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Trump/Putin Have "Lengthy Discussion" on Election Meddling; Trump/Putin Reach Agreement on Syria Cease-fire; Audio of Rex Tillerson Briefing on Trump/Putin Meeting. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired July 07, 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] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Breaking news just in to CNN. Two major headlines coming out of a momentous meeting summit between Presidents Trump and Putin at the G-20 summit in Germany. One, we are told, in a briefing to reporters by Secretary of State Tillerson, that Trump and Putin had a lengthy discussion of Russian interference in the U.S. election. You remember, there were questions going into this meeting whether that was a topic President Trump was going to raise. You may remember, yesterday, President Trump raised his own doubts, once again, about whether it was, indeed, Russia that led, directed interference in the U.S. election. Again, Secretary of State Tillerson saying they had a lengthy discussion on this topic.

Second headline, that Presidents Trump and Putin reached an agreement on curbing violence in Syria. Secretary of State Tillerson saying that this cease-fire could be, in his words, "a precursor to further cooperation between the U.S. and Russia in Syria."

We're joined now by CNN's senior White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, traveling with the president. He is in Hamburg, Germany.

Jim Acosta, that's a remarkable and, I think fair to say, unexpected development here, this lengthy discussion between Putin and Trump on Russian meddling in the election?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Jim, I think it's a huge development. I think it's a sign that President Trump has been listening to his critics on this issue. It was just yesterday when the president was saying at that press conference in Warsaw that perhaps other countries were involved in the meddling in last year's election, that it was not Russia alone, despite consensus from the U.S. intelligence community. But, as you mentioned, a few minutes ago, after the meeting with Vladimir Putin, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told the press gathered there in that briefing room that, yes, President Trump opened the meeting talking about this issue, that he pressed Vladimir Putin on this subject on a number of occasions, that they had a lengthy exchange on this. But that Vladimir Putin, as he has so many times, denied that Russia was interfering in last year's election. And in the words of Rex Tillerson, he said, it's not likely the U.S. and Russia will come to an agreement on this issue. So, quote, "the question is, what do we do now?"

So it sounds, Jim, that they did not resolve this issue at all in this meeting between the president and Vladimir Putin.

But as you said, they did go on during this two-hour-and-16-minute meeting to discuss other topics. They talked about the crisis in Syria. Obviously, you just mentioned, it does appear that they have reached some sort of agreement on that issue to reduce hostilities in parts of that country. They also, according to the Russian state media, talked about the situation in Ukraine, and other issues involving counterterrorism and cyber security.

And Rex Tillerson is briefing reporters right now. The White House is not allowing that briefing to be broadcast live on camera. We're getting an audio-only feed of that, Jim, and so we're getting the tidbits and the highlights as they come out.

No question about it, the big headline out of the summit, President Trump, despite his own expressed reservations on this issue of Russian meddling in last year's election, did broach subject, did press Vladimir Putin on this subject during a very long meeting -- Jim?

SCIUTTO: And I should remind -- should note to viewers what we're watching here are pictures of the musical performance for the G-20 leaders there. You see Angela Merkel. We saw President Trump earlier speaking with the newly elected French President Macron as they await dinner. We will follow this.

Jim Acosta, while I have you here, to put a finer point on this, yesterday, the president of the United States traveling in Europe, raises questions about his own intelligence agency's judgment that it was Russia that directed these attacks. President Trump raising the possibility of others. Even though intelligence officials have said there is no evidence of others meddling in the election. And yet, today, it's our understanding, according to the Secretary of State Tillerson, that President Trump even opened this much-anticipated meeting with the Russian president by talking about this election, and repeatedly pressed it. Just -- you've been in the White House for a number of months during the Trump administration. Explain to our viewers how big a turnaround that is.

ACOSTA: I think it's a big turnaround. We have to gauge, I think, in the coming days to see whether President Trump himself is convinced of this. Rex Tillerson did say at the beginning of this briefing that the president raised the concern that exists back in the U.S. that Russia meddled in the election. At least he felt it was his duty to raise this subject with the Russian president. It doesn't exactly state definitively that President Trump believes that, yes, Russia meddled in the election and meddled to his benefit as the U.S. intelligence committee feels. So we might have to separate those two from one another so we don't come to the conclusion that President Trump now believes definitively that Russia meddled in last year's election. As you said, after all, he was talking about other countries potentially being involved.

[13:35:13] But, Jim, as you were saying, I think this is a significant, significant moment for President Trump, because, as we've heard in the last five to six months of this administration, there is a feeling inside this White House, there are some bitterness inside this White House, inside the Oval Office, that the subject has raised time and again as an effort to delegitimize Donald Trump's election as the 45th president of the United States. So the very fact that he was able to swallow some of his own pride, perhaps, some of his own bitterness over this issue and broach this subject with Vladimir Putin suggests that he feels at least it was his duty to talk about this subject with the Russian president.

And keep in mind, as you know, Jim -- you covered this subject a long time. The Russian president, he has tangled with more than one U.S. president over the years. Tangled with George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He might have thought he had the upper hand going into this meeting. But I think even some of President Trump's critics, strongest critics, will give him credit, after all of this discussion over the past week, he did bring up the subject. He did not go through this two-hour meeting and not bring up this subject. And I think a lot of people are going to say to President Trump that he succeeded, to some extent, of this G-20 summit by bringing this up and pressing Vladimir Putin on this issue. From the sound of it, he did press him on this issue -- Jim?

SCIUTTO: And we're getting new information, this from the briefing by Secretary of State Tillerson with reporters, saying that also when election meddling came up, that part of the discussion was, how do we move forward from here? And again, I think for all of us -- none of us were in the room. We're getting a viewpoint from inside the room. There's a lot of nuance. How far did President Trump press President Putin, for instance, when he denied? How much emphasis moving forward as opposed to moving back? That's all important, I think, as you were noting there, Jim Acosta. But at least raising it is something that many were not expecting. And, in fact, I believe you reported earlier, Jim, that the people inside the White House said that this was not on the agenda, to raise election interference?

ACOSTA: That's right. It was not on the agenda, or at least not on the stated agenda going in, but they were very close to the vest in terms of what they would talk about, Jim. I think the fact President Trump brought this up at the very beginning of this meeting -- keep in mind, it was just earlier this morning President Trump put out a tweet hitting John Podesta, falsely claiming he had this capability to turn over the hacked DNC servers over to the federal authorities when John Podesta was chairman of the Hillary Clinton campaign. We could go that, if you want, and dive into that issue, but don't want to get into the weeds too much. But he was deflecting attention away from this issue somewhat, going after John Podesta, placing blame on John Podesta, the former campaign chairman, to which Podesta sent back sassy tweets later in the day.

But after all of that, despite the president's reservations and stated concerns about this story, he did go into this meeting and did raise this issue. So it cannot be said he avoided the subject. He did tackle the subject in this meeting with a longtime U.S. adversary -- Jim?

SCIUTTO: Right. Jim Acosta, thanks very much, there.

We're now joined by Tony Blinken, the CNN global affairs analyst, and also former deputy secretary of state, former deputy of national security adviser.

Tony Blinken, you have enormous experience inside face-to-face meetings like the one we're getting reporting on. First, if I could ask your reaction to what I think would be reasonably described as a surprise discussion even leading off this meeting of Russian election meddling?

TONY BLINKEN, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Jim, a welcome development and it's particularly welcome in the president led the meeting, as has been reported, going after President Putin in regards to Russia meddling in the election. That was the right thing to do.

Now, it will be very good to hear the president himself. It will be very good to hear the president clarify once and for all whether he, too, acknowledges what the entirety of the intelligence community said, that Russia interfered with the election. But this is a good step forward.

It was vitally important for two reasons. One, not doing it, especially at the top, simply emboldens the Russians to keep doing what they've done. In 2016, in 2018, they'll keep repeating it. And next time, it might be Republicans, not Democrats who are the victims of this. This is something beyond President Trump, Republicans, Democrats. It goes to our country and its institutions and security.

Second, the other reason this is so important is that what Putin's game plan is, is to try to sow doubt and undermine confidence in our institutions. And the president not engaging on this issue plays Russia's game for it. It creates a lot of questions in peoples' minds. Why isn't he doing it? If today, as reported, he led the meeting with this, it's a very positive thing. But I hope we can hear from him directly about it.

[13:40:11] SCIUTTO: A public expression, which just yesterday, he was denying in public.

More details, Tony Blinken, I want to run it by you. Secretary Tillerson said the talks also focused on how the two countries can, quote, "secure commitment that Russian government has no intention," end quote, of interfering in future elections. That's key. It gets to your point going into 2018, 2020, as well as evidence we know that Russian hackers continue to probe voting systems, elections, et cetera. That's a key point as well to come up in this meeting.

BLINKEN: Yes. It is, Jim, and, again, the hope is that President Trump is clear with President Putin that if this continues, there will be real consequences. And if it came to it, there are things to do to make life very uncomfortable for Mr. Putin in Russia. And none of us wants to go there, but this has to stop. I hope not only did he raise it, but he made clear there would consequences if it continues.

SCIUTTO: And Syria, and the other major headline from this, that an agreement reached, a cease-fire, in effect, between Russia and the U.S. more specifically, between Russian-backed regime forces in the southwestern part of the country and U.S.-backed rebels there. And includes this, based on comments from Secretary Tillerson, that Assad will eventually leave power. That's somewhat remarkable, because not just Russia -- Russia has been resisting that. Even the Trump administration and Tillerson himself has said, well, in public comments, questioning whether the U.S. even is pressuring for that anymore.

BLINKEN: Yes. That, too, if accurate, is encouraging. Look, Russia has an interest in trying to find a way out of the Syrian morass. Certainly, we have a profound interest, as we have for a long time, to try to end the civil war. If this is one step in that direction, including acknowledgement that at the end of the process Assad can't be there, that, as long as he is, he'll be a magnate for extremists and terrorists, who are not only attacking us, but also attacking Russia, that's a positive thing.

Now, we've gone through many of these so-called cease-fires before, cessation of hostilities. They haven't held up. But every step that moves in that direction is a good one. And it's particularly interesting, as you said, that there apparently was acknowledgement at the end of this process Assad has to go.

SCIUTTO: One more thing about the cease-fire in that part of the country. You know this well. You've been involved directly. This is very important to Jordan and Israel. Is it not?

BLINKEN: It is.

SCIUTTO: Because this is a part of that war that's been, in effect, seeping across their borders?

BLINKEN: Yes, it is, Jim. And as the other part of this war moves forward, that is, the fight against the Islamic State, as they get squeezed, Jordan is very concerned that some of them get pushed towards Jordan. Others get pushed towards Iraq. And Jordan wants to make sure that it's secure as possible. Now, if you've also got the regime fighting with the opposition, that creates vacuums in which the Islamic State can operate more effectively. It's profoundly in Jordan's and Israel's interest that this get locked down as best possible. Again, an encouraging step, but I'm wary, because we've had these kinds of announcements before, indeed, during the Obama administration. We thought we advanced the ball a number of times. And it's very hard to actually implement and sustain them.

SCIUTTO: No question. Cease-fire, only as long as the fire is creased.

Tony, please stay there.

SCIUTTO: And, Elise Labott, you've covered the State Department. You're inside that building. Did you have a sense there that state was central to this issue, Tillerson, in particular, in advance?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: I was going to say you can really see the hand of Secretary Tillerson, Defense Secretary Mattis, even Fiona Hill, the Putin critic, who just joined the National Security Council, in prepping for this meeting. We've seen President Trump at Mar-a-Lago, at the White House in many of these meetings. I would say one of the most substantive readouts we've gotten about a meeting from President Trump. For all of our talk of the last couple of days, there's no agenda, he's not really prepping, he seemed to be very prepped for this meeting. And I think you can see the hand of his aides in not only setting the table for the president, but in setting the table in the weeks prior in working with the Russians and working with other countries, Jordan, you know, Israel, obviously, with the ISIS coalition. I think, you know, this administration has been very slow in its foreign policy to roll out, but you can now see a little bit of the building blocks. And I think you have to give credit to H.R. McMaster, Secretary Tillerson, Defense Secretary Mattis for that.

SCIUTTO: We just got in the audiotape of Secretary Tillerson's briefing with reporters on this more than two-hour meeting with President Putin. Let's listen in.

(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)

[13:45:00] REX TILLERSON, SECRETARY OF STATE: Thanks for staying with us.

President Trump and President Putin met this afternoon for two hours and 15 minutes right here on the sidelines of the G-20. The two leaders exchanged views on the current nature of the U.S./Russia relationship and the future of the U.S./Russia relationship.

They discussed important progress that has been made in Syria. And I think all of you have seen some of the news that just broke regarding a de-escalation agreement and memorandum, agreed between the United States, Russia and Jordan, for an important area in southwest Syria that effects Jordan's security. But also, is a very complicated part of the -- of the Syrian battlefield. This de-escalation area was agreed, well defined, agreements on who will secure this area. A cease-fire has been entered into. And I think this is our first indication of the U.S. and Russia being able to work together in Syria. And as a result of that, we had a very lengthy discussion regarding other areas in Syria that we can continue to work together on to de-escalate the areas and the violence, once we defeat ISIS, and to work together towards a political process that will secure the future of the Syrian people.

As a result, at the request of the -- of President Putin, the United States has appointed -- and you've seen I think the announcement -- a special representative for Ukraine. Ambassador Kirk Volcker, who will draw on his decades of experience in the U.S. diplomatic corps, both as a representative to NATO and his time as a political appointment.

The two leaders also acknowledge the challenges of cyberthreats and interference in the democratic processes of the United States and other countries. And agreed to explore creating a framework around which the two countries can work together to better understand how to deal with these cyberthreats, both in terms of how these tools are used to interfere with the internal affairs of countries, but also how the tools are used to threaten infrastructure, how these tools are used from a terrorism standpoint as well. The president opened the meeting with President Putin by raising the

concerns of the American people regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election. They had a very robust and lengthy exchange on the subject. The president pressed President Putin on more than one occasion regarding Russian involvement. President Putin denied such involvement, as I think he has in the past. The two leaders agreed, though, that this is a substantial hindrance and the ability of us to move to Russian/U.S. relationships forward and agreed to exchange further work regarding commitments of non-interference, in the affairs of the United States and our democratic process as well as those of other countries. So more work to be done in that regard.

Might I take your questions?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION)

TILLERSON: (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Secretary Tillerson, can you tell us whether President Trump said there would be any consequences for Russian interference in the U.S. election? Any specific consequences -- (INAUDIBLE) -- and the cease-fire, when does it begin and what makes you think that the cease-fire will succeed this time when in the past -- (INAUDIBLE).

[13:49:15] TILLERSON: With regard to interference in the election, I think the president took note of actions that had been discussed by the Congress, most recently additional sanctions that have been voted out of the Senate, to make it clear as to the seriousness of the issue. But I think what the two presidents, I think, rightly focused on is, how do we move forward. How do we move forward from here? Because it's not clear to me that we will ever come to some agreed- upon resolution of that question between the two nations. So the question is, what do we do now? And I think the relationship -- and the president made this clear as well -- it's too important. And it's too important to not find a way to move forward. Not dismissing the issue in any way, and I don't want to leave you with that impression. And that is why we've agreed to continue engagement and discussion around, how do we secure a commitment that the Russian government has no intention of and will not interfere in our affairs in the future, nor in the affairs of others? And how do we create a framework in which we have some capability to judge what is happening in the cyber world and who to hold accountable? And this is, obviously, an issue that's broader than just U.S./Russia. But it -- certainly, we see the manifestation of that threat in the events of last year. So I think, again, the president's rightly focused on, how do we move forward from what may be simply an intractable disagreement at this point.

[13:50:52] As to the Syria cease-fire, I would say what may be different this time, I think, is the level of commitment on the part of the Russian government. They see the situation in Syria transitioning from the defeat of ISIS, which we are progressing rapidly, as you know, and this is what really has led to this discussion with them as to what do we do to stabilize Syria once the fight against ISIS is won. Russia has an interest in Syria becoming a stabilized and unified place but, ultimately, a place where we can facilitate a political discussion about their future, including the future leadership of Syria. So, I think part of why we're -- and again, we'll see what happens as to the ability to hold the cease- fire. But I think part of what's different is where we are relative to the whole war against ISIS, where we are in terms of the opposition's, I think, position as to their strength within the country and the regime itself. You know, in many respects, people are getting tired. They're getting weary of the conflict. And I think we have an opportunity, we hope, to create the conditions in this area, in the south, as our first show of success, we're hoping we can replicate that elsewhere.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. Secretary, you spoke when you were speaking of the Syrian cease-fire about there being detailed information about how to enforce it. Can you give any more information about what comes -- and the future of the leadership of Syria? Do you still believe Assad is no role in their government?

TILLERSON: I would like to defer on the specific roles in particular of security forces on the ground because there are a couple more meetings to occur. This agreement, I think, as you're aware, was entered into between Jordan, the United States, and Russia. And we are -- we have a very clear picture of who will provide the security forces. But we have a few more details to work out. And if I could, I'd like to defer on that until that is completed. I expect that will be completed within the next -- less than a week. The talks are very active and ongoing.

And your second question, again?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Does the administration still believe that Assad has no role in the future government of Syria?

TILLERSON: Yes, our position continues to be that we see no long-term role for the Assad family or the Assad regime. We just -- and we have made this clear to everyone. We've certainly made it clear in our discussions with Russia. That we do not think Syria can achieve international recognition in the future, even if they work through a successful political process. The international community simply is not going to accept a Syria led by the Assad regime. And so if Syria's to be accepted and have a secure -- both secure and economic future, it really requires that they find new leadership. We think it will be difficult for them to attract both the humanitarian aid as well as the reconstruction assistance that's going to be required because there just will be such a low level of confidence in the Assad government. So, that continues to be the view. And as we said, how Assad leaves is yet to be determined. But our view is that, somewhere in that political process, there will be a transition away from the Assad family.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: On North Korea, did President Putin agree to do anything to help the U.S. to put more pressure on North Korea? And secondly, you seem to have reached somewhat of an impasse with China in terms of getting them to put pressure on North Korea. How are you going to get them to go beyond what they've done already and what's President Trump going say to President Xi on that issue tomorrow? [13:55:00] TILLERSON: We did have a pretty good exchange on North

Korea. I would say the Russians see it a little differently than we do. So, we're going to continue those discussions and ask them to do more. Russia does have economic activity with North Korea. But I would also hasten to add Russia's official policy is the same as ours, a de-nuclearized Korean peninsula. So I think, here again, there is a difference in terms of view around tactics and pace. And so we will continue to work with them to see if we cannot persuade them as to the urgency that we see.

I think with respect to China, what our experience with China has been -- and I've said this to others -- it's been a bit uneven. China has taken significant action. And then, I think, for a lot of different reasons, they paused and didn't take additional action. They then have taken some steps, and then they've paused. And there are, I think, in our own view, there are a lot of, perhaps, explanations for why those pauses occur. But we've remained very closely engaged with China, both through our dialogues that have occurred face-to-face but also on the telephone. We speak very frequently with them about the situation in North Korea. So, there's a clear understanding between the two of us of our intent.

And I think the sanctions action that was taken here just in the last week to 10 days, certainly, got their attention in terms of their understanding our resolve to bring more pressure to bear on North Korea by directly going after entities doing business with North Korea, regardless of where they may be located. We've continued to make that clear to China, that we would prefer they take the action themselves and we're still calling upon them to do that. So I would say our engagement is unchanged with China, and our expectations are unchanged. We have not given up hope.

You know, when you're in an approach like we're using, and I call it the peaceful pressure campaign. A lot of people like to characterize it otherwise, but this is a campaign to lead us to a peaceful resolution, because if this fails, we don't have more good options left. So it is a peaceful pressure campaign. And it's one that requires calculated increases in pressure, allow the regime to respond to that pressure. And it takes a little time to let these things happen. You know, you enact the pressure, it takes a little while for that to work its way through. So, it is going to require some level of patience as we move this along, but when we talk about our strategic patience ending, what we mean is we're not just going to sit idly by and we're going to follow this all the way to its conclusion.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You just mentioned - (INAUDIBLE) -- China and Russia recently said they asked North Korea to freeze the nuclear activities? And also, they asked the U.S. to stop the THAAD system. So, did President Putin bring up his concern about the deployment of THAAD system. And also, what's the expectation of President Trump at tomorrow's meeting with President Xi Jinping and other than (INAUDIBLE)?

TILLERSON: The subject of THAAD did not come up in the meeting with President Putin. In terms of the progress of North Korea and this last missile launch,

again, those are some of the differences of views we have between ourselves in terms of tactics, how to deal with this. President Putin, I think, has expressed a view not unlike that of China, that they would support a freeze for freeze. If we study the history of the last 25 years of engagement with various regimes in North Korea, this has been done before. And every time it was done, North Korea went ahead and proceeded with its program.

The problem with freezing now, if we freeze where they are today, we freeze their activities with a very high level of capability. And we do not think it also sets the right tone for where these talks should begin. And so we're asking North Korea to be prepared to come to the table with an understanding that these talks are going to be about, how do we help you chart a course to cease and roll back your nuclear program. That's what we want to talk about. We're not interested in talking about, how do we have you stop where you are today. Because stopping where they are today is not acceptable to us.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)