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Jeff Sessions Questioned by Senate Judiciary Committee; NFL's Roger Goodell to Respond to Trump; Trump Sends Mixed Messages on Lamar-Murray Health Care Plan; Treasury Chief Warns Pass Tax Plan or Socks Tank; Iranian Leader Slams Trump as Haley Warns Security Council about Iran. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired October 18, 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] JEFF SESSIONS, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Yes, I said within hours I can do that.

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, (D), CONNECTICUT: OK.

SESSONS: I just would like to check. You seem to know. Do you have a source?

BLUMENTHAL: Well, Mr. Attorney General, with all due respect, you're the one answering the questions here today. I will welcome an answer to my question as soon as possible following this hearing as the chairman has suggested and as I think you've agreed. Let people ask you, my understanding is that the president of the United States has interviewed a number of candidates for United States attorney positions around the country including New York. Is that correct?

SESSIONS: I believe that's -- yes, we've done quite a number, not there yet. Not complete. But working through the U.S. attorney process.

BLUMENTHAL: Isn't that quite unusual for the president of the United States to interview the line prosecutor in an office like the United States attorney?

SESSIONS: Well, it's a big district, big state, important office. But I don't know the how many people the U.S. attorney -- the president of the United States has interviewed in these situations. It is his appointment, as you know. What we do in the Department of Justice is do a review. We send that over and the president makes the appointment.

(CROSSTALK)

BLUMENTHAL: Do you know of any president anywhere in our history previously interviewing a candidate for United States attorney? I certainly wasn't interviewed by the president. You weren't interviewed by the president before we were appointed United States attorney. Has it ever happened before?

SESSIONS: Well, a lot of them knew candidates, as you well knew. A lot of the U.S. attorneys are friends of presidents.

(CROSSTALK)

BLUMENTHAL: Well, you're not answering my question.

(CROSSTALK)

BLUMENTHAL: You are correct that presidents sometimes know candidates for United States attorney. But to my knowledge will, no president previously has ever interviewed the chief federal prosecutor in any United States attorney district. I consider it quite unusual. How many other attorneys general candidates has the president interviewed besides New York?

SESSIONS: I'm not aware, I'm not sure I remember whether he had interviewed for New York but if you say so, I assume so. And he has the right to for sure because he has to make an appointment. And I assume that everybody would understand that.

BLUMENTHAL: My understanding, General Sessions, is that certain grants have been terminated to the city of New York because of its alleged violation of sanctuary cities policies, correct?

SESSIONS: We're at a point of reviewing those grants. And I don't know the -- and they may well have been slowed under review. But it could be that a final decision has been made. New York was on the list of one of the cities that was considered to be probably in violation of the existing law, 1373, under the Obama administration. We've reviewed those. A number of them have not been --

(CROSSTALK)

BLUMENTHAL: But --

(CROSSTALK)

SESSIONS: Have gotten on the list.

BLUMENTHAL: -- stayed such an -- an order stopping any grants to New York. And I'm asking you whether the Department of Justice is potentially violating that order. If you could come back to me with a response, I know that you may not recall, but if you also could let me know about that, I'd appreciate it. Let me just say --

SESSIONS: I would just say, Senator Blumenthal, my staff handed me a note that I have not been asked for an interview at this point. My office certainly hasn't been contacted with regard to that.

Maybe you better check your source.

BLUMENTHAL: Let me ask you, finally, you said that the pardon power is very broad. But if that pardon power were used to prevent or forestall testimony in a lawful investigation, that could be obstruction of justice, could it not?

SESSIONS: I don't know, Senator Blumenthal. I've never researched that. I have heard it said. I know you've served in the Department of Justice as United States attorney and you may well be more familiar than I with it. But I have understood that -- my understanding is that a pardon can be issued before a conviction occurs. Do you understand it that way?

BLUMENTHAL: I'm going to, since I'm over my time, I'll come back to this issue in our subsequent questioning.

Thank you.

[13:35:16] WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Another tense exchange between this time Senator Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut, and the Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Blumenthal suggesting that Sessions already has been asked to do an interview with the Special Counsel Robert Mueller. You just heard, got a statement from a staff member saying there's been no such request. Our own Jessica Schneider, our justice correspondent, just got a statement from the Department of Justice saying that Sessions has not been interviewed by the Special Counsel Robert Mueller and has not been asked for one either.

And you heard Senator -- Attorney General Sessions say, go to Blumenthal, go check your sources because he has not been asked for an interview by the special counsel. It may happen down the road. And Sessions said he would fully cooperate with the special counsel if asked. So far, he has not been asked.

As we watch, continue to monitor this hearing, there's another major live event happening any moment now. The National Football League commissioner set to respond to the president who has been blasting the league's decision on players protesting during the national anthem. The NFL says it won't require players to stand during the national anthem. And today the president tweeted this once again: "The NFL has decided that it will not force players to stand for the playing of our national anthem. Total disrespect for our great country."

Jason Reed is senior NFL writer for ESPN's "The Undefeated," and joining us from New York where the team owners have been meeting with the NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Tell what you've learned. Why did the league decide not to force the players to stand?

JASON REED, SENIOR NFL WRITER, THE UNDEFEATED, ESPN: Well, Wolf, there's no mechanism for them to force the players to stand. In the NFL game operations manual, what it says is that players should must be on the field and that they should stand. They would have to rewrite the rule book, the game operations manual during the season. Then there's a question of the push back they would get from the NFL players, the NFL Players Association. To try to force the players to try to stand, I think the owners and Commissioner Goodell just decided that that was not a bridge that they wanted to go down. That was not a hill they wanted to die on.

BLITZER: What is the league doing, Jason, in response to all the issues that have emerged involving these protests?

REED: Well, Wolf, there was a very productive meeting yesterday. That's the way it was characterized by both the Players Association, players and the NFL that the sides talked what they can do moving forward to try to help the players with the issues that they have. The players are very interested in criminal justice reform. They want the NFL effectively to partner with them in kind of helping to get these things done that they want to get done about criminal justice reform, education reform, bridging the gap in communities with regard to policing. So the players feel like the NFL has these immense resources, and they are a big part of the NFL, these players that they want the league to really join them in helping them do things in the communities that will improve the lives of others.

BLITZER: Jason, I want you to stand by. Because we're waiting to hear from Roger Goodell, NFL commissioner, see what decisions they've made. We'll discuss with you after that. Stand by.

There's other news we're following. One day after endorsing a bipartisan deal on health care, President Trump now reversing his support. You're going to hear why and whether the deal now is in serious trouble. Dana Bash and Phil Mattingly will join us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:43:02] BLITZER: President Trump slams a bipartisan health care deal he seemed to support it the just 24 hours ago. Today, the president tweeted this about the deal negotiated by Senators Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray, quote, "I am supportive of Lamar as a person and also of the process, but I can be never support bailing out insurance company who have made a fortune with Obamacare."

All this comes after he touted the plan as an interim solution to the problems of the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare. But here's what he also said just a little while ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to see the bipartisan. And Lamar Alexander's working on it very hard from our side. And if something can happen, that's fine. But I won't do anything to enrich the insurance companies, because right now, the insurance companies are being enriched. They've been enriched by Obamacare like nothing anybody's ever seen before. I am not going to do anything to enrich the insurance companies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right. Let's bring in our CNN congressional correspondent, Phil Mattingly, and chief political correspondent, Dana Bash.

Phil, where exactly does the president stand on this bipartisan deal? What's the reaction to his latest statements which seem to contradict his earlier statements.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No question. It's been a bit of a whiplash the last 24 hours. It appears by all accounts that the president is opposed. What the president is as opposed to is the crucial component of this deal. The idea that the money and funding, the same funding that last week he decided to cut off at least on the executive branch side of things serves as a bailout to insurers. That's not exactly what it does. What the payments do is go to insurers and they use them to help pay down premiums for individuals who are getting plans. It's worth noting that inside this deal, Wolf, is an actual requirement that insurers, quote unquote, double dip. In talking to Senator Alexander, the Republican cosponsor of this bill, he says the issue right now is trying to kind of educate the president more or less.

The reaction on Capitol Hill is not unlike our reaction which is whiplash. Seemingly, the president was behind this yesterday and that is a crucial component of this. Because if this idea ever wants to move forward in any capacity whether as a stand-alone bill or some other vehicle, it would require the president essentially insisting upon a vote. Right now, at this moment at least, it's very clear he is not in that place. Because of that, the future of this bill no matter how much support Senator Alexander, Senator Patty Murray are able to get from their respective caucuses, there are real questions whether this has any life at all. We talked about this yesterday. That's just the Senate, not counting in the House at all. I've talked to multiple senior Republicans in the House who said very clearly, this is not something we want to do. The game-changer would be the president saying this is something we're doing. As of this moment, he is not saying that -- Wolf?

[13:45:56] BLITZER: He changed his mind overnight, Dana. He can change his mind again as he gets more explanations from Lamar Alexander.

Phil makes an important point, even if it were to pass the Senate, it looks like the speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, is not anxious for it to come up for a vote in the House.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRSPONDENT: Which is a large reason for the whiplash Phil just described. When it comes to the president's public statements, there is definite whiplash. Looking behind the scenes, the reporting I've been doing, and Phil did yesterday, not long after the president made his statement saying he supports this, what the bipartisan negotiators on Capitol Hill call a short-term fix for people who really need help from the federal government for their health insurance, to you know, saying today that he opposes it. We were getting calls from people behind the scenes saying no, no, no, no, no. You know, what really is going on here is that the White House is concerned about enriching the insurance companies. The White House is concerned that there won't be enough conservative support for this deal because of that. When you get into the details of it, the argument that they make is that the sort of, that what the conservatives got in exchange for putting federal dollars back into this pot for low income Americans is giving states more flexibility on some of the Obamacare regulations. And what White House officials were saying yesterday, the states already have those. We're not really getting enough. It took until today both on Twitter and the sound bite you just heard from the president for the president to start saying that out loud.

If you're Lamar Alexander, a very important chair of a very important committee, who has been trying really hard to work on this short-term solution, and has been according to Ted Barrett, our congressional producer, talking with president even this morning feeling like he was getting there certainly this is -- makes his job a whole lot more difficult. It's already an uphill battle on the Hill. And if you have support from the president and it just seems to evaporate, makes it a lot harder.

BLITZER: Lamar Alexander, the Republican from Tennessee, he clearly thought he had the president's backing for this two-year interim measure, which the president spoke about positively yesterday. Not so much today.

Dana, other big issue this week, next week, the coming weeks, tax reform, tax cuts. As you know, the president's been meeting with members of the Senate Finance Committee, Democrats and Republicans. Can he get enough lawmakers on board of with his plan which he's introduced in general terms?

BASH: Unclear. That's the answer at this point. And one of the main reasons why it's unclear if the president can get enough lawmakers on board with his plan is because the plan really is just a framework. We don't have a lot of details. And even Senators, both Republicans and some Democrats, who are quite interested in the notion of tax reform, those especially from red states, those who are up for re- election next year, are reluctant to sign on, on something they don't know what that something is. So that's a big issue. In terms of the substance.

And in terms of just the raw politics, our Jeff Zeleny was hearing something that was very interesting from the White House that ties these twos issues we've been talking about together, which is concern if the president signs on to even a short-term health care fix and has another loss, it would be a third very public very embarrassing loss that would even be a bigger setback for the notion of momentum for a big legislative victory on tax reform. So it's very unclear how it's going to go. A lot of it is about the details. And the question is how they get to those details. And the give and take which is supposed to happen is occurring right now to try to find a way to get a path to passing the Senate and the House. They're not even close to getting there yet.

[13:49:56] BLITZER: Important point.

Dana, thanks very much.

And to our viewers, be sure to tune in later tonight when Dana and Jake Tapper moderate a CNN debate night special, is the GOP tax plan good for the middle class, can Republicans deliver on President Trump's promise? Senators Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz take sides in a live CNN debate later tonight, 9:00 p.m.

Just ahead, Iran's supreme leader slamming President Trump in a televised speech to his country. Also, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley is lashing out at Iran before the U.N. Security Council. We'll have the live report from Iran. Plus, we're standing by. The NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, is

expected to weigh in any minute after the president slammed the decision to allow players to kneel during the national anthem. All of that, live, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:55:11] BLITZER: We're following breaking news from the United Nations where the U.S. ambassador, Ambassador Nikki Haley, ripped into Iran today. She warned the U.N. Security Council that it is being played by Iran. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: The Security Council has repeatedly passed resolutions aimed at adjusting Iranian support for terrorism and regional conflicts, but Iran has repeatedly thumbed its nose at those efforts. Worse, the regime continues to play this council. Iran hides behind its assertion of technical compliance with the nuclear deal while it brazenly violates the other limits on its behavior. And we have allowed them to get away with it. This must stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Our senior international correspondent, Fred Pleitgen, is joining us live from Tehran, in Iran.

How has Iran responded, Fred? How are they likely to respond?

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've been scouring the Internet and certainly Iranian websites. So far, we haven't seen any direct responses to Ambassador Haley's remarks. However, there is a speech by the supreme leader, Ayatollah al Khamenei. He talked about some things that Ambassador Haley talked about. You heard how she was talking about, specifically, Lebanon, Iran and Iran, Iraq and Syria. One of the things he said, he said, quote, "The U.S. is very angry because today the Islamic Republic has foiled their plot in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq." That eluding to despite the fact that there are U.S. efforts, the Iranians see themselves as strong as ever before in these two places. Of course, supporting the Assad government in Syria and the Iraqi government as well in Baghdad.

There are a couple of things he spoke about, but certainly ripping into the U.S., ripping in President Trump as well. Saying that President Trump, quote, "pretends to be an idiot but the Iranians should not let their guard down." There were some things that were in Ambassador Haley's speech that the supreme leader spoke about earlier in the day. He was definitely speaking about some of that U.S. anger that we saw on display at the U.N. -- Wolf?

BLITZER: We'll see if President Trump responds. I suspect he will.

Fred Pleitgen, in Tehran, thanks very much. Live pictures coming in from the White House briefing room. We'll

likely hear a response from the White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders. She's standing by to answer reporters' questions, including accusations that the president was insensitive to the widow of a fallen U.S. soldier. The president says he has proof, but will the White House reveal it?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)