During a report on Thursday’s CBS This Morning about President Obama’s trip to Japan, correspondent Margaret Brennan noted: “Tomorrow, President Obama will make an historic trip to Hiroshima, a city that the U.S. devastated during World War II with the very first atomic bomb....he wants to underscore the risks still posed by nuclear weapons.”
At the top of the 8 a.m. ET hour, the morning show aired a portion of an interview Brennan conducted with U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy. During the exchange, Brennan pressed Kennedy on the President’s refusal to apologize for the bombing: “What do you think the reception is going to be to have an American president going to the site of the first nuclear bomb drop and not apologizing?”
Kennedy replied: “I think that the people of Japan are deeply, deeply grateful to the President for making this effort and making this visit. They're not looking for an apology.”
On Monday, NBC’s Today referred to the attack on Hiroshima as “another painful chapter of American history” and Obama being “the first sitting U.S. President to visit one of only places on Earth devastated by a nuclear weapon.”
Beyond the coverage of the upcoming Hiroshima visit, CBS was the only broadcast network to provide coverage of Obama suffering a diplomatic embarrassment when he first arrived in Japan. At the top of Brennan’s first report on Thursday, co-host Charlie Rose explained: “In Japan, President Obama is facing tension with his host. Japan’s prime minister publicly chastised the President yesterday. He expressed indignation about an American military contractor accused of murdering a Japanese woman. The President did not hide his displeasure.”
Brennan fretted: “President Obama came to Japan to tackle big issues like the economy, terrorism, and nuclear security. Instead, this murder case is casting a shadow over a trip meant to strengthen ties between the two countries.” She described how “President Obama listened stone-faced as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe publicly lectured him, saying he felt ‘profound resentment against this self-centered and absolutely despicable crime.’”
While highlighting how “the two leaders tried to clean up the messy diplomacy” at a tree-planting ceremony, Brennan declared that the “public scolding” of the President by the Japanese leader “reflected the resentment felt by a Japanese public that's still reeling from the 1995 abduction and rape of a 12-year-old girl by three U.S. servicemen in Okinawa.”
She joined in the scolding: “Many feel the 50,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan abuse the law with little consequence.” A soundbite followed of Michael O’Hanlon from the liberal Brookings Institution: “It’s now punctuated with this murder in a way that’s going to have huge repercussions because the rape is still discussed 20 years later. And you can imagine what this kind of a gruesome murder is going to do to the same dialogue.”
Here are full transcripts of Brennan’s two May 26 reports:
7:15 AM ET
CHARLIE ROSE: In Japan, President Obama is facing tension with his host. Japan’s prime minister publicly chastised the President yesterday. He expressed indignation about an American military contractor accused of murdering a Japanese woman. The President did not hide his displeasure. Margaret Brennan is traveling with the President in Toba, where the G-7 summit is underway. Margaret, good morning.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Good morning. President Obama came to Japan to tackle big issues like the economy, terrorism, and nuclear security. Instead, this murder case is casting a shadow over a trip meant to strengthen ties between the two countries.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Land of the Rising Tension; Japan PM Chastises Obama Over U.S. Murder Suspect]
Angry protesters took to the streets of Okinawa, outraged by the brutal killing of 20-year-old Rina Shimabukuro. 32-year-old Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, an American military contractor and former Marine, is soon expected to be charged with her murder. At yesterday's press conference, President Obama listened stone-faced as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe publicly lectured him, saying he felt “profound resentment against this self-centered and absolutely despicable crime.”
BARACK OBAMA: My sincerest condolences and deepest regrets.
BRENNAN: President Obama expressed regret over the tragedy.
OBAMA: The United States will continue to cooperate fully with the investigation to ensure that justice is done under the Japanese legal system.
BRENNAN: Today the two leaders tried to clean up the messy diplomacy, planting trees at Japan's most sacred shrine. But Abe's public scolding reflected the resentment felt by a Japanese public that's still reeling from the 1995 abduction and rape of a 12-year-old girl by three U.S. servicemen in Okinawa. Many feel the 50,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan abuse the law with little consequence. Brookings scholar Michael O'Hanlon.
MICHAEL O’HANLON [BROOKINGS INSTITUTION]: It’s now punctuated with this murder in a way that’s going to have huge repercussions because the rape is still discussed 20 years later. And you can imagine what this kind of a gruesome murder is going to do to the same dialogue.
BRENNAN: Tomorrow, President Obama will make an historic trip to Hiroshima, a city that the U.S. devastated during World War II with the very first atomic bomb. Norah, he wants to underscore the risks still posed by nuclear weapons.
NORAH O’DONNELL: Alright, Margaret Brennan, reporting there in Japan, thank you.
(...)
8:07 AM ET
NORAH O’DONNELL: We reported earlier on the cloud over President Obama's trip to Japan. He faced a public scolding from the prime minister over the murder of a Japanese woman allegedly by a American military contractor. Well, our Margaret Brennan spoke this morning to the American ambassador to Japan, Caroline Kennedy, about the case.
CAROLINE KENNEDY: You know, this is a terrible, terrible tragedy. And I think that it's important to understand how deep this – you know, and how big an issue this is here in Japan. But I think the important thing is that we, the U.S. military, the embassy, the U.S. government as a whole, and you've seen it all the way to the top with the President, have expressed, you know, our deepest apology, our regret, our commitment to see that this individual is prosecuted in the Japanese legal system.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Friday we see the historic trip to Hiroshima. President Obama going there. What do you think the reception is going to be to have an American president going to the site of the first nuclear bomb drop and not apologizing?
KENNEDY: Well, I think that it's hard to really understand the depth and the importance and the historic nature of what is going to happen tomorrow. I think that the people of Japan are deeply, deeply grateful to the President for making this effort and making this visit. They're not looking for an apology.
O’DONNELL: And as we know, the President won't apologize, but the Ambassador said he wants to move the U.S./Japan relationship forward.
