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Trump's Base Explodes; Trump Vows Wall; Deaths At Nursing Home; Nursing Home Deaths in Florida; Deal for Dreamers. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired September 14, 2017 - 13:00   ET

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


WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: First, President Trump and Democrats play another round of let's make a deal. The two sides say they will work on a plan to protect the so-called dreamers, more than 800,000 individuals brought to the United States illegally when they were children.

The president insists that a border wall is vital to immigration. But he says everyone agrees on protecting the dreamers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But everybody's on board. They want to do something. We're not talking about amnesty. We're talking about -- we're talking about taking care of people. People that were brought here. People that have done a good job and were not brought here of the own volition.

But, very importantly, what we want, we have to have a wall. If the wall is going to be obstructed, when we need the funds at a little bit later date, we'll be determining how much we need, then we're not doing anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Democratic leaders say the president's comments are in line to what they agreed to over dinner with him last night at the White House. The House Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi, was asked whether she trusts the president to take care of the dreamers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), CALIFORNIA, MINORITY LEADER: When we're talking about the -- this legislation to protect the dreamers, yes, I do trust that the president is sincere in understanding that the public supports -- that overwhelmingly the public supports not sending these people back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's bring in our Senior White House Correspondent Jeff Zeleny. He's joining us from the White House.

Jeff, earlier, it sounded like the president and the Democrats may have been at odds over what was actually agreed over dinner last night at the White House. But now, it sounds like basically on the fundamental issues, they seem to be pretty much on the same page. Is that right?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, they do, indeed. And it was a bit of a race to define who could define the dinner last night, define the outlines of this agreement.

But there is no question the president has confirmed today, in multiple stops, speaking here at the White House before flying down to Florida, that he is, indeed, working with Democrats on a deal to keep the dreamers here in the U.S. Those 800,000 or so young men and women, most of whom are in their 20s now who came here as children.

He said that, you know, most of America supports that plan. Now, so interestingly, we saw House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi right there saying that she trusts the president on this.

And we saw and heard from Speaker Paul Ryan, the Republican, just a short time ago, saying that, look, you know, this is simply a discussion.

So, what we're seeing here is the, you know, continuation of a strategy. The second deal in as many weeks here that the president has, indeed, brokered with Democratic leaders here. And, yes, there is some consternation among conservatives. You know, there's some griping amongst Republicans.

But the reality here is the president is leading the way on this and he wants something to be done on the dreamers here. He wants to protect them.

And he said, Wolf, that he would do it first. That would take priority over funding the wall.

Now, the White House has tried to send a message to conservatives. The president has as well. That he's still interested in massive border security. That is the sticking point on this.

But, Wolf, this is something that we could not have really anticipated a couple days ago. He's working with Democrats again and we'll see if the Republicans join them here.

But this is a significant development today.

BLITZER: It certainly is.

All right, Jeff Zeleny at the White House. Thanks very much.

ZELENY: Sure.

BLITZER: The president's base, though, at least a big chunk of it, seems to be exploding over any hint of a deal that could include what the critics call amnesty.

Look at the headline on Breitbart today. It's called, quote, "Amnesty Don." And listen to what Republican Congressman Steve King said on CNN's "NEW DAY."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. STEVE KING (R), IOWA: Something is going to have to get reversed here with the president's policy or it'll just blow up his base. I mean, this was a straight-up promise all the way through his campaign. What it means is that the base will leave him. They won't be able to defend him anymore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, let's discuss all of this with our panel. Our Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger is with us. Our CNN Political Analyst, the White House reporter for "The New York Times," Julie Davis, is with us. And our White House Reporter Kaitlan Collins is here as well.

Gloria, is the president in any serious risk, right now, of losing that base which has been with him pretty much consistently as a result of his desire to allow the 800,000 dreamers to remain in the United States?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, according to Steve King, he is in danger of blowing up his base.

But the president came out and said, look, eventually, we're going to build the wall. I think the wall is the bigger issue. And what they're doing is that they're kicking that can down the road, obviously.

But the confusion here I think is over this question of amnesty. You know, the president saying, we're not looking at citizenship. We are not looking at amnesty. But one of his spokesperson said today that eventually this could include legal citizenship over a period of time. So, that's a big question for his base.

But if we take a step back here, we are seeing a strategic shift by this president in a major way.

[13:05:01] First, he cut the deal over the debt ceiling with Democrats. Then, he's meeting with Pelosi and Schumer, having a nice meal over Chinese food and cutting a deal over DACA.

What this president has decided is what he was doing before wasn't working so he's looking to Democrats. Because what he wants to do, above all else, is win. And we all know that.

BLITZER: What he wrote on Twitter this morning, Julie, about the dreamers, could have been written by a whole bunch of liberal Democrats, as far as the dreamers are concerned. Does anybody want to throw out good, educated, accomplished young people who have jobs, some serving in the military? Really? They have been in our country for many years through no fault of their own, brought in by parents at a young age. Plus, big border security.

But even the liberal Democrats want big border security, not necessarily a wall.

JULIE DAVIS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": And they voted for it.

BLITZER: Yes.

DAVIS: I mean, that's part -- that's part of the underpinning of this negotiation is that Democrats have been talking for a long time about, we're just as tough as anyone on wanting to secure our borders.

But we also have to treat the people who are already here, not just the dreamers. But, of course, the 11 million other undocumented people who are in the country who have come over the years, and find a solution for them that's sustainable.

What's so interesting about what you read there and what Gloria was talking about, in terms of no amnesty, no citizenship, is I really -- I think we haven't seen any evidence that his base is abandoning him on this. And because he made this such a calling card of his campaign, they trust him on immigration.

And you -- he can define the terms in a way that he wants to define them. And I think he has taken that mandate and taken that mantle and is going to try to push it as far as he can. And that is what really worries Republicans. Not just Steve King, who's been very hard-lined on this, but the Republican leadership that understands that he can -- he has the latitude here to cut a deal if he wants to that doesn't include them.

BLITZER: But some outspoken conservatives, Kaitlan, as you well know, they're going after him on this. They are not happy at all.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: No, they're not pleased at all because this is something he promised time and time again on the campaign trail. And speaking of amnesty, he said that DACA was an illegal form of that and it was unconstitutional for President Barack Obama to sign it.

But I think, largely, Republicans are very confused here. They've been largely left out of all of these decisions. They weren't invited to the dinner last night, Senator Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan.

And when Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked why they were being left out, she said, well, the head of the Republican Party is going to be sitting right there at the table.

But I think their concern is that this is a president who often distances himself from Republicans. On Twitter, he always says, the Republicans and they should do this and they haven't done that, acting as if he isn't one of them.

So, I think that Republicans are concerned that when they're left out of meetings like that, that their concerns aren't being brought to the table and they aren't being heard. And that no one is standing up for them.

BORGER: But to be -- you know, Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan want to do something about DACA. And so, in a way, they are OK with this. I think the question is the base of the party and what's the president going to do which is why he keeps talking about this wall now. We're not giving up on the wall. Because I think he wants to try to walk and chew gum at the same time. And he wants to win.

And to your point, Kaitlan, he doesn't identify himself as the leader of the Republican Party. He's just Donald Trump.

BLITZER: You know, and he clearly feels pretty comfortable with Chuck and Nancy as he -- as he has been calling them, inviting them now for a second dinner, Chinese food, last night. Chocolate cake, right, for dessert.

DAVIS: Chocolate pie, I think it was,

BLITZER: Chocolate pie for dessert.

DAVIS: Right. And I think, yes, he -- and people at the White House will acknowledge, privately, that he, in some ways, feels a lot more comfortable with them than he feels -- and you can see the body language. When you saw the pictures of that Oval Office meeting where he cut the deal -- the debt and spending deal with them last week.

He clearly feels much more at ease talking New York to Chuck Schumer than he does talking with Mitch McConnell, the chess master of the -- of the Senate.

And on the politics of this, there's no question that there is room for him to cut some sort of a deal here.

But, importantly, and I think he recognizes this as well, it's not without risk for the Democrats. Because he will define the wall and border security the way that he wants to define it.

And they're going to have to, in the end, make a choice whether getting the Dream Act and getting the legalization of this population that they have been talking about so passionately for so many years is worth the border security that's going to be painted by some in the Democratic Party as mean spirited and, you know, a huge concession that nobody ever wanted to make.

BLITZER: He says, Kaitlan, there will be massive border security.

But when it comes to the wall, he tweeted this this morning. The wall which is already under construction, in the form of new renovation of old and existing fences and walls, will continue to be built. That's a far cry from the wall will be built and Mexico will pay for it, I guarantee this.

COLLINS: Right, repairing the fence doesn't have the same ring to it as build that wall which is something that he's constantly hedged on since taking office. They've gone back and forth on what the wall is going to look like.

We saw, from his call with the Mexican president back in January, when those transcripts leaked, that he, kind of, realized Mexico's not going to pay for this wall.

[13:10:06] And like today, he was saying, oh, well, we'll figure out funding. We'll get it in there.

And he was asked, does he want to have funding for this border wall before he comes up with a solution for these dreamers to get legal status? And he couldn't really answer. There's mixed messages coming from all over the place on this.

And we even saw the president contradict himself on Twitter this morning. He said that no deal on DACA had been made. And then, about an hour later, as he was departing for Florida, we saw him say that they were fairly close to a deal.

So, it's really all over the place what they're doing about this wall.

BLITZER: Yes, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer were very specific. They said, it looks there will be a deal. And they will have security. And we'll deal with the dreamers, excluding the wall. That was very precise.

BORGER: Well, and they were racing each other last night to put out press releases first to see who could shape the narrative about what had actually occurred.

COLLINS: Well, I think the reason for that is because, often times, the president will say things to people. And then, later, his aides will say, oh, he didn't say that or he didn't mean it like that.

So, if he says, the border wall doesn't have to be in this deal, they want to get that out there as soon as possible and be in control of the narrative, like you said.

BLITZER: The wall will be down the road. Right now, they've got other issues they're going to deal with. Security -- border security and a deal with the dreamers.

All right, guys, thanks very much, Gloria, Julie and Kaitlan.

President Trump, meanwhile, made his comments while he's in Florida. He's there surveying the damage left in the wake of Hurricane Irma. The president praised everyone involved in the recovery effort.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We love these people and we're going to be back and we're going to help. And the job that everybody has done, in terms of first responders and everybody, has been incredible.

And, by the way, that includes the people that live here because you see the people immediately getting back to work to fix up their homes, like Bobby and like some of the others.

So, I just want to tell you, we are there for you 100 percent. I'll be back here numerous times. I mean, this is a state that I know very well, as you understand. And these are special, special people and we love them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's go to our Senior White House Correspondent Jim Acosta. He's traveling with the president down in Florida today. Jim, so, how have the folks down there responded to the president's visit?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, I think that they were definitely lifted up by the president's visit. We saw him here at the mobile home community in Naples within the last hour. He and the vice president, the first lady, Florida Governor Rick Scott were all handing out food to some of the storm victims in this area.

And you could see the president handing out sandwiches, the vice president handing out bananas to people as they came up to him. And the president posing for pictures and that sort of thing. Really doing what presidents do when these kinds of disasters strike and that is to try to give some moral support to people who are in hard-hit areas, after something as devastating as Hurricane Irma.

It was interesting, Wolf, the president made some remarks as he got here on the ground in Fort Myers -- in nearby Fort Myers. He was talking about this DACA decision that apparently is coming soon. The deal, no deal, as it's being described back in Washington.

The president really caused some more confusion, telling reporters that this isn't amnesty. That this is not any kind of path to citizenship.

When his own spokeswoman, earlier in the day on Air Force One, was telling reporters that that path for citizenship for these dreamers is something that they would be looking at as part of these negotiations. And so, the White House is going to have to sort through some of that.

And, Wolf, the other thing that I think stands out during the president's visit here is that he does have this tendency sometimes to -- and he just can't seem to help himself. He does politicize these trips, even when he's going into disaster areas.

It was after that first trip to Texas, after Hurricane Harvey, when he remarked on the size of his crowd that had come to see him. Making remarks to some of the storm vehicles there.

Today, he talked about Florida Governor Rick Scott and encouraged the governor here to run for the Senate. That's obviously a political statement being made during an official trip to survey storm damage. So, the president there mixing some politics with business down here in southwest Florida.

But no question about it, when we saw the pictures coming in from this mobile home community behind me -- and keep in mind, Wolf, there's just storm damage all around us. Roofs and mobile homes and so forth just right next to us. The people did have spirits lifted in seeing the president, the first lady and the vice president down here earlier today -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Good point. Jim Acosta is in Naples, Florida with the president. Thank you.

Meanwhile, the medical examiner is investigating a tragedy at a Florida nursing home, following the wrath of Hurricane Irma. Eight patients died after what city officials describe as excessively hot conditions inside the facility.

Let's go to our Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. She's joining us from Hollywood, Florida right now.

Elizabeth, what is the latest on this very, very tragic development?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, it is such a tragic story. And, Wolf, what we've learned is that a search warrant has been issued for the facility, for the nursing home behind me.

[13:15:02] We've been told that it hasn't been executed yet. That they haven't actually entered the building. But the search warrant has been issued -- Wolf.

BLITZER: What is the nursing home saying about all of this. Eight senior citizens in that nursing home died. Others are still in critical condition at a hospital right nearby. There's a major, Memorial Hospital, right across the street. There were, what, more than 100 people who were suffering inside. What are they saying?

COHEN: What they're saying is, look, our air conditioning broke down on Sunday because of a transformer issue in the air conditioning. The power didn't go out, but just the air conditioning transformer broke. And they said, we called emergency services. We called Florida Power and Light. And, you know, they sort of -- kind of in some way leave it at that.

Now, when officials tell the story, they say, yes, they called us and we talked to them for three days and we asked them, do you have any patient issues? Do they have any medical needs? Are there any medical emergencies? And they said they did not get a "yes" answer to that question.

BLITZER: A very sad story indeed. They've got figure out what happened and make sure they learn the lessons so it doesn't happen again. The very, very vulnerable elderly in Florida at serious risk.

Elizabeth Cohen, thanks very much.

Coming -- standing by, I'll speak live with a Republican lawmaker, a big defender of the president's, about whether the president's dreamer deal could abandon, could hurt that base that the president has among Republicans.

Also, backlash erupts after the U.S. treasury secretary asks for a government jet for his honeymoon. Just the latest blunder by the Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.

And dead or alive. New CNN reporting on the hunt for the leader of ISIS, including how close the U.S. came to actually killing him. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:20:53] BLITZER: Both sides agree there is no final deal, but President Trump and Democratic leaders say they have agreed to work on a plan to protect so-called dreamer, the 800,000 individuals brought to the United States illegally as children. That prompted a headline on "Breitbart News" branding the president as, quote, "amnesty Don." Breitbart is run by the president's former chief strategist, Steve Bannon.

Let's get a Republican lawmaker's reaction to all of this, Republican Congressman Sean Duffy of Wisconsin is here with us.

So what's your reaction to this late-breaking development.

REP. SEAN DUFFY (R), WISCONSIN: A little surprised that the president cut this kind of deal, not because we don't want to deal with the dreamers, DACA. We do. Republicans and Democrats. But that he seems to have walked away of tying DACA to a border wall, which was a campaign promise. He's not talking about massive border security. And I think he runs the risk right now of possibly losing some of his base.

BLITZER: Has he lost you?

DUFFY: No, I support the president, because I support DACA.

BLITZER: You support him on -- you support him on the dreamers too, that there should be a way for these dreamers to remain here legally in the United States and not be forced to go back to any countries their parents brought them from?

DUFFY: I support that. But what I also support is border security because, Wolf, I believe in immigration reform. And you will not get immigration reform wholesale. I mean dealing with people in my communities that -- that came here for the American dream. They work hard. They can't travel. They're afraid of getting arrested when they go to the grocery store. They can't go back to their country of origin. We need immigration reform. And you will not get it until you get border security.

BLITZER: Well, he says he wants border security. The Democrats say they want border security too. The Democrats say they've agreed, at least for now, and the president's not disputing this, that the issue of the wall, they'll be dealt with --

DUFFY: Right.

BLITZER: They'll deal with that separately, not connected to the dreamers.

DUFFY: Right. And my concern is that if you don't do the wall now, it's never going to come. Democrats won't join you in a wall effort. Now, do I need a wall. I don't need a wall. I just -- I need border security. So could he satisfy the base on border security without a wall? Absolutely he can. But that's the key component to get into the next step of immigration reform. And what I think is shocking, progressives, I think, are sitting back and going, who is this Donald Trump that has arrived at our doorstep trying to work with --

BLITZER: Because he's making deals with the Democrats, with his friends Nancy and Chuck.

DUFFY: He's making deals. Nancy and Chuck. Well, I think the country runs better when both parties are working on solutions together. And what I think is great is you've seen Democrats, part of the resist movement, let's try to impeach Trump, let's destroy Trump, now going, hey, maybe we can work with him. And it's that bipartisanship that can get -- maybe he'll give us tax reform. Maybe we can deal with health care with Democrats. But dealing with DACA, a first step to that end goal.

BLITZER: And DACA's a significant issue because he says in the next six months he wants Congress to pass legislation to allow these 800,000 dreamers, as they're called, to stay in the United States. There's still some confusion, though, as far as amnesty, legal status. The White House deputy press secretary, Lindsay Waters, said this today. The Trump administration will not be discussing amnesty. What the Trump administration will discuss is a responsible path forward in immigration reform that could include legal citizenship over a period of time.

DUFFY: Yes.

BLITZER: Are you with him on that?

DUFFY: Well, listen, we're trying to decipher what -- what does amnesty mean? So I would argue amnesty means, if you give someone citizenship. I think offering a legal status, you can stay here. You might not have the full rights of citizenship because you're not going to jump in front of the line of other people who have waited, but you can stay.

BLITZER: Even these children who, through no fault of their own --

DUFFY: Yes, I think --

BLITZER: They've grown up here in the United States.

DUFFY: (INAUDIBLE) --

BLITZER: They're productive citizens. They're not going anywhere.

DUFFY: They're not going home.

BLITZER: Shouldn't they have, a, path to legal status and, b, eventually, after many years, applying for citizenship and going through that process?

DUFFY: I think a path to legal status is what's key because then you're not confronted with the scenario where you've got a kid that came here at three years old. This is the only country he knows. He's an American for all intents and purposes. And you're going to round that kid up and send them home. We avoid that catastrophic --

BLITZER: But shouldn't that kid eventually have a path to citizenship? You wouldn't rule that out?

DUFFY: I think we -- no, no, I won't rule it out, but I want to take a closer look at that, because we also want to follow our laws and we want to make sure our immigration system is fair, Wolf.

BLITZER: Because especially if these kids, you know, they're now young adults, if they work hard, they play by the rules, some serve in the U.S. military. Of course you would want those serving in the U.S. military to have citizenship, right?

[13:25:09] DUFFY: What we're talking about here is having a heart for people who came here at a young age. And if you have a heart for these kids, you should also say, we don't want a second or third generation of dreamers, of kids that would fit into a DACA program that have come into the country with their parents, no fault of their own, 10 or 15 or 20 years from now. So what that also means is, you do want to secure your border. If you want to end this crisis with kids, border security is key.

And what I thought was interesting was, Chuck Schumer came out -- I think he was on a different program this morning -- and said, listen, Democrats aren't opposed to border security. So I think we're making headway, which I think, you know, just one month ago we would go -- this -- I mean we're at loggerheads.

BLITZER: Yes, the Democrats want border security. Where they disagree with the president is on constructing a 2,000 mile wall.

DUFFY: And I think you can't have a 2,000 mile wall. There's parts of the border that you need a wall. There's parts that a wall doesn't work. We've talked about that in the past. You need whether it's sensors or boots on the ground or drones. But it's a -- it has to be a holistic look at the border and what works best.

BLITZER: Nancy Pelosi, you heard her say today, she's -- she trusts the president that he's sincere when it comes to dealing with the dreamers. And so the Democrats seem to be on board. And a whole bunch of Republicans will be on board. There will be some hard line conservatives who will strongly resist this, but the votes are there, right?

DUFFY: The -- either, the votes are there. We've got to decipher what the president is actually talking about. He's going to have to come to us and say, this is how this deal will look before we sign off on it. But what we're seeing so far, I think, there would be wide bipartisanship.

But Nancy Pelosi, just what a week ago was calling Donald Trump cruel and was calling him a coward. And now there's almost an embrace together where they're loving each other. It's a unique change in politics in the Trump administration, Wolf. It's crazy stuff.

BLITZER: Now they're all pals and they're having Chinese food for dinner at the White House and chocolate pie for dessert.

DUFFY: Maybe -- they'll be at Mar-a-Lago soon golfing together. Who knows.

BLITZER: It's a -- may be a whole new situation unfolding.

DUFFY: Maybe.

BLITZER: All right, thanks very much, Congressman Sean Duffy of Wisconsin. Appreciate it.

The U.S. treasury secretary -- a very different story unfolding -- once again accused of being tone deaf after he asked for a government jet for his honeymoon. And now new details about his other plane trips in office.

Plus, President Trump blasting Hillary Clinton during her book tour as she gets candid as far as James Comey is concerned, the Electoral College, and what she says cost her votes.

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