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Trump to Speak at NRA in Atlanta; Trump: Major, Major Conflict" with North Korea Possible; Trump Nostalgic about Old Life. Aired 1:30- 2p ET

Aired April 28, 2017 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:29:53] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: There he is. President Trump just moments ago getting off Air Force One at Atlanta's Hartsfield- Jackson International Airport. The president aboard Air Force One, arriving. He's going to be heading in a motorcade downtown in Atlanta to the National Rifle Association's convention. He'll be the first sitting president since Ronald Reagan in 1983 to address the NRA convention. He'll get into the limo and head downtown and give that speech. We'll, of course, have live coverage of that.

The president's speech this hour will follow his direct warning that a major, major conflict -- his words -- quote, "major, major conflict with North Korea is possible."

Republican Congressman Mo Brooks, of Alabama, is joining us. He's a member of the Foreign Affairs and Armed Services Committees.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

REP. MO BROOKS, (R), ALABAMA: My pleasure.

BLITZER: You studied North Korea. You know the ramifications, the enormous impact. This may be the gravest national security threat facing the United States. I don't know if you agree with that. But a lot of people believe it is.

When the president says there is a chance we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea, absolutely, let me get your reaction.

BROOKS: That's the way it's been for 64 years, ever since the Korean conflict ended in 1953. Technically, the war, never a peace treaty. It's always been a suspension of military activities. Fortunately, we've not had the kind of outbreaks and the loss of life we had during the Korean conflict. I think his statement is consistent with reality, but it's a little bit bold for a president to actually say it.

BLITZER: That's what I thought. too. There is enormous concern. Let's not forget there are millions of people who live within 30 miles of the Demilitarized Zone. 28,000 U.S. along the DMZ troops as well.

Listen to what he said in the interview with Reuters about Kim Jong-Un when he took power when his father, Kim Jong-Il, died. Listen to this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's 27 years old. His father dies, he took over a regime. So say what you want. But that's not easy, especially at that age. I'm not giving him credit or not giving him credit. I'm just saying that's a very hard thing to do. As to whether or not he's rational, I have no opinion on it. I hope he's rational.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Rex Tillerson, the secretary of state, he said this on FOX News. I'll read it: "All indications are that he is not crazy," referring to Kim Jong-Un. "He may be ruthless, he may be a murderer, he may be someone who in many respects we would say, by our standards, is irrational, but he is not insane."

Your comments?

BROOKS: I hope that he is rational. I concur with the president's remarks in that regard. To me, I've always thought of him as a very smart person who knows how to act crazy in order to achieve goals. On the other hand, it may not be an act. You never know for sure. There's always some degree of question about how good our intelligence is about the mental state of someone who acts like this dictator in North Korea has act.

But if he is rational, he must know if you attack South Korea or the United States, he will die. That will be an end result. There will be, of course, people in South Korea and the United States that may also parish at the hands of this North Korean dictator ship. But if he is rational and he wants to live, then the Mutually-Assured Destruction Doctrine that we've had with the Soviet Union, now Russia and China, ought to deter him from engaging on in the kind of military activity that he threatens on a regular basis.

BLITZER: I've heard your colleagues saying they don't think U.S. Intelligence has been all that great in providing the answer to his rationality.

BROOKS: Well, it's a very closed --

BLITZER: Are you confident you know whether the guy is rational or not rational?

BROOKS: I'm going to skip the rationality for a second and go to a classified briefing I've had in the last few days. It's quite clear that sometimes we are surprised by the advances that the North Koreans are making with respect to certain things that I'm not at liberty to discuss.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Military advances?

BROOKS: I'm not going to get into any details, except to say I would expect that same kind of uncertainty applies to the mental state of the North Korean dictator. Keeping in mind that even under the best of circumstances, we have psychologists and sociologists, whatever, making evaluations, there's always some degree of uncertainty about the mental state of somebody. I say that having been a prosecutor and a defense attorney where we litigate mental states of mind on a regular basis.

BLITZER: Is China helpful right now in dealing with this nuclear threat?

BROOKS: They can be.

BLITZER: But are they, as far as you know right now?

BROOKS: OK. I'm going to give a big picture. It's my impression that for years, decades, China has been using North Korea for purposes that benefit the Chinese. By way of example, to the extent we're distracted with our strategy thinking, our military to South Korea and North Korea, we're not focusing on what China is doing in the South China Sea, perhaps as much as we should be on the advances the Chinese Communist government is making there. It might also be that the Chinese are concerned that President Trump might actually implement that currency manipulation tariff that would have a significant adverse effect on the Chinese economy. In turn, it would mean less money for their military buildup. To the extent they can act like an honest broker, they might be able to protect this trade advantage they have vis-a-vis the United States and be able to keep back Donald Trump and the United States' effort to try to balance the playing field when it comes to trade. So I see them using North Korea in a lot of different ways, that being one of them.

[13:35:39] BLITZER: China is now emerging as the number-one trading partner for the United States. Canada and Mexico, two and three. It's a big issue.

In the midst of all of this, the president, in that interview, says, you know what, South Korea should pay the U.S. a billion dollars for the deployment of that THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea to deal with the potential threat from North Korea. What do you think about that? You're on the Armed Services Committee.

BROOKS: I think we have a $600 billion deficit, we have a $20 trillion debt, we're headed to an insolvency and bankruptcy of America if we don't change our path. That's the warning of the Congressional Budget Office, the Comptroller General, and other federal governments. To the extent we can encourage our allies to pay for more of their own defense, including the cost to us of defending them, that's a great benefit for the solvency of our country.

BLITZER: Do you think it's wise to raise that at a tense moment like this?

BROOKS: I think it's wise to raise the cost in our deficit and debt at every moment, keeping in mind, as Admiral Mike Mullen testified before the House Armed Services Committee not that long ago. When he was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, what was the number-one national security threat? It wasn't North Korea or China or Russia or Iran. It was our debt. Our debt is what long term can bring America to its knees and we better deal with it quick before it happens.

BLITZER: We'll see if the president can convince South Korea to hand over a million dollars for the deployment of that THAAD anti-missile system.

Congressman, thanks very much for joining us.

BROOKS: Thank you.

BLITZER: Mo Brooks, of Alabama.

Up next, reflecting on his 100 days in office, President Trump says the job is more difficult than he had imagined and misses his old life. We'll discuss that, and more.

And we're only moments away from the president's speech to the NRA, the National Rifle Association. We're going live to that convention in Atlanta when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:41:26] BLITZER: President Trump just arrived in Atlanta. Any moment now, he's going to be addressing the National Rifle Association in Atlanta. He's in a motorcade. You see pictures from a few moments ago of him walking down the stairs of Air Force One. Importantly, at this convention, where about 10,000 people will be hearing the president of the United States, no guns will be allowed inside the presidential speech at the NRA convention. That, according to the Secret Service. We're going to go there live as soon as the president arrives. We'll have live coverage of his remarks before the NRA. Once again, this is the first time a sitting American president has addressed the NRA since 1983 when Ronald Reagan did it then.

President Trump has been in office now for 99 days, but today the president is admitting he misses his old life. The admission made in a brand-new interview with Reuters. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I loved my previous life. I loved my previous life. I had so many things going. I actually -- this is more work than in my previous life. I thought it would be easier. I thought it was more of -- I'm a details-oriented person, I think you would say that. But I do miss my old life. This -- I like to work, so that's not a problem, but this is actually more work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's discuss with our panel. Joining us, our CNN political commentator, Washington correspondent for the "New Yorker," Ryan Lizza; our CNN politics reporter and editor-at-large, Chris Cillizza; CNN chief political correspondent, Dana Bash; and our chief political analyst, Gloria Borger.

Let me get your quick reaction to what we just heard from the president, it's a lot harder than he thought it would be.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: It's kind of stunning that he didn't think the job of being president would be difficult. And he also sounds to me like somebody who's not happy in his job, Wolf. I spoke with a biographer recently for a piece we did on CNN and I asked him whether the president was lonelily. This is Michael d'Antonio, a biographer of Trump. Listen to what he said to me about the loneliness of Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL D'ANTONIO, AUTHOR: I do have the sense that this is a lonely president. This is a man who's always loved to be surrounded by good friends, long-term friends, by family members. You know, he's now not really having much access to his two sons, Eric and Donald Jr. His son, Baron, is with his mother at Trump Tower five days a week. I think this is why he travels to Florida so often. I think it's a cure for the loneliness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BORGER: He's not happy. And I think what we heard in the quote from Reuters was he's not happy because he's alone, but he's also not happy because the job is so difficult for him and more difficult than running his real estate empire.

BLITZER: Well, let's go around the table.

Dana, what do you think?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I got nothing.

(LAUGHTER)

It's really hard for me to be speechless, but I feel like, how do you even begin to respond to the notion that the presidency is hard? OK. Yeah. We got it. And it's not as cool as being a billionaire real estate guy/reality star in New York City. Makes sense. So what did he think he was going to do? How could he possibly think it was anything other than hard? And anything other than lonely? It's probably one of the loneliest jobs in the world no matter how important it is.

(CROSSTALK)

[13:45:10] BLITZER: Chris, you wrote an excellent piece about this. Go ahead.

CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER & EDITOR-AT-LARGE: I think he used his inside voice outside. He used the voice that you're supposed to sort of -- I think many presidents feel this way. It is massively daunting endeavor to be the president of the United States. I'm sure some of them think this is -- maybe many of them think this in their private moments, this is incredibly complex and difficult. They just don't tell a journalist that. I think that he is someone -- the historian Gloria quoted --

biographer Gloria quoted I think is important. He is someone who has always been sort of a home body. He has homes in lots of places, but a home body, who likes a very small core group of people around him, who are his family. So now Melania and Baron are still in New York. You have the sons cut off at some level because of the conflicts of interest. You have Ivanka and Jared Kushner as the only family around him during the week. I keep thinking of him, of the image "The New York Times" painted of him --

CILLIZZA: -- walking around the White House kind of flipping the cable channels, which is not dissimilar to my life.

(LAUGHTER)

CILLIZZA: (INAUDIBLE)

RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, there's something contradictory about Trump in he is one of the most dishonest presidents and has said the most misleading statements, but he also incredibly transparent and tells you what is on his mind. So this is two sides of the same coin. This is an example of him, points for being honest. He's saying the job is harder than he thought. So he's validating I think what a lot of us thought about his view of the presidency, is that he saw it as a sort of acting role, that you were just sort of the -- you know, you didn't really have to do a lot of work. You were the front man and a cheerleader for the country. But think of the times in the last few weeks he has said, wow, I can't believe it is this hard. On NATO, he said I didn't know anything about NATO when you used to ask me. That's why I said it was obsolete. On health care, he said, I didn't know it was complicated.

(CROSSTALK)

LIZZA: On North Korea, there's a lot going on in those two countries.

CILLIZZA: 10 minutes in a conversation with the president of China and he changes his mind about that. This is a guy we are watching learn the job in real time.

BASH: Sort of.

(CROSSTALK)

BASHR: But remember go back to June 16th, 2015 when, you know, people that said, OK, all right, fine, he announced for president. And then it got further and further down the road and he started winning and he started doing better. I think there was probably no one more surprised by that than Donald Trump.

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: Well, so he went after --

(CROSSTALK) BASH: No matter what he says. He went after it as a lark, and certainly he had very specific issues he was going for. Those resonated because he's a master marketer.

(CROSSTALK)

BORGER: He went at this because he was trying to get a better contract on "The Apprentice." OK?

(LAUGHTER)

That's the story. He did not expect to win. And this is just not -- this is a little more difficult than a reality TV show.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Very difficult being president of the United States. It's a good understatement.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Very true.

Everybody stand by.

Wayne LaPierre, of the National Rifle Association, is speaking. The president should be arriving there momentarily at the National Rifle Association convention in Atlanta. He'll be speaking fairly soon. We'll have live coverage of that, and all the other important news, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:52:52] BLITZER: Any moment now, the president of the United States will address the National Rifle Association convention in Atlanta. You're looking at live pictures. Wayne LaPierre is still speaking there. The president momentarily will arrive at that convention center in Atlanta. About 10,000 people have gathered inside. We'll have live coverage once the president starts speaking.

Ryan Lizza, this is an important speech for the president. Not only are 10,000 members gathered inside for this event, but it's his base.

LIZZA: It's his base. And there are two big issues. Despite Trump's flexibility on so many things, health care, budgetary issues, foreign policy, he's never really waivered since he got into Republican politics on abortion and gun rights. As his agenda in Washington has gotten bogged down, another week where he thought he had a health care compromise and it doesn't look like they have the votes, his tax plan has complications, he doesn't have a lot of victories here in D.C., his staff likes to get him out of this environment in D.C. and before his base. He'll be doing it today and he'll do tomorrow in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania at a difference conference. BASH: We started interviewing a group of grassroots conservative

leaders way back in 2015 during sort of the beginning of the Republican nominating process, and re-interviewed them this week around the 100 days. And one of the biggest takeaways was that from conservative leaders, many were not on board at the beginning because they didn't really think that they meant it on conservative issues, like the NRA and gun rights and abortion, and now they see he does mean it. Because he's putting his money where his mouth is, or pen where his mouth is, or the legislation that he supports where his mouth is. That's something that you cannot underestimate how big of a deal it is for these people for whom it would be anathema to support somebody who was pro-choice, anti-gun, for a single-payor health care system.

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: Not that long ago -- not that long ago, they wouldn't have gotten anywhere in the primary process.

BORGER: You know, don't forget, he owes them. They spent $30 million on him. They were the big winners coming out of this election, because they spent the most on Donald Trump and they will get the most back. And it's a transactional relationship, honestly. And I think, don't forget, they also believe that his son, John Jr, who is very influential with him, is very pro-gun, now Ryan Zinke, of Interior, out of Montana. So they feel that they are protected here. This is a sort of easy issue for them. It's kind of a "give me." It's not that complicated, like health care, for example

(CROSSTALK)

BORGER: -- or the presidency. So I think it's one of those things where he can go before this group and say thank you so them for spending that money.

[13:5544:] CILLIZZA: Getting -- Ryan mentioned getting out of Washington, and I think that can't be overstated enough. He is very isolated here. There's no question about it. He doesn't have many people around him that he trusts. He has advisers. He doesn't have that many family members that we know he really trusts. He always fuels himself by the energy of those crowds. He was at his best -- and I think you've seen him many times since then -- at his best in campaign rallies. Now, at his best is something that bothers many Democrats and many Independents, even some Republicans. But at his most Trumpian successful, messaging-wise. and I think getting in front of a crowd, feeling adulation. This is a performer. All politicians are performers to some extent. He is more so than others. Somebody who is a reality TV star before this. I think they are smart to put out there.

To Gloria's point, it's an easy win. The truth is there's not going to be that many Democrats that are going to come out. He's not going to lose a lot of votes here. The people who don't think he should speak to the NRA will never be for him anyway. And he's going to firm people that might feel, oh, I don't know exactly --

BORGER: And in red states in which there are Democrats --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: This event -- and all of us have seen him at these kinds of rallies -- you're right, it will energize him.

BORGER: Yeah.

BLITZER: He'll get thunderous applause

CILLIZZA: And he needs it.

BLITZER: -- from the NRA members who are there. It will help him on this day 99, leading up to day 100.

(CROSSTALK)

LIZZA: -- not getting out of Congress right now.

(CROSSTALK)

LIZZA: Today and tomorrow are events that should energize him going into the next 200 days.

BLITZER: All right. Stand by, guys.

That's it for me right now. I'll be back at 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room."

Up next, President Trump will speak before the National Rifle Association any moment now. We'll have live coverage of that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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