[Natalie Allen, Cnn Anchor:] U.S. president Donald Trump lashes out on Twitter against a variety of targets, including former White House counsel, Don McGahn, for declining to clear Mr. Trump in public.
[George Howell, Cnn Anchor:] Iran's president calling for national unity. The United States ramps up its military pressure in the Gulf.
[Allen:] Also this hour, dozens of nations agree to curb plastic waste. But guess which country isn't on the list? We take a look at the world's plastic crisis.
[Howell:] Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm George Howell.
[Allen:] I'm Natalie Allen. NEWSROOM starts right now. Our top story, U.S. president Donald Trump wrapping up a busy week by lashing out at a former White House counsel, after reports that Don McGahn refused twice to say publicly that Mr. Trump did not obstruct justice. In a tweet, the president writes he was never a big fan of McGahn. He also denies he was going to fire special counsel Robert Mueller.
[Howell:] That followed a Twitter tirade on Saturday morning. Mr. Trump sent 62 retweets in the space of an hour. Among the targets were the Mueller report and the Democrats. He also retweeted his favorite talking points on China, border protection and jobs. He is also focusing on the Democratic front-runner in next year's presidential race.
[Allen:] In a new interview with "Politico," the president says it would be appropriate for him to talk to his attorney general about launching a probe into former vice president Joe Biden.
[Howell:] This comes a day after President Trump's lawyer canceled the trip to Ukraine. Rudy Giuliani wanted that country to investigate Biden. But now Biden and other Democrats have responded. Our Sarah Westwood has that story from the White House.
[Sarah Westwood, Cnn White House Correspondent:] The president's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, reversing his decision to go to Ukraine and discuss with Ukrainian officials something that might damage a potential 2020 rival for President Trump and that's former Vice President Joe Biden. Giuliani first defended his decision to make this trip before backtracking amid a massive backlash, with Democrats criticizing the trip overseas to work with foreign officials to gain information that might hurt someone who could run against the president in the next presidential election. Just for some context, this is all related to events that took place in 2016, when then Vice President Joe Biden was pushing to oust the top prosecutor in Ukraine. That prosecutor was investigating an energy company in which Hunter Biden, the son of the former vice president, had financial interests. And on Friday, Trump told "Politico" he thought he would be within his rights to ask attorney general Bill Barr to look into all this. Here's what he said. "Certainly, it would be an appropriate thing to speak to him about but I have not done that as of yet. It could be a very big situation." Now of course, Biden was not alone in calling for the removal of that Ukrainian official; there were a number of other Western leaders who were doing the same at the time. And there's no evidence that the actions Biden took were connected to his son's business activities. But before Giuliani abandoned his plans to go to Ukraine, Democratic senator Chris Murphy wrote a letter to the Republican chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, asking him to press for more details about this trip. So Democrats were preparing to look into all this. It also came after Trump told "Politico" he planned to discuss the planned trip with Giuliani. And Biden's campaign responded to all of this on Saturday. A spokesman telling CNN that this was, quote, "a blatantly political smear from the Trump team." Sarah Westwood, CNN, the White House.
[Allen:] The past week certainly illustrates the fiery political climate in Washington and the growing chasm between the Trump administration and Congress. Things heated up on Tuesday, when the administration told former White House counsel Don McGahn to not comply with a subpoena to testify before Congress. On Wednesday, Mr. Trump took it a step further, invoking executive privilege over the entire Mueller report. Then a House committee voted to hold U.S. attorney general William Barr in contempt for refusing to turn over the full, unredacted Mueller report. And Wednesday is also when the Senate Intelligence Committee led by Republicans subpoenaed the president's son, Don Jr., to appear. And then on Thursday, President Trump changed his mind, again, on whether special counsel, Robert Mueller should testify before Congress. He now says it is up to the attorney general to decide. And finally, on Friday, the House issued subpoenas to the U.S. Treasury Secretary and the tax commissioner to get the last six years of Mr. Trump's taxes. Let's break all this down with Scott Lucas, professor of international politics at the University of Birmingham and founder and editor of "EA WorldView," joining us from Birmingham, England. Scott, thanks for being with us. All right, I want you to break down here good morning to you. Let's begin with Trump's comments about the former White House counsel, Don McGahn, saying he had a better chance of being fired than Robert Mueller, this after McGahn refused to say publicly that the president did not obstruct justice. Why is the president so fixated on this, given he was cleared by the attorney general?
[Scott Lucas, University Of Birmingham:] Because Donald Trump is highly worried that Don McGahn's testimony will back up the Mueller report's conclusion that Donald Trump obstructed or attempted to obstruct justice on occasions because Don McGahn is a central figure in some of those attempts, including the 2017 effort by Donald Trump to fire the special counsel, Robert Mueller. So it's not just Donald Trump but the entire White House, including its attorneys, that are going to try to keep McGahn and other witnesses from testifying because, amid the events you talked about, let's keep our eye on the ball. The fundamental is the revelations about the Mueller report about numerous contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian officials and about obstruction of justice are politically damaging, even if Robert Mueller said he could not recommend the indictment of a sitting president.
[Allen:] Meantime, a lawyer for President Trump, Rudy Giuliani, may have canceled his trip to Ukraine to have Joe Biden investigated. But the Democratic presidential candidate could still face an investigation after the president insisted it was an appropriate matter to discuss with his attorney general. Is it appropriate?
[Lucas:] Remember that phrase I just gave you? Keep your eye on the ball. Because this entire scheme by Rudy Giuliani, announcing the trip, then withdrawing, it is an attempt to diversion. It does two things, one is it's an attempt to damage Joe Biden, who Donald Trump sees as a threat in the 2020 election. But perhaps more important than that, it's part of this smokescreen, this, let's put it, exaggerated white lie, that the real story of 2016 was that Democrats were colluding with Ukrainian officials rather than the Trump campaign's alleged collusion with the Russians. So the more folks talk about Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine, especially because it's a very complex matter involving Ukrainian politics, a battle between the prosecutor and legislators, the more you all talk about that, the more that Donald Trump and his folks hope that you won't be talking about the ongoing fallout from the Mueller report.
[Allen:] You know, we just outlined the week in Washington; every day we saw these developments. One thing is clear, the Trump administration intends to ignore the system of checks and balances central to government in the United States. He vows to "fight all the subpoenas," his words. In effect, as many are saying, he is putting the country in a constitutional crisis. "The Washington Post" penned a story. The headline was, "He is at war with Congress."
[Lucas:] This is not new. Donald Trump, since 2017, has tried to bypass Congress, has screamed and yelled if Congress stood in his way; for example, over ObamaCare. He tried to bypass the courts. He's done it on immigration, the environment, foreign policy and over the Mueller report. So when you are talking about a president and his advisers, who are refusing to answer subpoenas, instructing others to refuse subpoenas, not only over Trump-Russia but Jared Kushner's security clearance, over contacts with Saudi Arabia, even over the U.S. Census, either Donald Trump wins or the U.S. system wins. No in between.
[Allen:] Scott Lucas, we appreciate your insights. Thanks for being with us.
[Lucas:] Thank you.
[Howell:] Now to the trade war between the United States and China with talks at a standstill. The U.S. president is putting on his salesman hat to make a hard sell to Beijing. In a tweet, he wrote, "China should make a trade deal now. They will only get a worse deal if they wait" and if he wins re-election. So far, the hard sell does not appear to be working. China's top trade negotiator says the latest round of U.S. tariffs, a hike of 10 percent to 25 percent on $200 billion on Chinese imports must be rolled back before anything else can happen. Mr. Trump says big tariffs make the U.S. richer because he claims they are paid for by other countries. But that's not entirely accurate. Listen to this Republican congressman explain to my colleague John Berman what really happens.
[Rep. Will Hurd:] Ultimately, a tariff, if you think of a tariff like a sales tax.
[John Berman, Cnn:] On who?
[Hurd:] On American consumers. So it's going to be more expensive for Americans to buy products. So that is why this has a long-term impact on the U.S. economy.
[Allen:] Tariffs work like this. The U.S. imposes a tax or tariff on foreign goods. In this case, merchandise from China. The U.S. company importing the product then pays that duty to the U.S. government but it doesn't stop there. Many companies then pass that extra cost to consumers in the form of higher prices.
[Howell:] So consumers pay the price. You might be surprised how many common household items are already affected. These are a few examples here. According to Oxford Economics, the new tariffs could cost the average American family an extra $800 a year. Beijing is vowing to strike back against the U.S. Our Steven Jiang is following the story. Steven, it seems it comes down to who will blink first. Neither side is willing to budge. What can you tell us about how China might retaliate with counter measures to the U.S. tariffs?
[Steven Jiang, Cnn Senior Producer, Beijing Bureau:] So far, they have not announced any specifics but they can do a number of things, impose counter tariffs on U.S. imports. But not dollar for dollar because, remember, the Chinese import less from the U.S. than the other way around. So they are literally running out of American goods. They could also do a number of other things. They could reduce or cancel major purchases from the U.S., especially in terms of agricultural or energy products, which could hit hard the political base of Trump in the U.S. They could favor non-U.S. companies in terms of granting market access here in China. They could also launch unofficial retaliations to make life very difficult for American companies doing business here. We are talking sending inspectors or delaying the issuance of licenses or customs clearance.
[Howell:] Is there optimism in China that the U.S. would roll back the latest round of tariffs for things to continue?
[Jiang:] The interesting thing is both sides are still saying they are going to continue these negotiations. That's actually one point emphasized by the Chinese vice premier and the country's top trade negotiator in these most recent interviews. But it's hard to imagine to see how this process can move forward with both sides seemingly to have hardened their stances. Especially if you hear China, you see all the headlines are getting increasingly nationalistic, calling the U.S. a bully that's making unreasonable demands, saying China would never cave under extreme pressure or never make concessions on issues of principle. Some stories or commentaries even invoking memories of the Korean War, when the Chinese and U.S. military clashed.
[Howell:] All right, Steven Jiang, thank you so much.
[Allen:] The United States continues to put political as well as military pressure on Iran. But Iran's president says his country won't cave in. Next, we analyze the escalating tensions between the two nations. Plus
[Howell:] Protests, demonstrations in Albania turn violent over the weekend. What they are asking for ahead.