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Trump Targets "Fake & Corrupt Russia Investigation" On Twitter; W.H.: Trump "Believes He Has The Power" To Fire Mueller; DHS Secretary Claims Major Spike In Border Crossings; Republicans Join With Democrats To Protect Special Counsel; House Speaker Paul Ryan Wont Seek Reelection. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired April 11, 2018 - 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, CNN HOST: The President is also talking again about maybe firing the Deputy Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the Mueller investigation and who authorized an FBI search warrant targeting the President's personal lawyer. A reminder, these threats to fire people are hardly new.

In today's New York Times, details of how the President, again, tried to fire the Special Counsel back in December. So he does this a lot. The question is, some people around him believe that going after Michael Cohen, his personal attorney and long-time fixer, that that might push the President to actually do it. There are some who say, well, we'll talk him out of firing Mueller, but he's really pumped up about Rosenstein. Is this real?

JULIE PACE, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, ASSOCIATED PRESS: It's interesting this week. You definitely see a change in posture from White House officials as you discuss this with them. They say that while he has long felt like Mueller was on a witch hunt, obviously he's said that publicly, the fact that Mueller is going after his personal attorney, and to put this in context, a personal attorney who was working for the Trump organization, who knows everything about Trump's personal finances, about his business finances, one of the things he is most sensitive about, and who knows we are now aware of about any kind of arrangements that the President might have been making with women or others who he was trying to keep quiet.

So this is personal for Trump. And White House officials are more rattled than I have seen them on this issue probably ever. Because they just don't know and aren't confident that the President will listen to anyone around him who is saying you don't want to take this step.

KING: Which is what made this all the more interesting. This question comes up a lot, never before have we heard this answer from Sarah Sanders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does the President believe he has the power to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller? Does he believe that's within his power?

SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Certainly believes he has the power to do so. We've been advised that the President certainly has the power to make that decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Now, a lot of lawyer also tell you no, he doesn't, that only the Attorney General, or in this case Mr. Rosenstein, because Jeff Sessions has recused himself, can do that. But what kind of signal is she sending by putting that on the table? The President thinks he has the power to do that.

MATT VISER, DEPUTY WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE BOSTON GLOBE: And he's been advised of that. You know, I mean, they're taking it to a different degree of, you know, severity that they're considering this. Whereas, in the past, I think there's been the idea for the President floating it and fuming in the Oval Office and then being talked down by his advisers.

This time it does feel, to Julie's point, like it's taking a different step. And the other thing is that this feels like more personal to the President, because the investigations are broadening. It's not just Russia, it's not just collusion. It's women and payments to women. It's Michael Cohen's medallion, you know, the khaki (ph) medallions.

It's going in different directions that I think the President feels like he's backed further into that corner. And so, you know, he's ready --

KING: It's an interesting point, because this conservative voice today, as the President vents, we do know the search warrant of Michael Cohen's offices included looking for bank records or the materials about the payments to two women who said they had a relationship with the President, but the President has denied. The question is, was their bank fraud involved? Could there be campaign finance violations involved? Did the President know when he says he didn't know? That would change the legal documents (ph).

This is Andrew McCarthy writing in national review. "This particular scandal was not caused by the Russia investigation, much as Trump seems determined to conflate the two. It is not the work of Bob Mueller, Jeff Sessions or Rod Rosenstein. None of them had anything to do with the porn star going public. It was Trump's conduct that caused this mess. It was the hare-brained scheme to cover up the mess that brings us to this pass."

It's been hard, though, to convince the President that he might have some responsibility in all of these.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, and that's not, you know, the national review isn't being read by this President. He's listening to people on Fox News who are essentially saying fire Rosenstein, fire Mueller, fire Sessions. And that in some ways has gone a bit of a change. I mean, they're kind of uproar to hear on in conservative circles.

Also the Senate, folks in the Senate wanting to maybe introduce this bill that would protect Mueller. It's Tom Tillis, it's Lindsey Graham. That's something of a new thing, as well. Because before they were like, we don't really know, they don't have a sign that Mueller is in any danger. So now they've been introduce as legislation.

That will go nowhere, but it is a little bit of a difference from what we've heard from him previously.

KING: And something to keep an eye on this, the President's move.

Up next, Paul Ryan saying he won't run for re-election. Remember his predecessor, John Boehner as the speaker? Well John Boehner has a very interesting new job.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:38:33] KING: Topping our political radar today, the House Speaker Paul Ryan might be leaving. But Republicans can find some solace in this new poll. Just released survey from Quinnipiac University finds the Democrat's advance on that so-called congressional generic ballot question down to just three points. That's inside the margin of error.

Remember this?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Well, instead of offering up cigarettes to President Obama, the former House Speaker John Boehner wants to sell you legal weed. The former speaker announcing on Twitter today he's putting down a glass of Merlot and joining Acreage Holdings, that's a cannabis company. It's a big reversal for Boehner, who once said he was unalterably opposed to legalizing marijuana.

A warning from the Department of Homeland Security, the Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, says border crossings spiked in March and spiked by a lot. She told lawmakers at a hearing of the House Appropriations Committee the numbers, in her view, scary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIRSTJEN NIELSEN, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: The current statistics from March 2018 tell a dangerous story. Overall, the number of illegal aliens encountered at the border increased more than 200 percent when compared to this same time last year. Perhaps more troubling, the number of unaccompanied alien children encountered has increased over 800 percent. And the number of families encountered increased over 680 percent. We also have seen 37 percent increase in drug seizures at the border in March alone. (END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:40:06] KING: Secretary Nielsen did acknowledge the jump is similar to some previous years at this time. But she says, in her view, it still justifies the need for greater border security ASAP.

Up next, new legislation to protect the Special Counsel. Some Republicans fracture now over the question of how the President should treat Robert Mueller.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Welcome back, important new information just in to CNN. We're told the Defense Secretary James Mattis will be heading from the Pentagon to the White House later today for consultations with President Trump. This comes of course as the President mulls his options to respond to a suspected chemical weapons attack inside Syria. The President tweeting this morning, get ready, the missiles will be coming. Secretary Mattis saying they're still reviewing the intelligence. Now, he will go to the White House, so we'll keep an eye on that throughout the afternoon.

[12:45:02] We'll be back now to another story. Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa says he plans to hold a committee vote in the Judiciary Committee on new legislation designed to protect the Special Counsel. Now insiders on Capitol Hill say that legislation stands little chance of going anywhere, but that it's been reintroduced does expose a fresh Republican divide over Robert Mueller's investigation and whether the President should be able to fire him. Most Republicans say publicly the President should not do that.

Senator Mike Rounds this morning saying Mr. President, leave the Special Counsel alone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MIKE ROUNDS (R), SOUTH DAKOTA: The President would be better off to leave Mueller alone. Let him continue to do his work. Don't fire him. Don't give everybody a reason to try to create another independent counsel. Leave this person to what he can find. And when he's all done, make darn sure that his report comes out and says there's no collusion. Don't give him an excuse to try to find another reason to do another investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Now, that's one Senate voice. But a vocal minority of Republican say no, that's not enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MATT GAETZ (R), FLORIDA: Yes, I agree with the assessment that President Trump should not fire Robert Mueller. It's a totally separate question whether he should fire Jeff Sessions and Rod Rosenstein. This is a binary question for Jeff Sessions. Either there is a second Special Counsel to look into these matters, or he's not doing his job, and the President would be obligated to fire him. There is a sufficient basis to fire Rosenstein in particular, and likely the attorney general for not doing his job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: And we wonder why Paul Ryan doesn't want to stay on, you know, but I digress.

Back to this divide. It is a divide. You have -- it's more in the House, these vocal voices saying, you know, fire Rosenstein, fire Jeff Sessions. Now they're not just mad about the Russia investigation, they're mad about other things, they want documents related to the Clinton e-mail investigation, the James Comey tenure at the FBI and they don't think Jeff Sessions is doing his job.

But at this moment, we know the President is more described as more angry as he's ever been. And we're hearing that this trend (ph) is up there, what's happening on the Hill?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think the interesting element is one, we saw what Senator Rounds did this morning. I don't know whether he's strategic or not but I was told yesterday by several staffers that the sheer number of senators you saw come to cameras and say repeatedly, you can't do this, this would be the end of your presidency, this would be suicide was designed to happen. This is their way of communicating with the President, is actually going on TV and trying to get across to him, we might not be doing anything legislatively that might not support that pathway, please don't do this.

The interesting element I noticed yesterday is in the past couple of weeks, look McConnell and Ryan are talking to the White House about this. This is why they continue to return and say he's not going to fire anybody. Because people at the White House are telling them that.

Yesterday was the first day where senior Republican staff was pretty on edge about where everything was going. And in terms of what happens next on this, to your point, legislatively, there's not a clear pathway forward and frankly the President could just veto that legislation. And because of that, everybody is just kind of sitting there hoping, right, that this goes away.

PACE: There's no sense that there is anyone on Capitol Hill or in the White House who has been able to tell the President, with enough confidence, you know, don't fire Mueller and come away from that conversation this week believing that he might still not do it. That is a very worrisome place for them to be right now.

VISER: You also see a lot of Republicans taking aim at Rod Rosenstein, separate from the Mueller stuff, which gets to the President's ire over, you know, the southern district of New York, and them taking a different approach with Michael Cohen.

KING: And when he turns on Fox News, he sees them. They might be actually governing (ph) things.

Quick break here. When we come back, Paul Ryan's retirement adds to the steep hill for the Republican congressman who has one job this year, protect the majority.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:52:56] KING: The House Speaker Paul Ryan announcing today that he will retire after this year in Congress, adds to a steep hill for Republicans as they try to project their majority. These are the House Democrats and Republicans who've announced their retiring. Some of them running for other offices. You notice all that red? Way more Republicans.

The speaker today also Congressman Dennis Ross in Florida, a Republican saying today he's not going to run either. It's not just the speaker. Nine chairman of committees on the House side. That tells you something. You're walking away from the speakership, walking away from chairmans.

Let's a look at the bigger numbers. This is the big dynamic. In a midterm election, where the Democrats think they have the wind at their backs, only 18 Democrats saying were leaving the House, 41 Republicans now including the House Speaker, 41 Republicans. Democrats say this is proof it's a big blue wave here. Paul Ryan says no, I'm confident the Republicans, even if I leave, can keep the majority.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: Again, I am proud of what this conference has achieved. And I believe its future is bright. The economy is strong. We've given Americans greater confidence in their lives. And I have every confidence that I'll be hand thing gavel on to the next Republican speaker of the House next year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: That from the speaker earlier today. Now the timing of his announcement came to a surprise to many, on and off Capitol Hill. Just last week, the lawmaker who is leading the effort for Republicans to keep that House majority down played the possibility of a big shakeup. I spoke to Congressman Steve Stivers just a few moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KING: Congressman Steve Stivers thanks for joining us on this very important day. A week ago, you said, quote, I don't see a shakeup coming any time soon, what happened?

REP. STEVE STIVERS (R), OHIO: Well Paul Ryan decided he met with his family this weekend, and he decided that it was time for him to go home to Janesville, Wisconsin after this Congress. So, you know, it's important to note that there's not a leadership shakeup coming too soon, because he's going to stay all the way through December. He's committed to helping us make sure we maintain the majority and continue our legislative agenda through the end of December.

And, you know, he's a man of his word. I know he's going to do that, and I feel confident that he's going to be able to continue to help us do that. So, you know, it's certainly not an immediate shakeup.

[12:55:05] KING: Are you sure about that? Because as you know I know the speaker says he would stay through January, but a lot of members are saying, does that make sense? Will there be more disruption in the Republican conference as people now compete for the next leadership job? Some people saying maybe after Memorial Day, you should elect a new speaker, new leader (ph). Are you certain that that will hold through January?

STIVERS: Well, you know, that's what I think will happen. We'll see what the membership wants to do, what Paul wants to do. There's not a vacancy until Paul says he doesn't want to be speaker unless people want to remove him as speaker, and I don't think that's going to happen.

And, you know, I think we need as few disruptions as we can have right now and we need to keep moving forward. And, you know, our mission to serve the American people is unabated, and our mission to maintain our majority is unabated. We're going to continue to move forward.

KING: This is one of your colleagues today Trey Gowdy from South Carolina saying, "For those within Congress who always seemed to have a better idea or smarter strategy, now is your chance to run for speaker." Are there some members of your conference, as you know, the speaker took a lot of harpoons from fellow Republicans? Are there some Republicans who are actually celebrating this today?

STIVERS: I don't believe there are. You know, I think today is a great day to thank Paul Ryan for his service, and to obviously continue to move forward towards serving the people of this country. That's what our service here in Washington is about. It's about the people at home for Paul Ryan. It's about Janesville, Wisconsin. For me, it's about, you know, Columbus, Ohio and Central Ohio and Southern Ohio.

And that's what people ought to be thinking about today is how can we serve the people that sent us here. And, you know, I can't speak for any other members other than myself, but I can tell you that I'm glad that Paul Ryan has been our speaker, and I think he's made a huge legacy with the tax cut and jobs act and many other conservative victories over his time.

KING: Speaker Ryan today, Congressman Ross in Florida, 41 House Republican incumbents, 41 House Republican incumbents who decided now they are not going to seek re-election. Only 19 Democrats have said that. Mr. Chairman, you look at those numbers, Democrats say to them, especially now, that they have the biggest of the big names, the speaker of the House. They say those numbers prove Republicans are running scared.

STIVERS: Well John, not all retirements are equal. You talked about Trey Gowdy. Trey Gowdy is retiring. You know, that's an R-plus 30 seat. The retirements that matter are the retirements in seats that might flip.

And frankly, there are now six Republicans that are in seats that Hillary Clinton won that are retiring. But there are five Democrats in seats that Donald Trump won that are retiring. So retirements aren't quite a wash. They might slightly favor the Democrats but it's not a big deal and a big change.

You know, I think it might be a seat or two. But obviously we have more people retiring, but it's in those seats that can flip that really matter, John. You know, when somebody retires in a ruby red Republican district or in a deep blue Democratic district, that's not going to change hands. It really doesn't matter as much.

KING: Let's talk about some of those seats that can flip lastly. I talked to some of your colleagues who came back from the Easter break and you know the plan. You're part of crafting the plan, go home, run on the tax cuts, run on a strong economy, tell the voters Republicans are doing what they promised to do. A lot of colleagues are worried that the President tweeting about the Russia investigation, maybe firing Bob Mueller. The President tweeting about tariffs at a time they would prefer to talk about tax cuts. How much blame or responsibility does the President have for what a lot of your own colleagues say is a difficult climate?

STIVERS: There is always a difficult climate out there. And, you know, it is what it is. And, you know, our job is to serve the people of our districts. You know, I went home for a couple of weeks in Ohio and we had great conversations about tax cuts, about job training, about things we're doing at home on things like buckeye lake that are making a difference for people at home. And I know a lot of our members had those same kind of conversations.

But, you know, issues like, you know, tariffs come up, and we've got to make sure we deal with those issues. But I feel confident that we're doing what matters for people, and we're making a difference. And that's what people are going to decide this November is who do they want to be in charge? Do they want a Republican majority that's going to, you know, keep their taxes low and keep the economy going well? Or a Democrat majority that says they want to get rid of the tax cuts that might take the economy off kilter?

We also have funded the military in our recent omnibus bill. We have the strongest military that we've had, and we need them, because we live in a dangerous world. And so I feel good about the contrast. And, you know, we've got six more months of election here. We've got to run the campaigns and we'll see how it goes.

KING: Congressman Stivers, appreciate your time. A big day and a big challenge for you in those six months ahead. Again, appreciate your time in this big day. Thanks again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: And thank you for joining us in INSIDE POLITICS today. A very busy breaking news day. Hope to see you back here at this time tomorrow. Don't go anywhere, Secretary Mattis going to the White House. A lot of news still to cover today. Wolf starts right now.