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Deputy A.G.: Have Not Seen Cause to Fire Robert Mueller; Interview with Sen. Cory Booker; Schumer Calls for Delay in Tax Vote Until Doug Jones Seated; Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired December 13, 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: Does this lend credence to Republican claims of bias in the Russia investigation? Does it lend that kind of credence?

REP. ERIC SWALWELL, (D), CALIFORNIA: He was removed for that perceived bias. I think that was the appropriate action. You know, you can't do that on a work phone.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: They're suggesting, Congressman, that the whole Hillary Clinton investigation wasn't fair because of the pro-Hillary Clinton bias. They want a special counsel now to investigate the Justice Department on this. Is that a good idea?

SWALWELL: Well, it is investigating the Hillary Clinton investigation. There's an inspector general report that will be produced soon and, hopefully, will answer that. But, you know, I'm focused on doing all we can to make sure Bob Mueller is not fired. I asked Mr. Rosenstein, is there good cause today to fire Mr. Mueller, and he said, there's not. So if that's the case, I believe firing him would be obstruction of justice.

BLITZER: What about the Republicans' claims, and you heard it during the committee by a lot of the Republican members of Congress, who argue that everything that FBI agent, who has been demoted, moved to another part of the FBI, in human resources, everything that agent touched in the investigation is now tainted because of this pro- Hillary Clinton, pro-Democratic views?

SWALWELL: I don't buy that, Wolf. We've had two guilty pleas already, you know, by a general, you know, who was the national security adviser, and Mr. Papadopoulos, who had a pretty good education. I can't imagine they were coerced in some way to plead guilty. They pleaded guilty because they had lied about their contacts with Russia, which demonstrates there's a lot of evidence in this case that there were contacts with Russia, that the Trump team did have an eagerness and willingness to work with Russia, and we owe it to Bob Mueller to have the liberty to report back to us on whether that violated the law.

BLITZER: You do make a point that the independent inspector general at the Department of Justice is looking into all of this. In part, that's why you believe, apparently, a lot of the top officials at the Justice Department believe there is no need, at least not yet, for a second special counsel.

Congressman Swalwell, thank you for joining us.

SWALWELL: Of course, my pleasure, Wolf.

BLITZER: We have a lot of breaking news on this day. The president downplayed the stinging loss for Republicans in Alabama, the Senate race there. What this means for the agenda going forward. I'll speak with Democratic Senator Cory Booker on the Alabama upset, and his calls for the president to resign over sexual harassment and assault allegations.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:36:50] BLITZER: Let's talk more about the upset in the Alabama race. Democrat Doug Jones defeated Republican Roy Moore.

Joining us is Senator Cory Booker, Democrat from New Jersey.

Senator, thanks so much for joining us.

SEN. CORY BOOKER, (D), NEW JERSEY: It's a pleasure to be on, Wolfe. Thank you.

BLITZER: President Trump tweeted out his response to the vote in Alabama, saying he knew all along that Moore would lose. He also said the deck was stacked against Moore. What's your reaction to the president's take?

BOOKER: Well, I try not to reaction to the president. I try to focus on what is important. This was a great day for the United States of America. This was not about how some people wanted to cast it, about Republicans versus Democrats. This was right versus wrong. This is a state of Alabama rejecting tribalism and rejecting hatred, bigotry and anti-Semitism, all the things you saw spewing forth from one candidate and embracing this idea that there are times that our nation is much more important than our party. So you saw Republican voters defecting, and then this massive surge of Democrats, particularly in the African-American community, people standing up and saying, my vote is going to be heard, I'm going to exercise my power, fought for by generations in the past, to make sure this country's ideals and values. At least, there will be a light coming from Alabama.

BLITZER: You went down there. President Trump didn't go to Alabama to campaign for Roy Moore. He did go to nearby Pensacola, just across the border. When you were campaigning for Doug Jones, what effect do you think, for example, your high-profile appearance may have had, especially on critically important turnout?

BOOKER: I went down trying to engage and excite voters. I went to many, many churches, college campus, HBCUs, rallies, but I think Alabama gave me the gift. My roots and my family go back into Alabama. This is a state that had a sense of conviction and an energy. I thought the national media was missing it. Once I got there on the ground, the credit for this victory goes to the Alabamians themselves. An incredible grassroots work that was going on. And I'm just proud of my country today and proud that Alabama, the state that is too often maligned, too often disrespected, that Alabamians really showed who they were. And look towards the future.

BLITZER: A million, 300 thousand or so folks showed up and they voted. It looked like the system went really, really smoothly, in fact.

Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democrat leader, the minority leader in the Senate, is calling on Republicans to table any final vote on the tax bill until the new Democratic Senator from Alabama, Doug Jones, is seated. Realistically, do you think Republicans will heed that call?

BOOKER: I was told this morning that's what Harry Reid did during the health care efforts, when they were having the special election in Massachusetts. I think that's the right thing to do. The people of Alabama have spoken who they want to be representing them, and we should be holding on something that's rewriting our tax code. It will have a massive impact not just right now on Americans, but this is a tax bill, because of the massive debt it's going to explode, not my words, but nonpartisan agencies like the CBO and others, massive deficits it's going to explode for future generations. Alabama has spoken. Their representative should be in the saddle in the Senate before we continue down this pathway that could be, in my opinion, so destructive to Alabama's middle class, folks struggling to make it in this tough economy.

[13:40:24] BLITZER: I want to ask you quickly, Senator, about the president's tweet aimed at your fellow Democratic Senator, Kirsten Gillibrand. You saw that tweet. He said, "She used to come begging." And he put in parentheses, "And would do anything for them," for those campaign contributions.

I don't know if you spoke to Senator Gillibrand, but when you saw that what went through your mind?

BOOKER: Again, vile and despicable. But how many violent and despicable tweets, so unbecoming of the White House, so unbecoming of the presidency, should we be enduring before we conclude this is who he is.

I have no words on Kirsten Gillibrand. She's one of the stronger, more honorable people. She's one of my closest friends in the U.S. Senate. She's a titan down here who has been fighting for the very people that Donald Trump demeans and degrades. She's been sticking up for people, whether it's coming out of 9/11, those families, whether it's gays and lesbians in the military, whether it's women facing sexual assault. She is a champion and a hero. And nothing Donald Trump could say about her is going to diminish her. In fact, as I know from my position of faith, that God has a way of making your enemies your footstools. I think that she's going to rise up beyond this.

BLITZER: Does the president need to apologize to her? BOOKER: Listen, if we want to start with apologies, let's go back to

the beginning of his campaign, demeaning Mexicans, Muslims, John McCain. I can't even keep track of the people he should have already apologized to that he never did. This is a person that has no shame. He's showing that he has no capacity to understand where he's made mistakes. We all make mistakes, we all say things we shouldn't have said, but this is a president who seems to do this. I think we as a public -- and I can't tell the media what to do, but we give so much attention to his bad behavior, his despicable rhetoric, that we lose sight of the substantive things that are going on, that we all should be focused on. In fact, if it was a tactic, it would be brilliant one to distract us with the outrageous things he's saying while he's quietly trying to give corporations, who are at record high profits, a trillion-dollar giveaway in a tax scam.

Let's focus on the things that matter. He is teaching me about equipoise, to not let his daily vile, regular demeaning despicable, just mean-spirited rhetoric distract me from the work I have to do every single day, that we all should be engaged in, like trying to protect health care as we know it from the tax bill that will undermine American health care, to protect middle-class folks from just lies that he's told, like, hey, I'll go ahead rid of carried interest. No, you're preserving carried interest in order to hurt middle-class taxpayers. I want to focus on the substance, not his outrageous rhetoric. Like when attacks people like Kirsten Gillibrand. To me, I think he's violent and despicable, but Kirsten is a person who defends and speaks and stands up heroically for others that are being demeaned and degraded. He's wasting his -- he's blowing hot air on somebody that will thrive, no matter what he throws at her, because she's doing righteous work.

BLITZER: You're one of five Democratic Senators, along with Senator Gillibrand, calling for President Trump to resign over the sexual harassment allegations. With Senator Al Franken, there were more than 30 Democratic Senators calling for him to resign. Why are there only five of you saying the same thing to the president? Some folks are asking that specific question.

BOOKER: I can't speak to what others are doing. But to me, it's a question of obvious integrity. Al Franken resigned for a fact pattern of behavior that shows that he was doing things that were wrong, and he himself has apologized for. I look at the fact pattern, the behavior of the president. I listen to his own words bragging about that behavior. This is a man that should do the right thing and resign himself. We are at a point in our nation where there's a comeuppance, a percentage, we have a country where millions of American women are telling the truth about harassment, about assault, a vicious level of misogyny. The opposite of injustice is silence, inaction. We all should be giving a collective "enough" for this culture. People should be held accountable. If this was a different type of evil, if people were coming forward and said this person said the "N" word, 24 people came forward to say that, we wouldn't come forward. If it was anti-Semitism, we wouldn't tolerate that. But we have a level of tolerance for a violence against women, harassment that's just unacceptable, and unbecoming of a country that speaks to ideals of justice, fairness and equality. So this is the president of the United States remaining in that office

at a time that we all now know that his behavior is absolutely unacceptable. What does it say to young men and young women that the highest office in the land, the person we are holding up -- I don't care if it's Republican or Democrats -- we're holding that person up to ourselves and the world. His behavior is unbecoming of the office he holds. He should do the right thing. He would make such an impact to advance our country if he said, you know what, what I did is wrong, what I've said is wrong, I've contributed to the climate, I've done very bad things, and I'm going to resign. That would be the right thing to do. And it would set this country forward as opposed to not just denying, but trying to destroy those women who have had the courage to come forward. That's contributing to the silence, the atmosphere that allows this to thrive. I'm going to stand up and say this is wrong and he should resign.

[13:46:38] BLITZER: Senator Cory Booker, thanks so much for joining us.

BOOKER: Thank you very much, Wolf. It's good to be back on.

BLITZER: And still ahead, two and a half years of war leaves Yemen's capital in ruins, but the bombs and bullets, they're not the leading cause of death. CNN has a rare look inside this truly humanitarian disaster.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: In Yemen, officials tell CNN at least 35 people have been killed and dozens injured after seven airstrikes hit a building housing hundreds of prisoners in the capital, Saana. Airstrikes have become part of the day-to-day life in Yemen after two and a half years of conflict. While the violence is horrific, it's not the leading cause of death.

Access to Western journalists is rare, but CNN's senior international correspondent, Clarissa Ward, managed to get in for a rare look at one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[13:49:53] CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Yemen is unraveling.

(EXPLOSION)

WARD: In the north, airstrikes pound Iran-backed rebel strongholds. Among their recent targets, the presidential palace in the capitol, Saana. In the south, the streets are run by a patchwork of militias.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

WARD: It's unclear who is actually in control. Some are loyal to their sponsors in Saudi Arabia and the gulf, others to extremist groups, all vying for control of Aiden's port and precious oil resources. (on camera): Life here is dangerous and chaotic, but surprisingly,

it's not the bombs and the bullets that are killing the most people. It's the humanitarian crisis that is growing by the day as Yemen edges closer to becoming a failed state.

(voice-over): Outside the hospital, medical waste festers in the hot noon sun. Al Qaeda graffiti still daubs the walls.

Inside, the situation is hardly better. The hospital is in desperate need of everything from ventilators to basic antibiotics.

DR. NATALA HARICHI (ph), YEMEN PHYSICIAN: (INAUDBLE)

WARD: Dr. Natala Harichi (ph) started working here 24 years ago.

HARICHI (ph): This is the worst institution now.

WARD (on camera): Because of the war?

HARICHI (ph): Because of the war, yes. We are trying. Our doctors are trying. But this is what is in our hands.

WARD: Three-year-old Huthan (ph) has been sick with a serious lung infection for weeks.

(on camera): When did you come to the hospital?

(voice-over): His mother, Jamal, only brought him to the hospital three days ago. She says the journey from her village was too far and too expensive.

"Life is hard since the war. Disease has spread," she tells me. "He's my only child."

JOHN KAHER, CHICAGO PEDIATRICIAN: For the family.

WARD: Chicago Pediatrician John Kaher is here to try to help, a rare visitor from the outside world.

On this day, he's visiting the neonatal ward.

KAHER: Where's the soap?

WARD: There is no soap. Just bottled water.

KAHER: So in addition to being preemie, these babies are jaundiced. So they are going to get phototherapy.

WARD: The newborns have to share an incubator, increasing their risk of infection.

Doctors and nurses are also in short supply, leaving mothers to step in and lend a hand.

KAHER: At this point in time, even if we got more beds here to fill the numbers of patients, we don't have the staff. WARD (on camera): When you look at doctors like Dr. Natala (ph), who

could be overseas? Are you impressed?

KAHER: I'm not just impressed, I'm inspired by them.

This is a passion for them. The doctors in these hospitals, those are the real heroes.

WARD (voice-over): Heroes armed with little more than determination and resilience.

(on camera): What goes through your mind when you see a child die because you don't have the right equipment to care for that child?

HARICHI (ph): I can't speak, I'm a mother, I am a mom, I have three kids. But this is what's in our hands. This is our facilities. We are daily speaking, but no one heard us.

(CRYING)

WARD (voice-over): A cry for help but, for Huthan (ph), it is too late. He dies the day after our visit. Another death that could have been prevented in Yemen's forgotten war.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And Clarissa is joining us now live from London.

What a heartbreaking development, what a heartbreaking story. Is there any help, Clarissa, for aide?

WARD: Well, Wolf, a number of countries have pledged aide, including the U.S., but simply put, there is not enough it. The scale of the need is enormous. More than three-quarters of the population are dependent on aide. That aide is not getting where it needs to go because there's so many different factions on the ground. Because the situation is so chaotic, and against this backdrop, you have the huge outbreak of diseases, like cholera, currently the worst outbreak in recorded history. Nearly one million cases. Yemeni health authorities struggling to get their arms around that. Just as they seem to manage to get the numbers down, now they're looking at an outbreak of Diphtheria. These are diseases, Wolf, that were thought to relegated to the history books. But in this environment, we are seeing a resurgence of them. Frankly, there's very little hope for the people of Yemen until we see some real momentum on the international diplomatic scene. At its core, Wolf, this is not a civil war, this is a proxy war. The root of the rot here is the chasm that exists between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Until this gets resolved, very little hope for the people of Yemen -- Wolf?

[13:55:16] BLITZER: That doesn't look like it's going to be resolved any time soon at all.

Clarissa Ward, thanks for that outstanding reporting. Thanks so much for bringing this information to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. Up next, Republican negotiators in the House and the Senate here in

Washington have apparently reached a deal, in principal, on a final tax bill. The details coming up.

Plus, the president is trying to downplay his candidate's losing the Alabama Senate race, even though White House insiders are describing it as devastating.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:14] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.