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USS Carl Vinson To North Korea; China Taking Positive Steps; Trump Touts Accomplishments; Dem Falls Short in Georgia; Georgia Election Wake-up Call. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired April 19, 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 ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

Up first, the White House fields questions about tensions with North Korea, the Iran nuclear deal and the outcome of a high-profile special election in the U.S. state of Georgia, while Russian bombers have been spotted off the coast of Alaska now for the second time within 24 hours.

Let's get details from our reporters. Our Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr is joining us, our Senior White House Correspondent Jeff Zeleny is with us, and our Senior International Correspondent Ivan Watson is joining from us Seoul, South Korea.

Barbara, let's start with you. What can you tell us about this latest incident much closer to Alaska than the first incident, involving these two Russian bombers that were intercepted by U.S. fighter jets?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the second incident in two days, this time, this TU95 bear bombers flying within about 36 miles or so of the Alaskan coastline.

Again, account U.S. military runs regular air patrols up there where they have long-range radars that watch for this sort of thing. They did not come into U.S. air space but they sent up U.S. aircraft in response and they escorted them out of the area. The second incident in two days and we hadn't seen Russian aircraft in that region for some time. They've been flying and being intercepted much further to the south.

So, the question is, is this the start of a new provocation campaign by the Russians or are they just out there flying around, you know, essentially trying to ping the system, see what response they get from the U.S. military? U.S. military commanders noting all of this, not unduly concerned at this point but the just finding it all very curious and keeping an eye on the Russians -- Wolf.

BLITZER: I'm sure they are. Stand by for a moment.

Jeff, I want to go to the White House. Sean Spicer trying to clear up the miscommunication over the USS Carl Vinson, the aircraft carrier and the battle group, that was directed to the coast of the Korean Peninsula. What's the latest? What are they saying over there? Because there clearly was a major miscommunication last week.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, there was indeed. And I'm not sure that Sean Spicer, the White House Press Secretary, cleared that up at all. He did take questions just a short time ago at the White House press briefing.

But he, basically, said that the fault of this was on reporters and others for not asking specific questions about this. He stood by what the president said that said the aircraft carrier, the Carl Vinson, was headed that direction.

And, indeed, that is true because it is now heading that direction and will be in position likely next week or so. But, at the time, last week, Sean Spicer made very clear this was happening in real-time, that the White House believed that the Carl Vinson was heading that direction.

He said this, Wolf. He said that it was -- when you see a carrier group steaming into an area like that, the forward presence is clearly a sign of a deterrent.

Well, today, Wolf, he said it -- we said it was heading there. We didn't say when it was heading there. So, not exactly clarifying this up.

And he did not take many questions from some news organizations, including CNN. So, what we were not able to ask him, if the president believed, at the moment he said that, that the Carl Vinson was indeed heading that direction.

But Sean Spicer today, I'm not sure, sort of, filled in the blanks or answered the questions that still exist over this fairly extraordinary matter.

BLITZER: Yes, it certainly is. All right, stand by.

Ivan, you're in Seoul, South Korea. The White House press secretary said China is now taking what he described as positive steps in helping deal with the North Korean nuclear tensions. What steps is he talking about? Where do things stand right now?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, one of the steps was that China has reduced coal imports and turned away, reportedly, some coal-carrying ships that were coming from North Korea to China. And that would, theoretically, deprive North Korea of one of its key sources of foreign exchange which it very much needs.

However, we have to parse that a little bit because China published some trade figures in the last week that have indicated that the bilateral trade, excluding coal, between the two countries surged nearly 40 percent within the first three months of this year.

So, OK, coal may be out of the picture, but North Korea is still doing a lot of trade through China, and those trade figures do seem to be growing.

But that said, yes, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman did say that China was concerned about North Korea's missile development activities and its nuclear development program, as well. Both of which, of course, are banned by numerous United Nations security council resolutions -- Wolf.

[13:05:00] BLITZER: And one thing that potentially is significant, I believe, and, Ivan, you're there in the region. Air China, in recent days, has suspended all of its flights from China to Pyongyang, the North Korean capital.

Now, just the North Korean official airline, Air Koryo, is the only carrier bringing people in and out of Pyongyang. Potentially, that's a significant statement that China is making suspending commercial flights between China and North Korea.

WATSON: That's right. A sign that some of the levers that China could clearly tighten on North Korea and something that U.S. administrations, the current one and previous ones, have really called for.

And perhaps that's part of why our own team there, our own Will Ripley and his cameraman and producer were stuck for more than 12 hours trying to fly out of Pyongyang within the last two days. And, reportedly, it was due to weather problems. But it could have been related to some of these new an apparent flight restrictions.

But, again, it comes back to what Washington has been asking for for so long, to please put some pressure on North Korea. And some of these measures are things that China has been reluctant to do. But now, we're hearing more compliments coming from -- not only from Sean Spicer but also from Vice President Pence on his tour through the region.

He just left Japan, just landed in Indonesia. And he has been repeatedly calling on China to please do more. And repeating that threat that has come from the Trump administration. That, hey, if China's not going to do it, then we may be forced to go it alone.

But the question of the location of this U.S. aircraft carrier strike group, that does raise some questions. I mean, we spent, Wolf, more than 10 days reporting, essentially, a false narrative about where that aircraft carrier strike group was.

That was a message that was repeated all throughout the region and was actually repeated also by North Korea's ambassador to the United Nations within the past 48 hours. A sign of how if there's miscommunication between departments of the government or deliberate kind of misleading of people about this, that that information then gets spread all the way, believe it or not, to the North Korean regime which then repeats it -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And it raises serious questions about U.S. credibility in a situation, a dangerous situation, like this.

Ivan Watson, Barbara Starr, Jeff Zeleny, guys, thanks very much.

Let's get some insight from our panel. We have CNN Military and Diplomatic Analyst, retired admiral, John Kirby with us. Our Political Analyst David Gregory and our Senior Political Reporter Nia- Malika Henderson.

Let me get to the breaking news first to you, Admiral Kirby. For the second day in a row now, Russian warplanes have gotten pretty close to Alaska and were intercepted by U.S. planes in the process. Yesterday, it was about 100 miles off the coast of Alaska. Today only about 36 nautical miles, much closer to Alaska. I know you've been checking into this. What are you hearing?

ADM. JOHN KIRBY, CNN MILITARY AND DIPLOMATIC ANALYST: Well, they're -- it's unclear whether they actually intercepted this flight or not. This is the same type of bombers that were flown yesterday. It could even be the same two, for all we know. It is much closer than it was yesterday. You know, about 36 miles or so off the coast, reportedly.

So, it is difficult to understand intent here. It is not uncommon for the Russians to fly bombers or surveillance aircraft off our coasts in international air space such as this. However, they haven't done it like this in quite some time and now two in a row. Yes, that's worth questioning. That's worth looking into.

I didn't get a sense from folks I talked to. This just happened now so I haven't had a chance to really dig into it. But I didn't get a chance to get -- to get much of a sense that there's a great alarm. But certainly this has got their attention and they're going to be -- and they're going to be looking more into it today.

BLITZER: If it happens once, all right. If it happens two days in a row, that's a --

KIRBY: Yes.

BLITZER: -- bigger deal. Let's get some more.

KIRBY: Potentially. Potentially.

BLITZER: Potentially, that's right. You know, David, the whole issue of the miscommunication involving the USS Carl Vinson, the aircraft carrier battle group. It was actually moving towards Australia for war games, if you will, for some exercises off the coast of Australia, when the whole world thought it was moving towards the Korean Peninsula.

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.

BLITZER: Listen to Sean Spicer just a few moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN SPICER, U.S. WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: What part is misleading? I'm trying to figure that out. We were asked a question about what signal it sent. We answered the question on what signal it sent. I'm not the one who commented on time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, what's misleading is that people thought it was headed there now and now it's going to be there weeks later. They thought it was already --

SPICER: I -- but, again, that's the --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- (INAUDIBLE.)

SPICER: I understand the question, right? But what I'm getting at is, it was announced that it was going. It will be there. We were asked simply a question on that. I think all other questions should be asked of the Department of Defense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, you spent years as a White House --

GREGORY: Yes.

BLITZER: -- Correspondent. What did you think of that?

GREGORY: Well, the last piece of that is just so interesting, and John can attest to, DOD screwed this up. You know, that was where the miscommunication was and the White House was not in a position to pull it back fast enough or, you know, if they were, they decided not to.

[13:10:10] This seems to be more miscommunication, more error.

But I think what's disconcerting about it is, you've got to be very careful. We're talking about Russia. There's a lot of testing going off of the administration over the president's resolve and its systems, military systems.

And, in this regard, you know, the fact that it was said to be headed there as there was a ramping up of the rhetoric against North Korea, at a time when North Korea was potentially testing another missile, that timing becomes important.

And so, I don't think the administration wants to get into the business of ramping up rhetoric, creating lines that shouldn't be crossed when they want to, you know, use those in the future, especially on an issue as complicated as North Korea.

So, I don't think you want to, you know, saber rattle when you're not really doing that. You want to save it for when you really need to have the most effect. And that got botched here for reasons that aren't totally clear yet.

BLITZER: Yes, it's a serious problem though. Because at a time when North Korea, South Korea, Japan, the whole region was effectively, for all practical purposes, told that carrier strike force was moving towards the Korean Peninsula and it was actually moving in the opposite direction.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: That's right. And this is something that the White House and something that Donald Trump said and was used as yet another example of the way this White House was approaching difficult international situations. We had the Syria strikes obviously and then with this North Korea, this notion that this carrier was headed there.

The Pentagon has said it was a miscommunication. You don't see the White House willing to take any blame here or to explain it any further which, in some ways, is characteristic of this White House.

But I think a difficult and, sort of, shifty moment for Sean Spicer there. Sort of saying, oh, well, the press didn't ask the correct questions and then, of course, referring it to the DOD.

GREGORY: And stop blaming the DOD all the time. It's like that operation in Yemen, too. I mean, it's, like, you know, you've got to take responsibility. These -- this is your rhetoric, your actions.

BLITZER: Here's what the secretary of defense, James Mattis, said earlier this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES MATTIS, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The Vincent, as I've said on the record, was operating up and down the western Pacific. And we were doing exactly what we've said and that is, we are shifting her.

Instead of continuing in one direction as she pulled out of Singapore, she's going to continue part of her cruise down in that region. But she was on her way up to Korea. So, we're doing exactly what we said we were going to do. She will be on her way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The aircraft carrier battle group is on the way to the Korean Peninsula now. But what about a week or 10 days after we originally thought it would be on the way?

KIRBY: Yes, look, I think -- I think this comes down to the issue of expectations and expectation management. And, you know, she always was -- when Admiral Harris ordered her, she was, after this Australia exercise, going to head north. And I think there was just not a good job --

BLITZER: They should have -- But they should have said -- I'm a former Pentagon Correspondent. You're a former Pentagon spokesman. They should have said the Carl Vinson will continue with its exercises near Australia and then make a U-turn and head towards the Korean Peninsula.

KIRBY: Well, look, if I had a -- if I had a nickel, as a press secretary, for every time I didn't do something completely thorough, in terms of a press release or a statement from the podium, I could buy all of us a couple cases of cokes.

I mean, so, I think this was -- at the outset, it wasn't very clear, in terms of public relations messaging and the press release that was sent out about what she was doing.

BLITZER: But the question is, was that deliberate or was that just a mistake?

KIRBY: I really don't think it was deliberate. And --

BLITZER: Because it was a very tense time, right now, on the anniversary -- this big anniversary in North Korea. People were bracing for another nuclear test. There was a ballistic missile test. And, presumably, the U.S. wanted to send a message --

KIRBY: Right.

BLITZER: -- to North Korea.

KIRBY: I think it was deliberate they wanted to send a message she was moving into those waters. Clearly, that was a messaging opportunity. But I think that decision was first made at the combatant commander level, not necessarily at the Pentagon or the White House level. And so, all the details of it, the eaches (ph) of it didn't get passed on.

There was also question some question about this exercise with the Australians, whether they could still do it or not. The Aussies really wanted to make it happen. They had to accelerate it and then curtail it. So, all that detail wasn't fleshed out when they sent the original press release before sailing.

GREGORY: (INAUDIBLE) the case where you took -- you could take some liberties. Let's say if you're in the White House, you're a spokesman, even the president, you don't know -- now, I'm not saying you should know. You should obviously be accurate.

But you can see where the miscommunication, kind of, broke down to create something that was more of an emergency and had more urgency on it, when, in fact, that was the intention to send that message just at a later time.

BLITZER: But it does -- it will linger, the problem.

GREGORY: Yes.

HENDERSON: Yes. Yes.

BLITZER: Because down the road, the next time there's a tense situation --

HENDERSON: Yes.

BLITZER: -- and the U.S. says something, people are going to say, well, let's check it out --

HENDERSON: Yes, I mean, it gets to --

BLITZER: -- a little bit more thoroughly. HENDERSON: -- yes, I mean, I think it gets to credibility and, again, it gets to the competence of this White House. It gets to Sean Spicer's, I think, credibility. And we saw last week, obviously, he slipped up in talking about foreign policy.

[13:15:08] And so, yes, I mean I think this is a White House experiencing growing pains and unwilling, I think in many ways, to admit those growing pains and to admit, you know, this was a communication mix-up.

KIRBY: This is what we call in the military a learning opportunity. I don't know that they'll - that they'll have the same problems next time.

BLITZER: But you never - when you were the Pentagon spokesman, did you ever have an incident along these lines?

KIRBY: No, I can't say that I had something quite similar to this. But, look, there were lots of times in my Navy service where, you know, especially as a PO, where we didn't articulate something as clearly or as thoroughly as we should have and then had to go back and provide more context. And there were certainly times when we didn't always inform the White House accurately or timely enough in what we were doing and, obviously, you know, we got slapped back for that appropriately.

BLITZER: Appropriately, is that the key word (ph)? All right, thanks very much, Admiral Kirby, David, Nia, appreciate it.

Coming up, the White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer says President Trump may get more involved in the upcoming Georgia special election to assure a Republican win in that state, while a Republican senator calls the race a wake-up call.

Plus, Vice President Pence tells CNN that a health care repeal and replace vote is in the works, and he's confident that it will eventually get passed. His exclusive interview with CNN's Dana Bash, that's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:20:16] BLITZER: President Trump says no administration has accomplished more in the first 90 days than he has. And just moments ago, the White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said there's more to come. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN SPICER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Number one, we're not done. We've got a little ways before we hit the 100-day mark. So I think what you've seen out of this White House is a very robust agenda of activity.

I think we're very pleased with what the president's accomplished in, you know, as he noted yesterday in Wisconsin, the amount that he's done overall has been significant. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The reality though is that the president gets an incomplete on many of his key promises.

Let's discuss this and more. Once again joining us, our political analyst, David Gregory, and our senior political reporter, Nia-Malika Henderson.

Nia, you have a piece out now on CNN Digital that the president has really, these first nearly 100 days, been unable to get any of his major legislation passed in the House and the Senate.

HENDERSON: Yes, I mean, you look at what, you know, the activity in the House and the Senate, there's been no introduction of any major piece of legislation. The president, of course, signed today a bill dealing with veterans, what they're very pleased about in terms of being able to count as an accomplishment or an achievement in these first 100 days.

But you look at all of the major pieces of legislation that the president talked about on the campaign trail, tax reform, health care reform, ripping up the Iran deal, reforming NAFTA, none of those things -

BLITZER: Infrastructure.

HENDERSON: Infrastructure. None of those things have been able to move in any way that looks realistic like they're going to happen. And the thing is, it's always the 100-day mark. It's the sort of media invention in some ways. It goes back to FDR. But it is a useful metric in terms of comparing this president to other presidents, right? Obama was at 65 percent approval rating, for instance, after the first 100 days. He had the stimulus package, as well. so this president, I think, lacking in terms of those major pieces of legislation. He said yesterday that, you know, he's going to surprise us and maybe stuff will get done. But, you know, time is ticking away and it doesn't look like there's much movement on any major pieces of legislation.

BERMAN: Interestingly, the special election yesterday in the state of Georgia, the Democrat, Jon Ossoff, almost reaching that 50 percent mark that he needed to avoid a runoff. Didn't get there. He'll face a runoff in June with Karen Handel, the Republican candidate. You see the results there, 48.1 percent. He needed 50 percent plus one in order to avoid the runoff. The president tweeted this, David, "Dems failed in Kansas and are now failing in Georgia. Great job, Karen Handel. It is now Hollywood versus Georgia on June 20th."

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: There's so much there.

HENDERSON: Yes.

GREGORY: I mean the Trump spin that it's so outside of the realm of reality. This was a real warning shot to Republicans. You had an upstart Democrat in a solidly red district doing a pretty good job. Had to spend a lot of money. Republicans had to spend a lot of money. I think what's telling about that tweet is actually it's going to be

Hollywood versus whatever he said. There's still - and you see it in Trump. The danger for Democrats, even where they do well and even where the base is excited, they're still vulnerable to being liberals. And there are a lot of Republicans out there, even if they're like in that district, they tend to be more establishment, well-educated Republican voters, who may not be wildly enthusiastic about Trump, they are not on board with kind of old line progressives. And I think that's a danger for Democrats as they - as they target these vulnerable districts in - next year. But the upside for them again is this - is what Nia was saying. You know, Trump is not moving the ball here with an agenda through Congress and people are going to start to hedge their support for Trump certainly in Congress as a result.

BLITZER: You know, the Republican candidate who's going to face Jon Ossoff in the final election, the runoff election, Karen Handel, she was on CNN's "New Day" earlier today. Listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAREN HANDEL (R), GEORGIA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: He just called to say congratulations and encourage me and let me know that as we go into June 20th that, you know, it's all hands on deck for Republicans.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, ANCHOR, CNN'S "NEW DAY": Do you think that President Trump will come to Georgia and campaign with you?

HANDEL: I - I would hope so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Yes, she did get a phone call from the president earlier in the day.

HENDERSON: Yes.

BLITZER: So is this shaping up as a referendum on President Trump?

HENDERSON: Absolutely. And you can see Jon Ossoff, on the one hand, wanting to say this is all local, but also saying this would send a message to Trump as well.

I think the thing that Democrats have in their favor with Jon Ossoff is that he is this blank slate. As much as you see President Trump try to tie him to Nancy Pelosi, tie him to Hollywood, call him a super liberal, he has no record. He's 30 years old. He's worked in Congress. He's worked also as a documentary filmmaker. But he really, when you hear him talk, he's trying to make this a local race. He's trying to make it about the economy and really appeal to those voters, independent voters and Republican kind of Chamber of Commerce voters.

[13:25:18] Handel has been around awhile. She ran unsuccessfully for governor as well as senator. She's seen, I think, by some as an establishment Republican, but she has a pretty conservative record. She was a choice of Sarah Palin, for instance. A big endorsement from Sarah Palin came in one of her races. Mitt Romney also endorsed her. So it's going to be really interesting to see how this plays out. I think it's going to be competitive, even as you hear the White House say that they don't think it will be competitive (ph).

BLITZER: Even though he did well, the 30-year-old Jon Ossoff, yesterday, it's going to be a tough race. This is a district, as you know, that's been Republican, a congressional district in the Atlanta, Georgia, area for, what, almost 40 years or so with Tom Price, now secretary of Health and Human Services, before that Newt Gingrich. So it's a pretty Republican area.

GREGORY: No question about it. And Donald Trump underperformed in the district compared to other Republicans in years past, including Tom Price, Mitt Romney and others. The fact that he's going to be willing to be involved shows that he understands that this will - the narrative, the referendum on him is going to be built into that. Congress needs, as the governing party of Washington, to start accomplishing things. The president needs it with very low approval ratings and Congress needs it.

All the enthusiasm in the markets, for instance, was predicated on the idea that you were going to get tax cuts, regulatory reform. You're going to get maybe even tax reform, as well as infrastructure. They've got to get down to business here because as the year goes on and you get closer to being in that election mode, it gets harder to achieve and then they're going to be accountable for results.

BLITZER: Yes. Yes. The president has signed a lot of executive orders, which he can do on his own.

HENDERSON: Yes.

GREGORY: Right. Right.

BLITZER: He hasn't gotten that legislation passed.

GREGORY: Don't need Congress for that.

HENDERSON: Yes.

BLITZER: And he's got a Republican majority in the House and Senate. That's why there's a lot of frustration among a lot of Republicans that more has not yet been achieved.

GREGORY: Yes.

HENDERSON: Definitely.

BLITZER: All right, guys, thanks once again for joining us.

Vice President Pence, meanwhile, he's sounding upbeat about the chances for repealing and replacing Obamacare. CNN's Dana Bash is traveling with the vice president overseas in Asia. Dana had a chance to speak with Pence about the future of Obamacare and the president's first 100 days. Here's part of her exclusive interview aboard the USS Ronald Reagan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm very confident that in the days ahead we're going to see the Congress come together and we're going to take that important first step to repeal and replace Obamacare with the kind of health care reform that President Trump has envisioned for -

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: So getting the votes is imminent?

PENCE: I - I think we'll - we'll see. But I - I will tell you, we - we're very encouraged at the discussions that are taking place among members of Congress. And - and the president remains personally and directly engaged in these discussions.

BASH: We are almost at the 100-day mark, one hundred days, very soon of the Trump administration. Obviously, you've got some - some big accomplishments. Neil Gorsuch is on the Supreme Court, rolling back some Obama regulations. But are you frustrated that you haven't been able to do more, like the big promise that you've been making for election after election to repeal Obamacare and others?

PENCE: I couldn't be more proud to be a part of an administration that hit the ground running on day one. And as we approach that 100-day mark, I think the American people are going to be able to look back and see in the presidency of Donald Trump a determination and to put into practice all the things that he campaigned on. I mean rolling back an avalanche of regulations that have been not only waging war on American energy, but really on American jobs, keeping his promise to appoint a justice to the Supreme Court in the tradition of the late and great Justice Antonin Scalia, driving forward to repeal and replace Obamacare, and putting together a team and a cabinet that I think has inspired and given confidence to people around the country and, frankly, around the world. I think at the 100-day marker I think the American people are going to conclude what I've concluded, and that is that President Donald Trump is off to a great start, but the best is yet to come.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Coming up, Russian bombers have been spotted off the coast of Alaska. Now this time the second time in 24 hours. Congressman Ted Lieu is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. There you see him. He's standing by live. We'll discuss this and more when we come back.

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