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Official: Trump Will Take "Bipartisan", Optimistic Tone; Federal Prosecutors Subpoena Trump Inaugural Committee; Senate Republicans Balk At Emergency Declaration To Fund Wall. Aired 10- 10:30a ET

Aired February 05, 2019 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: A good Tuesday morning to you. I'm Jim Scuitto in Washington, where tonight President Trump will carry out a political tradition that is also a constitutional mandate. He will report on the State of the Union in a speech being described by his advisors as bipartisan and optimistic, inviting Democrats, they say, to bridge old divisions, heal old wounds and build new coalitions. A lot more Democrats than last year will be in the House chamber to hear him, and all of them are keenly aware that another Government shutdown, and potentially a constitutional showdown, could be just 10 days away.

Just minutes ago, the president showed no signs of bridging divisions when it comes to the wall. He tweeted the following, "We have sent additional military at the border." He writes, "We will build a human wall if necessary." The president is not expected to use tonight's address to declare a National Emergency though, and therefore fund his wall without Congressional approval. A growing number of Republicans are now saying that he should not even consider it.

CNN's Lauren Fox joins me now from Capitol Hill. So, tell us more about what Republicans are saying, because this is remarkable. They have often held their fire, at least in public, in differing with this president, but on a emergency declaration, That's not been the case.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: That's right Jim. There's a lot of concern up here from Republicans on Capitol Hill that the president would move forward with his emergency declaration and it would be wrapped up in court for quite a bit of time. You know, a lot of Republicans are warning, you know, President Trump, this is not a smart idea given the fact that, you know, this could basically do delay your ability to get the border wall, and it could just take a long time.

In addition to the fact that Republicans aren't really a big fans of seeding Appropriations power to the executive branch. That's been a long time concern. Here's what Susan Collins, a moderate Republican from Maine, had to say about the president declaring a National Emergency.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SENATOR SUSAN COLLINS, R-MAINE: I am concerned about it. I think it's of dubious constitutionality. And as a member of the Senate, I am concerned when any president, regardless of party, circumvents the Appropriations process and repurposes large amounts of money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: This could be, you know, a division within the Republican Party Jim. Something that leadership doesn't want to expose their conference to. So, a lot of concern about the president moving forward with a National Emergency if he doesn't get the wall money he wants from that Conference Committee.

SCIUTTO: Democrats, they have their own rebuttal tonight. In fact, two rebuttals, do they not to the State of the Union?

FOX: That's right. Stacey Abrams will give the official Democratic rebuttal. And just a reminder, she ran in the State of Georgia to be the Governor. She narrowly lost there, but she ran on that platform of voting rights. And that's something that House Democrats have tried to move forward in their first piece of legislation in the House of Representatives.

There's a lot of discussion about, you know, incentivizing people to go out and vote, making it easier to go out and vote, and she will be the first black woman to give the Democratic response to the State of the Union. And then, of course, you have Bernie Sanders, who's an independent, not a Democratic member, but he, for the third year in a row, will also give a response. You know, it'll just be on his social media channels on Twitter and Facebook and YouTube, but obviously something to be watching therefore as well Jim.

SCIUTTO: Lauren Fox, on the Hill, thanks very much.

Let's discuss now with Kevin Sheridan. He's former Senior Advisor to the Romney campaign, and Angela Rye, former Executive Director for the Congressional Black Caucus. Thanks to both of you.

Let me ask both of you, the president's message, we hear from his advisors, it can be one of unity, bipartisanship. Is this a president Angela, then you Kevin, and can deliver such message credibly.

ANGELA RYE, ATTORNEY AND POLITICAL ADVOCATE AND ANALYST: No, I don't think so. I think, my understanding is, he's also going to start by speaking to the Democrats directly about stopping this movement of resistance.

I'm not understanding that the movement of resistance is not about him directly, but it's against the policies that he continues to promote that seem to be divisive and run contrary to the very thing that he's going to try to tap out. So, from a hypocrisy standpoint, I think it's going to be very, very difficult for him to deliver on that message.

SCIUTTO: Kevin, how can he pull it off? KEVIN SHERIDAN: REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, there's a couple of issues that they do see. You know, I die on. Criminal justice reform is one of them, infrastructure potentially. I think he's going to tout his economy. I think he's going to say that we need to do more to create jobs and bring up wages. But, the well has been poisoned here on both sides, and there's just not a lot of comedy here despite them wanting to make this a bipartisan speech. Everytime he does one of these speeches, he then goes in and kind of steps on his own message by then ending up tweeting about it a day later.

So, I think it's interesting that we'll see what this new-- the new members of the House are going to do, especially the members of the House and Senate that will be in that body for the first time in front of this President. Will they react to him? Will they will they, you know, speak up in any way and create any moments? And, will the president turn around to Nancy Pelosi and do anything that that creates a moment there as well?

SCIUTTO: Listen, this moment, if it is a moment, is going to be tested immediately, right? Because you got what--

[10:05:00]

SCIUTTO: 10 days before another potential shutdown. You still have this decision over money for the border wall. I want to ask you, and I had a Democratic Senator on, Bob Casey earlier, and asked question. What would you be willing to give as a Democratic supporter to grant the president money for a border, a barrier, whatever you want to call it on the border in exchange? Would you be looking for permanent protection for DREAMers? In other words, are Democrats willing to negotiate in the old-fashioned Washington way of trading horses here, and give the president some money for the barrier to get something in return?

RYE: I don't see how history could be kind to anyone willing to compromise on something that has already been branded by Nancy Pelosi as an immoral wall. It's a non-starter--

SCIUTTO: But, is it really a moral-- There are barriers on the border--

RYE: I think the issue Jim is, it's the way in which it's been discussed, right? When again, when you go back to the president's announcement of his running for president, he said that Mexicans were drug dealers and rapists. He's made it very clear that this is about human beings that are, you know, dark and terrible. It's never been about just border security.

And so, I think the challenge is, yes there was a comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill that passed the Senate. There were discussions about trying to figure out how to strengthen our immigration systems. But again, when you have someone like Donald Trump going on Twitter saying, this is the crisis, we're sitting troops to the border, and then George Conway tweets this morning, every single moment, where you know, in history where the, I'm sorry, the numbers of people apprehended at the border, and they're going down.

So, it flies in the face of reason as to why this is his National Emergency when there are so many others.

SCIUTTO: Kevin, the president to get over that-- I mean, you're hearing right there what is the issue. And that is true of a lot of Democrats, are publicly very much, they put their foot down, say not a dollar for the border wall. Though other Democrats who disagree. But, the issue becomes then, can Democrats trust this president to deliver something in return? You know, the president said that before, and hasn't followed through. In fact, he's reneged on some agreements.

SHERIDAN: The question is, whether or not they, yes, they would even work with him if he offered something big, and there are voices in the Republican party that have said he should go big, and he should offer not just Dhaka, but other things to a path towards legalization.

That would-- he'd be the only Republican president who could do that, and he would get a lot of heat from his base. But he's the only person that could do it, next thing to China. So, there is a possibility of going big. Whether or not Democrats would play with him on anything though is an open question right now. I can't imagine-- I don't know if they'll stand up once tonight and applaud anything he says. And in terms of getting a big deal on immigration, they should take it, if they if he offers it. But, I don't know that they will.

SCIUTTO: All the issue of the National Emergency, you have said it's the easiest of his bad options, but still a bad idea, and a rare phenomenon here. You have a lot of Republicans, even some of the president's closest supporters, John Cornyn of Texas saying, this is a constitutional issue. We will not support this. I mean, this sets up an issue, because if Democrats aren't going to give money on the wall, president fears, you know, outrage from his base, and if he can't get the National Emergency, where do we end up? I mean, do we end up in another shutdown?

SHERIDAN: The Senate Republican Caucus is starting to split on this though. Senator Kennedy came out today and said that he would actually support the Emergency declaration.

SCIUTTO: Lindsey Graham.

SHERIDAN: Lindsey Graham as well. So there's not agreement right now. I think Mitch McConnell, if there's a way out of this, Mitch McConnell is going to be the guy that figures this out.

SCIUTTO: He's expressed it, and is real hesitant.

SHERIDAN: Yes, and there's good reason to. I mean this sets up a very bad precedent going going forward. But look this is, you know, 58 emergency declarations have been made for all sorts of things over the last 30 years. So you could, you know, yes-- SCIUTTO: I hear you. Well, although to get money, significant amounts of money for a legislative priority, that's a different category. Angela, is there something you could hear from the president tonight that-- I don't expect you to change your mind on this president, or this presidency, or this Administration, but is there something that would surprise you on the positive side? If you heard an offer from this President tonight, that would make a difference for you?

RYE: I think the only offer that he can make is an apology for all of the people who he is made to be, who he's demonized, along the road to, and take cheap shots at, to get support from people who are scared, and are worried about their long-term viability in this country. I think that is the only thing he could do, and that would require him to probably delete his account as Hillary requested he do in 2016. And also, request him to turn have a complete about-face, and really start to govern, and be a true Commander-in-Chief, and I just don't believe that that's possible.

SCIUTTO: High bar.

RYE: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Angela is always-- I know you're going to be watching closely tonight.

Well, legal questions, as we said, around President Trump's inauguration threatened to overshadow his State of the Union Address. And tonight, Federal prosecutors from the District of New York have subpoenaed Trump's Inaugural Committee on a litany of potential financial crimes including possibly conspiracy against the United States.

CNN reporter, Karis Kanal. She has been following this closely.

[10:10:00]

SCIUTTO: Karis, this is a wide-ranging subpoena asking for a lot of information about donors, where the money was coming from. What specifically are prosecutors looking for here?

KARIS KANAL, CNN REPORTER: Well Jim, right? This is a wide-ranging subpoena, and it really shows an expansion of this investigation that we first reported about in December. So, from this subpoena, we're learning that the federal prosecutors in New York are looking for the list of all the donors that donate to the Trump Inaugural Committee, which was a record $107-million committee.

And through this, they're looking to-- at various crimes. They are looking at conspiracy against the US, false statements, mail wire fraud, money laundering, and whether any campaign donations were not reported, or if foreign buyers donated to the campaign, which would be illegal. That's against the laws in the US. So, they're looking at whether also donors could directly contributed, and paid to vendors whether they bypassed disclosure rules, and that way by by not reporting their contributions. And, you know, this is very expansive. Looking at bank records, financial records, looking at any communications between the donors and the committee, and the vendors in the committee. And, the subpoena specifically identifies one donor, an American. His name is Imaad Zuberi. He's an American citizen. He's a venture capitalist, and he donated through his fund $900,000 to the committee. It's not clear why he's singled out in this subpoena. There are at least 50 corporations and individuals who gave more to the committee than he did. But, he is someone that prosecutors specifically asked for any communications with.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

Now, he has come out with a statement, which is very specific. His spokesman says, "Imaad knows nothing about a subpoena other than what's been written. It's well known that after supporting President Obama and Hillary Clinton, that Imaad gave generously and directly to the Trump inaugural. But many others gave considerably more. For what it's worth, Imaad, as always, gave only his own money from his own resources. If, in fact, he is named in this subpoena - never mind somehow named alone - he's bewildered why." Jim.

SCIUTTO: Listen, it's going to be another investigation and possibly a long one. Karis Kanal, thanks very much. We know you're going to keep following up.

Up next, the president's counselor, Kellyanne Conway. She will join me live on set here in Washington. How, she says, President Trump will strike his desired bipartisan tone in his first address before a divided Congress.

And Senator Chuck Grassley just said this morning that he expects the Special Council's Report on the Russian investigation to be done, in his words, in a month. We're going to ask James Clapper what he thinks.

And former President Barack Obama may not be running in the 2020 race, but he is looming large for Democrats. Will explain.

[10:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Tonight President Trump will deliver his second State of the Union Address. We are told that he wants to strike a quote bipartisan optimistic tone. But will that message fall flat? How will it be received in what is now a bitterly divided House chamber.

Joining me now with her thoughts on all of this is senior counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway.

Kellyanne, thanks very much for taking the time.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: So we've heard this message now from -- from a number of officials in the White House, bipartisanship, optimism. You've seen some of the comments the president has made just in the last month about members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats. We'll put some up on the screen here. Some of these will be familiar to you, targeting Mitt Romney, targeting crying Chuck, saying that Nancy Pelosi, who will, of course, be sitting back behind him tonight, very bad for the country, saying that bipartisan talks that are going on right now are a waste of time.

I just want to ask, why should lawmakers sitting in that chamber and why should Americans at home believe that the president is truly behind bipartisanship in light of the way he speaks about the people that he wants to be sitting across the table from?

CONWAY: Two major reasons. One's substance, one's stylistic.

Substantively, because this president has already signed into law major reforms like criminal justice reform and the opioid drug legislation last October that had overwhelming bipartisan support. In fact, every single Democrat who voted in the House and the Senate voted in favor of the drug legislation. So we know it's possible. We know that there are decidedly, Jim, non-partisan issues that can bring about bipartisan solutions.

Stylistically, because I think Americans are smart enough than to believe just one cherry-picked screaming screen's worth of tweets. And -- and he's -- and he's been attacked by many of those people.

SCIUTTO: Well, you know those are -- you know that that's a quality of his conversation about Republicans and Democrats.

CONWAY: He's been attacked by many of those people. He's, much like me, a counter puncher. Never really draws -- rarely draws first blood, but makes sure to get the last word when appropriate.

But this is also a president who has been consistent for years now about believing that part of the way we ensure our national security is through border security on our southern border. It includes a physical barrier, wall, a steel slat barrier. But it also includes so many of the Democrats' own items on their wish list. As you asked to Senator Casey last hour -- I watched your interview -- and you're right, you asked him very clearly, hey, you know, the Republican/Democratic plans resemble each other. There is plenty of money there for immigration judges and Border Patrol agents and humanitarian needs and technology.

SCIUTTO: Right. That was part of the Democratic proposal. But --

CONWAY: So what is the stop gap here? I mean what is -- what is keeping them -- keeping the Congress in a bipartisan fashion, these conferees, from doing their job and putting on the president's desk something that he can sign to keep us all safe?

SCIUTTO: Well, let me ask you this. You know better than me that Washington is about horse trading. I asked Senator Casey, as you heard, I said, what would --

CONWAY: Yes.

SCIUTTO: What would make you be willing to give money for the barrier in return? For instance, and this has been mentioned many times, the idea of permanent protections for dreamers. Is the president prepared to make concessions to Democrats to get in return his desired money for a border barrier?

CONWAY: Well, clearly he's made so many. He went --

SCIUTTO: Well, he's made them and he's backed off some of them.

CONWAY: It's been --

SCIUTTO: There was a deal in the works in December before the last shutdown.

CONWAY: It's been -- that was -- it's been 17 -- on this, it's been 17 days since the president publically announced his proposal. And it included --

SCIUTTO: That was temporary, not permanent.

CONWAY: It included TPS and DACA. We're yet to get a counter proposal. No is not a counter proposal. It's a childlike, you know, response. And then one dollar is not a serious counteroffer. It's actually an insult to our border patrol agents who are doing such a fabulous job to keep us all safe. They're trying to do what they can.

But, again, if they want to call it -- I know they've been told in their focus groups and -- don't call it a wall. It's a four letter word. Don't call it -- call it whatever you want but get it done. It needs to be something that you can't crawl under, climb over, drive through or walk around.

SCIUTTO: Would the president offer permanent protections rather than temporary protections (INAUDIBLE)?

CONWAY: He never even got a counteroffer to the temporary protections.

SCIUTTO: Well, I'm asking for the counteroffer on our air.

CONWAY: No, I'm asking -- we want to see their counteroffer. We've made an offer. What's the counteroffer? We hope the conferees will continue to do their work and put something on the president's desk, Jim, that solves border security once and for all, national security, and also keeps the government open. That's really up to them. Congress has not done its job for years and we're left in this country with a couple of judges making immigration policy for an entire nation.

SCIUTTO: If there is not money for a border barrier there, would the president shutdown government again?

CONWAY: He said he keeps all options open. But I don't think that's a fair question for the president before it's a fair question for the Congress.

SCIUTTO: Well, the president's called the bipartisan talks a waste of time.

CONWAY: They should -- because -- because what's taking so long to come to an agreement at -- for people who, in the past, Jim, as you know, have actually voted for something called Secure Fences Act. That was in 2006.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

CONWAY: If we want to call it the Secure Fences Act of 2019, I bet we can get that done. If they feel better -- secure fences act, the sequel. Senator Schumer voted for it. I believe Senator Casey voted for it. Certainly Senators Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden all voted for it. The only thing that's changed since the 2006 Secure Fences Act passage, two big things, one, the border situation has gotten worse in many ways and, two, Donald Trump became president and is asking for if.

SCIUTTO: To be fair, it hasn't gotten worse when you look at the numbers of illegal crossings. This is a familiar statistic. I'm sure we have it. We can throw it up on air. Why wasn't it addressed as a national emergency before?

And this gets to my next question because, as you know, the president has kept the question open of declaring a national emergency.

CONWAY: Yes.

SCIUTTO: As you also know, a number of Republicans, including Republicans who have supported this president very publically, John Cornyn among them, he says that this is a serious constitutional question.

Will the president declare a national emergency in defiance of that Republican opposition?

CONWAY: It's not in defiance. It's in keeping with his belief that his first and solemn duty is to keep us all safe. And part of doing that is making sure our southern border is security. The president did not use the national emergency powers that he says are absolutely legal as his choice of first, second, 12th resort. He is -- he's leaving that as an option if Congress again doesn't do its job.

SCIUTTO: But Republicans don't believe it's an absolute and legal power.

CONWAY: Well, some do. Some do.

SCIUTTO: You have Republicans -- well, you have many who are not.

CONWAY: Some don't.

SCIUTTO: Ron Johnson as well.

CONWAY: But all of this can be avoided. All this conversation can be avoided if Congress would do its job. It is the duty of our legislature to make good on -- on keeping us all safe, putting something on the president's desk.

And I see your -- I see your graph up often on CNN with the illegal crossings. That tells one sliver of a story.

I was in a briefing the other day. The press pool was in there. CNN was in there, I believe. On Friday we got a new briefing from Homeland Security investigations. I'm going to post it to my Twitter a little bit later today. They're showing how much ICE and Homeland Security are interdicting in terms -- are stopping in terms of the smuggling, the trafficking. It's really -- it's not manufactured. And when you see in -- when you see a surveillance of the fentanyl, like you saw about ten days ago, announced last week, at a port of entry in Arizona, no doubt, however, but that's what we know about.

SCIUTTO: At a port of entry, which is important because that's a -- a wall wouldn't have made a difference.

CONWAY: Jim, that's what we know about, though. What about what we don't know about?

And I'm telling you, if we can -- if we can save one, two, ten Americans from getting those drugs into the community, from being trafficked, from being smuggled, and if we can solve the humanitarian crisis on the other side of the border as well, as a mother of four school-aged children, I'm very sad and very concerned that people are taking these kids on perilous journeys, having given their life savings to coyotes who are promising things that can't be delivered.

SCIUTTO: It's a fair issue. We cover the opioid crisis frequently on this show. No question, it's a national crisis as well.

CONWAY: Well, this is heroin too.

SCIUTTO: I want to ask a question. Why -- and we've interviewed -- we've -- Will Hurd, who's a Republican -- I've been in his office. I'm sure you have been too. He's got a long chunk of that border. He's a Republican who does not support the wall. You have the mayor of communities in southern California, again, Republicans, who don't see that as the real solution here.

CONWAY: Right.

SCIUTTO: So why do they not see it as a national emergency and the president is claiming that it is?

CONWAY: Well, reasonable minds can differ. However, we know walls work. We know that in San Diego, in El Paso, I've talked to these people. They've come to the White House to brief us. They've been on television shows like yours, like your network. They've said, walls work. When it went up in San Diego, when it went up in El Paso, it helped to mitigate what they saw as a growing crisis.

And so anybody who denies that we can't do better at the southern border is being hyper-partisan in my view and they're not looking at border security as national security and they're also not looking at it as what I believe it truly is, which is a non-partisan issue that can have the same kind of bipartisan solution.

Now, the president will also talk tonight about some of these issue where even Speaker Pelosi has indicated she would like to work together to get something done in this Congress. Drug pricing and drug transparency --

SCIUTTO: Infrastructure plan, I know.

CONWAY: Infrastructure, definitely, and modern infrastructure. You talk about rural broadband. But also just the repair of bridges and tunnels and roads. That's everybody's business. Everybody's affected by a lack of smart infrastructure.

SCIUTTO: Anybody who drives to work in Washington wants better roads and bridges.

I do want to ask you, though, about the way the president speaks about the issue of border security. Just this morning he tweeted about sending U.S. troops to the border. I think we can put this up on screen. It's another 3,500 troops or so to the border. He says that we have sent in additional military. We will build a human wall if necessary.

The fact is, these troops are support troops. They cannot, by the rules that the Pentagon has imposed on their deployment here, confront or interdict people coming across the border. Because part of the issue here, is it not, the way the president has spoken about the wall in incendiary terms and often in terms not backed up by the facts.

CONWAY: Should we call it --

SCIUTTO: Wouldn't he -- wouldn't it be more likely to reach a bipartisan solution if the president spoke honestly, whether via his Twitter feed or from the podium at the -- in Congress tonight?

CONWAY: The president has told the Democrats, call it what you want. And some of them have. They catch themselves. They get all tongue twisted, I've noticed, recently, if they -- they start to say wa -- I don't know if they're trying to say Wawa (ph), my favorite store, or they're saying wall and they catch themselves, steel slat barrier, physical barrier. Call it what you want, but get it done.

And I want -- I want to tell you something. You've probably heard from border patrol agents too.

SCIUTTO: We have.

CONWAY: This is fascinating to me that -- you know, Jim, that the flow of illegal aliens has changed. It -- for a very long time the vast majority were single males coming from Mexico.

SCIUTTO: Coming with families now.

CONWAY: And now it's unaccompanied children and family units coming from northern triangle (ph) countries. Years ago the border patrol agents said the illegal aliens trying to come across would run away from them. Now they're running toward them. The unaccompanied children and families are running toward them. They're trying to absorb that, as well, the humanitarian needs.

This proposal the president put forward has $800,000 million to meet those humanitarian needs. So everybody who's stopping that is stopping that.

SCIUTTO: They're running towards them. Why do they need the wall to stop them? Because the president has portrayed these caravans as invading hordes and the wall as (INAUDIBLE).

CONWAY: You know that people are coming over illegal. And just as importantly, the human trafficking, the sex trafficking, they come running to this -- they come right over the border. They come into this country. And some of these young girls and women, the ages of our children, frankly, definitely my children, are never heard from again.

We, as a society, have to look at that and say, I don't want to hear the word Republican, Democrat, nothing. I just want to stop that part of the humanitarian crisis as well.

Look, I -- I work on the drug crisis every single day. If you can mitigate the amount of drugs coming into this country, yes, through the ports of entry but also coming not through the ports of entry, that would be a huge boon to this country that witnessed 72,000 deaths last year alone.

SCIUTTO: Now surpassing car accident deaths.

CONWAY: Yes.

SCIUTTO: I want to ask you about a final question.

You've seen "The Washington Post" reporting about the president's employment of people who are undocumented in his own clubs and now just in the last two months the president's five golf courses, I believe, are executing a purge of those folks. And it appears the president was not using the e-verify system, which businesses are required to use.

If this is such a priority to the country, why wasn't the president exercising the same vigilance with employees at his own properties?

CONWAY: So I refer you to the statement of Eric Trump, who, along with his brother, Don Junior, have day to day management of the Trump Organization. He said --

SCIUTTO: But they know -- but they know the president's -- they know the president's priorities.

CONWAY: Well, he said very clearly last week that they employ a total of tens of thousands of people, organization business wide and that it's unfortunate some people have given false information to gain employment. So, as I read it, those individuals --

SCIUTTO: It's not e-verify though?

CONWAY: Those individuals -- not completely. E-verify needs to be strengthened, too. I think it gets -- it's not as strong as it -- as it should be. I think accountability should also rest with some of these employers who look the other way.

But in the case of the Trump Organization, when they identified the issue, they have gone back now, as I read it. And I just don't think, frankly, President Trump, the Trump Organization is having as bad a day as, you know, Bob Casey's -- Senator Casey's Democratic Party that can't get rid of a racist governor, can't figure out the lieutenant governor is being accused of sexual assault and, you know, they're facing some very serious issues today just across the river here in their own government.

I see that that woman hired a law firm here in D.C. And I would remind you that on this set, on CNN, wall to wall coverage during the Kavanaugh hearings. Mazie Hirono, senator from Hawaii, we believe all women, men should shut up. And I would just ask everybody, are we believing that woman? I mean that -- we are looking at that. The president's not going to address that full square tonight in his address to the nation, but we're talking about some serious issues in our governance right now in the other party. And when we talk about bipartisanship, we want to make sure both parties has leaders that aren't so hyper partisan and blinded by sugar plums and dancing of impeachment indictments in their head that they're not getting the work of the people done.

SCIUTTO: Sugarplums. The first time I've heard that phrase. Bob Casey, I will say, was hopeful about the speech tonight in our interview before this.

CONWAY: Well, I'm glad but -- I'm -- I'm glad.

SCIUTTO: So there's some openness there too.

CONWAY: But -- I'm glad, but, you know, this leftward drift of his party on abortion now and infanticide since in fact Governor Northam last week in that -- who's still the governor, by the way, of Virginia today, he -- he said infant. So it is infanticide. He actually referred to the birth of an infant, not a sonogram, not a pollywog (ph), not uterine material, not some unknown blob. He said infant. So it's infanticide.

This started in 1992 when Bob Casey's father, Bob Casey Senior, was not allowed as governor of Pennsylvania to address the Democratic National Convention because he was pro-life. So this leftward drift is now all the way into infanticide and I think the Democrats, who are more moderate, who maybe won some of those Trump districts, should come and say, excuse me, I want to make sure that we're not a party that's for infanticide.

SCIUTTO: Kellyanne Conway, thanks very much for taking the time.

CONWAY: Thank you, Jim. Thanks.

[10:30:00]