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Trump Willing to Meet N. Korean Leader; Trump Calls on Congress to Support Health Care Bill; Trump Re-election Campaign $1.5 million Ad After Only 100 Days in Office; Firefighter Shot in Dallas, Texas; Trump Proposes Raising Gas Taxes to Fund Infrastructure; White House Daily Briefing Begins. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired May 01, 2017 - 13:30   ET

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


[13:30:00] WOLF BLITZER, CNNA NCHOR: The Dallas Police Department just tweeting, "We have a PIO" -- public information officer - "headed to the scene. We can confirm one member of Dallas Fire Rescue has been shot and transported to a local hospital."

We will continue to monitor and will bring you more details as we get them. We'll continue to follow that, all the breaking news.

Standing by with the Sean Spicer briefing as well.

We'll continue our coverage right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're now just moments away from the start of the White House press briefing. We'll go there as soon as Sean Spicer goes up to that lectern. Looking at live pictures. Lots of questions, including questions on the breaking news we're following, the president's latest comments saying he is opening the door to meeting directly with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un.

We have our CNN political director, David Chalian, with us. Chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, is with us as well.

For those viewers just tuning in, the president gave an interview to "Bloomberg News" in which he said this about Kim Jong-Un: "If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely. I would be honored to do it, if it's under the right circumstances, but I would do that." And then he added this, he said, most people - "Most political people would never say that. But I'm telling you, under the right circumstances, I would meet with him. We have breaking news."

That was what he said.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: He said that we have breaking news?

BLITZER: I say that once in a while myself.

(LAUGHTER)

But the president said we have breaking news. [13:35:13] BORGER: Well, I think you have to kind of take that, in

part, because said he would be willing to do it under the right circumstances. What are the right circumstances? That Kim Jong-Un stops murdering people? We have no idea. I think Trump sees himself as a deal maker who can meet with anybody and negotiate with anybody and, you know, he's willing to meet with the head of the Philippines, who's an abuser of human rights, because he feels like he can get something done on North Korea. I think you have to ask yourself the question, what would be accomplished and what is -- I mean, honestly, what does he mean by the right circumstances? I don't even understand.

BLITZER: And what does he mean by being honored?

BORGER: Honored, that's the other part of it. Being honored to meet with Kim Jong-Un doesn't make any sense.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: An odd word to use at the very least.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: David, here's what the president, as candidate, said in June of last year on this very same subject, a meeting with Kim Jong-Un.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And then one of the papers called the other day and they said, would you speak to the leader of North Korea? I said absolutely. Why not? Why not? And they come out, Trump would speak to him. Who the hell cares? I'll speak to anybody. Who knows?

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: There's a 10 percent or a 20 percent chance that I can talk him out of those damn nukes, because who the hell wants him to have nukes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: That's what he said then, and now we know what he's saying in this "Bloomberg News" interview.

CHALIAN: It's pretty --

(LAUGHTER)

-- from the campaign trail. Not the first president to get in hot water talking about which foreign leaders they'd be willing to meet with. Remember, Barack Obama had that moment in the 2007 debate that John McCain hammered him on again and again that he would meet with the leader of North Korea --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Remind our viewers what then-Candidate Obama said.

CHALIAN: So he was asked, would you meet with foreign leaders without any preconditions from such countries, enemies, adversaries, such as Syria, North Korea, Venezuela, and he said he would. And then obviously, expanded upon that. But John McCain's campaign seized upon that after Hillary Clinton's campaign seized upon it.

So I do think what you have here is, as Gloria said, you have the negotiator, deal maker in chief, who is showing that he is willing to engage with anyone who is willing to engage with him on his terms. We don't know what those terms are. So without that, it is very difficult to assess this. But as you just played the tail of the tape there, Wolf, this should come as no surprise.

And put it in the context of the recent things we've heard from the administration, Mike Pence told Dana Bash, we're not looking for one- on-one conversations, but then Rex Tillerson seemed to suggest that might be in the cards. Clearly, this has been on Donald Trump's mind.

BORGER: And you would never have a president meet with a leader like Kim Jong-Un unless there were meetings beforehand. You don't just invite him over to the White House.

And by the way, being honored to meet with him, does that mean inviting him to the White House? Because that's an honor perhaps we should not bestow upon leaders who have no human rights records whatsoever. So I think we're parsing this, but we really don't know what he means.

And by the way, Barack Obama may have said that during the campaign, but guess what?

(CROSSTALK)

BORGER: How many leaders did he not meet with?

CHALIAN: Yeah.

BORGER: Right.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: It's one thing to say something during a campaign. It's another thing to actually deliver as president?

BORGER: Right. But he's now saying it as president. Obama didn't do what he said he was going to do.

BLITZER: Gloria is right on that. In order to have a one-on-one meeting between the president of the United States and the leader of North Korea, you have to at least have aides set the stage for that kind of meeting. You have to establish a direct dialogue. As far as I know, there is no direct dialogue right now.

CHALIAN: Correct. And it's not just aides, Wolf. You would imagine also you're going to employ your allies, who do speak with this country in a way that we don't, perhaps to tee up conversations on the outside. Not just your own aides teeing up a conversation, but something like this. which would be such a departure from what has been U.S. foreign policy, vis-a-vis North Korea, you would imagine you would bring in some of your allies, maybe China or whatever, or -- I don't know if you call China an ally -- but at least a country you do business with to help tee up this conversation.

BLITZER: The other big story we're waiting for this week, will the repeal and replace of Obamacare be approved in the House of Representatives. They're close.

BORGER: You want me to tell you, Wolf?

(LAUGHTER)

BLITZER: They're pretty close but they need 216 votes.

[13:40:00] BORGER: They need 216 votes. You know, they're always close until they're not close. We'll know if they're close if they bring it up. They're not going to bring it up again to pull it from the floor. And obviously, as we've been talking about all last week, the big issue is when you give the conservatives something, the moderates get upset. And it's this big question of is pre-existing conditions covered in this bill the way it was covered in Obamacare. The answer to that is no. But the president told CBS News yesterday that he will mandate that pre-existing conditions be covered. So again, it's confusing.

BLITZER: You just heard Senator Cassidy, of Louisiana, say he's talking to people in the House side. They're rewriting things even as we speak right now.

CHALIAN: Right. He said sort of revision of the revision. No doubt, Senator Cassidy indicated what is true, which is that this bill will change undoubtedly if it does make its way to the Senate. That also is causing a political problem from getting the votes to 216, Wolf. As you know, if you're a moderate Republican in a competitive district, the last thing you want to do is walk the plank on a very tough vote that then actually amounts to nothing because it may not be -- it certainly will not be the same bill that has to be voted on again to get it to the president's desk --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: John Dickerson, on CBS News, on "Face the Nation," the president was firm, absolutely firm, there is no doubt about it, I told them it's guaranteed, pre-existing conditions 100 percent.

BORGER: Right. It was the one detail of the bill that he seemed to be very clear about it that actually isn't in the bill at this point. The way it's written now it would leave it up to the governors and up to the states. That is not a mandate for pre-existing conditions in every single state.

CHALIAN: I think the president is playing a little bit of a word game here just because pre-existing conditions are -- would still be covered, yes, in theory. But if, indeed, the state opts out and is able to have its own thing, and actually allows insurance companies to provide insurance where they are allowed to consider health status for pricing, somebody with cancer or a pre-existing condition could be charged so much that it's actually unaffordable, that, in reality, in effect, it's as if there is no coverage for pre-existing conditions.

BLITZER: Once again, we're waiting for the press briefing with Sean Spicer to begin. Again, we'll have live coverage of that.

Very interesting, David. Let me get your thoughts on this. The Trump re-election campaign has now come up with a $1.5 million ad highlighting the success of the president during his first 100 days. I'll play a little clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER (voice-over): A respected Supreme Court justice confirmed, companies investing in American jobs again, America becomes more energy independent, regulations that kill American jobs eliminated, the biggest tax cut plan in history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: How unusual is it to start running campaign ads after 100 days in office, for reelection?

CHALIAN: Unprecedented. It's also unusual to open up your reelection account and actually launch your reelection campaign before the inauguration or around the inauguration weekend, which is exactly what happened. I think it's smart for them to get their story out in an unfiltered way. It might be a smart use of money to help convince Americans that despite all the noise and chaos they may hear in the news coverage that there are these accomplishments that they want to tout in an unfiltered way. It is wise to do, but it is a little jarring to the ear to hear, "I'm Donald Trump and I approved this message". You think it's campaign season and we're only 100 days in.

BORGER: I though, is this 2018 or 2010? You don't see it but it's clear that inside the White House, talking to people inside the White House, I can tell you this, they feel that we have not done a fair portrayal of his accomplishments. And therefore, they have to do it themselves. That's what this ad is about.

And I think it's also putting Republicans on notice that we're going to be able to use this money for whatever we want. And, you know, it may be a little bit of a signal to Republicans who are not willing to support this president that they've got the money to campaign against him if they want to.

BLITZER: It's very interesting. In all of the interviews that the president has been given, he doesn't speak about four years. He speaks about eight years as president of the United States.

BORGER: Right.

BLITZER: Stand by, Gloria, David. We're going to get some more on the breaking news out of Dallas,

Texas. We're learning a firefighter has been shot in what's being reported as an active-shooter situation. Live pictures coming in from the scene. Moments ago, the Dallas Police Department tweeted, "We have a public information officer headed to the scene. We can confirm one member of the Dallas Fire Rescue has been shot and transported to a local hospital."

Our CNN correspondent, Polo Sandoval, is on the scene for us.

Polo, what else do we know?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPODNENT: We're gathering information right now. There's some new details released that tells us more about what's taking place in an area there just east of downtown Dallas.

I'll read you statement that was released just a few moments ago that tells a little bit more about a very fluid situation. The city's staying, "Today, at approximately 11:30 a.m., there was a shooting call at the 3200 block of reynolds Street where a Dallas Fire Rescue EMT unit was struck and an EMT paramedic was injured."

This is in the vicinity of the Dolphin Road Fire Training Academy. The paramedic was transported to Baylor Hospital and is undergoing surgery. Dallas police and Dallas Fire Rescue collaborating on this issue here, which is, again, Wolf, a very fluid situation. At this point we do understand the suspect wounded, an EMT, a first responder, and also that unit that he was traveling in. As a result, several of the area schools, as you may expect, have been placed on lockdown. This is something we often see when these situations unfold.

Again, what we can confirm at this point, based on information released by the Dallas police is that a first responder was struck, is currently in surgery at a Dallas area hospital. As you see here, a whole lot of red and blue lights right now in that neighborhood just east of Dallas as we tried to -- as investigators try to bring this to a close.

Still active. What we don't know yet is the current state of the individual, this suspect. Is he in custody? Is he still possibly barricaded in a home there? Those are all questions that we're asking right now. As soon as we get some more information on that, we'll be sure to let you know.

[13:46:20] BLITZER: All right, Polo, thank you. Polo Sandoval reporting for us.

Coming up, once again, only moments away from the White House press briefing. Certainly, lots of questions on health care, the shutdown deal, the president's White House invitation to the president of the Philippines, the president's latest comments about being honored, if under the right circumstances, to meet with Kim Jong-Un, the North Korean leader. All of that coming up when we come back.

(COMMERICAL BREAK) [13:51:03] BLITZER: Take a look at live pictures from the White House press room where the briefing is set to begin at any moment. Sean Spicer will be taking reporters' questions. As soon as that begins, we'll have live coverage of that.

In the meantime, let's get back to David Chalian and Gloria Borger.

David, this new interview to "Bloomberg News," he says he would be willing to raise the U.S. gas tax to fund infrastructure development. He said the tax plan he released last week just the beginning of negotiations. Quote, "It's something that I would certainly consider if we earmarked the money towards the highways."

Here's the question: I thought Republicans don't want to raise taxes.

CHALIAN: Right. This is going to be a tough sell with his own party. The last person to champion this was the liberal Democratic Senator Chris Dodd, from Connecticut, when he was in the Senate.

It sounds to me like the president is sort of -- in the same interview, if he's talking about his own tax reform plan to lower taxes. So now it sounds like he's now trying to do lowering taxes with Republicans because he's not going to get Democratic votes on that and infrastructure and raising the gas tax to pay for it with Democrats, which there aren't enough of to pass everything, so he'll have to find some Republicans to get on board with this idea of raising the gas tax.

It just seems to me he's trying to create different coalitions and go about these issues and, which either way he can piece together a deal.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Because raising - I was just going to say, raising the gas tax, it affects everyone. It's a regressive tax because it affects the poor people and the middle-class people a lot more than the rich people.

BORGER: Right. And it affects people in red states who drive longer distances, I would add, and that's why it hasn't been popular. I think he's also finally coming to terms with the fact you have to pay for something. That you can't give tax cuts to everybody without paying for it. You can't have infrastructure reform without paying for it. You've got to figure out a way to deal with health care and pay for it. And this is the reality that he is up against. And as you propose, a huge trillion-dollar infrastructure plan, if that's what it's going to be, you have to figure out a way to get it done.

Now as David pointed out, the Democrats are going to be much more on board with this than the Republicans, but the other question is, why should they give him a victory on anything, which they are not inclined to do.

CHALIAN: I'm not sure how his friends and allies in the oil and gas industry are going to feel about this and how much pressure they would apply to run against this. Yet, at EPA, he seems to be on board with getting rid of some of the Obama-era regulations that that industry wanted to see removed, and now he comes in with the gas tax. How would they respond to that?

BORGER: Rex Tillerson might have some interesting things to say on that.

BLITZER: They have to do health care first. Then they can move on to tax reform, infrastructure. There's a bunch of legislative issues to deal with.

BORGER: That seems to be the order. Because if they do health care reform first, there's a little bit of money there they could use towards tax reform, and then they would go to infrastructure.

CHALIAN: You heard the president say in one of the interviews he wants to roll out infrastructure in the next two to three weeks. Nobody on Capitol Hill seems to think there's an infrastructure plan ready to be rolled out. As you can see, he's just beginning to flip these ideas about --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Infrastructure, it's really critically important to deal with the infrastructure, the roads, the bridges, the airports.

BORGER: It's popular.

CHALIAN: And it's something he talked about on the campaign trail in the fall. This is part of Steve Bannon's populistic, nationalistic movement as well. This is a piece of that, a really popular piece of that, as Gloria is saying. So it definitely fits with a lot of his ideological drive that he -- if he has any ideology, Trump does, this is certainly a piece of that.

BLITZER: But where's the trillion dollars going to come from?

BORGER: Well, that's the gas tax. It wouldn't even be enough.

I think one thing, in everything we have been talking about so far, we have to understand is that Donald Trump freelances a lot. And when he's asked a question, he actually answers it. And he doesn't say, well, you know, I haven't thought about that, let me thing about it. He goes, oh, well, maybe that's a good idea. Maybe he hasn't discussed that yet with his people. Just like he didn't discuss with the State Department about meeting with the Philippines president. These are things that come out of his mouth that have not been vetted by his staff.

[13:55:31] BLITZER: They apparently worked out a deal to keep the government funded through the end of this fiscal year at the end of September.

And I'll show our viewers what's in this temporary spending bill. I think we have it, some graphics to put up on the screen. $15 billion extra for defense spending. $1.5 billion for border security, although not necessarily earmarked for a wall. $2.4 billion for disaster relief.

What's not in the budget, no funding cuts for Planned Parenthood. No money for a deportation force. No federal cuts to so-called sanctuary cities. No funding for the border wall construction, although $1.5 billion for overall border security.

CHALIAN: The administration sees some of that money lays the groundwork for what they believe will be the full plan for the wall. He's talking about in some areas that's fencing, not a wall. But that's sort of a down payment on some of the initiatives they want.

I think what they did here, Wolf, was do a calculation, and said, you know what, not shutting down the government is the highest priority and a lot of these fights we can have in the fall.

BLITZER: It's impressive that they have worked out this compromise.

BORGER: It is, because the Democrats will say we got everything we wanted or almost everything we wanted in it. I think lots of Republicans won't be happy about the defense spending here. But I think it was pragmatic. As David was saying, I think it's a pragmatic decision that Donald Trump and his administration don't want the government shut down, period. So they decided not to fall on their swords because they are going to live to fight another day.

BLITZER: The argument that President Trump -- he may have rhetorical flourishes, but he's really operating as a traditional conservative Republican president. What do you say to that?

CHALIAN: I don't know we know that to be true just yet.

BLITZER: On this deal, working on a temporary spending bill, he was doing what he thought was critically important, keep the government operating.

CHALIAN: Keep the government open, there's no doubt about that. If you look at the totality of what he's trying to do, at times, he's aligned ideologically and looks like a traditional Republican. In fact, on foreign policy, he's becoming to look more and more like a mainstream Republican than an outsider that's trying to upend everything. But I don't think you can fit Donald Trump neatly into an ideological box.

BORGER: No, I don't think so. I think what we do see is he switched positions an awful lot, on NAFTA, on China, NATO, you go down the list, and that may be more conventional than he campaigned on.

BLITZER: All right.

Here's Sean Spicer ready to make a statement.

SEAN SPICER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I appreciate you having me.

I hope you guys had a good weekend. It was definitely a busy one for the Trump administration.

On Friday, the president signed several proclamations ahead of the start of the new month. Those are all available at whitehouse.gov.

On Saturday, you may have not noticed but that was the president's 100th day in office, for those not keeping count. The president took several significant steps towards leveling the playing field for American workers and businesses while visiting an Ames factory in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Ames has been making tools in America since before our country's founding. It's an example of the amazing persistence of the American spirit. The type of company that will be able to expand and create new jobs under the president's pro-growth economic agenda. He signed two executive orders at Aims that will help keep jobs and wealth in our country.

The first fulfilled an executive order of a major campaign promise by directing the secretary of Commerce to identify every violation and abuse of our trade agreements and to use every measure available under the law to end those abuses.

The second established the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, which will be led by Dr. Peter Navarro. This office replaces the National Trade Council and elevates it to a permanent office within the White House, sending an important signal to the world that the United States will no longer tolerate trade cheating while our manufacturing and defense industrial base suffers.

He also signed a third executive order over the weekend establishing the American Technology Council, which would be led by Chris Ladell (ph), which is dedicated to modernizing the federal govenrment's information technology so it works more efficiently and effectively for everyone.

And he wrapped up the day speaking to thousands at a rally in Pennsylvania.

This weekend, the president also engaged with some our long-time allies in southeast Asia, who are on the front lines against the fight against ISIS and other forms of terror, through calls with the president of the Philippines, the prime minister of Singapore and the prime minister of Thailand.

Today is the start of another big week here. After signed a --