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Trump: China Orders Banks To Stop Business With North Korea; Trump Announces New Sanctions On North Korea; Mueller Asks White House For Documents Related To Flynn And Comey Firings; Special Counsel Seeks Trove Of White House Documents. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired September 21, 2017 - 12:30   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[12:30:00] PRES. MOON JAE-IN, SOUTHE KOREA (through translation): -- that such moves will contribute to complete denuclearization of DPRK. In this, I'd like to extend my appreciation to President Trump. And I'd like to say that Korea will closely coordinate with the United States on this matter.

Through today's meeting, I sincerely hope that there will be a display of strong trilateral leadership in coordinating our responses for the North Korean issue. And I also look forward to engaging in in-depth discussions for the solution to North Korean nuclear and missile problem.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you. Prime Minister Abe.

SHINZO ABE, JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER (through translation): In the last three weeks, two times North Korea launched ballistic missiles -- two times -- going over Japan. And they conducted six nuclear tests, and the scale of the test was beyond the scale of Hiroshima bombs, more than 10 times the scale of the nuclear tests; it was 10 times more. This is an intolerable, outrageous act.

Thanks to Donald's leadership, we now have this summit meeting Japan, U.S., and Korea. So, our unity and solidarity -- the strength thereof that could be presented to North Korea -- this meeting is indeed quite significant. I'd like to thank Donald's leadership.

Recently, U.N. sanction was adopted unanimously, including a very strict sanctions. And I'd like to thank the efforts of the U.N. ambassadors from the United States. And further efforts are needed. And in this context, Donald just referred to signing of the executive order, new executive order. So we are going into the new stage of pressure from the viewpoint of exercising the stronger pressure, new pressures. I welcome the new sanction measures of the United States, and I'd like to offer my heartfelt support for that. Bearing in mind those measures between the three countries, we will have the collaboration so that we will move toward the abandoning of nuclear weapons and nuclear program by North Korea, and we'd like to lead into the next action. Thank you. TRUMP: Thank you very much, everybody. We're also going to be discussing trade transactions and trade deals with Japan and with South Korea, and that will be very important. But this is something that obviously will take precedence.

So thank you all very much for being here. We appreciate it. We'll see you later. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, is dialogue still possible with North Korea? Is dialogue still possible?

TRUMP: Why Not?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KING, INSIDE POLITICS HOST: Arms crossed at the end of the President of United States after a big announcement at United Nations. The President of South Korea, the Prime Minister of Japan sitting by and offering words of support. The President of the United States announcing the sanctions by the Treasury Department. The power for the Treasury Department to impose sanctions on any financial institutions, any companies, any individuals that do business with Japan.

As part of that, the President also colluding and saying he was surprised and happy with the announcement that China Central Bank has sent out where all Chinese financial institutions should cease and desist any financial activities with North Korea. That has been a significant concern of this administration as well as previous administrations.

Let's bring the conversation in the room at the moment. But first, let's get to our white house correspondent, Jeff Zeleny. Jeff, two days ago, the President was on the floor in the United Nations saying if North Korea doesn't changes behavior, he will quote, totally destroy them. Now the President trying what you might call a financial diplomatic tool

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, indeed, John. And those words are still hanging here at the United Nations and indeed throughout to Manhattan as other world leaders are having their final day here of meetings that totally destroyed. This shows you what the White House is describing as operating on multiple fronts here. They are hoping that these and economic sanctions will put the squeeze on the regime and convinced somehow Kim Jong-un to drop his nuclear program.

Now, we know if past is prologue that is not very likely at all. But the involvement of China in this, John, is significant. Because one leader missing of course here a week has been the Chinese President, Xi Jinping. And the involvement of China agreeing in the words of this President. We've not heard from Beijing on this specifically, but the Chinese central bank being involved in this escalates this certainly. So we're going to hear more specifics, more details from the Treasury secretary here in a couple of hours, John. A briefing about these economic sanctions.

[12:35:07] But certainly this is something to fill in some of those blanks. And, you know, put some more actions with some of the rhetoric we heard earlier this week. Again, John, it underscores one point. Diplomacy and economic sanctions are the preferred route here over military options. Even though the President has seen those and has those, that is not the first choice. John?

KING: Jeff Zeleny for us in New York where the President just made his big announcement.

Let's bring the conversation back in the room. It's quite significant, number one, when the President says this is targeted only one country, North Korea. But if you're talking about going after financial institutions, individuals and companies that do business with North Korea, I you mean that to the full that, that means you're going after Chinese companies, Chinese financial institutions and to a lesser degree some Russian companies or financial institutions and perhaps some other smaller players in the Asian neighborhood. But it's primarily China.

Number two, that President Xi who was not there, but the President has spoke to him this week while he was in New York. If the Chinese follow-through on this, that could be the most significant piece of this, not minimizing the new United States effort, but the Chinese piece of it seems to me from a financial standpoint. If you're trying to send Kim Jong-un a message about sustaining your regime, that's the bigger one.

RYAN LIZZA, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORKER: Yes. And if this is accurate what Trump said and what -- and if China really does mean that they have sent out a command from the central bank in China that all of their banks need to stop banking with North Korea taking no new loans to North Korean customers and basically implementing already past U.N. sanctions. That's what the news that Trump was talking about. That may flow from some actions that the Treasury Department and the Trump administration took this summer when they started going after China.

So the strategy of, OK, we tried to do things the nice way with China but now we're actually going to go after Chinese entities, Chinese banks which a lot of hard liners have encouraged the Trump administration to do. This announcement could be the result of that and would be a measure of success in the Trump administration strategy.

KING: And what I'll just say, what the President's team will say is, you know, all you foreign policy establishment people, veterans (ph), say this is wrong. That the President shouldn't have said I will totally destroy you. He shouldn't use lock and loaded. He shouldn't use, you know, we're ready to go. He shouldn't use all this more belligerent, tough much the rhetoric. They would argue, well, we got China to do something President Obama couldn't get them to do, or President Clinton couldn't get them to do, or President Bush couldn't get them to do.

ABBY PHILLIP, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Yes. Although it's not clear that the rhetoric -- there's a direct correlation between the rhetoric and what China decided to do. That being said -- I mean, I think the risk with the rhetoric is that it loses meaning overtime. I mean, what you want is when you say something to have an actual impact.

And there's a risk here that Trump obviously (ph) put himself into a box that he just can't get out of. That he have said something that he has to either follow-through on or risk seeming like someone who doesn't actually mean what he says. And so, you know, you can argue about that all day, but it seems to me today is about diplomacy.

Today is about the levers of American power and financial and diplomatic working the way they are supposed to be working. China doing something that is going to be a complement to what Trump announced on the American side, we'll see how these things work. But that's normal. This is -- to me, business as usual and that is separate and apart from the rhetoric and whatever impact that might have.

KING: To what end is the question in the sense that you heard the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe talking about what he called intolerable North Korean behavior, the nuclear test. But after a lot sets of sanctions impose (ph) just a week or so ago, by the United Nation Security Council, North Korea delivered its response by launching a missile over Japan.

So the next thing move, we will see how Pyongyang responds to all these new pressure today. But Molly, the President also said the goal here was complete denuclearization. We can focus on today's actions which is the sanctions. We can focus and watch closely to see if China follows through on a very significant commitment. But if you are the president of United States and your goal is complete denuclearization of North Korea, you know the regime's answer to that is no way, no how, never.

MOLLY BALL, STAFF WRITER, THE ATLANTIC: Yes. And this is something that the administration has repeatedly said that they will not tolerate anything short of that, that they want the elimination of the entire program. I mean, as we heard with a lot of Trump's rhetoric, you never know what is cluster (ph), what is threats and what is actually the line that they will not accept crossing. We know that the North Korean regime won't accept that.

But if you look at what's happening here and if everything that Trump has said today is true, it is exactly what he promised to do. He said, all we have to do is put the squeeze on China and they'll help us get North Korea. And that's also sort of an example of the America first philosophy works in this is transactional, countries act in their own interest.

You can't expect them to do nice things for us. You for the sake of world peace, you hit them where it hurts and people and countries and leaders respond to that. The other thing you heard at the end of that that I thought was interesting was he sort of mumbled a sentence about trade at the every end.

[12:40:05] And there had been talk in the administration about ending or amending some of the trade deals that we have with South Korea and that had caused friction. That appears to be what, you know, the South Korea and Japan are getting an exchange, is America returning to those previous deals which is something that the Steve Bannon access of the White House was against. They wanted to pull out of those types of thing.

KING: And if you are a student of history, you know that there's -- often it's hard to get South Korea and Japan in the same room. They had their own tensions. So their priority number one right now is dealing with North Korea of course which is a threat to everybody in the neighborhood.

But just the fact that you're having a U.S., South Korea, Japan Summit is a victory of sorts for the President to get them set aside some of their regional and their historical differences and to focus on priority one here.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They're significant. I remember back in 2014, I was on a trip with President Obama where they were in the same room and it an enormous deal. It was a huge issue. Obviously -- particularly if you go back to the issues of World War II, this is a significant issue --or there are significant issues between the two countries and making sure that everybody shows up as a unified front with the sanctions, with the pathway forward and given the history there, I think is not what you think (ph).

Look, I kind of go back of what Ryan said and what you noted. If what the President said, the Chinese central bank has done, and sending a message to those banks actually has teeth not that they get the message and they continue to do business. But they get the message and actually act on it, that's note worthy, tangible results going forward.

As Abby pointed out at the very beginning, China is not in a place where they at least publicly have said they need to take significant actions on this. Obviously going along with the U.N. relations was a big deal. Taking so low significant actions related particularly to financial institutions if there is real, that is a tangible step forward and a tangible victory I think depending on how much teeth it has for the Trump administration.

KING: Big question. We'll watch how it plays out. My biggest question is how the North Koreans react to the President's speech. They said he sounded like a barking dog. We will see what we get out of regime in Pyongyang to these new sanctions and now throughout the United States and to the Chinese move as well. We'll continue to watch this story.

Up next, on the Russia investigation zeros in on the Oval Office and the actions of the President himself.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [12:46:19] KING: Welcome back. Some new details in the Russia investigation. Sources telling CNN the Special Counsel Robert Mueller has requested information directly pertaining to the actions the President has taken.

Most investigators, for example, looking for documents and e-mails relating to the firing of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, the firing of FBI Director James Comey. One source saying the team also wants information about President Trump's Oval Office meeting with Russian diplomats where the President reportedly bragged about firing quote, nut job Comey.

And the special reported by the New York Times and that confirm by CNN, the Special Counsel also wants any records detailing just what happened on Air Force One when the President and his staffers were crafting an explanation for Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with the Russian lawyer in 2016. That Russian lawyer promised dirt on Hillary Clinton.

Today the Vice President Mike Pence was asked about the scope of the investigation on CBS. Listen to this careful answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLIE ROSE, ANCHOR, CBS: Do you believe -- Mr. Mueller is exceeding his jurisdiction?

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well I think that's for others to say. What I can assure you is that we're fully cooperating with the Special Counsel and we we'll continue to do that. I've made clear that during my time on the campaign I was not aware of any contacts or collusion with Russian officials. I stand by that. And as I said, we'll provide any information the Special Counsel requires, but, you know, honestly, this is not what the American people are focused on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: If you spend time covering cops and robbers in your career, some of this is not surprising per se in the sense that we know there were questions about possible obstruction, questions about why the President fire James Comey in his own words. When Michael Flynn went out, was there tension about what Michael Flynn do and all that? But the fact that you now have sources confirming that the Special Counsel, yes, he is still looking at issues back in 2016.

Did team Trump people and team Trump have improper meetings with the Russians? Did they collude? What the briefed anyway? But this is about the President of the United States. Actions taken in the Oval Office which escalates the severity of it off the charts.

LIZZA: Yes. This is like learning that star wanted the blue dress and the blood sample from Bill Clinton. This is going directly at the President for an obstruction of justice case. I mean, everything that you just laid out there is a piece of a potential obstruction of justice case against the President of the United States and couldn't be more serious.

And his lawyers, you know, his lawyers are -- they're taking the tone that Pence is taking. They believe that the obstruction of justice case will not hold water. That's a tough case as lot of prosecutors just pointed out and they do seem, despite some debate within the legal, they do seem to be in an expansive -- we're going to give Mueller everything he wants on this issue because we don't think he can prove obstruction. But this is the clearest evidence that Mueller is going, you know, 90 miles an hour at an obstruction case.

KING: And it's interesting the Vice President too is cautious anyway. He was cautious in the House. He was cautious as a governor. He's especially cautious when it comes to this. He's asked is Bob Mueller, in your view, Mr. Vice President exceeding his authority meaning by investigating actions taken by the President. What happened on Air Force One? Why did he fire James Comey? What memos are there that discuss any of those?

He goes back to campaign and collusion. He doesn't want to touch the issue that the conduct of the acting president of the United States is now central to this investigation.

PHILLIP: Yes. And I heard so much caution in Mike Pence, including when he said I am not aware. Which really is a very lawyered (ph) answer. And it reflects the fact that he's gotten caught up in some situations early in this administration where he was involved, for example, in the back and forth over the firing of Michael Flynn. So he is not entirely in the clear here, which is one of the reasons why some of the comments that he is making now are in an effort to protect himself from further entangling himself in this entire mess.

[12:50:05] And, you know, I think that Pence also may or may not -- I mean, when

Flynn was fired and Pence was giving answers about what Flynn was and was not doing, you know, it's not entirely clear how in the loop he was. And so, Pence has brought people on to his team to help him better navigate the situations. I think you saw that this morning in the way that he answered those questions and the fact that he is trying to stay as far away from this as possible because he is not out of the woods when it comes to this investigation.

BALL: Well, the Flynn episode is such an interesting sort of irony, right?

PHILLIP: Yes.

BALL: Because Mike Flynn was extensively fired for not keeping the Vice President in the loop. And from that, you can tell Mike Pence learned not to go out on a limb for his boss.

PHILLIP: Yes.

BALL: He learned that you can't definitively say that something is or isn't the case inside the administration because you don't know what you don't know and there's all kinds of secrets and lies everywhere. Ironically, now he seems to want to be out of the loop, right? He wants to distance himself. He wants to keep himself clean. And his team is working very hard to protect him and to keep him clean from any other dust.

(CROSSTALK)

MATTINGLY: The Comey firing to the Hill. To be the guy to clean up the answer on why James Comey was fired and he said maybe 10, 15 times. The deputy attorney general was the one who made the recommendation. The deputy attorney general was exactly why we were acting. Twenty-four hours later, the President came out and said that is absolutely not the case. That it has been the case ever since then. Those were not factual answers at the time. Ever since then, in the Flynn case, you just don't see him get that far out from the line (ph).

BALL: He's not cleaning up anything.

(CROSSTALK)

LIZZA: Someone fired the White House and it's probably this would be the guy to explain it anymore.

KING: I love just covering the Clinton White House so I go to the same thing. He ran as fast as he could as far as he could for many questions about this and kept his distance. The question is when you're talking about something, again, if your lawyer, if your, you know, reporter whose covered cops and robbers, of course, the Special Counsel is looking at what happened. Of course he's going to ask these documents on the one hand.

But then when you think about it, you think about including the President in this meeting, the Russian investors in the United States is there, the Russian foreign minister is there, and the President apparently, right after he fires Jim Comey walks in the meeting as New York Times reporting for May, he said, "I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy. A real nut job. I faced great pressure because of Russia. That's taken off."

So the question for Bob Mueller is mind set. Why did the President fire Comey? Was he firing him thinking and the Steve Bannon have said greatest political mistake in modern American history maybe. But was he thinking by firing Comey he was going to shutdown or slow down or push aside the investigation.

So if you look at the documents there, who was in the room? Everybody who was in that room, anyone who transcribed anything the President said. What else are we talking about?

PHILLIP: Yes. I mean, it seems like the principle here is the cover up may be worse than the crime. It seems like Mueller is zeroing in on what was going on in the first six or eight months of this administration that might tell us about what was going on before Trump got into office. And that's dangerous territory because, you know, there was not a sense of caution about how things were done early in the administration. I think the firing of Comey is a reflection of the fact that there were people in the White House advising the President to do something that touched off a series of events that has led us to this point where we have a Special Counsel. And who knows what else went on that Mueller is going to methodically dig and dig and dig until he finds something, anything really that will lead him where he wants to go.

KING: And again let's go to the Air Force One meeting. The President's flying home from Europe. His son, Don Jr. is trying to explain his public word concerning about this 2016 meeting. The Russian lawyer's want to meet with him. They promised dirt on Hillary Clinton.

Don Trump Jr. now -- now since that has released his e-mail chain has said, yes, I know they promised me dirt, yes, I wanted to see it, nothing happen. I didn't get anything of note or (INAUDIBLE). But at the time he was trying to issue a statement to respond that public statement turned out to not be completely accurate.

And we know from reporting that the President was involved in helping him. The President was flying on Air Force One from media accounts topics (ph). Now the communications director and communications aide, an intermediary back and forth, so who's in the room? Who took notes? Was there a first draft, a second, a third draft, a fourth draft before they got there and said what was said? All those records now go to Special Counsel.

PHILLIP: Yes.

BALL: Well, and what matters obviously is not just what the records are, but what's in them, right.

KING: Right.

BALL: The whole point of an investigation in the sense (INAUDIBLE) to say is not -- is to collect the evidence and determine what it says. So what going to matter is what the contents of whatever those documents are and whether the investigators determine based on the law whether those contents prove the case one way or another. And they don't know that yet. That's the whole point of getting it.

KING: But the move, the impact on people inside the White House who were in any of these meetings, around any of these meetings who might have notes, who might e-mails. You mentioned the Clinton experience. I remember fully well the tension it causes inside when the Special Counsel is saying I want everything.

[12:55:05] PHILLIP: There has been a sense of caution for a while in this White House about documents, about sensitive information being distributed. But I will say that I don't know that that sense of caution was there early enough frankly. I think there are probably a lot of documents that detail what happened and that Mueller will probably find a lot of things that he didn't even know were there.

It was not until recently that it turned to really sink in that folks in the White House needed counsel, that they needed to be more cautious about the things that they said and how they said it and where they said it.

KING: All right. So this is just last week, the Republican National Committee paying hundreds of thousands of dollars and the President's legal fees. There are a lot of people who--

MATTINGLY: individuals.

KING: -- lot less resources.

(CROSSTALK)

MATTINGLY: Pressure on the financial degree too going forward on this.

KING: Fascinating to watch as we go forward. Appreciate in joining us in INSIDE POLITICS today.

Jim Acosta takes the chair after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Jim Acosta for Wolf Blitzer. Right now, Maria on the move. The monster hurricane then knockout power to all of Puerto Rico as turning north and gaining steam, what the storm is leading behind and who's next.