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Kelly: "Lack of Compromise" Lead to U.S. Civil War; Kelly Declined to Walk Back Comments on Rep. Wilson; Kremlin Dismisses Claims of Meddling as "Hysteria"; Retracing Steps of U.S. Soldiers Killed in Niger. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired October 31, 2017 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:32:53] WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: The White House chief of staff, John Kelly, is under fire for comments he made about the controversy surrounding taking down statues of Confederate figures. During the interview on FOX, Kelly praised Confederate General Robert E. Lee and said a lack of compromise started the Civil War. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. JOHN KELLY, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Robert E. Lee was an honorable man who gave up his country to fight for his state. Which in -- 150 years ago was more important than country. It was always loyalty to state first in those days. Now where it's different today. The lack of an ability to compromise led to the Civil War. Men and women of good faith on both sides made their stand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's discuss this and more. New York Democratic Congressman Hakeem Jeffries. He's a member of the Congressional Black Caucus and the co-chair of the Policy and Communications Committee.

Congressman, thanks for being with us.

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES, (D), NEW YORK: Good to be with you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Let me get your reaction to what we just heard from John Kelly that the Civil War was fought because there was a lack of compromise. He clearly did not mention slavery.

JEFFRIES: It's sad that John Kelly continues to be enlisted by Donald Trump to do his dirty work. It's conduct that really is unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman. His comments related to Robert E. Lee and the Civil War were outrageous, offensive, racially insensitive and historically ignorant, and clearly intentionally. The administration wants to distract the American people from the failures of the administration. They have failed on health care. They have failed on jobs. They have failed on transportation and infrastructure. They have failed on trade. They have failed on immigration. They are under criminal investigation in terms of the Trump campaign's possible role in colluding with Russian spies to attack our democracy. The chairman of the Trump campaign has been indicted on a variety of charges, money laundering, conspiring against the United States of America. And one of the advisers to the Trump campaign pled guilty to lying about possible collusion with Russian spies. This is all one big distraction, clearly directed by Donald Trump, who wants to hide the failures of his administration from the American people.

[13:35:27] BLITZER: Do you believe that General Kelly's views on the Civil War reflect comments made by Trump earlier this year? Just to remind the viewers, in an interview in May, the "Washington Examiner" reporter, Salena Zito, the president asked, quoting, "Why was there the Civil War and why could that not have been worked out?"

What's your reaction?

JEFFRIES: It's perplexing that the comments, Wolf, about the Civil War continue to be made not just by the president, but John Kelly and others that seem to provide aid and comfort for those who worship white supremacy in America. I came to the conclusion that the reason why they consistently return to a sort of playbook that would be administered, you would expect by someone like David Duke is to distract the American people. Historically, ignorant comments like the Civil War was a failure to compromise. Wolf, I think you know the American people understand there was the Three-Fifths Compromise and the Missouri Compromise and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The problem is that you cannot compromise on a crime against humanity. That's what slavery was. It needed to be buried and resolved in the context of the Civil War. Why are we continuing to litigate the Civil War when there are a host of pressing issues related to the wellbeing of the American people? We as Democrats will continue to focus on that and creating better jobs and wages and a future for the American people and leave the circus alone that is the chaos, crisis, and confusion of the Trump administration.

BLITZER: In that same FOX interview, General Kelly declined to walk back comments on Democratic Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, who made public the details of the president's condolence call to the widow of Sergeant La David Johnson who was killed in the ambush in Niger. Listen to this, Congressman. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLY: It was absolutely depressing to me to see how that was turned into a political event. I don't know how anyone could possibly criticize another human being for doing the best he or she can do to express sorrow from the bottom of their hearts. It was stunning to me.

UNIDENTIFIED FOX HOST: Do you people to like you have something to apologize for?

KELLY: Do I? No, no, no. Never. I will apologize if I need to, but something like this, absolutely not. I stand by my comments.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Congresswoman Wilson tweeted today, saying, "I stand by what I said. John Kelly owes the nation an apology. When he lied about me, he lied to the American public." Do you believe it's too late for John Kelly to offer an apology to

Congresswoman Wilson for distorting comments she made many years ago at the dedication of that new FBI building in Florida?

JEFFRIES: It's never too late to apologize. He owes Congresswoman Wilson and the American people an apology for politicizing the issue and attacking her personally, by calling her an empty barrel. That was an act of character assassination. And it was an unfortunate thing to see that come from a four-star general who was supposed to be the adult in the room in the White House. Apparently, folk who work for Donald Trump engage in behavior that is the lowest common denominator. We have seen that time and again from a variety of people who work out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It's sad, Wolf, that the White House chief of staff continues to engage in this behavior. Fortunately, I think those of us here in the capital are going to endeavor to work on issues that the American people care about, to try to bring about a middle-class tax cut to cut taxes from small businesses and not be distracted by the charade that is constantly thrown at us from the folks over at the White House.

BLITZER: Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, from New York, thanks very much for joining us.

JEFFRIES: Thank you, Wolf.

[13:39:48] BLITZER: Getting new details on the indictments, the guilty pleas of former Trump campaign officials, including their so- called professor in London. Stand by for that.

And Russia's foreign minister dismisses accusations of Russian meddling as "endless fantasies" and calls for the U.S. to investigate Ukraine. We're going there live. We're going to Kiev. Stand by. New information coming in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The Kremlin is dismissing claims of Russian meddling in the 2016 election in the U.S. as "hysteria." Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said the accusations are "endless fantasies." But added this about the indicted former Trump campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and I'm quoting him now: "Concerning Manafort, the Ukrainian trace should be investigated by Ukraine so that they can tell what position they had during the election campaign of the president of the United States."

The indictments of Manafort and his campaign deputy associate, Rick Gates, are linked to the work they did in Ukraine.

Let's go to our senior international correspondent, Clarissa Ward. She's joining us live from Kiev.

Clarissa, the former president of the Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, is a key player in these indictments. Tell our viewers why he is so important.

[13:45:23] CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, he is a central part of the indictment against Manafort and Gates. It talks extensively about the nearly a decade working relationship between Manafort and Yanukovych, the tens of millions of dollars that Manafort reportedly made through that professional relationship, the regular contact both on a personal and professional level that the two maintained during that time.

But what's really significant is about Viktor Yanukovych and him being such a huge presence in the professional life of Paul Manafort is the fact that quite simply put, Wolf, it doesn't get much closer to the Kremlin than Viktor Yanukovych. This was a president who was seen as a hand-picked candidate by the Kremlin. This is a man who has said himself in television interviews that he owes his life to President Vladimir Putin. When there were protests in Ukraine back in 2014 and he was forced to flee the country, he fled to Russia, reportedly absconding with millions and millions of dollars in Ukrainian money he managed to embezzle out of the country. He is widely regarded with people on different sides of the political spectrum as an unsavory and controversial character, dogged by allegations of corruption and imprisoning his political opponents, and perhaps most seriously, even accused of ordering riot police to fire bullets on those pro-Western demonstrators that I was talking about back in 2014. He's a very important character in the indictment. And even beyond the scope of the criminal allegations outlined in that indictment, there are some real questions raised as to why the Trump campaign would get so involved with someone like Manafort who was so deeply connected to this controversial character -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Yes. Yanukovych seen as Putin's puppet by so many.

Clarissa, thank you. Clarissa Ward joining us live from Ukraine.

Moments from now, the White House set to respond to the indictments and the guilty pleas of former Trump campaign officials. You are looking at live pictures. All of this as the president dismisses one of those individuals as a liar. Stand by.

And a CNN exclusive report. We will retrace the steps American troops took before the deadly ambush in Niger. We will go there live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:52:16] BLITZER: In a CNN exclusive, our senior international correspondent, Arwa Damon, traveled to the site of the deadly ambush in Niger where four U.S. soldiers were killed. She is the first to visit the remote dangerous corner of the world. And for the first time, we're seeing the aftermath of that bloody battle with ISIS- linked fighters, and hearing from people who witnessed the attack firsthand.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In this vast terrain, its' the wooded sections that worry the Nigerian soldiers most. It's ideal cover for ambush so they advance on foot.

We're headed back to the site of attack that has thrown this remote border region into a global spotlight. October 4th may have been America's first casualties in these lands, but not Niger's. Their patrols regularly come under attack.

The ground outside Tongo-Tongo is littered with heavy caliber machine gun casings. And we ask the soldiers we are with if they know they were fired by American or Nigerien forces.

(on camera): They can't be sure because they said they used similar weapons.

(voice-over): We were only given 10 minutes on the ground in the village. People here are terrified, confused, and reluctant to talk.

We tracked down the village chief uncle and brother and they insist the attackers came from elsewhere.

Initial reports were that the attack occurred some 10 kilometers outside Tongo-Tongo after the convoy stopped and villagers stalled them.

(on camera): They are swearing on the Koran that the American and Niger yen convoy never stopped here. They just drove through the village. Then when they hit the outskirts, that's when they heard the first gunshots.

(voice-over): And there are signs of the attack everywhere.

(on camera): That's the school that we are being told was burnt down in the attack, a single classroom.

We have to wrap it up right now because our escorts are understandably quite anxious about spending too much time on scene. But you can see how close it was to the village. They hadn't made it out.

(on camera): Weeks after the attack, many questions remain. And so, too, does the threat.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And Arwa is joining us now live from Niger.

Arwa, is there much of a Nigerian military presence there? Did you see many Nigerien soldiers? And what about the U.S. troops? We are told there might be 800 or as many as 1,000 troops there. Are they very visible?

[13:54:51] DAMON: At this stage, no, Wolf, they are not. And actually the U.S. military tries to generally keep something of a low profile even when advise-and-assist teams go out. It's not what you would imagine the way they go out in, say, Iraq or Afghanistan with up-armored Humvees and their full battle gear on. You don't really see them out there to

It took us about four hours from the point that we drove off the main highway, if you can call it that, to get to the ambush site going through the desert roads. And we didn't really see much of a Nigerien presence except for the one that was with us. We had about 70 soldiers, if not more, with us with six heavily armed gun trucks. And that's how the Nigeriens generally patrol this area. It is massive, Wolf. And as it phenomenally porous as it goes up against the border with Mali. The Nigerians, you heard in that report, have come under regular attack in this area. And the nature of the violence they are seeing, especially in this zone, they say has changed within the last two years. It is more from having more of a nature of banditry to being one that they now define as being more of terrorist in kind -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Arwa Damon, doing some courageous reporting from Niger. Arwa, be safe over there. We'll stay in close touch.

Moments from now, the White House set to respond to the indictments, the guilty pleas of former Trump campaign officials. Looking at live pictures. We'll have live coverage. Stand by.