[Gorani:] Frustration over the condition of the European Union is spilling over for some of its leaders. Jean Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, slammed the entire European Parliament for its low at a session reviewing the Maltese presidency of the EU now. Now listen to some of the unusually strong words that Juncker used.
[Jean Claude Juncker, European Commission President:] Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister, the European Parliament is ridiculous, very ridiculous. I would like to welcome those that have actually taken the trouble to turn up this morning. But the fact there are about 30 members of parliament in this debate only really illustrates the fact that parliament is not seriously missed. I'm putting that to you today that if Mr. [inaudible] or Mrs. Merkel or Mr. Macron perhaps have been here, it would have been a full house. Mr. President, could you please have a more respectful attitude. You may criticize the parliament, yes, but the commission does not control the parliament. It's the parliament that should be controlling the commission. There are only few members in the plenary to control the commission, you are ridiculous. I wanted to pay tribute to the Maltese
[Antonio Tajani, European Parliament President:] Mr. President, I would ask you please to change your language. We are not ridiculous, please, please.
[Juncker:] I will never again I will never, I will never again attend a meeting of these kinds. The commission is under the control of the Parliament, but the Parliament has to respect even the persons [inaudible] smaller component is what the parliament is not doing.
[Rear Admiral John Kirby , Cnn Military And Diplomatic Analyst:] I don't know how this one was made. Typically, it's usually done at lower- level staff level between both countries sort of working out what the format's going to be like, what the protocol, the size of the room and how many backbenchers you have, people at the table. So it's usually done at the lower level. I'm sure it was done bilaterally. I think it's a good thing. I think this works to the President's favor because it means more people in the room. It means a more structured agenda. It means a chance to really try to make this content heavy, rather than just sort of an informal pull-aside where, you know, there's no structure to it. And it may lend itself to optics that don't convey the seriousness of the first meeting between these two men.
[Gorani:] But because there is so much of a focus on Russia's role in trying to interfere in the U.S. election, on some of the staffers during the Trump campaign, what communications they might have had also with Russian officials, this couldn't have been just a low-level decision, right? In this particular case, would you expect it to have gone all the way up to the President himself to make that decision?
[Kirby:] Oh, well, clearly look, clearly, ultimately, the two principals have got to agree that it's going to be a bi-lat. What I'm saying is the logistics of making that decision
[Gorani:] Right.
[Kirby:] are done at the lower level. But, clearly, both men had to have agreed to it. I don't suspect that this was something that there was a lot of handwringing over at the White House, nor should there have been. I mean, this is the way normally, when two presidents meet, this is the way it's done. And these two particular guys, with as many issues as there are between us, this makes a lot of sense, from my perspective.
[Gorani:] So you have two very strong personalities. Obviously, we get a lot of insight into Donald Trump's thinking on his Twitter account, not as much President Putin. He doesn't tweet. But how important now is this personal relationship? What should we be looking out for?
[Kirby:] Well, look, I don't think either side expects there's going to be a lot of specifics that come out of this meeting, a lot of tangible results, some sort of deal struck. I really don't think anybody is looking at that. It's the first meeting between them, and there's such contentiousness in the relationship
[Gorani:] No, but you're going to look at body language, at the handshake, at, you know, what they end up
[Kirby:] Yes, sure. Look
[Gorani:] telling reporters after, that type of thing.
[Kirby:] Yes. Exactly.
[Gorani:] Yes.
[Kirby:] Look, I think the handshake stuff is awful fun for theater. I don't put a lot of stock in that. What you should look is at the backend, what they each say about the meeting. If there's no common, you know, bi-lat read out, what do they say and what are the gaps between what each side is saying about what was discussed? And what agreements are going to go, going forward? Here's what I think. I think they'll say it was constructive.
[Gorani:] Yes.
[Kirby:] They'll say it was positive. They'll say, you know, we were able to talk about mutual concerns and the poor state of the bilateral relationship and how we're going to make it better. And our two teams are going to meet again in the future to try to work out some of these issues. I think that's pretty much what the read out is going to be. I don't think there's going to be or that there are high expectations for actual tangible outcomes.
[Gorani:] Well, I've interviewed diplomats for many, many years, and I know when I hear words like candid, frank, constructive, friendly, we'll meet again
[Kirby:] Yes. Yes.
[Gorani:] that's usually diplo speak for, well, we talked honestly about certain things, and maybe we're keeping other topics for later.
[Kirby:] Yes.
[Gorani:] But the one topic everybody wants to hear about, in terms of whether or not the President brings it up with President Putin, is this Russian interference. And an official is telling CNN that is not likely to top the agenda at all if it makes it into the conversation. Do you find that surprising?
[Kirby:] I don't find it surprising, Hala. I do find it disappointing. I think in a weird sort of ironic way, the issue is going to come up because we can expect Putin's going to complain about the fact that President Obama kicked his diplomats out of the country and out of those two compounds in Maryland. That is sort of a backdoor way of talking about the election season and the meddling. But here's what I do believe. I hope that President Trump and his team are reconsidering this approach. Because, look, even if he doesn't want to admit to the election meddling issue in 2016 and he doesn't want to look back, he needs to look forward. Russia will do this again. You are seeing it there in Europe. They are continuing to do this sort of cyber hacking, and it will continue. And we've got a midterm election in 2018 in this country, another presidential election two years later. He needs to lay down a marker for Putin that this is not going to be tolerated and that we take this seriously.
[Gorani:] Now, you say handshakes are good theater, but President Macron of France said that white-knuckle handshake he had with Donald Trump was no accident.
[Kirby:] Oh, yes.
[Gorani:] That it was more than theater, that he wanted to send an actual diplomatic message.
[Kirby:] Yes.
[Gorani:] You know, that we won't be sort of pushed around, something like that.
[Kirby:] Yes.
[Gorani:] There's the video of it, by the way. It was in Brussels in May.
[Kirby:] Yes.
[Gorani:] So this is going to be important to look at too as well, how they interact with each other, these two men.
[Kirby:] Yes. Look, they're both very
[Gorani:] The body language.
[Kirby:] They're both very proud of their masculinity.
[Gorani:] Yes.
[Kirby:] And, yes, I think we're going to see very robust, you know, physicality between them. I just think sometimes we make too much of the whole handshake thing. That's my personal opinion. But, yes, look, everybody's going to be looking for that. This is the other good thing about having a formal bi-lat because usually, as you know, Hala, they'll be proceeded with a camera spray. They'll be media in the room.
[Gorani:] Yes.
[Kirby:] There may even be a chance for media to ask a question or two. That's all good for the transparency and the message sending, you know, part of a meeting like this.
[Gorani:] Well, we'll see how that all unfolds. John Kirby, as always
[Kirby:] We will be.
[Gorani:] great having you on. Thank you.
[Kirby:] Thanks, my pleasure.
[Gorani:] Now, imagine trying to plan a foreign trip for a U.S. president. Imagine now having to plan that trip for Donald Trump. Obviously, this isn't just buying a plane ticket on Expedia and booking an Uber at the airport. We are talking dozens and dozens of vehicles and hundreds of staff, all flown in on transport and passenger planes. On top of which, the Secret Service has been working for weeks on securing the President's travels. Now, President Trump starts his trip in Poland and Croatia. Then it's on to Hamburg for the G20 and his meeting with President Putin. Now, my next guest planned such travels for former U.S. President Barack Obama. Johanna Maska joins me now from Los Angeles. So, Johanna, thanks for being with us. First, if you were planning a Donald Trump trip, what would be top of your list of concerns, of things you need to address?
[Johanna Maska, Former Director Of Press Advance For President Barack Obama:] Well, you started with a little bit of a bio. I worked for President Obama. I travelled with him for eight years to 40 countries, and I will say I was very lucky because I had a predictable principal. I think I'd be most worried at any of the last minute changes because, obviously, you know, a concern for you when you're on your own territory is you're not always in control. When you're on foreign soil, you're definitely not in control.
[Gorani:] So how do you, you know, maximize control when you're abroad?
[Maska:] You know, what we would do is we would go six weeks in advance, and we would lay out, you know, what we wanted out of the trip. We were pretty transparent with folks. We would actually bring the press to most of our meetings because, you know, when you're moving the center of the White House to a different location, you're actually moving, you know, the ability for him to communicate. You're moving military operations. You're moving the security forces that you already talked about. You're basically moving the Oval Office to wherever he is. So you need to make sure that everyone has the ability, should anything go wrong, domestic or international, that you can respond to it in that moment. So what they have to look at is, you know, wherever he's going, making sure that he has that Oval Office operation with him at all times.
[Gorani:] So it's interesting what you're saying that you go six weeks ahead of time. Obviously, I don't find it surprising. I would expect that. But then there are these reports regarding Donald Trump that between the G20, the end of G20 in July 14th, which is Bastille Day, when he is the guest of honor at the Bastille Day Parade of Emmanuel Macron, that he might pop over to the U.K. These are reports floating around. Therefore, would that require more preparation, or is that doable on short notice?
[Maska:] So Air Force One doesn't just pop. I mean, that's the thing is, you know, you have to plan this because it's diplomatic, you know, protocol that you have to do. When you arrive in any country, they normally want to greet you. There's political implications if he just pops over to a country. There's also, you know, all of the diplomatic implications. Because if he's going to another country, the embassy, the State Department, the military, all of these different components should be ready. And on that, we did do off the record trips, but our off the record trips were to Afghanistan or to Iraq or, you know, somewhere where there was a significant reason that we were going there. Most of our trips, if there was a couple days shuffle, the press would at least have an idea of what we were thinking about doing.
[Gorani:] Right. So if by now, there hasn't been a formal announcement for the U.K., chances are this isn't something that's happening. You couldn't just wing it, obviously.
[Maska:] I can't imagine it. The only thing I ever remember us like kind of winging was Stonehenge at the last moment. We ended up adding that on a trip where we were already in country. So winging it and going to another country, that's very unlikely.
[Gorani:] It's a big ask. What's the most unusual thing that a government has offered to do for President Obama on a foreign trip?
[Maska:] Well, I was doing an interview with R.A. Shapiro and I remembered that the Italians had started building us a basketball court, which we did not ask for and subsequently said, no, I don't think but, you know, if every
[Gorani:] How far along were they in the building of the basketball court, if anything?
[Maska:] They had one one hoop was already done.
[Gorani:] Oh, wow. OK.
[Maska:] So that was not going anywhere. But, you know, every country wants to be a great host. And so, you know, I can never imagine a country not trying to host, to cater to whoever the president is. I'm trying to remember some more other circumstances, but, you know, multileader summits, they can't do that much for one leader and not for another.
[Gorani:] Yes.
[Maska:] It will be interesting.
[Gorani:] It will be interesting to watch the G20 unfold, and we'll see. Maybe we'll have that unannounced trip to the U.K. during that downtime. We'll see.
[Maska:] Right.
[Gorani:] Johanna Maska, thanks so much for joining us from L.A. President Trump is also facing resistance back home from dozens of U.S. states. This time, it's not just the so-called blue states leading the charge. And this is why this is an interesting story as well because Republican-dominated states are pushing back as well against the new Trump commission looking at the supposed problem of voter fraud, which most studies say doesn't exist in the first place. Now, Dianne Gallagher breaks down this complicated story for us.
[Dianne Gallagher, Cnn National Correspondent:] Tonight, growing backlash from states feeling the federal government overreach into voter information. Now, at least 40 states pushing back at requests from President Trump's commission to handover election data, expressing reservations, citing legal barriers, or outright refusing to turn over some or all of the information.
[Alison Lundergan Grimes , Kentucky Secretary Of State:] This is simple a government overreach. It's making government bigger, something Donald Trump told us he would not do by creating a, hashtag, fake commission.
[Gallagher:] Bipartisan opposition with red states refusing too. In a statement issued before even receiving the request, Mississippi Secretary of State told the commission to, quote, go jump in the Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi is a great state to launch from.
[Kris Kobach , Kansas Secretary Of State:] This is a commission that is just gathering data, and we'll follow the facts where they lead them.
[Gallagher:] Kris Kobach, the vice chair of Trump's Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity is asking for information, if publicly available under state laws, including a voter's full name, address, date of birth, political affiliation, voting, military, criminal records, along with at least part of their Social Security Number. Now, some states are more critical than others, with at least 10, including California Secretary of State, questioning the ethics of the panel.
[Alex Padilla , California Secretary Of State:] We know nothing about how they intend to operate in a way that's transparent and accountable to the public. But it's a commission that was based that was formed on the President's fixation of massive voter fraud which, study after study, shows is simply not true.
[Gallagher:] Kobach told CNN's Anderson Cooper that's not the point of the commission.
[Kobach:] First of all, the commission's purpose is not to prove or disprove what the President speculated about back in January. The purpose of the commission is to find facts and put them on the table.
[Gallagher:] President Trump attacked the opposing states on Twitter, asking, what are they trying to hide? Since the start
[Donald Trump, President Of The United States:] They woke up from the dead and they went and voted.
[Gallagher:] Trump has claimed fraud in U.S. elections.
[Trump:] Believe me, there's a lot going on. Do you ever hear these people, they say there's nothing going on. People that have died 10 years ago and still voting. Illegal immigrants are voting.
[Gallagher:] Citing zero evidence, he tweeted in November, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally, but the administration has yet to provide any proof. And every credible study CNN has found has determined large-scale voter fraud is extremely rare to nonexistent.
[Gorani:] Dianne Gallagher reporting. Well, Dianne mentioned that at least 40 states are pushing back against this commission. Well, CNN can now report that 44 out of the 50 states are refusing at least some part of this. So the number has increased to 44 out of all 50 U.S. states. Still ahead, we'll go back to the U.S. but for celebration this time, not controversy. It's Independence Day, July 4th. We'll take you to iconic Coney Island for a fun July 4th traditional, quote, sport, unquote.