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Trump Spoke with Saudi King; Pompeo Goes to Saudi Arabia; Turkish Experts Tour Consulate; Warren Releases DNA Test; Trump on Mattis. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired October 15, 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: Thanks for joining us on INSIDE POLITICS. Hope you enjoy your Monday. Don't go anywhere. More news. "WOLF" starts right now. Have a great day.

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 President Trump. He's in Florida right now learning more about the devastation from Hurricane Michael. The death toll now stands at 18. Some remote areas are still cut off. They are getting aid dropped in by air. Others are waiting in long lines for water and food. The worst of the damage is in Mexico Beach, Florida, where there are still at least 30 people missing after homes and businesses were smashed and swept away during the storm.

Let's go right -- let's go to our chief White House correspondent, Jim Acosta.

Jim, before leaving the White House for Florida, the president had plenty to say about Saudi Arabia and the disappearance of "The Washington Post" contributor, Jamal Khashoggi. Take us through that.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. That's right, Wolf, the president answering questions on his way down to Florida and Georgia to take a look at the storm damage down there. He did tell reporters that he did speak with the Saudi king, King Salman, about the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi. And the president appears to be -- and this was widely predicted over the weekend -- the president appears to be accepting the conclusion coming from the Saudi government that they are not responsible for the disappearance or death of "The Washington Post" columnist. But the president, at one point, told reporters that from what he is hearing at this point, it may have been what he called rogue killer who killed Jamal Khashoggi. And here's what the president had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just spoke with the king of Saudi Arabia who denies any knowledge of what took place with regard to, as he said, his Saudi Arabian citizen. It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers. Who knows? We're going to try getting to the bottom of it very soon. But his was a flat denial. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Now, of course, Wolf, this comment from the president raises all sorts of questions. It is also raising comparisons to the president during the campaign when he said it could have been a 400 pound person who was hacking into the 2016 election.

But putting that aside, Wolf, there are going to be questions raised, obviously, about what the president is saying here if he is accepting the Saudi conclusion or suggestion that rogue killers are responsible for the death or disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi. That, obviously, raises the question, well, how could rogue killers get into a Saudi consulate in Turkey? That probably is not going to add up to a lot of people. And so I think the president accepting this conclusion here from the Saudi government, from the Saudi king, is just not going to -- is not going to sit well with a lot of people here in Washington, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, I saw the tweet he posted earlier in the day, just spoke to the king of Saudi Arabia who denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened to our Saudi Arabian citizen. He said that they are working closely with Turkey to find an answer. I am immediately sending our secretary of state to meet with the king.

So Mike Pompeo is on his way to Saudi Arabia right now, and maybe other countries as part of the U.S. investigation?

ACOSTA: That's right. And that is happening at a time when a lot of people are dropping out of this investment conference that is set up for later on this month, including CNN. There are other news outlets that have dropped out of this conference. And so it sounds as though the president is interested in having Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pressing Saudi officials on this.

But it's interesting, Wolf, that the president would come out, you know, typically, as you know, over here at the White House they provide written readouts to the press of what occurs between the president and a head of state when they have a conversation on the phone. The president appears to have given his own readout to reporters in saying that he has talked to the Saudi king and is accepting their conclusion that they were not responsible for the death of Jamal Khashoggi.

One other thing we should point out, Wolf, is that Saudi state media is putting out a story at this point saying that the president, during that phone call, praised the -- what's being referred to as joint cooperation between the Saudis and Turkish officials looking into the death or disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi.

But, Wolf, at this point, I just think, when the president of the United States is saying something along the lines of there are rogue killers that may have been responsible for this, that, obviously, is just not going to be the end of the conversation. There are going to be a lot of people here in Washington, including over at "The Washington Post," who are going to be asking some tough questions about what happened to Jamal Khashoggi because this doesn't sound like it's nearly the end of it whatsoever, Wolf.

BLITZER: It's an important point.

Jim Acosta, thank you very much.

It's been nearly two weeks since Jamal Khashoggi vanished after walking into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Now we're starting to see the first signs of progress ion the investigation. A Turkish team of investigators just entered the Saudi consulate there.

Let's check in with our chief international correspondent, Clarissa Ward. She's joining us from Turkey right now.

So, where do things stand in this joint Saudi-Turkish investigation?

[13:05:00] CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, Wolf, I think it's fair to say that there appears to be a little bit more momentum to this joint workforce. Certainly the Turks have been trying to get into the Saudi consulate now for over a week. Initially the Saudis said, OK, you can go in. Then they appeared to change their mind.

Now, this evening, finally, we're seeing Turkish authorities entering the consulate. We know that there's teams from the prosecutor's office. There's also forensics teams. We don't know as of yet though how much access. Will they have unfettered access to the consulate? Will they be able to go through every single room? How much forensic material might they indeed be able to aggregate nearly two weeks after this alleged murder took place?

So, still a lot of questions as to where the Turkish investigation goes. But the fact that we see those investigators on the scene and the fact that we've really seen a let-up in the number of leaks coming out of the Turkish intelligence and security forces does lead one to believe that it appears there is better cooperation between Saudi, between Turkey, potentially now facilitated, as Jim was just saying also by the U.S., Wolf.

BLITZER: Clarissa Ward on the scene for us. Thank you very much.

Joining us now, CNN political analyst, White House reporter for "The New York Times," Julie Hirschfeld Davis, and former State Department adviser and CNN global affairs analyst, Aaron David Miller.

Aaron, what does this say to you, the president is now mentioning that it could have been, quote, rogue killers?

AARON DAVID MILLER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I think it's obvious that we're looking through a politically convenient way out of this in order to remove immediate political pressure. I think the administration would love to have this thing go away. But the reality is, it's not. And, if, in fact, the Turks have audio and video of this, we ought to be demanding that they turn it over to us.

It's simply -- we have to impose some measure of accountability, Wolf. Not just because an ally, a security partner of the United States, can't go around murdering journalists, but this is the tail end of a series of actions that Mohammad bin Salman and the Saudis have taken. Yemen, Qatar, temporary kidnapping complete with hostage video of the Lebanese prime minister and a degree of repression at home which somehow has led people to believe that MBS is a reformer. He's not a reformer. He's an authoritarian who might be capable of some political change and reform as long as it does not come at the expense of any political decent or openness in Saudi Arabia.

BLITZER: MBS, or Mohammad bin Salman, is the crown prince of Saudi Arabia.

MILLER: Correct.

BLITZER: Thirty-three years old.

The president seems to be very, very anxious to accept the strong denial he said from King Salman.

JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. I mean I think that's what -- that's what we're hearing in his rhetoric here is, you know, this -- he's saying, he doesn't know what happened. He's saying, we have to get to the bottom of it. But this strong presumption by suggesting the notion of rogue killers is that he's siding with the Saudis and he's believing their denials.

We've heard this before where, you know, Vladimir Putin denying that the Russians interfered in the election. It's something that our own intelligence services say definitely happened. The president still always comes back to the fact that Putin personally denied it to him.

Well, he had a phone call with King Salman. Jared Kushner has talked with MBS in the wake of this incident. Both of them have gotten strong denials. And he seems to, for now, be clinging to that. And as Aaron said, you know, it's politically convenient for him to do so in the absence of additional evidence.

But what's unclear is whether they're doing that behind the scenes, whether they're really pressing for this intelligence that could tell them what happened. And, if so, what he will do as a result. Congress also might step in here, and that's another thing that I think the White House is really trying to tamp down on and hope to avoid because --

BLITZER: Yes.

DAVIS: Even if the president doesn't decide to act here, Congress could make it -- you know, they could mandate some action depending on what the evidence is.

BLITZER: There's a lot of bipartisan -- yes, deep anger up on Capitol Hill, Republicans and Democrats.

So this trip by Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, to Saudi Arabia, right now he's on his way, what is that going to achieve?

MILLER: Well, look, the reality is, if the king of Saudi Arabia, King Salman, basically tells the president of the United States -- these are the two principals that have governed this relationship for the last 70 years, the presidents and Saudi kings. If the Saudi king tells the president, we didn't do it, we have no knowledge of this, I mean what do we expect the king to say to Mike Pompeo? I mean maybe Pompeo can sit down and have a conversation with Mohammad bin Salman, but, frankly, I don't see that happening, Wolf. This is political convenience over principle. And, I would even argue, forget principle, it's over the pursuit of American national interests. We've allowed a special relationship with our close Saudi friends to turn into an exclusive one. And that, frankly, is not good for American values or for American interests.

BLITZER: Well, the president makes it clear repeatedly, there's not -- not going to be any cutoff of U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

MILLER: Right. But Julie makes an excellent point, it's not -- this has gone beyond just presidents and kings. You now have Congress, the media and even the private sector involved. Disdain of this. If, in fact, it proves to be true, the horrific nature of what happened to Jamal inside that consulate is actually validated and verified, the U.S.-Saudi relationship is not going to recover from this. And that's something the Trump administration is going to have to live with.

[13:10:12] DAVIS: But, you're right, that the president has almost gone so far as to say that even if they did have evidence that this happened --

BLITZER: Right.

DAVIS: Or they did conclude that the Saudis were primarily to blame for whatever did happen to Jamal Khashoggi, that he would not necessarily -- that he's -- he, in fact, would not think it was in the United States' best interest to cut off this relationship because of the -- you know, because of jobs, because of the potential for this money to come into the U.S. and that that is essentially more important to him than the statement that, you know, we are going to stand against violation of human rights, against the idea of extrajudicial killings or renditions, whatever may have happened here. He's already made it clear that the primacy of the business relationship essentially is what he cares about.

MILLER: Neither of us are arguing, I think, for abandoning the relationship, but it needs to be recalibrated in a very serious way and real reciprocity injected into it otherwise -- the most significant thing the Saudis have achieved foreign policy wise, in my judgement, in 500 plus days is the bamboozling of the Trump administration.

BLITZER: Do you think Mohammad bin Salman, the crown prince, is the real power there now?

MILLER: I do. He eliminated every power center except maybe one, and maybe the most important one, and that is his father, who is still the king of Saudi Arabia. And we have not yet seen the internal reverberations of what may result, assuming pressure is applied on the Saudi's to fess up. BLITZER: I suspect the Saudis are pleased with the response they heard

from the president today following his phone conversation with the king?

DAVIS: Well, I think they're pleased, but I also think that they understand that there are -- there are risks here that go beyond the president himself. That Congress does have a role here. They've seen, you know, their markets plunge given the situation here. And, you know, some of their United -- their Washington, D.C.-based lobbyists have quit on them. I mean this is going to be a reputational problem for them and we don't even know the full extent of what has happened.

So I think, you know, certainly they're pleased that they still have the president on their side. I think a big object of this visit by Mike Pompeo is going to be for them to keep the United States in the fold, at least the White House in the fold. But it's unclear how long that can hold once people actually find out what happened here.

BLITZER: And we'll see if Steve Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, goes to this economic conference in Saudi Arabia in the coming days.

DAVIS: For now he says he will.

BLITZER: So far. We'll see what happens.

All right, guys, thank you very much.

Up next, Senator Elizabeth Warren hits back, releasing DNA test results that prove her Native American heritage. You're going to hear how the president responded.

Plus, President Trump refuses to pledge that he won't interfere in the Russia investigation. This as his lawyers prepare answers to Robert Mueller's questions.

And are the 98 percent of scientists who agree climate change is manmade politically motivated? President Trump thinks so. We'll discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:17:12] BLITZER: It used to be President Trump's million dollar question, but now that Senator Elizabeth Warren released her DNA test proving her Native American ancestry, here's what the president has to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, I have no --

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: Who cares?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Who cares?

Senator Warren has faced scrutiny over her heritage, especially from President Trump himself, mocking her on so many occasions with the nickname Pocahontas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Did you ever hear of Pocahontas? Huh? It's Pocahontas Elizabeth Warren.

Pocahontas is not happy. She's not happy. She's the worst.

Pocahontas. Is that what you said? Elizabeth Warren?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Now Senator Warren is hoping her DNA results will put the argument to rest.

Back with us right now, Julie Hirschfield Davis, and joining us, CNN's political director, David Chalian.

First of all, what do you make, David, of the timing of her release of this DNA test?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, make no bones about it, the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination has begun. That is what this is about. This is Elizabeth Warren, who obviously is also on the ballot for re-election this year in the state of Massachusetts, is indeed trying to clear the decks here of one of her big vulnerabilities. And doing it by trying to go on offense. I -- you know, this five-minute, very well produced, slickly produced video that goes out with this. The DNA test results themselves. Really trying -- she knows that one of the most identifying characteristics about her of late has been the president's attack on her. And so this is a real effort to try to push back.

I don't think it will put it to rest necessarily Wolf in terms of the president all of a sudden giving up going after on it, but I do think this is a real attempt before the presidential race begins in earnest to really try to clear the decks on this issue.

BLITZER: Remember he said at one point he would donate a million dollars to a charity of her choice if she took the DNA test. And then today he was asked about that. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Who cares.

QUESTION: You said you would give $1 million to charity.

TRUMP: I didn't say that. Huh? I didn't -- you'd better read it again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: He said, I never said that. You need to read it again.

So we went back and looked at the tape. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will give you a million dollars to your favorite charity, paid for by Trump, if you take the test and it shows you're an Indian.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So has he transferred the funds already to the charity of her choice?

CHALIAN: No, I think he said he had -- he was not going to be paying it. Of course he probably thinks he can get out on a technicality of language here.

I truly doubt President Trump is just going to give up using this line of attack. But clearly Elizabeth Warren believes this works for her politically, not only to try to beat back the -- what she sees as this smear itself, but also to take on the president, which, for her base, is something that they want to see her do. And so this is an opportunity for her to do so, naming a charity he can donate to, even though she knows no money's coming.

[13:20:12] BLITZER: How awkward is this for the president?

DAVIS: I think the president enjoys this kind of, you know, back and forth, tit for tat. He hits and somebody hits back at him. I mean I think, you know, you think back to his -- what made him politically prominent in the first place, the whole birther claim about Barack Obama. He wanted the birth certificate. I want to see the birth certificate. And lo and behold they released a short form -- or the long form birth certificate.

And Elizabeth Warren is now saying, OK, well, I'll meet you where you are, accusing me of, you know, having misrepresented my heritage. And here's the proof. I mean, I think that both -- for both of them it works for their base. He, I think David's right, it not going to stop calling her Pocahontas. He's not going to stop sort of trying to push this kind of racially tinged attack on her and she's going to answer him back.

It is not clear to me, though, why now is the right time in her mind, in the mind of -- minds of her advisers, to do this. Democrats are so focused on the midterm congressional elections, trying to make sure that they take advantage of what has been a pretty bad environment for Republicans to try to take back the House, to try to possibly take back the Senate. And this really sort of diverts the focus to 2020 and what Democrats may be waiting in the wings ready to step up and challenge trump in 2020. And so I wonder how that's going to affect the last few weeks of the race.

CHALIAN: My sense is, it really is to be able to have something to point to once we're on the other side of the midterms as this inevitably comes up again, to try to say, asked and answered. We have that website. We put out the results. We have the video. Rather than try to dominate conversation with it, I think it's more to sort of get it in while the presidential contest is not white hot and then be able to point back to.

BLITZER: Yes, the Democratic presidential contest has begun. I don't think there's any doubt about that.

CHALIAN: No doubt.

BLITZER: Guys, thank you very much.

Up next, President Trump fuels speculation over the fate of his defense secretary, calling James Mattis sort of a Democrat.

And as the Democrats march towards the midterms, Hillary Clinton just threw a possible grenade, offered a surprising take on her husband's affair with Monica Lewinsky.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:26:57] BLITZER: There's speculation now surrounding the immediate future of the defense secretary, James Mattis, following these comments to Lesley Stahl on "60 Minutes" last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LESLEY STAHL, CORRESPONDENT, "60 MINUTES": Is it true General Mattis said to you, the reason for NATO and the reason for all these alliances is to prevent world war three?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, it's not true.

STAHL: What's not true?

TRUMP: Frankly, I like General Mattis. I think I know more about it than he does.

STAHL: Is he going to leave?

TRUMP: Well, I don't know. He hasn't told me that. I have a very good relationship with him.

STAHL: Do you want him to leave?

TRUMP: It could be that he is. I think he's sort of a Democrat, if you want to know the truth. But General Mattis is a good guy. We get along very well. He may leave. I mean, at some point, everybody leaves. Everybody. People leave. That's Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, let's go to our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr.

Barbara, you're there at the Department of Defense. What are you hearing from your sources over there about these comments by the president? It sounds like pretty sharp criticism of the defense secretary.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, it does sound like he's souring on Jim Mattis, that's for sure. I mean we all remember the days of the president's very enthusiastic Mad Dog Mattis and now, well, maybe he's a Democrat.

Look, nobody knows what Secretary Mattis' partisan leanings are, but the real issue is, why is the president very publically appearing to sour on him. They have disagreed in the past on issues, but Mattis, very careful to be very loyal in public. The question now is, what will happen? Will the president find it easier to replace Secretary Mattis after midterm elections, assuming, as everyone expects, the Republicans keep control of the Senate. They would have to confirm a new secretary of defense. What would it take for Jim Mattis to leave?

Well, I can tell you, everyone who knows him will tell you he will not quit. He is here to serve the troops. He feels very passionately on that particular point. He's not going to walk away. He would make the administration fire him is the absolute consensus around here. And that may be a very tough point for Mr. Trump to undertake because after two years of saying that Mattis is the best, how do you suddenly turn around and fire the defense secretary that you claim has been the best one ever?

Wolf.

BLITZER: And he suggests that he knows more. The president knows more about NATO, for example, than the sufficiency secretary, a four-star retired general knows about NATO, who served with NATO commanders.

STARR: Right. Well, perhaps not. I think there might be a number of people that would disagree with the president of the United States. The president keeps making the point on NATO that he has been responsible for other countries paying up, if you will, to what they owe NATO. And, of course, that's simply not accurate. Countries are required under NATO, they are strongly suggested to spend a certain percentage of their annual national budgets on defense. They don't pay into NATO. That's a very small administrative amount. They pay through their defense spending in their own nations. That is something Secretary Mattis is critically aware of.

Wolf.

[13:30:13] BLITZER: All right, Barbara, thank you very much.