Return to Transcripts main page

Wolf

NYT: Flynn Told Trump Team He Was Under Investigation; NYPD Briefing on Deadly Time Square Accident. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired May 18, 2017 - 13:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:30:19] JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: We're looking at live pictures from Times Square in New York City. Police there expected to hold a press conference any moment with the latest update on that crash that killed one pedestrian, injured some 19 others. We'll take that press conference live when it happens.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration dealing with more fallout from the Michael Flynn debacle. According to "The New York Times," Flynn told the Trump transition team that he was under federal investigation two weeks before the inauguration.

Let's bring in our panel to discuss that. We have senior political reporter, Nia-Malika Henderson; and chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, here with me in Washington. And we have Dana Bash in New York. We thought we didn't, but we got her. We've got the full team.

Gloria, I'll start with you.

Why this continued loyalty from the president to General Flynn despite many missteps on his part?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, currently, of course, General Flynn is an orphan with no parents with people from inside the administration now. But if you look back at the situation during the transition -- I was just talking to somebody who explained it to me this way. A source familiar. That General Flynn was the first one with brass on his shoulders to come out and endorse Donald Trump. They had the same attitude towards ISIS, which was, we're just going to get out there, we're going to kill it. The same disdain for the kind of intelligence that the United States was gathering on ISIS. And he loved traveling with Flynn. Remember Flynn used to appear with him at rallies.

SCIUTTO: Very vocally, "Lock her up."

BORGER: Right. So even after a lot of people inside the original transition said to Donald Trump, you know, you have to be a little careful about this guy, Donald Trump would respond and say, I know, but he's been so loyal to me. So loyalty above all.

SCIUTTO: Dana, Vice President Pence's role in this really more questions every week. I just want to remind our viewers what he said in a FOX interview in March when Pence was asked about the news that Michael Flynn had been secretly working as a paid lobbyist for Turkey. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, has filed with the Department of Justice as a foreign agent for making more than $500,000 as a lobbyist essentially for Turkey. Your reaction to that?

MIKE PENCE, VICE PERSIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let me say, hearing that story --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: We're going to go right to New York now because the press conference beginning on this incident in Times Square. Have a listen.

BILL DE BLASIO, (D), NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: -- today, here in Times Square. We're going to provide you with information. I want to emphasize up front this is preliminary information. Obviously, the investigation under way. There's a lot we will learn in the coming hours. But we're going to give you the information we have at this point.

I'll start, then you'll hear from our Police Commissioner James O'Neill and Commissioner Dan Nigro.

So far, what we know, 23 individuals were injured in this incident. That includes tragically one young woman who has passed away. The perpetrator is in custody, is a United States citizen and a former member of the armed forces with the United States Navy. He has a criminal history. The commissioner will go over that in a moment.

Based on the information we have at this moment, there is no indication that this was an act of terrorism. I want to clarify again, based on the information we have at this moment, there is no indication that this was an act of terrorism.

That being said, we are reinforcing key locations around the city with our anti-terror units of the NYPD. We'll out of an abundance of caution, major sites in the city will get additional police coverage from our anti-terror units.

Those who were injured and for the families and particularly for the family of the young woman who was lost, our prayers are with her family and with all those who right now are suffering because of this horrible incident.

I want to thank all our first responders. The perpetrator was apprehended very quickly. And I want to thank all the first responders who immediately came to the scene to aid the wounded.

You'll get an update on the status of those who were affected from the fire commissioner.

[13:35:08] This is a tough day for New York City. But as usual, the people in New York City will stand firm. We'll be resilient. We have tremendous faith in our first responders who handled this situation so quickly. And we will provide regular updates as more information emerges.

Now I'll present our police commissioner, James O'Neill.

JAMES O'NEILL, COMMISSIONER, NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT: No problem. OK. All right. We'll get it back.

How about now? You guys good? We have audio? We have audio now? How about now?

Peter, you want to take a look at it?

All right. Ready to roll?

Thank you.

So as the mayor said, this is preliminary information. This incident happened about an hour and a half ago so it's all subject to change. This is what we talk about at every press conference. We try to get as much information out to you as possible as soon as possible.

So, at approximately 11:55 a.m., a 2009 Honda Accord passenger vehicle mounted the sidewalk on the west side of 7th Avenue at West 42nd Street in Times Square. The vehicle, occupied by a male driver, proceeded to driver at a high rate of speed along the sidewalk from 42nd Street to 45th Street, striking a number of pedestrians along the way. The Honda eventually came to a stop on the northwest corner of West 45th Street where it collided with a metal statue. Along the route, the subject's vehicle struck 23 pedestrians causing multiple injuries and one fatality. 22 victims were moved to local hospitals.

The driver, a 26-year-old male identified as Richard Rojas, a resident of the Bronx, was taken into custody at the scene. Preliminary investigation reveals that Rojas has a few arrests and two of them are for a DWI. Detectives are currently reviewing any other criminal history for the subject.

Further investigation is ongoing. At this point as the mayor said, there is no indication that this incident was terrorism related.

Commissioner Nigro will talk about the injuries.

DANIEL NIGRO, COMMISSIONER, NEW YORK FIRE DEPARTMENT: Thank you.

I'll talk about the injuries in general terms. We're not going to talk about names or specific injuries. We did have one person who was pronounced at the scene. There were four critical patients removed, two to Bellevue, two to Roosevelt, with traumatic injuries, including open fractures, including multiple traumas. None of those, at this point, thanks to the fact that they were quickly transported to the hospital, is likely -- but that doesn't mean they are cleared -- none of those four are right now likely to parish. Conditions can change. We're very hopeful the fact they were treated quickly and removed quickly that they will survive. Three other injuries were very serious, but not critical. They were also removed to local hospitals. 15 are less serious injuries, we call green-tag injuries. All of these people have now been transported to the hospitals and are being treated. We won't divulge any names or ages or where they come from at this point. But there was a very large amount of fire department and police department resources arriving here very quickly. And thanks to that, people received care in a very timely fashion.

DE BLASIO: All right. Let's take questions.

In the back, yeah?

[13:39:20] SCIUTTO: We've been listening to an update from the New York Police Department, the police commissioner, the New York mayor on this incident in Times Square. To be clear, they are investigating this is an accident, based on preliminary information. They say the driver is in custody. He has prior arrests for drunk driving. Sadly, some 23 people injured in this incident and one person died. We're going to continue to monitor it, give you all the latest.

And we'll be back right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Welcome back. We've been covering multiple stories, the incident in Times Square, but also new revelations about Mike Flynn, the fired national security adviser.

I want to bring our panel back. We have Gloria, Nia, and we have Dana in New York.

Dana, I want to go back to you, because this was interrupted when we went to the press conference in Times Square.

I'll play Vice President Mike Pence's comments in a march interview regarding what he knew about Flynn. Ask for your response. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: Former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, has filed with the Department of Justice as a foreign agent for making more than $500,000 as a lobbyist essentially for Turkey. Your reaction to that?

PENCE: Hearing that story today was the first I heard of it. And I fully support the decision that President Trump made to ask for General Flynn's resignation.

BAIER: You're disappointed by the story?

PENCE: The first I heard of it. And I think it is an affirmation of the president's decision to ask General Flynn to resign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[13:45:14] SCIUTTO: Dana, the options there for the vice president, neither is really good, because either he's not being truthful in that answer or he was running the transition and did not know that a senior appointee was under federal investigation.

BASH: And now it appears that it is the latter. At least that is what the vice president's office is saying. We have a new statement from an aide to the vice president: "The vice president stands by his comments in March upon first hearing the news regarding General Flynn's tries to Turkey and fully supports the president's decision to ask for General Flynn's resignation."

He's claiming ignorance that even though he was the head of the transition, he did not know that General Flynn had these ties. Despite the fact that we now know that General Flynn or at least is reported gave that information to the transition. Now, apparently, the person that General Flynn told was Don McGahn, who was the counsel for the transition, now the White House counsel. So then the next question, in this particular thread of this drama, is, why didn't Don McGahn tell the vice president? And so that's sort of -- that's next. But the fact that Mike Pence was the head of the transition and this wasn't, you know, a low-level appointment. Not an appointment, but not a low-level pick. The national security adviser on the president of the United States. One of the most important, probably the most important nonconfirmed aides that the president of the United States has. The fact that he had ties to Turkey should have been a giant red flag that the White House counsel should have been holding and running in and telling the president, the vice president, and everybody else.

SCIUTTO: No question.

Let's be honest, Nia, to be frank here, this administration does not have a good record of credibility on this or other issues like this. It brings -- for instance, sally yates warning about Flynn where she says she made it very clear that he seemed to be compromised to Don McGahn. Again, White House says well, it was a heads up, this kind of thing. But following a simple pattern. Either not informing others in the White House or not, you know, accurately characterizing. Does it beg belief for you?

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: : You know, it is a little hard to believe. If you think about that transition team, Mike Pence, obviously, the head of it, but Jared Kushner is also on that transition team. Ivanka Trump also on that transition team. All of these people very much involved you would think in trying to vet folks, in trying to figure out where people should be in the administration, and get the administration up and running in a credible way that doesn't cause problems for the White House going forward. And you have Mike Pence there, who, again, is in this similar situation. He didn't know. He was told a story and he went out and told essentially a lie about Mike Flynn initially and then, of course, about the firing of James Comey. So this is a White House that has a credibility problem and we see it over and over again.

(CROSSTALK)

SCIUTTO: And the victim is the vice president. A frequent victim of that credibility because it was only a week ago that Mike Pence, among others, came out and doubled down on this idea that Rod Rosenstein's report on Comey that led to the firing which the president later undermined.

BORGER: Right. We don't know how to characterize the vice president at this point. We know what he has said and we have to take him at his word. But the whole Flynn story is so head scratching because it wasn't just this red flag, if this story is accurate. It wasn't just this red flag. It was the president of the United States saying that maybe you shouldn't appoint this guy, and there were warnings there, and there was intelligence there. And so you have to go to the president, I think, on this. Because the only one who seemed to be truly attached to General Flynn in any way, shape, or form, was the president of the United States, who admired him and trusted him and felt that he helped him win the election.

SCIUTTO: Dana, we hear a lot more, as often is happening, leaks from inside the White House about disarray, consideration of a reshuffling of senior positions in there. Is that a reality? Do you see that, particularly an incident like this, does the president blame particular people that he now wants to make a move on?

[13:49:47] BASH: The answer is, from my reporting and Gloria's great reporting as well, yes, he's blaming everybody and anybody, no question. But the open question is whether or not there will be any changes made. It doesn't seem that there's anything afoot right now, but that could change in five minutes. One White House official was joking -- not joking with me, the other day, that all these intrigue stories and who would have thought the first person to go wouldn't be Sean Spicer or Reince Priebus but James Comey. You never know what is going to happen and what this president is going to do. But given the fact that they are in a new state right now, a state of special prosecutor and they need to get their act together, it is possible that that could mean a freeze of just keep everybody in place right now and let's just work with what we've got. We'll see.

SCIUTTO: Nia and Gloria, if we have time, I want to ask -- there's a contrarian point of view that this oddly enough might give the White House some breathing room. One, a special counsel truly works in secret. If any special counsel is going to obey that rule, it's a guy like Bob Mueller. You still have the Hill doing its work but, really, he's going to have the best access. He's got the ability to subpoena, to indict, et cetera. Does this conceivably give the White House some breathing room?

HENDERSON: Possibly. You think about something like Jim Comey, who might have been set to testify on the Hill, maybe he doesn't testify now because Bob Mueller, who is a good friend of James Comey, says it's important that you don't testify. So a lot of the things that we might have expected to be out in the open might not be out in the open. If you're the White House, that might be a good thing. It also, I think, is a good thing for this White House if, in the end, Donald Trump is proven right and that there was no collusion, Bob Mueller is a guy who has that credibility to make that case so there was no "there" there.

(CROSSTALK)

SCIUTTO: In effect, you traded James Comey for Bob Mueller, arguably tougher.

(CROSSTALK)

BORGER: I think it's a short-term view because, yes, it does get it out of the spotlight but the long-term view is this can go anywhere. They can subpoena the president's taxes. The special counsel can -- really has broad jurisdiction here and can go anywhere he wants. Don't forget, the whole Lewinsky scandal started with whitewater. Look where that went. In the long term, I think they all know that they have problems, even people who are sitting in the White House right now with nothing to do with this are now thinking, wait a minute, I also have to get a lawyer.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, which is a shame, Dana, because you have lower level staff, right? It's tough for them to bear the cost going forward.

But on this issue, as it does just politically here now, because the Bob Mueller as a special counsel has enormous power that many members of the congressional committees -- and I'm sure they've expressed to you. They've expressed to me frustration getting information from the intelligence community. That's not a problem that Bob Mueller is going to have.

BASH: It's not. It's not. No question there's frustration from Democrats and Republicans I'm talking to, saying that they feel that this puts a freeze on what they're doing. And it may not be a full-on freeze but it will shut them down from doing a lot of what they wanted to do. First and foremost, talk to James Comey in a public setting. That deal had not been struck to get him before Congress, and then, poof, we have this special prosecutor. And so the feeling among people in the Senate, in particular, who wanted to hear from James Comey in a public way, is that it's probably not going to happen because Robert Mueller is going to say, you know what, let's just hold off, let me get my ducks in a row. Let's not have him go out and talk publicly about the memos and everything else until the special prosecutor has a sense of where he's going to go with this, his staff in place and all of the above.

SCIUTTO: It's interesting you bring that up. I asked Senator Jack Reed, and I asked Senator Mark Warner's staff, does this mean you're not going to be able to get Comey to testify? Maybe they are putting a brave face on, but, they say, no, we are going forward. Maybe it's a matter of what he can talk about and not talk about. Is that a pipe dream?

HENDERSON: Probably a pipe dream. I mean --

BORGER: I don't know.

HENDERSON: We will see. The dominant force here is going to be Bob Mueller in terms of resources and in terms of access. And it's hard to see that these congressional committees are going to have the same prominence. Maybe.

BORGER: Look at Iran-Contra. It was a joint committee though. But they went very separately from Lawrence Walsh, who was the special prosecutor at that time. So you had Iran-Contra, and they had public hearings because their job is different. Congress' job is to inform the American public about what is going on and to get to the truth of the matter. The prosecutor's job is to prosecute. They are very different jobs. If you remember, the congressional committee gave Oliver North immunity. The prosecutor committee did not. The congressional committee said, we need to get the truth for the American people, and that caused a lot of problems.

(CROSSTAKL)

[13:55:24] SCIUTTO: And some comments he made in public became material to --

(CROSSTALK)

BORGER: But it was not upheld on appeal.

(CROSSTALK)

HENDERSON: Politics will come into play here, too. Republicans are running these committees and, in some ways, you wonder how eager they are to get this stuff out in public.

SCIUTTO: Nia, Gloria, Dana, in New York, thank you very much.

We're getting some breaking news now. Officials telling CNN that U.S. war planes have struck Syrian regime forces, this, after a breach in a safe zone there in Syria. We'll have details from the Pentagon, and that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:07] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, there. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

We've got this breaking news here.