Return to Transcripts main page

Wolf

Trump Signs Tax Bill; Trump Predicts Bipartisanship; McConnell Mocks Bannon; Pelosi Writes Letter to Ryan; FBI Deputy Grilled in Testimony; Intel Committee Asks Bannon to Testify; Republicans Attack Mueller Teams' Credibility; Working on Infrastructure. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired December 22, 2017 - 13:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 8:00 p.m. in Jerusalem, 9:00 p.m. in Moscow. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

President Donald Trump, he's on his way to Mar-a-Lago right now. That's his Florida resort, getting ready for his Christmas vacation.

But before jetting off, leaving Washington a little while ago, he formally signed the Republican tax reform bill into law. The Oval Office signing ceremony wasn't a typical end-of-year press conference like many past presidents have often held.

But President Trump did take a few questions from reporters. And, at one point, he was asked about how much he plans to travel next year to sell this tax reform law.

Here's what the president said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't think we're going have to do much selling. I think the corporations that are giving billions and billions of dollars away to their workers and many more are coming. I that's really what's selling this, maybe better than anybody could, including myself.

But I think come February, when they open their checks and they see, wow, what happened? I have a lot more money in here. I think that's going to be something very special.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The president appeared to be in particularly good spirits, even at one point complimenting the news media. Yes, the news media. And offering them pens from the signing ceremony.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Many of you worked very hard. Many of you have worked very, very fairly and we really appreciate that. So, here you go, folks. Do you want the box with it or not, huh?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Our Senior White House Correspondent Jeff Zeleny is joining us from the White House.

Jeff, you were there in the Oval Office, one of the pool reporters invited in. Did you get the sense, Jeff, that the president feels like he's ending this first year in office on a rather high note?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, we got that sense exactly. You could see the president in good spirits today, smiling as he gave that big tax bill a bit of a thump there.

It's about three inches taller. So, he was signing all of that, going through, you know, the final passage here.

And it's really, of course, his biggest accomplishment and achievement of the year. But it's one of the few bills he's actually been able to sign.

He was also signing the continuing resolution, that is the temporary stop gap measure to keep the government open. It has defense spending in there and other matters.

But the president was upbeat as he talked about the -- you know, the achievements and exactly what's included in the tax bill.

And then, he looked ahead to talk about 2018 and what he says will be a bipartisan agreement on infrastructure.

Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I really do believe -- and I said it on social media today. I really do believe we're going to have a lot of bipartisan work done. And maybe we start with infrastructure because I really believe infrastructure can be bipartisan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: That is a very interesting question and open question, Wolf. If he'll be able to work with Republicans on infrastructure. There are a variety of different agreements, and ideas rather, on how to get this done.

And Democrats have not shown any willingness to work with this president on much. But I actually asked the president if he thought that this whole year would have been different for him, if he would have started with some type of an infrastructure bill. A bill to fix highways and airports around the country with Democrats and Republicans.

He said he wanted to save something easier like infrastructure for the second year. We'll see how easy that actually is, Wolf. But he certainly was in high spirits today as he left the Oval Office heading down to Mar-a-Lago.

BLITZER: He'll be coming back in early January from that holiday vacation. All right, Jeff, thank you very much.

Let's get straight to our panel. Joining us, political reporter for "The Washington Post" blog, "The Fix" with Amber Phillips; our CNN Political Director David Chalian; and CNN Political Analyst, Congressional reporter for "The Washington Post," Karoun Demirjian.

Guys, thanks very much for coming in.

Is -- David, first to you. Is infrastructure going to be all that easy? Will it be bipartisan? It looks like it's going to be a piece of cake, if you listen to the president.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: I don't think it will be a piece of cake. Infrastructure does have a history of being a bipartisan issue. And they should get some bipartisan buy-in around a whole series of issues dealing with infrastructure.

However, I don't think anything's going to be easy for President Trump, in terms of bipartisanship relations.

And here's why. He may have some success picking off some deep red state Democrats that are up for reelection.

Let's say a Joe Mansion in West Virginia or a Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota. It's an election year. They need a lot of Trump voters to help them get reelected. There's no doubt about that.

But you have to remember, Wolf, heading into the election year, the Democratic base is so fired up from an anti-Trump energy and fervor that there is a real incentive for Democrats to stay away from working with the president for fear of upsetting their own base of voters that, as you've seen in this election -- in the elections this year, have been swelling at the polls.

[13:05:06] BLITZER: Yes, infrastructure is critically important but it's also not cheap. Billions and billions and billions of dollars coming on the heels of the tax reform, which already has a, what, $1 trillion deficit, maybe $1.5 trillion deficit.

A lot of conservative deficit hawks are not going to be all that enthusiastic about it. We'll see how the president does in that.

Karoun, a new reporting in "The New York Times" and your newspaper, "The Washington Post," about a heated meeting that some Trump advisers had the other day about the current strategy for the mid-term elections coming up in November.

What can you tell us about that?

KAROUN DEMIRJIAN, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Well, I mean, the Trump administration right now is trying to reassess.

I mean, you've just been through some fairly hard reality and political lessons all coming off of the Alabama Senate race and trying to figure out exactly where to go from here is a big consideration to make.

So, there is discussions happen right now about exactly which direction to go in and which prevailing strategy will end up winning out.

Because as much as they have a good map, looking towards 2018, you can never be 100 percent assured of that, especially given the president's approval ratings, at this point, which are not incredibly high and they have played a role in a lot of these -- in a lot of these places where you would expect, potentially, Republican performance to have been better than it was.

BLITZER: You know, and -- you know, Amber, the whole notion of concern among Republicans was amplified in this "Politico" headline today. Republicans warned Trump of 2018 blood bath.

It says the Republican Party leader, Ronna Romney McDaniel, hand delivered a memo to the White House, warning that they were losing support among women voters, in part because of the president's support of Roy Moore down in Alabama.

What can you tell us about that?

AMBER PHILLIPS, POLITICAL REPORTER, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Yes, Republicans, behind the scenes and talking to reporters, are absolutely terrified that they could lose both chambers of Congress next year.

I think, politically, a lot that have could -- that could have gone wrong for them has. They lost a Senate race in Alabama. You know, now, the Senate is potentially in play for Democrats, if you look at the generic ballot.

So, that's just asking the average person, an independent swing voter, women, you know, anyone around the country, would you rather vote for a nameless Democrat or a nameless Republican? Polls have been showing, it's a Democrat, by double-digits at this point, which is very notable.

Democrats are winning statehouse elections. Dozens of them. I mean, things are lining up for Democrats in a way that really concerns Republicans.

And so, as Karoun pointed out, there's a moment Republicans hope that the president will reassess his political strategy of doubling down on his base.

BLITZER: You wanted to add, Karoun?

DEMIRJIAN: I was just going to say, I mean, he's getting competing advice from different parts of the party, right? There is the Bannon ring of the party that says to keep going conservative.

There is now the establishment Republicans in Congress that are saying, wait a second. Wait a second. We don't have to be so afraid of that other wing of the party anymore. That's not how we are going to do business.

They are going to be having this clash at a very critical moment next year where everything matters.

I mean, there is -- you know, granted it's most of the year into the election but everything in that year counts toward the election, especially in this environment when Democrats are not going to look the other way on pretty much anything.

BLITZER: Yes, David, there's a must-read article in "Vanity Fair" that's generating a lot of buzz out there.

The president's former strategic adviser, Steve Bannon, saying, according to this magazine interview, that Bannon thinks it's a realistic possibility that President Trump won't run in 2020 for reelection. In fact, Bannon only gives him a 30 percent chance of finishing this first term.

That's pretty significant statements coming from someone who's, obviously, clearly still very influential. But also, someone who was a top political adviser to the president.

CHALIAN: Yes, he's been out with this 30 percent figure since he walked out of the door of the White House this summer. He doesn't point to anything beyond that that there was an actual conversation about it or that he has some deep understanding from the president as to where his mind is on running for reelection right now.

And, of course, we should point out, the president is already running for reelection, all intents and purposes, he has a reelection campaign up and running.

But to Karoun's point about, sort of, different streams of advice coming in, Mitch McConnell made clear today, in his final press conference, Wolf, on his way out of town.

He, sort of, mocked Bannon as, sort of, putting forth faux genius strategy in Alabama that ended up giving away a Senate seat to the Democrats.

And so, there is no doubt that just as emboldened as Donald Trump feels leaving town, because he's got this big political legislative victory with the tax bill, Mitch McConnell also feels a bit emboldened politically against the Bannon wing that is giving advice to (INAUDIBLE.)

BLITZER: Bannon said earlier -- I don't know if he holds to it. He said earlier he's going to fight against seven of the incumbent Republicans who are up for reelection. And he'll support Ted Cruz but that's about it. [13:10:01] Listen to the clip, Karoun. This is the -- a reporter speaking with McConnell asking him about Steve Bannon. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you blame Steve Bannon for Doug Jones being elected in Alabama?

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), KENTUCKY, MAJORITY LEADER: Well, let me just say this. The political genius on display throwing away a seat in the reddest state in America is hard to ignore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Yes, he's not mincing any words.

DEMIRJIAN: (INAUDIBLE.)

BLITZER: Yes, he knows -- he knows what he's trying to say.

DEMIRJIAN: No, he's definitely saying it very clearly, especially if he's trying to be very coy with the words that he's choosing. But, look, I mean, in a way, this is a question of, you know, how much they stick to their guns about this.

Because you actually saw people like Mitch McConnell coming out early on and saying, we don't think that Roy Moore is a good candidate. We're not going to support when those allegations about all those teenagers came out.

And then, kind of back-peddling and saying, well, we'll let the people of Alabama decide. They can get spooked still. Debates on what they're reading being out in, you know, the country.

And there are going to be many episodes in which there will be reason for them to potentially be spooked. Should they actually stick to what they think they know? Which is they that don't think that that is good genius, slash, you know, good political direction, advice, et cetera.

Or do we -- do we see them staying to, kind of, a true plan for how to go through this election or do they waiver in the months ahead? And, like we said, there is so many different things happening, there will be episodes for them to waiver if they are not going to stick to (INAUDIBLE.)

BLITZER: Very quickly, Amber, on the Bannon interview in "VANITY FAIR." He also says this. Let me read it to you. Bannon has also remarked on the toll the office has taken on Trump, telling advisers his former boss has, quote, "lost his step." He's like an 11-year-old child, Bannon joked to a friend in November.

Very quickly, an 11-year-old child?

PHILLIPS: He's playing with fire here, I think. I think you try to upstage the president with headlines and be super controversial, you end up being like Anthony Scaramucci, out the door. Tom Price with his, you know, jets flying everywhere. I -- we know Bannon likes controversy. He's really digging into it and we'll see what happens.

BLITZER: It's a joke. He said it was a joke.

PHILLIPS: OK.

BLITZER: Still.

All right, guys, thanks very, very much. Karoun, David and Amber.

Coming up, U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, is throwing a party for U.S. friends and allies. But guess what? Not everyone is invited. We have details.

Plus, there is a new development in the Russia probe, a reporter that former Trump aides. Yes, Steve Bannon and Cory Lewandowsky are being called up to Capitol Hill to testify. Congressman Mike Quigley is on the House Intelligence Committee. There, you see him. He's standing by live. We'll discuss.

[13:12:22]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:17:02] BLITZER: An end of the year plea from the leading Democrat in the House of Representatives asking the speaker to preserve the ongoing Russia investigation. In a letter to the speaker, Paul Ryan, minority leader Nancy Pelosi says Democrats are, quote, deeply concerned by the majority's efforts to curtail the House Intelligence Committee investigation and its overall failure to address Russia's meddling in the 2016 election. She also says, quote, we expect that you will take urgent action to ensure this investigation can continue and justice can be pursued unhindered.

Joining us now, the Illinois Democratic Congressman Mike Quigley. He's a member of the House Intelligence Committee.

Congressman, thanks for joining us.

REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D), ILLINOIS: Thank you. Happy holidays to all.

BLITZER: Thank you. To you as well.

What evidence are you seeing, congressman, of Republican pushback or interference with your investigation?

QUIGLEY: Yes, where to begin.

I think first it's the rogue partisan investigations that they have launched and undertaken without even talking to us about it. Second, they have rushed --

BLITZER: What do you mean by the rogue -- the rouge partisan investigations? Explain what you mean by that, congressman. QUIGLEY: Look, the Republicans are undergoing investigations of

activities that took place a long time ago. And when in doubt, they attack Hillary Clinton. They never spoke to us about going after the Canadian uranium investigation and others. So it's clear that their legal strategy is, oh, yes, what about you, what about Hillary Clinton? So that makes it difficult to go forward just on the Russian investigation.

And on the Russian investigation, they are refuse subpoenas on key areas. We are dozens of witnesses that still need to come forward. In the meantime, we probably need some of our key witnesses back under subpoena so that they'd actually answer key questions.

So they are rushing interviews without documentations. As of the time I left yesterday, there were no interviews scheduled for January and there were interviewed scheduled while we were undertaking votes out of the Washington, D.C., area.

BLITZER: As you know, congressman, the FBI deputy director, Andrew McCabe, he testified in front of your committee, behind closed doors, this week. What can you tell us about the focus of the questioning and his response?

QUIGLEY: Ys, it's really the third prong of why I believe the Republicans are trying to create a shiny object, a distraction or an obstruction to the Russia investigation. They absolutely have no shame. I think what they're doing is attacking a war hero, a person with impeccable credentials, bipartisan support before Mr. Mueller. They're going after the FBI. They're going after the Justice Department because, frankly, the investigation is getting scary. It's reached the White House. The indictments that have taken place, the plea deal that has taken place, I think, frankly scares them and they're taking extreme measures going after those under taking the investigation.

[13:20:11] BLITZER: What can you tell us, if you can tell us, whether the deputy FBI director, McCabe, actually corroborated former FBI Director James Comey's testimony about conversations Comey had with President Trump.

QUIGLEY: Yes, I honestly can't talk about what the testimony was, how corroborating it was. The discussions has been tense. And I believe when you take all of this in totality, it proves the point I made before. They're going after those who are accusing them, trying to undermine the investigation. They literally have no shame.

BLITZER: Bloomberg is reporting that Steve Bannon, the former chief White House strategist, and Corey Lewandowski, who was the former Trump campaign manager, will be called to testify before your committee. Talk about -- talk about that. Have you been informed that the two of them will be coming before the House Intelligence Committee?

QUIGLEY: It's interesting. I'm on the Intel Committee. I often hear news first coming from news media sources. So if that's the case, it's the first I'm hearing about it. And, honestly, it would be welcome news because it tells me that at last some level the investigation is going to go forward.

BLITZER: There's been some pushback, as you know, by the Republicans over the special prosecutor, the special counsel, Robert Mueller's team. Do you see this as a real challenge to Mueller's credibility and this fear that at least some of your Democratic colleagues have that it's possible Mueller will actually be fired?

QUIGLEY: I think that the biggest concern for 2018 is that we face a constitutional crisis. I believe firing the investigator, Mueller, would be a constitutional crisis. I fear that there will be preemptive firings or pardons by this president. He clearly gets under his skin and I think unnerves the president as this investigation goes forward. And, frankly, he certainly speaks in an irrational basis. But it would have been a lot easier, and I think more productive, if the president of the United States had acknowledged what the intelligence community already said a year ago now that the Russians did this to benefit his candidacy and to hurt Hillary Clintons. And encouraging and requiring White House staff to cooperate and people who were involved in his campaign to cooperate. He's done just the opposite. And I think elements of obstruction have taken place, specifically, for example, the firing of Comey for what the president said was that Russian thing.

BLITZER: In that meeting with the Russian foreign minister, and the Russian ambassador at the time to the United States.

Let's get to a different subject while I have you. Very quickly, congressman, you remember the House Appropriations Committee. The president tweeted this today. And I'll read it to you. Quote, at some point, and for the good of the country, I predict we will start working with the Democrats in a bipartisan fashion. Infrastructure would be a perfect place to start after having foolishly spent $7 trillion in the Mideast. He's referring to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is time to start rebuilding our country.

So what's your response to the president? Have you had any indications, at least to this point, that the Republican leadership in the House wants to start working with the Democrats to get major infrastructure legislation passed that could cost hundreds of billions of dollars, if not trillions of dollars? Your district in Chicago, in the suburbs of Chicago, clearly you need some major infrastructure, bridges and roads, et cetera.

QUIGLEY: Right. Illinois roads are rated the worst in the country. You talk about infrastructure in my district. In the last month of the Obama administration, working with Republicans, we were able to get a billion dollars to help rebuild the CTA, the L, right? It carries more people in a month than Amtrak does in a year. Obviously really important. And there is a willingness among some Republicans to support bipartisan efforts to rebuild our country.

But I think we've made it much more difficult when Republicans passed a measure which is going to add a trillion dollars to our deficit. There's going to be a lot less revenue to do this. Early indications were we were going to do tax repatriation, right? Bring those tax dollars home to rebuild the infrastructure. I'm not sure where they're going to find the resources to do this because they certainly don't want to raise revenues. They don't' want to raise taxes. Well, you have to pay for this somehow.

The president, during his campaign, talked about a public-private partnership. He backed off on that. I think he embarrassed the vice president and said, that doesn't always work, does it, Mr. Pence? He said it in a different manner.

[13:25:11] So, look, I'd love to do it. It should be our highest priority. It's probably the easiest area to work on a bipartisan basis. I think they've made it a lot tougher. And I think you're going to see the deficit hawks come out of the Republican base again.

BLITZER: And, finally, do you agree with the president? He says $7 trillion was wasted in the Middle East. I think he's referring to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Was all of that money a waste?

QUIGLEY: Well, not all of that money was a waste. But I think the war in Iraq was a mistake. And there was a tremendous amount of waste under the Bush administration starting that war and continuing it and in the manner in which we did. It's one of the things that has created this massive debt and deficit that we have to address.

BLITZER: Wasn't just the trillions of dollars, it was lives lost as well. A lot of U.S. service members were killed in those wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and tens of thousands came home very seriously injured as well. And it's interesting the president says basically that all of that was foolishly after having foolishly spent at $7 trillion in the Middle East, it's time to start rebuilding our country. So he's got very strong views on those wars.

QUIGLEY: Right. And I would never say --

BLITZER: A final thought, congressman, before I let you go?

QUIGLEY: I just don't want to -- I want to suggest -- don't want to suggest that any Americans lives were lost in vein. I always respect our service ones -- members, and particularly ones that we've lost. I do think it's appropriate to question why we ever got into that war and the extraordinary loss of lives on both sides. The extraordinary financial cost which impair our ability to do anything else we want to do to take care of Americans and our friends across the sea. And I think the scar or the hurt that took place on the United States' reputation for getting into those wars and their aftermath is something we're going to live with for a long time.

BLITZER: Congressman Quigley, thanks so much for joining us. Merry Christmas to you and Happy New Year as well.

QUIGLEY: Merry Christmas. Thank you all.

BLITZER: Still to come, now that the U.S. Senate joined the House in approving a short-term fix to keep the federal government funded, most lawmakers are spending the long holiday at home, but how tough will it be for Republicans to sell their new tax cut back home and are Democrats ready to work with the president and the Republican leadership to get other issues addressed? We'll discuss that and more when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)