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Calls for Delay of Kavanaugh Vote after Sexual Assault Allegations; What Manafort Plea Agreement Says About Mueller Probe; Russia & Turkey to Establish Demilitarized Zone in Syria; Study: An Aspirin a Day Could Harm Healthy Older Adults. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired September 17, 2018 - 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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[13:31:00] WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: All eyes on Capitol Hill right now. The U.S. Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation seemed like a lock, but now that an accuser has come forward with very disturbing details of sexual and physical assault, the vote on Kavanaugh is up in the air.

Let's check in with CNN's political analyst, congressional reporter for "Politico," Rachael Bade.

Rachael, the vote in the Judiciary Committee is still set for Thursday. What are you hearing?

RACHAEL BADE, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: That's right. And as you know, Senate judiciary Republicans have a razor-thin lead. Eleven Republicans to 10 Democrats. It will only take one Republican to switch sides, vote with the Democrats to result in an unfavorable approval for Kavanaugh, which is something GOP leaders want to avoid. Smack in the center, Jeff Flake, who is retiring this year and has shown he has not been afraid to go up against the president and his own party when he feels it's his moral obligation to do so. He told CNN and "Politico" and a bunch of reporters that he is not comfortable voting yes. He wants to hear from Ms. Ford. There's a way that McConnell could theoretically go around the committee and bring this to the floor. I'm not sure he would want to because there are groups of Republicans, as we classified, that could be problems for the party. There are retiring members, like Bob Corker and Jeff Flake, who are not afraid to go against their leadership. Dean Heller, who is a vulnerable Republican in Nevada, in a tough reelection and he will face pressure back home to potentially vote against this nominee. And we have the moderate Republicans, Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, and Lisa Collins, of Maine, who have shown they are willing to go against party leadership. They have not said what these allegations are going to do for their vote. They haven't said if they'll vote for Kavanaugh or not. But both asked Al Franken to step aside when he was accused of sexual misconduct, making inappropriate comments on women. There were multiple allegations for Franken and only one for Kavanaugh. But keep your eyes on these two ladies.

BLITZER: And let's keep our eyes also on some of these moderate Democrats who are up for reelection in so-called red states. BADE: That's right. For a long time, Senate Republicans, McConnell

had been waging this pressure campaign for Senate Democrats up for reelection this fall in states that Trump carried, knowing they will need Republican voters, they thought perhaps they can pressure them to backing Kavanaugh. And all three of these up here, Heidi Heitkamp, of North Dakota, Joe Donnelly, of Indiana, Joe Manchin, of West Virginia, voted for Neil Gorsuch in the past. They thought perhaps they could pressure them to vote for Kavanaugh, but I would say that pressure has abated for now. All three expressed concerns and they want to see an investigation of these allegations. Right now, they can't bet on these votes.

BLITZER: Good point. Excellent explanation.

Rachael, thank you very much.

Brett Kavanaugh is again denying the allegations against him. He's vowing to defend his integrity. And he's getting help. The Judicial Crisis Network plans a $1.5 million ad campaign to support Kavanaugh. The organization calls the accusations against him a last-minute smear campaign.

Joining us to discuss the Kavanaugh nomination is Democratic Senator Ben Cardin, of Maryland.

Senator, thanks for much for joining us.

As you know, Republican lawmakers are questioning the timing of these allegations against Judge Kavanaugh. What's your response?

SEN. BEN CARDIN, (D), MARYLAND: Wolf, it's the Republican leadership that are trying to jam this nomination through. This process has been flawed from the beginning. The president limiting his choice to a list provided by outside groups, failing to provide all the documentation that would normally be provided on a Supreme Court nominee. This is a lifetime appointment. This is a critically important responsibility for the U.S. Senate. We have a responsibility to hear Judge Kavanaugh under oath, to hear Professor Ford under oath on these allegations. We need to make sure, have that information before the committee takes action and before the floor debate on Judge Kavanaugh.

[13:35:04] BLITZER: Was it a mistake for your colleagues on the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Democrats, especially, not to question Kavanaugh about these allegations during the confirmation hearing, four days of open question and answers, during the closed-door meetings that Senators had with him, during the written Q&A that was allowed? Was it a mistake not to raise this issue with him during those weeks?

CARDIN: We have been working, Democrats have been working at real disadvantage. Not getting all the material in advance so we could prepare for the hearings and not getting, to this day, much of the material concerning Judge Kavanaugh. We get a lot of outside information to go through as quickly as we can. Judgments have to be made, including protecting confidentiality of sources and verifying sources. So, no, I don't believe the fault lies with the Democrats. The fault lies with the Republican leadership in trying to move this nomination unprecedented with disclosure of information or opportunities to know about the backgrounds and vetting this before the committee is scheduled to vote.

BLITZER: The ranking Democrat, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, Senator Dianne Feinstein, of California, has known about this allegation since July. The accuser asked her to keep it confidential. Was she right? Did Dianne Feinstein do the right thing in not raising this issue?

CARDIN: I am certain that Senator Feinstein took all the information made available to her, and her position in the Judiciary Committee, working with staff, vetting it as quickly as she could, recognizing that she had an unrealistic time schedule given to her by the Republicans to prepare for a hearing that should never have been scheduled that quickly. Look, Senator McConnell said 11 months was not long enough for President Obama to consider Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court. Here you have the same leader saying he now can do this in two months. It's ridiculous. We have not had the opportunity to properly vet this nomination. And now this fact is coming forward. Let's get a hearing on it. Let's have Judge Kavanaugh and Professor Ford under oath before the Judiciary Committee.

BLITZER: Officials say President Trump is upset and annoyed by the latest developments. White House counselor, Kellyanne Conway, said Judge Kavanaugh's accuser should not be insulted, should not be ignored. What do you make of these White House statements from Kellyanne Conway?

CARDIN: You know, the president has his way of conducting business. To me, this is a very serious accusation. It needs to be aired properly. You have already mentioned how other people's careers have been directly affected by this type of conduct. We need to get to the merits of what has been said here as to whether Judge Kavanaugh was involved in this and listen to the accuser and give the accuser the respect of these allegations. These are tough matters and they need to be aired properly.

BLITZER: Let me shift gears for a moment while I have you, Senator. The former Trump campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, is the latest Trump associate to enter a guilty plea. He agreed to cooperate fully with the special counsel, Robert Mueller. How significant is that? And what does it say about the state of the Mueller investigation?

CARDIN: Clearly, the Mueller investigation has unveiled several violations of our criminal statute. This is the latest where you have a guilty plea. This is clearly uncovering a great deal of problems involving the Trump campaign and related to the Trump campaign. I'm going to wait to see their full report before I try to connect dots. But clearly, there's extremely disturbing revelations in the investigation. It's extremely disappointing that President Trump tries to discredit the Department of Justice and this investigation. The president of the United States should never do that. It really compromises, I think, our view that the president respects the independence of the judiciary and the independence of an investigation of this type. The American people need to know the facts. We need to act accordingly.

BLITZER: Let me put that graphic up on the screen, those five individuals who have now all decided to plead guilty. You see them there. They used to work for President Trump. Now they are, for all practical purposes, working for the special counsel, Robert Mueller. They're fully cooperating in order to get reduced sentences.

Senator Cardin, thanks so much for joining us.

CARDIN: Wolf, it's good to be with you. These are serious issues and we need to wait for the Mueller investigation to be completed.

[13:39:54] BLITZER: Yes, we will see what happens.

Thank you very much.

This is just coming in to CNN from Syria right now. We are now learning that Russia and Turkey have just agreed to what is being described as a Demilitarized Zone in Syria, the last remaining rebel stronghold in Syria. We will have details for you. Stand by for that.

Also, a border patrol agent confesses to being a serial killer. And he's discovered as one woman made a very dramatic escape. That story is coming up.

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[13:44:57] BLITZER: This just in. New developments in the war in Syria. Russia and Turkey -- Turkey, a NATO ally -- both say they have agreed to establish a Demilitarized Zone in Idlib, in Syria, the last rebel stronghold.

Let's go to our senior international correspondent, Matthew Chance. He is joining us from Moscow.

Matthew, update our viewers. What can you tell us?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: These are potentially very important developments that have taken place here in Russia with a meeting between Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, and his Turkish counterpart, President Erdogan, of Turkey. They have been meeting in Sochi in Southern Russia over the past several hours, discussing the issue of Idlib, the last remaining rebel-controlled province in Syria. There have been Russian airstrikes in the surrounding territory over the past couple of weeks, building up to a potential assault by Syrian government forces on Idlib.

It's a territory with millions of people inside. The possibility of an all-out attack on Idlib have raised concerns of a humanitarian catastrophe, a massive outflow of refugees, and a slaughter among the millions of people trapped in the province, whether it's a military attack by the Syrian government on it. For the moment, that seems according to these latest developments, to have been averted, because, out of a meeting in Sochi, Presidents Erdogan and Putin said they have come to a conclusion to form an exclusion zone around Idlib, which will be policed jointly by the Russians and by the Turks, and issuing a deadline to the militants inside to extract heavy weapons from inside that zone with a view towards pacifying it.

Take a listen to what Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, had to say about the issue.

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VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): During our meeting, we examined in detail the situation and decided to create along the line of contact, by the 15th of October, a Demilitarized Zone of 15 to 20 kilometers long and to make sure the militants will be removed, including Jabhat al Nusra. By the 15th of October, on the proposal of the Turkish president, all heavy equipment, tanks and ground missiles and mortars of all opposition groups will be removed. And the Demilitarized Zone will be patrolled by mobile Turkish units and Russian military police.

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CHANCE: Now, the Russians, along with their Syrian allies, have been champing at the bit to launch their full-out attacks on Idlib. They've spoken in very negative terms about the people inside of it, calling it a hot bed of terrorism, saying it's an urgent need for them to attack it. But the Turks, on the other side of that equation, have been resisting it very heavily. They are already catering for 3.5 million refugees that have come from Syria inside Turkey. And they fear that with a military assault on Idlib, that number would increase a lot and so they have been pushing hard, putting pressure on their Russian allies, I suppose -- they're not allies over the Syrian war -- to step back from the brink of a military attack on Idlib for the moment. That seems to have worked. And this seems to have achieved a delay in any military assault in Idlib. In fact, the Russian defense minister, speaking after the meetings, said that a military operation in the province of Idlib was no longer on the agenda. Whether that's permanent or just delayed, we don't know at this point -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Let's not forget, a half a million people have been killed in the civil war in Syria over the past few years.

Matthew Chance, we will watch it closely with you. Significant or potentially significant developments, but there have been so many false hopes in the past.

Other news, the woman accusing the Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, of sexual assault said he did not act alone. There was another guy in the room, she said. You'll hear what he has to say about the allegations.

Plus, stunning new studies find an aspirin a day, even a baby aspirin a day, may actually do more harm than good for some people. We have details.

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[13:53:35] BLITZER: An aspirin a day, for some, it could prevent heart attacks or a stroke, but new research shows it's not for everyone. For healthy, older adults, it could actually be rather harmful.

Let's go to our senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen.

Elizabeth, this is a stunning new study. It reverses so much of what we have been told, that as you get older, take at least a baby aspirin. It will prevent heart attacks, it will prevent dementia, cancer, strokes. All of that now proves to be, according to this new study, wrong.

DR. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know what, Wolf, it appears to be wrong for certain people. It's so interesting, what these researchers did. You know, aspirin is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it helps heart disease. On the other hand, it increases your risk for bleeding. Internal bleeding is especially dangerous. They took nearly 20,000 senior citizens, half got a baby aspirin, half didn't. They were healthy senior citizens. And after they followed them for a few years, they found, not only did the aspirin not help their hearts, it increased their risk for internal bleeding. So the researchers asked the question, why are we doing this? It doesn't seem to make much sense.

BLITZER: It also increased risk, apparently, for cancer, at least among some, right?

COHEN: Among some, that's right.

BLITZER: It's a serious problem, because it reverses. So the only people that should be taking baby aspirin or aspirins among the elderly are those who at least have already had a heart attack or already had a stroke. It might prevent another one, is that right?

COHEN: Who have had some form of heart disease or coronary artery disease. And that's where you have to talk to your doctor. Everybody is different. Your doctor might say, you're at a high risk for heart disease for "A," "B," and "C" reasons, and I think it's worth it for you to take an aspirin. For other patients, they may say, look, the risk of internal bleeding, just not worth it.

[13:55:17] BLITZER: Elizabeth Cohen, thanks very much. A very significant study, indeed. Reverses a lot of the thinking that we've been told.

Appreciate it, Elizabeth.

Also coming up, she's the most famous actress in China, but now she's vanished without a trace. Is the government involved? We have new details.

Also this, a very strange development in the sports world. Very strange, indeed. An NFL player abruptly retiring at halftime, leaving the team. Now some of his teammates are furious and they are speaking out against him.

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