Return to Transcripts main page

Inside Politics

President Trump, First Lady Arrive In Texas. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired August 29, 2017 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:01] JOHN KING, INSIDE POLITICS HOST: -- caught up in these Washington conversations. Will get caught up in the effectiveness of this President. I don't say it critically. It's just a question. He's never had to deal with one of these things where he will have to get an emergency funding bill now. There will be more next year, more the year after.

If you look at this flooding and if you look at the map of the region and if you understand the area we are talking about here, the number of people we are talking about here and we have no clue yet the total scope of this. This is going to be a challenge for the entirely of the first Trump term and beyond.

MARY KATHARINE HAM, SENIOR WRITER, THE FEDERALIST: Yes. And I think the President showing up here and doing it in a way that doesn't endanger anyone else or take resources away is part of the process of putting the spotlight on Congress, putting some pressure on them. And the good news is, that something that Democrats and Republicans love to do is throw a lot of things they want into one bill that has a lot of public pressure and just like money for everyone and then they pass it.

So I do think there's a better chance for that than some of the other things that they have tried to get through Congress. I think the biggest risk for him would be sort of something he had tends to do which is boast a little too much and declare success a little too early. I think a sort of competent governor and component FEMA director in place. And there's signs that you can mitigate this is much as possible for a, you know, historic storm but it's still a disaster and it's still building.

KING: Right. And let's start the conversation in Texas and we'll bring it back to Washington. In Texas, one thing I haven't heard so far and please correct me if I missed it is complaints from Democrats as yet. The FEMA has been on the scene and seems to be doing the right thing. I haven't heard complaints. Yes, they need more shelter space. Yes, they need more food. Yes, they need more water, but that's the scope of the challenge. It's not been a recalled FEMA and they have not delivered in my experience.

Now, if you remember Katrina, there were some initial complaints, but it was a week later, two weeks later, three weeks later that the scope of that began to grow. So that's the challenge. Will they keep the focus? But at the moment, from the administration's response to the particulars of this in the past 72 to 100 hours, bipartisan, good grade so far, I'm I right? JULIE DAVIS, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, THE NEW YORK TIMES: People seem to saying they have what they need and that's the biggest of deals at this point. And what we saw in previous disasters of this kind is maybe a disconnect between Washington and the ground. And what people really needed and what the requirements were and what was able to be delivered by state and local authorities and by the feds. We're not seeing that yet.

And all indications are that, you know, the team that President Trump has in place in the administration, you know, there are a lot of areas of this government that haven't been fully staffed up and don't have the expertise they need. FEMA and the agencies that are dealing with this disaster do not appear to be one of them. And so, at this point, they don't have any pushback.

The challenge is going to be given that the storm is continuing, whether they can sustain that, you know, in the days to come. And that's the big unknown that as Mary Katharine said, the President may have a risk of getting out in front of. Being a little too optimistic when there's still a huge challenge on the ground.

KING: And these pictures help you understand. Number one, you see the President and the First Lady wearing baseball caps. But you see the small business administrator with an SPA jacket. You see the Housing and Urban Development secretary with a hud jacket.

This is every -- just about every agency in the federal government is going to be challenged, not only today, as far as the Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott there who said hello and greeted to the President as well. As they move on to get a briefing in Corpus Christi, it is just about every agency in the federal government that will have some role in this. Some are already responding today. Some, their role doesn't kick in until it comes to rebuilding and down the road.

Let's talk about -- you brought this up -- but what is going to happen. Washington already had a tough September. They need to vote to raise the debt ceiling. That sets up pressures within the President's Republican Party. They need to pass spending bills. That sets up pressures, bipartisan pressures, but particularly among Republicans who have set in the past.

Yes, of course, Texas needs emergency funding. In the past, it might have been New Orleans. In the past, it might have been Sandy -- after super storm Sandy, excuse me. They say, yes, of course we need to help but we need to offset the cuts elsewhere.

One member of Congress noting the President's budget director was Congressman, Mick Mulvaney, when he was a conservative member of the House, was one of those who said, of course we want to help those people but we have to find somewhere else to cut in the federal government. Tom Cole saying, I wonder if he'll be demanding offsets now that he's the OMP director. Probably not.

Tom Cole, in a somewhat playful way, setting up what will be a conversation here in Washington. Conservatives who say they're acting on principle, will say yes, we need to help these people but the federal government is already running a huge deficit. Will that complicate the President's effort? He says I want to do this separately. A big emergency bill. Some of his own conservatives are going to say, no, sir. We need to connect this to everything else because we have to do the math.

SAHIL KAPUR, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, BLOOMBERG: And in essence, Mr. Mulvaney, it was the two senators from Texas, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz have voted against the Sandy aid package because they didn't like some of the other things that were in it. The claim that was letter up with court doesn't pass muster. What happened was they attached other disaster provisions to it that were unrelated to Sandy at the time and they objected to that.

There were also in the House, there were 180 members who voted against Sandy aid. 179 were Republicans, including many Texas Republicans. This is going to be a test for them. Surely Democrats are going to remind them of that vote, but I don't see Democrats right now standing in the way of this.

[12:35:02] And, you know, making demands, making hostage demands to this. So far we've seen -- excuse me -- Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Sheila Jackson Lee, Texas congresswoman say we need immediate aid without any problems.

ABBY PHILLIP, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: It seems unlikely the problem will be Democrats here. And frankly, I think it's seems unlikely that Republicans will be the problem. I think there's been so -- the list of things that folks like Mick Mulvaney and others in the House have totally flipped on in the Trump era is very long. And I suspect this will be another one of them.

I think this era of Republicans really insisting on fiscal belt tightening is kind of in question, because there are a lot of things that Republicans have on the agenda right now that they have no intention to pay for. Including tax reform, for example. So, it would be hard to see how they could hold disaster funding up to a higher standard than virtually anything else that they have on the docket at the moment.

KING: I suspect this will pass but I also suspect there will be some playful and some not so playful poking. You have the Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie say hypocrite, called hypocrite to the two Republican senators from Texas and other lawmakers who voted against the super storm Sandy package.

Listen to Ted Cruz, one of those Republican senators voted no to the Sandy package saying it was full of pork, which you're absolutely right. Maybe a little bit, but not at the scope that they describe it. Listen to Ted Cruz saying we need help now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: We can continue the policy debates for months and years to come. But at a time of crisis, we are standing united with our first responders, with our local officials, our state officials, our federal officials. At a time like this there are no party divisions, there are no lines dividing us. We are Texans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: We are Texans, and I think the country should and will come together to help them, but he is one of the more polarizing members even within his own Republican Party. But I suspect he's going to get a few pokes even as his colleagues rush to help.

HAM: Well, I'm a person who actually does think it's important in emergency not to pretend that money is an unlimited resource, because we really don't actually have unlimited money. Maybe you should make priorities and you should make them clear and be really responsible about how you're spending the money you have. And also, the head of the Republican Party believes basically (INAUDIBLE). So, I don't think it's going to be a problem.

KING: And to the point, Donald Trump is the head of the Republican Party. And again this may seen some crash to some people in the affected area but it happens to be a reality of his life. And I think Jeff Zeleny with us. Tell me if we lost Jeff in coverage.

But few research just out this morning with some polling on the President who was in rough standing with the American people and he goes to deal with this Texas challenge but it's also a national challenge. These are our friends and neighbors even if they live far away.

Feelings about how President Trump conducts himself as President. 58 percent of Americans don't like how he conducts himself. 25 percent say they have mixed feelings. 16 percent say they like it. Feelings on how President Trump conducts himself as president among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents. 19 percent don't like. 46 percent, nearly half of Republicans, and independent leaning, Republican leaning independents have mixed feelings. 34 percent like.

Jeff Zeleny if you're with us, as the President makes this trip, do his aides talk about this, about seeing this as -- I don't want to call it an opportunity. I don't want to call it an opportunity, but it just a chance for the President to maybe learn the lessons of some of his past behavior and keep us focus and keep us discipline here?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No question, John. This is a moment for a reset. Of course, it's not a moment that anyone inside the White House or anyone of course would have wanted or hoped for, but the things that test and define presidencies and presidents are external events. And this is the first external event that President Trump has had to deal with here. So, how he deals with this.

This goes from everything from, you know, getting a big aid package through Congress to the smaller things, to hugging, shaking hands, listening to stories. That is something that defines a president and we have not seen yet this President do. So I think if the President were to read the editorial that you had on earlier in the show from the Houston Chronicle calling on him to use his bully pulpit, use his charisma, his mega phone for good in this case, this could change his presidency.

You know, at this point, the early presidencies of Barack Obama still were not defined. George W. Bush, still were not defined. That didn't come until September 11th, of course. Not saying that this is along the same lines of those, but presidents are tested by things outside their control, beyond their control.

John, that is why the President's advisers want him here in Texas, to have a firsthand look at this. Of course, it also allows him to change the subject, quite frankly. It allows him to move beyond, you know, the Russia investigation which is still going on. But this is allows him to, you know, be presidential and test if he can do that. So, it is a test for him, John. We'll see how he does.

One of the thing I was just struck by Texas. We know it's a red state. The President won it by a huge number. Also, though, in Houston, it is a bipartisan, a lot of Democrats there as well, members of Congress. That will be a major factor here in approving any piece of legislation.

[12:40:10] It is impossible for me to imagine that congressional Democrats will not come together as well as the governor of this state, the two Republican senators of this state. So, an unusual bipartisan coalition. We talk about red states and blue states. Inside states like Texas, though, it is a mix.

Of course, urban centers are more blue. Rural parts are more red here. So that is an interesting dynamic politically speaking to watch as this goes through Congress, and this recovery effort happens, John.

KING: That's a great point, Jeff Zeleny. Maybe some people who have forgotten how to talk to each other just because they're -- well actually learned have conversations, maybe build that remarkably missing word in Washington respect as this goes forward.

As you watch these pictures, you just stunned as you watch these pictures, and you can look at still photos, you can look at them online. You've turned -- you know, these used to be streets. They look like rivers. You know, this is a road through a community, but now it looks like a river.

What do we know about how the President -- we know he's an avid television watcher so I'm sure he has seen some of these images. We also know -- and this is meant, his experience in real estate where he, you know, he owns seaside resort properties that have had damage from storms. He has lived some of this to a degree.

What do we know about how he has asked for information, kept track about this? You know, consumed -- the criticism the health care debate was he didn't get into the weeds and many would say something that set the negotiations off track. How did he do dealing with this?

PHILLIP: Well, I think clearly, he's been watching. He sees all of this. He's been tweeting with some degree of awe about the magnitude of the storm, the amount of rain, the sort of historic nature of the moment. Over the weekend, he was in Camp David, and was participating in daily teleconferences, phone calls as well, according to his aides. But also yesterday, you know, he sent Mike Pence to FEMA to get a briefing on the status of the storm. He was receiving updates through his Chief of Staff John Kelly. So, in some ways, that's pretty typical of this President.

He tends to get his information through his aides. He likes to be briefed in that way. And it seems that very much so that he's been keeping track of it in that way. It remains to be seen what the empathy factor is going to be here. That's -- I think he understands the magnitude of the storm, the depth of the destruction, the gravity of the rescue efforts that are under way.

What we are hoping to see there, what we might see today is where the President is in terms of what Jeff was talking about, the hugs, the handshakes, the sort of compassion effort of this. He hasn't tweeted a whole lot about, you know, the sort of spirit of perseverance of people who experience a storm like this. It remains to be seen I think.

KING: That's an interesting point, because every White House makes decisions about how to delegate responsibilities, including communication. And the Vice President has been all over the radio down in Texas saying, know, here's what we've done so far. Help is on the way. Let us know if you need more. God bless you all.

Admiring the spirits of the volunteers and we should say that every chance we get. A., to the first responders, the police, the firemen, the National Guard, everybody else helping in. They exhausted and yet keep going at it. And then you have neighbors, people with boats just showing up to help. And that is the great American heroism that comes out of great American challenges and tragedies like this. But the President has been active on Twitter, but not so active publicly, which is interesting during a crisis.

DAVIS: Well, it's interesting because he, you know -- and in many instances and many events that we've seen unfold during his first few months in office, he's seemed like sort of the ultimate TV spectator. He loves to watch a big, dramatic thing unfold on TV and he was very much the tone of his tweets over the weekend. Wow, you know, the storm. I can't believe it.

And it wasn't that he was, you know, actively sounding cold-hearted but he also -- there wasn't a whole lot of thoughts and prayers there with the victims or like go first responders or any of that. But we do know that behind the scenes he has been asking a lot of questions, he's very interested in the specifics of, you know, what's going on, how much rainfall, you know, how long is it going to last? What are the impacts going to?

My colleague, Glenn Trush, reported that, as you mentioned, he's a real estate businessman himself. He asked about water damage. Really tough, tough, tough, when there's water damage. I mean, he has gotten a little bit of, sort of appreciation for what people may be going through here. But I think Abby is right. We haven't heard him expressing concern about sort of the on the ground plight of people who are dealing with this huge mass and maybe dealing with it for weeks to come.

KING: Well, we may get that -- sorry to interrupt -- we may get that just moments from now. We're going to take a quick break here on INSIDE POLITICS. We'll be right back. You see those pictures from the Texas area, still devastated by storms.

The President is on the ground. He's on his way to a fire station in Corpus Christi where he will get a briefing. We expect to hear from the President as well. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:49:10] KING: Welcome back. President Trump landed just moments ago in Corpus Christi, Texas. He's going to meet their with federal and state emergency management officials. You see the President and First Lady there. They will get a briefing on what's going on across Texas including Houston, another flood-ravaged cities.

CNN's Nick Valencia is at the Corpus Christi International Airport where Air Force One touched down. Nick has been doing great reporting all around the devastated area. What are residents telling you as you meet them as they're dealing with this hardship? What do they want to hear from the President?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've had a wonderful opportunity to be here even before the storm hit. This community has embraced our crew. I can't begin to express the respect that we have, the mutual respect between the residents and this crew.

I've spoken to a lot of them this morning, John. And they tell us that they are all excited about the President coming here. They say that this is perfect timing. The way he's showing up, when he's showing up. I spoke earlier to a man named Rubin Sason (ph) who said that President Trump is going to bring a ray of sunshine to so many Texans.

[12:50:05] Another youth pastor who I met just hours after the storm hit here said that this is an opportunity for the President to show the public here that he has not forgotten about Rockport. That he has not forgotten about this community. This isn't a community of 10 million people. This is a community of 10,000 people, and one of their main concerns is being forgotten. They say they're not getting the flooding damage that we're seeing.

Those phenomenal pictures of devastation in Houston, the flooding and the millions of people that are affected there. They know the tragedy that that community is suffering and the hearts go out to them, but they also say they hope that they are not forgotten here, because they were hit just as hard. They say the flooding may not be here, but the wind damage certainly is. John?

KING: Appreciate that, Nick. Appreciate the work of you and your crew, too, as you continue to cover the damage in your area. Beginning to shift towards the recovery there. Nick Valencia for us on the ground in Corpus Christi. And again he makes -- these residents are happy. You know, whether you're president, a Democrat or Republican, whether his name is Donald Trump, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton or George W. Bush, it's nice to see a president how you feel like you matter and you're relevant and someone is there to understand your challenges.

To the point we were discussing earlier, today is test one. But can the President do -- and I want to play a little bit of sound from the President yesterday -- where he delivered a very powerful statement. He talked about we're all Americans. These are our neighbors. We need to come together to pray for them and to help them. But he also said that as President, he would try to get the wheels of Washington to move quickly to help them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Nobody's ever seen anything like it. I've heard the words epic, I've heard historic, that's what it is. But you will have what you want, I think, very, very quickly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: It's the very, very quickly part that I think becomes a challenge for the President at a time when, again, my apologies to the people of Texas who are dealing with this, but he has had fights with his own party. He is unconventional as a Republican. Has spent much of the summer fighting with a man who's helping out very much needs, the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to get this legislation through without typical Washington shenanigans and some Washington principle.

I don't want to -- you get in the face, you made the point. There is not unlimited resources. So, it is a fair point to say if we're going to spending 50 billion here, can't we cut 50 or at least 20 billion somewhere else? That is a perfectly fair conversation. That will happen, plus, when I calls them but shenanigans.

If you got a spending plan, you try to latch it on to this. That's what people do. If this trains going to make it to the final destination, you try to get your plan on to it. We haven't seen the President have to do something like this.

KAPUR: It's a crucial thing to keep in mind because Speaker Ryan's office put out a statement promising that there will be a response to Congress, will help the people in need. But these are the first step as for the President to send a request to Congress. That is where it has to begin.

And President Trump is going to be evaluated on couple of different dimensions here. This is -- I think that Jeff Zeleny pointed out a little earlier, the first crisis of his presidency that is not of his own making. There is the empathy factor, there is the response, there is making people feel like he's engaging. He's going to be a leader throughout this. But the more important one is, can he deliver? He made a pretty bold promise yesterday. You're going to get help and you're get it very quickly. We'll see if that happens. We've gone to get something through Congress. Their estimates, you know, ranging from what I've seen, 30 billion to as much as 100 billion to rebuild Houston. This is going to be a year long process.

And at the end of the day, he's going to be judged and whether he can deliver and that means getting things through Congress. That means building these relationships and making sure it doesn't get caught up in politics.

HAM: Well, I think, the advantage for him sort of who he is that being interested in building or rebuilding is sort of a natural fit for him. And I think when he is engaged on something, which we haven't seen on a lot of policy, he probably can get pretty into that and make connections with, for instance, Democrats who are going to be happy to help on this. So I think he is probably more likely to be engaged in this than other things.

And the other thing that I think is a fairly good fit for him is perhaps it won't be the standard sort of empathy speech that we see because none of his speeches are standard. But the uplifting of this picture of America as resilient, as people who get out there in their own boats and volunteer and help folks. This is a story he likely to tell and a different kind of empathy you see from others but a very uplifting message.

DAVIS: This is also, though, going to require the White House and the President to do something that they have not yet done which is to actually send a proactive legislative proposal to Capitol Hill. I mean, on health care we saw that, you know, he -- the Republicans on the Hill wrote it. Seems to be going on in large part with the tax reform bill.

They are going to have to say what they need and what they think they anticipate the rebuilding is in the cost, the disaster assistant's portion. And that is going to necessitate a lot of talking with Democrats, a lot of talking with, you know, local and state officials, and a lot of compromises even before they get to saying, OK, this is our proposal. And then, you know, haggle with Congress over that.

That's not something that we've seen this White House do yet and to that is going to be something that the President have to get done in very short order. They don't have a lot of time there.

[12:55:02] KING: And perhaps an arm twisting, if it comes -- if he wants it quickly, he wants an emergency package. He doesn't want offsets or not full offsets and some conservatives start to say, no, Mr. President.

PHILLIP: Well, I think that's a really interesting point because we've seen them try variations on the arm twisting before, and it hasn't always been effective. So I think this is actually an opportunity for them to re-evaluate that strategy.

I'm not sure the stick has been working very well with Congress. This might be a chance for them to try something different. Try the carrot. Try inspiration. Try, you know, the sort of bully pulpit of the President as the moral force of the nation. That's very different from what Trump has done before. And I think it's going to be necessitated as a time like this.

KING: And the test will come a bit later today. And we hear from the President on the ground in Texas. Thanks for joining us this our hour in INSIDE POLITICS.

We'll rock on our breaking news coverage, President on the ground in Texas. Jim Acosta continues that coverage after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK. Right now President Trump and the First Lady are on the ground in Texas. They landed just a short time ago in Corpus Christi. They get updates on rescue and recovery efforts from the massive flooding.

You should be seeing some live pictures right now on your screen. This is the room in Corpus Christi, Texas where we expect the President --