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Michael Bloomberg Considering Presidential Run; Live Coverage of Trump Press Conference; Whistleblower Lawyer Sent Trump Cease and Desist Letter. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired November 08, 2019 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: -- our senior political writer and analyst Harry Enten.

Cillizza, you're like a machine. You already have your Bloomberg column out, why Donald Trump will obsess over Michael Bloomberg. Go.

CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: So I think with Bloomberg now, the question is, what's the space, where's the opportunity. Right, Poppy? And so I think if you look at the race -- and Harry and I have talked about this on-air and off-air -- if you look at the race, what you see if you're Bloomberg is this. You want to run for president, Joe Biden is flagging, at least at some level. Polling nationally is OK, polling in Iowa and New Hampshire, not so good. And then your fundraising is bad. Joe Biden, $9 million or less on hand.

So Bloomberg sees, OK, Biden flagging and the replacement for Biden, theoretically, Pete Buttigieg, is a 37-year-old guy who's the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, a town of 100,000 people.

So he thinks to himself, I've been the mayor of New York City for more than a decade. I've got billions of dollars. I want to be president. The establishment, I'm sure, is whispering in his ear and saying, hey, we need you here this time, Mike. So he is at least opening the door to that possibility.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. You seem to be suggesting that ego drives politicians --

CILLIZZA: No, Jim! Perish the thought!

(LAUGHTER)

SCIUTTO: -- occasionally. I blanch at the thought. We have a two- minute warning, the president's comments. But, Harry, Enten, just quickly because you've been sharp on the political analysis here. Biden has support among blacks, working-class whites. Can Mike Bloomberg make progress there?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL WRITER AND ANALYST: Oh, I think I'm extraordinarily skeptical of that, given Michael Bloomberg's history with stop and frisk in the city of New York.

And I mean, more than that, look at where Michael Bloomberg was polling back in March, before he said he wasn't going to run before finally saying perhaps now he will. He was polling basically in the low single digits. In Iowa, his favorable rating was beneath his unfavorable rating, he had a net negative favorable rating.

And so I am just extremely skeptical, given Biden's base of support and given where Bloomberg was polling, that he's going to come in and somehow interrupt this race. The one thing I will say, though, is that fundraising, given where Biden has struggled, it may give some donors some skepticism of perhaps giving more to Biden if Bloomberg were to enter.

HARLOW: You know --

CILLIZZA: And one quick thing, what it will --

HARLOW: -- yes.

CILLIZZA: -- do, guys, it will troll Donald Trump. Donald Trump judges everything by how rich you are. Michael Bloomberg, according to Forbes, the eighth richest American, $51.2 billion. Donald Trump, the 275th richest American, $3 billion. Michael Bloomberg's presence in the race will remind Donald Trump of that. He will fixate on that. That is who he is.

I am stunned, candidly, that up until I think this tape we're going to play, Donald Trump has not addressed Michael Bloomberg running. Because I do think it is someone that will irk him, whether or not -- and I'm with Harry, I think it's a long shot -- whether or not Bloomberg winds up as the nominee.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: Thirty seconds until the president speaks. Harry Enten, does this help Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders?

ENTEN: I think it gives them --

SCIUTTO: Good (ph) question.

ENTEN: -- a great -- I think it gives them a great talking point for sure. And obviously, anything that helps to divide the more moderate lane helps out Warren and Sanders, given right now they're sort of dividing the more progressive lane.

HARLOW: Well, you need to talk for 10 more seconds because -- no.

(LAUGHTER)

ENTEN: Now, that's --

HARLOW: Here we go.

ENTEN: Bloomberg is probably not going to win, there we go. I gave you your eight seconds, there we are.

HARLOW: All right. So here, in all seriousness, is the president taking some really important questions.

TRUMP: What do you have, John (ph)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, what do you think of the testimony of the depositions (ph) that have been released so far? And are you concerned about public hearings...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I'm not concerned about anything. The testimony has all been fine. I mean, for the most part, I never even heard of these people. I have no idea who they are. They're some very fine people. You have some Never Trumpers. It seems that nobody has any firsthand knowledge, there is no firsthand knowledge. And all that matters is one thing, the transcript. And the transcript is perfect.

Mark Levin last night on television, who is a great constitutional lawyer, he broke it down. He said, what Trump said -- and he was respectful, he said "President Trump" -- what President Trump said was perfect on the transcript. What he said on that telephone call with the president of Ukraine was perfect. He said no other -- nothing else matters. And what he said was perfect. And he analyzed it, every line, every paragraph. It was not complex, it was perfect. Nothing else matters.

With that being said, every one of those people cancelled themselves out. So what they do is they go all over Washington, let's find the 10 people that hate President Trump the most and let's put them up there.

Now, in some cases, they really turned out to be very much honest and fair. But in no cases have I been hurt. In no cases that I see, have I been hurt (ph).

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But, Mr. President, what do you say to the millions of people who don't believe you? What do you say to the millions who don't believe you (ph)?

TRUMP: Well, they shouldn't be having public hearings. This is a hoax. This is just like the Russian witch hunt, this is just a continuation. When you look at the lawyer for the whistleblower, I thought it ended when they found out that the lawyer was so compromised. I mean, the lawyer's a bad guy. So you look at that, I thought that was the end of it.

[10:35:09]

No, this is just a continuation of the hoax. It's a disgraceful thing. In the meantime, we've got the best markets we've ever had, stock markets. We have the best unemployment numbers we've ever -- we have the best employment numbers we've ever had. We have almost 160 million people, we've never been even close to that. So we're doing -- but unfortunately, you people don't want to talk about that.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: China, sir? China? Can you tell me whether a tariff rollback will be part of the phase one signing (ph)?

TRUMP: Well, they'd like to have a rollback. I haven't agreed to anything. China would like to get somewhat of a rollback, not a complete rollback because they know I won't do it.

But we're getting along very well with China. They want to make a deal. Frankly, they want to make a deal a lot more than I do. I'm very happy right now, we're taking in billions of dollars, I'm very happy. China would like to make a deal much more than I would.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, will you endorse Jeff Sessions in his Alabama Senate run?

TRUMP: Well, I haven't gotten involved. I saw -- he said very nice things about me last night, but we'll have to see, I'll have to see.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you forgiven him for refusing --

TRUMP: I haven't made -- I haven't made a determination.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you forgiven him for recusing himself from the Russia investigation?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you forgive him for recusing himself from the Russia investigation?

TRUMP: I don't even think about it.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you -- Mr. President, so what do you say to the millions of people who just don't believe you, that you have something and that your transcript shows that you did something wrong? What do you tell them?

TRUMP: Well, I'll tell you what. It's a very simple thing. I had a very good call with the president of Ukraine, I assume that's what you're talking about. The call was perfect.

Now, they're after -- I have a second call that nobody knew about. And I guess they want that call to be produced also. You've heard that, John (ph). So I have a second call -- I had a second call with the president, which actually, I believe, came before this one. And now they all want that one. And if they want it, I'll give it to them. I haven't seen it recently, but I'll give it to them.

But I had a call before this one with the president of Ukraine. I understand they'd like it, and I have no problem giving it to them

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I have no problem --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, on the Bidens -- on -- Mr. President, on the Bidens, did you ask Bill Barr or anyone in your Department of Justice to investigate the Bidens? And if not -- you didn't ask them -- why would you ask the president of Ukraine to do something you weren't willing to ask your own Justice Department to do?

TRUMP: We are looking for corruption. We're giving hundreds of millions of dollars, and we're looking for corruption. And all you have to do is take a look at Biden, and you'll see tremendous corruption because what he did is quid pro quo times 10.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you ask your DOJ? Did you ask --

TRUMP: And let me just say -- be quiet, quiet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- your DOJ a simple question?

TRUMP: Quiet. Quiet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you ask your DOJ?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you ask the DOJ?

TRUMP: Are you ready?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.

TRUMP: I never spoke to him about anything. It's up to Bill Barr. Bill Barr can do whatever he wants to do. But I saw the same tape on television. And the tape shows that Joe Biden is a crook, he's a hundred percent crooked. And the fake news -- which is you, and you -- you don't want to do anything about it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We reported it.

TRUMP: His son walked out with millions of dollars from Ukraine, millions of dollars from China. He doesn't know anything. He walked away with a stash. It's a corrupt deal, it's a corrupt enterprise. And if the press did it right, it's a hell of a story.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you figured out when you're going to sign the phase one trade deal yet?

TRUMP: Well, we're looking at different -- assuming we get it. You know I never like to talk about things until we have them. But it could be Iowa or farm country or someplace like that. It will be in our country, but it could be someplace like that, John (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mar-a-Lago?

TRUMP: No, I don't think so. I think we'd go more the farm belt.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)?

TRUMP: I'll see how it all goes. You have some very good candidates. Look, Alabama's a place where my approval numbers are very good. I think I won by 42 points. I love Alabama. I'm going to go watch a very good football game on Saturday, which is tomorrow, with LSU. That's going to be great.

We'll see what happens. He's got -- he's got tough competition. I mean, you have the football coach, Tommy (ph), is doing very well. You have some good people running in Alabama. Let's see what happens.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: We'll see what happens. I mean, we'll see what happens. We're getting along very well. They want to make the deal far more than I do. I will tell you, they want to make it far more than I do. But we'll see what happens.

We're taking in right now -- and you know, as a reporter of finance, you know what I'm saying -- they've devalued their currency and they ate this tariff. We're taking in billions of dollars in tariff money from China. I like our situation very much. They want to make a deal much more than I do, but we could have a deal.

(CROSSTALK)

[10:40:10]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Leon Cooperman said this week that if you can't change your behavior, you probably shouldn't run again in 2020. What do you say to that, sir?

TRUMP: Well, now, you've really shaped my behavior because from the day I came in here, I've had problems with phony stuff like a phony dossier that turned out to be false, like false investigations that I've beaten. So a lot of my behavior was shaped by the fake news and by the other side. That was a lot of my behavior.

The fact is that we've created the greatest economy in the history of our country. With all of that stuff going on behind me, nobody else could have done it. Rush Limbaugh said he doesn't know a man in the world that could have done what Trump did. I don't know Leon Cooperman. But whoever Leon Cooperman is, I know of him. He could have his own view.

But in the meantime, I'm making him rich and I'm making a lot of other people rich, including the working man and woman. They've never done so well as they've done right now. Our jobs are the best they've ever been, everything about our economy is just about the best it's ever been, including unemployment.

So I think in light of all of the things going on -- and you know what I mean by that. The fake news, the Comeys of the world, all of the bad things that went on, it's called a swamp. And you know what happened, and you know what I did? A big favor. I caught the swamp. I caught them all. Let's see what happens. Nobody else could have done that but me. I caught all of this corruption that was going on, and nobody else could have done it.

On top of that, we have the best economy, greatest economy we've ever had, the best job numbers we've ever had, African-American, Asian American, Hispanic, the best ever. So I think we've done a great job.

And tell Leon -- who I've seen, but I don't know -- tell him, congratulations because he did very well with Trump.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So how's (INAUDIBLE)?

TRUMP: I (INAUDIBLE) with India (ph) on a lot of different things. Prime Minister Modi's a very good friend of mine. You saw me at -- in Houston, you saw me at the event, 55,000 people, it was great. And we have a lot of things happening with India. We have a very good relationship with India.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)?

TRUMP: He wants me to go there. I will be going at some point to India.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, why -- why (INAUDIBLE) charity was using money to (INAUDIBLE) your personal --

TRUMP: My charity was great. I gave a lot of money away. I was sued because in New York, it's a hornets' nest and they sue you for anything. And yet, on a really bad thing -- if you look at that Clinton charity -- they left her alone. That's one of the reasons people leave New York.

I gave away $19 million. I took no expense, I took no rent, I took no fees, I took no nothing. A hundred percent of that money was given away, and I had to actually go through a process for years with New York. Because you know why? New York is a corrupt state. It's a corrupt state, it's a shame.

I gave $19 million away. And what happened is, instead of saying thank you, great, they hit me with a lawsuit and it was started by a man who had to get out because he beat up women. That's the kind of a place it is.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you made a decision on vaping? Have you made a decision on vaping?

TRUMP: We're going to be coming out with a very important position on vaping. We have to take care of our kids, most importantly, so we're going to have an age limit of 21 or so. But we'll be coming out with something next week, very important, on vaping. We have a lot of people to look at including jobs, frankly. Because, you know, it's become a pretty big industry.

But we're going to take of -- now, there's also -- you know, when you mentioned vaping, you're talking about e-cigarettes, you're talking about a lot of different things. But we're coming out with a big paper next week.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- dialed (ph) back on deciding you're banning flavors and instead raise the age?

TRUMP: We're talking about the age, we're talking about flavors. We're also talking about keeping people working and, you know, there are some pretty good aspects. But we're coming out -- we're very close to a final report, John (ph), and we'll be giving it next week.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because the industry does support raising the age. But they don't like the ban of (ph) flavors.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Yeah, we're going to be raising the age. We will be doing that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And can I just come back to (ph) the first transcript of the call with Zelensky from April 21st. It's my understanding that the White House Counsel isn't (ph) particularly keen to release that. Will you overrule him?

TRUMP: The -- well, they don't want to give all this information on a scam. It's a witch hunt. I'm OK with releasing it. It doesn't bother me. I know what I said, it was fine. But, no, they do want to have the second call -- which is really the first call, the one before this -- I had a call, I'm sure it was fine. I mean, you know, I have -- I make a lot of calls. But I have no problem releasing it. I'm very transparent.

[10:45:17]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The one (ph) (INAUDIBLE)?

TRUMP: Nobody is more transparent than I am. And if I wasn't, and if I didn't release it, it would have been a problem because the fake whistleblower said something about the call -- many things -- that were wrong. When the whistleblower came forward, he talked about this horrible call. It turned out to be a perfect call, as I say. Mark Levin said this was a perfect call.

So they lied, they lied. The whole thing is a scam. This is a scam by the Democrats to try and win an election. Now they want -- now they want my first call. I have no problem giving it to them, other than I don't like giving calls to the media when I'm dealing with foreign nations. But I will give it if they want it.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gordon Sondland said that -- Gordon Sondland said at the beginning of September, he presumed there was a quid pro quo. Then there was a telephone call to you on September the 9th. Had he ever talked to you prior to that telephone call --

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Let me just tell you, I hardly know the gentleman. But this is the man who said there was no quid pro quo. And he still says that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He says he (ph) --

TRUMP: And he said that -- I said that. And he hasn't changed that testimony. So this is a man that said, as far as the president is concerned, there was no quid pro quo. Everybody that's testified -- even the ones that are Trump-haters -- they've all been fine. They don't have anything.

But now they want the first call with the president of Ukraine. If they want it, I'll probably give it to them. But they really want it badly. If they want it, I will probably give it to them.

I don't like doing it because it sets a bad precedent, John (ph). Because every time President Xi calls or somebody calls from China, if I speak to Kim Jong Un, they're worried about me giving the call. But in this case, because the press has been duped into a hoax -- and in some cases they've really started the hoax -- I will give the letter if they want it. But --

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I do say this about that call. I think that's a very revealing call.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, You've been invited to Russia for their May Day parade. The Russian (ph) --

TRUMP: That's right. I was invited. I am thinking about it. It's right in the middle of our campaign season, but I am thinking -- I would certainly think about it. President Putin invited me to -- it's a very big -- it's a very big deal, celebrating the end of the war, et cetera, et cetera. A very big deal, so I appreciate the invitation. It is right in the middle of political season, so I'll see if I can do it but I would love to go if I could.

(CROSSTALK) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bill Barr -- Bill Barr and the DOJ are not denying that you (ph) asked him to have a press conference. They're saying (ph) --

TRUMP: Well, they're not saying anything. Let me just tell you. I never asked -- listen. I never asked him for a press conference. It's fake news by "The Washington Post," which is a fake newspaper. It's fake, it's made up.

And if I asked Bill Barr to have a press conference, I think he'd do it. But I never asked him to have a press conference. Why should I? You know why I wouldn't do it? Because the phone call was perfect. Just read the transcript of the phone call. Nobody has to have a press conference.

I think if I asked him -- and we -- by the way, we confirmed, I never asked him -- I think if I did ask him ,I haven't said this yet and I don't think I will. I'm sure I won't. But if I asked him to have a press conference, I think he would.

With that being said, it's fake news. They wrote a fake story. We told them that before they wrote the story. But today, when you tell the press something, it's meaningless because they write whatever -- it's all fiction. And I'll tell you, they don't have sources. You know what they do? They make it up. Not everybody, not John (ph), not everybody but they make it up.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- why do you care especially (ph) since (ph) (INAUDIBLE) should have released the Pence transcript as well, sir?

TRUMP: What they want is they want my first phone call. I had another phone call. And it's a very important phone call, and it came to my attention last night that they want the first phone call.

Now the problem I have (ph) with (ph) releasing (ph) the first phone call because that was actually the second phone call. And it's --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The one we saw, sir?

TRUMP: Yes. And it's -- yes. And it's a perfect call. But they found out there's another phone call, and that's the first phone call. And they want it released, and we're considering that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How about the Pence phone call?

TRUMP: Which one? That I don't know. I don't know about any calls. I mean --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you release --

TRUMP: -- I would -- I have no problem. It's up to Mike, but I have no problem.

(CROSSTALK) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) the (ph) two (ph) --

[10:50:06]

TRUMP: Well, you know what it is, really? It's a crooked deal. This is like the fake dossier, this is like everything else. These are crooked people. They lost an election and they lost it big. It was really a landslide from the electoral college standpoint. And they lost it big, and they still haven't recovered. And they're going to lose again. And what they're trying to do is weaken me but it's actually made me stronger.

And interestingly, if you look at the polls that just came out, my polls are up, the fundraising is through the roof, it's never been this high. We just set fundraise -- because people are angry about it and it's made Republicans and people that vote for me -- not just Republicans -- really angry. They -- we (ph) really become angry because it's a hoax.

And I'll tell you, the whistleblower, I call him the fake whistleblower. He gave a fake report of my phone call. And when I did it, all of a sudden, when I released that call, all of a sudden, everybody disappeared. The whistleblower disappeared. What ever happened to the second whistleblower?

Why isn't the first whistleblower going to testify anymore? You know why? Because everything he wrote in that report -- almost -- was a lie. Because he made a phony phone call. My phone call was perfect. He made it sound bad. That's why I had to release.

Now they -- so the whistleblower is a disgrace to our country, a disgrace. And the whistleblower because of that, should be revealed. And his lawyer, who said the worst things possible, two years ago, he should be sued. And maybe for treason, maybe for treason. But he should be sued. His lawyer is a disgrace, a disgrace.

And then ask him this. Where is the second whistleblower, right? Where is the witness that gave the whistleblower the information? They all disappeared because Adam Schiff is a corrupt politician, he's corrupt. He made up a speech and he put my voice in it. He made up a speech, had nothing to do with what I said. Adam Schiff is a corrupt politician that's not giving us due process, not giving us lawyers. And despite all that, we're kicking their ass.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why do Bill Taylor and Alexander Vindman still work for you?

TRUMP: Every one of those people testified absolutely fine for me. They've gone out and they've gone out of their way to find the people that hate Donald Trump, President Trump the most. They put them up there, everybody's been absolutely fine. And they have -- you know, I don't even know most of these people. Many of these people, I've never even heard of. So what Crooked Schiff is doing, he's a corrupt politician. What this

corrupt politician does, he looks all over, tries to find people that don't like Trump and he puts them up. We are winning so big. My polls are the highest they've ever been, I'm leading in all of the states, every swing state. The fundraising numbers just came in. They're the highest, I think, in history.

I don't think anybody's ever had -- and I'll tell you what, we are winning so big because we're going along. These are corrupt politicians. And that includes Nancy Pelosi. She's a corrupt politician. She should go back to her district, which is horrible. It's filthy. It's drug-infested. The stuff's being flown out to the ocean, it's being wiped out to the ocean through their drainage systems. You've got to see what's happening in San Francisco. Nancy Pelosi ought to focus on her district. But these are corrupt politicians.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- going to Atlanta? What is your message (INAUDIBLE)?

TRUMP: We're going to Atlanta. We have a -- as you call, black vote, but this is really -- we're doing very well with African-Americans. I think a big factor is the fact that they're having the best economic year they've ever had in the history of our country. And we're going there, we've been invited and it's going to be -- I think it's going to be fantastic.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- Bloomberg? Can you beat Michael Bloomberg? He's a real --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's your reaction to Bloomberg entering the race?

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Well, I've known Michael Bloomberg for a long time. If you go back early on, he had -- he said a lot of great things about Trump. But I know Michael. He became just a nothing, he was really a nothing. He's not going to do well but I think he's going to hurt Biden, actually. But he doesn't have the magic to do well.

Little Michael will fail. He'll spend a lot of money. He's got some really big issues. He's got some personal problems and he's got a lot of other problems. But I know Michael Bloomberg fairly well. Not too well, fairly well, well enough. He will not do very well. And if he did, I'd be happy. There is nobody I'd rather run against than Little Michael. That, I can tell you.

(CROSSTALK)

[10:55:04]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- publicly name the whistleblower.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: NATO (ph) (INAUDIBLE), Democrats say that by keeping White House officials from going up to give depositions, that's evidence that the White House is obstructing and could lead to an article of impeachment --

TRUMP: Well, they're making it up. First of all, this whole thing is a phony deal, it's a phony set-up. When you look at the lawyer that got it started, the whistleblower lawyer, he got it started. It's a phony deal. These Democrats are corrupt. Nancy Pelosi is a corrupt politician.

Shifty Schiff is a double corrupt politician. He took my words on the phone call -- and they were so good -- he totally changed them. He went before Congress, he made a speech before Congress. And in the speech, John (ph), he said things that were horrible. It bore no relationship to the call. And then, later on, he was embarrassed. Let me tell you something. Schiff is a corrupt politician and our people know it and they know it too, by the way, just so you know.

We have the highest poll numbers, we have the most energy. I was with Mitch McConnell and a whole group of people last night and I was with -- actually, I was with leaders of faith and evangelical leaders. They said they have never -- all of them, they have never had the energy that we've had and we have now in the Republican Party.

And beyond the Republican Party. People that were Democrats, and they're for Trump. And we've never had the polls numbers.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you explain -- can you explain, just so that people understand, why you are not allowing people like Mick Mulvaney and others to comply with subpoenas?

TRUMP: I don't want to give credibility to a corrupt witch hunt. I'd love to have Mick go up, frankly, I think he'd do great. I'd love to have him go up. I'd love to have almost every person go up when they know me. What I don't like is when they put all these people that I never met before, when they put the head of the Never Trumpers on the stand. And even those people were OK, they were fine.

Those are the people, people I never even heard of. The people that I know, I would love to have them go up -- now, the rest is up to the lawyers. I have to do what the lawyers say, to a certain extent. Not always but, you know, to a certain extent.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: But I will tell you, I like to have the people go up. Except one thing. It validates a corrupt investigation. Adam Schiff is a corrupt politician. He's as corrupt as you'll ever see. When he makes up my words and reads fake words to Congress and he acts so innocent, he's a corrupt politician.

OK, thank you. (CROSSTALK)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR, AT THIS HOUR: All right. What you're listening to right there is President Trump, leaving the White House once again. He was -- is heading to Atlanta right now, and obviously had a lot to say about the impeachment inquiry that he has faced, saying a lot of things that actually require quite a bit of fact- checking yet again.

So let's get first to the White House. Joe Johns is there, he's been listening in as all of this played out on just the other side of the White House.

Joe, the president is clearly trying to say that he is not concerned about the investigation, undermining the investigation and labeling anyone who's speaking out, that has gone in to testify in this investigation, a Never Trumper.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Right.

BOLDUAN: Right. And I think one of the things that's most interesting about that is the president did (INAUDIBLE) that in his view, there should not be public impeachment hearings. That's interesting because when you look at what the president and some of his allies have been saying about the closed-door depositions, they've said those shouldn't be going on either.

Suffice it to say the president and his allies don't think there should be any impeachment inquiry at all. Now, that's pretty much on the record.

One of the most interesting things I think we got out of that is the president referred three different times to releasing a second rough transcript, if you will --

BOLDUAN: Yes.

JOHNS: -- of a conversation with the Ukrainian president. That, of course, has never been released. The president started out saying that if they want it, I'll give it to them. Apparently referring to the impeachment inquiry.

But then he changed his story a little bit. He said, I'll probably give it to them, the second time he talked about it. And by the time he got to his last reference to that second call and releasing it, the president said, we're considering giving it to them.

So, clearly, there's been a lot of controversy here at the White House about the release of the rough transcript of the first call and all that ensued because when you put that together with the whistleblower's complaint, it really provided the impetus for this impeachment inquiry.

And about the whistleblower, also important to say the president continued his attacks on the intelligence community whistleblower, calling him or her a disgrace, saying that person ought to be revealed and says his lawyer ought to be sued.

[10:59:56]

Interesting, his lawyer, Andrew Bakaj, put out a letter just yesterday, indicating that the president ought to cease and desist in his attacks on the whistleblower because he was creating an atmosphere of --