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Trump Meets with Cabinet; Syria Response; Trump Challenges Putin's Conduct; Bolton Begins Job. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired April 09, 2018 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00] DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But we are putting the National Guard and military at the border. We are beefing up the border patrol, who have done a fantastic job. ICE has done a fantastic job. And we will take care of that situation.

We need a wall. Whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, we need a wall. And it will stop your drug flow. It will knock the hell out of the drug flow. And you'll -- it will stop a lot of people that we don't want in this country from coming into our country.

But right now we're putting the military, and we're putting the National Guard, and we're going to have very strong borders. We have strong borders now, but they're going to be much stronger.

And with that, the cabinet meeting will begin. We're going to be discussing a lot of different elements of what's going on. The country is doing very well. We -- we've created 3 million jobs since the election. We have 700,000 jobs in the last number of months. The numbers are starting to come out from companies, corporations. They're doing incredibly well. It's very solid. Our country is on very solid footing.

When we do a deal with China, which probably we will. If we don't, they'll have to pay pretty high taxes to do business with our country. That's a possibility. But if we do a deal with China, if during the course of a negotiation they want to hit the farmers because they think that hits me, I wouldn't say that's nice, but I tell you, our farmers are great patriots. These are great patriots. They understand that they're doing this for the country. And we'll make it up to them. And, in the end, they're going to be much stronger than they are right now.

Don't forget, farmers have been trending downward. Over an eight-year period, their numbers have trended downward. In some cases, significantly. So between NAFTA and China and all of the things we're doing, we're going to make them much better than they've ever been.

But during this period of time, Sonny Perdue (ph) is here. He understands exactly what I'm saying. There will be a little work to be done. But the farmers will be better off than they ever were. It will take a little while to get there, but it could be very -- it could be very quick, actually. Bu I say it's not nice when they hit the farmers specifically because they think that hits me. So with that being said, we're doing very well on trade and trade

deals. I think deals will be made. I think we're going to make deals with a lot of countries that have taken advantage of us. And we will be reporting back to everybody.

And we'll start our cabinet meeting.

And thank you all, media, press.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

TRUMP: Thank you all for being here. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President --

Thank you.

(CROSS TALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) on Syria.

TRUMP: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: We're going to make a decision on all of that, in particular Syria. We'll be making that decision very quickly, probably by the end of today. But we cannot allow atrocities like that. Cannot allow it.

(CROSS TALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, (INAUDIBLE). Thank you, guys.

(CROSS TALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does Putin -- dues Putin bear responsibility for this?

TRUMP: He may. Yes, he may. And if he does, it's going to be very tough. Very tough.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you (INAUDIBLE) military action --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thanks, everyone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) --

TRUMP: Everybody's going to pay a price. He will. Everybody will.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, is U.S. military action off the table?

TRUMP: Excuse me?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is U.S. military action, is it off the table (INAUDIBLE)? TRUMP: Nothing's off the table. Nothing's off the table.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there some (INAUDIBLE)?

TRUMP: Well, they're saying they're not. But, to me, there's not much of a doubt. But the generals will figure it out, probably over the next 24 hours.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thanks, everyone.

TRUMP: Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Thank you.

(CROSS TALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Mr. President.

TRUMP: Thank you. Thank you, John.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you considering (INAUDIBLE)?

TRUMP: No, not at all. No. The market's up today very substantially. No, not at all.

Don't forget, our country is going to be much stronger when this is all finished, just so you understand. You know, these straight deals are horrible. Our country is going to be much stronger when this is finished, OK?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you very much.

TRUMP: So that's very important. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, John.

JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to INSIDE POLITICS. I'm John King.

The president of the United States, they're in the White House cabinet room discussing a number of issues. But chief among them, saying that perhaps Russia may be responsible, at least responsible along with the Assad regime, maybe Iran as well, the president says, for an atrocity in Syria. Again, the use of chemical weapons. Again, the victims including children. The president of the United States saying he's getting advice from his military advisers, that they should have a decision and be able to definitively assign blame within the next 24 to 48 hours. And the president saying action will be coming using terms like "barbaric," "atrocity," "heinous," "horrible." This is about humanity, the president of the United States, saying discussing other issues as well, but Syria dominated the day here in Washington.

With me to share their reporting and their insights this hour, Julie Hirschfeld Davis of "The New York Times," CNN's Manu Raju, CNN military and diplomatic analyst Admiral John Kirby, and "The Daily Beast's" Jackie Kucinich.

Interesting on this day for the president. Over the weekend you get the pictures that are unspeakable. We'll show you some of them later. And if there's children in the room, we're going to have to ask you to turn the children away when we get to those images.

[12:05:06] The president now pressed to responds. Just days after saying he wants to get out of Syria ASAP, the president now pressed to respond. We heard General Mattis this morning, Secretary Mattis now, the defense secretary, saying the thing that jumped out most to him was that remember a year ago, when the president used cruise missiles to send a message after a chemical strike, Russia promised, no more chemical attacks.

Now, admiral, I want to start with you. The president of the United States saying there will be a big price to pay. Military options are on the table. He's waiting for the generals to come to him and say, sir, we are convinced it was Syria. We are convinced these are the other actors. Define big price.

REAR ADMIRAL JOHN KIRBY (RET.), CNN MILITARY AND DIPLOMATIC ANALYST: Big price from a military perspective would be yet another massive tomahawk missile strike at various sites inside Syria, which they could easily do. What I hope he means by big price is not just a military reaction and retribution from this, but some sort of long- term pressure that can be applied, economic, diplomatic and a strategy for how to make for a better, stable, more secure Syria. That's what a big price would be. And to maybe take a little bit of action against Russia for the work that they've done on behalf of Assad. Maybe more sanctions against them. That's what a big price really would be.

JACKIE KUCINICH, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "THE DAILY BEAST": Well, and you have to wonder, for some reason Assad knows -- thought he could do this again. He didn't -- there wasn't enough of a deterrent, even though they did send a bunch of missiles into an air field.

KIRBY: Yes.

KUCINICH: He felt like he could do this again. And maybe -- I mean some -- I think John McCain suggested that because he said last week he was pulling out of Syria, maybe that was -- that's why. I don't think we can say that yet. But if you -- they need to answer that question, is why -- why did Assad think it was all right to do it again? Did the White House not put enough pressure on Russia, Syria, a range of other actors in order to stop this and have them not do this again?

KING: Right. And to this point, Senator McCain and others say that this president, and, look, he's inherited an intractable mess here.

KUCINICH: Right.

KING: There's no question about that. That this president's made clear he views this as, we've spent millions of dollars in the Mideast. Nothing's going to work. It's a waste of our time. It's a waste of our money. Let's get out. Senator McCain and others saying, that's the signal to Putin and Assad, Trump wants to wash his hands of Syria.

Just want to underscore the momentous moment we are at though. For those of you who joined us at the top of the hour might not have heard the president at the very beginning of the reporters being allowed into the cabinet room. Here is the president saying he is now reviewing this latest atrocity, barbarism he called it, inside Syria, and he'll have a decision about how to react soon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It was an atrocious attack. It was horrible. You don't see things like that. As bad as the news is around the world, you just don't see those images.

We are studying that situation extremely closely. We are meeting with our military and everybody else. And we'll be making some major decisions over the next 24 to 48 hours.

We are very concerned. When a thing like that can happen, this is about humanity. We're talking about humanity. And it can't be allowed to happen. So we'll be looking at that barbaric act and studying what's going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Momentous moment anyway in the sense that the president right there making clear he's considering military action against Syria.

I would say the stakes, though, are magnified by the point the admiral made. Number one, he did respond last time. And this happened again. It's happened several times sense but now on a bigger scale again.

And, number two, the evolution of this president when it comes to Vladimir Putin, saying for the first time over the weekend, singling him out by name as a bad actor. Saying in this conversation with reporters, he may well be responsible here.

What's the response is the question?

JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Well, I mean, I think it -- you're absolutely right. And it's clear that, you know, his impatience to get American troops out of Syria, which, again, doesn't actually have to do with this chemical weapons attack. Those troops -- attacks. Those troops, those 2,000 troops, are there fighting ISIS. They're talking --

KING: In a different part of the country.

DAVIS: In a different part of the country.

KING: Right.

DAVIS: They're not there, at least now, and there's no indication from the people I talked to at the White House or in the administration that there is even a consideration of having troops there on the ground to counter Assad.

But the fact is that, you know, we saw last year when the missile strike happened that the president sees these images, takes these chemical weapons attacks very seriously, wants to show the world that he's not going to stand up for that. But he's sort of in the position now that president -- former President Obama found himself after he made that comment about a red line. His was just a comment. Donald Trump's is actually a precedent. For the last time this happened, he sent in tomahawk cruise missiles to take out the air field from where the chemical attack originated. What is he going to do now? How does this -- how is this different from them.

And -- and, in fact, he's under more pressure because it is the case that even though the troops that are on the ground are doing something different, it will be seen as a retreat from a part of the world that is demanding American intervention and demanding global intervention to stop atrocities that are taking place.

[12:10:06] MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And it's this inherent tension that the president constantly faces between his isolationist tendencies, the things that he espoused on the campaign trail, and also him trying to talk about Americans might around the world, oftentimes, you know, exert that military power overseas.

The question from last year, when he did the -- launched those missiles into Syria, even though he got a lot of praise from those Republican hawks, a lot of them said where was the comprehensive policy and the fallow through on that? So whatever the president does here, if he does go the military route, there's going to be a lot of questions about what he does next after this.

KING: A lot of questions. And, again, the stakes magnified. You have the issues within the borders of Syria. Then you also have Russia flat out lied to him. They said a year ago, fine, after the cruise missile strikes, we will safeguard chemical weapons. We will make sure this doesn't happen again. Russia now saying this is a hoax.

Well, the pictures from the ground and the reports from credible aid groups tell you it's not a hoax and that Russia again is lying, not just to the White House, but to the world.

Let's go straight to the ground in Syria. CNN's Fred Pleitgen is there.

Fred, if you heard the president of the United States saying, in the next 24 to 48 hours, he's going to have a response. I assume if you're in the Assad regime, you must expect, at least at a minimum, another round of cruise missile strikes?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think that is certainly one thing, John, that they fear. The Assad government continues to say that it had nothing to do with any sort of chemical weapons use that was allegedly done in Douma, in that area. But, of course, if we look at those images -- and, of course, we always have to remind our viewer, John, that they are horrible images, very difficult to watch and quite disturbing, but very important to see as well. But certainly it seems as though the people on those videos, especially the children, have huge problems breathing, and then the opposition says that dozen of people were killed after a canister was dropped on that area.

Again, the Syrians are saying they had nothing to do with it. The interesting thing about this is, John, is that that very area, which was encircled, has now switched hands and now is essentially under the control of the Syrian government with the Russians there on the ground. The Russians say that they already have experts in there. They say they have no traces of chemical weapons used. But at this point in time, it does not seem as though there is any reason for the Russians to stop international investigators from going into that area. It's going to be very interesting to see whether or not the Russians allow that and whether those teams are able to move in, especially right now after those strong comments from President Trump, John.

KING: An excellent point there. Fred Pleitgen on the ground. We're lucky to have you reporting on the ground in Syria. Appreciate it.

As Fred just noted, the president of the United States complaining in his remarks as well that the Russians and the Syrians have not allowed access to that area to try to collect the evidence, if you will. We'll see how that plays out.

A quick break now.

Up next for us, a major change in President Trump inching closer and closer to calling President Putin a foe.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:16:55] KING: Welcome back.

More now to an intriguing, fascinating subplot of this new showdown in Syria. The president saying just moments ago within 24 to 48 hours he will have a response to a chemical weapons attack. As he does so, the president, for the first time, directly challenging the conduct of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, criticizing him by name. It began with a tweet on Sunday, saying in part, you see it here, President Putin and Russia are responsible for backing animal Assad, adding, there will be, quote, a big price to pay. Now that direct criticism, a major departure, as a candidate and as a president, praise and compliments have been far more common.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think I'd get along very well with Vladimir Putin. I just think so.

I mean I don't think I'll have the problems with Putin that Obama -- Putin can't stand Obama.

But Putin said good things about me. He said he's a leader and he's no question about it. He's a genius. They said, you admire President Putin. I said, I don't admire him. I said he was a strong leader, which he is.

If Putin likes Donald Trump, I consider that an asset, not a liability, because we have a horrible relationship with Russia. Russia can help us fight ISIS.

I had a call with President Putin and congratulated him on the victory, his electoral victory.

Ideally, we want to be able to get along with Russia. Getting along with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. Now, maybe we will, and maybe we won't. And probably nobody's been tougher to Russia than Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: John McCormack of "The Weekly Standard" joins our panel.

And, John, let me begin with you.

This is a clear evolution of the president's tone, the president willingness to single Putin out. I guess the big question today is, what comes of it in the form of action?

JOHN MCCORMACK, SENIOR WRITER, "THE WEEKLY STANDARD": We'll have to see. I think there has been some sort of schizophrenia between the president's rhetoric and his actions. His rhetoric, obviously, as we just heard, as has been fairly conciliatory. But the actions in some ways have been a lot tougher than President Obama's, in particular lethal aid to Ukraine. So what's tougher than that? I don't know. But he promised a big price. I would expect something.

KING: Right. To that point, the administration has done things, whether it's the Pentagon or the last two impositions of sanctions by the Treasury Department, the language has been incredibly tough, and yet the president's words, you're right, the administration's actions have gotten progressively tougher. The president's words not following through until this. This is just moments ago. Again, the president tweeted out the first time by name he's called Putin a bad actor over the weekend and that he was asked in a pool spray with reporters, a cabinet meeting, just moments ago, does Putin bear responsibility for this latest chemical weapons attack?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Does Putin bear -- does Putin bear responsibility for this?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He may. Yes, he may. And, if he does, it's going to be very tough. Very tough.

QUESTION: If (INAUDIBLE) military action --

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) pay a price --

TRUMP: Everybody's going to pay a price. He will. Everybody will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: And, again, the body language, the crossed arms from the president there. Some people think he's been pushed into this, but let's just get into the facts. He is in a tougher place now in this confrontation. The question is, what do you do about it?

RAJU: Yes, he has really no choice but to at least ratchet up the rhetoric.

Remember last week he was even asked whether or not Putin was a friend or a foe, and he couldn't answer that pretty clearly. I mean the question to me is if whether or not he follows through and is consistently critical of Putin. He still hasn't called him out publically for election meddling or this spy -- the poisoning of this former Russian spy on British soil while, and John's right, the administration has imposed rather tough sanctions, going after oligarchs and the like. You have not heard those words from the president's mouth. Will this be a shift in his tone? Perhaps.

[12:20:20] But, you know, a lot of people here in town believe that he's been naively thinking that he could get along with Putin for so long --

KUCINICH: That's right.

KING: Right.

RAJU: And clearly that's just been too hard to accomplish.

KUCINICH: Well, there's a reason President Bush, President Obama -- I mean President Obama tried a reset with Putin.

KING: Right.

KUCINICH: It didn't work. And there's a reason that there's been now three presidents who haven't been able to get along with Putin. Putin is not an honest actor. And he, as I think you pointed out in the last segment, he was lied to about -- President Trump was lied to about the -- we're going to have these chemical weapons under control in Syria. They don't.

KING: Right.

KUCINICH: Putin lied to him. And perhaps that is also what's pushing him to ratchet up his rhetoric.

KING: And so now you see yet again pressure from outside voices, largely hawks in Congress, but not all hawks. Listen, Susan Collins, a moderate, at the end of it here says, Mr. President, you should no longer have any illusions about just who you're dealing with here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: If he doesn't follow through and live up to that tweet, he's going to look weak in the eyes of Russia and Iran. So this is a defining moment, Mr. President. You need to follow through with that tweet. Show resolve that Obama never did to get this right.

SEN. MIKE ROUNDS (R), SOUTH DAKOTA: Don't get pushed into doing it based on Putin's terms, but on our terms. So let's get everything put together first and then act decisively.

SEN SUSAN COLLINS (R), MAINE: It's so important that the president ramp up the pressure and the sanctions on the Russian government, because without the support of Russia, I do not believe that Assad would still be in office.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: The question is, no disrespect to the senators, words are easy, actions are harder, especially in these intractable problems around the world. And, again, in President Trump's defense, he inherited this mess. He's responsible. He's the president of the United States now.

The question is, what -- to what do you do when you've already imposed in recent months tough economic sanctions on the Russian government, on oligarchs close to Vladimir Putin? So how do you have a, quote/unquote better way in Syria that includes a tougher way against Russia?

DAVIS: Right. I mean, as John pointed out earlier, there have been pretty tougher actions by his administration against Russia and Vladimir Putin. What we haven't heard is the direct presidential bully pulpit rhetoric against Putin himself. And then, beyond that, if he does decide that he is willing to really take him to task personally and in a face-to-face way, what does that look like internationally? Is he going to try to martial international support for some really tough steps here? Without an American president being willing to challenge Vladimir Putin on the world stage in the way that Barack Obama tried to do after he discovered he couldn't work with him, that's a very tough lift. The Obama administration couldn't do it, even though they had long since determined that Russia was not being a helpful player here. The question is whether the Trump administration will be able to marshal some sort of international action -- support for actual action against Russia and what that looks like.

KING: And it would be -- it would be great. I guess this is a bit of an opinion. If he would take some of the energy and vigor he turns on the, quote/unquote fake news media and go after the Russians, the Russian foreign minister again today saying this is farfetched, fabricated pretext, it's a hoax. No, Russia is again lying to the world and it would be nice if the president of the United States would call them out for it.

Up next, the president's new national security advisor now on the job. This is day one for John Bolton. Will his view of the world clash with the president's promise to put America first?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:27:53] KING: Welcome back.

Urgent business to say the least for the new national security adviser on his first day in the Trump White House West Wing. John Bolton, this morning, led a National Security Council principle's meeting to discuss how to respond to Bashar al Assad's latest alleged war crime. Mr. Bolton also at the president's cabinet meeting. You saw that just moments go. He's sitting over the president's left shoulder there in the room. The book on Bolton is that he doesn't do carrots. Critics say he looks to strike first, wrangle the consequences of foreign Policy entanglements later. For a president that's detain is getting drawn deeper in the Middle East mess, might Bolton's instincts clash with the boss' world view? But Bolton's defenders and his confidants say his hawkishness is overstated. Take here how a longtime adviser described to "The New York Times" how Bolton answers those who accuse him of relishing war. Quote, my belief is diplomatic crises, 99 and 44/100ths percent of the time can be resolved with public diplomacy, Mr. Bolton said. That's a reference to an old soap commercial. That's my view. To those who say I'm going to start a war, that's what I think.

He is -- John Bolton is, I think, sometimes by both is supporters and his critics defined as black and white where the truth would tell you there's a lot of nuance. But how about a first day on the job, first day on the job coming out of a weekend where you have an apparent chemical -- use of chemical weapons against children and others by Syria. What do we expect John Bolton's impact will be in terms of he replaces H.R. McMaster. So the question always is, how is this day different than last week?

DAVIS: Well, I mean, we know that H.R. McMaster was in favor of a much more muscular involvement in Syria than the president was. He was one who was advocating, you know, leave troops on the ground, have a robust presence there so that what happened in Iraq after American troops pulled out of Iraq doesn't happen in Syria. And so to the degree that he -- that was his position in the past, you might imagine he would be arguing for a pretty muscular response here. It remains to be seen whether John Bolton will do that.

I do think that what -- from what we know of the way he conducts himself, he is not liking to be much of a check on the president's impulses, which are, as you said, a little bit schizophrenic sometimes. It's America first and, you know, we need to take care of ourselves at home, but also, in some cases, very hawkish that we need to strike out.

[12:30:06] Now, we also know that John Bolton, in the past, has advocated against intervening in Syria after a chemical weapons attack.