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U.S.-Russia Relations; Nuclear Arsenal Upgrade? Germn Terror Suspect Shot in Milan. 1-1:30- ET

Aired December 23, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: Hello, I'm Jim Acosta. It's 1:00 pm here in Washington, 8:00 pm in Jerusalem and 9:00 pm in Moscow. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks for joining us.

We start with a new and complex chapter in U.S. and Russia relations. A short time ago, President-Elect Donald Trump released a letter he received from Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

The letter is date December 15th and Putin writes, quote -- we'll put it up on screen, "I hope that after you assume the position of the President of the United States of America we will be able - by acting in a constructive and pragmatic manner - take real steps to restore the framework of bilateral cooperation in different areas as well as bring our level of collaboration on the international scene to a qualitatively new level."

Trump called it a, quote, "Nice letter," and said he agreed with the Russian president's view. But pair that statement with a quote that we heard this morning on MSNBC, they are reporting from Trump that he said, quote, "Let it be an arms race" between the U.S. and Russia.

That was Trump's response when asked to clarify a tweet yesterday where he called on the U.S. to, quote, "greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capacity." Let's bring in senior international correspondent, Matthew Chance and Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr.

Matthew, what did Vladimir Putin say about this letter and a suggestion of a new nuclear arms race?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Yes, he didn't mention the letter. That's something that (ph) came out the Trump transition team in Florida. But he did talk about the possibility of a nuclear arms race. He was asked this, he had an epic press conference throughout the course of today, it lasted nearly four hours.

And he was asked about this Trump tweet and he basically, you know, cast it to one side. Downplayed it somewhat, saying that, you know, he didn't see anything new in what Donald Trump had to say -- not (ph) anything new from what he'd said during his campaign. Take a listen to what Vladimir Putin, the Russian president had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA: (Interpreted) We are acting in full compliance. Let me stress that. We are fully in compliance with all commitments including START III. The tactical nuclear arms of the United States are updated, are (ph) modernized there. So if someone accelerates and speeds up the arms race, it's not us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHANCE: All right, so he's downplaying that remark. But it's not all together clear that Trump was talking about Russia when he made those remarks; either on the twitter thing or the remarks to MSNBC.

In fact, the tone of the conversation between these two figures has been very positive up until this moment; throughout the campaign and since he was elected president as well. And, in fact, the letter emphasizes that, talking about how they want to bring the level of collaboration on the international scene to a qualitatively (ph) new level.

That's what Putin wants from this new government of Donald Trump -- the (ph) new White House in the United States. And really, they've got high expectations here that they can really do a deal with the incoming Trump administration.

And that contrasts very starkly with the way Putin sees the Obama administration, the outgoing U.S. presidency. He spoke about it today in quite scathing terms, saying the (ph) democrats lost the presidency, the Senate and the House of Representatives.

He was reacting to allegations that (ph) he had his finger on the scales of that election through (ph) the hacking scandal. Am I to blame for that? He said, are we responsible for everything? If you lose you should lose with dignity.

And so we're seeing a big contrast in the way Putin speaks about the outgoing Obama administration to the way he speaks very positively about doing a deal and working closely with Donald Trump.

ACOSTA: Right. It's hard to separate the Cold War rhetoric from the warm fuzzies that we're seeming to hear from President-Elect Trump and Vladimir Putin. Barbara, Trump's new press secretary, Sean Spicer attempted to clarify the president-elect's twitter comments. Let's take a listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN SPICER, INCOMING WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There a countries around the globe right now that are talking about increasing their nuclear capacity. And the United States is not going to sit back and allow that to happen without acting in kind.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: So you don't see these words as any sort of escalation rhetoric (ph)?

SPICER: No, absolutely not. There -- it is him articulating how he is (ph) going to be as president.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ACOSTA: So, Barbara, you heard it there from (ph) Sean Spicer. He says it's not an escalation, but it does sound like some time of departure from U.S. policy or a ramping up of the rhetoric that we've certainly been hearing from this administration.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Mr. Spicer's saying it's not an escalation, but Mr. Trump earlier today calling it indeed (ph) an arms race. And since there's not an arms race, with the Russians at least right now, I'm not sure how to see other than escalation.

He may not have been talking about in totality just Russian nuclear arms. Pakistan is trying to upgrade its program. We know North Korea's trying to get a nuclear weapon, we - improve there arsenal that they have. Iran, China, all of those countries.

And you can bet that all of those countries are listening to this international conversation via Twitter and trying to figure out what it really means. And I think there is a good deal of concern that it is not yet clear what the Trump administration means to do when they come into office. And that is a big worry, Jim

ACOSTA: Absolutely, Barbara. Donald Trump's tweets not only shake up a campaign; they don't do that any more, they reverberate around the world. Matthew Chance, Barbara Starr, thank you very much.

Let's good more on this provocative rhetoric on nuclear weapons from both President-Elect Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Joining me from Scottsdale, Arizona is Republican Congressman Trent Franks. He's a member of the House armed services committee.

Congressman Franks, President-Elect Trump says "let it be an arms race." That is the (ph) quote that he gave MSNBC according to MSNBC. Is that kind of rhetoric from the President-Elect appropriate in your view?

REP. TRENT FRANKS (R), ARIZ: Well, I think it's important to keep in mind that the arms race has been something that has been taking place for the history of the human race. And the forces of freedom and human dignity have always had a choice.

We either stand by and let the enemies of freedom prevail in that race. Or we make it clear to the world that we have both the capacity and the commitment to win any arms race that takes place and thereby prevent those that are enemies of freedom from entering that kind of a (ph) dynamic in the first place.

There's certainly (ph) perks (ph) --

ACOSTA: But Congressman Franks --

FRANKS: -- not only in turning (ph) to (ph) support (ph) them --

ACOSTA: -- Donald Trump is (ph) not even sworn into office --

FRANKS: -- but also in terms of how we have philosophy. ACOSTA: Sure. But Donald Trump has not even been sworn into office. Should he be starting an arms race before he's even --

FRANKS: Well --

ACOSTA: -- sworn in?

FRANKS: -- I don't think that's what he's doing at all. I think, you know, sometimes Donald Trump's communications may not always be the most diplomatic or the most elegant. But he's got the principle, right?

If he makes it clear that America will always deal from a position of strength, that (ph) we at once tell the world that we have no designs on hurting anyone. But there is no point in trying to force any sort of a major offensive against us, because we have the capacity and the commitment to take care of ourselves.

And the fact is that our nuclear armament is about 5 percent of our defense budget. Our defense budget's about 17 percent of our entire federal budget and that means for one-10th of 1 percent of the GDP of this country our nuclear arms capability has prevented World War III for 70 years.

ACOSTA: And, Congressman Franks, let me ask you as a member of the House missile defense caucus; when Vladimir Putin specifically says he wants to be able to penetrate any current or future missile defense system, isn't that some kind of threat aimed at the United States and its allies? What do you make of that.

FRANKS: Well, you know, it's kind of ironic that you'd ask that question, because the same question occurred here eight or 10 years ago when we were talking about modernizing our space capabilities. And there were those who said, oh no, we don't want to weaponize space. And our opponents proceeded to do exactly that.

So now, there is a grave deficit in some of these areas. The hypersonic glide vehicles that Russia is developing would indeed make some of our most advanced missile defense capabilities obsolete. And it's important that we stay on top of that.

Because, again, we have two choices; we either stand by and let the opponents of freedom prevail, which is not good for anyone on earth. Or, as the uni-polar (ph) superpower of the world, we make it clear that our ends and our hearts are good toward everyone -- that we have no anger or hatred or wish to conquer anyone.

But that we will stand and we will have an arsenal of freedom that will prevail in any circumstance. And I think that's what Donald Trump is trying to do.

ACOSTA: Sure. And, Congressman, this letter that Vladimir Putin sent to Donald Trump, wanted to get your take on it. He's calling for collaboration between the Kremlin and the White House.

This is an extraordinary letter, obviously. Trump says likes the sentiment and hopes that they stay on the same page. Do you think Donald Trump will be tough enough with Vladimir Putin?

FRANKS: Well, I think the contrast between Donald Trump and Barak Obama is profound beyond my ability to articulate. Vladimir Putin has proceeded to mock the world up (ph) with Barak Obama.

And we are a weaker nation, because Barak Obama was president of the United States, than we have been in a very long time. And I think the Vladimir Putin recognizes that there's a different man in the White House now, or going to be soon. And that he has to readjust his trajectory.

ACOSTA: That is absolutely true. Very true, sir. Thank you very much. Congressman Trent Franks joining us from Arizona.

FRANKS: Thank you.

ACOSTA: Happy Holidays, sir. Merry Christmas.

FRANKS: Merry Christmas to you, sir.

ACOSTA: Thank you. Now to the end of the manhunt for the man that police believe slammed his truck into a crowd of people at a Berlin Christmas market. The manhunt ended on the streets just outside of Milan, Italy where he was shot and killed by police.

Meanwhile, German authorities say they are still on high alert as they look for possible accomplices. This as a new video has surfaced showing the truck attack suspect Anis Amri pledging allegiance to ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Joining me now to discuss this is Nina De Santos in Milan, Italy and CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank in London. Nina, the Italians are saying that this was an accident somewhat in terms of how they caught this international fugitive. Take us through what happened.

NINA DE SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I'm (ph) standing outside the very spot where he was actually gunned down at 3:00 in the morning here local time, Jim. Just behind me, on the tarmac, if you get close enough you can still see his blood.

And what happened essentially is that he turned up in this rather, it (ph) has to be said, random location; an industrial working class neighborhood in the northeastern part of Milan, essentially a satellite town to Italy's biggest northern city. And he was stopped by two police officers for a random ID check.

When they asked him to present his papers, instead he pulled out a 22 caliber pistol and immediately began firing. One of those officers was shot and remains in hospital. The other one drew his gun and fired a second shot and within moments Anis Amri was dead.

Now the Italian police managed to identify him, because remember this is a man who was traveling on many different aliases across different countries over the few years, via his fingerprints. And they cross test (ph) those fingerprints and found that they were the same fingerprints as the ones on the driving steering wheel of the truck that plowed into those pedestrians at the Berlin Christmas market.

As you mentioned, ISIS also came out with a video which appeared to show him pledging his allegiance to ISIS itself (ph) star (ph) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. And they said it was indeed him who was killed here. Overnight, has (ph) to be set in a very random location. We're just outside a train station a couple of miles outside of Milan.

Why did he come back to Italy? This is where his journey to Europe originally began. Is (ph) it where his story of radicalization ended and what does that mean for authorities who are continuing to investigate?

ACOSTA: And, Paul, you have new information on what authorities thought of Amri before the Berlin attack. What have you learned?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: That's right. I was (ph) told by two intelligence officials that he was added to the so called danger list in March of this year. That's a list which is maintained by German security services for people that they consider dangerous who are Islamists (ph) or suspected terrorists.

Right now there are about 549 names on that list and you are generally added to the list if they don't have enough information to laugh arrest but you're considered very dangerous non the less. So they were well aware that he posed a risk. Well aware because they had a police informant in the network that he belonged to who spent a lot of time with him, according to the court documents and investigative files obtained by CNN.

ACOSTA: And Nina, what are authorities now looking for down there? Do they there are more accomplices? Where does (ph) the investigation stand on that?

DE SANTOS: They're looking at the very curious circumstance that -- in fact, where I'm standing in Sesto San Giovanni, in this small town north of Milan is only the town next door to the town that the truck originally loaded up and left from over the weekend with the Polish driver. That is one of the significant points of investigation.

Although the police here are quick to point out that Milan is a rather small place, so the distances aren't huge. It could be that that's just a coincidence. One of the things they're going to be looking for is, did this man have any accomplices?

We know that he was alone at the time when he was apprehended and shot. We know that he only had a small amount of local currency in his backpack and that he didn't have -- it seems at the moment, ID papers or a cell phone.

Who did he know in Italy? Did he come back here because this is where his journey began? Those are the kind of things they're going to be asking. They're also going to be asking how he managed to move from Berlin in Germany through the train system -- so significant public risk to people on public transport.

Because it seems as though he may have been armed and dangerous at the time, through France, towards Turin in northwestern Italy to then the central station in Milan. And then we still don't know the final part of his journey, Jim. How did he get to this suburb in northeastern Milan? That is a (ph) question police still haven't answered.

ACOSTA: Absolutely a critical question. Nina De Santos and Paul Cruickshank, always working (ph) your (ph) sources (ph). Thank you very much. And coming up, Russian President Vladimir Putin taking a last swipe at President Obama before he leaves office. His comments, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: A warm letter from the Kremlin, nuclear tweets. Two topics involving two of the most influential people in the world; President- Elect Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Let's discuss this with my panel of guests; Bobby Ghosh, editor and chief for the Hindustan Times and Masha Gessen is (ph) a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times and author of The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin, important reading right now. Betsy Woodruff, politics reporter for the Daily Beast and Susan Page, of course, our (ph) Washington Bureau chief for USA Today

Bobby, let's being with you. Donald Trump said today he had a very nice letter from Vladimir Putin, not everybody can claim that, talking about the importance of relations between the two countries.

Yet, in the last 48 hours the messages between the two about nuclear arms seem almost ominous. It's kind of hard to separate the Cold War rhetoric from the warm fuzzies. What do you think's going on here?

BOBBY GHOSH, HINDUSTAN TIMES: I like that expression, warm fuzzies. It was certainly a very chummy letter. But, as you point out what (ph) both sides are talking about nuclear armament. The president- elect saying he wants to see more nukes and he talks about arms race.

If he's not talking about Russia then who exactly is this race with? Because nobody else is (ph) even close. Putin seems to brush that aside by saying, if there's going to be a race it's not going to be us.

I think he learned the lesson from the collapse of the Soviet Union; something that he regarded as a disaster, remember. Because the Soviet Union -- one of the major reasons for its collapse was that it got into an arms race with the United States that was not sustainable, that its economy could not sustain.

So he's saying now, we will never spend more money than we can afford to. But he's also warning that, look we've sort up upgraded our missiles. We've upgraded our ammunition and our nuclear weapons. Basically saying, we're ready to go. That we're capable of defending ourselves.

I think the expression he used was -- he didn't say the United States, but against any aggressor. There again, the question is if he's not talking about the U.S. who is the other aggressor? ACOSTA: And, Masha, you've covered the Russian president extensively. Considering Putin's comments about Russia's nuclear forces and then saying, if there's a call for an arms race it's not us. Why the differing messages? And could some of Donald Trump's rhetoric be what is needed right now to check Putin?

MASHA GESSEN, THE NEW YORK TIMES: No, I don't think Donald Trump's rhetoric's what's needed right now, because he doesn't seem to understand what's needed right now. So it would be very difficult to imagine that he just sort of accidently happens to say it. It -- I mean, this is escalating rhetoric, I don't think he understands it.

Putin, during his press conference, very much behaved like sort of king of the world. He feels like he won the American election. He chided the democrats for being sore losers. He praised Donald Trump and he spoke very extensively, both yesterday and today, about Russia's defense capabilities (ph).

He's drawing a distinction between potential aggressors. He's not, at the moment, viewing the United States as an aggressor, that's what he said. He said Russia is well defended against potential aggressors.

And at the same time, while he said, if it's an arms race it's not us, he's also said that Russia is being forced to keep up with American capabilities. He reiterated this (ph) several times during his press conference, basically saying that much of Russia's defense development over the last 15 years has been forced by the United States.

So he's having it both ways, which is not unusual for Putin at all.

ACOSTA: And Betsy, Trump, you know, as usual is (ph) tweeting about things that much of the world wishes he would not tweet about. What do you make of this? I mean, during the campaign he controlled the news cycle by tweeting. Now it's a different stage; it's the world stage.

BETSY WOODRUFF, THE DAILY BEAST: What stood out to me about his tweets yesterday is how much they alarmed nuclear non-proliferation (ph) experts. Remember a lot of the tweets that Trump sends out, they aren't necessarily tied to policy, his team can walk them back and his team can say, oh we (ph) just need additional context.

But when you're talking about nuclear proliferation, tone is everything. Because we're not using these weapons, right? The way we talk about them is the reason they're so significant.

So the folks that I was speaking with particularly said, look most presidents-elect are not nuclear policy weapons (ph), right? They don't come into the Oval Office knowing tons about the nuclear triad and the way non-proliferation efforts work.

But they learn about it and they keep their head down until they know what they're talking about. Trump's tweet yesterday indicates that that might now, necessarily, be the case with him.

ACOSTA: And, Susan, you have worked in Washington for some time now. You've seen presidential transitions come and go. On a scale of one to 10, I mean, where are we right now with Donald Trump tweeting about nuclear weapons -- nuclear arms, talking about an arms race in the middle of a transition period?

SUSAN PAGE, USA TODAY: So this is actually the sixth new president I've covered the --

ACOSTA: Yes.

PAGE: -- transition into. And there are two things that are really unusual, maybe unprecedented about what we're seeing these days. One is that he's talking about foreign policy decisions before he's inaugurated.

Traditionally, president-elects have said, we have one commander and chief at a time and I'll address these issues when I'm in the White House. That's not what - that's not the path that Donald Trump has chosen to use.

Secondly, he's doing them in 140 character bursts. So you have something like him saying we need to strengthen (ph) and (ph) expand our nuclear arsenal. And there's no follow up question. There's no policy paper that says, where (ph) --

ACOSTA: There's no press conference.

PAGE: There's no press conference that says he's just endorsing the policy that President Obama has (ph) pursued, the modernization policy that he's been pursuing since 2010. Or this a major reversal of a generation of American policy (ph). We don't actually know. In both those ways, this is something we've never seen before.

ACOSTA: And, Bobby, in Putin's speech today at that press conference he took a shot at the Obama administration and the democrats, saying they're dividing the nation. Unlike past presidents, like FRD who brought the country together during World War II.

You typically -- I mean, you normally would see someone like Donald Trump taking a victory lap. It is unusual to see the Russian president almost taking a victory lap there in Moscow.

GHOSH: Yes. I think as Masha quite correctly pointed out, he's behaving as it he won the election. And perhaps, in a certain sense, he did. He's also trying to show his grasp of the minutia of American politics, of American history by quoting figures from American history.

This is very much the strutting peacock on his stage. This is Putin telling his audience at home, look how much I know, look how much the world differs (ph) to me. Look how much -- look how I control the levers.

A thought occurred to me while watching that thing unfold is that, since Donald Trump trusts this man so much and has such admiration for him. And perhaps it's possible we'll see these hours long press conferences from Donald Trump once a year. That is a scary thought, but something that popped into my head. And who knows?

ACOSTA: And, Masha, let me ask you about Vladimir Putin and this posture that we're seeing today. I mean, this letter that came from the Russian president to Donald Trump is just extraordinary. Do you think Putin is interested in repairing relations or is he playing (ph) Donald Trump, in your view?

GESSEN: You know, first of all, I -- maybe I'm missing something. I don't see anything particularly extraordinary about this letter. It's a happy holidays card that also has formulaic paragraph about (ph) --

ACOSTA: It's a lot warmer than any correspondence between President Obama and Vladimir Putin.

GESSEN: Really, are we sure that there were never any holiday cards? I -- you know, I'm not convinced that this was (ph) an extraordinary letter. What I think is extraordinary is Donald Trump issuing a statement about it and sort of patting himself on the back for getting a happy holidays card from Vladimir Putin.

But I think Putin is a little bit conflicted on what to do about Donald Trump. Because on the one hand, I think he certainly didn't want to see Hillary Clinton become president and he certainly wants sanctions -- U.S. sanctions against Russia lifted.

On the other hand, I don't think that his policies are really sustainable without having the U.S. as the scary monster that Russia is at constant war with. Because his popularity depends on being able to mobilize the population against an imaginary enemy.

So he's really facing a (ph) conflict (ph). And I think that Trump's tweets about nuclear arms are actually very handy in being able to maintain the tension that Putin really needs.

ACOSTA: OK. Bobby Ghosh, Masha Gessen, thank you so much. Susan and Betsy, stick around. Up next, President-Elect Donald Trump hits the golf course with Tiger Woods but takes time to tweet his frustrations about attacks on his son Eric. We go to Trump's resort in Florida right after this with all the details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)