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Senate to Vote on Tillerson Nomination; Trump Signs Executive Order on Trade Deal; Ethics Lawsuit Against Trump. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired January 23, 2017 - 13:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

We start with President Donald Trump kicking off his first full week in the White House. Part of that will be the first official White House briefing with secretary -- press secretary Sean Spicer. He'll take questions from the press, we're told. We'll bring that to you live once it gets under way later this hour.

As for the president, he met with business leaders this morning, then signed a series of executive actions. The first, withdrawing from negotiations over the transpacific partnership or TPP trade deal. Another put in place a federal government hiring freeze and a third bans federal funding for overseas group that promote abortion.

Later today, we expect to see votes on two of president Trump's cabinet picks, Congressman Mike Pompeo for CIA director and former Exxon CEO, Rex Tillerson, the nominee to become the next secretary of state.

Over at the White House, our Senior White House Correspondent Jeff Zeleny is standing by. Jeff, first of all, what do we expect to hear from the new White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, at his first full-scale news briefing?

He made a statement on Saturday. Didn't take reporters' questions. But we understand he will take reporters' questions today.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That is our understanding, Wolf. And we expect Sean Spicer to try and get back to the business of what this president wants to do in his first 100 days, talking about his agenda, talking about those three executive orders he signed this morning.

But, Wolf, there's no question that so many questions still linger about Sean Spicer's last appearance in a briefing room on Saturday evening, when the president asked him to go out and talk about crowd sizes in the festivities on Friday and then again at the march on Saturday.

So, Sean Spicer certainly has some questions to keep answering about that. But there is no doubt, Wolf, this White House wants to pivot forward and talk about the agenda, talk about what the president intends to do here.

But it's a bit of all eyes are on Sean Spicer, who, of course, is a long-time Republican hand here in Washington. But he is a fairly new member of the Trump family, if you will, the professional family here.

So, this is a -- certainly a big opportunity for him to change the conversation and answer some questions, which they have not been so forthcoming in doing -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And what's the significance, Jeff, of the TPP action, the transpacific partnership action, taken by the president today?

ZELENY: Wolf, it certainly is not surprising at all. This is something that the president campaigned on, throughout his campaign, throughout the rustbelt states of Ohio and Michigan and beyond.

But it is a significant decision and it's one that splits this Republican Party. Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican, he said it was a bad idea, a bad move to withdraw from the transpacific partnership agreement with 12 countries here.

So, it really resets the trade discussion here in the U.S., and it creates a division inside this Republican Party here. So, it is likely one of the topics that will come up, when the leaders of Congress of both sides come here to the White House this evening for their first one-on-one meeting inside the White House of President Trump -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Jeff Zeleny reporting.

And, of course, we'll have live coverage of Sean Spicer at the White House. The press secretary's first briefing -- real briefing, Q and A with reporters. That's scheduled to start later this hour.

You're looking at live pictures coming in from the briefing room right now. That's coming up. We'll have live coverage.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: Meanwhile, we have some new reporting coming in from CNN's Jim Sciutto and Evan Perez, regarding the investigation into Russian efforts to try to influence the U.S. government and scrutiny of calls between top Trump official and the Russian ambassador here in Washington.

Our Chief National Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto and our Justice Correspondent Evan Perez are both joining us right now.

Jim, bring us up to speed on what you have learned.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this is what we know. U.S. investigators are scrutinizing late December phone calls between Mike Flynn, President Donald Trump's national security adviser, and Russia's ambassador to the U.S. This is part of a broader counterintelligence investigation of Russian activities here in the U.S. Law enforcement and intelligence officials are telling CNN, the calls were captured by routine U.S. eavesdropping, targeting the Russian diplomats, according to the intelligence and law enforcement officials. But the officials say that some of the content of the conversation drew enough potential concerns that investigators are still looking into the discussions.

This amid a broader concern about Russian intelligence gathering activities here in the United States. The officials all stressed, I should say, that so far there has been no determination of wrongdoing.

And, Wolf, we should note that it was "The Wall Street Journal" that was first to report that these calls were being investigated.

[13:05:02] BLITZER: Jim, standby for a second.

Evan, why was the U.S. monitoring these phone calls to begin with?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the calls were heard in the course of monitoring of communications of Russian diplomats, according to the U.S. officials we've talked to. The U.S. intelligence agency routinely captured conversations of foreign officials, including those based in the United States.

Now, we know that the FBI and the intelligence agencies briefed members of the Obama White House team before President Obama left office, about the Flynn phone calls with the Russian ambassador, according to the sources we've talked to.

In a statement Sunday night, a spokesman for President Trump said that the White House, quote, "has absolutely no knowledge of any investigation or even a basis for such an investigation." -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Jim, do we know anything about the actual calls and why they're now getting this attention?

SCIUTTO: Well, among the communications that are now being scrutinized were calls between Russia's ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak, and Flynn on December 29th. The calls coming on the very same day that the U.S. announced further sanctions against Russia and also the expulsion of a group of 35 Russian diplomats that the U.S., at the time, accused of spying for Russia.

BLITZER: And, Evan, does the Donald Trump White House, the team there, have anything to say about these reports, as you noted first through "The Wall Street Journal" and now this new report from CNN?

PEREZ: Well, Wolf, these calls first came to light actually several weeks ago in a "Washington Post" column by David Ignatius. At the time, a Trump official told CNN that Flynn and Kislyak, the Russian ambassador, did not discuss the Russian sanctions.

Instead, Trump officials said that the call focused on the logistics of connecting Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin after the inauguration for a phone conversation. But we also know that -- according to Trump officials, that the two have communicated before that, including in the wake of the shooting of the Russian ambassador in Turkey in which Flynn was expressing condolences.

The men also exchanged holiday pleasantries via text message on December 28th. Again, this is all according to Trump officials themselves who are trying to explain the reason for these communications -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Evan Perez and Jim Sciutto. Guys, thanks for that reporting.

Meanwhile, President Trump has come under some fire for an event over the weekend. It was a visit and a speech over at CIA headquarters across the Potomac River in Langley, Virginia.

The president said he thought it went very well, tweeting, had a great meeting at CIA headquarters yesterday. Packed house. Paid great respect to wall. Long-standing ovations. Amazing people. Win.

Here with us right now is Robin Wright, Distinguished Scholar for the Wilson's Center Middle East Program, and a contributing writer for "The New Yorker." Robin, thanks very much for joining us.

You wrote a piece about the visit that he had. You wrote it in "The New Yorker" magazine in which the president said he paid great respect. But your piece was pretty critical of how this all unfolded. Tell us why.

ROBIN WRIGHT, DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR, WILSON CENTER MIDDLE EAST PROGRAM: Well, the president made passing mention of the memorial wall, where they have stars engraved in a white marble wall that shows where all of the Americans' intelligence agents have died.

But he never went into the specifics. He spent far more time talking about the size of the inaugural crowd, how many "Time" magazine covers he had, how smart he was, how the genius of his uncle who taught at MIT.

And the intelligence community was, frankly, astonished and angry that they -- that there was no reverence to the work that American intelligence has provided in preventing plots carried out by Al Qaeda or ISIS. That the personal sacrifices so many of the people there have made.

And so, there was a sense that this was really a blown opportunity to repair a relationship that had disintegrated terribly during the campaign, when the president had charged the intelligence community with leaking information about Russian meddling in the U.S. election and suggesting behavior, improper behavior, by the president.

BLITZER: And, Robin, this is very personal for you because you were in Beirut, what, in 1983 when the U.S. embassy was blown up. And there were several CIA officials who were killed in the process. Officials that you knew, including American diplomats as well. WRIGHT: The 1983 bombing was largest loss of U.S. intelligence life

in its history, still to this day. The bombing was the first suicide bombing against an American target. And this, of course, changed the nature of warfare. This is the first suicide bombing we'd ever witnessed.

And there were several people I knew and that were well known within the intelligence community, very high-level officials.

And it was a devastating blow. And for the president not to have mentioned any of the cases, it's a little bit like going to the tomb of unknown soldier and not mentioning those who died during World War II.

BLITZER: It was -- it was a very, very sad moment indeed. There is, what, 117 stars on that memorial wall when you walk into the CIA. So many of them since 911. Earlier, there were relatively few.

[13:10:11] WRIGHT: One-third of them have been since 911. And they have been so critical in preventing some of the attacks.

There's a book on a ledge underneath the stars that has the years people died, but many of these agents are not known. They are still unanimous. And so, you will find a new names on the ledger. But a lot of them have never received credit. And even in a general sense, the president did not acknowledge the overwhelming commitment and hard work and those who have died.

BLITZER: So, he was applauded when he was there. He pointed out, he got a standing ovation. You've spoken to CIA officials since the event. What's been the reaction you've been getting?

WRIGHT: Well, senior former officials have called it devastating, horrible, a missed opportunity to repair relations, to establish -- you know, to move forward.

And understanding that the president is going to rely very heavily on the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies to be the eyes and the ears of the United States government around the world, to try to prevent the attacks, to find out what's going on the ground. What are the threats? How are they evolving?

And the -- many of the people who attended were self-selected volunteers who were asked at the last minute. A lot of applause was generated by a contingent that he brought along with him.

And so, there was a general discontent among those who knew some of the agents who have died, who have worked at the highest levels of the intelligence community. And went on record in saying very critical things about this tragedy, the former CIA director, Mr. John Brennan, who just retired on Friday. He called it despicable.

BLITZER: Robin Wright, thanks very much for joining us.

WRIGHT: Thank you.

BLITZER: Thanks for your great reporting over all of these years as well.

WRIGHT: Thanks.

BLITZER: Up next, members of the U.S. Senate take up two of Donald Trump's cabinet nominees today. We'll talk to one Democrat who says he's voting against Rex Tillerson, Donald Trump's nominee to become the next secretary of state.

And later this hour, the first full White House press briefing. You're looking at live pictures coming in from the west wing of the White House. The press secretary, Sean Spicer, will make a statement, presumably, and then answer reporters' questions.

We'll bring it to you live as soon as it starts. Stay with us.

[13:12:20]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:16:38] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Take a look at this, live pictures coming in from the White House. The White House Briefing Room in the West Wing where Sean Spicer, the new press secretary, he'll be taking reporters' questions for the first time in a formal briefing. That's coming up. He'll presumably open with a statement or two. Then he'll start answering reporters' questions. We'll have live coverage. That starts later this hour.

Meanwhile, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee votes on President Trump's secretary of state nominee just a few hours from now and it's unlikely Democrats will have the votes to block Rex Tillerson's nomination.

Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon is joining us. He's a member of the Foreign Relations Committee. How are you going to vote?

SEN. JEFF MERKLEY (D), OREGON: I'm going to vote against him.

BLITZER: Why?

MERKLEY: Well, because he came in and he testified as an oil executive. He made no apologies for Exxon circumventing U.S. sanctions on Iran and Russia and that was very, very disturbing. And then he proceed to show no moral compass in terms of things such as funding the president of Equatorial Guinea, rather than returning their oil revenues to the people of that country. And even things like such - the extrajudicial (ph) killings in the Philippines. He just - he either said I have no knowledge or I have no concerns or I don't have an opinion and really to come into the leadership of the foreign policy of the United States of America, you need to have a moral compass.

BLITZER: The - there was some concern expressed by Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain, but both of them yesterday came out in favor of the confirmation. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I will be voting in favor of his nomination. Listen, this was - this wasn't an easy call. But I also believe that when there's doubt, the president, the incoming president, gets the benefit of the doubt.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: This is why I am voting for him. He said that we have to have a foreign policy that engages the world. We need to lead from the front.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Senator Marco Rubio was also concerned. He posted a statement on FaceBook. "Giving the uncertainty that exists both at home and abroad about the direction of our foreign policy, it would be against our national interest to have this confirmation unnecessarily delayed or embroiled in controversy. Therefore, despite my reservations, I will support Mr. Tillerson's nomination in committee and in the full Senate."

He's going to be confirmed, right?

MERKLEY: Yes. Yes. And the fact that all three of these individuals had substantial concerns tells you a lot. Lindsey Graham and John McCain have been very tough on Russia. They've been very tough on Iran. They've been involved in the sanctions on both ends. And the fact that Tillerson comes from a direction where they were involved on the opposite side of that argument as a company and really didn't make an explanation of that in committee, that's why these individuals are so concerned. They'd much prefer to have someone else, but in the end they're not going - as a Republican, they're not going to tell the president to withdraw his nomination.

BLITZER: And so they have 52 Republicans in the Senate, 48 Democrats. They have the votes. Although maybe some of the Democrats will still vote with the Republicans on this one as well.

MERKLEY: It's quite possible.

BLITZER: We'll see. So he's going to be confirmed.

Let's talk a little bit about the president's decision, this executive order today, to withdraw from negotiations for the TPP, the Trans- Pacific Partnership. What's your reaction on that?

MERKLEY: It's way past time to drive a stake through the heart of the TPP. So I applaud him on that. But everything else he's doing is not for working people. And I think that the fact that his very first executive action was to put a $500 per year fee on average Americans to buy a home and doing it at Wall Street's request because they didn't want the competition with the organization and so then you have -

[13:20:17] BLITZER: So you like his decision to do - to get rid of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. What about his decision today to renegotiate NAFTA, the North America Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada. Are you with him on that? MERKLEY: He should push very hard to eliminate these trade deficits

with China and with Mexico because when we give full access to our markets to companies that have the ability to pay far lower wages then area allowed in America for our lower environmental requirements, then those companies have a huge advantage over American companies. That's been unfair -

BLITZER: So you're with the president on this - on these trade issues?

MERKLEY: So I'm with the president on that. But look at these other things he's doing, nominating Andy Puzder who - for labor secretary, who specialized in grinding workers into the ground, nominating a foreclosure king to be head of our economy - our economic policy from Wall Street. It's crazy. Nominating an individual to be health secretary who wants to dismantle health care for middle income Americans and - and our seniors. So the indication as well -

BLITZER: Are you - are you - quickly, are you going to vote for Mike Pompeo to be CIA director?

MERKLEY: No. No, I'm not.

BLITZER: Are you going to vote against it?

MERKLEY: Yes.

BLITZER: But you voted for General Mattis -

MERKLEY: I did indeed.

BLITZER: To be the secretary of defense?

MERKLEY: Yes.

BLITZER: You voted for General Kelly, the secretary of Homeland Security.

MERKLEY: I did not.

BLITZER: You voted against him? You were one of 11 who voted against him.

MERKLEY: Yes.

BLITZER: What did you have against General Kelly?

MERKLEY: Well, this is why. In committee, when he was asked by our new senator from California whether he would stand by the promise made in writing to our DACA children, that that information will not get used to send them home, he said he couldn't say that he would support the promise that had been previously made to them. And so that's - that was of great concern to a group of us who felt that if America makes a promise to people, you keep it.

BLITZER: Senator Merkley, thanks for coming in.

MERKLEY: You're welcome.

BLITZER: Appreciate it.

MERKLEY: Thank you.

BLITZER: Up next, another lawsuit filed against President Trump. We're going to dig into the details. And, remember, we're only minutes away from the first full scale White House press briefing. We're looking at live pictures coming in right now. The press secretary, Sean Spicer, he'll take questions from reporters, we're told. As soon as that starts, you'll see it live right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:26:08] BLITZER: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.

You're looking at some live pictures right now coming in from the White house Briefing Room in the West Wing of the White House. The new press secretary, Sean Spicer, he'll be getting ready momentarily, we're told fairly soon, he'll go in there, make a statement, and then answer reporters' questions. We're going to have live coverage of that. Stay with us for that as well.

In the meantime, President Trump, just a little while ago, reacted to news of an ethics lawsuit filed against him earlier this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Mr. President, reaction to the lawsuit today?

(CROSS TALK)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Without merit. Totally without merit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: He said it's totally without merit. An ethics watchdog group is claiming that President Trump is violating the U.S. Constitution by accepting payments from foreign governments through his vast business ties.

I want to talk a little bit more about this with CNN justice reporter and attorney, I should point out, Laura Jarrett.

Laura, what does the ethics group want the president to do and what do they hoping to achieve?

LAURA JARRETT, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: First and foremost, Wolf, they want the president to divest his business holdings into a truly blind trust, but his lawyer said several weeks ago that simply isn't going to happen. And so the ethics group sued in federal court today. And, remember, Wolf, the backdrop for this entire fight is over provision in the Constitution that doesn't come up that often. It's called the Foreign Emoluments Cause and it prohibits the president from accepting payments from foreign officials without congressional approval.

So this new complaint says, whenever a foreign diplomat stays at Trump's D.C. hotel or whenever the Bank of China makes a lease payment, for example, for its spot in Trump Tower, that violates the Constitution. If this group can overcome an important threshold issue, we've heard a lot about standing today, meaning they can convince a judge to agree that they've been harmed and they can sue, then one of the interesting things to watch will be whether they can get their hands on his tax returns because, as you can imagine, this group is going to say they need those tax returns to evaluate the extent of Trump's income or loans from foreign governments.

BLITZER: Could the president, Laura, actually face any penalties?

JARRETT: Well, this particular group isn't seeking any monetary penalties, interestingly enough. All they want is for the judge to agree that Trump's conduct violates the law and order him to stop receiving these foreign payments. But one thing to keep your eye on for the future is what happens with other businesses, such as competing hotels who come forward saying they've been harmed financially by Trump taking their business away.

BLITZER: All right, Laura, thanks very much. Laura Jarrett reporting for us.

With us now, one of the attorneys for the plaintiff, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, in Washington, Deepak Gupta is joining us right now, a constitutional attorney.

Thanks so much for joining us.

DEEPAK GUPTA, ATTORNEY FOR PLAINTIFF IN ETHICS LAWSUIT AGAINST TRUMP: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: You just heard the president say this lawsuit is totally without any merit. Why do you disagree?

GUPTA: Well, I'm sure the president had lots of time to read it this morning. It was filed at 9:30 this morning. And, you know, Trump has been an aggressive litigant in the past, but I think it's telling that he felt the need to hire a private law firm even before taking office and to put out a legal argument. And their legal argument is that as long as they're getting fair value for these payments from foreign governments, that that doesn't violate the emoluments clause. But the framers were - they understood that it would be a serious problem if high elected officials in the American government were entangled with foreign governments and were receiving either a present, which is what the clause says, something where I don't get any value back, or an emolument, which means a payment that could be for a service rendered. But there's still this problem, which is, it means that the president is going to have divided loyalties. And the framers wanted a president who was looking out only for the interest of the American people.

[13:30:04] BLITZER: You heard the attorney, the private attorney for the president, when they announced how he was removing himself from his business deals. She's an attorney with a major law firm, Morgan Lewis.