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Firm Used by Trump Camp Asked WikiLeaks for Clinton E-mails; Panel Probing Meddling Adds Obama-Era Uranium Deal; Thousands of JFK Assassination Documents to be Declassified: Top North Korean Diplomate Warns Hydrogen Bomb Test "Should be Taken Literally". Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired October 26, 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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[13:33:28] WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Developing now, growing questions about possible Trump campaign ties to WikiLeaks.

To discuss this and more, I'm joined by Democratic Congresswoman Jackie Speier, from California, a member of the Armed Services Committee and the House Intelligence Committee.

Congresswoman, thanks for joining us.

REP. JACKIE SPEIER, (D), CALIFORNIA: My pleasure, Wolf.

BLITZER: Sources tell us at CNN that this data analytics company working for the Trump campaign contacted WikiLeaks seeking access to e-mails connected to Hillary Clinton's campaign, specifically e-mails involving Hillary Clinton when she was secretary of state. How significant is this?

SPEIER: The extent to which that it's proven, it will be the biggest connection that has been created between Cambridge Analytica and the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks and the Russians. It is explosive the extent to which that will be confirmed.

BLITZER: Why is it explosive?

SPEIER: It brings to bear the relationship that existed. We have the director of the CIA, an appointee of President Trump, who has said that WikiLeaks is an intelligence agency, a hostile intelligence agency that is aided and abetted by Russia. This is a situation that will draw much closer the potential that the campaign was working with WikiLeaks and working with Russia during the campaign.

[13:35:04] BLITZER: What do you say to those who draw comparisons with what Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee did in funding this political consulting group, this firm, Fusion GPS, who had retained a former British spy to come up with that dossier?

SPEIER: So as I recall, he was first hired by Never Trump or a Republican group. BLITZER: But that's not -- let me interrupt. Christopher Steele was

not involved when some Republican started funding. Others were involved, but not Christopher Steele himself. That's what we are told.

SPEIER: Moving forward, it was Christopher Steele who, in the summer of 2016, was so concerned about what he was finding that he transferred this information to an FBI agent in Rome, it appears. This was more than opposition research. Christopher Steele is a highly regarded MI6 agent and he had great credentials. We evidently had known him for a long period of time. The fact that it was transferred, and it was the FBI that continued to look at it, shared it with President Obama and then shared it with President-elect Trump, was I think good evidence and strong evidence that they were quite concerned with the evidence that had been developed by Christopher Steele.

BLITZER: Christopher Steele, to be precise, was a former MI6 agent. MI6 being the British equivalent of the CIA. When he was working on this dossier, he was no longer in MI6.

SPEIER: That's true.

BLITZER: The whole notion of the DNC, the Clinton campaign paying for all of this information for the research that led to the dossier and not acknowledging it at the time, do you have a problem with that? Only now are we learning that they were directly involved in funding it. Earlier, we wanted in January here on CNN, that Democrats who supported Hillary Clinton were involved, but not specifically the campaign, the Clinton campaign or Democratic National Committee.

SPEIER: This information is coming out now and it is apparent that it was funded and should have been disclosed at the point when they were questioned about it. Opposition research is not unusual. We not only do opposition research on our opponents, but on ourselves to determine what the opponent might find out about us. That is typical in campaigns both at the state and local level and certainly at the presidential level.

BLITZER: You're right, opposition research is done throughout all of the campaigns, Republican campaigns and Democratic campaigns. The only point being maybe the DNC and the Hillary Clinton campaign should have acknowledged, should confirmed at the time that they were responsible for funding that operation.

You are on the House Intelligence Committee, Congresswoman, that's investigating the overall Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign. There was another announcement about a separate committee investigation under way into the Obama-era uranium deal that was enacted back in 2010, giving the Russians access to a large part of the U.S. uranium stockpile. There's a big controversy over that right now. Here's the question: Is the Intelligence Committee getting off track or is this part of the overall investigation?

SPEIER: This is part of the distraction campaign that I regret has been one of the areas that the chairman of the committee has engaged in for some time. Our job is to look at the Russian engagement in the election and to what extent there was engagement by the campaign committee of Donald Trump. Now shifting gears and looking at another situation that has been debunked by a lot of fact checkers that Hillary Clinton was one of nine people that served on the committee that looks at foreign investments. But she never necessarily ever attended them. And it's always the president that has veto power. And the contributions that were received by the foundation were made by an individual who had sold his interest in Uranium One in 2007. This was a much later period of time, 2010, when this actual exchange went through. Uranium One has now a Russian interest, but the uranium cannot be exported out of the United States, and is not even enriched to the level of nuclear status.

[13:39:57] BLITZER: I have to wrap it up, but quickly, what are you accusing the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunez, of doing? He recused himself from the Russia investigation into the meddling into the election. But he is leading this current investigation into the Uranium One issue. What are you accusing him of specifically of doing?

SPEIER: I don't want to say I'm accusing him, but it would appear he is engaged in trying to shift the focus of our committee. And we are going to reject that. That is not what we are charged to do. And I think it's important that we continue our work, much like the Senate is doing. The Senate appears to be working more closely in a bipartisan fashion. I regret that it appears that our committee is finding it more difficult to do that.

BLITZER: Congresswoman Jackie Speier, of California, thanks so much for joining us.

SPEIER: Thank you.

BLITZER: Coming up, thousands of documents regarding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy declassified and releasing today. What is in them. Stand by. Clint Hill was a Secret Service agent for President Kennedy. He was there on that day in Dallas in 1963. You see him there live. He is joining us when we come back.

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[13:45:22] BLITZER: While it happened more than 50 years ago, conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy have not stopped. Some of it may be put to rest following the planned release of the National Archives' final trove of records on the investigation. It's supposed to happen later today. Most of us have seen the pictures of the last moments of President Kennedy's life on November 22, 1963, in Dallas. The numerous investigations that followed were simultaneously some of the most secret and public events in modern history.

I want to bring in my next two guests. First, Philip Shenon, the author of the book "A Cruel and Shocking Act, The Secret History of the Kennedy Assassination." Also with us, Clint Hill, the author of "Five Presidents and My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford." Mr. Hill served as a Secret Service agent from 1958 to 1975. He was

walking in back of President Kennedy's car on that fateful day. When the shooting started, he leapt onto the back of the limousine in an effort to protect the president and Mrs. Kennedy, and is credited with saving the life of the first lady.

Both of you, thank you so much for joining us.

Lots of personal history here.

Mr. Hill, what is so important potentially about the thousands and thousands of pages that might be released later today?

CLINT HILL, FORMER SECRET SERVICE AGENT & AUTHOR: Perhaps we will find out the motive or to answer the question why. That's one of the more important things to myself and to others. The other thing is that the more material they hold back, the more suspicious people become that they are hiding something. I don't think they need to do that. I think every bit of information they have should be released.

BLITZER: Philip, what are you looking for?

PHILIP SHENON, AUTHOR: I'm looking for information that suggests the government knew a lot more about this man, Lee Harvey Oswald, than it ever wanted to admit. It looks like they had a lot of information that suggested Oswald was a threat, and if they'd acted on it, maybe the president would have survived his trip to Dallas.

BLITZER: You think they knew more about him because he had been, what, to Mexico City, he went to the Soviet embassy and the Cuban embassy. Is there information that potentially could come out about what the U.S., the CIA or the FBI or other agencies of the U.S. government might have known about his intent?

HILL: That's possible. We don't know because we were never provided any information on Oswald until after the fact.

BLITZER: You never heard his name before the assassination?

HILL: He was not in any of our records.

SHENON: That's correct. The Secret Service were in the dark. It turns out that the book, the CIA and the FBI knew just weeks before the assassination, Oswald, who was a Marxists, who was a supporter of Castro's revolution, was meeting with Cuban spies and Russian spies and other people who, at the height of the Cold War, might have had reason to want to see President Kennedy dead.

BLITZER: There is a possibility that these documents were held up for 53 years because there is some sensitive and potentially embarrassing information involving, let's say, the CIA?

HILL: I would assume that's true. Information they would prefer not to have revealed regarding sources they had and information that they did have at the time. BLITZER: Some people in the intelligence community to this day say,

by releasing this information -- Philip, and you have done a lot of research on it -- it could compromise what they call their sources and methods, even though this is way back in 1963.

SHENON: Being on my historian's hat, that's nonsense. After 54 years, there can't be anything that occurred in 1963 that must be keep secret. Especially when we're talking about the murder of the president of the United States. The American public is entitled to know that happened. And 54 years later, some secrets are apparently still being kept.

BLITZER: Are they going to release everything today, or will there still be classified documents, will there still be redacted information based on what you are hearing?

SHENON: Under the law that was prompted by Oliver Stone's movie, everything is supposed to be released within 25 years, and 25 years is today. We should have every document and every word. Let's see what happens. We don't exactly know what's going to happen.

BLITZER: You're a historian, you want it released.

And you were there on the scene. You remember that day, obviously, very, very vividly. You want it released as well?

HILL: Absolutely, yes. I want it released.

BLITZER: Are you going to read all these pages personally? Are you going to go through it and watch it and study it?

HILL: I will have to go through it to study it, yes, but it will take time because there are thousands and thousands of pages.

BLITZER: There certainly are. We have a team here at CNN that will go through all of these documents as well. We will report it as soon as we get it.

Gentlemen, thank you very much for joining us.

And thanks, once again, Mr. Hill, for your service.

HILL: Thank you, Wolf.

[13:49:56] BLITZER: How likely is it that North Korea will carry out its threat of an above-ground test of a hydrogen bomb? CNN has the only American journalist in Pyongyang, North Korea, right now. In an exclusive report, our own Will Ripley is going to tell us why it may be only a matter of time.

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BLITZER: North Korea has a strong warning for the United States. A top diplomate in Pyongyang tells CNN his country's threat of possibly conducting a hydrogen bomb test over the Pacific should be taken literally. In a CNN exclusive, our own Will Ripley, the only American journalist

in Pyongyang, right now, looks at why North Korea could actually carry out its threat -- Will?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the impression I'm getting on the ground here in Pyongyang is that North Korea seems more likely than ever to actually go through with this threat that was made at the United Nations General Assembly last month to detonate a nuclear device above ground, something the world hasn't seen since China did it back in 1980, nearly 40 years ago. For most of us, it would seem counterintuitive. Why would North Korea do something so dangerous, so provocative and so risky on so many levels. But you have to understand the mindset here in North Korea about nuclear weapons. It's very different how we view nuclear weapons in the United States. Here, they think bolstering their nuclear arsenal will actually bring about peace and stability by providing a deterrent against the United States, which they view as an enemy looming at their doorstep. They feel that if they prove to the Trump administration by detonating this nuclear device that they have this capability, that, in fact, the U.S. will back off, will stop, in their view, bullying them, and perhaps be willing to sit down and talk from a position almost as equals. The balance of power is what the North Koreans call it.

But there is very deep concern from officials in washington I've spoken with in the last week, from a number of people who are watching the situation on the Korean peninsula, that this kind of a test could trigger a series of events that could take this region down a dangerous road from which there may be no return. Because it's simply unknown right now how President Trump and his administration would respond to a provocative act such as this from North Korea. And of courses, the other big question is timing, giving the fact that President Trump will be visiting Asia in less than two weeks -- Wolf?

[13:55:18] BLITZER: Will Ripley, reporting from us from Pyongyang, thank you.

President Trump expected to declare the opioid crisis a public health emergency. His announcement moments away. We'll have live coverage of that. That's coming up.

And CNN is live on the border where there are now eight prototypes of President Trump's wall. The competition to fulfill the president's campaign promise. We have new information. Stand by.

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[14:00:08] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, there. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You're watching CNN. Thank you so much for being with me.

Live pictures there of the White House. We're watching and waiting --