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Libel Law Review; Wall Part Of Deal; Joint News Conference; Trump Touts Reviews; Trump Open to Talks with North; Dossier Testimony Contradicts Trump; Feinstein Released Transcript. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired January 10, 2018 - 13:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 9:00 p.m. in Moscow, 3:00 a.m. Thursday in Seoul, South Korea. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

Their fates hang in the balance. But for dreamers, a confusing message from President Trump over whether their futures are tied to a border wall with Mexico.

Politics at play? The Trump administration only letting red state Florida off the hook over plans to expand offshore drilling, now other states are crying foul.

And South Korea, throwing credit to President Trump for its talks with North Korea and now the president making an important promise involving possible military action.

All that coming up. But first, President Trump calls for overhauling the nation's libel laws. This is what he said in remarks over at the White House just moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are going to take a strong look at our country's libel laws, so that when somebody says something that is false and defamatory about someone, that person will have meaningful recourse in our courts. If somebody says something that's totally false and knowingly false, that the person that has been abused, defamed, libeled, will have meaningful recourse.

Our current libel laws are a sham and a disgrace and do not represent American values or American fairness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The president also praised his own performance yesterday during a meeting with Democratic and Republican lawmakers on immigration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Actually, it was reported as incredibly good. And my performance, you know, some of them called it a performance, I consider it work.

But I got great reviews by everybody other than two networks who were phenomenal for about two hours. Then, after that, they were called by their bosses and said, oh, wait a minute. And, unfortunately, a lot of those anchors sent us letters saying that was one of the greatest meetings they've ever witnessed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's bring in our Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta. Jim, let's start with the president's latest comments on the libel laws here in the United States. What is he proposing?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, we don't know what the president is proposing about libel laws, Wolf. But we know that, during the campaign, he talked about this.

He talked about cracking down on journalists and writers across the country. Essentially, threatening reporters and writers with lawsuits, if they write things about him that he doesn't like. That is what the president is talking about, when he talks about changing the nation's libel laws.

Of course, he would run up against something called the First Amendment in the Constitution of the United States, which obviously would not allow that to occur.

And, you know, also, we have to -- you know, we would be remiss, Wolf, if we didn't say that while he was a citizen, while he was a businessman, he repeatedly spread the falsehood that Barack Obama, the previous president, was not born in the United States.

And so, obviously, this is the president complaining about that book from Michael Wolff, "Fire and Fury," and some of the reporting that's come out of it, which he felt was not very positive about him or his administration.

And, of course, he sought to correct that yesterday with that -- it was a rather remarkable meeting that he had over here at the White House, no question about it, with a bipartisan group of lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans on both sides, haggling over this issue of what to do about the nation's 800,000 dreamers who are waiting to see what will happen to them.

But, of course, you could just sense, from what the president was saying in that cabinet meeting earlier today, that he just does not like the coverage when it goes negative.

And, unfortunately, there were moments, during that cabinet meeting, where the president sounded confused about the numbers of dreamers in this country. He said, at one point, there are 800,000 or there are 650,000 or maybe there are a few million. You know, that is, obviously, something that his own staff could tell him about and give him those numbers.

But, Wolf, as for this other comment that he made that -- you know, that there are letters that he's received from news anchors praising him on his performance.

We've gone back to the White House to say, well, what can you tell us about these letters? Because that's the first we've heard of that as well.

BLITZER: Yes, OK, good point. Jim Acosta at the White House.

And we're standing by. The president's going to be having a joint news conference with the visiting prime minister from Norway. That's coming up later this afternoon, right?

ACOSTA: That's right. He's going to be meeting with the prime minister of Norway, Erna Solberg.

And then, at 3:20 this afternoon over here at the White House, he's going to be holding a joint news conference. And, obviously, top on -- of mind for everybody will be what will happen with the president's negotiations with Congress to resolve this dreamer issue.

As you saw last night, Wolf, a couple of big developments. One was the president tweeting that there has to be a wall as part of any deal to save those dreamers from deportation.

[13:05:03] That is, obviously, not the impression that many Democrats came away with, when they left this meeting yesterday over here at the White House.

And then, of course, that federal court decision, out in San Francisco, halting the administration's use of that suspension of the dreamer program. That is something that the judge said that is just not in the interest of those 800,000 or so young people who are waiting to find out what will happen to them.

And, in that case, curiously enough, Wolf, the judge cited the president's own tweets, saying that those dreamers should not be thrown out of the country.

And so, I imagine that will be something he'll be asked about as well, as well as North Korea and other subjects. And that happens later on this afternoon -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, 3:20 p.m. Eastern, the joint news conference with the visiting Norwegian prime minister.

Jim Acosta at the White House. Thanks very much.

Let's get some immediate perspective on all of this. Joining us, CNN Legal Analyst Paul Callan, CNN Political Analyst David Gregory and our Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger.

Paul, the president's remarks that the administration is going to take a closer look at libel laws here in the United States, so what's your reaction to this? Is it simply a reaction to that controversial book that just came out this week, "Fire and Fury"?

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I think that was the final straw for the president, Wolf. Although, he's been talking for a long time about changing libel laws in the United States.

But I have to say, he'd better be careful what he wishes for because he's the king of insults and defamatory comments himself. And if you made it easier to sue people, I would imagine that he would get sued quite a few times himself.

In the end, though, it's going to be virtually impossible to change libel and slander laws in the United States, because the First Amendment protects political free speech. And the Supreme Court ruled in Sullivan versus "The New York Times" that, in fact, in political campaigns or political-oriented speech, we have wide latitude to criticize politicians.

So, I don't think you're going to see the Supreme Court changing that rule. And, really, only the Supreme Court could change that rule.

BLITZER: You know, Gloria, it's interesting though. This is the meeting -- first cabinet meeting of this new year. And the president's outlining various initiatives he wants to go forward. And I was surprised to hear him talk about libel laws.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, because that's what's on his mind. He doesn't like the fact that Michael Wolff's book is out there. He doesn't like the fact, and he said it at his meeting -- in his meeting yesterday. You know, people started by applauding the meeting itself but then started criticizing him.

And we know the criticism became, as Jim Acosta was pointing out, because of his lack of command over the -- over the substance of the subject matter of immigration that was -- that was being discussed.

And I think he doesn't like being criticized. This is somebody who's incredibly litigious. He doesn't like the fact that, as president, he's criticized even more.

And I think it is -- it is stunning to me, actually, that he started this cabinet meeting, which is about -- again, which is about substance. He did talk about all of his achievements over the past year.

But then, he goes off on this tangent which is all about him and about what he would like to do. Because he doesn't like the fact, as president of the United States, that he's under a magnifying glass.

BLITZER: I thought he was going to talk about his initiatives, his goals for this new year, infrastructure development, welfare reform, other very important issues clearly on the agenda. But I didn't hear that.

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANAYST: It's very pre-2016 thinking, Wolf. That was your first mistake.

I mean, there's a couple of things that are striking about this. One, you have this cult of personality where the president is obsessed with the notion of performance. He says it wasn't a performance yesterday, when he was talking in an unprecedented way, with lawmakers on both sides about immigration.

And, yet, he welcomes the cabinet to the studio. He talked about great reviews he got and yet he doesn't want it to be called a performance. He's obsessed with watching television, cable television namely, about how people talk about him.

So, that obsession just keeps getting in his own way. What he did yesterday was very interesting. It was surprising. It was -- even if it was a stunt, it was the kind of thing that Donald Trump, as president, can pull off that could actually achieve some things that maybe other presidents have achieved.

So, what you see here is a window into what I think drives him more than anything else. That he's thin skinned. He doesn't like to be criticized, as Gloria says.

And that leads him down a road where he gets so distracted. He can't capitalize on what you said which is let's take a time -- let's take the time to roll out some areas where we can wear down the opposition, where we can bolster part of the agenda, whatever that is.

BORGER: You know, it's as if the kind of personal grievance, sort of, takes over everything. And try as he might to stay on the road that the staff clearly wants him to stay on, which is to talk about the things you were talking about, Wolf. That he can't help himself but let this personal grievance get in the way of everything else.

[13:10:04] BLITZER: Because yesterday and exactly 24 hour ago, we saw that 55-minute televised portion of that meeting had he with Democratic --

BORGER: Yes.

BLITZER: -- and Republican members of the House and Senate. And we emerged, and it was sort of unclear how much he would link the DACA -- extension of DACA for the dreamers, allowing them, hundreds of thousands of people, to stay here in the United States. They were brought here illegally by their parents as little children.

But then -- and it was unclear how much of a link he wanted. But last night, he tweeted this. As I made very clear today, our country needs the security of the wall on the southern border which must be part of any DACA approval.

So, there's not going to be an agreement on DACA, he says, unless the Democrats agree to fund the wall.

GREGORY: Right. And, again, what does the wall actually mean? He's talking about border security. Democrats were, I think, pleasantly surprised at how the meeting went, because they can sign onto the idea of more border security that falls short of a wall. We don't know where his final position is on that.

What I thought was refreshing, about Trump yesterday, was the way he breaks out of the norm of politics is by saying, you know what? We've got to get something done on dreamers. He contradicted himself about the whole bill of love idea from the campaign.

But he could break through some of the most strident opposition on the right. Because he could say, look, I'm the guy who can pull this off. You can trust me to get more security. And also, we can do the right thing. We can do something that's comprehensive.

He's got the ability, actually, to do that. I don't happen to think that the wall is a bottom-line issue. It's how you define what the wall actually amounts to (INAUDIBLE.)

BORGER: But what we saw yesterday was not a great negotiator. What we saw yesterday was somebody who wants a win and who said to people, oh, I trust you. Whatever you come to me with, I will sign.

And then, Lindsey Graham said, you have to close the deal. And then, Republicans said, wait a minute, Mr. President. These are our -- these are our priorities.

So, you saw something very different. But he might be able to sign anything and have his base go along with him. Sheriff Joe Arpaio just said on CNN today, I'll go along with a -- with a -- with a DACA deal which was, kind of, stunning because I trust -- I trust President Trump.

So, maybe he would be able to get away with that.

BLITZER: There's more we're going to discuss, guys. Don't go too far away. There are a lot of other developments unfolding, including more on the president's contradicting statements on the fate of dreamers.

Republican Senator Rand Paul, by the way, he'll join me live later this hour. We'll get his reaction to that and more.

Plus, Republican and Democratic governs are blasting the Trump administration's plans to expand offshore drilling. Details on the pushback from coast to coast.

And the president says he's open to direct talks with Kim Jong Un of North Korea, just one day after North and South Korean officials met at the table for the first time in more than two years. The state of the nuclear threat overseas. That and more coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:17:02] BLITZER: President Trump says the United States is open to talking directly with North Korea. That according to a White House readout of President Trump's call with the South Korean president. The two leaders spoke by phone for about 30 minutes.

It comes a day after North and South Korean officials sat down for the first time in more than two years, a meeting that President Moon credits in large part to President Trump.

For more, let's go to our senior international correspondent Ivan Watson. He's joining us from Seoul right now.

Tell us more about the call, Ivan.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it sounds, from the readout, that both the South Korean president and President Trump are hoping that yesterday's ground breaking talks between North and South Korea could serve as a possible spring board to larger diplomacy with North Korea, possible direct diplomacy between the U.S. and North Korea.

Going one step further, according to the South Korean readout of the call, saying that President Trump sent a message to North Korea that basically the U.S. will not engage in any military action whatsoever as long as these inter-Korean talks are taking place. So that's a pretty strong signal that's being sent to Pyongyang right now.

Also, going one step further and saying that Vice President Pence will be leading the U.S. delegation that will be attending the winter Olympics here in South Korea in one month's time. Of course, the talks began on Tuesday aimed at trying to get North Korean athletes to be able to attend those winter Olympics. That agreement has been welcomed by South Korea, by the countries here in the region and by the International Olympic Committee.

Here's a big question. Is it possible that the U.S. delegation that attends the winter Olympics in one month's time, that they could potentially meet somehow with the North Koreans? There are only two athletes that are anticipated to be coming, but the North Korean entourage is expected to be much, much larger.

Wolf.

BLITZER: And let's not forget what the president, President Trump, said over the weekend when he was at Camp David. He was asked by a reporter, are you willing to engage in phone talks with Kim Jong-un right now? President Trump responded, sure, I always believe in talking.

Ivan Watson reporting for us from Seoul, South Korea. We'll get back to you when you get more. Thanks so much. An important story emerging.

Also coming up, fresh outrage is brewing after a top Democrat releases the closed door testimony over the controversial Trump Russia dossier. We're going to tell you what's in it, how it contradicts what the president has said.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:23:53] BLITZER: President Trump insisting once again today that there was absolutely no collusion between his campaign and Russia. His insistence comes just one day after Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein released testimony about that infamous Trump dossier from the company that oversaw it.

President Trump tweeted earlier today calling this the single greatest witch hunt in American history, and strongly denying any collusion with Russia. The president has, of course, made similar claims before. Listen to this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There is no collusion. You know why? Because I don't speak to Russians.

What has been shown is no collusion. No collusion. There's been absolutely -- there's been absolutely no collusion. So we're very happy.

There is absolutely no collusion. That has been proven. When you look at the committees, whether it's the Senate or the House, everybody -- my worst enemies, they walk out, they say, there is no collusion, but we'll continue to look.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: I want to bring in Amber Phillips, a political reporter for "The Washington Post" political blog "The Fix."

[13:25:00] Amber, you have a new piece comparing the president's words to this testimony that we've now read from Glenn Simpson, the co- founder of Fusion GPS. How does the testimony compare to President Trump's claiming this is a witch hunt and that there's no evidence of collusion?

AMBER PHILLIPS, POLITICAL REPORTER, "WASHINGTON POST'S" POLITICAL BLOG "THE FIX": Yes, well, Simpson's testimony suggests the exact opposite, that there is actually evidence of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, that his research firm found this while they were investigating more routine political opposition research that they might use for a client against President Trump.

And not only that, but that this -- what they found alleging collusion, they found was so serious, they called up the FBI. And the FBI came back to them and said, you know what, we believe you because -- and this is really key -- according to Simpson's testimony, the FBI had a source on the inside of the Trump campaign.

Here's what Glen Simpson said to Congress. He said essentially what Chris Steele, the author of the dossier told me, was they had other intelligence about this matter from an internal Trump campaign source. My understanding was they believed Chris at this point. They believed his information might be credible because they had other intelligence that indicated the same thing. One of those pieces of intelligence was a human source from inside the Trump organization.

Now, reporting right after this transcript was released shed a little bit of doubt that this was someone like a Trump whistleblower inside the campaign. It could have been a whistleblower from someone who was talking to the Trump campaign. It's still very much in doubt who this source is. But the point is, the FBI is basically saying they corroborated, according to Simpson's testimony, that there might have been some evidence for collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

BLITZER: The president, Amber, has also claimed that this entire investigation was simply made up by the Democrats, that Fusion GPS is linked to Democrats. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The whole Russian thing is what it's turned out to be. This was the Democrats coming up with an excuse for losing an election. They lost it by a lot. They didn't know what to say. So they made up the whole Russia hoax. Now it's turning out that the hoax has turned around and you look at what's happened with Russia and you look at the uranium deal and you look at the fake dossier. So that's all turned around.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So, Amber, how does this compare to Glen Simpson's testimony.

PHILLIPS: Yes, once again, the head of Fusion GPS directly contradicts the president when he's talking to Congress. What he says is, yes, we got funded by Democrats during the campaign to continue research. Research that was started by a conservative website that asked us to look into Trump's ties to Russia. We didn't know we were going to find collusion.

What Simpson says is the purpose of this was to see if we could learn more, generally speaking, about his business dealings in Russia. What came back was something very different and obviously more alarming. So it's not the same thing as saying that the dossier was motivated by Democrats to smear Trump. Democrats funded research that found on its own, Simpson claims, that there was collusion.

And not only that, they were so surprised at what they found, this dossier alleges that there was perhaps bribing or blackmail or any other number of claims that have been unsubstantiated so far by the media and parallel investigations going on. But they -- to them, they thought it was so serious that according to Simpson, to me this was like, you know, you're driving to work, you see something happen and you call 911. They couldn't not call the FBI on what they stumbled upon.

BLITZER: Amber Phillips, thanks so much for that explanation.

President Trump is furious that Simpson's testimony was released. He tweeted this earlier quote. The fact that sneaky Dianne Feinstein, who has on numerous occasions stated that collusion between Trump/Russia has not been found, would release testimony in such an underhanded and possibly illegal way, totally without authorization, is a disgrace. Must have tough primary, closed quote.

Gloria and David are still with me for some perspective. What was she hoping to achieve, Gloria, by releasing this transcript?

BORGER: I think -- I think she was hoping to achieve a certain amount of transparency, which she did. And I think what we saw, what Amber was talking about, and we saw in Glen Simpson's testimony, is that they felt they had a five alarm fire here. At least Christopher Steele did. And that's why he went to the FBI. He didn't go to the FBI for -- because he was out to get Donald Trump or for any other reason. I mean he was a known quantity to them. And he felt he had a presidential candidate who could potentially be subject to blackmail. And he felt a need to go -- to go and report this.

And I think what we -- what we now know about his testimony is that perhaps what he was referring to was that the Australian ambassador, who had been contacted and had a -- had a drinks in London with George Papadopoulos who told him about the information they had on Hillary Clinton's e-mail. So there was an external source as well that the -- that the FBI was aware of.

[13:30:09] GREGORY: I'm just a little bit more skeptical about this than I think Gloria is. We were talking about this.