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The Lead with Jake Tapper

NOAA Officials Threatened For Contradicting President Trump?; Interview With Rep. Max Rose (D-NY); Trump Under Fire Over Proposed Taliban Meeting at Camp David. Aired 4-4:30p ET

Aired September 09, 2019 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:00]

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: But we can tell you that, as this vehicle has been under investigation for several hours now, much of the surrounding area has been evacuated.

We will continue to stay on that.

Stay with us. "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts right now.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: President Trump just moments ago saying he took his own advice on meeting with the Taliban at Camp David.

THE LEAD starts right now.

On the week of the 9/11 commemoration, President Trump shocking much of the world with a plan to invite Taliban leaders for a get-together at Camp David. Today, we're learning not even the president's most loyal adviser thought that a good idea.

And facing new questions today about profiting off the presidency, President Trump literally saying, a la Sergeant Schultz, "I know nothing," following news that the Air Force now makes increasingly frequent layovers near Trump's resort in Scotland.

Plus, Hurricane Dorian survivors with children in their arms kicked off a ferry headed for the United States, the confusion prolonging their suffering. And who it is that messed up, that's coming up.

Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

We begin with the politics lead, President Trump this afternoon saying that talks with the Taliban are dead, as he attempts to defend his now canceled plan to host the Taliban leaders at Camp David days before the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, attacks for which the Taliban has even in recent weeks expressed support.

CNN is learning that Vice President Pence and National Security Adviser John Bolton advised President Trump that would be a bad idea. But the president calls that report fake news, and the vice president weighing in with a slyly written tweet -- quote -- "That's absolutely right, Mr. President, more fake news," the vice president tweeted. "The dishonest media never contacted our office before running with this story," he continued, which is not accurate in CNN's case.

The vice president's spokesman is quoted right in the CNN.com story.

"And if they had," Mr. Pence continued, "we would have told them I fully support your decision. I fully support your decision," president tense.

That, of course, is a nonanswer and does not directly address the idea that, before the decision was made, the vice president advised against it.

As CNN's Boris Sanchez now reports for us, despite the contrary advice, President Trump was already attached to his brainstorm, the Taliban at Camp David. What could go wrong?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just two days after canceling a planned summit at Camp David with leaders from the Taliban that he himself suggested, President Donald Trump telling reporters today that peace talks are:

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Dead, as far as I'm concerned. And we have hit the Taliban harder in the last four days that they have been hit in over 10 years.

SANCHEZ: Trump, frustrated with the pace of negotiations, had called for a face-to-face negotiation with the Taliban at Camp David during a meeting over Labor Day weekend, despite objections from top advisers.

Sources say Trump liked the optics of being seen personally as securing a historic deal in a presidential setting, where decades ago negotiations between the U.S., Egypt and Israel led to the Camp David accords.

Officials say Vice President Mike Pence and National Security Adviser John Bolton argued against meeting at Camp David, but Trump overruled them. Today, Trump pushed back on that story, though he admitted he thought hosting the Taliban at Camp David just days before the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks was a good idea.

TRUMP: Actually, in terms of advisers, I took my own advice. I like the idea of meeting. I have met with a lot of bad people and a lot of good people. It was my idea. And it was my idea to terminate it. I didn't even -- I didn't discuss it with anybody else.

SANCHEZ: The meeting set for this weekend was scrapped because the Taliban claimed responsibility for an attack that killed one service member and 11 others.

Trump now says he believes the Taliban regrets that attack. Some lawmakers voicing opposition to the meeting, including the third highest ranking Republican in the House, Liz Cheney, tweeting: "No member of the Taliban should ever set foot in Camp David ever."

And GOP Congressman Michael Waltz, an Army veteran, who served in Afghanistan:

REP. MICHAEL WALTZ (R-FL): As we head into the anniversary of 9/11, I do not ever want to see these terrorists step foot on the United States soil, period.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Now, Jake, President Trump moments ago on the South Lawn told reporters that the Taliban made clear that they regret this attack.

And, in fact, over the weekend, the Taliban put out a statement saying that canceling peace talks would only lead to more American losses in Afghanistan, Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Boris Sanchez at the White House, thanks so much.

Joining me now to talk about this, Democratic Congressman Max Rose of New York. He's an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan. He now sits on the Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs committees.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

First of all, I guess my first question is, forget being a member of Congress. As a veteran who fought in Afghanistan, what was your reaction to this story?

[16:05:02]

REP. MAX ROSE (D-NY): Well, I think it was an utterly ridiculous idea, not only as a veteran, but also someone who represents a district that was hit inconsiderably hard by 9/11.

For this president to invite the Taliban to meet at Camp David -- and just a few days will be the anniversary of 9/11. With that being said, though, we cannot use this one horrible idea as a justification or a pretense to advocate for another horrible idea, which is to stay in Afghanistan for another generation.

To put it into perspective, come this October, young men and women will be enlisting in the United States military who were not born when we declared war against Afghanistan.

TAPPER: Yes.

ROSE: This has got to change. We have to turn a chapter on this period in American history and pull out of Afghanistan.

TAPPER: So, I want to get to that in one second, because, certainly, this is America's longest war, and I think the American people and a lot of veterans, as you know better than I, are weary of it.

But I do want to ask you, because your congressional district in New York, which includes a lot of Staten Island, that's a district that President Trump won. And, as you note, it is a district that was hit hard by 9/11, on 9/11, with a lot of firefighters and members of the police force and just people who were in the towers killed.

ROSE: Sure.

TAPPER: That are you hearing from constituents?

ROSE: Look, I think people are happy that this is not happening, period. That's it. They don't want to think about it anymore. They don't want to entertain the idea of the Taliban meeting at Camp David.

But here's the other thing about people that live on Staten Island, and generally folks throughout the country. These are deeply patriotic people. And that does not mean that we engage in perpetual warfare.

To be patriotic, to say that you support the troops doesn't mean that we want to send young men and women unnecessarily into harm's way. Look at the conflicts that we face today. Look at global extremism. We can't fight global extremism, whether it is ISIS or al Qaeda, by holding on to significant pieces of land in Central Asia.

There is 15, 20 different countries that al Qaeda or ISIS could move into. And we have to remain flexible and versatile in order to attack that threat in the 21st century.

TAPPER: Well, let me ask you about that, because I had Secretary of State Pompeo on "STATE OF THE UNION" yesterday.

And I asked about, why invite the Taliban to Camp David, of all places?

Listen to what he had to say.

ROSE: Sure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We've been having conversations.

The president believed that we could further that, that we could further America's national interest by having conversations with the people that have the capacity to actually deliver, Jake.

We have an obligation to do everything we can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So you want to end the war. Secretary Pompeo wants to end the war.

ROSE: Absolutely.

TAPPER: President Trump wants to end the war. His argument is, we have to do you -- just heard him say it -- we have to do everything we can to end the war.

So if having the Taliban in Camp David would bring that result about, why not?

ROSE: Well, you don't have to punch the American people in the nose in order to end our longest war.

This was representative of more than a year's worth of hard diplomacy, OK? And we were right there right at the end. And then the president engineered this into a vanity project. He wants to be the one to take credit. And that is totally and absolutely wrong.

This is an opportunity, though, for bipartisan action. I completely agree with you on that. And we actually have to take advantage of it. And this president for once could actually be a leader.

In 2016, he ran on ending our forever wars. In 2018, I called for the same thing. And you're right. You brought up that Staten Island voted for President Trump. They also voted for me.

TAPPER: Right.

ROSE: The people have spoken. They want change and they want action and they do not want us to continue these forever wars that are centered around regime change.

TAPPER: One quick subject change, because "The New York Times" just broke a story saying that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross -- and the commerce secretary -- Commerce Department controls the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association -- Administration, rather -- NOAA, that Wilbur Ross threatened to fire top officials at NOAA after that tweet from the National Weather Service contradicting the president's claims that Hurricane Dorian might hit Alabama.

The National Weather Service -- NOAA then put out a statement, an unsigned statement, basically, backing the president's version of events over their scientists.

What do you make of all that?

(LAUGHTER)

ROSE: I thought it was an Onion article when I first saw this.

Look, this looks like it's a joke. And the unfortunate truth is that it's an -- it's the reality. Congress should certainly look into this.

But, ultimately, the president has got to lead. The president's got to realize that this is actually an incredible responsibility that he has. And his secretaries can no longer just be concerned about the president's ego.

They also have to assume responsibility. I'm deeply disappointed by this. Obviously, it's breaking news, but it's yet another illustration of the fact that we right now don't have the leadership that we need.

TAPPER: Congressman Max Rose, Democrat from New York, from the great -- most of your district, the great borough of Staten Island, thanks so much for being here. Appreciate it.

[16:10:02]

ROSE: Absolutely, the greatest.

TAPPER: Coming up, so, did the Trump administration cross a line with that agency that tries to keep Americans safe by accurately forecasting storms?

And then, with their lives destroyed by Hurricane Dorian, these Bahamians are now struggling to leave the islands to get help because of a supposed mixup.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: We have some breaking news for you now.

"The New York Times" is reporting that Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross threatened to fire top employees at NOAA after members of the agency contradicted President Trump's claim that Hurricane Dorian might hit Alabama.

[16:15:07]

This is a claim he made two Sundays ago that was not in alignment with any of the forecasting at the time.

Let's just talk about this. You're from Florida, so you --

JOSHUA JOHNSON, HOST, NPR'S 1A: West Palm Beach.

TAPPER: So, you know how important these weather announcements are and the warnings are.

JOHNSON: Yes. How important they are, also covered the hurricanes of the mid-2000s when we ran out of names for hurricanes when Mar-a-Lago was among those places in south Florida that had to deal with Charlie, Francis, Ivan, Gene, Dennis, Katrina, Rita, Wilma and then Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and we ran out of names.

A property like Mar-a-Lago is so much at risk for hurricane, and anyone in the town of palm beach knows there are all these historic properties, Mar-a-Lago, the Breakers, Whitehall, which was Henry Flagler's residence, the Royal Poinciana Playhouse, Paramount Church, which used to be a theater, the shops on Worth Avenue. So, everyone watches those forecasts very closely.

A facility like Mar-a-Lago has to bring in beach chairs and beach umbrellas and golf carts and send guests home, help them figure out whether they need to book new hotels, send nonessential staff home, and plug in the generators and figure out when the bridges lock down so the people can evacuate their boats and yachts and get them into --

TAPPER: All based on the NOAA forecast. JOHNSON: So, it is completely unfactual, it flies in the face of

everything that every Floridian knows to say that the president thinks he can just draw around a hurricane map. It makes no sense to any Floridian, ever.

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I'm sure it didn't make a lot of sense to people in Alabama who saw that, because, remember, this president said, I'm the only one who will tell you the truth, everything else is fake news. So he tweets out, Alabama, then he draws it, so you're sitting in Alabama, wondering, is it coming, is it not coming?

And it also just shows the lengths to which this president is willing to abuse his power to save his thin ego to make himself correct.

TAPPER: So, let's go back to that day. The president falsely tweeted that Dorian would hit Alabama and other states harder than expected. That prompted the Birmingham office of the National Weather Service to respond in a tweet, quote, Alabama will not see any impacts from Dorian, according to our reporting, that, they were flooded with calls from Alabamians who were -- Alabamans worried about what was going on.

FINNEY: Of course.

TAPPER: David, you are advising --

(LAUGHTER)

TAPPER: You're advising the Trump campaign, you would rather be talking about the economy than on day eight of this Alabama story.

DAVID URBAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It was a very big cone of uncertainty. That's all I'll say. You look at the big cone of uncertainty. Look, obviously I would like to talk about the accomplishments this administration had to date. There's a long laundry list. I can pull them out of notes to go through.

TAPPER: And you've done it many times. Let's talk about --

URBAN: And I go through again, historic all time unemployment levels. Low African-Americans, right?

TAPPER: That's true.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Let's talk about this. President Trump is the reason we're on day eight of this.

URBAN: Listen, again, I think that it is unfortunate. We should be talking about the very positive things this administration is doing, right, and helping -- listen, it is a controversial, inviting the Taliban to come to the United States. But I think it's very positive that we're looking to draw down forces there and get men and women out of harm's way.

TAPPER: You think Secretary Ross made a mistake threatening to fire NOAA officials.

URBAN: I'm not sure exactly -- you know, I met Secretary Ross on numerous occasions. His temperament doesn't seem like he's the kind of phone thrower, screaming at the top of his lungs, get me those guys' heads on pike at NOAA. So, I'm not sure how that goes. But if, in fact, that was the case, yes, I think it is wrong.

TAPPER: And, Melanie, NOAA ended up putting out a statement late Friday, unsigned, not attributed to anybody, backing Trump, saying, quote, the Birmingham National Weather Service's Sunday morning tweets spoke in absolute terms that were consistent with probabilities from the best forecast products available at the time.

A top NOAA, a former NOAA official tweeted, perhaps the darkest day ever for NOAA leadership. Don't know how they ever look their workforce in the eye again. Moral cowardice.

MELANIE ZANONA, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, POLITICO: Right.

TAPPER: This is really a matter of science.

ZANONA: It is. And now the weather has even become politicized in the era of Trump. But I would point out with this, you know, this is another example of the president saying something or tweeting something that appears to be inaccurate and then his aides and officials having to scramble on the back end to make sure it's true. And putting government resources to backing up his claims which we know were not accurate at the time.

But, look, you know, I know you were saying that Trump would rather be talking and the base would rather be talking about other things. But I think he relishes in these fights with the media. He gets a kick out of it.

FINNEY: But I think this is going to be a fundamental problem -- sorry, David -- for the rest of this election cycle, because you're not going to get traction on talking about all the things you want to talk about, because I will bet you that tonight, instead of talking about all those things, Trump is going to go off on his rally --

TAPPER: He's having a rally this evening. Yes.

FINNEY: -- in North Carolina, I will bet you up at $100 on the table that we'll hear more about the fake news and the fake media and why he was right about Alabama and some other, you know, story that is really not true.

TAPPER: All right. Everyone, stick around.

URBAN: Unemployment, historic low.

(LAUGHTER)

[16:20:00]

TAPPER: You cannot be stopped. Congress is back and House Democrats have a new list of investigations

including one of Trump's golf clubs and Air Force members what Trump just said about this latest controversy, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:25:06]

TAPPER: In our politics lead today, President Trump today promised we will be completely shocked by financial numbers on this international property. He claims he's going to release the numbers before the next election. The president insisting he does not need members of the U.S. military to stay at his resorts in order to help his businesses.

This is a response to investigations into a report first broken by "Politico" that U.S. air force crew members are increasingly staying at his Scotland hotel, which news reports say struggled in recent years. Air Force itself just launched the latest review of this potential conflict of interest.

As Sunlen Serfaty reports, House Democrats are also looking into it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Back on Capitol Hill after a six-week recess, House Democrats are intensifying pressure on president Trump, expanding their investigations and opening up a series of new ones, all looking into potential abuses of power by the Trump administration. The House Judiciary Committee is now probing controversial international stays during refueling stops by U.S. Air Force personnel at President Trump's Turnberry resort in Scotland, prompting the Air Force to order a special review.

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): The president has indeed converted the government of the United States into an instrument of self-enrichment.

SERFATY: Trump today shooting back, saying nothing to do with me, while praising the good taste of the Air Force crews staying at his resort.

This comes as the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees are also investigating Vice President Mike Pence's own stay at the president's resort, in Ireland. The two powerful committees now including a series of new probes, looking into hush money payments over Trump's alleged affairs, the president's alleged dangling of pardons to officials who were at risk of breaking immigration laws and these questions about the president enriching himself, potentially violating the emoluments clause of the Constitution.

This Thursday, a key moment, the House Judiciary Committee will vote on a resolution to formalize procedures for an impeachment inquiry.

REP. DEBBIE MUCARSEL-POWELL (D-FL): What you will see and what the American public is going to see is just an intense -- it is going to intensify.

SERFATY: All of this as House Democrats still grapple with the potential of formally recommending articles of impeachment.

But with Speaker Pelosi still in opposition, and a limited fall congressional schedule, if they will is still very much an open question.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SERFATY: And Thursday's vote in the House Judiciary Committee is essentially lays out the ground work, the parameters of their investigation going forward, by formalizing it as an official impeachment inquiry, a very small but very important procedural detail as the committee, Jake, potentially marches on to potentially former articles of impeachment.

TAPPER: All right. Sunlen Serfaty, thanks so much.

Melanie, there have been Democrats worried about this impeachment gambit, saying that it will -- including Speaker Pelosi, who say that it will -- you know, they are worried that it will distract -- it will give the president leverage in terms of saying they're out to get me, it will convince the American people that the Democrats aren't there to do things for them. What do you make of it all?

ZANONA: Well, I think what you're seeing from the pro-impeachment Democrats is they are really starting to shift their messaging towards that corruption of this versus the Mueller report which didn't land with the public. It didn't sway public opinion. The report was long and complex.

They think they have a better story here to tell the American people by focusing on things like spending at military properties, hush money payments to porn stars to cover up alleged affairs, those sorts of things. So, they do think perhaps they can sway public opinion.

But time is running out. As you mentioned, Pelosi's position has not changed and in fact we're told about over the recess, she reminded her Democrats during a private conference call that public is not there yet.

TAPPER: And, Joshua, President Trump tweeted in part today, he knew nothing of an Air Force crew, quote, staying overnight at Turnberry, his Scotland hotel. He also tweeted, quote, I had nothing to do with the decision of our great Vice President Pence to stay overnight at one of the Trump owned resorts in Doonbeg, Ireland.

That second controversy, of course, the individual who said that the president suggested it to the vice president was the vice president's chief of staff.

JOHNSON: Yes. I mean, I think in addition to the issue of whether or not the president is being enriched by people staying at his hotels during his administration, I'm kind of interested in how the Democrats are going to deal with all this. I mean, we get it, like this is enriching the president. Let's just stop playing this game. This is enriching the president. You know, the Air Force thing is the argument that his hotel was the

least expensive option, so what would you rather do, spend less money at a Trump hotel or more on a Trump hotel. I think that's a legit question.

The larger question, I think, is whether Democrats are actually going to see this through to the election, like if the Democrats didn't pounce on this right after the midterms, I think they're out of time. You still got Democratic voters who don't know who their front-runner is other than Joe Biden.

And I'm still not convinced Joe Biden is the front-runner, front- runner. He's kind of like, if all the Democratic candidates are the Avengers, Joe Biden is Robert Downey Jr., like he's the guy who's the most bankable right now. But if the Democrats think that they've got the bandwidth to deal with all of these impeachment investigations, and to help Democratic voters --

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