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Trump Speaks Ahead of Busy Week; Trump Meeting with Rosenstein; Trump Appears with Rick Scott; Trump Speaks to Law Enforcement; Michael Strengthens to Hurricane; Saudi Journalist Missing. Aired 1- 1:30p ET

Aired October 08, 2018 - 13:00   ET

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


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[13:00:23] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington. Thanks very much for joining us.

This hour we expect to hear directly from the president. He's speaking today at a law enforcement event in Orlando, Florida. Today's speech comes after what may have been -- may have been his best week at least yet for the president as he saw his controversial choice for the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, successfully confirmed.

Our White House reporter Sarah Westwood is joining us from Orlando right now.

Sarah, the president's appearance there isn't necessarily a campaign stop, but it doesn't seem to have that kind of feel anyway.

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Wolf, the president certainly has things on his mind other than law enforcement as he heads here to give this speech to the gathering of police chiefs here. Leaving the White House today, he was talking about Kavanaugh, he was talking about the midterms, he was going after Democrats.

And Trump has already spent the past couple of days basking in the success of that narrow confirmation vote that put Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court. He's showing no signs of switching gears. And starting at the rally in Kansas on Saturday, Trump previewed what is likely to become a central theme of his political messaging heading into the midterms, and that's using that example of the Kavanaugh confirmation battle as a way to motivate Republican voter who might otherwise be complacent in November. We heard that same argument from him this morning that the Supreme Court somehow exposes Democrats as maybe being too extreme. And it's all part of this effort from Trump and his allies to try to compete with the Democratic enthusiasm gap. Democrats have enjoyed this advantage and Democratic energy and enthusiasm for months now.

So this event today, although it is official, it's not political, it will be the first of several chances that Trump has to extend this victory lap. He's got political rallies on the books later in the week in Pennsylvania, Iowa, Ohio, even Kentucky on Saturday. So lots of opportunities, Wolf, for Trump to keep up this celebratory rhetoric, possibly today included.

BLITZER: Yes, it's the International Association of Chiefs of Police representing about, what, 30,000 law enforcement officials in 150 countries. So it's an important meeting indeed.

What do we know, Sarah, about the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein. He traveled aboard Air Force One with the president on that flight from here in Washington to where you are in Orlando.

WESTWOOD: Well, Wolf, we know the conversation lasted about 30 minutes aboard Air Force One. There were some other aides in and out of the cabin when that conversation was taking place. By all indications it was a positive conversation. Trump had indicated this morning that he had no plans to fire his deputy attorney general this morning.

He had been advised and had expressed an interest in not firing Rosenstein before the Kavanaugh confirmation was completed. That's obviously done now. But right now at the White House there's no appetite to do anything that could blunt the momentum they think they have heading into the midterms, and so it's not likely that we will see a change in the leadership of the Justice Department at this moment, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Sarah, thank you very much. Sarah Westwood on the scene in Orlando.

We'll have coverage of the president's remarks later this hour.

Before leaving the White House earlier today, the president spoke about Justice -- Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and the effect that his confirmation will have on the upcoming midterms in about four weeks -- only four weeks away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think you're going to see a lot of things happen on November 6th that would not have happened before. The American public has seen this charade, has seen this dishonesty by the Democrats, and there was no corroboration of any kind and went through seven FBI investigations, had nothing to do with any of this stuff.

I mean you had the last one. Take a look at the last one. The things they said about him, I don't even think he ever heard of the word. It was all made up. It was fabricated. And it's a disgrace. And I think it's going to really show you something come November 6th.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, let's get some analysis. Joining us now, Jeff Mason, the White House correspondent for Reuters, Shannon Pettypiece, White House reporter for "Bloomberg News," our political director, David Chalian, and Karoun Demirjian, CNN political analyst, congressional reporter for "The Washington Post."

It's something he's going to be bragging about we know for days and days and days to come leading up to the midterms. A second United States Supreme Court justice now confirmed. Someone he nominated.

KAROUN DEMIRJIAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right, and in such rapid succession too. So he's going to be trumpeting that quite a bit.

I mean, look, this is the double-edged sword of Brett Kavanaugh's nomination, though, right? It's going to fire up Democrats who are really, really angry about the fact that he got onto the court and it's going to be a victory lap for Republicans who are going to need to basically feel like they have to get a boost from this, feel like they have to protect his nomination, or just going to be happy that they won.

[13:05:16] Who wins out is really going to be a question of -- it's the turnout question. It's just the classic turnout question in one figure right now on the Supreme Court. And what Trump says could have a real effect on how this works. Yes, he's going to be boosting this up on the campaign trail. Yes, he's going to be playing for isn't this great that we have Brett Kavanaugh.

I think if he goes too far, though, in the rhetoric of, this was all a political stunt, this is all made up, he could potentially risk losing those suburban female voters that -- you know, you've heard the Republicans on Capitol Hill say, yes, we support Brett Kavanaugh. We find Christine Blasey Ford really sympathetic and believable, but we support Brett Kavanaugh. That's not what the president is saying.

BLITZER: Yes, he's saying it's a hoax, it's a disgrace.

He is coming within four weeks of the midterms elections riding pretty high right now. He's got a second Supreme Court justice confirm, 3.7 percent unemployment, the lowest number in almost 50 years, a U.S.- Mexico-Canada trade agreement. He's got some successes over these past few days.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Without a doubt. A string of accomplishments coming at just the right time as he's about to barnstorm the country. You know he's been asking his political advisers, get me out there, I want to be out there campaigning.

You know, I think what Karoun is also getting at is, when -- yes, this will impact both parties and this will jazz up both parties. One party, the Republicans, were worried about lagging in enthusiasm. Democrats were already on fire. So getting a boost was really critical for them. So I think that's why this was so important.

But it also is because of how different the landscape is in the battle for control of the Senate and the battle for control of the House. If the president continues to completely dismiss the allegations against Ford or seems dismissive of women and doing so, that could really adversely impact his party's chances in the ballot for the House. So many of those districts are taking place in suburban areas, white college educated women, independent voters. But where the Republican boost from Kavanaugh may actually help them is save the Senate because so many of those races are playing out in deep red Trump country.

BLITZER: And he's not mincing any words in saying that this whole attack against Judge Kavanaugh was a disgrace, a hoax, a witch hunt. There was no evidence whatsoever. He's going all out on that.

SHANNON PETTYPIECE, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, "BLOOMBERG NEWS": I mean it almost feels like the Republican Party's given up on suburban women. And before the numbers were so terrible, particularly among suburban women, conservatives, that, I mean, this really just kind of adds to a bigger issue that they already had. But, I mean, there is this sense that there is enough white males they can turn out.

When I talked to people close to the White House, people in the White House, are you concerned about what this does to women, they're not really that concerned that much. And they actually say they still see support from women on this Kavanaugh issue, particularly in that core base.

But another thing I hear from them is that they know there is a lot that can happen between now and Election Day. And to give you a sense of how long a month is in news years, it's been about a month since that "New York Times" op-ed, that anonymous senior administration official, if anyone's still talking about that, does anyone remember that? So that's how we could feel about Kavanaugh and this issue about attacks on women come Election Day.

BLITZER: There's, I'm sure, a lot of Republicans feel they've got some momentum going right now, going into these midterms elections. Democrats have assumed they're going to win the House of Representatives. Is it a done deal?

JEFF MASON, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "REUTERS": Well, it's certainly not a done deal. And I think you're right, there's confidence now on the side of Republicans. It's not only Donald Trump who is talking optimistically about the chances that the party has in the midterm elections, it's Mitch McConnell coming out and saying what the Democrats just did is exactly what we weren't able to do on our own, and that is energize our base. So the Republicans are confident and the Kavanaugh issue is playing both ways for both parties, but I think the Republicans feel that it's certainly going to help them in the Senate.

BLITZER: And the fact that Rod Rosenstein flew down to Orlando with the president today, the deputy attorney general, who only a few days ago seemed to be ready to be pushed out because of that "New York Times" story suggesting he thought about the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to replace the president, thought about wearing a wire to hear what the president said. All of a sudden the president's saying very nice things about him today.

MASON: All of a sudden is right. I mean he was certainly not happy with the reporting that came out about Rosenstein when it did, but then that whole story and issue got sort of pushed to the aside because of the Kavanaugh controversy. And now it's showing some strategy on the part of the president and on the part of the White House to not make Rosenstein a big deal here.

BLITZER: How do you see it?

DEMIRJIAN: Yes. Yes. I mean, look, if the president gets rid of Rosenstein, that basically is playing into what the Democrats will -- any of his critics. It's not just Democrats. Republicans too would say, why are you doing that. It looks like trying to mess with the Mueller probe. The advice that's been given to the president the whole way is just let it run its course and hope it doesn't stick on you.

[13:10:02] But, look, we will have another Rosenstein chapter this week. He's supposed to be on The Hill this week. He will get grilled by the president's closest allies in the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform Committees.

BLITZER: Is that going to be open or closed?

DEMIRJIAN: It's going to be behind closed doors. They're doing everything behind closed doors these days. But we will -- we also get things trickling out about what happened behind closed doors and that may fuel the next cycle of what either Republicans on The Hill or the president decide to do about Rod Rosenstein.

BLITZER: If --

PETTYPIECE: Yes.

BLITZER: Go ahead. You wanted to say?

PETTYPIECE: I was just going to say, yes, our -- I mean our reporting indicates that Rosenstein's safe until the midterms. After the midterms, it's widely assumed Sessions will resign, be replaced somehow. And if Sessions is replaced and you have an attorney general who is not recused from the Russian investigation, you can keep Rod Rosenstein. Let him do whatever he wants. Or let the new attorney general, whenever he gets confirmed, you know, put his own deputy in place.

So, yes, I don't think Rosenstein is going anywhere. I think it was lucky, though, that Trump was at the U.N. when that story came out because he was very distracted and it gave time for the temperatures to cool down.

CHALIAN: And today he checked the box of the promised meeting on Air Force One without it being this come to the White House and dominate the whole thing.

PETTYPIECE: To the police (INAUDIBLE).

CHALIAN: Take the plane together and put it out there that they talked and that he's happy with him and moving on.

BLITZER: Rick Scott, the Florida governor, a Republican, running for the Senate seat against Bill Nelson, the Democratic senator, the incumbent, apparently he's going to be with the president today in Orlando. From a political standpoint, is that good for his chances of beating Senator Nelson or bad to show up with the president in a complicated state like Florida?

CHALIAN: Right. In a very evenly divided state, you've got a very evenly divided Senate race right now. You did see Rick Scott there at the airport with the president. It helps and hurts, right? I mean it does -- it does a bit of both. But unlike every other competitive -- really competitive race in the Senate battle, where in a red state a Democrat is running for re-election, Rick Scott has not yet invited Donald Trump to campaign with him at a big Trump rally style thing. That is not the case in Montana, West Virginia, Missouri, Indiana. There Donald Trump has campaigned with the Republican nominee. Not so with Rick Scott in the general election yet. We'll see if he invites him in as we get close to Election Day.

BLITZER: You know, Jeff, a year ago the president addressed this same group, this International Association of Law Enforcement Chiefs, 30,000 members, 150 countries. He caused a controversy by saying this. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When you see these towns and when you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you just see them thrown in, rough, I said, please don't be too nice. Like, when you guys put somebody in the car and you're protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over -- like, don't hit their head and they've just killed somebody. Don't hit their head. I said, you can take the hand away, OK?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: They had to issue a statement later, the association, saying the police are very respectful, even of those who are arrested. But it caused a bit of a concern. I'm wondering what he might say today.

MASON: Well, and that -- that shows as well as so many of the other speeches that he does, that virtually everywhere he goes for him it's usually a political speech. He sees the police as constituents. Law enforcement has been one of his big issues. He sees a lot of support there and he will not shy away from talking about political issues, be it about gentleness to people who are being arrested, to his Supreme Court nominee at places like this.

BLITZER: We'll have live coverage of the president's remarks coming up later this hour.

Guys, thank you very, very much.

There's other important news we're following right now. Hurricane Michael -- I said hurricane -- it is now a hurricane. Hurricane Michael is hitting Cuba. While it's a category one storm right now, by the time it reaches the United States, it will be stronger.

Let's go to our meteorologist, Jennifer Gray. She's tracking this hurricane for us.

So, first of all, what do we know, when will it make landfall here in the United States, how bad is it going to be?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, this storm could get much strong, Wolf. We're talking about a major hurricane making landfall around the Florida panhandle by the time we get into Wednesday. So this is a fast mover. It's going to intensify quickly. And the reason for that is it's entering the warm Gulf of Mexico, where it has very ripe, favorable conditions for further development. Right now, winds of 75 miles per hour with gusts of 90, basically just impacting the western coast of Cuba, portions of the Yucatan peninsula.

It is expected to gain strength in the coming days. Category two by tomorrow and then possible category three making landfall along the Florida panhandle anywhere from that Florida-Alabama border, all the way through the big bend of Florida as a major storm. And then you can see just shoots off to the north and east, causing lots of rain across the Carolinas once again. It could even bring quite a bit to the mid- Atlantic, including D.C. So something to watch there.

Already pulling in a lot of moisture across the Keys and the west coast of Florida. The Gulf waters are very warm, in the high 80s right now, and that's going to help that storm intensify. We already have hurricane watches and tropical storm watches in place and we could see an eight to 12-foot storm surge near where this storm is making landfall. Not only that, this is occurring during the king tides, which means that the tides are some of the highest of the year. So tides are already running above normal and with this storm surge and the storm coming, it's going to make those even higher.

[13:15:17] Here's the five-day rain accumulation. We could see up to a foot of rain or so just to the east of Panama City, depending on where this storm makes landfall. And then you can see, all across the Carolinas, could pick up an additional six inches of rain just on the heels of Florence.

But, Wolf, this is going to be a fast mover. It's not just going to sit there like Florence did.

BLITZER: Good point. All right, let's hope for the best.

Jennifer, thank you. We'll check back with you.

And, remember, we're standing by to hear from the president of the United States. You're looking at live pictures coming in from Orlando as he kicks off another week out there on the campaign trail, builds on Republicans' momentum following the victories they've had, among other places, at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Plus, a well-known journalist visited a Saudi consulate in Turkey last week and hasn't been seen since. We have new details on Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance and what officials are now saying.

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[13:20:29] BLITZER: Outrage is growing right now after the mystery disappearance of a prominent Saudi journalist in Turkey. "The Washington Post" writer Jamal Khashoggi went into Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul a week ago to get documents for his upcoming marriage. His fiance says she saw him go in, but she never saw him come out. Turkish officials told "The Washington Post" that they believe Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate, but a Saudi official said that's false and that the journalist left shortly after he visited.

Khashoggi has written critical columns as far as the Saudi crown prince's leadership is concerned. He had applied to be a permanent U.S. resident.

Our senior international correspondent Arwa Damon is joining us right now from Hatay in Turkey for us.

So what are you learning, Arwa? It's a very disturbing story, indeed. What's the latest?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It really is, Wolf.

Now, we did hear from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan just a short while ago, making much stronger demands of the Saudis than we had heard him make in the past. Basically putting full responsibility on them, telling them that if they are going to continue to claim that Khashoggi did in fact leave the consulate about an hour or so after he entered last Tuesday, then they needed to provide that evidence. They need to prove that evidence, whether CCTV footage or any sort of evidence to prove their claim.

Turkey, for its part, has been trying to comb through whatever sort of evidence or clues that it has access to, going through various different security camera footage, trying to look at arrivals and departures at the airport. And they've also requested access from the Saudis to be allowed into the consulate because it is, of course, inside these consulate walls where this mystery, this disappearance does appear to have unfolded. And that is walls that Turks do not currently have access to. Of course, a week has gone by. What they're going to uncover at this stage remains yet to be seen.

And Turkey's also looking into the arrival of 15 Saudi nationals. That's according to a police statement that was issued to Turkish state-run news agency Anadulu (ph), where the police statement goes on to say that these 15 nationals arrived the same day, went to the consulate the same day that Khashoggi disappeared, were there at around the same time that he was there and have since, it is believed, departed the country.

The Khashoggi family in Saudi Arabia did release a statement though saying that they believe that his disappearance is being politicized. They went on to say that they have full faith in the Saudi government. Of course the Saudis are fully denying all of this. But you can just imagine, Wolf, at this stage, his fiance is absolutely beside herself. And a lot of people right now have many more questions than there are answers being provided at this stage.

BLITZER: Very quickly, the Saudis could clarify this, could clear it up pretty quickly. They have closed circuit cameras all around that consulate in Istanbul. If, in fact, he walked out of the consulate, as they say he did, why not just show the world the video of him walking out of the consulate?

DAMON: And that, Wolf, is exactly what everyone is demanding that they do because it would seem to be very straight forward should they really want to clear their names. But as long as they're not providing that footage, they really do appear to be the main suspects in this disappearance at this stage. But until, of course, they're willing to do that, no one is going to be able to -- or they're not going to be able to validate their claims that he did, in fact, walk out. Which is why this is all just so bizarre at this stage, that they would make the claim that he left and then not provide any evidence to support it when it would apparently seem to be quite straightforward.

BLITZER: And a lot of focus on those 15 Saudi diplomats who suddenly arrived at the consulate that day, then quickly left as well.

Arwa, we'll check back with you. A very disturbing development indeed.

Arwa Damon is reporting from Turkey.

Joining us now to discuss this a bit more, the global opinions editor for "The Washington Post," Karen Attiah. She's Jamal Khashoggi's editor and friend.

Karen, our heart -- our hearts go out to you and everyone who knows this Saudi journalist. What are you hearing, first of all, from his family, his fiance?

KAREN ATTIAH, GLOBAL OPINIONS EDITOR, "WASHINGTON POST": Sure. So, you know, just to make clear, it was one of his children that made certain comments to the Al Arabia (ph). He has other -- other children as well who, you know, it's -- I think -- I think -- and at least with the finace, you know, she's expressing, at least to me, just utter pain and disbelief.

[13:25:09] And regarding the children, regarding the family. Jamal, to me, any time I would ask when we were writing his columns over the past year, any time I would ask, are you OK, are you sure that you want to do this, he rarely expressed sort of personal concern for his own safety. I mean maybe he would to me, I'm his editor, but he would talk about the pressures on his family, the pressures, whether it be travel restrictions, the pressures that were on his family and that weighed on him very, very, very much. And those are coming from Saudi authorities, you know.

And I think Jamal, I mean, he -- he was -- he was a fantastic, a fantastic writer. He loved his country. He wanted to -- even in his columns, even when they were critical of Mohammad bin Salman, the crown prince, he took on this sort of advisory role. He honestly wanted the crown prince to listen to advice, to steer the country in the right way. He even advised him to, say, go visit Detroit and learn how a city is reforming itself and take those lessons back to Saudi Arabia.

You know, again, people need to know he was very close to the Saudi royal family. He's been a journalist for 30 years. But, you know, for him, for anything untoward to be happening to him, it's -- as someone who loved this country and just wanted the best for Saudi Arabia.

BLITZER: Because he never really -- based on everything I've heard, Karen, and you know him, he never really wanted to be labeled as some sort of opposition political figure. He just wanted to be a serious, Saudi journalist, which he certainly was.

Share a bit more on how his work unfolded over this period of time that you worked so closely with him and his articles would appear in "The Washington Post."

ATTIAH: Yes. I mean when the crackdowns were happening in Saudi Arabia on dissidents and business people and social media figures, you know, he was quoted -- he was very close to people in Washington as well, so he was often quoted in stories. And I just decided, you know, why not just have him write and have him sort of explain from his perspective what was happening. And that was the first article in which, after a long period of sort of social media absence, public absence, that he came out and said, I've left Saudi Arabia because the pressure, the repression is so great. And in that column he said, it wasn't always like this. That it -- Saudi Arabia is taking a turn that is very dark.

And over the year, you know, we wrote on everything from, yes, you know, Saudi Arabia's role in the Yemen war to, you know, what Saudi Arabia could learn from "Black Panthers," to -- to even, you know, the Royal Wedding. We really tried to use any angle we could to shed some light on Saudi Arabia, which is a place that is very often opaque, I think, to western readers.

So, again, the idea that somebody who was really trying to explain and not only in English, but in Arabic, he was really passionate about writing and translating in Arabic. The idea that somebody might want to silence him only just goes to show how important his work was and has only elevated his profile even more.

BLITZER: And, very quickly, I know you've appealed to the U.S. government, the Trump administration, which has very good relations with the Saudi monarchy, for help. So far there's been a thunderous silence coming in from the Trump administration. What are you hearing behind the scenes?

ATTIAH: You know, similar to what you are -- you know, we've heard from -- and, for one thing, I want to say, you know, commending those who are in Congress who have at least, you know, on Twitter, made statements about denouncing what has happened with Khashoggi's case and calling for investigations. Marco Rubio, Chris Murphy, Jerry Conley (ph), just to name -- just to name some. So, you know, that pressure and that vocalization is coming from Congress. Now, you know, ideally to have one unified voice, to have members of the Trump administration also speak out obviously would be the best case scenario. And, you know, I think, for the good of all journalists everywhere and for the good of all who do live in fear of these -- of authoritarian and intolerant regimes, now is the time for the United States to step up.

BLITZER: And I'd like to see what Jared Kushner, the president's senior adviser, his son-in-law, who has excellent relations with the crown prince, Mohammad bin Salman, I'd like to know what he's doing behind the scenes to find out about this missing journalist.

ATTIAH: Absolutely.

BLITZER: Karen Attiah, thank you so much. Good luck to you, good luck to the family, all of your colleagues at "The Washington Post." I know you guys are deeply concerned, understandably so. We hope he is alive and he is found soon. Thank you very much.

ATTIAH: Thank you so much.

[13:29:54] BLITZER: All right, we're going to show you some live pictures coming in from Orlando. There you see the president's deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, he traveled with the president from Washington down to Orlando. The president getting ready to speak before this group. We'll have live coverage. Stay with us.

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