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Trump on Anti-Sematic Threats; Anti-Sematic Rise at College Campuses; Threats against Jewish Community Centers. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired February 21, 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: And let's begin with the breaking news. Take a look at this. We've got some live pictures coming in from the White House briefing room. We're only moments away from the White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, taking to the podium.

He will, undoubtedly, face a barrage of questions about the Trump administration's new immigration orders just announced and his new national security advisor.

We're also following a developing story. Dozens of threats and attacks, in recent days and weeks, against Jewish targets across the United States, including a Jewish cemetery in Missouri. President Trump reacting this morning during his visit to the National African- American History Museum here in Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The anti-Semitic threats targeting our Jewish community and community centers are horrible and are painful and a very sad reminder of the work that still must be done to rout out hate and prejudice and evil.

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BLITZER: CNN Sara Murray is joining us from the White House. Deb Feyerick is in New York. Deb, let me start with you. What do we know about this recent wave of threats and anti-Semitic incidents?

DEB FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, what I can tell you is that there was another threat this morning in San Diego. That brings the total number up to 70 threats at 55 different Jewish community centers across the country in 27 states.

Now, the common thread in all of this appears to be the phone call itself. The caller or callers is using some sort of a masking technology in order to disguise their voice. Each time these threats are called in, the buildings have to be evacuated, the bomb squad has to come in and give an all clear sign.

In one JCC in -- just in Maryland, 200 young children had to be taken out of that school along with some of the elderly who were there for classes.

Now, security, as you can imagine, is very tight at all of these places. The JCC confirms to us that so far no device has been found. But, clearly, these calls, these bomb threats are causing great anxiety and concern while they are going on.

Afterwards, life returns to normal. But, clearly, for these JCC's to be, sort of, on this high alert, never a good feeling. Many of them have lots of programs for children. Preschool children as well as children who come after school. The members are not only Jewish, but they're from all faiths.

Now, I spoke to one of the officials at the JCC, David Posner, called the president's remarks today positive and helpful. When asked whether he should have made them sooner, David Posner said, now that it's done, the remarks are gratifying. A little bit of a shift there -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Deb, very quickly, have there been, as far as we know, any arrests, any suspects picked up at all in connection with these threats?

FEYERICK: No. What we can tell you is that the FBI's criminal division is investigating. And they're looking at social media. They're looking at phone calls, emails. They're trying to determine exactly where these calls are coming from.

In some states, the same JCC has been targeted multiple times with these calls. So, they're looking for threads. But, right now, they haven't identified anyone, at least not who they're telling us -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, stand by. I want to go to Sara over at the White House. As you know, Sarah, Hillary Clinton reacted to these threats, also calling out President Trump. Tell us about that and her most recent specific tweet on all of this.

SARA MURRAY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Wolf. While we did see the president today saying that these threats are horrible and painful, the delay in his response was really unacceptable to some.

And Hillary Clinton, in particular, took to Twitter to talk about these threats against Jewish community centers, saying JCC threats, cemetery desecration and on-line attacks are so troubling and they need to be stopped. Everyone must speak out, starting with POTUS (ph), referring to President Trump there.

And, remember, Wolf, this is an issue that he was asked about twice during press conferences last week. He actually snapped at one reporter who asked about it, telling that reporter to sit down. Not something the president was willing to address head on last week. But we saw him denounce it in his strongest yet terms today -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, he was asked by an Israeli journalist about the anti- Semitic incidents and by an orthodox American Jewish journalist. And the president did not speak out forcefully in response to both of those questions. That news conference was last week.

It's a very big week ahead for the president, Sara. We're expecting a new version of his travel ban that could come at any time now. What are you learning?

MURRAY: That's right. We're still anticipating that to be in the latter half of this week. And the White House is trying to be a little bit more cautious in how they are rolling this one out. We know that they are working with their White House Counsel's office to get more input, because they're hoping to put forward a version that can withstand the scrutiny of the courts. That is, obviously, not what we saw from the last version which has been blocked and held up.

We do expect to deal with the same seven countries, and we have not gotten a straight answer on what that means for the Syrian refugee program. If this will be, yet, another effort to end it indefinitely.

[13:05:05] The other thing that we're expecting this ban will address is how green cardholders will be impacted. It's expected to make clear that this ban would not apply to green cardholders.

And we're also anticipating some more specific guidance on how this could impact people with current or pending visas. Remember, that was an area of widespread confusion also around the first version of this -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Sara, thank you. Sara Murray over at the White House. Deb Feyerick in New York. Thanks to you as well.

Let's talk a little bit more about all of this, the expected travel ban replacement included. Joining us from Sarasota, Florida, Senator Ben Cardin. He's a Democrat from Maryland and the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Senator, thanks for joining us. We have lots to discuss.

SEN. BEN CARDIN (D), MARYLAND, RANKING MEMBER, SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: Wolf, it's good to be with you. Thanks.

BLITZER: On that new executive order we're anticipating, we've now learned that green cardholders, not U.S. citizens, permanent residents, will be exempt and that other changes are being made on language, as far as religion is concerned. If those two items are fixed, are you ready to accept the president's new order?

CARDIN: No, not at all. It's the wrong focus. We all want to make sure that our borders are safe and that we know who's coming into this country.

I just returned from Mexico and from El Paso on our border with Mexico. And it was clear to me that one of the most important goals in preventing people who we don't want coming to America or keeping drugs out of our country, is the cooperation with Mexico.

We need to have a close cooperation with their law enforcement to stop the flow of drugs, and Mexico's actions, particularly on their southern border, is critically important for the flow and people coming in from central America.

If we go forward with anything like the executive order the president announced earlier, it compromises that cooperation. We need to invest in technology. We need to invest in smarter equipment to deal with these challenges.

But the talk about stopping refugees from coming into America where this is a humanitarian leadership of the United States or building a wall with Mexico, really just hurts our efforts in that regard.

BLITZER: The secretary of Homeland Security, John Kelly, the secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, they're both headed to Mexico this week. For Secretary Tillerson, trade will, obviously, be an important topic, so will the border wall that the president wants built along the U.S. Mexico border.

You were just there, as you pointed out, speaking with Mexican government officials. So, what's the appetite for discussions in Mexico on these issues, trade-related issues, renegotiating in NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, for example, and on this new border wall?

CARDIN: Well, I think they're going to hear, pretty clearly, the hostility on the wall. The wall is $21 billion for an understandable cost and perhaps more.

I think the Mexicans will tell our leaders that if you have that type of money to invest, invest in better intelligence cooperation with Mexico, invest it in equipment that can help us deal with contrabands that are going across the border. There are ways of using those funds.

But the Mexicans aren't going to pay for the wall. And the wall, Americans aren't going to want to pay for the wall because it doesn't work. It doesn't stop drugs from coming into our country.

And if you put up a wall, individuals will come in through different portals or go over the wall. There's different ways of getting into this country.

So, I think they're going to hear that there's a much smarter way to work together for our mutual benefits.

BLITZER: Secretary Kelly, the Homeland Security Secretary, likely will be talking about the new immigration enforcement guidelines that the administration is putting out this week. Among them, expedited deportation provisions. A, quote, "surge of immigration judges to the border."

The immediate start to planning, once again, for that will border wall, does Mexico have to be on board with any of these new proposed guidelines?

CARDIN: Well, clearly, Mexico very much affects the flow of people coming into the United States. Many are coming in visa vi the southern border of Mexico to get into the United States. The number of Mexicans coming into America unlawfully has declined pretty dramatically. There's actually a net negative more Mexicans returning to Mexico than coming into the United States.

It's -- our concern is mainly those who are transporting Mexico to get into the United States from the south, from the southern part, from Central America. You do need Mexico's cooperation. Their cooperation on the southern border is critically important.

So, if they believe that this immigration policy is aimed against their country, the cooperation with America will certainly be much less.

BLITZER: In the new guidelines, we're told that DACA stays largely intact. Those are the so-called dreamers, the children who were raised here in the United States. Parents, undocumented immigrants, came to the United States with young kids. They will be protected under these new guidelines. Undocumented immigrants under the age of 18.

Is that a good, positive sign, as far as you're concerned, Senator?

[13:10:02] CARDIN: Well, the answer is yes. We want to do -- we want to protect the dreamers. We want to protect those who have been in this country for a long time that are not causing any risk factors.

President Obama issued executive orders, as I'm sure you are aware, that target our deportation on those who are violent, creating criminal problems here in the United States.

President Trump accepted that. Now, he's changing it. We don't know exactly how he is changing it.

So, we are concerned that the net may become so broad that a lot of people are going to be at a major disadvantage under the enforcement which, again, causes communities in America to question whether they should work with law enforcement here.

It -- relationships are important. Working with communities are critically important. You have to have an immigration policy that reflects the will of this nation. And I'm afraid the president is moving in the wrong direction.

What he should be doing is coming to Congress, work with us on comprehensive immigration reform. Our immigration system desperately needs change. The Senate got it done three years ago. With the president's leadership, we could pass comprehensive immigration reform which I think would be in everyone's interest.

BLITZER: I want to ask you, Senator, about the threats against Jewish community centers across the United States, dozens of them, the vandalism that we saw at a Jewish cemetery in St. Louis.

You heard the president mention the threats while visiting the African-American History Museum this morning. And He called these actions, the spate of anti-Semitic threats, horrible and painful.

Is the president reacting, from your perspective, strongly enough?

CARDIN: What he said, just recently, is what the -- what I would hope the president of the United States would do. He was slow to getting to this issue. As you know, there's been efforts in the past where the president could have been much more articulate against hate issues, and he was not -- some of his own speech was not what I would want from the president.

However, what he said in many regards to recent episodes of anti- Semitism is the type of leadership we need from the president of the United States.

Our leaders must speak out very strongly against any intolerance, any hate types of conduct. We've got to treat it very seriously. It's not only criminal, but it also leads to the type of behavior in our community which are going to make communities unsafe. So, yes, it starts with leadership.

BLITZER: Have you seen -- have you seen, in your home state of Maryland, Senator, there's a significant Jewish community in Baltimore outside of Washington in suburban Maryland, elsewhere in the state, an increase in these anti-Semitic incidents?

CARDIN: I know there's great concern in the Jewish communities of Maryland. They have increased significantly their attention to security, that they are concerned about these threats. And they're taking -- treating each one of these threats with the seriousness it deserves.

Local law enforcement is also spending a lot of their resources on protecting not only the Jewish community but other minority communities against the potential violence coming from hate speech.

So, yes, we are very concerned about it.

BLITZER: Senator Cardin, thanks very much for joining us.

CARDIN: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Coming up, only moments away from the White House press briefing. You're looking at live pictures over there. You see the lectern. The press secretary, Sean Spicer, he'll go to that lectern, answer reporters' questions. We'll have live coverage of that coming up.

Plus, --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD: She was warned but she persisted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: -- right now, protesters are gathering outside at an event in Kentucky for the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell. He recently called on his fellow Republicans to address frustrated voters directly.

Will he follow his own advice? We'll discuss that and have an update for you when we come back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD: She was warned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[13:13:46]

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[13:17:50] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Take a look at this. Some live pictures once again coming in from the White House Briefing Room. The press secretary, Sean Spicer, will be taking reporters' questions soon. We're going to bring that to you live.

The one issue that's likely to come up is the White House response, specifically the president's response to a rise in anti-Semitic incidents across the United States.

Let's discuss that and more. CNN commentator, former Democratic Congressman Steve Israel is joining us, and CNN senior political commentator, former Republican Senator Rick Santorum is with us as well.

During a visit to the National Museum of African-American History, the president called the threats against Jewish community centers across the country, in his words, "horrible and painful and a very sad reminder of the work that must still be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil." Critics have been calling on the president to speak out against anti-Semitism.

Congressman Israel, how important was it for the president to make this specific statement today?

STEVE ISRAEL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Oh, it was vitally important, Wolf. The president not only has the bully pulpit, he has the moral high ground. And, look, this is an administration that seems to be good at denying itself its own layups. This should have been said earlier. It should have been easy. Having said that, we ought to welcome the statement that the president made today and hope that he will continue on a sustained effort to tell those who would threaten Jewish community centers and topple grave stones at cemeteries that that is unacceptable behavior in the United States of America.

BLITZER: And I know you welcome the president's statement as well.

RICK SANTORUM, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I called for it earlier today. Yes. Yes.

BLITZER: I watched you on CNN's "New Day" earlier today and, senator, you wanted the president to make this statement. Here's the question, though, why did it take him so long? He easily could have said something on this when that Israeli journalist asked in the news conference, at the Netanyahu press conference, when that Orthodox American Jewish journalist asked him a similar question the next day, but he, you know, he didn't do it.

SANTORUM: I - look, I - I don't have an answer now. I didn't have an answer then. It's befuddling because this is a president who is, to me, very much a mensch. I mean this is a guy who's - who's really supported the Jewish people and Israel and has been very forthright about doing everything he can to support the Jewish state. He has a - he's a grandfather to two Jewish kids. I mean -

[13:20:03] BLITZER: Three.

SANTORUM: Three. Excuse me. So it doesn't make any sense to me why - why he - he didn't. And I would just make the argument, as I tried to this morning, there's been a rash of anti-Semitism going on in college campuses now that's growing. I saw a report earlier that a 45 percent increase year-over-year from last year is - continues to grow. It's being perpetrated not just by the pro-Palestinian groups on college campuses, but also from progressive groups. I mean this is a sweet spot for the president to be in. I just am a little amazed that he hasn't hit on, not just what's happened at the Jewish community centers, but also what's happening on college campuses.

BLITZER: You want President Trump to be hitting -

SANTORUM: Yes.

BLITZER: That - what, that so called BDS (ph) movement -

SANTORUM: Absolutely.

BLITZER: The Boycott, Divest, Sanction that's going on around college campuses.

SANTORUM: He - and I think maybe just part of it is, there's so much going on at the White House. This is all new. He's trying to get a lot of things done. But, to me, this is an area that really deserves some focus and can actually substantiate a lot of the concerns that he's raised about, you know, what's going on with religious tolerance in this country, with religious freedom in this country, and the role that Muslims are playing on college campuses to stifle opposition voices.

BLITZER: Well, it's not just Muslims on college campuses. There are -

SANTORUM: Well, but I'm talking in this BDS movement. Yes, it is. It's - it's a lot -

BLITZER: Well, no, there's a lot of liberal - there's a lot of liberals -

SANTORUM: And progressives, right.

BLITZER: There some liberal Jews who are out there -

SANTORUM: True. OK.

BLITZER: Promoting this as well. But let me let Congressman Israel go ahead and react to what we just heard from the senator.

ISRAEL: Look, I - first of all, we should not be politicizing anti- Semitism. It is not a matter of the left. It is not a matter of the right. It is a matter of an act of hatred against the Jewish people.

What does concern me is this. Not just that the president took so long, and I agree with the senator, he took way too long. They were wrestling with using the word Jewish in a statement condemning anti- Semitism. They wrestled with using the word Holocaust on - in a statement commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day.

But what concerns me is the tone and tenor that we saw leading into the inauguration. You know, I'm reminded about the very last - the closing commercial that the Trump campaign ran just days before the election where they used really inappropriate language, where they talked about a global power elite and those people who are controlling the levels of power and they used those words superimposed over people like Janet Yellen and George Soros and Lloyd Blankfein. You know, those are dog whistles. And we have to be very careful when we use those kinds of tone - with that kind of tone, when we engage in that kind of temperament because they become amplifiers to people who then feel empowered. The president, therefore, has an obligation to disempower those people. He did it today. He has to keep doing it.

BLITZER: You want to react with that?

SANTORUM: I - look, this campaign, from the very beginning, the Trump campaign, the Trump presidency is always about going - is going about the elites, elites in Wall Street, the elites here in the media, the elites in Washington D.C. I don't think that's a dog whistle. I think that's consistent with everything else this president has talked about, which is trying to elevate working men and women in this country who have gotten a raw deal from Wall Street, to - from Washington and fight for their interests. So I wouldn't read too much into that. I don't think that's fair to do so.

BLITZER: Congressman, I just want to be precise, you don't believe, do you, that the president of the United States is anti-Semitic?

ISRAEL: No, I wasn't saying that, wasn't suggesting it, and I wasn't implying it. I was saying that when there's a tone in this country and the environment that we have, that makes it all the more important for the president of the United States to use the bully pulpit, to use that moral high ground to condemn those who feel empowered by the climate we have and do it quickly and do it in a full-throated way. The fact that he didn't do it can be criticized, but the fact that he did it today, we should welcome it and ask him to continue with the sustained message denouncing anti-Semitism and anti-Semites whenever and wherever they rise.

BLITZER: Yes. And he did suggest he will - in addition to visiting the African-American Museum of History this morning, he's going to pay a visit in Washington to the Holocaust Museum as well, which is - which is, obviously, also very, very significant. Why do you believe, senator, there has been these threats against

Jewish community centers, dozens of them now, over the past several weeks, and the desecration of this Jewish cemetery in Missouri?

SANTORUM: I'll be honest with you, I don't know, other than, you know, we see this - this rash of anti-Semitism breaking out really not just here in this country but in - but in Europe. It's in - it's in a very bad way. We see a lot of - a lot of that. I wish I could tell - I don't - I don't know if we have any evidence as to who's perpetrating that. I -

BLITZER: Apparently no one has been arrested yet.

SANTORUM: No one's been arrested. So it's hard for me to speculate, you know, where it's coming from. It could come from, you know, the neo-Nazi types. It could come from, you know, pro-Palestinian or pro- Muslim, or it could be just some deranged people. I don't know. And until we - until we have an idea of who's actually doing it, you can speculate all over the place.

BLITZER: Yes. If you see, Congressman Israel, if you see swastikas painted at Jewish community centers -

ISRAEL: Yes.

BLITZER: That is clearly an anti-Semitic incident that we don't know who's doing it, but I'm curious what you think.

[13:25:04] ISRAEL: Look, again, I do not want to make anti-Semitism a matter of the left or the right. Anti-Semitism was, in fact, being expressed and manifest in a very increased way with - on college campuses through BDS. That mostly came from the left. Right now you could make the argument as you analyze these incidents that it's coming from the right, propelled by the alt-right movement, propelled by some of the stuff you read in Breitbart. To me the motivation is less important than the president's power and his moral authority to condemn it quickly. He didn't do it quickly. He said what he had to say together. He needs to keep saying it.

BLITZER: I'll give you the last word, senator.

SANTORUM: I agree. Look, this is - this is an area that I think is in - in President Trump's sweet spot. He should - he should focus on it and make it - be a champion of it. This is a way to start blunting some of the criticism that he's getting that he's not distancing himself from the - from the - from the far, far right. And this is a great way to do it.

BLITZER: Rick Santorum, Steve Israel, guys, thanks very much for joining us.

Once again, take a look at the live pictures coming in from the White House Briefing Room. Minutes from now, the press secretary, Sean Spicer, he'll field questions from reporters, likely discuss the president's upcoming executive orders, recent threats to Jewish community centers across the country, presumably also his new national security advisor. We're going to take that news conference with the press secretary live as soon as it begins.

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