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Sen. Dianne Feinstein Dies at Age 90; Tributes Pouring for Late Sen. Dianne Feinstein from Biden and Lawmakers; Farewell Ceremony Recognition in Honor of Gen. Mark Milley; Interview with U.S. Army (Ret.) Maj. Mike Lyons; With Deadline Quickly Approaching, There is No Clear Path to Avoid Shutdown; Stopgap Bill Proposed by House Republicans Would Be Vetoed by President Biden. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired September 29, 2023 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT AND CNN ANCHOR, INSIDE POLITICS: And when he turned and looked at her empty desk, which we see there -- I mean that is -- we've seen this before. And recently when a senator dies, they put the black drape and the white roses on top, and that's a very powerful thing for -- not only her constituents and Americans to see, but for her colleagues who saw her sitting in that seat for so many decades. And when Senator Schumer was talking, you saw Senator Patty Murray behind. And she also came into the United States Senate in the year of the woman in 1992. She was the mom in tennis shoes, that's how she ran.

And so, if you take that and what you just said, Sara, that you don't always have to be wearing a pinstripe suit to be strong, Senator Feinstein, along with those other women who came in 1992 really did help to usher in change. Change didn't go far enough for a long time, and you could argue it still is not far enough, and it won't be until the number of seats in the United States Senate equals the number -- the percentage of women who are in this country, not quite there yet, but it is very, very different from when Senator Feinstein first came in.

And she had to bear the brunt as so many women who are trailblazers, which is the word that you see in every one of these statements coming out today have to do. She took the harpoon, she had to deal with incredible misogyny and doubting her because she was a woman. So, like a lot of women of that era and women today, she had to work twice as hard to prove that she was good enough to fight for all of the issues that she fought for.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: That's for sure. Dana, stick with us if you could.

I think we have CNN Presidential Historian Tim Naftali joining us as well. Tim, kind of getting to what Dana is talking about. This one line from senator -- the senator's chief of staff really continues to stick with me which when he writes, there are few women who can be called senator, chairman, mayor, wife, mom and grandmother.

TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN AND FORMER DIRECTOR, NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY: Well, for some of those watching today, it might be difficult to remember the challenges that women faced who sought elected office in this country 30 years ago. There are, I believe, with the passing of Senator Feinstein, there are 24 women, I believe, serving in the Senate. Only 59 women have served in the Senate in the history of our country.

Dianne Feinstein as, has been mentioned, was the first woman mayor of San Francisco. And for people of a certain age, I think, the memories of November 1978, when Dianne Feinstein showed tremendous poise in announcing to the world that general -- that Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk had been assassinated, she found herself the acting mayor of San Franscisco, one of our great cities at a terrible time in its history, and I would say in the history of this country.

And the poise, the professionalism that she showed was not only important, it was a reminder that 50 percent of this country was not fully participating, and had not been fully -- allowed to fully participate in the leadership of cities and states and the country.

I also remember, as I think about her, I remember another moment of great poise and professionalism, and that is her leadership of the Senate's Select Committee on Intelligence. Senator Schumer mentioned it. He pointed to it, but I -- I'd like to give just a moment about that. Because there are many in our country who, unfortunately, believe there is a deep state. That there is some kind of the inner government beyond the control of our elected officials.

Dianne Feinstein led an investigation, the most thorough, most comprehensive investigation of the U.S. Intelligence Committee -- of the U.S. Intelligence Committee in the history of our country, perhaps arguably second only to the church committee. But I would say that the depth of the investigation of the CIA's detention and interrogation program, which many, I think, rightfully called the torture program was amazingly professional.

[10:35:11:]

And that committee, that's the Senate Intelligence Committee by 2012 produced a 6,700-page report, not all of which has been declassified on the CIA's black sites and interrogation program after 9/11. And what this report did was by -- it showed the abuse and the extent to which the -- our intelligence community had gone too far. It, of course, was fully sensitive to the challenges we faced after 9/11. Dianne Feinstein became -- Dianne Feinstein joined the intelligence community in January of 2001. She was there throughout the terrible period before 9/11 and afterwards as our country grappled with whatever intelligence it had on al Qaeda.

This report was a summation of what the intelligence committee had done and what it had not done with regard to al Qaeda after 9/11. And it drew lines about what was appropriate and inappropriate action by our intelligence community. There are very few countries in the world that who could have that kind of the searching investigation of its most secret services, but our country did, and it was Dianne Feinstein and her team and her colleagues on the intelligence community that made that possible.

But there was a tremendous fight on the Hill. President Obama actually found himself on the other side of this fight from Senator Feinstein. He supported John Brennan who was then the head of the intelligence -- of the CIA. Feinstein pushed and pushed and pushed and ultimately the public received and was able to read a very important summary which listed the CIA's abuse.

Now, that was her achievement and the achievement of her staff. It may seem like a footnote, but to me, it symbolized her strength, her sense of purpose, her professionalism, and it showed the poise that she had in moments of high tension. And that runs throughout her national career from 1978 until our loss of Senator Feinstein today.

SARA SIDNER, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: Tim Naftali, our historian, thank you so much for bringing us all of that and those memories.

And again, Dianne Feinstein has died at the age of 90. The trailblazing senator has left us. We're going to have a break, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:40:00]

SIDNER: We've had a lot of news to share with you today, from the looming shutdown to death of Senator Dianne Feinstein. And now, minutes from now, President Biden will speak at a farewell ceremony honoring outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley. A man who leaves behind a complicated and controversial legacy.

General Milley was appointed by Donald Trump, but the two fell out after Donald Trump began pushing the baseless 2020 election fraud allegations and then in the wake of the January 6th insurrection. Milley determined Trump was such a threat to national security that he called a Chinese general to reassure the nation about U.S. stability.

BOLDUAN: Looking live -- you're looking live right now at this ceremony as it plays out. You can see President Biden sitting there, the vice president is sitting there, the secretary of defense sitting there, Mark Milley sitting there. This is a huge moment in a transition as Mark Milley will be heading into retirement, and handing it off to the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. A big moment for -- a big moment for President Biden, especially, as he will now have a new top military advisor.

But Donald Trump, as Sara was talking about, Donald Trump has made really a practice of attacking Mark Milley. He's -- who also was his Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In a "Truth Social" post last week, you will remember, Donald Trump called Mark Milley treasonous, and also says, what he had done was so egregious that at a time -- in times gone by the punishment would have been death, that from the former president about his then top military advisory.

President Biden spoke out against what Donald Trump has said. Many people have spoken out against those comments. Here's President Biden just yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: This is the United States of America. And although I don't believe even a majority of the Republicans think that, the silence is deafening. The silence is deafening. Hardly any Republican called out such heinous statements.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: As we were standing by to see -- hear from President Biden, marking the departure of General Mark Milley, let's get over to Katie Bo Lillis who's at the Pentagon for us.

Katie, talk about the legacy that Mark Milley leaves behind and what we could be seeing today and hearing today from President Biden and General Mark?

KATIE BO LILLIS, CNN INTELLIGENCE REPORTER: So, I think we're expecting a pretty traditional farewell ceremony for a chairman whose tenure has been anything but traditional.

[10:45:00]

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the president's top military advisor. he's outside of the chain of command. And like all U.S. military officers, he's supposed to operate outside of those, sort of, paradigm of domestic politics. But in ways large and small, the military and Milley, specifically, got really kind of sucked into the very toxic domestic politics that kind of surrounded the Trump administration. In ways that Milley was often forced to respond to.

As you noted, he took a number of pretty extraordinary steps surrounding the events of January 6th to try to, sort of, safeguard against some of the president's more concerning or outlandish impulses. As well as just, kind of, guard against, sort of, the chaos of the moment. He also has become really the face of the so-called woke military for many of his critics on the far right.

So, as Milley departs today, I think he's leaving behind a very active debate about whether or not his handling of the chairmanship was sort of appropriate, kind of, the break the glass response to a democracy in peril, or whether or not he kind of leans too far into the domestic politics of the moment in ways that may have done damage to the chairmanship.

SIDNER: Katie Bo Lillis, thank you so much for that. Again, we're watching these pictures live as they play out at the Joint Base Myer- Henderson there in Virginia.

I want to get to Major Mark -- Mike Lyons who is also with us today. I'm -- just give us some sense of the ceremony and what it means, because there is a transition here, a peaceful transfer of power, we should note.

MAJ. MIKE LYONS, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Yes. I mean, for sure, this is the Chairman of the Joint Staffs, the senior advisor, as the correspondent said. He just advises the president. He has no real command authority. But he oversaw some incredible combustible moments in the past four years. And unfortunately, worked for a boss that confused moral courage with royalty.

I think you'd take 43 years of General Milley's service as a green beret, endured tremendous hardship through battles. He was a warrior. And, you know, he takes the job initially because Trump thought he was that guy who was going to be that officer that was going to do what he said all of the time. But he was not going to obey unlawful orders, and I think that's where he drew a hard line.

BOLDUAN: I was looking back at some of the statements that Mark Milley -- some of the speeches Mark Milley has given over the years. And I know you will remember it, so many people do, right after the 2020 election, Milley was speaking and he made a point to say very clearly, we are unique among military. We do not take an oath to a king or a queen, a tyrant or a dictator. We do not take an oath to an individual. We take an oath to the constitution.

That was so significant. Let's -- just -- and that gets to the core of what I have learned over -- in covering him and those around him of what of the -- of Mark Milley. He's the, kind of, like, the military historian, philosopher, and also the military man.

LYONS: Yes, he combines the elements of being a warrior, being a combat veteran, but also an intellect. A Princeton grad, hockey player, you know, does a lot -- done a lot of different things, yes. But his point about the constitution is really what he's all about, and that's what he's -- has been all about. He's got critics, there's no question about it that, you know, he's made mistakes, but I think the high marks are going to -- as time goes on, those high marks are going to overrule some of those things that happened to him.

SIDNER: You know, he talked about standing up to President Trump. To try to secure and, basically, save democracy. Tell me what that is like in a position that he is in as an advisor who is not supposed to necessarily be pulled into politics, what that's like and how important that is. And now, he has to fear for his life. Now, he has to have security because of the comments that Donald Trump has made.

LYONS: Yes, let's hope that rhetoric, kind of, boils itself down a little bit. You know, what -- unfortunate that incident at Lafayette Park is what he is stained with. You know, he knows he would make that -- would make that same mistake again. He apologized for it. It had retributions throughout the military. Everybody kind of got that and saw the message. And it actually reminded the military of what we're all about.

So, again, he's -- makes a mistake but it was used as a way to be a positive. So, again, the military exists for civilian control, that's the bottom line. And I think General Milley brought up the concept of it. We have civilians that are going to potentially give us orders that are against the constitution and the military has to stand up and say, we're not doing that. BOLDUAN: Major, remind folks General Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, this is a term that spans administrations, he's -- you know, the top military advisor to a president of the United States. How important he is, how critical he is -- they are, they're involved with every decision that a president makes when it -- when we're talking about U.S. involvement abroad.

LYONS: Yes, you go back to the history of it. It's created after the World War II. We've had Omar Bradley as a chairman. Colin Powell was the first African American chairman. His advice was critical during Desert Storm to President Bush back at that time. This is a trusted position. It's recommended by the secretary of defense. It's got to be somebody the president trusts as well. Someone he knows and goes through.

[10:50:00]

Unfortunately, with Donald Trump, he didn't really know any military people, so he took the recommendation of those around him. Thought that General Milley was going to act a certain way, and when he didn't, that is when he had a problem with him.

SIDNER: And you see all of them standing there in a line as we watch these live pictures now of the end of Mark Milley's career, if you will, as a military man. Can you give us just to some sense, there's a lot of pomp and circumstance here.

LYONS: Sure.

SIDNER: But this is a long-held tradition. And what is it like on the other end of it being the person who is having to say goodbye? I saw him coming out and hugging one after the other, those who stood by him, those he worked with.

LYONS: Highest-ranking military job there is, and the greatest of honors that the military can pay to this commander, to this chairman, this individual that has this level of influence with the president, that's really what it comes down to it. This is the one who whispers in his ear about what we can and what shouldn't be doing.

BOLDUAN: This comes at a time where the challenges are great. And some of the decisions he has been involved with in terms of Milley, there -- it's not over. I mean, he's been involved with every bit of advice to President Biden in the level of support and how to support Ukraine since the Russian invasion. What is the -- what does -- how does this transition now impact that? What is that like?

LYONS: Well, I think he's had discussions with, you know, General Brown, the new -- C.Q. Brown that's coming in, the new chairman. There's no question General Milley has been very forceful on Ukraine, that's -- he just believes in what that mission should be and how we should be supporting that. I think that the next chairman will be -- probably has transformational given what he's said in the past and what he wants to do.

I mean, the military reflects society. So, that's how it has to operate. It has to run by that way. And so, I think that the new chairman will be as effective as General Milley was to President Biden.

SIDNER: Major, Mike Lyons, thank you so much for drawing us through that. And as we're watching these live pictures again, I think the --

BOLDUAN: You can see the incoming --

SIDNER: Yes.

LYONS: Yes.

BOLDUAN: The incoming director of chairman right there.

SIDNER: Chiefs -- chairman is coming in. But also, I think, we're -- are we quiet now or are we just --

BOLDUAN: I don't -- something -- we're bringing up right now.

SIDNER: OK. All right. Announcements are being made. All right. We are standing by to hear from President Biden who you see is there alongside Kamala Harris.

We're also following, of course, that critical votes on Capitol Hill as we are ticking down to a government shutdown. We are a day away, essentially, from that happening if Congress can't get it together and pass a spending bill. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:55:00]

BOLDUAN: To Capitol Hill once again, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy defending Republican efforts to try to avoid a government shutdown as he was speaking to reporters earlier this hour. As they are racing toward that very thing, a shutdown because the House Republican majority remains paralyzed still in this moment to come to a true and real final solution to avoid this funding -- this shutdown that is coming.

There will be a vote in, probably, likely the next hour to try to move, let's call it, the last-ditch effort by Kevin McCarthy to get something passed on the house floor. Right now, it does not look likely it is going anywhere.

Let's get to Priscilla Alvarez though at the White House, because we've now also learned more of President Biden threatening a veto on this house spending bill if it would ever make it there. Priscilla, tell us more.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, that is the key, if it ever makes it to the desk when there's already division within House Republicans over this bill, which includes border security provisions. And the White House saying or accusing the GOP of, "Playing partisan games." Now, the White House has been warning for days of what a government shutdown could mean for the federal government, as well as Americans. And that includes, for example, the small business administration stop -- not processing new business loans in the event of a shutdown. As well as delays in the long-term disaster recovery efforts, millions of women and children potentially going without food assistance, as well, as federal workers, millions of them, not being paid in addition to active-duty troops. So, the White House is paying close attention to all of this.

SIDNER: All right. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much. We have a lot to talk to you about, but we are going to go to a quick break. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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