that deal right. That's why we need a strong and determined leadership with a strong hand at the negotiating table. That's why we've decided to hold an election.</s>NEWTON: Don't you think that the door in Britain they're going to ask for more from you than that?</s>HAMMOND: They're going to judges by our track record. And they're going to look at our opponents and see what they are proposing. Higher taxes, an extra half a trillion pounds of borrowing. And that's what they have to offer the British people. They're going to see a government here which over the last seven years has reduced income taxes for ordinary working people, 30 million people have seen their income tax bills lowered. And at the same time reduce their deficit by two thirds. That's good solid conservative economic management and practice.</s>NEWTON: And that apparently is the same pitch he is giving to investors here in the United States. Dodd/Frank is in President Trump sites as he seeks to weaken financial regulation to, he says, boost economic growth. Coming up the latest on the President's newest executive orders.