Return to Transcripts main page

Wolf

Rationale For Travel Ban; Pence Used Private E-mail As Governor; Trump To Tour Orlando School. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired March 03, 2017 - 13:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 9:00 p.m. in Moscow. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

Right now, take a look at this. Live pictures coming in from the Orlando International Airport. President Trump just landed there moments ago.

He's in Florida today to talk about education, school choice, school vouchers, among other things. He'll tour a catholic school in the Orlando area. We expect to hear comments from the president during that stop. We'll bring them to you live when it happens.

From there, the president goes on to Mar-a-Lago, the resort, his estate in Palm Beach, Florida for the weekend, once again.

Also, right now, the vice president, Mike Pence, is in Wisconsin to talk about the Republican plans for healthcare. He's in House Speaker Paul Ryan's hometown to talk about the planned replacement for Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act.

Speaker Ryan is there with him as is the new health and Human services secretary, Tom Price. Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson is with them as well.

As the president focuses in on education in Florida today, the focus back in Washington continues to be on the Trump administration's reported ties to Russia. The attorney general, Jeff Sessions, has agreed to recuse himself from the investigations, but now there are new questions about other members of the president's inner circle.

Our Senior White House Correspondent Jeff Zeleny is joining us. Jeff is at the White House. Our Justice Reporter Laura Jared is with me here in the studio.

Jeff, the president is in Florida but he certainly can't escape this entire Russia controversy, can he?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He cannot, indeed, Wolf. He was leaving the White House this morning, just a couple hours ago. And as he did, right before he did, there was a very animated meeting

going on inside the Oval Office. And this is certainly coming at the end of a week where the administration was hoping to still be talking about his speech to Congress earlier in the week.

But, instead, they're ending it with trying to get to the bottom of all of these meetings that happened last year during the campaign with the Russian ambassador.

Of course, they are trying to contain the fallout from all of this here, particularly with the attorney general's recusal yesterday of any investigation involving the 2016 campaign.

But, Wolf, this is something that administration officials are still trying to contain and figure out how many meetings they actually -- happened last year. And it's something that, of course, will be the subject of investigations on Capitol Hill.

BLITZER: Yes, multiple investigations up on Capitol Hill. The FBI's investigation continues as well.

Laura, you're here with me as we wait for the president's revised travel ban. It was supposed to be released this week. Now, it looks like it's being pushed off at least until next week.

The Department of Homeland Security has come up with a report on radicalization here in the United States. What does it say and what could it mean for the revised travel ban?

LAURA JARRETT, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: That's right, Wolf. So, it's a brand-new report that leaked last night from the Department of Homeland Security. And what it did is it tracked 88 cases of foreign- born terrorists. And it found most are not radicalized when they come to the U.S., but rather later become radicalized after they've been here for a few years, Wolf.

It's also interesting to note that this is coming at a time when we saw another leaked report from the Department of Homeland Security that concluded last week. Country of citizenship is unlikely to be a reliable indicator of potential terroristic activity.

So, as we await this new travel ban, we have two internal reports from Homeland Security. Now, I should mention, Homeland Security says these -- both of these reports are based on unclassified materials only -- Wolf.

BLITZER: So, basically, it undermines this notion that if you include a ban on these seven Muslim-majority countries because of fear of terrorism -- if refugees, for example, come to the United States, this Homeland Security report basically undermines that. So, it could force the White House that they ought to be reconsidering that.

JARRETT: That's right. And it's an internal report, right? And so, this is coming from Homeland Security, saying those vetting procedures are not the ones that are going to work -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, stand by.

Jeff, let's get some information about these reports that are emerging about the vice president's use of a private e-mail account while he was governor of Indiana. Something similar to Republicans used as a major issue against Hillary Clinton.

What's the issue here, specifically? What do we know about the vice president's e-mail account, personal e-mail account while serving as governor of Indiana?

ZELENY: Wolf, this is something that the vice president, of course, talked about when he was running for vice president last year. Virtually, at every campaign rally, he talked about the Clinton private e-mail server.

Well, this is slightly different. He was using an AOL account, so a private e-mail address, if you will. Not a private server. A slight difference there but only a slight one. And he was using that to conduct state business as the governor of Indiana.

[13:05:05] Well, this was reported as part of a freedom of information request by the "Indianapolis Star" newspaper. And they reported last evening about several e-mails that the vice president was sending out on not classified matters, because, of course, he's a governor, so that's also different. But on state business involving sensitive matters.

Now, the vice president's office is saying, look, this is not apples to apples at all. It is entirely different from the Clinton situation. But, Wolf, it raises questions of should he have been using a private e-mail account, e-mail address, for state business?

It certainly raises questions of hypocrisy here. Republicans made so much of the fact that the Clinton e-mail server was a suggestion that she was not acting in an honest manner. Well, this is something that the vice president's office certainly did not hope to deal with today.

But again, part of the freedom information act request by the "Indianapolis Star" newspaper last night -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Jeff, thank you. Jeff Zeleny, Laura Jarrett, guys, thanks very much.

President Trump is defending his attorney general, saying that Jeff Sessions did nothing wrong, but maybe should have been a little more accurate in his answers to the United States Senate during the confirmation process.

Joining us now from Capitol Hill, Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy. He's a member of the Finance Committee, the Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee. He's a Republican. Thanks so much, Senator, for joining us.

SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R), LOUISIANA: Thank you, Wolf. Glad -- good to be with you.

BLITZER: Did the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, make the right move?

CASSIDY: Oh, of course, to recuse himself, absolutely. Whatever investigation there has to be, the American people have to have confidence in.

On the other hand, I will point out that his statement that -- what he -- his meetings were all as official capacity rings true. And I think we've seen multiple senators, both Republican and Democrat, who have had similar meetings in their official capacity.

BLITZER: We're showing pictures, by the way, Senator, of Air Force One now on the ground in Orlando, Florida. The president will be descending down those steps momentarily. He's got a series of education-related events there before he heads over to Mar-a-Lago and Palm Beach.

But do you understand, Senator, why there is such concern? CNN has been reporting that Ambassador Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States, and at least three other Trump campaign advisers, met during the Republican National Committee in Cleveland. And, additionally, the ambassador was brought in through the back entrance of Trump Tower in New York in December to meet with Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, now his senior adviser, and former national security adviser, Michael Flynn.

You understand that all of this is causing concern because of the repeated denials that there were these kinds of meetings?

CASSIDY: So, I'm having a little bit of a hard time hearing you, Wolf. But let me say this. Clearly, there were meetings. But we don't know if the meetings were just normal course of events. Obviously, there are some who have a vested interest in making it sound like these were suspicious or we shouldn't have been doing them, whoever was doing them. That sort of thing.

Until we know the nature of the meeting, I think it's a little bit hard to say. I think we know, from yesterday, that Claire McCaskill, who criticized these meetings, it turns out she's had similar meetings with Russian ambassadors. And, similarly, Chuck Schumer.

So, there's other government officials who have such meetings with folks from other countries, including Russia, but not necessarily limited. So, I think, until we know the details, it's a little bit hard to draw conclusions.

BLITZER: No, you make a fair point, Senator. The only point I think I was trying to make, and I hope you can hear me --

CASSIDY: I've lost Wolf.

BLITZER: You're not hearing me now, Senator? I think we lost the senator. We're going to try to reconnect. But you're looking to the right. You see the president of the United States. He has just landed in Orlando, Florida for a series of events there.

There you the president walking down the stairs now. He's going to be going over to a catholic school, talking about school vouchers, educational choice for parents in sending their kids to the appropriate school. Subjects that have been widely debated and discussed over these past several years here in the United States.

From Orlando, after these meetings -- and we'll have live coverage of the president's address.

After these events in Orlando, the president will fly not too far away to Palm Beach in Florida. Spend the weekend there. He's got some meetings there as well. And the president will, I am told, also meet with some Republican National Committee leaders while there.

You can see his daughter, Ivanka, coming down with her kid. Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, who's now a senior adviser to the president. They're here as well. I assume -- oh, they're going to go into a different vehicle. Part of the motorcade that will take them to the first event.

Both Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, they have emerged as major players in this new administration, offering the president lots of important advice. And, occasionally, we're told, moving the president in a direction some of his other advisers are not necessarily supportive of.

[13:10:12] There are, as is always the case, serious debates before the final decision is made by the president of the United States.

So, we'll see the president fairly soon at these events in Orlando, Florida. Let's continue to watch. As we do, let me remind our viewers that we're going to try to reconnect with Senator Cassidy. Unfortunately, we apologize, we lost that connection with him.

My next guest says the recusal of the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, though, is simply not enough. Congressman Adam Smith is the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. He's the top Democrat on that panel. He is standing by to join us live. You can see him there.

Also, retired U.S. General David Petraeus, former head of the CIA, was on the president's short list, we're told, for secretary of state and national security advertisement.

Today, he offered the president some words of advice on how to deal with Russia. His exclusive interview with our own Fred Pleitgen, that's coming up as well.

[13:11:15]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Moments ago, President Trump landed in Orlando, Florida. He has a series of meetings there involving education, promoting school choice, school vouchers, and other sensitive issues. We'll be hearing him speak later.

He will also tour a Catholic school in the Orlando area as well. All this before he heads over to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida for the weekend. Once again, we'll monitor the president's activities. We'll have live coverage of his speech that's coming up.

In the meantime, Democrats have a message for the attorney general of the United States, Jeff Sessions. His recusal, many Democrats say, is not enough.

Democratic Congressman Adam Smith of Washington State is the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee. He's joining us from Seattle. Congressman, thanks very much for joining us.

REPRESENTATIVE ADAM SMITH (D), RANKING MEMBER, ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: Thanks, Wolf. Appreciate the chance.

BLITZER: So you say recusal is not enough. You've said and I'm quoting now, he is unfit to serve as the head of the Justice Department. You want him out. Tell us why.

SMITH: Well, I mean, it's -- what's interesting about this, as many people have said, look, there's really nothing wrong on its face with members of the Trump campaign, be it Jeff Sessions or Michael Flynn, having conversations with Russian officials. You know, it's a little odd during the course of the campaign.

But what's interesting is that they have done it, in a way that is subterfuge, denied it. It's been behind the scenes. You've said, you know, snuck in the back door at the Republican National Committee. Michael Flynn was fired for doing the exact same thing that Jeff Sessions just did. If there was nothing there, why was Michael Flynn fired?

BLITZER: Let me interrupt for a second. Congressman, when I say he snuck in the back door that was at Trump Tower in New York City in December.

SMITH: Yes.

BLITZER: When the Russian ambassador met with Michael Flynn, who was then still a top national security adviser to the president-elect and Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law. Not to the Republican National Committee. I just wanted to correct that but go ahead.

SMITH: It's all the secrecy that surrounds this and the fact that we know the Russians hacked into the DNC computers to try to throw the election to President Trump. They tried to undermine the Democrats. That's been determined.

So look, we need a special prosecutor to figure this out. Maybe it is just as innocent as Jeff Sessions and Michael Flynn and the president and all these people say, but there's so much dishonesty surrounding it, it at least raises the question of what was going on.

And again, I'll emphasize Michael Flynn got fired for doing the exact same thing that Jeff Sessions just did, which was being dishonest about his communications with Russian officials.

BLITZER: Here's --

SMITH: Why wouldn't they just admit it?

BLITZER: The difference is that Michael Flynn lied to the vice president of the United States, who was obviously upset about that, went on television, said there were no such meetings, and then of course thanks to newspaper reports, they found out about the meetings and eventually the president fired him. In this particular case --

SMITH: Right. And all Jeff Sessions did was lie under oath to the United States Congress while speaking to the American people. So it's OK to lie under oath to the United States Congress, but, you know if you lie to the vice president, then you get fired.

BLITZER: In this particular case, he didn't lie to the vice president or the president. They simply say they were not told about these meetings that the senator never told them about it. The president yesterday said he only learned about them through newspaper accounts that emerged over the past day or so, day or two.

You know, the question of whether he lied to the Senate that's a subject that obviously is under debate right now. He says he was not fully responsive. If he had his way now, he would have answered the questions more robustly with additional information, but he insists he didn't lie.

SMITH: Again, that's exactly what Michael Flynn said. Michael Flynn said, yes, I had the conversation with him, I didn't remember whether or not the issue of the sanctions came up. That's exactly what Michael Flynn said.

He said, look, when I told him it didn't come up, I honestly thought it didn't come up. I didn't remember it. It was a long conversation. We talked about a lot of stuff. It's the same thing.

And again, I mean, I don't know what's behind this. It may be nothing. I think at this point there's been enough dishonesty from enough high officials in the Trump administration that we need a special prosecutor to look into it and to look into in greater detail the Russian hacking of our elections.

This is something that Russia is doing now throughout Europe or has been accused of doing in a number of different elections interfering. They allegedly interfered in the Brexit vote.

[13:20:07]So -- you know, and they're now allegedly interfering in a variety of different elections. So this is a matter of national security as well as a matter of trying to figure out what was going on within the Trump campaign.

BLITZER: It's a serious matter and there are FBI investigations, various Senate and House intelligence committee and other committee investigations looking into that. But as far as Sessions is concerned, as you know, the president issued a lengthy statement.

In the end, he said "It is a total witch hunt by Democrats" like you. And interestingly enough, Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, he said today, this all looks, in his words, like a witch hunt. Same word that the president used. What's your reaction to that?

SMITH: Well, first of all, this from President Trump, who spent years basically accusing Barack Obama of not being legitimate because of his birth certificate, because he was born in Kenya, which, by the way, as we learned from Ted Cruz's campaign wouldn't have even mattered, given that President Obama's mother was clearly a U.S. citizen.

Even if he had been born in Kenya, he would have been eligible to be president. So I won't say this, I guess President Trump knows something about witch hunts. But in this case, we have absolutely evidence that the Russians hacked into Democratic computers, to try to throw the election to President Trump.

And then we have a whole series of Trump administration officials, who have not been honest about the campaign meetings that they've had with various Russian officials. So look, it may not turn out to be anything, but right now we are not getting honest answers from anybody in the Trump administration.

Which is why, again, I think we need a special prosecutor to look into it, to get straight answers, and I certainly think, again, if Michael Flynn got fired for doing this, Jeff Sessions as the top law enforcement official in the country should be fired for doing the same thing.

BLITZER: Congressman Adam Smith of Washington State, thanks for joining us.

SMITH: Thank you.

BLITZER: All right, we're going to have more. There's new developments emerging right now in the entire Russian investigation. We'll have more on that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:26:26]

BLITZER: In a CNN exclusive interview, the former CIA Director General David Petraeus says he supports President Trump's push for strategic cooperation with Russia, but Petraeus also says that Trump should be wary of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GENERAL DAVID PETRAEUS (RETIRED), FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: It is very clear what Vladimir Putin's objectives are, in many cases they are unacceptable to us, NATO, our allies and partners around the world. Having said that, there could be some convergence of interests when it comes to the defeat of the Islamic State and al Qaeda and perhaps stopping the bloodshed in Syria as an overall objective as well.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Could that be a spring board towards better relations, do you think? PETRAEUS: I again would go into this with my eyes very wide open, with very, very realistic appraisal of what Russia has done and what Putin would like to do. I think that strategic dialogue with one's adversary is not something that should be avoided. I think you should actually pursue it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Our senior international correspondent, Fred Pleitgen, is joining us now. Fred did the interview. What did General Petraeus say, Fred, about the possibility of more U.S. troops in Syria?

PLEITGEN: But Wolf, he said that he believes that that's absolutely a possibility and something that he said would make sense at this point in time. He believes that right now there's a lot of momentum going on in the fight against ISIS, of course, not just in Syria but in Iraq as well.

But in Syria specifically he believes that U.S. ground forces could have a huge effected on the momentum of the battle there. Let's listen in to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETRAEUS: I think the place you may see some additional initiatives is Syria. There certainly is the possibility of additional forces on the ground, to augment what has already actually been increased and achieving some important battlefield momentum. Raqqah is just about surrounded at this point, the capital of the Islamic State.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: Of course, there are a lot of other forces at play. There would have to be an accommodation with Turkey he says first and foremost to make something like that work. It was interesting. The other thing that he also says that he believes that in Iraq there could be a longer-term presence of U.S. forces there.

He said, look, he has no doubt that ISIS will be defeated, but the big question is what comes after that? How can Iraq be stabilized and some sort of reconciliation take place and be protected possibly by U.S. and coalition forces as well -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Fred, did General Petraeus weigh in on the president's national security adviser?

PLEITGEN: Yes, absolutely. I asked him about that as well, of course, especially with these confirmation hearings going on. He had nothing but praise for General McMaster. He said, look, it's someone who is a very analytical thinker, capable of running a bureaucracy, running an organization like that, but also someone who is going to speak frankly to the president and also someone who can definitely play his part in something like the National Security Council.

Of course, also when it comes to arguments, for instance, with some of the civilians who are in there like Steve Bannon, for instance, if there are issues with some of the other advisers in there as well.

He believes that in the end the counsel that General McMasters will be giving the president will be persuasive to President Trump and will certainly have a long and very positive influence on President Trump as well -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Fred Pleitgen reporting for us from Berlin. Good work, Fred. Thank you very much. The president is trying to turn the tables now on a democratic critic of the subject of ties to Russia.