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Will Bridgegate Trial Implicate Chris Christie?; Obama to Host Town Hall on America's Military Tonight; Russian Missile Blew Flight MH-17 Part. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired September 28, 2016 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[09:30:00] JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Chris Christie's presidential bid. And now as he helps steer Trump's campaign, the allegations are mounting that he knew his operatives were shutting down lanes to the George Washington Bridge and that Christie even got a few chuckles out of it. And prosecutors say they have the pictures to prove it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: I knew nothing about the lane -- the lane realignments before they happened. I knew nothing about the lane realignments as they were happening.

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): But prosecutors say otherwise, arguing that Governor Chris Christie did know about the intentional lane closures that led to massive traffic jams on the George Washington Bridge. Prosecutors argue these pictures are proof. The shots taken at a September 11th memorial event in 2013 show Christie in a jovial mood, standing with Bill Baroni, a Port Authority executive at the center of the scandal. The lane closings were purportedly political payback against Mark Sokolich, the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee, who refused to endorse Christie's Republican re-election bid. Baroni is fighting charges that he orchestrated the shutdown, while another Port Authority official, David Wildstein, has pleaded guilty.

Wildstein testifying Tuesday that moments before the photos were snapped, Baroni allegedly told Christie, "governor, I have to tell you, there's a tremendous amount of traffic in Fort Lee this morning. Major traffic jams. And you'll be pleased to know that Mayor Sokolich is having trouble getting his telephone calls returned." Wildstein says Christie replied, "I imagine he wouldn't be getting his calls returned." Governor Christie has not been charged in this alleged retaliation plot.

CHRISTIE: I had nothing to do with the planning of it. I had no -- nothing to do with authorizing it. And we sit her now, nearly three years later, and there has not been one scintilla of evidence to contradict what I just said.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER: And, of course, Christie has not been charged. He also says he has not been called to testify, and he does not expect to be called to testify.

Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: So let's go back to these pictures because they could have been telling Christie a joke in the pictures, right?

SCHNEIDER: Right. And, of course, and that's what he would argue. You know, throughout these three years since this scandal started unfolding, there has been a trickle of little details here and there, but there has been no smoking gun that corrects Governor Christie to knowing about this or being directly involved in plotting it out. And, of course, Christie has denied it.

But despite that, you know, his poll -- his poll numbers have really been sinking. In fact, in a poll taken just before this bridgegate trial started, his approval rating was only at 26 percent in New Jersey. Very tough.

COSTELLO: Well, OK, so the people on trial for this, they were his most trusted aides.

SCHNEIDER: They were.

COSTELLO: Why would they sell him out at the trial?

SCHNEIDER: Well --

COSTELLO: Just to get lighter sentences or because --

SCHNEIDER: Of course. And, you know, Wildstein, he is cooperating with the government. He's the one who said that Christie heard about this, especially at that September 11th memorial ceremony. But Bridget Anne Kelly, one of his top aides, as well as Bill Baroni and other top executives at the Port Authority, they are holding strong, they are on trial, and they have not admitted to any guilt in this, Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, and they have never talked to the media either about this.

SCHNEIDER: They haven't. We've --

COSTELLO: And people have tried, right?

SCHNEIDER: Well, right. We see them every day leaving court, and they sometimes are smiling, but not saying anything.

COSTELLO: Jessica Schneider, thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, President Obama gets ready to field questions from active duty service members and veterans. Up next, a preview of tonight's big CNN town hall.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:37:38] COSTELLO: Hours from now, President Obama will sit down for a town hall event hosted by CNN's Jake Tapper. The focus, veterans, national security and foreign policy. Active duty service members and veterans will be able to ask the president questions as he wraps up his final months in office.

So, let's bring in CNN White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski to talk more about that.

Good morning.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

Right, yes, this will just be in a few hours, the president will arrive. And this crowd is going to be interesting and pretty diverse. I mean you mentioned active duty service people, there are going to be veterans, but also people who have some connection to the military. So there are going to be some special guests, some World War II veterans. There are going to be family members of military people. There are going to be people who have lost members of the military in war. And, you're right, they're going to be able to ask President Obama questions that are on their minds. So we expect it to be about their compensation, moral in the military, possibly some questions about ISIS.

And it's interesting when you look at the poll numbers. I mean we know that right now, nationwide, President Obama is very popular. His approval ratings are over 50 percent. I mean those numbers made headlines this year. But over the years, when you look at his approve rating among members of the military, it has been much, much lower. I mean the high, according to polls, was about 35 percent shortly after he took office. That was in 2009. But then those numbers among the military plummeted to 15 percent.

In fact, there was a poll done early this year by "The Military Times" on how people felt who were in the military about President Obama, but also how they felt about the upcoming election. And they chose Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton, two to one. But on top of that, about a fifth of service people who were surveyed felt that they would not vote if the choices were Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. So that's the kind of feeling that is out there among members of the military. And that's what President Obama is going to face when he's here today.

So this will be an interesting look at his interaction among the specific group of people. People who have served their country, some of them who have been to war, and some of them who have suffered great losses as a result, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Michelle Kosinski reporting live from Virginia for us this morning. Thanks so much.

You can catch tonight's town hall hosted by Jake Tapper here on CNN, 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

[09:40:01] Let's head out to the campaign trail for just a second now. Vice presidential hopeful Tim Kaine is in his home state of Virginia. You're just about to look at live pictures. This is out of Alexandria, where Kaine is meeting with voters. Of course that's not Tim Kaine. This is actually former Republican Senator John Warner. He joined Kaine on stage to announce his supporter for Hillary Clinton. Warner once served as secretary of the Navy. He spent 30 years in the Senate.

Trump is also getting a boost of support today from more than 50 members of the Bush administrations, including the former secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld.

So let's talk about all of this. Congressman Ryan Zinke of Montana is here. He's a former Navy SEAL. He's a former Navy SEAL commander and a Trump supporter. I'm also joined by CNN military analyst, retired Major General Spider Marks. He supports Hillary Clinton.

Welcome to both of you.

REP. RYAN ZINKE (R), MONTANA: Great to be with you.

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: Nice to have you here.

Let's talk about this town hall tonight, Congressman Zinke. President Obama is in his final months in office. It could be a no-holds-barred night to attack Mr. Trump. Are you worried about that?

ZINKE: Well, first, you know, the president's town hall, I'm glad that he's doing it. I think it's an important discussion. It's going to be a tough sell in the military. The military is frustrated. You look at the vacuums that have been created. National security has got to be our first and foremost, you know, mission ahead. And, you know, most of the military, you know, looks at it from, you know, from a retreat perspective. We see our position, you know, lessening. And we see that the troops don't feel like the president has had his back.

Where I do agree with the president is the authorization to use military force. I think we need a debate, because when you do use our forces, we ought to make sure they have the right equipment, the right training, and the right rules of engagement to win decisively on the field of battle. Our troops deserve that. And under this president, most of the active duty feel like the president has not had their back.

COSTELLO: So, General Marks, why don't members of the military like President Obama more?

MARKS: Well, I have to agree with the congressman, that the primary issue that the military has with our current president is that he hasn't stated with clarity of purpose what it is he's trying to achieve and he's vacillated in several instances. Let's take our withdrawal -- premature withdrawal from Iraq in 2011. The conditions were not set for that. In fact, the position of the administration was to go forward into Iraq and to maintain a presence in Iraq through a status of forces agreement, which would allow U.S. forces to serve there and not be subject to Iraqi law. And we changed that simply because the administration couldn't get its job done, which is to get them onboard and to meet our requirements and to have this relationship going forward. That was a tremendous mistake on the part of the administration. But I -- but I do believe that going forward that what candidate

Clinton needs to do is distance herself from President Obama, because of her administration is what I would label an '03, Obama 3. She will continue to have and share the same kind of challenges that the congressman just laid out with the military going forward.

COSTELLO: And, you know, as President Obama, you know, is being questioned by those military veterans and active service members, and Jake Tapper in that town hall, voters will be thinking about the election and will be thinking about what plan Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump has to defeat ISIS. It came up in the debate the other night, congressman. Here's how it went down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Look at her website. You know what, it's no different than this. She's telling us how to fight ISIS. Just go to her website. She tells you how to fight ISIS on her website. I don't think General Douglas McArthur would like that too much.

LESTER HOLT, MODERATOR: All right, the next -- the next -- the next segment, we're continuing the subject of --

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Well, at least I have a plan to fight ISIS.

HOLT: Achieving prosperity --

TRUMP: No, no, you're telling the enemy everything you want to do.

CLINTON: No, we're not. No, we're not.

TRUMP: See, you're telling the enemy everything you want to do.

HOLT: (INAUDIBLE).

CLINTON: We are not hiding (ph) --

TRUMP: No wonder you've been fighting -- no wonder you've been fighting ISIS your entire adult life.

HOLT: Folks --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK, so Mrs. Clinton has not been fighting ISIS her entire adult life, but -- but the other stuff that Donald Trump had to say, you know, he won't release his plan to fight ISIS because he says it's a secret plan and he doesn't want the enemy to know what his intent is, congressman. Some voters might say, well, I kind of see his point, but don't we need to know if -- whether, you know, we're going to send our young women and men out on the battlefield? Don't we need to know something about the plan?

ZINKE: Well, on the -- and that's why a debate is necessary for the authorization to use military force is, we need to debate when we commit tour troops. We ought to make sure that we give them all available means. And to the point that Mr. Trump is correct, is you do not telegraph what you're going to do.

Mrs. Clinton also said she wouldn't put troops on the ground in Iraq. We have over 5,000 troops in Iraq and we have troops in Syria. And I've been one that either we fight or go home. If we're going to fight, then let's make sure we have the right equipment, right training, and right rules of engagement to win decisively on the field of battle. And that force package has to be sufficient to move the needle.

[09:45:08] Where I do agree is, we need a national discussion and debate about -- because it will take resolve and continued commitment by Americans and our troops and those that are them to support this effort. But we're going to have to do with a coalition. Our allies are going to be -- have to be part of this effort. The U.S. should not do it alone. We can't do it alone. But militarily, we have to be in the lead because one else can. But, again, it's a coalition force. So to Donald Trump's point is that we should not telegraph, I agree with that, but we need a larger policy discussion to make sure the troops are supported.

COSTELLO: So, General Marks, Hillary Clinton, I think she supports a no-fly-zone over Syria and President Obama does not. I know that's different from President Obama's plans to fight ISIS, but what is her exact plan?

MARKS: Well, you know, the key thing that has to take place at the commander in chief level is what we're looking at is the requirement for predictability at the policy level. And what that means is, you need to have -- the most important aspect of leadership is predictability. Your friends need to know how you're going to respond, and those that you're trying to convince to join your team better be convinced. And those that are your enemies, they better take caution.

And so what we have with candidate Trump is what I call kind of a very all over the map approach toward his view of what we're going to do relative to radical Islam. It's not just ISIS. Let's be frank, ISIS is going to morph into something else. It might even be incredibly worse. So there has to be a level of predictability here. And it needs to require -- our strategy needs to require -- it must require all elements of power. I totally agree with the congressman. If you're going to go in, let's get all in militarily. That's why the air campaign is necessary, but insufficient. There has to be additional application -- there must be an additional application of force in order to go after it militarily.

But also, we have failed diplomatically. We are not aggressively attacking them on the information campaign, and we can do a lot economically that would start to crush them as well. So it takes all those elements of power in order to go after this threat.

COSTELLO: OK. Senator Warner he just, you know, the longtime Republican senator, threw his support behind Hillary Clinton moments ago. He said from the stage that Mr. Trump should not attack gold star families. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN WARNER, FORMER NAVY SECRETARY: And no one should have the audacity to stand up and degrade the Purple Heart, degrade military families, or talk about the military being in a state of disaster. That's wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So, congressman, you know that whole thing with the Khan family, it still lives. Or in your mind, does it?

ZINKE: Well, no one should attack a gold star family. To include Mrs. Clinton lying to Mrs. Smith who, you know, her son lost his life, unfortunately, in Benghazi. So I think -- I think in this, both sides are wrong. I think we should respect our gold star families.

And, look, you know, as a military person, I fought with the individuals next to me. I didn't care whether they were Republican, Democrat, Muslim, Christian. What I cared about is the merit of the person and the commitment to our mission and the love of our country. And I think we should leave it at that and look at the serious issues that face our country. You know, on national defense, we're going to have to look at immigration, vetting of our refugees, and look at securing our borders, too.

COSTELLO: Right. Well, hopefully all of that will come up in the big town hall tonight with Jake Tapper. Congressman Ryan Zinke and General Spider Marks, thanks to both of you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, two years after a missile brought down a passenger plane over eastern Ukraine. We're getting new answers about where that missile came from.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:53:30] COSTELLO: Nearly 300 people died when Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 came apart in the sky over eastern Ukraine. That happened two years ago. Today, we're getting more information about what exactly happened that deadly day. This morning, an international investigation team said that the missile that tore through the Boeing 777 was brought into Ukraine from Russia. Now it's gathering evidence for a possible criminal trial.

CNN's Phil Black joins us now with more.

Good morning.

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

We knew what sort of missile was responsible because that was established by an earlier investigation, a Russian-made Buk surface- to-air missile system. It's contentious because both Russia and Ukrainian forces operate that particular antiaircraft system. Russia has always insisted it had nothing to do with it, but this two-year long international criminal investigation says that it has found overwhelming evidence that says otherwise.

Through examining social media posts, that's video, pictures, through looking at mobile cell phone towers, intercepted phone calls and witness accounts, this investigation says that it has accumulated a vast amount of evidence that shows this particular missile system was brought from territory of the Russian Federation into Ukraine. It then progressed in a convoy to the position where it was fired and shot down that airliner, MH 17, killing all 298 people on board. And then it returned to Russia the very next day.

Now, this is a criminal investigation. It's an update on a criminal investigation. Its purpose is to ultimately bring people to justice, bring them before a court. Today, the investigators didn't want to say too much about that except that they believe they have identified some 100 people or so linked to the transportation or the firing of the weapon system. And so now they are trying to examine or get further information on the chain of command, who ultimately ordered that missile system to move into that position, lock on to that aircraft and fire. They didn't say it specifically, but the implication of this is that this investigation is now focused on serving Russian military personnel.

[09:55:38] Carol.

COSTELLO: So I know you sort of intimated it, but who exactly could be charged with a crime for blowing -- I mean and let's remind viewers, this was a passenger plane. This was not enemy aircraft over Ukraine.

BLACK: No, indeed. So Malaysia Airlines flight from Amsterdam, flying over Ukrainian air space, with 298 people on board, finding out who did this is obviously the very difficult part. And they say that they are now working on that next step of the investigation. Where that progresses from here, it's really unclear, Carol, because Russia continues to deny that it was involved.

COSTELLO: All right, Phil Black reporting live for us this morning, thank you.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)