Return to Transcripts main page

Wolf

Concern on Capitol Hill over Trump Sharing Classified Information with Russia; CNN Exclusive with Sally Yates; McMaster: Trump Didn't Know Source of Information; Susan Rice Criticizes Trump's Twitter Use. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired May 16, 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, CNN ANCHOR: President Erdogan saying he expressed hope for a new era in U.S./Turkey relations. We shall see.

Nick Paton Walsh, thanks very much.

John Kirby, Gloria Borger, thanks to you as well.

Still ahead, lots more news unfolding. A demand for answers up on Capitol Hill as members from both sides of the political aisle express dismay over the latest West Wing controversy.

Also, the first television interview with the former acting attorney general of the United States, Sally Yates, who was fired by President Trump. Now she's speaking exclusively to CNN's Anderson Cooper.

Stay with us. We'll have that and a lot more when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are expressing concern, even alarm that President Trump shared classified intelligence with Russia. Democratic Senator Mark Warner says, if true, it's a slap in the face to the Intel community. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham calls it troubling, if true. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell downplayed the story but he says it's another distraction for Republicans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, (R-KY), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: Well, I read "The Washington Post" story, and I read General McMaster's response, which tends to refute the story, rebut the story. I think we could do with a little less drama from the White House on a lot of things so that we can focus on our agenda.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Our congressional correspondent, Phil Mattingly, is up on Capitol Hill.

Phil, what's the latest you're hearing from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle? PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESOPNDENT: No shortage of

questions. That comes from both sides of the aisle. A lot of scurrying for any type of answer from the administration.

But I will note, Wolf, over the course of the last hour or so, you've seen Republicans really point to what national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, said this afternoon. Changing their tone a little bit, most notably Senator John McCain, who earlier put out a scathing statement about the disclosure of this information. Now saying that he trusted H.R. McMaster at his word. Senator James Inhofe, another Republican from Oklahoma, saying something similar.

But I will note, there are a lot of Republicans who are raising serious concerns, and one or two who think it's just overblown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[13:35:06] SEN. MARCO RUBIO, (R), FLORIDA: Accuracy is important and understanding what happened is important. That would be fair. I think it's the right thing to do for the American people, fair to the administration. But we need to learn more about it. I have very specific questions. I hope they'll be answered at some point today.

SEN ORRIN HATCH, (R), UTAH: They claim they haven't and I saw -- is it McMaster? Yeah, I saw Mr. McMaster. I believe what he said is true. So I think it's something that's way blown out of proportion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: And, Wolf, I can tell you, over the course of the morning, talking to dozens of Senators, one-on-one and with groups of reporters, Senator Orrin Hatch said -- he was really the only one who was willing to stake out that position. Others appearing to join him in the wake of McMaster taking questions earlier. But I think what was notable of the Marco Rubio, an Intelligence Committee member, said last night the administration reached out but they did not answer the questions to the extent he wanted them too. He plans on getting more answers today. That's what you hear from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, Wolf.

The House Intelligence Committee will meet today. They will be briefed in a classified setting by CIA Director Mike Pompeo. It is a long-scheduled briefing. I'm told that briefing will focus heavily on the disclosure that occurred during the Russian meeting. The Senate Intelligence Committee has also requested detailed information about what is going on.

Wolf, again, a lot of questions. A lot of serious concern. Everybody around here is pretty much just trying to get their head around something that appears to, once again, be a dramatic breaking story that nobody was looped in on in the forefront, and now there are real questions about, A, what it means, and, B, what this means more broadly for the Republican agenda going forward.

BLITZER: Certainly true.

Phil Mattingly, thanks very much. Phil is on Capitol Hill. We're following that story.

Coming up, the former acting attorney general, Sally Yates, was fired by President Trump. Now she's giving her first television interview to own Anderson Cooper. You're about to hear what Sally Yates said about the former national security advisor, Michael Flynn.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:40:54] BLITZER: A CNN exclusive, our own Anderson Cooper spoke exclusively to the former acting attorney general of the United States, Sally Yates. It was her first TV interview since being fired by President Trump. Yates discussed the warning she gave the White House about the former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and his contacts with it is Russian ambassador to the U.S. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, A.C. 360: The underlying conduct itself was potentially a fireable offense?

SALLY YATES, FORMER ACTING U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I can't speak to a fireable offense. It was up to the president to make that decision about what he was going to do, but we certainly felt like they needed to act.

COOPER: I actually asked you at that first meeting whether or not you thought the national security adviser should be fired. What did you say?

YATES: I told him it wasn't our call.

COOPER: Was the underlying contact illegal?

YATES: There's certainly a criminal statute that was implicated by his conduct.

COOPER: You wanted the White House to act?

YATES: Absolutely, yes.

COOPER: To do something?

We expected the White House to act.

COOPER: Did you expect them to act quickly?

YATES: Yes.

COOPER: There was urgency to the information?

YATES: Yes.

COOPER: You're in government one week. You get fired. Now you're out. You're watching day after day after day go by and nothing seems to have happened to the national security adviser that you have informed the White House about. Just as a private citizen at that point, did it concern you?

YATES: Well, sure. I was concerned about it. But I didn't know if perhaps something else had been done that maybe I just wasn't aware of.

COOPER: Maybe that they were keeping him away from certain class filed information while they were investigating, something like that?

YATES: Maybe. I just didn't have any way of knowing what was going on at that point.

COOPER: Were you aware that he sat in, even from media reports, that he sat in on a phone call with Russia's president?

YATES: Just from media reports.

COOPER: Did you find that surprising?

YATES: Well, sure, absolutely that was surprising.

COOPER: Sean Spicer said on the day after Michael Flynn resigned that it was a trust issue that led to his resignation, not a legal issue. Do you agree there was no legal issue with Flynn's underlying behavior?

YATES: I don't know how the White House reached the conclusion that there was no legal issue. It certainly wasn't from my discussion with them.

COOPER: Do you think Michael Flynn should have been fired?

YATES: I think that this was a serious compromised situation that the Russians had real leverage. He also had lied to the vice president of the United States. Whether he's fired or not is a decision for the president of the United States to make. But doesn't seem like that's a person who should be sitting in the national security adviser position.

COOPER: Michael Flynn was let go after "The Washington Post" reported a story. Some Republicans have accused you of leaking it. Did you leak to "The Washington Post?"

YATES: Absolutely not.

COOPER: Did you authorize somebody to leak?

YATES: Absolutely not. I did not and I would not leak classified information.

COOPER: Have you ever leaked information to the press?

YATES: No.

COOPER: The president seems to suggest they were behind this "Washington Post" article. The morning before you testified, he tweeted ask Sally Yates under oath if she knows how classified information got into newspapers soon after she explain today to White House counsel. He seems to believe that you -- you're the leaker.

YATES: There have been a number of tweets that have given me pause.

COOPER: You want to elaborate on that?

YATES: No.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Anderson is with us right now.

Pretty impressive woman. She's got a lot going on.

What else did she share with you, because you really went in-depth with her?

COOPER: The White House has gone after her and a lot of the surrogates of the president have gone after her saying she's looking for a political career. She's being approached about running as the governor of Georgia as a Democrat. She acknowledges she is a Democrat in this interview but that she has no intention of running for a political office anytime soon. She says she doesn't know what she's going to do. She wants to take about six months off, kind of get some perspective of things.

I think she really wanted to speak out, have people kind of know the full scope of what she has done in her career. She's been branded for the last week of her 27-year career. She wants to point out she has a long career prosecuting corruption against Republicans, against Democrats. And though she may be a Democrat, she took very seriously her role in the Department of Justice as a nonpartisan as a career legal prosecutor.

[13:45:19] BLITZER: She was highly ordered by not just Democrats, but Republicans as well. Served Democratic presidents and Republican presidents.

COOPER: She's often referred to as an Obama appointee, which is true, but she was also hired by Bob Barr for her first job in the department.

BLITZER: Georgia Republican Congressman.

All right, thanks very much.

Anderson has a great interview and you can see it later tonight. The former acting attorney general, Sally Yates, and Anderson, 8:00 p.m. eastern. The interview will air only here on CNN.

Coming up, the president accused of releasing information to the Russians. So why is the White House claiming that he didn't know the source of that information? We'll discuss that and more when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: Just in to CNN, we're now learning that Republican Senator John Cornyn, of Texas, is withdrawing his name for consideration as the next FBI director. In a statement, he said -- I'm quoting him now -- "I have always considered public service to be a great privilege. How I can best serve my fellow Texans and my country has and will continue to be my guiding principle. Now more than the ever the country needs a well-credentialed independent FBI director. I've informed the administration that I'm committed to helping them find such an individual and that the best way I can serve is continuing to fight for conservative agenda in the U.S. Senate." That statement from Senator Cornyn.

Last hour, the national security adviser to the president, General H.R. McMaster, faced the new media amid fallout from the explosive report that the president shared classified information with Russian officials at the White House last week. McMaster reiterated the president didn't put national security at risk and described the conversation as wholly appropriate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. H.R. MCMASTER, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: I just should make the statement here that the president wasn't even aware of where this information came from. He wasn't briefed on the source and method of the information either.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[13:49:59] BLITZER: I want to bring in our panel, in Washington, CNN analyst, retired Colonel Cedric Leighton, CNN military analyst, retired from the Air Force; also Shelby Holliday, politics and business reporter for the "Wall Street Journal."

Shelby, it's pretty amazing that the president wasn't briefed on where that very sensitive information came from. You would think someone on the staff, the national security adviser or someone else, would say this is really sensitive information, be careful how you share it.

SHELBY HOLLIDAY, POLITICS & BUSINESS REPORTER, WALL STREET JOURNAL: Yes, that was surprising. And it was surprising to hear that H.R. McMaster had not spoken to Trump's Homeland Security advisor, Tom Bossert, about why he alerted the agencies about Donald Trump's comment when he sat down with the Russians. Everyone is focused on the nuances of what Donald Trump said in the Oval Office when he was meeting with Ambassador Kislyak and Sergei Lavrov. When you look at the big picture, this is a huge question of judgment. H.R. McMaster is saying that what Trump said was wholly appropriate. But what about his decision to meet with the Russians the day after he fired the FBI director who was investigating him for his ties to Russia and shutting out the press. Donald Trump has created a huge communications crisis. He's tweeted more than 40 times about the Russians and/or Department of Justice officials since it was known to us that he was under investigation. And one of those tweets was about tapes. It was a provocative veiled threat about James Comey warning him not to leak because there may be tapes. Now it's coming back to haunt him, because Democrats are saying, if you have tapes, we want transcripts, and we want to hear what you've said to the Russians. He's created a huge crisis for himself, a credibility crisis, a communications crisis, and huge questions about his judgment.

BLITZER: Cedric, we just heard the president say that it was a great meeting with the foreign minister of Russia, very successful meeting. You worked in the U.S. military. You dealt with very sensitive intelligence. What's your analysis?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY: ANALYST: Wolf, my basic analysis is this, first of all, when you look at the appropriateness of sharing this kind of information, it depends on the appropriateness and what context. It may have made for a good meeting atmospherics, and I'm sure the Russians were thrilled to get this kind of information from the president. The problem is, what does it do to our relationships and to not only the intelligence relationships but the ability of the people on the ground to actually do their job? So if this was, for example, a human source, that human source is in danger right now. If it was a technical intelligence source, that could be put at risk by sharing this information with the Russians.

BLITZER: It certainly could.

And it's causing a lot of problems, Shelby, for the White House, not only internally -- there seems to be a lot of dissent, commotion and anger among senior aides -- but with Republicans -- forget about the Democrats for now -- with Republicans up on Capitol Hill, some of whom are increasingly losing confidence.

HOLLIDAY: It's true. They are being forced to answer questions about why they aren't holding Donald Trump accountable. I was at a town hall last week after the FBI director was fired and Republicans were extremely angry, as were Democrats, with Congressman Tom MacArthur, and why he hasn't stepped up to the plate and held Trump accountable for firing the FBI director, for not releasing his taxes. It's creating huge political problems. You also have Democrats now threatening to not hold any confirmation hearings for a possible future FBI director until there's an independent prosecutor. So there are political risks across the board. And our "Wall Street Journal" polls are showing that Donald Trump is losing his base, those Independent supporters of his.

BLITZER: Colonel Leighton, we heard earlier from Susan Rice, President Obama's former national security adviser, talking about the president's use of Twitter. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN RICE, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: We can't allow Twitter wars to become shooting wars. And instead of excusing Russia's outrageous behavior and branding NATO obsolete, we must defend every NATO ally unconditionally and firmly counter Russia's Cold War tactics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Colonel Leighton, your reaction? LEIGHTON: I think that she's right in this case. I think Susan Rice

is putting it into a good modern context because Twitter is a risky medium. You can say a few things but only 140 characters. That gives you a very limited amount of time and space to say things.

The other part of it is that there is a lot of nuance to foreign policy and foreign policy requires a deep understanding of not only relationships but also with the strategic interest of each country are. And the fact that we are not looking at this from a strategic standpoint, like I'm sure the Russians are, puts us at a disadvantage, and the president needs to understand these may be nice people to talk to but they are not our friends and he needs to react that way.

BLITZER: Earlier today, Shelby, Senator McCain put out a statement, quote, "Regrettably, the time President Trump spent sharing sensitive information with the Russians was time he did not spend focusing on Russia's aggressive behavior."

You're finding increasing criticism along those lines?

[13:55:09] HOLLIDAY: It's true. It's hard to understand what the White House thought it would gain from having this meeting with the Russians, especially at this time when the pressure is ramping up for an independent investigation into President Trump and his campaign's ties to Russia. I spoke with a former FBI agent yesterday, and he said recruitment at the FBI is difficult, recruiting for the director position is now extremely difficult. This is one of the toughest jobs. You don't get paid a lot of money. And we're seeing candidates withdrew their names because they're not sure they can handle it. They can't tough it out.

BLITZER: The president leaves later this week, Friday, for his big trip to the Middle East and then Europe. We'll be covering that every step of the way, of course.

Shelby, thanks very much.

Cedric Leighton, thanks to you as well.

John Kasich and Bernie Sanders, they battled in Congress for years. Now they face off on health care, the economy, other sensitive issues facing the United States. The live CNN debate will air later tonight, 9:00 p.m. eastern.

That's it for me. Thanks for watching. I'll see you at 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room."

The news continues right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:13] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, there. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you so much for being with me.