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Trump Eats with Service Members; Trump Visits Central Command; Trump Defends Putin; Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired February 06, 2017 - 13:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

We have some breaking news to begin with. Right now, President Donald Trump, he is at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. That's the home of the U.S. military central command.

In just a few minutes, we expect to hear directly from the president. He's having lunch with service members and others there.

While we await the president and his remarks, let's talk about some of the biggest issues swirling around the president right now, especially the back and forth over a judge's order suspending the president's executive action on immigration. The one that temporarily banned travelers from seven majority Muslim nations and imposed the 120-day halt on accepting refugees into the United States.

President Trump took another swipe at the judge tweeting, quote, "Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. Something happens, blame him and court system. People pouring in, bad!"

Earlier, the president had referred to that judge as, quote, "a so- called judge." A derogatory term, clearly.

Now, I want to bring in our Jessica Snyder who's at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida where the president will be speaking momentarily. Also joining us, our Justice Reporter Laura Jarrett. She's here in Washington and CNN Tech Correspondent Samuel Burke. He's joining us from London.

Jessica, so who's the president meeting with at the base right now? Do we expect the travel ban, for example, to be part of this formal remarks?

JESSICA SNYDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it remains to be seen, Wolf. The White House remaining pretty tight-lipped on exactly what the subject matter will be when President Trump makes those remarks. He'll be making them to coalition reps as well as senior U.S. commanders. Those remarks expected in the next hour or so.

But right now, President Trump is meeting with senior officials at U.S. Central Command. He's been meeting with them for a little more than an hour now.

Of course, this meeting with CentCom very pertinent because CentCom oversaw that raid in Yemen of the Al Qaeda compound. That, of course, was the raid that killed the Navy SEAL, William Owens.

Last week, President Trump made an unannounced visit to Dover Air Force base where he met with Owens' family. He was there for the return of the remains of that Navy SEAL. So, Donald Trump has been very active in talking with his family as well.

So, now, he is here at MacDill Air Force Base. This is a multi- facetted trip. He's getting that briefing now. He'll then meet with military service members for a lunch. And then, after that, he will be making those remarks to coalition reps and senior U.S. commanders.

But, of course, could he mention this legal limbo that his executive order continues to be in? If the past is any indication, we know that Donald Trump doesn't usually hold back, even in these sorts of settings. So, it is quite possible, Wolf.

But, right now, the White House not saying much about exactly what the president will be talking about here -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, we'll, of course, have live coverage of the president's remarks at MacDill. That's coming up. And you can see live pictures coming in. You see the lectern there at MacDill Air Force Base.

Laura, there's been a lot of legal wrangling since the judge's order paused that ban late Friday. So, where does the process stand right now?

LAURA JARRETT, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: So, early this morning, attorneys for the states that brought this lawsuit filed a brief urging the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to keep the suspension in place. Those lawyers say, without this freeze on the travel ban, we'd essentially see chaos, once again, for travelers.

They also argue that the government's position just doesn't make logical sense. The government has to show that without the travel ban, it's being harmed in a way that can't be undone. But the states say, in their brief this morning, wait a minute, pressing pause on the executive order just returns things to the status quo that we had less than two weeks ago.

It's also interesting to see how the states are leveraging Trump's earlier talk of a Muslim ban during the campaign. And they're using that now as proof in court that religious bias is at the heart of the ban.

Now, we haven't seen the government's reply brief yet. That will come later tonight. But we know from the earlier filing that they say that the district court judge in Seattle simply does not have the power to do this. This is in the president's purview of national security.

BLITZER: All right, Laura, stand by. Samuel, you're in London. There's a long list of companies, especially tech companies, filing a legal challenge to the president's travel ban as well. Tell us who they are and what their main arguments are.

SAMUEL BURKE, CNN TECH CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, these are some of the most important and biggest tech companies in the entire world, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Twitter.

And we already know that this is personal for them. They say they have employees who have been personally affected by this executive order. We know that, in principle, they are against it.

But what they're saying here is that this will hurt their bottom line. They are saying that this could affect profits, because they depend so much on foreign-born talent.

[13:05:06] I spend a lot of time in Silicon Valley, and you just have to spend a few minutes on one of these campuses to know that they depend deeply on people born overseas who come in on these visas.

So, at the end of the day, they're saying that this changes years and years of precedent and makes it much harder for them to do business and create more jobs.

BLITZER: Samuel, you're there in London. And we're also just hearing now from the speaker of the British parliament on President Trump's proposed upcoming trip to the U.K. What is the speaker saying?

BURKE: Just a few moments ago, John Burke, the Speaker of the Parliament, said that he is opposed to Donald Trump addessing -- addressing rather, a joint session of parliament.

Now, what this doesn't mean is that Trump's visit here would be canceled. That invitation for a state visit from President Trump actually comes from the queen, and there's absolutely no sign that that has been called off.

But what this does mean is that, in all likelihood, President Trump will not be able to address both houses of parliament together. Something leaders, like Nelson Mandela and Un Sung Su Chi have done, as well as President Obama.

But it takes three people to have a consensus in the House over this. And it appears that if the speaker of the House is against it, there is no consensus. Donald Trump, in all likelihood, will not be addressing parliament.

BLITZER: A significant development there in London. All right, Samuel Burke, thank you. Jessica Snyder, thanks to you. Laura Jarrett, thanks to you as well.

While the Justice Department backs the president's order, we should remember that there is no confirmed attorney general in place, at least not yet. The president's pick, Senator Jeff Sessions, he could be confirmed later this week. In the meantime, the department is being run by Dana Boente who was elevated to the position when the president fired then acting attorney general, Sally Yates, because she told the department not, repeat not, to enforce the proposed travel ban.

I want to bring in Texas Republican Congressman Mac Thornberry. He's the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Mr. Chairman, thanks for joining us.

REP. MAC THORNBERRY (R), TEXAS, CHAIRMAN, ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: You bet. Thanks for having me.

BLITZER: Do you believe the White House actually bundled the roll-out of this immigration order?

THORNBERRY: Yes. I don't think it was well handled. And I think everyone agrees with that.

You know, when -- with these issues, it is just as important how you talk about it, the tone you take, as it is exactly what you're doing. And if they had started out and said, we're going to take a temporary pause on admitting refugees to review the vetting process, I don't think you would see all this consternation around the world.

BLITZER: Yes, that's the way President Obama announced it back in 2011. He got very little grief for his temporary pause that he put in place, affecting those same seven Muslim majority countries.

Mr. Chairman, former secretaries of state, John Kerry, Madeleine Albright, as well as four former CIA directors, among many others, signed a letter saying the immigration order, and I'm quoting now, "could do long-term damage to our national security and foreign policy interests, endangering U.S. troops in the field and disrupting counterterrorism and national security partnerships."

Do you agree with them?

THORNBERRY: Well, the point is, could. If we are not able to help those who help us, for example, fight Al Qaeda and ISIS, then, of course, it does damage to us.

And so, the key is how it's handled from this point going forward. Is this going to be an early administration bungling, as you say? Or is this going to be something bigger? And we just don't know.

You know, this is going to go back and forth through the courts, and we'll see how it comes out. I do worry that the courts are being asked to play a bigger role than they are constitutionally intended to play here. But I'm sure there'll be lawsuits for a while.

BLITZER: Yes, I'm sure it will eventually wind up at the U.S. Supreme Court as well.

Mr. Chairman, in the Justice Department's effort to overturn this hold on the travel ban, they say the president should have, and I'm quoting now, "unreviewable authority to suspend the admission of any class of aliens."

Do you believe the president should have what's called unreviewable authority?

THORNBERRY: Well, I don't know what legal or constitutional authority they cite for that. If we all just step back for a second in suspended disbelief, I think most of us would agree that any country's government should be able to control who and what comes across its border. And then, exactly the discretion to the executive, versus the legislative, is -- we would have to go through.

Certainly, a president is the one who determines how many refugees can come into the country each year. Congress does not vote on that.

So, there is a lot of discretion, we know with the executive. Obviously, you've got the national security implications there. There are other laws, I'm sure, that are in place, and the courts will have to sort through some of those arguments.

[13:10:12] BLITZER: That -- those words, unreviewable authority, jumped out at me, and I'm sure they did as you. There are three branches of the U.S. government. And according to the Constitution, Mr. Chairman, they're all equal. And so, when you say, unreviewable authority, that raises a question.

THORNBERRY: Yes, but not of equal authority on every issue. As I mentioned, when it comes to refugees, reach year the president decides how many refugees will be admitted into this country. He does -- he -- the secretary of state, then, goes and informs the relevant congressional leaders.

So, that's the way the process has been working for years. Certainly, there are aspects of national security that are, I guess you could say somewhat unreviewable, even though each branch has appropriate tools that, as a whole, operate as a check on one another.

So, the courts are going to have to sort through this exact authority. But to step back again, for just a second. The point is this could have been handled a lot better, and I hope the administration has learned a lesson from that.

BLITZER: Yes. I think a lot of people, I'm sure, agree with you.

You're the chairman of the Armed Services Committee. He is being briefed now by the U.S. military's central command which is in charge of U.S. operations in north Africa, the Middle East, South Asia. I'm sure he is getting a pretty thorough briefing from the General Votel, the U.S. military commander, among others.

What do you hope is the major lesson he learns from this briefing going forward?

THORNBERRY: I would say two things. Number one is that those troops on the frontlines trying to keep us safe are in desperate need of some relief on the budget. They have airplanes that won't fly. There are ships that can't sail. We have cut too much. The size of the Army and Marine Corps.

And so, you have folks that have deployed over and over and over again to the Middle East, and it's wearing out the force.

Secondly, I hope that the president and the commanders talk about the rules of engagement and the level of micromanagement that we have seen in the previous administration, because there's been a lot of frustrations that the military was asked to go do a job, but then they'd have to call back to the National Security Council's staff to ask mother may I for each operation.

The president needs to give the them a mission, set some perimeters, but then count on the military leaders to actually carry it out.

If he does those two things, show that they will be supported and give them their mission but not micromanage, I think you could see a tremendous amount of support and morale boost from the men and women who were out there doing this mission.

BLITZER: And they're doing an important mission, indeed. Congressman Thornberry, the Chairman of the Armed Services Committee. Thanks very much for joining us.

THORNBERRY: Thanks for having me, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, take a look at this, live picture coming in. This is MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. The home of the U.S. military's central command. You're looking at the lectern there.

The president will be delivering remarks there soon. We will have live coverage, of course. He'll be addressing senior commanders, also representatives of other nations attached to the U.S. military central command.

We'll also speak with a former U.S. military central commander, General -- retired Admiral William Fallon. There you see him right now. He's the former head of the U.S. military central command.

Lots to discuss. We'll be right back.

[13:13:47]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:18:06] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, President Trump, he's having lunch with service members over at MacDill Air Force Base right now in Tampa, Florida. The home of the U.S. military's Central Command. These pictures - we've got some video that just came in. The president walking into this room. He's going to be chatting with these service members. He's going to be having an opportunity to hear what's on the minds of these U.S. military personnel.

Let's listen in briefly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States. DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: (INAUDIBLE). A great honor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) SOCOM and CENTCOM. (INAUDIBLE) two joint commands. We've got an array of experience levels, career fields, backgrounds. We can probably answer any questions you have on their duties or life in the military. Likewise, if you have ideas, we can be your sounding board.

TRUMP: Sounds very good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.

TRUMP: Sounds very good. Thank you, everybody. This is very nice. And I guess I'll be speaking in a little while. But I'll ask you some questions.

How do you like it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love it here.

TRUMP: You love doing it, right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: That's great. Everyone loves doing it. They just - a great spirit, a great military spirit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: And this guy, strong guy, huh?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

TRUMP: Think I could lift as much as you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Only one way to find out, sir.

TRUMP: I don't think so. We better not.

How did you like the game last night? Good?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Excellent.

TRUMP: You know, Tom Brady, he cemented his -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tom Brady (INAUDIBLE) -

TRUMP: Hi place, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.

TRUMP: He did a great job.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He did. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, most of the troops in here, sir, are young enough that they came in after 9/11. They all volunteered knowing they were coming to a conflict. They're all smart kids. They had options in life, but they chose to - to come in and serve.

[13:20:11] TRUMP: That's great. You going to make a career out of it? (INAUDIBLE) Yes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm deciding (ph) right now, sir.

TRUMP: Well, (INAUDIBLE) you have to stay. You'll like it better (INAUDIBLE), OK, you'll see.

And what about you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I came in right out of high school. (INAUDIBLE). And (INAUDIBLE) I've already got 11 years in. So -

TRUMP: That's great.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: That's great.

What are you thinking about? Career?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

TRUMP: You're going to make it a career? That's fantastic.

Huh, good?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.

TRUMP: Good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: Yes, OK. All right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See, you're a good re-enlistment counsellor.

TRUMP: I'm doing a good job for you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.

TRUMP: I brought some of my friends. Some of the most successful people. And they have tremendous respect for the military. That gentleman right there. Mr. (INAUDIBLE).

BLITZER: All right, a little photo opportunity. The president over at the MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. The home of the U.S. military's Central Command. He's going to be speaking shortly to a formal - you're taking a look at live pictures right now. He's going to have a formal address. That was very informal, meeting with some troops at the U.S. military's Central Command. He'll be introduced, by the way, by the commander of the Central

Command, General Joseph Votel (ph). We'll have live coverage of that. That's coming up.

As we await the president's formal remarks to coalition representatives, U.S. senior military commanders, I want to take a closer look at this visit and its importance to do that.

Let's bring in the former commander of the U.S. military's Central Command, retired Admiral William Fallon.

Admiral, thanks very much for joining us.

ADM. WILLIAM FALLON, FORMER COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: Hey, nice to be back, Wolf. How are you?

BLITZER: Thank you.

Very briefly, what do you think the most important message the president should deliver to these troops today?

FALLON: I would think to give them any confidence that he has confidence in what they can do and what they'll do for him. It's a - he's new in the job and new to this business, so he'll be taking their measure and they're going to be doing the same thing. What they want is the knowledge that they're going to get support in Washington. When they're asked to do something, particularly some of these demanding combat missions, that they're going to get the support they need, and they'll get the tools they need to accomplish the task.

BLITZER: And what do you think the military commanders, military personnel there at CENTCOM should tell the president?

FALLON: Well, I'm not going to speak for them, but if I were still in the - down there in command, I'd want to know from the president what - what he has in mind for the long-term policy for this country, where he wants this country to be down the road in a few years and what the strategy is to get there, particularly in view of the ongoing challenges in the Middle East. So it's one thing to - to go try to get rid of ISIS or diminish them as much as possible, but what do we do after that? How do we try to make this region more stable in the long- term, and maybe get what's become a decade and a half of constant conflict for these troops from CENTCOM to some sense of normalcy.

So I think it's a two-way street here. They're looking for things from the president. The president wants to take their measure and see how they might do. And hopefully it will be a good meeting.

BLITZER: What's the biggest concern, military challenge, that you see right now for the United States?

FALLON: The fact that we have lots of things going on and what we really need is, I believe, a coherent strategy to move forward and deal with threats. We've got the long term concern of China and their growth and expansion in southeast Asia. The Russian activities certainly not helpful at all. Ongoing challenges with Iran and, of course, North Korea. And then lots of turmoil in the Middle East. So coming up with an effective long-term strategy and then the specific objectives to achieve that I think are really important.

BLITZER: Listen to what the president said. He had this exchange with Bill O'Reilly of Fox News yesterday on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Will I get along with him? I have no idea. It's possible I won't.

BILL O'REILLY, HOST, "THE O'REILLY FACTOR": He's a killer, though. Putin's a killer.

TRUMP: A lot of killers. We've got a lot of killers. What, you think our country's so innocent? You think our country's so innocent?

O'REILLY: I don't know of any government leaders that are killers in America (ph).

TRUMP: Well, take a look at what we've done too. We've made a lot of mistakes. I've been against the war in Iraq from the beginning.

[13:25:03] O'REILLY: Yes, mistakes are different than -

TRUMP: There's a lot of mistakes. OK, but a lot of people were killed. So, a lot of killers around, believe me.

O'REILLY: All right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Does that worry you what the president had to say?

FALLON: Well, I think what's really important here is that the president and the administration recognized that Russia's - Russia has a plan. Putin's got a plan, and that is, in my view, to really take over that near abroad, as they call it, in Eastern Europe and to provide the kind of buffer that they - they feel comfortable with.

He's very aggressive. He's been able to get away with it now for a number of years, reaching out and not much happening in response. So coming up with an effective strategy that will keep him under control I think is really important. So how they go about doing that, it's going to be interesting to see.

BLITZER: But, admiral, what I was - what a lot of people are worried about was this moral equivalency, sort of defending Putin when Bill O'Reilly said "Putin's a killer." The president then said, "a lot of killers. We got a lot of killers. Boy, you think our country is so innocent. You think our country's so innocent?" Then he referred to the Iraq War, which he opposed. Is the president right?

FALLON: Well, I think this - in this country we have a long history of trying to do the right thing and I think by and large we certainly do. Putin's Russia has been very aggressive and things they've undertaken have clearly not been in line with the goals and objectives and policies and aspirations that we have in this country. So we have a - we have a meeting of two very, very different minds here and it's going to be interesting to see how it works out.

I don't think for a second that the activities that Mr. Putin and his forces have carried out in Eastern Europe are very nice and, in fact, certainly not democratic and not very respectful of the borders over there. So I think we're going to have to recognize that he's a tough guy and, more importantly, he's got an agenda, and he's got some resources. So we need to be crafting the right kind of policies. We're not looking for more conflicts, for more war, certainly, but we need to be able to stand up for the things that we value very much.

BLITZER: All right, I'll leave it on that note.

Admiral Fallon, thanks very much for joining us.

FALLON: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: Any moment now, the president will be introduced by the U.S. military central commander. He'll take the stage over there at MacDill Air Force Base. You're looking at live pictures. The president's remarks, that's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)