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Wolf

Trump's U.N. Speech; Puerto Rico Braces for Hurricane Maria; Manafort Wiretapped; Senate Cancels Trump Lawyer's Hearing. Aired 1- 1:30p ET

Aired September 19, 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 HOST: Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

A defiant debut. President Trump telling the United Nations the U.S. would destroy North Korea, calling Kim Jong Un a rocket man on a suicide mission. The reaction to his speech now pouring in.

Plus, catastrophic Maria an extremely dangerous category five hurricane, closing in on Puerto Rico, leaving destruction in its wake. The brand-new forecast coming up.

And listening in, the president's former campaign chairman wiretapped by the feds, a period when he was known to talk to President Trump. The details on this CNN exclusive report. All of that coming up.

But up first, it was blunt and, at times, blistering. In his first speech before the United Nations general assembly, President Donald Trump condemned the nuclear agreement with Iran and delivered a very stark warning to North Korea's leader.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The United States has great strength and patience. But if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.

Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime. The United States is ready, willing and able. But hopefully this will not be necessary.

The Iran deal was one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into. Frankly, that deal is an embarrassment to the United States, and I don't think you have heard the last of it. Believe me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The president said the U.S. will do its part in dealing with global issues, but the main focus is to look out for its own interests.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As President of the United States, I will always put America first. Just like you as the leaders of your countries will always and should always put your countries first.

The United States will forever be a great friend to the world and especially to its allies. But we can no longer be taken advantage of or enter into a one-sided deal where the United States gets nothing in return.

As long as I hold this office, I will defend America's interest above all else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's go to our Chief National Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto. He's joining us from outside the United Nations. Jim, this was a no holds barred speech. How did it play among the gathering of world leaders?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, I'll tell you, that comment, that threat to North Korea sparked an enormous reaction. I spoke a short time ago to a senior U.N. diplomat who described it to me this way, saying that he, diplomats around him were taken aback.

He described it to me like a wind had gone through the room when the president uttered those words, we will totally destroy North Korea. He said it was an emotional reaction. It was -- there were rumblings to hear an American president threaten, in so many words, to obliterate another country. Truly remarkable.

And with the Iran threat somewhat different, a sense in the room that this is an American president who very well may withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.

But I'll tell you, it's those words about North Korea that particularly sparked a reaction in that room. Audible gasps I'm told. Extremely unusual, an emotional reaction as this diplomat said.

BLITZER: You know, Jim, the president was criticized over the weekend for referring to the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, as rocket man. He did so in a tweet.

So, how did that end up in the formal address before the United Nations?

SCIUTTO: I'll tell you, it's interesting. I mean, we saw the president import his Twitter diplomacy directly to the floor of the United Nations general assembly. And it's our understanding that the president himself wanted that language in there. That he wanted to, in effect, double down on that description.

As you know, he likes to have descriptions, whether it's crooked Hillary or others. But rocket man seems to be his favorite one for Kim Jong Un now.

And those words, on any other day, might have been -- might have been the most marked remarkable to people in the room. But I'll tell you, when he took that next step of saying that we will totally destroy a country, that's the one that stood out to many in the room.

BLITZER: And then, he doubled down on that when he said, rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime. The United States is ready, willing and able.

Jim Sciutto at the United Nations, thanks very much.

Let's get more on the president's U.N. address. Let's bring in our CNN Political Analyst David Gregory. He's here in Washington. And our Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour. She's at the United Nations.

[13:05:03] So, Christiane, what's the reaction to the possibility of the United States dumping the Iran nuclear deal?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's not a very good reaction. Anybody you talk to here, particularly the countries who signed up and were instrumental in negotiating that deal which took a period of nearly two years, say that while it may not be the best in the world, it is something that gives us nuclear security around the country, Iran. That the world, obviously, had been very frightened about or very concerned about its nuclear ambitions.

Hence, you know, 10 years or more of the most draconian international sanctions had been placed on Iran. And now, you have this deal.

So, I spoke to the president of France, Emmanuel Macron. It's his first interview outside of France since taking office. And he is almost like the new face of multilateralism, globalization and sticking and fighting for the, sort of, liberal world order that has underpinned our world order since World War II. And this is what he said about the prospect of withdrawing from the Iran deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMANNUEL MACRON, PRESIDENT, FRANCE: I think it would be a big mistake. I think if president -- I don't think that this Iran bill, this nuclear deal with Iran, is the (INAUDIIBLE) of everything about how to deal with Iran. If President Trump considers it's not sufficient, I do agree with that. We have this deal.

I think that the outcome of this deal is that now we have the money (ph) to reprocess with the international agency following the situation. And I think that it's better than nothing. OK? Why? Because if we stop with this bill, if we just stop with our agreement. So, we will enter into a situation very similar to the Korean situate -- North Korean situation before what happened this summer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: So, basically what he was saying is what we all know. That there has not been even a fraction of the time and energy and diplomatic skills spent on North Korea's real, live nuclear weapons program as there has been on Iran's nuclear program. And they stopped it, you know, before there was any weapons development.

So, this is a very, very crucial situation and the rest of the world does not want to see Iran's deal ripped up and to allow Iran to say what it said. That if that happens, it'll go back to enriching uranium again.

I will also say that I happen to know that, obviously, the North Koreans are very angry about what President Trump said in the Security Council today. I have sources who have indicated that one way or the other. So, they are pretty angry. They've already indicated that to my team.

And, secondly, though, I would say on Trump's wording about North Korea, yes, it was more flurried. Yes, it was more, you know, nicknamed rocket man. But it's the same thing that General Mattis, the Defense Secretary, said about North Korea when it launched its sixth nuclear test. He said that if the United States is threatened, we will respond with massive and overwhelming force. That is the same kind of thing that President Trump said today. He was careful to say if we are threatened. Back to you, Wolf.

AMANPOUR: A fair point. Yes, let me go to David Gregory in. He said, if it is forced -- if the United States is forced to defend itself for its -- or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.

That -- you don't often hear that at a United Nations' event.

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: For good reason. I mean, it's really frightening to hear an American president talk about obliterating any other country. The access of evil speech, the George W. Bush gate (ph) was certainly frightening and got controversial to a lot of people. But he didn't go that far.

I really think the audience was who was in the room. Namely Russia, namely China, those people who could influence the north. To say, look, we don't want to do this, but we're going to do something differently than successive administrations have done and we have not been able to really deter North Korea.

We've got to do something differently, whether it's some kind of preemptive attack. You've got to step up and really make it painful for North Korea, or you're forcing us, the United States, into a corner.

BLITZER: Yes, because I think you're right. I think that message, while delivered to the North Korean delegation which happened to be sitting in the front row at the United Nations general assembly, was also directed towards China and Russia. Both of whom don't want to see all-out war on the Korean Peninsula. The Chinese would be awfully served because millions of North Korean refugees would pour into China. They don't want to see that.

So, that was also seen as a warning to both Russia and China. You can do a lot more to prevent that scenario from unfolding. GREGORY: Right. And this was an appeal to the collective action part

of the United Nations, to really tighten the screws, or in this case, the fuel oil, for example, against North Korea to really make them hurt. Because the United States doesn't want war in that region, certainly China doesn't.

[13:10:04] The question is, what is it that North Korea is ultimately after? What you've heard in the days leading up to this speech from the administration are a lot of signals that they want direct dialogue with the North Koreans which the north presumably wants because it wants to be recognized as a nuclear power.

This was very much Trump as a strong man which I think he fashions himself as. My concern about the broader tone of the speech is that it really did push aside the idea of collective action and America as the leader of that collective action internationally. And seemed to fortify those people who said, look, I'm just going to look after the interests of my own. Whatever country that is from America to Russia.

BLITZER: And all the other countries that do have diplomatic relations with North Korea or economic ties with North Korea. He warned them, stop it and stop it quickly.

David, I want you to stand by. We're going to have a lot more with David Gregory.

But right now, I want to turn to another breaking story. Hurricane Maria is now set to slam into Puerto Rico as a category five very dangerous storm. It could be a devastating -- this could be the strongest, the most devastating hurricane, in fact, to ever hit a U.S. territory.

The governor there in Puerto Rico warning people in flood zones to get out while they can as the island prepares for potentially catastrophic damage. Maria has already hit the island of Dominica. The prime minister there had to be rescued from his own home after the roof was torn off. And posting this dire warning on his Facebook page, quote, "Initial reports are of widespread devastation. So far, we have lost all of what money can buy and replace."

Let's go to our meteorologist Allison Chinchar. She's tracking Hurricane Maria for us. Allison, this storm gained a lot of strength and very quickly. Do we know where it will make landfall when it actually reaches Puerto Rico in the next day or so?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Our best guess, at this point, is going to be on that southern tier. But, again, any shift that it would take in the next several hours could adjust that.

Here's the current statistics. It is 160 mile per hour sustained winds. That means consistent winds. The gusts have been upwards of, say, 195 miles per hour. Now, it is getting close enough to Puerto Rico that we can now actually see the storm on the Puerto Rican radar.

OK, you can see some of those outer bands coming into the Virgin Islands, also into Puerto Rico. And here, in these last couple of frames, you can actually even start to see the eyewall on the radar. And as it gets closer and closer, more of those outer bands will fill in.

Here is the storm. OK. Right now, still a category five storm. As it continues over the open water towards the Virgin Islands, it's expected to remain a category five storm. Then, as it gets closer to Puerto Rico, it's going to be on that verge of category four, category five strength, likely somewhere between 150 and 160 miles per hour. One fifty would make it a category four. One sixty would make it a category five.

So, in terms of category size, you're talking semantics here, because it's going to be less than a 10 mile per hour difference. The point is it's just going to be an incredibly strong storm as it crosses over Puerto Rico.

From there, it heads towards the Dominican Republican and eventually in towards the Turks and Caicos. And then, from there, Wolf, again, we've talked about all kinds of different scenarios. But, at this point, it looks like it's going to veer back out over open water.

Any impacts to the U.S., we have to wait a few more days because we'd be talking about seven days out from now.

BLITZER: All right, good. We'll see what the forecast develops over the next seven days. Allison Chinchar, thank you very much.

Let's go to CNN's Leyla Santiago. She's in San Juan, Puerto Rico for us as the territory prepares for the worst. Layla, the island still hasn't fully recovered from Irma. How are they preparing for what's coming next?

LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'll let you take a look right behind me. This is the line for ice. These are people who have come to a town called Loiza, just right near San Juan. And they've been waiting in line for hours to get ice.

Now, why is ice such a big deal? Because many believe that the power will be gone if -- though -- I mean, and that's assuming that many have gotten power back. And actually, it looks like they're switching the sign right now, possibly to limit the amount of ice. (INAUDIBLE.)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE.)

SANTIAGO: So, she is telling me that they are going to close this down at 6:00 tonight. So, these people need to get ice. They have a few more hours to get ice.

But let me get back to the point I was making here. Ice is a big deal because power is a big deal. The power system here not great because of the economic crisis. They have -- it lacks maintenance and as a result, there are still thousands of people without power on this island since Hurricane Irma. Remember, the economic crisis here, $70 billion in debt on this U.S. territory. [13:15:00] These are U.S. citizens that are not only dealing with a storm, a weather system that's coming its way, but also the economic crisis that is looming over.

So the governor has said, it's important to get out of these flood- prone areas. It's important to get out of wooden houses and then they'll worry about rebuilding.

But many of these people are worried about Maria and what will come after Maria, how they will rebuild if it's the devastation that is expected here, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, it could be awful indeed.

All right, Leyla, thank you very much. Leyla Santiago in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Good luck to all the folks there.

Meanwhile, there's explosive new CNN reporting that the president's former campaign chairman was wiretapped by the U.S. government. The question is now why and was the president also recorded?

Plus, just in, Senate investigators abruptly cancel their questioning of Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, after he arrived on Capitol Hill. You're going to hear why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:20:00] BLITZER: A bombshell of the Russia investigation. The U.S. government tapping the phone of a top Trump campaign official, now raising the question, did former campaign chairman Paul Manafort invite the Russians to mess with the U.S. presidential election? It's a CNN exclusive.

Here to explain all of this, our crime and justice reporter Shimon Prokupecz, who broke the story along with Pamela Brown and Evan Perez.

Shimon, talk a little bit about the surveillance. When did it start?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, we're told by several sources that the surveillance began in 2014 when Paul Manafort was under investigation for some work he was doing for the Ukrainian ruling party at the time. There was some suspicious activity. The Ukrainians were under investigation for some corruption. And the FBI went to the FISA court and asked for a warrant to start conducting surveillance and to start essentially listening in on his phone calls. That is when the FBI first started listening in and conducting surveillance of Paul Manafort.

BLITZER: Do we know, Shimon, if any of Manafort's communications with Donald Trump were captured either before or after he won the election?

PROKUPECZ: We don't know. You know, simply put, we just don't know. And none of our sources seem to know.

But what was going on was, after the FBI opened its investigation into Trump associates and the whole Russia medaling investigation, at some point they went back to the FISA court and asked for another warrant. And there they began surveillance of Paul Manafort again. This time in relation to the Russia medaling investigation.

And we're told that that warrant, that eavesdropping, the FISA warrant, continued into early of this year, well into the president's term in office. And we're also told by sources that Trump, the president, President Trump was known to speak to Manafort at the time. So it is possible that some of those communications were captured by the FBI.

BLITZER: Shimon Prokupecz reporting. Thanks very much.

Another major part of the Russia investigation took a strange turn today with the abrupt cancellation of the appearance of Trump's personal lawyer, long-time confidant, Michael Cohen of New York (ph). Cohen was supposed to face serious questions from investigators from the Senate Intelligence Committee. But something happened.

Let's go to CNN's Ryan Nobles. He's up on Capitol Hill.

Ryan, tell our viewers what happened.

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, certainly an odd morning here on Capitol Hill. Michael Cohen appeared prepared to answer questions in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee. He actually sat in the hearing room for more than an hour and a half and then left abruptly afterwards saying that the committee decided to postpone the hearing.

Listen to what he told our Manu Raju after emerging from that hearing room.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Did they say why (INAUDIBLE).

(CROSS TALK)

MICHAEL COHEN, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S ATTORNEY: That's a question you're going to have to ask the Senate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

COHEN: It was a request of the Senate Intelligence to postpone. And I'll be back. And I look forward to giving all the information that they're looking for.

Thank you so much. Thank you so much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBLES: So essentially what we've learned, Wolf, is that there was some disappointment by the Senate Intelligence committee because Cohen essentially preempted his appearance today in front of the committee by releasing the statement that he had prepared to read to the committee. And we are told -- our Jeremy Herb (ph) learning that some of these Senate Intelligence Committee members were upset by the way that Jared Kushner had similarly done that earlier in the year. They did not want Cohen to try and preempt his testimony at all.

And both the Senate Intelligence Committee leaders from the Republican and Democratic side, Mark Warner and Richard Burr, releasing this statement just a few minutes ago and it reads, quote, we are disappointed that Mr. Cohen decided to preempt today's interview by releasing a public statement prior to his engagement with the committee staff, in spite of the committee's request that he refrain from public comment. As a result, we declined to move forward with today's interview and will reschedule Mr. Cohen's appearance before the committee in open session at a date in the near future.

And, Wolf, that is significant. Cohen's appearance today was behind closed doors. He was going to answer questions from committee staff and not be under oath. It appears now that both Republicans and Democrats want him back up here on The Hill. They want him to appear in open session and under oath.

In fact, I talked to Senator Richard Blumenthal from Connecticut just a few minutes ago. He said it is imperative that the next time Cohen appears, that he does so in open session.

Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, thanks very much. Ryan Nobles up on Capitol Hill.

Let's discuss this and more with our panel. Our CNN political analyst David Gregory is with us. Our national security and legal analyst, former national security agency attorney Susan Hennessey is with us. And CNN legal analyst Michael Zeldin. He's also a former federal prosecutor. He was once Robert Mueller's assistant over at the Department of Justice.

So I'll start with you, David. How significant are all of these developments, starting with the wiretapping of Paul Manafort, the campaign chairman.

[13:25:08] DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, the fact that he was the campaign chairman shows you how aggressively the connections are being pursued by the special prosecutor, It reaches to the campaign chairman, someone who was so close to then candidate and then president-elect Trump. So this is extremely significant.

And it also shows that what we've been able to glean publically, that maybe the special prosecutor is focusing on potential obstruction of justice. There's also the financial investigation with regard to not just Manafort but the -- the Trump enterprises as well.

In addition to those contacts and the attempt to manipulate the election results working in cahoots with the Russians, that's the level of inquiry in three different directions that is very aggressive, very intense and coupled with what we know publicly, coupled with the fact that the president and others have been less than truthful about aspects of this, that he fired the FBI director because he didn't like how he was conducting the investigation. I think this kind of fortifies a lot of the investigation certainly on Capitol Hill that we were just hearing about.

BLITZER: And it's pretty extraordinary -- Susan, you're a former National Security Agency attorney -- that not once but twice they got a FISA court, a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court, twice they got permission to wiretap Paul Manafort, an American citizen.

SUSAN HENNESSEY, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY AND LEGAL ANALYST: Right. So what it indicates is that in two distinct circumstances they were able to show a judge probable cause. That Paul Manafort was the agent of a foreign power. The way that's defined under FISA, typically that includes, that involves the possibility of their being criminal conduct. So these are really serious allegations. The mere fact that a judge thought there was enough here to issue a warrant in two circumstances.

The other real question is the intervening thing was that Donald Trump saw fit to hire him as his campaign chair. And so it really does raise questions about sort of the president's judgment. Some of these questions about Paul Manafort's contacts and behavior in the Ukraine were already known prior to the time that he was hired to the Trump campaign. And so it really does raise questions both about the preexisting warrant and then certainly the reissuance later on.

BLITZER: But there's no assurance that the Trump campaign, or Donald Trump, as a private citizen, a candidate at that point, knew that Paul Manafort was under FISA surveillance.

HENNESSEY: Well, certainly he wasn't aware that there was a FISA warrant -- that a FISA warrant had been issued. But certainly there was public reporting about the troubling nature of some of these connections. And, in fact, sort of, you know, the revelation of this -- of this ledger purportedly documenting the transfer of funds in the Ukraine. That was one of the reasons why Paul Manafort ultimately had to step down from the campaign.

BLITZER: You know, Michael, in addition to our reporting, "The New York Times" is reporting that the special counsel, Robert Mueller and his team, have already told Manafort when they searched his house, went through his house, his documents, that he's a target of this investigation and probably will be indicted.

MICHAEL ZELDIN, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: That's right. That's what they are saying. And this summer has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day type of summer for Paul Manafort. His house is searched. His storage locker is searched. His lawyer is given a grand jury subpoena. His spokesperson is given a grand jury subpoena. He is subject to a FISA warrant and now he's been told he's a target. So it's a bad time for him.

And the issue that the prosecutors will have to determine ultimately is, does Paul Manafort have information that is relevant to their investigation as to others so that they can work out a deal with him for testimony and move up the food chain, if you will.

BLITZER: Which raises the possibility that your former boss, Robert Mueller, the special counsel, is engaged in what "The New York Times" calls shock and awe treatment, not only of Manafort, but of others to get them to cooperate.

ZELDIN: Well, I think that's right. I think that's what prosecutors often do is they try to leverage people to get testimony that they otherwise don't have access to. And an easy way to do that is to charge them with very provable crimes. In this case, Manafort is under investigation for money laundering possibilities in New York by the state AG. He's under investigation by tax violations by federal authorities. He's under investigation for failure to register as a foreign agent.

There are lots of things that he is vulnerable to, which a prosecutor could say, look, this is a straight forward case. I can charge you and you can spend five years in prison or we can make a deal.

GREGORY: And look at the context, right? I mean you have Michael Flynn, former national security adviser, who has all these ties to foreign powers, including Russia. There's a president-elect and before that a candidate who seemed completely unconcerned with the fact that there was evidence that Russia wanted him to become president, was certainly seeking to influence the outcome of the election. And that kind of pressure that could be put on Manafort now can yield results.

And, by the way, the wiretapping starts when the FBI is still run by Jim Comey, who the president says I fired because I didn't like how he was investigating, you know, this Russia connection. I mean you put all this together. It should be really troubling.

[13:29:57] BLITZER: I mean Michael Cohen, he was going to be questioned by investigators from the Senate Intelligence Committee today but he released this statement, a four page document, that all of us have read by now. And as result, they keep him waiting for an hour and a half. They don't question him. They say he's going to come back another time in open session.