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Trump Speaks Out on Anti-Semitism, Racial Discord in U.S.; Trump Rolling out Second Travel Ban; White House Press Briefing. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired February 21, 2017 - 13:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:30:44] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Live pictures from the who us. Sean Spicer will soon start answering questions from reporters. He will make some statements first. Once the news conference begins, we'll have live coverage for our viewers here in the United States and around the world.

In the meantime, there's much more to discuss.

Joining us, our chief political analyst, Gloria Borger; our senior political analyst, Mark Preston; Matea Gold, the national political reporter for "The Washington Post"; and our CNN politics reporter, Eugene Scott.

Today, the president addressed recent anti-Semitic incidents here in the United States calling them horrible and painful. The comments came during his visit to the Museum of African-American History. He also spoke about racial discord in this the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This, too, is a meaningful reminder of why we have to fight bigotry, intolerance, and hatred in it all of its very ugly forms.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Why do you think those televisions exist in this country? Why do you think they're still so deep, so persistent?

TRUMP: I think it's just age-old. It's -- there is something going on that doesn't allow it to fully heal. Sometimes it gets better and then it busts apart, but we want to have it get very much better, get unified, and stay together. But you've seen it. We're oftentimes it will be much better, and then it blows up. Part of the beauty of what you are doing here with the museum and the success of the museum, the success is very important because it's doing tremendous numbers of people are coming in. I think that really helps to get that divide and bring it much closer together. If not, perfect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Gloria, did the president go far enough in his remarks today? GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think he started,

and I think it's a conversation that needs to continue because, as you know, in last week's press conference, when the president was asked about it, you have been talking about it earlier today, he kind of deflected the question about his own personal views on things like anti-Semitism, and I think when you have the attacks around the country that we've seen today, when you have the rise of white supremacy or the vocalism of white supremacy, I should say, to speak out forcefully about it but not be backed into a corner to talk about it. This is something a president ought to want affirmatively to speak out lookout and clear every opportunity he gets. What I would say is I hope this is the beginning of that kind of conversation, and it was a first start.

BLITZER: What did you think, Eugene?

EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: I spoke with voters, and they are not quite applauding speaking out, and that's expected. The reality is the building is an example of what can happen to a group of people if presidents and lawmakers do not put measures in place to protect them, and I think many of them would like to see President Trump be more aggressive and implementing policies that are meeting the needs of black voters in Americans.

BLITZER: Mark Preston, why did it take the president, do you think, so long to specifically address these recent incidents, these anti- Semitic incidents. He did say very forcefully they are horrible and painful.

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANLAYST: I think it's hard for us to be analyzing Donald Trump and look at his son-in-law, his daughter, his grandchildren who are all Jewish, and we talked about how much he loves his daughter and how much he has put so much confidence in his son-in-law and then turn around and say he is anti-Semitic. I don't think he is. And quite frankly, I don't think he likes being challenged. I don't think that Donald Trump enjoys having somebody tell him what to do. In many ways -- this could be one of those instances, but I would expect that it's one of these instances where he feels his critics backed him into a corner, and he was going to do it on his own terms.

BLITZER: Matea, you spent some time reporting on this. What do you think?

MATEA GOLD, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: It appears that I think one of the things we're seeing is the president growing into this job, which part of the job is to be a leader on moral issues. It's something that whether it's anti-Semitism or another issue, I think he is still adjusting to the fact that he is going to be seen as someone who has to be proactive in calling out hate and calling out acts of intolerance, and that's something that is going to be a standard that he will be held to. That clearly is something he was not prepared for in this issue. The incident at the press conference in which he sorts of shouted down that reporter and told that reporter to sit down when he was asked about it. I think the administration knows it was very damaging and they're seeking to turn the page on this.

[13:35:28] BLITZER: Let's turn the page right now. Talk about another issue that's going to presumably come up at the Sean Spicer news conference. The new deportation orders that are going into effect and the second revised version of a travel ban affecting at least seven mostly Muslim countries. They're still going to be included. We anticipate that coming in week as well.

BORGER: And I think what the administration is trying to do in giving background briefings on all of this and talking to journalists about it is they are trying to correct the way in which the initial travel ban was rolled out, which was chaotic and confusing, and is now in the court system. They want to kind of reverse that. I think what we know so far is that this is going to be very different from the immigration orders of President Barack Obama with one exception, which is I think the Dreamers looking at this initial reports will be OK, and that is a big -- that is a big deal. It may not make some of the president's supporters happy, but the president has said, look, I have a heart. I'm thinking about Dreamers. It looks to me from first blush that they will be OK

BLITZER: Let's talk about that for a second because the Dreamers -- these are the children that came here as young kids, raised in the United States. Their parents came here illegally and presumably they're going to be ok, but what about their parents? Are they going to be separated from their parents?

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: The parents have been here for 15 or 20 years, too.

BORGER: That's a big question. I don't know the answer to that. We do know that people who are convicted of serious crimes, you know, criminals, will be gone. I mean, they won't be just first in line to be gone. They will be gone. There will be expedited removals of people that come across the border very quickly. Not just within 100 miles, but also further out, and also if you have been here for two years you can also be deported very quickly. What we're going to see is the hiring of more immigration and customs agents, and they will in some cases act as police officers and border officers, so it will be a very, very different environment. Which is what President Trump said he would do.

BLITZER: Eugene, there's a lot of nervous tension out there around the country as a result of these new deportation rules that are about to go into effect. What are you hearing?

SCOTT: Well, I'm hearing from voters in Arizona that there's some concern about how the administration is going to go about determining who is a criminal and who has actually broken the law. There's concern across the board regardless of lawmakers being Republican and Democrats about breaking up families. What will come of all of this still isn't clear? It does look like the administration will be more sympathetic to Dreamers. To what extent, we don't know yet.

BLITZER: We're standing by for the White House press secretary, Sean Spicer. Momentarily, we're told that he will walk in -- his aides will walk in first, Mark. This is a -- Sean Spicer, he has to get ready for some pretty serious tough questions right now.

PRESTON: No doubt. Certainly -- he has been away from the podium for a few days. We're used to seeing Sean and taking questions. There's no question there's a lot coming down the pike right now. This immigration stuff is very complicated right now. Not only the enforcement of immigration that we saw this morning with these new memos that were put out, but we will see that executive order that will happen probably in the next 24 to 48 hours, which will explain to us how they plan to keep people out from these seven countries. Those are two big things. Listen, we also have Donald Trump next week who was going to appear before Congress. He is going to give his speech before a joint session and there's a lot on there to talk about as well.

BLITZER: That's exactly one week from today. Primetime next Tuesday night. They'll be addressing a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress.

This is a moment, Matea, that one month into this new administration right now where they're trying to reset and the new national security advisor by almost all accounts was a positive development for this president.

GOLD: Yeah. Clearly a personnel victory in the lines of this selection of a Supreme Court nominee. Someone who is getting praise from liberals and conservatives alike across the Hill and among the national security apparatus. I think that brings a bit of relief to those who were anxious about who was going to fill this post and exactly what was happening at the national security council right now, which has gone through a lot of upheaval in the wake of Flynn's departure. I think this is something that the administration is breathing a sigh of relief about today, that they can really chalk that one up to a big win at a time when as mark noted, they have a lot on their plate to contend with.

[13:40:08] BLITZER: This was seen as a major positive development after Michael Flynn was effectively fired by the president. Now there are a lot of people suggesting that the national security homeland security team, the leadership seems to be pretty positive.

BORGER: Yeah. There are a lot of people who say that, look, you know, between Kelly and Mattis and the new NSA, you have a terrific team, and I think there is less known about Rex Tillerson, but people also breathed a sigh of relief that when Mike Pence went to speak abroad, he said we are committed to NATO, and we are also committed that if Russia misbehaves, you know, we will take that on. I think the question foreign leaders still have is does Mike Pence speak for the president of the United States? Who does speak for the president of the United States? I think there are people who believe that he has installed a first-rate national security team.

BLITZER: There's administrator of the Environmental Protection agency, Scott Pruitt. Today's the first full day on the job. He was speaking to employees, staff members, officials there just a little while ago. I think we have a clip. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT PRUITT, DIRECTOR, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY: Regulations ought to make things regular. Regulators exist to give certainty to those that they regulate. Those that we regulate ought to know what's expected of them so that they can plan and allocate resources to comply. That's really the job of a regulator.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, Mark, he was not overwhelmingly confirmed by the United States Senate. It was pretty close. Almost completely along party lines, if you will. He has a tough job ahead of him right now.

PRESTON: He has a tough job ahead of him. He is going to an agency that he has sued. I think 10, 11 times unsuccessfully, I might add, when he was the Oklahoma attorney general. He's somebody that environmentalists think that he is against environment in many ways. And he is going to go in and he is going to oversee the roll back of regulations that affect our environment. We saw just last week that Donald Trump --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Hold on. Hold on.

Here he is. Sean Spicer, walking up to the microphone.

[13:42:25]

SEAN SPICER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Hey, good afternoon, everyone. It's been a little while. I hope you missed me.

QUESTION: You missed us?

SPICER: Absolutely.

We've got a lot to talk about today, so let's get right to it.

First off, I want to acknowledge the tragic plane crash that occurred in Australia, that took the lives of five individuals including four Americans. The president's thoughts are prayers are with the families of the victims. And the U.S. embassy and consulate are in ready to provide necessary and appropriate assistance.

Moving on, the president was honored to announce that Lieutenant General McMaster, will be his National Security Advisor. General McMaster served his nation and the United States Army for over three decades, including -- during Iraqi -- Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom and Desert Storm.

The president met with many distinguished and qualified candidates for the position and he has said that he will continue to consider many of them for other positions within the administration. He is especially pleased that Lieutenant General Kellogg will stay on as National Security Council chief of staff. The president is -- is proud to welcome General McMaster to the team.

We have full authority to structure the office to his -- to his desires, to best serve his ultimate mission, which is to protect the American interest at home and abroad.

This morning, Secretary Kelly and the Department of Homeland Security released memos regarding the implementation of two of the president's executive orders that are designed to protect the homeland. These two memos provide explicit guidance to DHS staff on how to carry out two executive orders signed by the president on January 25th. One dealing with interior enforcement and one dealing with border security.

Perhaps most critically, the president is empowering DHS to carry out the immigration laws currently on the books. Of course, DHS gave a full briefing on these memos this morning, but just to briefly summarize a few of the facts. The memo regarding the executive order enhancing public safety in the interior of the United States, outlines several practices and policies in order to strengthen the efficient and faithful execution of this country's immigration laws. That includes hiring more ICE agents and officers, as well as additional mission support and legal staff necessary to support their activities.

This memo also directs the establishment of the victims of the Immigration Crime Engagement Office within ICE, full filling another major campaign promise of the president. This office will facilitate the engagement with victims and their families to ensure that their questions and concerns, regarding immigration enforcement efforts are addressed.

The memo regarding the executive order of border security and immigration enforcement improvements, outlines the steps that DHS will take to secure the nations southern border, prevent further illegal immigration and to repatriate illegal immigrants swiftly, consistently and humanely.

[13:45:00]

This includes immediately identifying and allocating all sources of available funding for the planning, design, construction, and maintenance of a wall along our southern border and hiring of additional personnel including 5,000 additional CBP (ph) border agents.

Again, I would refer you to DHS for further comment on these specific memos. There are fact sheets and Q&As on the DHS website that address many of the intricacies and areas within each of these executive orders that you might have questions on. Also, this weekend the president had calls with the president of Panama and the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago.

Readouts of those calls have both been provided. The president's team this weekend also had a very productive meeting on the president's plan to repeal and replace Obamacare and ensure that it is replaced with a system that works for all Americans. Back to the president's schedule today, in honor of Black History Month, the president started his day by visiting the National Museum of African- American History and Culture.

The museum opened last September and has quickly become of Washington's most visited attractions. The president was joined by a group of individuals that included his doctor -- daughter Ivanka, Dr. Ben Carson and his wife, Senator Tim Scott, Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Museum Director Lonnie Bunch, Dr. David Skorton who is the secretary of the Smithsonian, as well as others.

The president commented several times during his tour about how impressed he was with the museum. Some of the exhibits that he was particularly drawn to included the section on Harriett Tubman which featured a shawl that was given to her by Queen Victoria in the late 1800s, the section of the museum that featured the courageous contribution of African-Americans that have made to the United States military.

And the president was particularly pleased by the Muhammad Ali exhibit with the quote "I shook up the world" prominently displayed. The president also enjoyed viewing for the first time with Dr. and Mrs. Carson the exhibit dedicated to his extraordinary life. Similarly, Alveda King who had never viewed the museum's exhibit on her uncle, the president was honored that he was able to share this experience with the two of them specifically.

The president further expressed his appreciation for the tour and said he looks forward to returning again. His desire's to honor the immense contributions of courageous African-American leaders throughout our history by building a more unified country dedicated to liberty to liberty and justice. This afternoon, the president will have a routine classified National Security Council briefing in the situation room in addition to his presidential daily briefing which he received earlier this morning.

Then, this evening, the president will have dinner with the vice president. I'm sure that they will discuss the vice president's recent trip to Europe. The vice president was an incredible representative for our nation and the president during his time where he reiterated our support for European allies and unified pursuit of the noble ideas of freedom, democracy and justice and the rule of law and discussing how to do more to encourage all NATO allies to meet their financial obligations and commitments.

During his speech before the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, the vice president conveyed the administration's unwavering commitment to Europe's peace and prosperity, especially remembering the tens of thousands of Americans who gave their lives to defend those ideals during both World War I and II. These shared sacrifices are the backbone of our alliance and our mission of security through strength.

During his time in Munich, the vice president also met with nine world leaders. The vice president and these leaders discussed the issues most pressing to them including the escalating violence in Eastern Ukraine and the role of NATO in the fight against ISIS. The vice president also met in Brussels with the president of the Tusk -- Vice President Tusk of the Council of European Union and NATO Secretary -- the NATO secretary general. As a candidate for office, President Trump actually called attention repeatedly to the fact that for too long many of our other NATO allies have not been sharing their -- the financial burden. The president looks forward to working closely with NATO to advance our shared objectives. A strong NATO means a safer world and the United States looks forward to working with our partners in NATO to achieve just that.

Looking ahead to the president's upcoming schedule, tomorrow he'll meet with Secretary of State Tillerson fresh off his trip from -- to Germany for the G20 Foreign Ministers Summit. They'll discuss the president's foreign policy agenda and the secretary's upcoming trip to Mexico. Thursday morning, he'll have a listening session regarding job creation in the manufacturing sector with CEOs and business leaders from different industries.

On Friday, he'll deliver remarks to the conservative political action conference and we are just one week out today from the president's joint address to Congress. The president will continue to work closely with his team to craft a speech that lays out his ambitious policy agenda that will benefit all Americans. Plans are currently in the works for pre and post-address activities for the president and his staff and we'll have more updates as the week goes on.

[13:50:00]

Before I take your questions, I want to address the recent threats and acts of vandalism on Jewish community centers throughout the country. The president said this morning, I just want to reiterate, quote, the anti-Semitic threats targeting our Jewish Community Centers are horrible and painful, and a very sad reminder of the work that we must do -- excuse me -- the work that must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil.

With that, I'll take some of your questions. Jim Stinson.

QUESTION: Sean -Sean?

SPICER: Yeah.

QUESTION: Thank you. I was curious if the president regrets or wants to clarify his characterization -- by the way I have two questions -- of the media as an enemy of the American people?

SPICER: I think the president's been very clear that certain outlets have gone out of their way to not represent his record accurately and it is a concern to him. And I think some reporters -- he has deep respect for the first amendment, for the role of the press -- I've addressed this multiple times in the past.

He has a healthy respect for the press. But I think it's a two way street, as I've also said before, and I think that the president understands that certain outlets have gone out of their way to not be completely accurate and fair in their coverage of what's going on.

QUESTION: Speaking of the media, I've noticed two times in the last week that you've been directly contradicted by two members of the media, one of them Bill Maher of HBO who said that, in front of guest at Mar-a-Lago the president was briefed on classified North Korean - classified North Korean situation.

SPICER: Say that again -- I'm sorry.

QUESTION: The president and the Prime Minister of Japan...

SPICER: Right.

QUESTION: ...were briefed in front of guests.

SPICER: No I didn't say that.

QUESTION: No -- no -- no, this is what is being said...

SPICER: Right.

QUESTION: ...on HBO. That the president and the prime minister were briefed on classified information in front of guests at Mar-a- Lago. I just want to clarify, did that happen?

SPICER: No.

QUESTION: (OFF MIKE)

SPICER: No I think I walked through this timeline before Jim. And it was -- it's amazing, a photo gets put out, the president's got a piece of paper and the immediate conclusion is, he's got to be talking about classified information.

The president was briefed on the situation in North Korea prior to the dinner in a SCIF that's at Mar-a-Lago. He went and had dinner, he discussed the logistics of the press conference, which I've talked to you all about before. There was a question as to where to hold the press conference, they had a discussion about the logistics of it and, subsequent to that dinner, he was briefed again in a SCIF with updates on the situation in North Korea.

That's it. Plain and simple.

But to your first question I think that it's amazing that the immediate jump of conclusion to several outlets was, well there's a piece of paper it must be classified. I don't -- you know, it's amazing to see that and to see people jump to that conclusion, that he's surrounded by his staff and members of the Japanese delegation, the conclusion is they must be doing something nefarious or wrong.

In fact he followed every procedure that's laid out. And I -I think in some cases it's disheartening to realize that those are the kind of immediate conclusions that somebody jumps to. So -- you know, when you talk about coverage, we have a free press, we have the right for our people to say and do what they believe.

But at some point there's a -- it is incumbent upon people to try to get it right. And in that case, it wasn't even attempted, it was a jump to conclusion by many to say that there must be something else going on. When in fact we were able to provide a very, very clear tick tock as to as far as what had happened in that.

Jessica.

QUESTION: Sean, question about the resignation of the ten (ph) people on the Asian American Council.

SPICER: Right.

QUESTION: That happened last week and in the letter they said, in part, we can no longer serve a president whose policies and outlook (ph) that are diametrically opposite to our political (ph) goals and charge.

First of all, what's the White House's reaction and do you plan to appoint your own members to this council?

SPICER: Yeah. Those members of that council were political appointees of the Obama Administration, their terms were set to expired this year. So it's not surprising in the sense that they were appointees of Barack Obama they were going to have their terms expire.

QUESTION: (OFF MIKE)

SPICER: I get it but most political appointees from other agencies, whatever, would automatically resign because of the terms of these individuals they would carry through till later in the year. But I don't think it's surprising that people who were appointed by Barack Obama, to fulfill his agenda, suddenly understand that there's a new administration in town and it -- and didn't want to stay onboard.

But we will make sure that we appoint people to this task force, it's important it's been - it's something that's provided guidance to multiple presidents in the past and we will continue to do that.

Shannon (ph).

QUESTION: On the - on the statement today about the anti-Semitic act, what specifically is the president going to do to address that issue and, along those lines, there reports earlier on that he was considering changing the mandate of this countering violent extremism program to focus just on Islamic Extremist groups, is he still considering that or would he also review the scope of the program to also consider...

SPICER: Are you talking about the -- the traveler executive order, the...

[13:55:00]

QUESTION: No, no, no, this is the Countering Violent Extremism program...

SPICER: Right.

QUESTION: ...that...

(CROSSTALK)

SPICER: Yeah, I -- and again, I think we're getting ahead of ourselves, there. There's nothing to announce on that front. And secondly, to the first part of your question, I think the president's gonna do what he's talked about since election night.

Its -- its do deed (ph) in action, talk about how we can unify this country and speak out against, you know, hate, antifeminism, racism and he's gonna continue to do that. And I think that he will show you over the course of months and years, through what he does in terms of his policies and his -- and his speech, that he is gonna be a president that brings people together, that unites them.

And that speaks very, very forcefully against those who -- who are seeking to do hate or to tear people down because of their religion or their gender or the color of their skin. I mean those are all things that I think the presidents clear on (ph).

John (ph)?

QUESTION: Two questions unrelated, if I could. The next big piece in the immigration profile here that the White House has voted (ph) for the new executive order. Is the president confident that this one will pass legal muster and -- and if he is, what gives him that confidence?

SPICER: Well, I -- I think we first -- I wanna be clear, that -- that we feel confident that we're still gonna prevail on the case, the merits to the case. I think that as was seen in the case of Massachusetts, once it is fully adjudicated, we will prevail because the authority is granted to the president to do what he has do to protect the country.

So I feel very, very confident about where's gonna go. The second track that he's made very clear as well, is that until that occurs, we're gonna have a dual track system and that we're gonna make sure that we implement a second executive order that is tailored to achieve the same goals but in accordance with what the country said.

So we've been very -- working very closely with the Department of State, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice and the team here at the White House, to make sure that the next step achieves the president's goal of protecting the country and does so in a way that recognizes the concerns and the court had until we prevail at a later time. So it's a dual track thing.

Yes?

QUESTION: Sir...

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Will this administration send American terrorist suspects picked up overseas to Guantanamo Bay for interrogation... SPICER: Yeah, I -- I'm not gonna -- I'm not gonna discuss that, right now. As the president has said very clearly before, we don't telegraph what we're gonna do. I think he has made very clear though, that he believes that Guantanamo Bay does serve a very, very healthy purpose in our national security and making sure that we don't bring terrorists to our seas. But I'm not gonna get into what we may or may not do in the future..

(CROSSTALK)

SPICER: Again, I'm just not gonna...

Martha (ph)?

QUESTION: Sean, I want to give you a chance to respond to something because I think that the president's remarks in your clarification about where he stands on anti-Semitism is clear. But after that statement was made by the president, the Anne Frank Center released a pretty strongly worded one...

SPICER: Right.

QUESTION: ...saying that these remarks while -- while (ph) received are a band aid on the cancer within the Trump administration, saying that there is, whether less or otherwise, a sense of xenophobia went in this administration...

(CROSSTALK)

SPICER: Yeah, I -- I think it's -- look, the president has made clear since the day he was elected and frankly, going back to the campaign, that he is someone who seeks to unite this country.

He has brought a diverse group of folks into his administration, both in terms of actual positions and people that he had sought the advice of. And I think he has been very forceful with his denunciation of people who seek to attack people because of their hate -- because of excuse me, because of their religion, because of their gender, because of the color of their skin.

And it's something they can continue to fight and make very, very clear, that he has no place in this administration. But I -- I think (ph) that it's -- it's ironic that no matter how many times he talks about this, that it's never good enough.

Today, I think was an unbelievably forceful comment by the president as far as his denunciation of the actions that are currently targeted towards Jewish community centers. But I think that he's been very clear previous to this, that he wants to be someone that brings this country together and not divide people, especially in those areas.

So I saw that statement, I -- I wish that they had praised the president for his leadership in this area and I think that hopefully, as time continues to go by, they recognize his commitment to civil rights, to voting rights, to equality for all Americans.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Sean?

SPICER: Yeah?

QUESTION: On that...

(CROSSTALK)

SPICER: You're (ph) starting early with the two questions.

QUESTION: Sorry. Sean, southern poverty -- I think you'll -- you'll want to respond to...

SPICER: OK.

QUESTION: Southern poverty (inaudible) that the number of anti- Muslim groups in the U.S. has tripled between 2015 and 2016, during the time of the campaign. Is this message within the administration is that Semitism's not allowed, xenophobia's not allowed, anti-Muslim sentiment within the administration has the president been forceful about that particular issue?

[14:00:08]