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Wolf

Investigators Looking At All Of Mnuchin's Plane Trips; Treasury Secretary Asked To Use Government Jet For Honeymoon; W.H. Criticized For Calling On ESPN Host To Be Fired

Aired September 14, 2017 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:31:35] WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: All right. Just in, investigators are now looking to all of the trips the treasury secretary of the United States has taken this year. Steve Mnuchin faces some serious backlash for asking that a government jet fly him and his wife to their European honeymoon. The request was eventually draft in what is a scene of the latest blunder involving the mega rich couple. CNN Aviation and Government Regulation Correspondent Rene Marsh is with us and CNN White House Reporter Jeremy Diamond is with us as well. You know, Rene, this is a very serious development right now and it's raising lots of questions about the decisions that the treasury secretary has made.

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION & GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Right. The headline today is that he put in this request for this government plane for his European honeymoon. This happened last summer. We should note that he withdrew the request, but the treasury department saying that the reason why he made the request was because he wanted to ensure he had secured communications during his travels with his new wife. They said it was imperative because he sits on the NSC, National Security Council and he is directly involved in issues, national security issues as it relates to North Korea.

All of that said, we know now that the treasury department I.G.'s office is looking into this instance. They are also looking into that case that we reported on last month where he took that flight to Kentucky, made a stop at Fort Knox and viewed the solar eclipse. So they're looking at that but not only that, they're looking at all of his views of government aircraft. They're looking at all of his even request for use of government aircraft.

We know at this point the I.G. inquiry because they're not calling it an investigation at this point. They are reviewing all of the documents, they're still waiting for some critical documents from the treasury department. So it's unclear when they will finish their work. The I.G.'s office. But the office says that this is their priority right now, for I.G.'s says this is their priority right now just because of all the publicity around it.

BLITZER: Yes. The Inspector general is taking a very close look at all of this. You've written a really fascinating important article on CNN.com, Jeremy, saying that Mnuchin's status seems to be going down. Gary Cohn, the president's senior economic adviser in the process. As far as tax reform and other sensitive issues seems to be going up despite the irritation that developed after what Gary Cohn said about the president's remarks in Charlottesville.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN White House Reporter: That's right. Well, we know that for the last several weeks Gary Cohn has been a little bit on the outs with the president after he made that startling public rebuke of the president's response to Charlottesville. But it appears that Gary Cohn's stock may be a little bit on the rise in part because of his relationship with members of Congress and the tax reform push and what's viewed as Mnuchin's more awkward, a little bit of a more clumsy salesmanship on his part as far as trying to sell this tax reform plan and working with members of Congress on these discussions.

We will remember of course last week, the Secretary Mnuchin asked Republican members of Congress to vote for the budget bill for him as if it was a personal favor. That was not viewed well by many members of Congress. And a lot of these members of Congress and Republicans and their aides have told us in the last couple of days essentially that Gary Cohn is viewed as more of the heavy weight in a lot of these discussions.

Mnuchin brings the heft of the treasury department but Gary Cohn really has built a lot of these personal relationships and he's also really valued for his candor whereas Mnuchin in many regards is viewed as a company man who kind of tows the line and regurgitates talking points even in some of these private discussions.

BLITZER: Yes. He's established pretty good relations with key members of Congress not just Republicans and Democrats as well.

[13:35:13] Talking about Gary Cohn. All right. Thanks very much, Jeremy and Rene. Good reporting. Coming up. Hillary Clinton as you never heard her before and why she thinks she lost the presidential election and what she was really thinking during Donald Trump's inauguration. What she also thinks about all those people who didn't vote.

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It was hard for me too, you know, comfort somebody who was coming to me and saying, oh, I wish I had done more or I'm sorry I didn't vote.

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[13:40:04] BLITZER: In a wide ranging interview with CNN's 2Anderson Cooper, Hillary Clinton opened up about the election, the fired FBI Director James Comey, President Trump, and Russia. The Electoral College and so much more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLINTON: The rhetoric was hot. I call it a cry from the white nationalist gut.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: You were wishing you were anywhere else but there?

CLINTON: Anywhere else. Bali maybe. The more important lessons, it will affect our Democracy going forward. And not about him and his investigation. He -- I think he forever changed history, but that's in the past. I'm convinced there was communication. I'm convinced there were meetings and phone calls. I'm convinced that there were financial entanglements. Let's wait to see what it's called. I'm convinced that there was something going on. This was a highly sophisticated influence operation. I believe it did affect people's votes.

COOPER: Do you think it cost you votes?

CLINTON: I think it cost me votes. They took the word pizza out of John Podesta's emails and said that he and I were running a child trafficking ring in a poor little pizza parlor in Washington. It sounds absurd, millions of people were exposed to that. I didn't hear about it for days because it was so inconsequential to vote for them and then I heard about it, I didn't really think much of it.

COOPER: Do you give absolute to those who didn't vote? To one who didn't vote?

CLINTON: No, I don't. Look, I -- when it first started happening, it was so soon after the election and the election was so bizarre and close. It was hard for me too, you know, comfort somebody who was coming to me and saying, oh, I wish I had done more or I'm sorry I didn't vote. I think it needs to be eliminated. I'd like to see us move beyond it, yes.

COOPER: If you had won, would Chelsea Clinton have an office in the west wing which you'd be able to drop in on meetings with Congressional leaders?

CLINTON: No, it wouldn't even cross your mind.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: President Trump reacted to Hillary Clinton's comments yesterday tweeting this. And I'll read it to you. Crooked Hillary Clinton blames everything and everything but herself for her election loss. She lost the debates, lost -- and lost her direction. The deplorables came back to haunt Hillary, they expressed their feelings loud and clear. She spent big money but in the end had no game. Hillary Clinton responding today with her own tweet saying, "If you didn't like that book, try this one.

Some good lessons in here about working together to solve problems. Happy to send a copy." And as you can see, she included a photo of her book, it takes a village. A lot to unpack right now. Joining us now to do that, our Senior Washington Correspondent Brianna Keilar, as well as Susan Page, she's the Washington Bureau Chief for USA Today (INAUDIBLE) one of her earlier books, the new book is just out doing very well. I think it's number one the bestseller list so far. So, what did you think, Brianna? You interviewed Hillary Clinton and spent considerable amount time with her over the years. BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: I think -- I

actually didn't spent a considerable amount of time. If I'm -- if I'm being honest even though I covered her campaign because there wasn't that much access we might actually have with a normal candidate. So, I spent a lot of time observing her but -- my point to that is that there -- she could have done things to have a better campaign.

And here you see in her interview and you see in her book, there is a lot of finger-pointing that is going around at James Comey at people who just couldn't bring themselves to vote for her. And I don't think that there' necessarily the introspection which is something that she's kind of chronically afflicted with and we see that coming out in the interview as well as in the book. At the same time, I find the book fascinating because so often you have books from politicians and they're a little bit whitewashed and now she is someone with her political career behind her. And I do believe this is very much how she feels and so that is completely fascinating to me at the same time.

BLITZER: You interviewed with her earlier in the week for USA Today, Susan, what was your reaction because a lot of people are saying in this book she certainly seems to be a lot more forthcoming that she's been over the years.

SUSAN PAGE, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, USA TODAY: You know, I've actually interviewed her the first time 25 years ago in 1992 when I was working for Newsday and Bill Clinton was running in the New York presidential primary and interviewed her many times since then. And what struck me about the interview this week was that she was -- she was less guarded. Now, she is not unguarded, she's not like John McCain but she is less guarded that she's been in the past (INAUDIBLE) because I think she thinks she is not going to run for office, she's going to need her as her husband, so maybe she feels free to do that.

I also thought she seemed sad. I think that she is not over this unexpected devastating loss, this rejection by voters nor would you really expect her to be 10 months later. An election that right until the time the returns came in, she thought she was going to be the next president.

[13:45:07] BLITZER: Yes.

KEILAR: And she is deeply wounded, I mean, she is mourning the loss in a way, right? Because I think of having interviewed her at the beginning of the campaign right after she declared her candidacy or couple months afterwards, she was extremely guarded as you mentioned. And this was less so, but really -- but wounded.

BLITZER: Yes. I mean, you can sense and correct me if I'm wrong, at least my impression is she still wakes up every morning and says to herself, did I really lose this election? I thought -- everybody thought it was a done deal.

PAGE: And also did I lose to this man? She told me that it would be -- she thought less crushing if she lost to someone for whom she had more respect. She did tell me though that she initially was having a lot of dreams about the election and that has finally stopped. I'm sure that's a relief.

BLITZER: Yes. I'm sure it has. But the way she goes after Comey is very significant because she says at the end of October, just in 11 days or so before the election, he issues the statement, he's reopening the investigation and she says, that cost her votes in key battle ground states like Pennsylvania.

PAGE: She said she felt shivved, right? Or he shivved her. So that is -- I mean, that is just very graphic language where you can feel that she felt very much in a way purposely handicapped and disabled by what Jim Comey did. I think looking back at how Jim Comey has conducted himself when it comes to Hillary Clinton and also when it comes to Donald Trump and the Russia investigation, there is a -- there is criticism for Comey for sure that he was very public and it's at such a crucial time about the Hillary Clinton and the e-mails right before election day. And yet when it came to the Russia issue, he was very quiet about it. But that was not the choice made only by Jim Comey. That was also a choice made by President Obama.

BLITZER: And she also blames the fact at least she seems to blame the former president, President Obama for not being forceful enough in speaking out against the Russian meddling in the presidential election.

PAGE: Yes. She is largely positive about President Obama in the book but she does the make the point that on October 7th when you had leaders of intelligence communities coming out and saying there is this effort by Russia to affect this election. She says, difference might it have made if President Obama had made a speech to the nation and she's very critical of Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, the Senate Majority Leader for warning President Obama that he would see that and portray that as very political move on his part.

BLITZER: Yes. Important stuff all-around especially for those of us who love political history, this is an important book to read and get her sense of what happened. Thanks so much, guys, for helping us. Brianna Keilar and Susan Page. Coming up, dead or alive. We have new details about an attempt to take out the leader of ISIS and why to this state they're not clear if he survived the strike.

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[13:52:17] BLITZER: We have new CNN reporting today on the fate of the leader of ISIS, one of the most wanted men in the world. More in a moment. But first in Southern Iraq right now, ISIS has claimed responsibility for twin attacks that killed 50 people, injured 87. It began when gunmen stormed a restaurant and opened fire soon after a car bomb exploded at a nearby checkpoint. Despite these new attacks, coalition forces have had success driving ISIS from their strongholds in both Iraq and Syria with sustained airstrikes. And over the summer the question arose, was the ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi killed in one of those airstrikes. Our Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr has been doing some serious digging. She's got some new reporting. What are you learning, Barbara?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf. Well, you know, up to $25 million reward on Baghdadi's head. And we are learning never before disclosed to tails, there was a drone strike over the summer. U.S. forces striking believing they had a location that might have been their best chance that Baghdadi was on the ground. They conduct the mission. The problem was, we have learned, after the drone strike there was no confirming intelligence.

No chatter on ISIS social media accounts, no intercepted phone conversations or internet chatter so they could never confirm in that summer drone strike that they actually did get him. There was another mission we've now learned about, a ground mission was planned. They had somebody at a location that they believe had the name Baghdadi, but that mission was called off because there was too much risk concern of collateral damage, civilians on the ground. So that never happened.

But then a series of drone strikes but right now the working assumption is that he is alive because they haven't found the proof that any of these missions did kill him. The best guess now can they undersay is he's alive and he may be somewhere in the Euphrates River Valley in Western Syria. This is now the last big stronghold of ISIS now that they've been pushed out of Iraq, out of Mosul, pushed out of Raqqah. They're now in this very a constricted area but here's a challenge, Russian and Syrian dream forces are also in that area so everybody's looking for him now.

BLITZER: Very quickly, how important is he to ISIS?

STARR: Well, he's important to ISIS but for the U.S. Commanders tell us that it will not be a big deal changer if they get him. There is still a good deal of concern, of course, about ISIS's ability to inspire attackers around the world and we have seen them do that in Europe and so many other places, Wolf.

BLITZER: And as you report, $25 million reward by the U.S. Government for the capture or killing of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Barbara at the Pentagon. Thanks very much.

[13:55:12] Here is an important programming note for our viewers here in the United States and around the world. Please join CNN's Will Ripley for an exclusive journey to North Korea exploring places you have never seen before. It's called Secret State: Inside North Korea. It airs tomorrow night, 10:00 p.m. Eastern only here on CNN. And developing now, conflicting accounts about whether the president and the Democrat -- the Democratic leadership struck a deal over the fate of the so-called DREAMers and the president's base exploding over it. New details just emerging.

Plus, the White House under fire for calling in the ESPN -- for calling in the ESPN to fire one of its hosts after she calls the president a white supremacist. One of her former bosses joins CNN live. That's ahead.

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