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North Korean State Media Claims Trump Promised To Undo Sanctions; Measure To Split California Into 3 States On November Ballot; Potential 2020 Hopefuls Discuss Progressive Agenda At Summit; House To Vote On Immigration Proposals Next Week; Sessions Backs Rosenstein In Fight With House Intel. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired June 13, 2018 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:03] NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: But they're also -- and this is where you have to be careful with the sort of ambiguity and drama in the language of the North Korean state media KCNA uses in its publications. They're implying, as well, that the United States, that President Trump has committed to lifting sanctions from North Korea, with no mention that's tied to denuclearization, completion of denuclearization, which is what President Trump has made very clear. So already there's a gap here between what we understand and what they understand, John.

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: A gap there. Nic Robertson in Seoul, appreciate it. And to Secretary Pompeo's point, it's ludicrous to ask questions about these things. No, they'll suppose to live the history of North Korea breaking deals with Prime Minister. It's not ludicrous or smart to ask the questions, isn't it?

OLIVIER KNOX, CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, SIRIUSXM: It's also -- Nic got to the core the problem here, which is that the understanding of what denuclearization means is completely different in Washington than in Pyongyang. And for Mike Pompeo to say it doesn't need to be put in writing, everyone understands x, y, z, sorry, that's not true. It's one of the biggest chasms between these two countries.

A couple of things that I thought we're interesting about the Singapore summit, one is that underlying all of it with the biggest security guarantee of all for Kim which is we are negotiating with Kim. Nobody -- no senior official raised the prospect that this regime was in any way illegitimate or that long-term American goal was to push the regime act. That's not really reflected in the coverage. That's a very significant thing.

KING: Right, it is significant. And to the White House's point, we think we're safer today, we feel safer today than yesterday because we're not talked about locked and loaded, fire and fury, we're at least in a diplomatic conversation. There's nothing wrong with that.

The question is, when the President tweets it's gone, sleep easy tonight, let's just show you. You have to dismantle and remove the nuclear weapons. The document doesn't promise to do that. You have to halt uranium enrichment, you have to disable reactors, you have to close nuclear test site, you have to end H-bomb fuel production and have to be able to inspect anywhere, any time, forever, or at least for as long as it takes that you're absolutely certain.

Again, I understand to a degree the President wants to be upbeat and optimistic about this. But to tweet the idea that say sleep easy, it's gone, really?

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, I mean, you know, I think he's talking to the average American voter who is probably not going to be looking at this as closely as a lot of other folks are looking at what it means, CVID probably haven't even heard of that and let alone knows what it stands for. So we are in a very different place as a country before President Trump was talking about fire and fury, now he's essentially meeting with KJU complimenting him, which a lot of people found a bit too much courteous (ph) going too far. So the average American voter, he seems to be talking to them, I think probably in some ways reflecting their sentiment, too, that this sort of bad old days with North Korea. Run a different phase at this point.

KING: And so let's listen to a different perspective here. This is the President's Counselor Kellyanne Conway on TV this morning, talking about how big of a deal this is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO THE PRESIDENT: And the President didn't even make it about himself. He made it about a process. He made it about doing something great for the world. The last president was handed the Nobel Peace Prize. This President is actually going to earn it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Optimistic this will turn out great. A note of caution here from the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, who says this is good but --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: The President needed to disrupt the status quo, and the President has disrupted the status quo. He should be applauded for doing that. And we should be under no illusion in this. It's going to be fast. This is going to take time, and we have to make sure that we have irreversible, comprehensive denuclearization of North Korea. So that's what we need to get out of this. I'm pleased the President has gotten to where we are in, time will tell how this end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Look, the baselines here are important. If your baseline is, are we say for is the U.S. safer today than it was three months ago? Then it's a success. I think to some degree, the people at the table would actually talking. If the baseline is to get an agreement that actually is full verifiable denuclearization of North Korea, every Republican that I spoke to on the Hill who care deeply about this issue and has worked on this issue acknowledges that they are a very long way away, away from that.

And the President at this point seems to have given up a lot more than he gets. Now, does that turn into something? As the Speaker pointed out, clearly what has been activated the last 30 years or so hasn't been effective. Maybe this is the thing that shakes it up. But just because you're questioning whether or not there's a future here with a country that up to this point has never been willing to cooperate for one, doesn't make you bad or opposed to the President. It's just asking the questions that whether it's the Secretary of State or the President need to be asked in a negotiation.

KING: And to get them to do something that just about everybody thinks they don't want to do, should the President be sounding like, I'm happy, I'm satisfied, I'm done, I did it, when he hasn't done it yet? It's a good thing. Again, I don't want to rain on the parade of we are at a better place, they are at a table, you are negotiating with them. But you don't have a trophy yet.

MOLLY BALL, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, TIME: Well, look, Reagan said trust but verify. And Trump is saying, well, verify. That sounds hard and boring. Why not just trust? And we can just pretend everything is OK.

[12:35:08] And the only way you find out if that was a bad idea is the hard way.

KING: Good luck Secretary Pompeo.

Up next, the President touting a huge international win on Twitter. And no, not talking about North Korea.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Topping our political radar today, believe it or not, a proposal to break up California into three separate states will be on the November ballot there, after securing more than 400,000 signatures. Supporters say it would divide the state into more manageable populations. Critics say the (INAUDIBLE) proposal is just a distraction and could cost billions.

[12:40:05] Voter approval, if happened, would then begin a long, difficult road to congressional approval. That worth watching.

Big news, a report for 2026, not talking about an election, we're talking soccer. The 2026 World Cup coming to North America joint U.S., Canadian and Mexican bid winning FIFA's vote to host the 34-day event despite differences over NAFTA, tariffs, and the border wall. President Trump tweeting his congratulations to all three countries this morning.

The summit organize by more than a dozen progressive organizations happening today here in Washington, a list of speakers reads like a who-who of likely 2020 Democratic contenders. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D), NEW JERSEY: I'm proud to be one of the -- in fact, the only senator who lives in a low-income, working class, inner city community.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: And if the American people again (INAUDIBLE) demand comprehensive immigration reform, and a path towards citizenship for the undocumented and legal protection for the DACA (INAUDIBLE).

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: We're going to clean out this place, we're going to hose out the excess pool of corruption and we're going to make this government work for the people. I stand with you in this fight all the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Up next, the Republican Speaker of the House promises votes on immigration next week. Now comes the hard part, can he make both the President and moderates happy?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:45:41] KING: Welcome back. Important developments on Capitol Hill today. We're getting the first glimpses of one of the new immigration bills set to hit the House floor next week. Now the legislation is still in the works. There's a lot of debating, a lot of complaining, so it's far some sand and stone. But the House Speaker says he knows this bill must please the President for it to have any chance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN: The last thing I want to do is bring a bill out of here that I know the President want support. Well, we've been working hand and glove with the administration on this to make sure that we're bringing a bill that represents the President's four pillars. Members are going to reserve judgment on a final vote on a piece legislation until and after they have read that legislation. I would expect that of any member.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Sources telling CNN, the bill being sold to House members is a compromise that hits the President so called four pillars. It would create a new visa program for DACA eligible immigrants. It also includes $25 billion in border security to fund the wall and changes to immigration enforcement powers and it also cuts to legal immigration like the diversity of visa system, family-based immigration. Some moderate Republicans are backing the legislation, but they warn the idea of working with Democrats, if they have to, still a real threat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CARLOS CURBELO (R), FLORIDA: We are not abandoning the discharge petition. The reason we're in this position is thanks to the discharge petition, and the discharge petition remains. We hope to pass a good bill out of the House next week. It won't be perfect. It's not the bill that we would draft alone. But if we get a bill past, force the Senate to act, then get, you know, a compromised bill with the Senate, it could be something to celebrate for our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: I don't mean to be flippant, but if we can pass a bill in the House, get the Senate to pass a bill, pass a compromise with the Senate, we've been at this for more than a decade, and there's been zero chance of that happening on this issue. Is it going to happen weeks before a critical midterm election?

MATTINGLY: So on these three issues, possible, but still on question. Not the idea of the Senate Majority Leader at all, which makes the third one not possible and, by the way, the President would have to sign it as well. Look, to your point, the idea that this addresses the four pillars that the President had, that means that the President is OK with this process.

I've been told behind the scenes, the president has been hands off on this whole discharge petition immigration idea. His only point has been, one, I don't want to deal with this. And two, anything you do, make sure it addresses what I want in the bill. Is this an elegant solution? No. But leadership, this allows them to pull the plug on a discharge petition.

KING: It allows the leadership to bring to the floor, give the moderates something to vote at while also giving conservatives something to vote at. Here's one of the conservative proposals. The second proposal authorizes construction of the border wall, requires employers to use the E-Verify system. Ends chain migration and the diversity of visa program. Allows DACA beneficiaries with three-year renewable legal status. And it cuts overall immigration by an estimated 25 percent.

So, forgive me if I'm wrong, but what this looks like me is conservatives get to vote on that, the Goodlatte proposal and then run campaign ads saying I voted to, and moderates get to vote on a DACA solution and run campaign ads I voted to, when nothing actually happens. You just get to run a campaign ad saying I voted to. Am I wrong about that?

BALL: Well, there was the exception of that second one, there's the possibility it could actually pass, which --

KING: The House?

BALL: -- the House, which would make it slightly more consequential. But, look, yes, there is the possibility that this gambit by the moderates ends up backfiring spectacularly by instead just giving the conservative proposal a chance in a life way (ph). If the political purpose of this was to show, you know, independent voters and Hispanic voters and swing voters that they actually were trying to fix DACA and then the opposite happens, right, and it's actually the hard liners bill that ends up getting the most Republican support, they will not have made the case to that element of the electorate that the Republican Party is not what you think when it comes to immigration which is what, you know, they were trying to show.

KING: That's a great point. And Nancy Pelosi I think senses that opportunity as well tweeting this last night, "Protecting Dreamers' stands on its own merits. If Republicans plan to use Dreamers as a way to advance Trump's xenophobic anti-immigrant agenda, they will get a fight from House Democrats."

So, again, people do have principled positions on these issues, but at the moment, this seems to me a lot more about political positioning than any attempt at a genuine compromise, or just having votes. Let's just let him vote and see what happens.

[12:50:04] HENDERSON: Yes. I mean, I think it is about those folks who, if you're in Florida, if you're in California or if you're in these districts, where there are a lot of independent voters, a lot of anti-Trump voters, and you are looking to run these campaign ads, essentially saying I voted for something to protect the Dreamers, this is -- you know, you'll be able to do, you know, if these things come to the floor and if you're conservative, you'll be able to say you're an immigration hawk. I think it is.

I mean, there's a show vote and we saw this before when they passed all these votes about repeal and replace Obamacare when there was no way that Obama was going to vote to repeal Obamacare.

KING: Unless the President of the United States, he wants this border wall money, Democrats at least in the past have been willing to give him this border wall money as long as they got the DACA, the Dreamer part done. Is there any indication that this close to the election, the President is going to pick up the phone to conservatives and say, I need you to vote for legal status or better for the Dreamers, and it change for the -- is the President willing to do that?

MATTINGLY: From what I've been told from people that had conversations with the President, the answer to that is no. Look, the appropriations process is where they're going to be dealing with the wall and of course of the next six months or so, or three months, in September depending on what things had.

I will say this, the moderates have legitimately been trying to find a solution here. But I think the bottom line, which has been repeated to me over and over again by a lot of House Republicans, including those who desperately want a solution here, is if there was a unicorn- like bill that could actually get support from 218 Republicans and the support of the President, we wouldn't be going through this process right now. There wouldn't be two-hour family meeting, there wouldn't be endless nighttime negotiations trying to find. It just doesn't exist right now in the current Republican Party, at least in the House Republican Party.

And the Senate proved that it doesn't exist over there either. Will there be a solution at some point? Quick possibly. But at least as long as it's a Republican only strategy driven by Republicans, the party, you're never going to get Carlos Curbelo and Jim Jordan to agree on the same thing. And as long as that's the case, I think there's no real clear end game here.

BALL: I think also behind what Nancy Pelosi was tweeting with, it's harder to get Democrats to the table because DACA never really ended. Because of judge suspended, the end of the DACA program Democrats feel like they have to get something that's better than the status quo to make it worth their while. And the status quo for them right now is, DACA is still there.

KING: DACA is still there. It's still in the courts. But they think they have at least the grace of time if you will.

Before we go to break, some important news just in from the White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders. National Economic Counsel Director Larry Kudlow was discharged from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center earlier today. Doctors say Larry's recovery is going very well. Sarah Sanders says the President -- the administration are happy. Larry is back home. And the White House says it's looking forward to seeing him back at work pretty soon. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:56:43] KING: Welcome back. Today, the President's allies in the House are furious at the attorney general for backing his deputy in a turf war turned highly personal. For months now, Rod Rosenstein and Devin Nunes have been warring over documents related to the Russian meddling probe. The feud has been there in the back and forth increasingly public.

Including on Tuesday, that's what a Fox News report said Rosenstein personally attacked intelligence committee staff, threatening them with subpoenas, and even, according to that report, a criminal investigation. Justice Department officials say no, that's not what happened. Rosenstein now plans to request an investigation into the congressional staffers to find out why this report came out. Hours after Fox News published these accusations, the Attorney General sending a message here, I'm with Rod Rosenstein.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF SESSIONS, ATTORNEY GENERAL: I'm confident that Deputy Rosenstein, 28 years in the Department of Justice, did not improperly threaten anyone on that occasion. But we do believe that we have tried to be cooperative with them, and made progress in months, as the months have gone by. And in fact, have had some good relationships with top members of Congress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: This is past the point of wow in the sense that this is not Republicans going after Eric Holder, Republicans going after a Democratic Justice Department. This is Republicans going after two Trump appointed, boom, what's going on here?

KNOX: Anybody want to take this one?

BALL: Well, I mean, look, this follows months and months of the Justice Department and Rod Rosenstein being under attack by the President and his congressional henchman and they're kind of sick of it, right? I mean, from the FBI, the Department of Justice, the Attorney General himself, the deputy, both of them appointed by the President, both of them believe that they are just following the rules and they're under this assault. And I don't think they like it very much.

KING: And they believe that they have shared the information they are required to share or they have offered access to documents. And they say, now send us the documents. Some of this is a turf battle. But some of this, to Molly's point, that the Attorney General is backing up Rod Rosenstein such saying shut up to the House of Representatives, which is a small group in the House of Representatives, that's a big deal.

MATTINGLY: It's a big deal and I think it's worth noting. And then Molly has underscored this. This is personal between staffers on the intel committee, and the folks over the Justice Department. The members have been backing up their staff on this. The issue of documents and what's being presented and what's not, what format they're being presented has become both tedious and a very real issue over the course of the last couple of months.

And just to be frank, this isn't going away anytime soon. This battle is going to continue because both sides, as the Attorney General made clear, are very dug in that their perspective is the right perspective and that's the one that should carry the day. So, you know, keep watching. Should continue to be fun.

KING: Keep watching. The Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General on one side, the House Intelligence Committee on the other side. You know, the President is actually with the committee. Now these guys we'll see if we hear about that in the days and hours ahead. It's complicated.

Thanks for joining us on "INSIDE POLITICS." We'll see you back here this time tomorrow. Have a great afternoon. Wolf starts right now.