Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Trump Takes Questions On Gun Control As He Departs White House; Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D) Massachusetts Calls On Walmart To End Gun Sales After Shootings; Trump Is Talking To Congressional Leaders On Gun Background Checks; Trump Received Another Beautiful Letter From Kim Jong-un. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired August 09, 2019 - 10:00   ET

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


JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NEWSROOM: -- are underway regarding some form of gun control.

[10:00:03]

But for now, that's all there is, no promises of legislation or even a vote on legislation. Of course, the president has backed off on similar promises before.

The president also facing criticism this morning after he was seen bragging about crowd sizes, this inside the Texas hospital, where shooting victims were still being treated. That was supposed to be the function of this visit there.

The president's own aides are now conceding that his visits to the two cities in mourning, Dayton, Ohio, El Paso, Texas, did not go as planned.

CNN's Senior Washington Correspondent Joe Johns is live at the White House. Really, the question here, Joe, is the president serious when he Tweets about the possibility of genuine gun control measures when he has said similar things in the past and always backed off?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's right, and impossible to predict what the president is going to do. But it is interesting that he sort of dug in just a little bit more on the issue of background checks on Twitter this morning, also announcing for the public that there were serious discussions going on about how to handle this current situation regarding firearms.

As a matter of fact, we do know that the president has called Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican Leader, the Democratic Leader, Chuck Schumer, as well as the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. And he's also talked to the National Rifle Association, the president also Tweeting this morning about the National Rifle Association, essentially saying there is really no one who is a bigger supporter of the second amendment as far as gun rights go than he, the president of the United States, and saying that everybody has to come together for the good of the country, essentially to do something.

So those are the parameters. We await hearing what the president says on video in that conversation ongoing with reporters on the south lawn to find out how far he will go on this issue of background checks.

Meanwhile, Jim, as you mentioned, that other issue of the video from the president's visits when he went out to console the victims and the communities over those mass shootings in Dayton and El Paso, you know, many administrations have tried very hard to control the tone of the president's visit, and in this case a message may have gotten out there that they didn't really want to send. Just take a look at some of this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: That was some crowd. And we had twice the number outside. And then you have this crazy Beto. Beto had like 400 people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: I think the important thing obviously is to try to keep politics out of the consolation of people who have been through a national tragedy. So that's a bit of a problem for the administration, also interesting to see how the president might respond to questions on that.

Jim, back to you.

SCIUTTO: Just focus on the victims for a moment. I mean, that's really the remarkable thing here. Joe Johns, thanks very much.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says that certain gun control measures are important, even used the word urgent. But apparently they can wait. Leader McConnell is refusing to bring the Senate back for a vote, back from its August recess. This is what some Democrats are demanding.

Join us now is CNN Congressional Correspondent Sunlen Serfaty.

I mean, Sunlen, the real question here is will Mitch McConnell even allow these messages -- these measures rather to get to the Senate floor, and it seems that the test for him is whether the president comes out to back these measures. Is that right?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Jim. And certainly on Capitol Hill, we've seen that dynamic before where President Trump is, as always, the wild card in these negotiations and Republicans up here, especially Senate Republicans, they need to hear from President Trump what exactly he is in support of, what proposal and put his full weight and his full support behind that. And that, so far, is still a question mark, not knowing exactly what President Trump wants and what he would endorse.

Now, certainly the Democrats have been pushing hard for President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to call back the Senate to get to work on some of these issues. That was something that Pelosi and Schumer reiterated in a phone call yesterday with President Trump. But Mitch McConnell has said he will not call the Senate back, but he did show some new willingness and openness to at least having discussions on the proposals on the table, including the red flag laws and the background checks bills. There are certainly many proposals. But important to note that he did not endorse any, he did not make promises to bring those pieces of legislation to the floor for a vote.

Here is what he said in a radio interview Thursday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (D-KY): There's also been some discussion about background checks. That's an issue that's been around for a while, a lot of support for that. And there's a bipartisan bill in the Senate, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, a Republican, and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a Democrat. Those are two items that for sure will be front and center as we see what we can come together on and pass.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[10:05:04]

SERFATY: Now, shortly after McConnell said that the NRA came out with a new statement basically indicating that their stance is unchanged and we know that they have certainly been against background checks and red flag laws before.

So certainly heading into the fall session of Congress, and, again, there's no indication the Senate will come back before then, a big question is what will President Trump get behind and certainly the political climate, the political dynamics at that point now a month out from now, Jim, could be completely changed.

SCIUTTO: Sunlen Serfaty, we know you're going to be on top of it. Thanks very much.

For more on all this, let's bring in New York Times' National Political Correspondent, Alex Burns, and Senior White House Correspondent for Bloomberg, Margaret Talev. Thanks to both of you, guys.

Margaret, you've covered this White House for some time. Here are the forces aligned. You have Democrats, you have even some Republicans, and you have Mitch McConnell raising the idea of bringing some of these measures up, the president even talking about this on Twitter at least. On the other side, you have Wayne LaPierre of the NRA telling him this will hurt him with his base. The president's re-election strategy is a base strategy. Which force wins out?

MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. Jim, I think part of the reason why Mitch McConnell is in no hurry to bring the Senate back until September is because they are still calculating which force should win out and how these different forces are pulling them in two completely opposite directions.

So there is clearly mounting frustration and concern across the country, but there is also a very real political consideration, both for the president and some of the states where he's had the key support, but for the Senate, for senators running for reelection during a crucial year.

So I think the dynamic on gun control is changing. The question is, is it changing in time for the 2020 elections. And for McConnell, there is a real -- there's an understanding. Even some of McConnell's advisers are now telling him, you need to think about doing something, you need to take this seriously. But does taking it seriously translate to action and a vote or does taking it seriously it translate to we will have a discussion in September?

SCIUTTO: So, Alex, earlier in the week, Politico had a story saying that on the House side, many Republicans are willing to go down the bath of universal background checks, measures such as that, red flag laws, but needed the president's cover, needed his leadership to give them cover because, of course, they're concerned about being primaried out.

Now, we have Mitch McConnell in effect saying, listen, I'll take it out, but if it's something that the president will support. So it's up to the president now, is it not?

And is this something that you see? Do you him feeling the political dynamic here to lead him to take action?

ALEX BURNS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, Jim, there's no question that Republicans are looking to the president to show leadership here, that because in part of the results of the 2018 elections where most moderate Republicans or relatively moderate Republicans from the more suburban parts of the country where gun control is actually very popular were defeated.

The remaining Republicans in the House and the critical mass of the Republicans in the Senate comes from parts of the country where background checks, they pool fine but gun control as a general matter remains very, very unpopular, even in a moment of a national crisis like this.

And Republicans see the president as an absolutely necessary ingredient to offsetting the reservations on the right. The problem is we've seen this dynamic a number of times already, going back not just to the previous gun debates.

But if you think of the debate over Obamacare, other major legislative initiatives of this presidency, Republicans have so many times seen the president go out there endorse something in concept or speak favorably about something as an idea, and then in a matter of days or even hours flip back, depending on who he spoke to last or what he's seeing from Fox News.

SCIUTTO: To that point, Alex and Margaret, this is a president after Parkland talking about the NRA. Have a listen. I want to get your reaction.

I'll have to quote it for you. After Parkland, he convened Senate Republicans and others in the White House -- now we have the sound. Here, let's have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'm a big fan of the NRA. These are great people. These are great patriots. They love our country, but that doesn't mean we have to agree on everything. It doesn't make sense that I have to wait until I'm 21 to get a handgun but I can get this weapon at 18. I don't know. So I was just curious as to what you did in your bill.

SEN. PAT TOOMEY (R-PA): We didn't address it, Mr. President. Well, I think we --

TRUMP: You know why? Because you're afraid of the NRA, right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Who else is afraid of the NRA, Margaret?

TALEV: So you can see even in the Tweet this morning from the president where he's saying he's going to talk to a variety of stakeholders, including the NRA to get their very important views. There's two ways to read that.

[10:10:00]

I mean, he's either telling the NRA, brace yourselves, I'm getting ready to get behind gun control, or he's signaling that he's going to talk to the NRA and then explain why he's not going to do something.

So I think we just don't know until it happens. And that's part of the strategic challenge for McConnell and those Senate Republicans who feel that they want to do something on background checks, is the president going to hold their hand the whole way or are they going to get out in front and he takes two steps back.

And so that is part of the reason why it's been difficult to advance something that seems like a fairly moderate step. But the other part of the reason is that I think many of the Republicans in office themselves are not sure, president aside, whether they will then face the primary challenge or, in fact, whether this legislation will accomplish what they wanted to.

SCIUTTO: Alex, on another issue here, I was down in El Paso, I was down in Dayton this week. Listen, the level of emotion there and hurt and pain and frustration very high. So the president goes and visits, and, one, does not allow reporters in with him, two, in El Paso, those victims still being treated would not meet with the president, three, when the president does go to the El Paso medical center where they were being treated, listen to what he seemed to focus on and then I want to get your reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Look at this group of people. Can you believe this? Good looking people, they are fantastic. I was here three months ago, we made a speech and we had -- what was the name of the arena, that place?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The coliseum.

TRUMP: That was some crowd. And we had twice the number outside. And then you had this crazy Beto. Beto had like 400 people in a parking lot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Alex, even members of the White House staff are saying this morning to my colleagues that this visit to El Paso did not go well.

BURNS: No, it didn't. And, look, the role that the president has played over the last couple of days has been one of essentially abandoning the tone of unity and the role of consolation that Americans typically expect from their president.

And, Jim, it's not just sort of political folks in Washington who I hear this from. You know, when you're out in the country going back really to the relatively early days of the Trump presidency, even people who voted for him, even people who voted for Republicans in the midterms and will probably vote for him again in 2020, talk about just feeling like he doesn't act the way they think a president ought to back act. Often people talk about his Tweets, right, that I wish he would stay off Twitter, but this is much more vivid even than that.

SCIUTTO: Alex Burns, Margaret Talev, thanks very much, I wish you both a good weekend.

Right now President Trump is speaking to reporters on the White House lawn, this on his way to vacation. We're going to bring you those remarks the moment we have them. That will be very shortly.

Plus, with the country on edge after three mass shootings in a single week, a man walks into a Walmart with a rifle and body armor and a number of rounds. The question now is why. Imagine the panic there.

And communities living in fear, children still without their parents following ICE raids, big ones, in Mississippi. How they're coping with it all, those family separations there, that's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:15:00]

SCIUTTO: 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate Elizabeth Warren is calling on Walmart to stop selling guns in the wake of last weekend's shooting in El Paso. This week, the retail giant announced it would be removing violent video game promotions from its stores, but did not commit to stop selling firearms, its big business for Walmart.

M.J. Lee joins me now. And, M.J., following Parkland, I believe Dick's Sporting Goods took a similar step. I mean, is there any possibility that Walmart will go this far?

M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we certainly haven't heard from the company about Warren's specific Tweets, but this is a big message coming from the 2020 Presidential Candidate, calling on the giant retailer to stop selling guns just days after a mass shooting took place inside of a Walmart in El Paso that eventually murdered more than 20 people.

I just want to read a part of the Tweet that Warren just put out a few minutes ago. She writes, companies that sell guns have a responsibility to the safety of their communities. Walmart is one of the largest gun retailers in the world. The weapons they sell are killing their own customers and employees. No profit is worth those lives. Do the right thing. Stop selling guns.

Now, Jim, I thought it was interesting that in a series of Tweets, Warren actually pointed to CVS, the pharmacy chain, as an example of a company that did right by the health and safety of their customers. She's referring to, of course, their decision a few years ago to stop selling tobacco products.

Now, as you said, Walmart has taken some steps in the aftermath of the shooting in El Paso, including not displaying images of violent video games, but they are continuing to sell those video games and most importantly, of course, they are still continuing to sell guns.

And this weekend, Jim, we should expect to see a very robust discussion about gun violence and the issue of gun control taking place among the 2020 Democratic Candidates who are going to be gathering in Iowa for the Every Town Gun Safety Forum. And the Warren campaign also says that we should expect to see a full gun violence and gun control plan from the candidate ahead of tomorrow's forum.

[10:20:01]

Jim?

SCIUTTO: It's interesting to see if there's customer pressure to do the same thing. M.J. Lee, thanks very much.

Stay with us. The president speaking with reporters on the White House lawn, we're going to have that tape of those comments shortly. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Just in to CNN, the president has just finished comments to reporters on leaving the White House for his vacation. Joe Johns is at the White House.

[10:25:00]

And, Joe, the president seems to have made some news both about gun control and North Korea.

JOHNS: That is true. From what we can tell, the president did say, in his view, there was tremendous support for gun control for some type of regulation relating to sensible background checks, which is something we've heard before out of the president. However, perhaps this is different because, as you know, the Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, has signaled that he too is interested in going forward with something, or at least trying to.

The other thing I have to say very important about gun control is, as I can hear the president's helicopter taking off right now, the next question after the president says there's tremendous support for gun control, is, Mr. President, what about the National Rifle Association? Because they are the people so far who seem just a little bit reluctant, and have always been reluctant, if you will, on issues of gun control.

So talking to insiders there, of course, there's a real question as to whether they're going to support anything that we've heard about on Capitol Hill.

Now, on the issue of North Korea, the president also said that he has received a beautiful letter from Kim Jong-un. That, of course, is the North Korean dictator, the leader, and this comes right after Kim Jong-un has overseen or supervised the launch of a number of short- range missiles.

So the question is whether the president can once again try to go back down that road that so far has been unsuccessful in working with Kim Jong-un, because the United States' position, in fact, its goal is to try to get North Korea to denuclearize, which so far they haven't been willing to do, Jim.

SCIUTTO: They have not taken a single step, in fact, towards denuclearizing, and then that was the administration's own standard for success at the start of these negotiations.

Are White House sources telling you, Joe, that there is an effort in the White House right now to come up with measures, gun control measures, or are they just waiting for the president to make up his mind?

JOHNS: Anybody's guess. As you know, there has been talk over the last 24 hours about the possibility of some type of executive action coming out of the White House. The question is just how far can the president go.

Certainly he could do something with regard to background checks, simply because that would involve the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, presumably.

But some of the other measures we've heard of, like the red flag laws that states have enacted, that is outside the federal purview, so not clear just how far the president can go down on that road.

It does sound from his Tweets this morning, However, Jim, if you read them carefully, that the president right now is putting his money on Capitol Hill because of his conversations with Mitch McConnell that we know occurred, and with Nancy Pelosi, as well as Chuck Schumer. He clearly appears to be hoping that there's some type of a congressional resolution on the issue of gun regulations, Jim. SCIUTTO: Yes. Well, each side, each chamber, each branch seems to want to put the onus on the other branch. Joe johns, thanks so much.

We'll be right back. The president's comments, we're going to have them live here on CNN in just moments, speaking about a number of issues, including the crucial question of gun control. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:30:00]