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Inside Politics

Trump to Tour Boeing Plant; Protests Ahead of Trump's Arrival; White House Meeting with CBC; NSA Job Opening; No Charges for Flynn; Trump Attacks Clinton. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired February 17, 2017 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00] JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Is taking another victory lap, if you will, holding another one of those rallies. That's going to be in Melbourne, Florida. That's going to be 5:00 on Saturday.

I've spoken to a few folks here in this audience. Thousands have packed this facility. They are Boeing employees. Some support the president. Some do not. Those who I spoke to who do support the president really like it, they tell me, when they see him taking on economics, whether it be Ford or Harley Davidson or, in this case, Boeing, encouraging these companies to make their products here in the United States.

You remember, it wasn't too long ago when this president was in somewhat at odds with Boeing, the Boeing team here, after Boeing announced it was going to cost $4 billion to build two new Air Force Ones. The president balked that the price tag, tweeting out, "cancel order." Shortly thereafter, he had some back door negotiations with Boeing. Boeing's CEO coming out later and saying that they were going to give taxpayers a break on Air Force One.

And some of those folks who I talked to here, Kate, say that's what they like to see. One of his supporters saying, I like it when he stays in his lane in terms of economics. He said yesterday at that press conference, not an example of that.

One final point, in looking at the (INAUDIBLE) talk, what we don't see is an opportunity to be able to, you know, get our questions out to the president. Obviously a number of us here in the media, who the president likes so very much, want to get an opportunity to get his take on Robert Harward not accepting the position as national security adviser. We were hoping to be able to throw out a question at the president to get his reaction to that, but it doesn't look as if we're going to get an opportunity to do that, at least not in the tick-tock that we were provided with today.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We will always see. That is (INAUDIBLE).

For our viewers, you're looking right there, on the one side of your screen, of Air Force One approaching, and will be soon landing in South Carolina to head to where Jason is to speak with employees there, meet with the top brass and continue his tour, and the make remarks, as Jason very perfectly laid out.

But as we watch as Air Force One makes its approach, let's go to Brynn Gingras, who is outside.

Brynn, I see a - I hear a lot going on around you. I don't know if you can hear me. There are protesters gathering outside.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

BOLDUAN: I assume - I hear it's for both for and against the president. What are you hearing?

GINGRAS: Yes, well, right now you're hearing a lot of booing because we are right on the flight path of Air Force One and it just flew right over our heads, so that's what you're hearing right now.

But this is obviously a group that is not for the president. A lot of diverse signs in this crowd who have been protesting for about an hour now. And, you know, I've been talking to a lot of these people, organizers as well, and I asked about all those diverse signs, all these topics that they protest with the president. And the answer is get is, because, you know what, they feel like they have whiplash. They said, with this administration, so many topics have come up that they are protesting either this or that. Immigration or the Affordable Care Act or, you know, his cabinet. So that's how one person described it to me.

Another person told me, you know what, in South Carolina we don't talk politics, but if there's anything good that's come so far with this administration is that people are talking. They're starting conversations and realizing that people agree with certain things with another person of a different age, of a different race, or they don't agree. So there is at least conversation happening.

I will say, inside conversations there is a lot of talk about what you mentioned not too long ago, Kate, and that is that press conference from the president yesterday. A lot of diverse opinions coming from groups about what he had to say. And we did also talk to many people here in the Charleston area about that. And I will say collectively they called that press conference interesting. But here's more about what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody else is trying - playing nicely with the media. And look what happened to him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just thought it was really funny that he was blaming the media for no one believing the things that come out of his mouth, when it's more so that people can now do research on their own and are physically finding evidence that disagree with what he says.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From a personal stand point, you know, we have to respect our president, and we simply have to give him time. But he just got into office and he's trying to figure his way around. So we just have to give him time. (END VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRAS: Now some people said that press conference was insulting. Others said that was red meat for his fan base, his group of supporters, who I will say there is another group of protesters on the other side of this one who are rather supporters supporting Trump's visit here today and they said they came out because they wanted to really just be the voice against all these people here.

Back to you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: We are looking at America in action. People voicing, protesting, and voicing their opinions right behind you, all around you, and we're keeping an eye as the president approaches and will be heading to the Boeing plant shortly.

Brynn, thank you so much.

All right, so today's speech in South Carolina comes after the president's whopper of a news conference yesterday. One of the many important moments that happened included this exchange between the president and journalist April Ryan (ph) about the Congressional Black Caucus. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

APRIL RYAN, JOURNALIST: Are you going to include the CBC, Mr. President, in your conversations with your - your urban agenda, your inner city agenda, as well as -

[12:05:07] DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Am I going to include who?

RYAN: Are you going to include the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, as well as -

TRUMP: Well, I would. I tell you what, do you want to set up the meeting? Do you want to set up the meeting?

RYAN: No, no, no, I'm - I'm not - I'm just a reporter. I'm just -

TRUMP: Are they friends of yours? No, get - set up the meeting.

RYAN: I know some of them, but I'm sure they're watching right now.

TRUMP: Lett's go. Set up a meeting. I would love to meet with the Black Caucus. I think it's great, the Congressional Black Caucus. I think it's great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: After that, the Congressional Black Caucus actually tweeted this message to the president. "We sent you a letter on January 19th, but you never wrote back. Sad." Hours later, the CBC did say that the White House has reached out and reached out in an appropriate manner, and that's the way they put it, to request a meeting. Joining me now is Democratic congressman from New Jersey, a member of

the Congressional Black Caucus, Donald Payne Jr.

Congressman, thanks so much for the time.

REP. DONALD PAYNE JR. (D), NEW JERSEY: Well, thank you for having me.

BOLDUAN: You had a pretty strong reaction to that press conference moment. Why?

PAYNE: Well, you know, it just was dumbfounding to watch what transpired yesterday at that press conference. A member of the press asking a routine question of an organization that has been around in the Congress for over 40 years and the president, even not really sure he understood who Ms. Ryan was talking about, and she had to, you know, clarify that it was the Congressional Black Caucus, when everyone reference us as the CBC, and he wasn't sure. And to ask her to set up the meeting, as if she's some conduit between the Congressional Black Caucus and the president, the administration, was absurd.

BOLDUAN: Absurd. Is it - is this something you take issue of the president's non-traditional style, or do you think this is something more?

PAYNE: Non-traditional style? I think it's an ignorance of where - who the players are in this town and having to deal with the Congress. I mean, you know, he's been continuing to write executive orders, and it appears that's how he's going to function as president. But at some point in time, he's going to have to deal with the members of Congress and the Congressional Black Caucus is 40 members, 49 members strong in the Democratic caucus. So we are a large - we are a quarter of the Democratic caucus. So we have an influence on policy in this nation, and for not to even have an idea or clue of who that organization is, is where I come on the side of absurdity.

BOLDUAN: So it looks like a meeting is now in the works in some way. What is the singular most thing that you want to be addressed in the meeting with President Trump when he meets with the caucus?

PAYNE: Well, it's interesting that, you know, we sent a letter on January 19th to the president, formal means, and, you know, no response at all. Whereas, President Obama, within the first month of his presidency, sat down with the CBC. And so, you know, as you showed prior to us starting, we had to tweet the president in order to get a response.

So, you know, our letter talked about this program he has for the inner cities and African-Americans in this country. And our letter talks about how we think that we might be able to help him in a progressive way do something that is positive in the African community since many of us represent those areas.

BOLDUAN: We're very much looking forward to hearing how that meeting goes, when that meeting is, and what happens in the aftermath.

Congressman Donald Payne, thank you so much for your time.

PAYNE: Thank you for having me.

BOLDUAN: All right.

Coming up for us, still ahead, we - thanks but no thanks. That is the message right now. The Trump White House is searching once again for a permanent national security advisor after a former admiral turned down the job. Who's on the short list now?

And, no charges. In the wake of President Trump's firing of his first national security advisor, Michael Flynn, CNN is learning that the FBI not expected to pursue charges over Flynn's questionable calls with Russia. What does that mean?

And President Trump landing just moments ago in South Carolina. He's set to speak after taking a tour of the Boeing facility. We're going to bring you updates throughout the hour. Stay with us for our live coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:13:59] BOLDUAN: You're looking at live pictures from the Boeing plant in South Carolina. President Trump will be taking a tour there and delivering remarks at this Boeing plant in North Charleston. We're going to bring you all of these moments live.

The president is on the ground. We're sure he's making his way there right now.

But as the president is talking jobs at this Boeing plant, a job search is going on in Washington for a new national security adviser after retired Vice Admiral Bob Harward said basically thanks but no thanks to the position.

Meantime, law enforcement officials say the FBI is not planning to pursue charges against Michael Flynn, who was forced out of that job originally. So, who could fill the void?

CNN's justice correspondent Pamela Brown is joining me from Washington with much more on this.

Pamela, what are you hearing right now about who's in the running to be national security advisor now?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Donald Trump tweeted about this today, saying that Keith Kellogg, who has been serving in this role, in an acting capacity as national security advisor, is still very much in the running. And he also said three other people are in the running as well. And we've heard General Petraeus's name swirling around as a possibility. It's unclear who the other people might be.

[12:15:02] But, of course, you're seeing the president trying to build suspense as to who will fill this post in the wake of Vice Admiral Bob Harward turning down the job citing family and financial reasons. All this is happening as we're learning more about Michael Flynn's

interview with the FBI back in January. He initially told investigators that sanctions were not discussed when he spoke to the Russian ambassador back in December, but then FBI agents challenged him, knowing what the contents of that conversation were, of course, asking if he was certain that was his answer, and then he said he didn't remember.

But, Kate, the FBI does not believe he was intentionally misleading them, according to officials, and is not expected to pursue any charges against Flynn. Of course, barring new information that changes what they know, according to officials we've been speaking with.

Flynn was fired by President Trump earlier this week after it was revealed that he did withhold information from Vice President Pence about discussing sanctions with Russia's ambassador to the U.S. And then acting Attorney General Sally Yates delayed notifying the White House until after Flynn was interviewed, and we're told, Kate, that FBI Director James Comey did not object at that time. He wanted the interview to happen first before the White House was notified about the conversations.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: An important clarification on that timeline as we need -

BROWN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: As we track these details.

Pamela, thank you very much for that update. Really appreciate it.

Keeping an eye on the White House, if and when that announcement on the new national security pick will come.

Joining me now to discuss, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky. He serves on the House Oversight Committee.

Congressman, it's great to have you. Thanks for coming in.

REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R), OVERSIGHT & GOVERNMENT REFORM COMMITTEE: Hey, thanks for having me, Kate.

BOLDUAN: So you heard there from Pamela Brown and her great reporting, law enforcement sources, they say that Michael Flynn changed his story during his FBI interview about calls with Russia. They don't think he was intentionally misleading, but does that trouble you?

MASSIE: You know, what troubles me is the culture of lying here in Washington, D.C. James Clapper famously lied to Congress under oath, and there were no repercussions. But you see here Michael Flynn - I don't know if he was sworn in or not. I serve on the Oversight Committee, as you said, with Trey Gowdy, who's a legal scholar, and he reminded us once while we were talking to Director Comey, he reminded us that if lying were a - were a crime in D.C., most people would be locked up. That it's a crime to lie under oath. And so my question would be, was he under oath when he spoke to them and also I'd like to -

BOLDUAN: But lying to the FBI is - lying to the FBI - just lying to the FBI is a felony, but the FBI says they're not likely to pursue charges.

MASSIE: It's a felony if he were under oath and if it were indeed a lie.

I think the fault that he made was to be less than forthright with the vice president. And I admire Trump for actually addressing that instead of letting it drag on because, look, Obama didn't get rid of the attorney general, Eric Holder, when he lied about authorizing the spying on a reporter, James Rosen. So I think this is good for the Trump administration to show that he will address these things right off the bat.

BOLDUAN: But do you also agree that he - it seems unlikely he may have addressed it unless these reports had come out in "The Washington Post"?

MASSIE: Well, the fact that "The Washington Post" has access to classified information is something that we probably should investigate. I mean -

BOLDUAN: Right, but on the original point. The only thing that changed between - between what happened and when Donald Trump decided that it reached an unsustainable point was these reports coming out in "The Washington Post." He said that he would have told Michael Flynn to make these calls. He didn't think he did anything wrong. But, still, he fired him.

MASSIE: Well, you know, I'm troubled that they came out in "The Washington Post" instead of being resolved in the White House.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

MASSIE: One of two things. One or two people or places leaked this information. Either our law enforcement agencies, the FBI leaked it. This is supposed to go to a grand jury if they suspect a crime. In fact, if you wanted to prosecute Michael Flynn, they've probably spoiled the water because they collected this information illegally. I mean they were spying on Michael Flynn without a warrant as far as I know.

Now, if the leak came from the NSA -

BOLDUAN: Well, we don't - we - I don't think we actually know that. we do know that there is routine surveillance of foreign officials, like the Russian ambassador. We do not know if there - subsequently if there was a FISA warrant that was - we don't know these things. Do you?

MASSIE: We don't know these things.

BOLDUAN: Do you? MASSIE: No, but we have - we have to assume that what we - what we do

know is it was illegal for them, somebody at the FBI or the NSA, to leak this information. And there should be an investigation there.

By the way, the NSA is a branch of the military and what separates the United States from a banana republic is the fact that our president is above the military. If you've got the military, i.e. the NSA, undermining a presidency, that's very troubling. We're starting to look like a third world country there if the military is in charge and not the president.

BOLDUAN: Do you want to see, as suggested by some of the president's allies in Congress, that the intelligence agencies should be purged if they don't like what the president says?

[12:20:05] MASSIE: I think - no, it's not if they don't like it. They have to follow the law. They can't leak this information. If they were to leak other information, this could be detrimental to the - to our national security.

By the way -

BOLDUAN: Congressman, let me ask you about the leaks. Let me ask you about the leaks -

MASSIE: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Because this is where the - this is where the Oversight Committee is definitely going to be focusing.

MASSIE: Right.

BOLDUAN: Yesterday, the president said this about these leaks. Listen to this real quick.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, the leaks are real. You're the one that wrote about them and reported on them. The leaks are real. You know what they said. You saw it. And the leaks are absolutely real. The news is fake because so much of the news is fake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: A lot of people think that this seems a bit of a contradiction. Can both - can both of those things be true?

MASSIE: They can absolutely be true. I mean there could be a leak of a transcript that's correct, and then they didn't report the transcript correctly. I haven't seen the transcript.

By the way, I do disagree with a lot of people here in Washington and maybe some supporters of Trump who say that this is an effort of the Obama administration to undermine the Trump administration, the carry- overs. I'm worried it's something deeper than that. I'm concerned that it's an effort on those who want a provocation with Russia or other countries to sort of push the president in a direction. So I don't think it's Trump versus Obama. I think it's really the deep state versus the president, the dually elected president, and that concerns me. I think -

BOLDUAN: You - you think it's a concerted effort to try to provoke - to provoke Russia?

MASSIE: Look, I think Obama was just as much a victim of this as Trump is now. We - Obama didn't come into office wanting to overthrow governments, but he overthrew in Libya, he assessed in overthrowing Assad, and we were involved in the overthrow in the Ukraine. We're still occupying the Middle East. There were not initiatives that Obama had when he was elected. But I think he got pulled by the military industrial complex and the intelligence community into these positions. He even helped cover up Saudi Arabia's involvement in 9/11.

BOLDUAN: OK. OK, that's an important point that we'll definitely want to discuss more if you have evidence of this as a concerted effort to draw the president into a conflict with Russia. I do want to have you back on, congressman. We're out of time now. Thank you very much.

MASSIE: Thanks, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thomas Massie.

MASSIE: Thanks.

BOLDUAN: We'll follow-up with that.

Still ahead, it's been over three months since Donald Trump won the presidential - it's been over three weeks since Donald Trump won the presidential election, so why is he still talking about the election? Why is it so important? We're going to have a former spokesperson for the Clinton campaign come on and address this issue with the president.

Plus, we are waiting and watching for the president right now. He is set to speak following a tour of the Boeing plant in South Carolina. A lot of people there waiting to hear what he has to say. We're going to bring you much more on his - on this visit straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:26:36] BOLDUAN: Looking at live pictures right now. We're standing by for President Trump and his first trip to South Carolina since winning the primary there. Not there for politics, though. He is there for airplanes. Friends, isn't that why we all go to South Carolina? We're going to take you there live when he - when he gets to the Boeing plant he's going to take a tour and we'll bring you his remarks live, of course, when they happen.

We're also keeping an eye on Capitol Hill as the confirmation vote is set on to take place for another one of President Trump's nominees. The Senate will be voting on Scott Pruitt, Trump's pick to head up the Environmental Protection Agency. Pruitt has faced some pretty serious opposition from Democrats and environmental groups. He does seem to have the backing of Republicans in Congress. And if he holds that, then he is fine, and he will sail through. We're going to continue to monitor and we'll bring you the very latest as the voting gets underway.

President Trump unleashed a series of attacks, you will see, if you watched that marathon press conference, on Hillary Clinton during that first solo news conference as president. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Does anybody really think that Hillary Clinton would be tougher on Russia than Donald Trump? Does anybody in this room really believe that? OK? Hillary Clinton did a reset, remember, with the stupid plastic button that made us all look like a bunch of jerks. Here, take a look. He looked at her like, what the hell is she doing?

And John Podesta said that about me and he was working for me, I would have fired him so fast your head would have spun. He said terrible things about her. But it wasn't classified information.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining me now is Karen Finney. She, of course, was one of the - the spokeswoman for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign.

Karen, thanks so much for joining me.

KAREN FINNEY, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER & SPOKESWOMAN, HILLARY FOR AMERICA: Great to see you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: So, Donald Trump, Karen Finney, he says that the Russian stories are an excuse for Hillary Clinton's election loss, that that's what folks - that's what is motivating a lot of the - a lot of the outrage, a lot of the stories. What you to respond to that?

FINNEY: Yes. Well, look, as I - as reported, I think he mentioned Hillary Clinton something like 11 times yesterday and he only mentioned Mr. Acosta, his nominee for labor secretary, about four times. So - which is actually pretty pathetic because, obviously, the election is over and now it is Donald Trump who is in charge and has to show that he can confidently lead this country. And it was a pretty obvious tactic to try to use her, again, to deflect from not wanting to talk about what this issue with Michael Flynn and Russia, not wanting to talk about the allegations now about various members of his inner circle, having had contacts with Russia throughout the course of the campaign, even as we knew that the Russians, you know, were now engaged in hacking and trying to influence the outcome of the election.

So what I see is him trying to use Hillary to deflect and I just don't think that that's going to work for very long because at a point people are going to say, OK, but where are the jobs you promised us? Where's the - my ability to send my kid to college? You said you were bringing back the jobs and my income was going to increase. Where's that? BOLDUAN: From a communications, though, standpoint, I mean from inside

the White House, the view of that press conference was that it was great, that this is why he won the election and that's - this is Donald Trump being Donald Trump.

FINNEY: Sure.

BOLDUAN: I know you don't agree with him -

FINNEY: Right.

BOLDUAN: But as a strategy, do you think it was a smart move to put him out there?

FINNEY: Oh, absolutely. I mean, as a strategy, it was very obvious what they were doing, right? And this was something that we saw a number of times, frankly, during the campaign. You put him out there or he goes off on, you know, a tangent and it changes the subject.

[12:30:02] I mean, again, we're now, today, we're not actually talking about the fact that over the weekend - I mean he mentioned North Korea and - at Mar-a-Lago with, you know, Prime Minister Abe sitting there, he's talking about classified -

BOLDUAN: But, Karen, do think that really changed the subject? We're still talking