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No Answers from White House Policy Director on Flynn; Nearly 200,000 Evacuate Fearing "Wall of Water"; In Moments Trump's New Conference with Canadian PM. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired February 13, 2017 - 13:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:31:48] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump now meeting this hour with the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The two leaders will held a joint news conference right at the top of the hour.

You're looking at the east room of the White House. There are about to let reporters and guests and officials from the U.S. and Canada in. They're not in there yet. That news conference scheduled to begin about a half an hour or so from now.

The meeting comes as some members of the president's inner circle are under fire.

Joining us now to talk about the conflicts, the concerns within the Trump administration, our chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto and our chief political analyst Gloria Borger.

How much trouble is Michael Flynn, the national security advisor in?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: I think he is in a world of trouble. I just spoke with a source with knowledge of this this morning. I don't think that any decision has been made. Flynn has clearly gone out of his way to apologize to people. I believe including the vice president with whom he spoke a couple of times.

But I do believe that all of this story about what he said to the Russians and when he said it comes on top of another layer of what was described to me as a whole level of incompetence on his team.

I mean, there is a sense that they've been behind on a lot of issues that they haven't staffed the president as well as they should. So if you take this situation on top of that, it's not -- doesn't seem like a well-oiled machine. Let's put it that way over the NST.

BLITZER: It certainly doesn't. And I refer to it as this thunderous silence over these past few days. We're not hearing a lot of support from top White House officials for the national security advisor Michael Flynn. Let's listen to the White House policy advisor Stephen Miller on NBC yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: The White House did not give you anything to say other than that on --

STEPHEN MILLER, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR POLICY ADVISOR: They did not give me -- they did not give me anything to say. You cannot -- so you cannot say --

Asked and answered, Chuck.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: The president still has confidence in his national security advisor.

MILLER: It's not for me to tell you what's in the president's mind. That's a question for the president. It's a question for our chief- of-staff. Asked and answered, Chuck.

Asked and answered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Asked and answered. I haven't heard anybody say anything positive about Michael Flynn at least publicly. The Trump people are not going out there and defending. And then when the president aboard Air Force One on Friday was directly asked, he suggested I don't know anything about it.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Right. Almost certainly inaccurately right at that point. It was out. It was very public. So that silence is deafening. I mean, it gets to a few things. It's gets to his effectiveness, right? And part of that is certainly -- the principal part of that is the president's confidence in him, but it's also this appearance of incompetent and confusion and lingering questions, but then it's also internal relationships.

Because having lied, it seems to the vice president about it, then it gets to how the most senior most levels of the team are working here. And none of that looks good. None of that looking good for him.

You know, on the criticism of not stuffing up, I mean, there's some truth to that but the trouble is that's a criticism you could apply to many corners of the administration. It almost would be unfair for his team to suffer. But I will say, remember, he was forced out as the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in the Obama administration, fired in effect by President Obama for a similar criticism which was not being able to manage that large organization well.

[13:35:00] BLITZER: And, normally, the situation like this, if you are the president or the vice president, and somebody lower like the national security advisor does something, they have a serious problem with, they sort of hold back and say, well, maybe he should just volunteer to step down and resign.

BORGER: And that may come. That may come. I think the big issue for him is that he has no pot of goodwill inside the White House. As we all know, it's kind of dysfunctional over there these days. Each part of the White House is trying to sort of find its way. I was told there's only one star in the show. And that is, of course, Donald Trump.

And so everybody is kind of holding back to see what the president wants to do here. But as for Flynn himself, there isn't that kind of level of we have your back because you're doing such a great job. We have your back because you've been inclusive to us, or because you've served the president so well. So he has none of that.

BLITZER: Yes. And we've just heard something from the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Jim, that jumped out at me, and I suspect it jumped out at you as well when he said there's apparently some indication that Michael Flynn in his conversation with the Russian ambassador here in Washington, that they engaged in encrypted communications, whether texting or, I don't know, specifically what he was referring to, but that would be pretty extraordinary for an American to be engaging with a Russian ambassador through encrypted communications that presumably would be designed to prevent the U.S. intelligence community from monitoring those conversations.

SCIUTTO: No question. Listen, says if that's true, that shows an intent, of course, to conceal what you are talking about, which is never good. Particularly when you are speaking to a diplomat from a major adversary.

So you have two levels here now because there's been a lot of talk that there are transcripts of many of these phone conversations as they would be because by its nature, you are going to -- the intelligence community is going to listen to the conversations of a senior Russian diplomat. So you have that.

But if you have those, plus just the fact that they were encrypted, that speaks to not - you know, not wanting to have that content heard which then speaks to why. Why would you want to do that and is that proper behavior?

BORGER: And why would you not be more forthcoming to the incoming vice president of the United States before he went out on the Sunday shows and said definitively these conversations had nothing to do with sanctions? I think in this case it may be the cover-up that's a problem for him.

BLITZER: Maybe they had encrypted communications in addition to that phone conversation or several phone conversations. But you would think that the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency knows the capabilities of U.S. intelligence that phone conversations with a Russian ambassador to an American people are listening in.

SCIUTTO: So then the lesson might be don't have those conversations, right?

BORGER: Good idea.

SCIUTTO: Particularly on the administration's --

(CROSSTALK) BLITZER: Guys, stand by. We're only minutes away from the president's joint news conference with the visiting prime minister of Canada.

You're seeing live pictures coming in from the East Room right now. Of course, once that begins, we'll go there live. We'll hear from the president. We'll hear from the prime minister.

But up next, nearly 200,000 Californians evacuate the area around the nation's tallest dam amid serious fears of part of it may be failing.

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[11:42:23] BLITZER: Some good news for the 188,000 people forced flee their homes in Northern California fearing a three-story wall of water could be released from the country's tallest dam. The problem? A main spillway is backed up and damaged.

Let's go to CNN's Paul Vercammen. He's on the scene for us.

I know you have an update, Paul. Give us the very latest.

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we'll give you, we'll show you the very latest. Now, success on this story, this dramatic effort, to keep this dam from spilling over, bursting with the compromised spillways. It's measured in inches. And look behind me, Wolf. If you see off in the distance, that is the water pouring out of Oroville Dam into the Feather River, kicking up all that spray. That's a good sign, because they say the water level here is now dropping at about four inches per hour.

It had peaked, of course. It was going over the spillway, and that's when all these fears for massive flooding and possibly a huge and colossal breach surfaced. That's when they evacuated all those people.

If we come back over here, this is Oroville Lake, and look at it. We can give you an interesting perspective. During the drought, more than two years ago, you could walk parts of this lake. You could walk the lake bed, Wolf, and now it's completely filled with water. They have had so much rain here over the past few months. The good news as we pointed out, the lake level is dropping. They needed to drop even more before the next storm hits so they could assure everyone's safety.

Back to you now, Wolf.

BLITZER: We'll take the good news for now. Paul Vercammen, thanks very much.

Right now the president and the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, they're having lunch ahead of their joint news conference scheduled for the top of the hour. Looking at live pictures from the East Room of the White House. When we come back, my panel will weigh in on how these two very different world leaders will try to narrow their difference on key issues, including trade and immigration. Stay with us.

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[13:48:20] BLITZER: Take a look at this. Live pictures coming in from the east room of the White House. Right at the top of the hour, the president -- President Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. They've been meeting to hold a formal joint news conference. They will open with statements, answer reporters questions.

In the meantime, let's bring in our legal analysts Laura Coates. She is with us. As well as CNN political analyst Kirsten Powers.

Kirsten, the U.S./Canadian relationship is critically important. A lot of people don't realize America's number one trading partner is not the EU. It is not China, it's not Japan, it's Canada.

KIRSTEN POWERS, USA TODAY COLUMNIST: Canada, yes. And I think people are wondering why does Donald Trump seem to be so much more obsessed with Mexico than he is with Canada. One of the things maybe is because we run a surplus now for the first time in 24 years with Canada versus a deficit with Mexico.

And so he has been much more focused on feeling like we are getting a bad deal from Mexico. And I think that, you know, a lot of people are looking at this meeting with a lot of interest because these leaders are so different.

You know, Justin Trudeau is really sort of a liberal superhero, I think. Progressive hero. And, you know, they have a lot that they could disagree with on substantively, but Trudeau seems to really focus on trying to have a smooth relationship with Donald Trump.

BLITZER: He is doing his best, but they have serious differences. As you know, Laura, especially on the president's travel ban, the policies on refugees, immigrations.

The Canadian Prime Minister tweeted this, "To those fleeing persecution, terror and war, Canadians will welcome you regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength."

So I didn't hear in their, you know, the notion of extreme vetting.

[13:50:00] LAURA COATES, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: No. And, you know, it's funny that every president seems to be on a bandwagon and tweeting their view points, their policy objectives. But the reason for that is because a lot of this is moving in real time, Wolf.

I mean, on Friday, the president of the United States said that he was not going to appeal to the Supreme Court for the travel ban. Then a Ninth Circuit judge came back and said, actually, I might want to have a re-vote on how the Ninth Circuit ruled.

And then you have now in real time, at 3:00 today, you may very well have another appeal. So I think that what's going on is the tendency of all these world leaders to come around and say, listen, this is so quick, fast and moving quickly, but let me get my viewpoints known. I think Trudeau was signalling not so light-heartedly that they do not believe in this ban.

BLITZER: I'm wondering if a reporter is going to think -- I think two American reporters get to ask questions, two Canadian reporters get to ask questions. I'm wondering if one of the questions is going to be involving the future of the national security adviser Michael Flynn and what the president might say about that.

POWERS: I think that's what everybody wants to know what he's thinking about it, right? We have all this reporting about what everybody around him thinks. But nobody -- and we have some reporting showing that, you know, President Trump is upset with him, but we don't know what that means. We don't know if that means he would actually fire him.

I will say, I don't -- we talk a lot about Donald Trump valuing loyalty. He tends to value it in one direction, right? So he requires a lot of loyalty from people, but the fact that Flynn has been with him from early on doesn't necessarily mean that he wouldn't throw him over board.

Look at Corey Lewandowski, obviously very loyal, and when it came to the point where he felt he wasn't the right person, he was more than happy to jump out.

BLITZER: He fired a whole bunch of people. Paul Manafort, if you remember. There were series of top campaign officials who were let go for a variety of reasons and others, even though they've worked really hard for them, they were sort of neglected and didn't get jobs in the administration.

POWERS: Yes. Because they think he looks at what's best for him. He doesn't really -- Corey is the, you know, best example to compare to Flynn because he was so loyal in there in the beginning, very much the way Flynn was.

And so I think a lot of people think, well, he will be loyal to him because of that. I don't think so. I think he will keep him if he decides that he wants to keep him and it's good for him. But I don't think he's going to keep him because out of loyalty.

BLITZER: Legally, you know, the Logan Act. People talk about the Logan Act.

Laura, you are a legal analyst. It has been in effect for, what, a couple of hundred years, but it's never seriously been used. Explain why he potentially could have -- Michael Flynn could have some legal problems.

COATES: Well, the Logan Act essentially says no private citizen can stand in the face or stand in the shoes of the president or any other person in regards to foreign policy. We want one president to be able to speak on behalf of the government.

And so the timing is so important. Remember, he allegedly made these connections to the Russian ambassador right after President Obama came down with sanctions against Russia and nobody retaliated. And that gave a lot of pause to the FBI and intelligence community.

And so now the question we have is not whether or not this is going to be legal issue. It's usually a political weapon the Logan Act being used except in one instant and that is if there really is an investigation into Russia's alleged hacking into our elections, you better believe that if there was a benefit derived for Flynn or the administration based on that communication, that will buttress the original investigation.

So the Logan Act, political weapon. Boehner was accused of having violated it for Netanyahu. You had Pelosi accused of the same thing. Jesse Jackson was accused of it years and years and ago. But really the issue here is the investigation about Russian's alleged hacking.

BLITZER: Very quickly.

(CROSSTALK)

COATES: Well, I would just say that this vote, well, this is different from I think the other ones is it does involve, sort of on its face sort of shady behavior, right? To be going and doing this and to making promises to the Russians when you shouldn't be talking to them as well.

BLITZER: You see people have now gathered in the East Room of the White House. We are going to go there. Any moment now the president of the United States, the prime minister of Canada, they will be holding a joint news conference. CNN will have live coverage when we return.

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[13:58:07] BLITZER: Hello. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. Thanks very much for joining us.

I want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. This is CNN's special coverage of President Trump's joint news conference with the visiting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The event is about to start any moment now. While we wait, we have a pull panel of analysts and correspondents with us.

I want to go immediately, though, to our White House correspondent Sara Murray. She is in the East Room of the white house for us right now.

Sarah, set the scene for us.

SARA MURRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we are expecting to see Prime Minister Trudeau and President Trump at any moment now. They had been in meetings today. They had a working lunch. And Trudeau is really seen as a liberal icon in Canada. He had a comfortable relationship with President Obama. Coming in with President Trump, we are seeing a different relationship, but we are seeing them want to sort of kick it off on the right foot. They focused a lot of their afternoon on female empowerment. Trudeau has labelled him unabashedly a feminist. So the two of them sat down in a round table with Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter and launched this new joint coalition to advanced female entrepreneurs, female business leaders.

We will see if the united front carries over into this press conference here today. We do know these two world leaders have very different perspectives for instance on how to handle Syrian refugees.

Trudeau has welcomed them while Donald Trump has attempted to implement a travel ban that is now caught up in the courts. It will be interesting to see with the two world leaders, side by side, if they are addressing any kind of stickier issues like this today, Wolf.

And the normal procedure when a visiting leader comes to the White House for a joint news conference, they have their opening statements. They will both make opening statements, and then they will take questions. Two American reporters will be able to ask questions and two Canadian reporters will be able to ask questions. I assume that's the procedure, Sarah, for today.

MURRAY: It's always a little dangerous to assume that Donald Trump will stick to procedure. That is what we would certainly expect. But as you know, President Trump has not really one for the pomp and circumstance of most things, particularly here in the White House. And so I think that there's always a possibility that he will shake up what has become the norm for these kind of press conferences, Wolf.