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Trump Denies FBI Interference; Trump Fine with Kavanaugh Being Interviewed by FBI; Kavanaugh's Yale Classmate Speaks Out. Aired 1- 1:30p ET

Aired October 01, 2018 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00] JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Coverage right now. Have a good day.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington. Thanks very much for joining us. We start with breaking news here in Washington.

The president, President Trump, talking about the FBI investigation into allegations against this U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and fighting back against claim that the FBI is setting the scope of the investigation. Sources tell CNN the White House is controlling the investigation and deciding who gets questioned and about what. But just a few moments ago, at the wide ranging White House Rose Garden news conference, the president spoke about what he expects from the FBI.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want them to do a very comprehensive investigation, whatever that means according to the senators and the Republicans and the Republican majority. I want them to do that. I want it to be comprehensive. I actually think it's a good thing for Judge Kavanaugh. I think it's actually a good thing. Not a bad thing. I think it's a good thing.

Now, with that being said, I'd like it to go quickly. And the reason I'd like it to go quickly, very simple, it's so simple, because it's unfair to him at this point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's go to our White House correspondent, Kaitlan Collins. She was in the Rose Garden asking the president several questions on the topic of Brett Kavanaugh, the U.S. Supreme Court nominee. He didn't exactly answer your specific questions, did he?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No, he didn't, Wolf. This was supposed to be a victory lap for the president's new trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, but then it turned into these questions, of course the headline of the day, whether or not Brett Kavanaugh is going to be confirmed to the Supreme Court. Now, President Trump resisted taking questions about Kavanaugh at first, instead saying he wanted to focus on trade. But then he did come back to those questions. And you heard him there talking about what has been a big concern from Democratic senators, and that's that the White House is limiting the FBI's investigation into these claims made about Brett Kavanaugh, that investigation that was requested by key senators who, if they don't vote for Judge Kavanaugh, he will not be confirmed to the Supreme Court.

President Trump said the White House isn't interfering, that he wanted them to talk about who -- to whoever they believe is appropriate. But he didn't say exactly what that means. If he does believes that they should speak to the third accuser, Julie Swetnick. You heard him saying earlier, he wasn't sure if she was a credible enough accuser.

Then the conversation, when he called on me, turned to whether or not Brett Kavanaugh mischaracterized his drinking habits when he testified on Capitol Hill. That's a concern we've heard from several Democrats saying that the FBI should also look into that. And even some of Brett Kavanaugh's former acquaintances from his college days saying he wasn't truthful about it. Here's what President Trump said he believed if -- when I asked if he thought Brett Kavanaugh should be disqualified from being his Supreme Court nominee if it is found that he mischaracterized his drinking habits.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: So if he did lie about his drinking, does that mean you'll pull his nomination?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't think he did.

COLLINS: OK.

TRUMP: I -- look, here's -- here's what -- I'm just saying, I'm not a drinker. I can honestly say I never had a beer in my life, OK?

COLLINS: Right.

TRUMP: It's one of my only good traits. I don't drink. Whatever they're looking for something, I say, never had a glass of alcohol. I've never had alcohol. I've just -- you know, for whatever reason. Can you imagine if I had what a mess I'd be. Well, I'd be -- I'd be the world's worst. But I never drank. I never drank, OK? But I can tell you, I watched that hearing and I watched a man saying that he did have difficulty as a young man with drink.

The one question I didn't ask is, how about the last 20 years. Have you had difficulty the last 20 years? Because nobody said anything bad about him in many, many years. They go back to high school.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: So, Wolf, there President Trump says that Brett Kavanaugh told the senators that he did have difficulty with his drinking.

Wolf, you and I watched this together. That is not how Brett Kavanaugh characterized it. Instead, he sought to downplay the questions about his drinking, essentially characterizing it as normal and saying that he has never thrown up from drinking and never blacked out or had memory loss from drinking too much. That is how he characterized it. That is why there are questions about what he said and whether or not that was truthful.

But President Trump said there he had already made up his mind about Brett Kavanaugh. But then when he was asked, if there are more credible allegations that are found as the FBI is conducting its investigation, is he open to a plan b essentially here? And he said, yes, he has an open mind and that he is waiting to see what the result of that FBI investigation is, just like the rest of us.

Wolf.

BLITZER: You know, it started off as a lengthy statement he made on the new U.S. trade agreement first with Mexico and now with Canada. But it quickly became an extended Q&A with the president in the Rose Garden involving the confirmation process of Judge Kavanaugh. I don't know if the president really wanted to go down that road, but he took -- he took a whole bunch of questions from you and your colleagues.

[13:05:00] COLLINS: That's right, Wolf. Initially he would not take those questions on Brett Kavanaugh. He wanted to stay focus on the trade deal, which, of course, is big news, but so is Brett Kavanaugh. That's a big question about whether or not -- where this FBI investigation is going to turn.

And we saw some of the president's frustration over how long this has played out, which we know he's been expressing privately, complaining not just about Senate Democrats, but also about Senate Republicans and the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in particular. We saw some of that frustration play out there in the president's answers, saying that he believes that Bret Kavanaugh has been treated unfairly, as well as his wife and his children, throughout this entire process.

And, Wolf, he did seem to contradict himself because he said he wants a full and complete FBI investigation. He wants to know whether or not there is any validity to these allegations. But then he also said that it shouldn't take that long and that it shouldn't turn into a witch hunt, which is something we heard from White House officials over the weekend, that they don't want this to turn into a fishing expedition.

Of course, the Democrats on Capitol Hill, and especially the ones on the Senate Judiciary Committee, would counter that by saying it needs to be a thorough investigation because that is what -- this is a lifetime appointment. The highest privilege you can have as a judge is to be on the Supreme Court. And they want all of their questions asked and answered before they do go to vote on him, Wolf. But, clearly there, the president's frustration playing out today.

BLITZER: Yes, a lot of drama over there in the Rose Garden over at the White House.

Kaitlan, good job. Thank you very much.

Let's bring in our panel, our correspondents and our analysts. And, Gloria, first of all, it was stunning to see the Q&A that the

president went through on the entire Kavanaugh nomination.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it was. And I think, you know, in a way, if you're pro-Kavanaugh and you're watching this, you would say, uh oh, the president really didn't help us very much today because he said over and over, you know, I want a full FBI interview. If they want to interview Kavanaugh again that's fine.

And then he also said, he's had a little bit difficulty, you know, he was talking about the beer. He talked about things that happened when he drank. Well, he didn't. He didn't do that before the committee. So maybe he did it somewhere else that we're not -- you know, that we're not aware of.

So I think the president strayed a little bit. He said there is no plan b, but he said he wanted to look at everything. So if you're really pro-Kavanaugh, you look at the president today and you're sort of like, well, that didn't help us very much.

BLITZER: How did you see it, Nia?

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: No, I same thing. I mean he didn't have to take questions on -- in this announcement. It was all about this trade agreement. So he could have just had that statement and then walked away and went back into the White House there. But he clearly, you know, wanted to in some way. Certainly we talk about trade. And then he went to talking about Brett Kavanaugh. I agree with Gloria, this didn't help because this opens up this whole idea of Brett Kavanaugh's drinking, right? I mean he suggested that he may have had some sort of problem drinking. We obviously know how the president himself feels about drinking because his brother had an alcohol problem. So, yes, I don't know how -- if you're Brett Kavanaugh and you're watching this, you're probably not happy.

How do they un-ring this bell? At this point it sounds like the president is open to Kavanaugh actually talking to the FBI. That seemed to be not something that they were wanting to do because then you get a situation where Kavanaugh has said certain things obviously to the committee under oath in public and does he say something different to the FBI and then do those stories match up?

BLITZER: You know, Joan Biskupic, you covered the Supreme Court for us. I'm curious to get your perspective.

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SUPREME COURT ANALYST: I can tell you what Brett Kavanaugh thought he would be doing right now. He would have been just winding up lunch with the justices on his very first day of the term.

HENDERSON: Yes.

BISKUPIC: They opened today. There was a hole in the bench where his chair would have been. And everything had been on track, as we all know, after the first set of hearings. And Mitch McConnell had wanted a vote before now. Obviously the nominee had wanted a vote by now. So it is -- it has -- he could not have been witnessing that news conference without feeling like, can I just get a good strong, you know, show of support from the man who nominated me?

So -- but the real crucial element is, what's going on behind the scenes with the FBI? So this is all drama. It's all different parts of what's been a very event-filled nomination. But we do not know what will be given to the president and to senators by the end of the week and he could still be confirmed. It will just take longer.

BORGER: Oh, yes.

BLITZER: You know, the FBI launched the investigation right after Friday when they decided, after Jeff Flake, the Republican senator from Arizona, demanded it and, of course, the president and his supporters didn't have the votes to confirm right away. They said no more than a week, but it could be less than a week.

Can the FBI, Michael Zeldin, and you worked with the FBI for a long time, can they do the job in a thorough way within the next four or five days?

MICHAEL ZELDIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Maybe. And it depends on the scope. What the president said that's so important is that the Senate essentially is driving the process. So if it's Grassley and Graham who are setting the parameters of the investigation, that could be done in two days, because they only want them to talk to three or four people and then be done with it.

[13:10:01] If Flake and Coons are driving the process, or have a voice in the process, then it will be a longer process because each background investigation always ends with the person being interviewed being asked, is there anybody else that we should speak to? And that's how they -- that's the last question of every background investigation interview. If names are given and the FBI is given the authority to go ask those other people, then a week may be too short. If they're not asking that question or they're not given authority to investigate, then this is -- this will be wrapped up and it's really just then pretext.

BORGER: Well --

ZELDIN: This is not real and it's not a true investigation.

BORGER: Isn't this really up to the White House? I mean the president says it's whatever the Senate wants. But we all know that Don McGahn, the White House Counsel, is very involved in this. And he could say -- deal with Republican senators and say, this is -- you know, this is really what we want. Don't the instructions always come from the White House to the FBI?

ZELDIN: Yes. Absolutely. But remember a couple of things. One is, this is McGahn's legacy, getting this guy confirmed.

BORGER: Yes. Absolutely.

ZELDIN: So he's got no interest in having a broad investigation that may torpedo this nomination.

BORGER: Right.

ZELDIN: And so, yes, the -- this is why Dianne Feinstein said, give us the written order that defines the terms of the investigation.

BORGER: And we haven't seen it.

ZELDIN: Until we see that --

HENDERSON: Yes.

BORGER: Yes.

ZELDIN: Well, until we see that, we don't know whether this investigation is real or show.

BORGER: Yes.

BISKUPIC: And doesn't he need to please people like Jeff Flake?

HENDERSON: Yes, that's (INAUDIBLE).

BISKUPIC: If he's happy with what comes in, he will vote.

BLITZER: Yes.

BISKUPIC: I mean he's already promised that. He's also said, though, if he's not happy, he might not.

HENDERSON: Right (ph).

BORGER: Well, I think they presume that --

BISKUPIC: (INAUDIBLE) senators.

BORGER: I think they presume, to be quite honest, I mean in talking to some people this morning, I think they presumed that they've got Flake's vote actually in the end. I don't know if they're right about that.

HENDERSON: Right.

BORGER: But I think that was one of the reasons Mitch McConnell was so willing to go along with this because he figured, well, I'm going to get Flake as a result of this and maybe I'll get Susan Collins as well. They're not sure about Murkowski.

But I think Flake and Coons have to kind of come together and agree on something. I mean the Democrats don't want this limited.

ZELDIN: NO, that's exactly right.

BORGER: Yes.

ZELDIN: Those two have become the strongest voice in setting the parameters of this investigation. If they're silent, then we don't have anything. HENDERSON: You know, and do they have any power?

BLITZER: All right, but the instructions to the FBI were -- they used the word limited, a limited investigation. So we'll see where that goes.

Everybody stand by. There's a lot more we're following.

We're continuing our coverage of the breaking news. The president attacking Democratic senators by name, also teasing, and I'm quoting now, compromising information. He says he has compromising information on a mystery senator. We're going to discuss that. It was pretty extraordinary to hear the president threatening a United States senator like that.

Also, as the FBI dig through Judge Kavanaugh's past, there are questions, and they're mounting, over his past drinking habits as former classmates in high school and at Yale University claim he lied under oath.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:17:23] BLITZER: We're following the breaking news out of Washington where President Trump just addressed serious questions over Brett Kavanaugh and the allegations of sexual assault against him, strongly defending his U.S. Supreme Court nominee and the mounting questions over his alleged heavy drinking in the past, in high school and in college specifically.

Meanwhile, a new claim from a former Yale University classmate who says he saw firsthand, many years ago, what Kavanaugh was like during those college days. Chad Ludington told CNN, and I'm quoting him now, I can unequivocally say that in denying the possibility that he ever blackout from drinking, and in downplaying the degree and frequency of his drinking, Brett has not told the truth, closed quote.

That certainly contradict what Judge Kavanaugh testified under oath.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRETT KAVANAUGH, SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: I drank beer with my friends. Almost everyone did. Sometimes I had too many beers. Sometimes others did. I liked beer. I still like beer. But I did not drink beer to the point of blacking out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Back with us, Nia-Malika Henderson, Michael Zeldin, Joan Biskupic and Gloria Borger.

So, Gloria, that's going to be part of this, I assume, part of this FBI investigation, the scope, did the Supreme Court nominee lie under oath?

BORGER: Well, we don't know. I think it should be. But we're not quite sure what the scope of it is. But you have all these people now coming out and saying, I witnessed this. I saw Kavanaugh drink heavily, et cetera, et cetera. And what you -- what Kavanaugh said was I like beer and that was -- you know, that was it. And so I think the more people come out, it would seem to me, that the FBI would -- would have to investigate that unless the scope is just narrowed to this question of this sexual assault, in which case they may not pursue anything about his drinking and/or pursue anything about a question of whether he had a lack of candor before the committee.

BLITZER: Because, Nia, as you know, a lot of people are paying attention to the words that he uttered during the course of those hours of Q&A before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

HENDERSON: They are. And I think the notion that more things are coming out, people are talking to the press about who he was in college, this, I think, underscores why Republicans were so worried about more time. A week might not seem like a lot of time in terms of an FBI investigation, but it's certainly a lot of time just in terms of the public talking about this, other people coming out, "SNL" doing a spoof on it, for instance.

[13:20:01] So I think that's one of the things they're worried about. And the idea that the president now is talking about his drinking in the way that Democrats are talking about his drinking, that must be very concerning for him.

We'll see what his people come out and say. Does he release a statement about his drinking? Does someone else kind of try to tamp down on this question of whether or not this is a person who has a drinking problem? Again, he didn't suggest that in his statement before the Senate there, but we're talking about his drinking.

BISKUPIC: It's so beyond the Supreme Court seat at this point.

HENDERSON: Right.

BISKUPIC: It really has to do now with his reputation, his dignity. So much more is in the air. And he made the comment when he testified about, you know, do you know, senators, how long this -- these 10 days have been?

HENDERSON: Right.

BISKUPIC: Now it's, do you know how long this 24 hours has been?

HENDERSON: Yes. Yes.

BISKUPIC: You know, I think he -- I think -- that is exactly what this man fears and exactly what Republicans fear. But, you know, there's a long way between today, Monday, and Friday, when this report presumably would be handed to the White House and to senators. And as I said, I think it's so much more now than the Supreme Court seat. It's, how does someone who's been so -- at one point had such sterling credentials on -- what, for 12 years on what we call the second highest court in the land, the D.C. Circuit. Either he gets onto the Supreme Court and this is a cloud over his head for many, many years, or he goes back to the D.C. Circuit, where it's still a cloud over his head for many, many years.

ZELDIN: I think -- I think from a legal standpoint, though, one of the questions one has to ask is whether or not this question of did he drink excessively in college is disqualifying. That is, it's been a long time since college. He may have testified less than, you know, forthrightly, but is that material enough to torpedo the nomination? And that's something that senators have to decide. They might say, look, he was not forthright with us about how much he drank, but that's 30 years ago or 18 years ago and we're not going to disqualify this nomination on that. That's a hard decision that these guys are going to have to (INAUDIBLE).

BLITZER: You know, Gloria, the president, during the extended Q&A he had with reporters in the Rose Garden, he really bat -- or went after the Democrats.

BORGER: Yes.

BLITZER: Now, let me play this clip. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Look at some of these people asking the questions, OK? Look at Blumenthal. He lied about Vietnam. He didn't just say, hey, I went to Vietnam. No, no, for 15 years he said he was a war hero. He fought in Da-Nang province. We call him Da-Nang Richard. Da-Nang. That's his nickname, Da-Nang. He never went to Vietnam. And he's up there saying, we need honestly and we need integrity. This guy lied when he was the attorney general of Connecticut. He lied.

I mean take a look at Cory Booker. He ran Newark, New Jersey, into the ground. He was a horrible mayor. And he made statements that when he was in high school or college what he was doing. He actually made the statements. And now he's talking about Judge Kavanaugh.

And I could go through a whole list of them, OK.

Look at Dianne Feinstein. You're telling me about time. Dianne Feinstein knew about this two months earlier. If she wanted a really thorough investigation, we had all the time in the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And he went one step further also, Gloria, in saying he has information about a senator, a Democratic senator, that would be very compromising information about this Democratic senator if he were to release it. When pressed who this senator is, he said, I'm not going to say. But it was a very stark warning to someone out there that he knows something.

BORGER: Yes, it was. I mean, and this is pure Donald Trump. This is Donald Trump from the campaign. This is Donald Trump attacking, attacking, attacking. This is Donald Trump on Twitter. I'm surprised this wasn't tweeted, but it sure sounded like it to me. And it was sort of, OK, I'm going to attack all of the people who would challenge -- who would challenge Kavanaugh, who's -- who's my guy.

As for the anonymous charge, I mean I don't see a president -- how a president levels that. It was kind of -- it was kind of stunning, actually, or how he knows it. But it was astonishing to me that he would level something like that anonymously. It was also astonishing he would take on these senators in another way. But, look, he feels like Cory Booker could run against him for president, for example.

HENDERSON: Right.

BORGER: So he's -- he's not shy about this. We shouldn't be surprised about anything except for the anonymous charge there.

BLITZER: He was really on the attack mode over there against the Democrats.

HENDERSON: He -- he really was. I mean it was like shades of Lindsey Graham when he was on the Senate Judiciary Committee railing against the Democrats on Thursday. Very charged up, yelling at that point.

In terms of who he's talking about with these sort of anonymous claims about somebody, who knows. I think Gloria's right, he's done this before. He's actually done this before with those -- a couple of other senators who I won't name because there's no need to sort of give this more oxygen.

This isn't a president whose very good at keeping secrets. So I imagine if he had some damaging information about a senator, it would be -- it would be all out there.

[13:25:03] BISKUPIC: You know, he's done this before. But the one area of his entire presidency that seemed to be roped off and working more as a tradition Republican was the Judiciary and the Supreme Court. You know he, with Don McGahn -- and actually the president sort of removed from Don McGahn's operation that he was doing with the Federalist Society and other conservative advocates have been moving along at a nice clip with a lot of controversy, but not the kind of controversy that burst onto the screen. Very effectively putting many lifetime appointments throughout the country for what I believe will be Donald Trump's greatest legacy. Real significance here. And it has hit a major speed bump. And to see him go out there like this on something relative to the court is a big deal. It's a real -- it's a real jolt, frankly, to his relationship with the Judiciary. It's much different. And this could actually impede what he does for the next two years for the rest of the seats.

BLITZER: All right, on a day when he does deserve credit for working on a new trade deal, a post-NAFTA trade deal --

HENDERSON: Right.

BLITZER: First with Mexico, now with Canada, a very significant development. But, obviously, in the course of his Q&A, he's stepping on that story, as they say, as well.

Everybody stand by. There's a lot more going on. So who are the FBI investigators interviewing right now and what

happens if what they learn leads them down another path? Does it open other doors? Can the White House intervene? I'll speak live with a former FBI assistant director. Stand by.