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Wolf

McCain Mocks Trump's "Bone Spur" Deferment; Trump Fires Back at Angry Military Widow; On the Front Lines of War on ISIS in Syria Trump, Singapore P.M. Hold Press Conference. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired October 23, 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] WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Thank you.

Senator John McCain appearing to take a shot at President Trump over his draft deferment during the Vietnam War. You're going to hear his words.

Also, moments from now, the president will make a statement live from the White House Rose Garden. Live pictures coming in. Here's there with the visiting prime minister of Singapore. Our coverage continues right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: From President Trump's feud with a Gold Star widow to an apparent jab at President Trump's draft deferment from a top U.S. Senator. Military service, in one form or another, has dominated the headlines over these past several days. First, Senator McCain's thinly veiled comments about President Trump's draft deferment during the Vietnam War.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R), ARIZONA: One aspect of the conflict, by the way, that I will never ever countenance is that we drafted the lowest income level of America, and the highest income level found a doctor that would say they had a bone spur. That is wrong. That is wrong. If we're going to ask every American to serve, every American should serve.

UNIDENTIFIED HOST, THE VIEW: People thought you were talking about --

MCCAIN: Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED HOST, THE VIEW: -- Mr. Trump because he had a doctor's note that said he had bone spurs and he --

(CROSSTALK)

MCCAIN: I think more than once, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED HOST, THE VIEW: More than once.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED HOST, THE VIEW: Chronic bone spurs.

UNIDENTIFIED HOST, THE VIEW: Do you consider him a draft dodger?

MCCAIN: I don't consider him so much a draft dodger as I feel the system was so wrong that certain Americans could evade their responsibilities to serve the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: We're going to be hearing from the president shortly in the statement he's about to make in the Rose Garden.

But let's discuss this and more with our panel. Our chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, is with us, our chief political correspondent, Dana Bash, and our senior political reporter, Nia-Malika Henderson, and our senior political analyst, Mark Preston. A good panel, indeed.

What does this say, these latest statements from Senator McCain, about the president?

[13:35:04] GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: He's not shying away from anything. I think McCain was making a point that others have made about the income disparity during that time when those who served -- between those who served and those who got out of service for things like bone spurs and he was clearly talking about Donald Trump. And Donald Trump has said, you know, he had bone spurs but they have since healed and they've gone away. And Trump now, who cloaks himself in the military, wraps himself in the military, loves generals, et cetera, et cetera. I think McCain is making a very clear point here, which is I served, and you didn't.

BLITZER: He's not shy at all about this, Senator McCain, in criticizing the president when he sees something very, very wrong.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It took almost two years for John McCain to have a little touche back at then-Candidate Trump for saying he likes heroes who weren't captured. But he did it. And I think this certainly was part of it. Yes, Senator McCain tried to explain he's talking about the more global question of service, and who should serve and who shouldn't. But come on. He knew exactly

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: -- exactly what he was doing. I have to say, I have been told that, you know, in the back and forth with McCain and Trump, that people who are close to McCain have been begging President Trump not to retaliate, not to go after or even to start it in some cases with John McCain, given where he is in his life, that he's got terminal brain cancer. And for the most part, at least in public, the president has kind of bit his tongue or sat on his hands when he wanted to tweet. We'll see if that continues now.

BLITZER: It goes against his grain totally, Nia, for the president not to respond. Normally, the president on Twitter or some other format would be responding right away.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: That's right. He talked about this even recently saying, people should be careful. When they hit back at him, he's going to hit back harder. We haven't seen this with John McCain.

Even Lindsey Graham, he's been on our air. And you mentioned Lindsey Graham has probably been in the president's ear at some point, talking about his friendship with Senator McCain, essentially, saying law off of John McCain. John McCain can take any position he wants on whether it's health care, and certainly has authority when it comes to the military as well. But we have seen John McCain speaking out about Donald Trump. You had George Bush do it as well. And Corker as well. A lot of this conversation reflecting a lot frustration with this president, particularly from the establishment wing of the GOP.

BLITZER: He hasn't hesitated responding to the widow of La David Johnson for the interview she gave to "Good Morning, America." This morning on Twitter, just shortly after that interview, he tweeted, Mark, "I had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sergeant Johnson and I spoke his name from the very beginning without hesitation."

He decided he just wasn't going to end it, let it go, maybe make another phone call to this widow, Gold Star widow and say, look, maybe you misunderstood, I'm so sorry. But he decided he was going to tweet that.

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITCAL ANALYST: Because he doesn't like being told he's wrong. He doesn't like being told that his efforts were not embraced fully by those who he was talking to. This is one of those situations. Wolf, as you said, sometimes you just got to take the punch, bleed a little bit and then you move on. This idea that you want to continue fighting, that you want to continue a battle, specifically, with a young woman who is pregnant, has two children, whose husband was killed fighting for our nation, and you think that it's appropriate to continue that fight, really does sully the office that Trump holds.

BORGER: Why wouldn't you just say, I'm sorry that we had a miscommunication here. I'm sorry that you interpreted my remarks that way. I certainly did not mean to offend you. I meant to honor your husband. And I am sorry for this kind of conversation. That would require the president to say, I apologize.

PRESTON: Right. I'm wrong. Right.

BORGER: And --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: What's wrong with apologizing?

BORGER: Of course, not. There's nothing wrong with it. And even if he doesn't want to apologize because it's not in his head to be able to do that, this is a Gold Star wife. PRESTON: A young Gold Star wife, very young.

BORGER: A young Gold Star wife. How do you not say, we had a miscommunication, I'm so sorry for your loss, I honor your husband?

HENDERSON: Even if President Donald Trump, President Donald Trump, who doesn't like to apologize, even if he can't do that, is there someone else in the White House who can send that message? It seems like no. John Kelly really didn't send that message when he was at the White House. The press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, hasn't sent that message. No one is really doing it in terms of where the president is in terms of fighting, in terms of saying this widow --

(CROSSTALK)

[13:40:03] BASH: I was just going to say, meanwhile, the conversation, which has been spurred on by this widow going out and doing an interview, and by the president responding to that, is about this, understandably, very sad personal story and tragedy and drama that's going on. But the focus really should be, by the president, on what happened.

HENDERSON: Right.

BASH: And, rightly so, is the focus from some of the key committees of oversight on military matters trying to find out what happened in this ambush or this mission in Niger.

(CROSSTALK)

PRESTON: Could I say something, Wolf, too. As Nia said, if President Trump himself can't do it, can someone else in the White House do it? If the president himself can't apologize and show empathy publicly, what does that say about him as a person. That is --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: It's a sensitive issue where he keeps - where he keeps it going and going and going.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Yesterday, he tweeted about the Democratic congresswoman who was listening in on that phone -- that condolence call, Frederica Wilson. He tweeted, "Wacky Congresswoman Wilson is the gift that keeps on giving for the Republican Party. A disaster for Dems. You watch her in action and -"

BORGER: He likes to label people.

(CROSSTALK)

BORGER: She's suddenly wacky. Even though, today, the widow said she wasn't wacky, that she was telling --

(CROSSTALK) BORGER: That she was telling the truth about her husband, you know, about the conversation. He cannot help himself, whether it's with John McCain or anybody else.

BASH: Khizr Khan. BORGER: Khizr Khan, right. He just can't --

(CROSSTALK)

BORGER: He just can't help himself.

BLITZER: We're standing by. Any moment now, we expect the president of the United States and the prime minister of Singapore to appear in the Rose Garden. They're meeting in the Oval Office right now. Once they show up there at those microphones, we'll go there live. We'll see if the president decides to answer reporters' questions. They tried earlier on two occasions today. They shouted a question to the president about the Niger situation, he didn't answer. Let's see if he does now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:46:04] BLITZER: Another major victory against ISIS in Syria. We're going to get to that in a moment.

Take a look at live pictures from the Rose Garden at the White House. The president and visiting prime minister of Singapore, Lee Hsein Loong, about to make statements. We'll see if they answer reporters' questions. We'll stand by for live coverage.

In the meantime, other important news we're following, as U.S.-backed forces help reclaim Iraq's largest oil field from the terror group, the victory has also possibly set up a possible standoff between the U.S. and Russia. There's serious concerns.

Our senior international correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh, joins us live from northwest Iraq.

Nick, taking back the oil fields a major victory for the U.S. and its ally. So why now is there a potential problem between the U.S. and Russia?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Because, in short, it's a very valuable oil field, Wolf, and the Syrian regime, who have Russian military both on the ground and in the air in support of them, also wants it. It's valuable, in short. This is the key issue. ISIS is losing and losing fast. They lost Mosel in Iraq after a lengthy nasty almost six-month, nine-month battle. And they lost Raqqa in Syria just a week or so ago. They're losing territory quickly. And they're are withdrawing, too. And the hunt for al Baghdadi, very much key here, as well. But the questions is, with two forces doing some of the fighting, most of it being done by the U.S.- backed Kurdish forces, the SDF, and some done by the Syrian regime, who takes the territory that ISIS vacates. Valuable resources left upon it. The al Omar oil field, which fell to the SDF, U.S.-backed, in the last 48 hours to 72 hours or so, that is one of the most important oil fields in Syria, certainly before it was potentially damaged by being in ISIS' hands for a period of time. The SDF members we spoke to them earlier on, they were obviously delighted they got ahold of it. It's a key playing card for them. And they weren't going to give it back, they say, because they have lost people in the fight against ISIS. As we saw ourselves, they are literally meters away now after their advances against ISIS, meters away from the Syrian regime and Russian forces, too. In fact, those are American- backed forces. So they have face-to-face meetings with Russian soldiers on the ground to be sure they don't clash in the battle space. So already at this point, as the end game of ISIS gets nearer and nearer, frankly, or already in full flow, we're seeing Moscow and Washington's different interests, often meters away from each other, right at the heart of a serious war. A very confusing new chapter, certainly -- Wolf?

BLITZER: And further complicating and endangering the situation, the Russians, they support the regime of President Bashar al Assad in Damascus. He sees this whole area that the U.S.-backed forces have liberated from ISIS, part of the Syrian government, and presumably the Russians are going to help Bashar al Assad as he tries to move there. What are the chances that the regime of - Bashar al Assad's regime could make some strong gains there?

PATON WALSH: Look, I mean, we saw it in the skies ourselves, the remarkable sights of hearing the explosions of the Russian airstrikes over Deir ez-Zor, a key town in the mix here, near the area we talked about, and American planes flying from SDF-controlled territory and then doing enormous loops in the skies to make sure they didn't fly into what is effectively Russian operating air space. We've heard about that deconfliction issue, to assure they don't run into each other. It shows you exactly how close these two sides are. Bashar al Assad has remarked that he wants all of Syria back under his control. That's a highly far-fetched idea right now, one I'm sure Moscow wants to commit military resources to. But it shows the scope of ambition. And if you're dealing with the Syrian Kurds, who have taken a lot of territory in the fight against ISIS with American support, kicking ISIS out, but holding it themselves, the regime surely wants that back. We saw in Iraq, the Iraqi Kurds took a lot and ended up losing it to the Iraqi government. The same thing could happen in Syria. And it's Moscow versus Washington in terms of interest today -- Wolf?

[13:50:22] BLITZER: Nick Paton Walsh, in northwest Iraq. We'll stay in close touch with you. Be careful where you are. Thanks very much.

We're showing our viewers live pictures coming in from the Rose Garden at the White House. The president will be walking towards the microphone with together with the prime minister of Singapore, Lee Hsein Loong. They'll make opening statements. We'll see if they answer reporters' questions.

Right now, Gloria, no questions scheduled for the public announcements once the two leaders walk out of the Oval Office towards the lecterns over there.

You know our fellow colleagues at the White House, the pool reporters and others, will shout a few questions. So far today, the president didn't respond to shouted questions earlier in photo-ops.

BORGER: Right. The White House let it be known that the reason there are not questions is that is what the prime minister preferred as opposed to that is what the president preferred. So we'll see. Maybe the president himself will take a question even if the prime minister doesn't.

BLITZER: Yes.

Here they come, the president and the visiting prime minister of Singapore. The president earlier was very happy that Singapore purchasing some more Boeing commercial aircraft. Let's listen.

[13:51:34]

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you very much. Please sit.

I'm honored to welcome Prime Minister Lee of Singapore to the White House today.

Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister.

LEE HSEIN LOONG, SINGAPORE PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, Mr. President.

TRUMP: I want to thank you for visiting us, and your entire group of very, very talented people that we're dealing with.

Our friendship has never been stronger than it is right now. Singapore is one of our closest strategic partners in Asia. The United States is proud of the deep and enduring partnership we have built.

Since Singapore gained its independence more than half a century ago, Singapore's rapid development from a poor island nation to an economic powerhouse under the leadership of the prime minister's great father -- he is a -- was a great man, he really was a great man -- has been one of the incredible economic and political achievements of the past 50 years.

Singapore's strong commitment to the rule of law, to international property protections, and to the principles of fair and reciprocal -- one of my favorite words when it comes to trade -- has made the country a magnet for business. Today, over 4,000 American companies are operating in Singapore and we have a very large trading relationship with Singapore.

Earlier today, the prime minister and I witnessed a contract signing between Singapore Airlines -- a great airline -- and Boeing, worth more than $13.8 billion. I want to thank the Singaporean people for their faith in the American engineering and the American workers. And our American workers deliver the best product by far.

Our robust partnership extends far beyond economic cooperation and trade. Mr. Prime Minister, as your father rightly noted, the development of the economy is very important but equally important is the development of the nature of our society. So true.

The United States and Singapore share a profound belief in a society built on a foundation of law. A nation ruled by law provides the greatest security for the rights of citizens and the best path to shared and lasting prosperity. Both the United States and Singapore understand the unmatched power of private enterprise to uplift the human condition.

These values have made our society stronger, sustained our partnership through the Cold War, and laid a critical foundation for our lasting relationship today.

Our common values and interests have led to a vital security relationship. Throughout Southeast Asia, the United States and Singapore are currently working to enhance the capacity of law enforcement, fight terrorism, and bolster cyber defenses.

Our two nations also share an unwavering commitment to countering the North Korean threat and promoting freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.

Singapore was the first Southeast Asian nation to join the coalition to defeat ISIS. That was very far thinking. You were there before most. More than 1,000 of its military personnel train here in the United States every single year.

When Hurricane Harvey struck our Gulf Coast in late August, Singapore deployed its own helicopters to help transport personnel and critical resources to areas in need. And the prime minister told me that, and called me, and made that request himself.

It was a great help, and we want to thank you very much for the use of your helicopters.

When the American Navy destroyer the USS John McCain suffered a collision at the scene, Singapore came to our immediate assistance.

On behalf of all Americans, I want to thank the prime minister and the people of Singapore for their support, which has been tremendous, and for their friendship.

In a few weeks, I will attend the U.S.-ASEAN Summit in the Philippines, where we will celebrate the 40th anniversary of U.S.- ASEAN relations. I look forward to continuing our discussions at this year's summit and to seeing the great things Singapore will accomplish as ASEAN chair in 2018. In other words, this great gathering will take place in Singapore in 2018.

Mr. Prime Minister, thank you for your continuing partnership and leadership. The U.S.-Singapore relationship has made both of our people far more prosperous and secure, and our values have made us longstanding friends. We are fortunate to have such a wonderful and loyal partner. Thank you very much.

(APPLAUSE)

LEE: Thank you, Mr. President.

Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to thank President Trump for his very warm hospitality. I'm very happy to visit him in Washington following our first meeting, which was at the G-20 Summit in Hamburg, in July.

We had a wide-ranging exchange in the Oval Office, and then over lunch. We reaffirmed the robust and enduring partnership between Singapore and United States over the last 51 years. It's a deep and wide relationship, with substantial cooperation in economic, defense and security spheres. And we also discussed what more we could do to take it forward.

On the economic front, the U.S. is an important partner for many countries in Asia, just as Asia is an important economic partner for the United States. Singapore is a small country -- we're just 5.5 million -- but we have sizable investments and trade with the U.S., and these continue to grow.

For example, we're the second largest Asian investor in the U.S., with more than $70 billion U.S. in stock investments. And our total trade in goods and services amounted to more than $68 billion last year.

The U.S. has consistently run a substantial trade surplus with Singapore. Last year, it stood at $18 billion. In other words, America exported $43 billion of goods and services to Singapore. And on a per-capita basis, we must be one of the highest buying-American customers in the world: $7,500 worth of American goods and services yearly. iPhones, pharmaceutical products, tires, golf clubs, financial and consultancy services -- I mean the sticks, not the associations.

(LAUGHTER)

And I discovered recently, looking at my squash shoes and my New Balance shoes, which are very good and made in the U.S., probably in New England -- and of course, we buy Boeing jets.

President Trump and I just witnessed a signing between Singapore Airlines and Boeing for SIA to purchase 39 Boeing aircraft, worth $13.8 billion U.S. It's a win-win for both sides. It will further modernize SIA's fleet and also support many American jobs.

LEE: Our defense ties are very strong. Singapore supports a military presence in Asia. Since 1990, we have hosted USAF and Navy aircraft and ships on rotational deployments. We thank the U.S. for hosting more than 1,000 Singapore military personnel each year in training detachments in the United States.

We have forces at Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix and in Marana (ph), also in Arizona, at Mountain Home Air Base in Idaho, and Grand Prairie in Texas, and in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where I spent three months many years ago.

In fact our Chinooks and military personnel in Grand Prairie were deployed to assist in the Hurricane Harvey disaster relief operations and we are glad to have been of some help to our very gracious host.

[13:59:59] We have a close partnership, too, on security cooperation including transnational security, terrorism and cybersecurity. Singapore has led early and consistent support to the Defeat ISIS coalition. We were one of the first countries to participate.