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South Korean President: Progress in N. Korea Depends on U.S.; Aides Surprised By Trump's Restraint on Ford; Trump Holds Rally Tonight For Dean Heller in Nevada. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired September 20, 2018 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00] JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: -- Chairman Kim is keen to meet with President Trump and that Kim has invited Secretary of State Mike Pompeo back to North Korea again. This warm encouragement standing in stark contrast to a North Korean state media report earlier this week calling the U.S. demand for full denuclearization stubborn. Here's a quote, the U.S. is making, demanding unilateral and gangster-like claim forcing the DRPK to act without showing its movement. The politicians of the U.S. are taking the lead in persisting in gangster logic. The future of the DPRK-U.S. dialogue totally depends on the stand and action of the U.S.

So here we are again, North Korea again saying it will denuclearize. The South Koreans who are important players here are saying this time they're being specific. This time they say there can be inspectors, but every official statement in the North Korean media says the United States has to give to get. What's the give?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Which is one of the huge issues here. I mean, what is the actual story? Like what is Chairman Kim actually want there. But to President Moon he said that Chairman Kim and -- also wants the U.S. to declare an end to the Korean War which of course is still going. And that would potentially mean removing some 30,000 U.S. troops who are still on the peninsula.

That has always been a non-starter here. So I do believe at some point there will be a second meeting with the president and Chairman Kim. Now, it -- you know, it sure be a great photo-op if it's here in the U.S. that would be extraordinary because Chairman Kim of course has never traveled here. And the idea of North Korean leader coming here would be extraordinary in every sense.

But, it's unclear exactly where this is going. But Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, I mean, he was blocked from going there initially. So a lot of this is on his relationship as well here. But there's a key meeting next week at the U.N. between President Trump and President Moon. It could give us more of a sense of where this is actually going.

KING: Right now, there are no missile tests, there is no nuclear testing, everybody seems to be talking which is progress in and of itself (INAUDIBLE) we were in the early days of the Trump administration. But, to the big question, denuclearization, I just want to show you here. At least five times, maybe six times just in 2018, Chairman Kim has said he is willing to denuclearize. But if you talk to people at the CIA or any other intelligence agency, they will tell you during all those promises the work on nuclear weapons, the stockpile of nuclear materials continues. So they said they want it back.

The Wall Street Journal put it this way, Kim did pledged to dismantle a missile test range but he told Donald Trump the same thing in Singapore in June. This time though he will allow international experts to watch. The North Koreans are experts at selling the same horse twice and it's disappointing that a minor addition to an already symbolic concession is being hailed as a breakthrough when it was the only concrete result of the summit.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes. I mean, they are selling the same horse and they're -- I think also very mindful of the way in which Donald Trump likes sort of the show horse aspect of this. Kind of the pictures of the symbolism of the fact that they're not showing off their missiles and their sort of weaponry in that last parade they had. You heard the president say that was progress, but the other progress is being made isn't continuing to build up their nuclear arsenal.

The other thing that's happening is that China and Russia are basically skirting the sanctions. So it's -- you know, they're in some ways getting everything they've wanted in addition to a burnished sort of profile on the national and international stage.

KING: And it's interesting Secretary Pompeo now talks of a deadline in 2021. He says let's get into a process. Nothing wrong with a process, nothing wrong with diplomacy because it's difficult. Although the administration of the past whether it's the Iran nuclear agreement or previous talks with North Korea, remember when Rex Tillerson was secretary f state, the president has been skeptical about long and diplomatic process.

But the secretary of state has every right to undo that but, what about that deadline in 2021. If, if, if, if Chairman Kim just agree with President Moon, I will allow inspectors in, why doesn't the Trump administration say great, thank you, we welcome that. Do it now.

You have six weeks. Here they come. If they come and you're taking this down, they will have a conversation about sanctions or economic aid or something else. But, here they come. Here's the team, they're on a place, invite them in.

RACHAEL BADE, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, POLITICO: Hundred bucks says we get to 2021 and we're having the same sort of conversation. Look, the whole thing with letting inspectors in which happened over the past few days, you know, North Korea said, we will let international inspectors in and come see us taking apart this nuclear test site.

But again, these nuclear test sites are sites they don't need. They can continue building in other places. So we're just running around chasing our tails and it goes back to both leaders wanting to have this sort of show, right? They want to say we're working towards peace. I know that Republicans out on the campaign trail are pointing to Trump and saying look, the president is, you know, creating peace with a long time nemesis of ours.

So they want to keep continuing and saying there's progress but we're in the same place.

KING: Test it. Test it. The sooner the better. Why not?

When we come back, the careful calculations happening on the Hill as the Kavanaugh controversy plays out. Just 47 days now until the midterm election.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:39:23] KING: Welcome back. Some new CNN reporting now on the president's mindset as this drama, 11th-hour drama over the Supreme Court Brett Kavanaugh plays out. The president has been remarkably uncharacteristically restrained.

Kaitlan Collins joins us live from the White House now with her new reporting. And Kaitlan, the president has been bragging about the press coverage about his unusual restraint.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He has, John because it has been a pretty response -- positive response to the president because a lot of people expected this volcanic president who can sometimes be pretty fiery in his responses to cases like this to come forward with something really strong. And instead, the president is pretty measured, he said that Christine Blasey Ford should be heard from and that she could come forward and testify.

[12:40:02] That stunned aides who were prepared and bracing themselves for the president to have a more typical response. And so for the president has been relishing in the positive response he's got into his measured reaction and aides say that they believe because of that that he's going to continue on saying that this woman should be heard, that her accusations should be heard and then she should testify on Capitol Hill.

Now, that's not what aides were thinking when that interview with this woman first published in the Washington Post on Sunday. In fact, White House officials and some of the president's outside advisers were calling him, cautioning him not to attack the accuser because that is what they feared would be his first reaction.

But instead, I'm told that President Trump was kind of surprised by these calls saying why would I attack her? And then he went forward on Monday, had this very measured response and of course John, we've seen that play out in the recent past few days.

But John, the bottom line here is, these White House officials are becoming increasingly confident that Brett Kavanaugh is going to be confirmed. And they feel that unless Christine Blasey Ford comes forward and testify, really this whole situation is just going to be a blip on radar of his Supreme Court legacy. At least that's the view here back at the White House, John.

KING: Kaitlan Collins with fresh reporting. Appreciate that. Let's come back here in the room.

Kaitlan talks about the confidence at the White House. CNN's Manu Raju just sending a note, he asked the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, will Kavanaugh be confirmed, does he have confidence. He said, quote, oh yes.

To the politics of this. This is McConnell's deputy, John Cornyn, a senator from Texas, former attorney general of the state of Texas. I wonder if this was his approach when they had big cases to trial. Asked about Professor Ford's request to have outside witnesses including the man, Mark Judge, she says was in the room at times telling Kavanaugh to stop she says, and other times egging him on she says, she alleges. He denies them.

Bring them in as witnesses write Cornyn. We already had a hearing, that's what I call hijacking the regular committee process to accommodate political interests.

That would be getting a relevant witness for Judge Kavanaugh's reputation and Professor Ford's reputation under oath before a committee. Hijacking the regular committee process? They feel like they're on safe ground on things like this?

ZELENY: I mean, they seem to be. And also -- I mean, he's not the only saying that and you wonder why Professor Ford is reluctant to come forward because this isn't going to be, you know, a jury in front of her, this is a partisan committee of course and they are letting their views go bit by bit. So I think the comments from Senator Cornyn there and Lindsey Graham and others are at odds with what Chairman Grassley has been doing because he has been saying, you know, we want her to come forward, we'll do this in four different ways. I'm not sure why they keep talking like this. They sound --

KING: Chairman Grassley largely speaking in letters so that he's not before a camera where he might see something.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's smart.

ZELENY: He is but this is -- I mean, it sounds like 1991 as opposed to 2018.

KING: Sounds like 1891.

ZELENY: I'm not sure how helpful that is politically for the midterms and other things.

BADE: It's interesting because the roles seem to be reversed here. Usually, you have Senate Republicans who are saying to the president, oh please just stop with the controversial language, tone it down. And, you know, right now, he's sort of -- he has been reserved, he's been sort of emphasizing that he supports Kavanaugh but not going after Ford specifically.

I do think it's interesting, he seems to be using a little bit of reverse psychology right now and saying, oh we want her to appear. We want her come forward and tell us her story. Republicans do not want her

KING: And we're seeing as this plays out, it also playing out on the 2018 campaign trail. Most of the Trump state Democrats, meaning Democratic incumbents from states the president won in 2016 are being very cautious. Claire McCaskill came out yesterday said she will vote no. She says she's troubled by the sexual assault allegations. She says that's not why. She says her vote is because of campaign finance and other questions about Judge Kavanaugh's record. But she's clearly confident that in a very close race that her position, I assume she assumes that helps her with women voters in the state.

Another one is Nevada. The president is heading there tonight. We'll get to that part.

But the president travels to meet with Dean Heller, the Republican, the most vulnerable Senate Republican incumbent. "I'm grateful for the White House for the effort of President Trump and what he has done. And the excitement that we have. We've got a little hiccup here with the Kavanaugh nomination and we'll get through this and we'll get off to the races."

His Democratic opponent Jacky Rosen's response, "Unbelievable. Senator Heller just dismissed a credible sexual assault allegation as a hiccup and predicted Kavanaugh will be confirmed soon."

So we're going to have a big showdown between this deadline tomorrow and a potential hearing on Monday and then we'll have an election in 47 days.

HENDERSON: Yes. I mean, Heller sort of owes his glide path to being in the general election to Donald Trump. He had first been critical of the candidate Donald Trump and seem to be maybe even a possible swing vote in different big decisions that were before Congress but now he has doubled down on Donald Trump. And it's no surprise there that he's referring to it.

You know, in a pretty dismissive way in the way that a lot of the other Republicans are doing as well.

ELIANA JOHNSON, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, POLITICO: The only question I have about this role of the Supreme Court vote and these issues in the midterms is that, we're still a long way from the midterm elections. And given the propensity that we've seen for the dramas created by Trump overshadow other issues, I wonder how many other controversies will they be between a potential Kavanaugh vote next week and November.

[12:45:10] It seems likely to me and certainly possible if not likely that there will be many other issues that arise between now and then that become more important than senators' posture on a Kavanaugh vote that could will be months in the past.

KING: It's an excellent point because history tells us if the president doesn't like the controversy of the moment, he starts a new one. We've seen that happen. There you go. We've seen that happen time and time again. Up next, we'll continue that part of the conversation. The president is on the campaign trail heading west where he's hoping to salvage that Senate seat in Nevada.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: President Trump heading west this afternoon for a two-day campaign swing that will take him to two big Senate battlegrounds, Nevada and Missouri.

[12:50:01] The goal, to boost GOP candidates and his own poll numbers which right now have taken a significant dip.

Forty-seven days out, Republicans want an on message president, instead, the president tweeting this morning. "Where is the money for border security and the wall and this ridiculous spending bill? And where will it come from after the midterms", the president asked. "Republicans must finally get tough."

So attacking his own party when he's supposed to be out promoting his own party. Maybe we'll hear tonight what the president means by that. Is he threatening another government shutdown?

He's heading out for a big rally on behalf of Senator Dean Heller out here on Nevada. That's one of our six toss ups Senate races. If you look at the map right now, he is considered the most vulnerable Senate Republican. He's in a race now against Democrat Jacky Rosen. We just talked about them on the -- when it comes to the battle for the Supreme Court.

Let's take a closer look at the numbers in this race. This is why this is so important in a test of the president's salesmanship if you will. It's a dead heat race according to a Suffolk University poll out just this week. That's a dead heat.

The issues that matter in this race, the president comes in second just after the economy. President Trump, healthcare, immigration and back to that in one a second. Here's the big deal in the campaign year. The president in Nevada not in as bad of shape if you look at the national polls but still underwater, 46 percent approved, 50 percent disapproved.

Can the president use his split even support to gin up Republican turnout or will his appearance end up exciting Democrats just this much? This race, a lot of ads spending is nasty.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have stage 4 cancer. I would be dead without health insurance. Dean Heller, I was at your town hall when you promised to protect our healthcare. But he broke his promise and voted to cut protection for pre-existing conditions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jacky Rosen is skeptical to help Vietnam veterans like me suffering from (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She skipped to film a campaign commercial.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She voted against holding the VA accountable for mistreating veterans.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She campaigned in Hollywood with Jane Fonda.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: This race is one of the six or eight factors so much in. Will the Republicans keep the majority, maybe build a seat or two or can the Democrats pull off something we thought unthinkable a few months ago which was actually take the Senate majority?

BADE: This is risky for Dean Heller. There's no doubt about it. Whenever the president comes in and (INAUDIBLE) up his base, there's a counter reaction on the left. And, you know, the Democrats get excited to vote. So I think that it could really, you know, blow up in smoke here. The difference is that the president has sort of going to states where he's been. Safe states that he's carried, red state. This is really a toss up state and state that Clinton carried and it really could backfire.

So we'll see if Heller's, you know, gamble to stick with the president, pays off but it really could backfire.

ZELENY: I was talking to a Republican who's working on that, the campaign out there and they ask me where the president is going. I said I hope it's Elko which of course the small town outside the (INAUDIBLE) but no, it's Las Vegas and he's staying overnight. So this Republican strategist is not pleased because you're absolutely right, he fires up -- the president fires up the resistance movement if you will, Democrats fuel and it help raised money. But at the end of the day, the only shot Republicans have on all these seats is to get the Trump voters back out in this midterm election.

So, they can't fault him for doing that. And he's been successful in the past. The central question, will Trump voters, you know, (INAUDIBLE) going to rub off on other candidates. It didn't work for Obama or Bush. Will it work for Trump, we don't know.

KING: And can he improve his standing among independents in the final days. Because we have the president under 40 right now. If he stays under 40 and several national polls have him under 40, if he stays under 40, the House is gone and the Senate is at risk. So the challenge is to use these rallies and other events including the Kavanaugh confirmation process to try to go up in the polls and not stay flat or go more down.

I want to show you why this matters. Look at this, Bill Clinton on Election Day in 1994 in the exit polls, his approval rating on Election Day was 46 percent, they lost 52 House seats and eight in the Senate. Barack Obama's first midterm in 2010, he was at 44 percent approval rating and the exit polls on Election Day, they lost 63 House seats and they lost six Senate seats. If the president is below 40, the Republicans are going to get wiped out, period. HENDERSON: Yes. And part of these poll numbers if you look into them for Trump, it's about these independent voters that you were talking about. And Nevada is a state with a lot of independent voters. I think something like 25 percent or something unaffiliated voters.

So what are those voters going to think about when they see Trump there and Heller really clinging to him? And you can tell Rosen is really trying to make those votes two peas in a pod all over ads or really about Trump and (INAUDIBLE).

KING: And so you're a Republican with the stake in the midterm, the president is about to go on the road and he tweets this morning, where's my wall money. Why won't Republicans get tough? I mean, they need a focused and disciplined president.

JOHNSON: I think that it really speaks to the fact that the president has always been somebody who campaigns to the base rather than the middle. And he did what was really unthinkable when he won in 2016 which was draw out people who hadn't voted in previous elections or make -- he got people to switch parties. Many Obama voters voted for Trump.

Whether that can happen in the midterm elections, those sorts of voters tend not to vote in midterms I think it will be far more challenging and I think that's really why Republicans are worried.

[12:55:07] KING: It is fascinating to watch. He sometimes said he's an independent president, going after his own party, his voters. But we shall see. It'll be interesting to watch that rally tonight.

Thanks for joining us today in the INSIDE POLITICS. A quick break and Wolf starts. Have a great day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1 p.m. here in Washington. Thanks very much for joining us.

Up first, the clock is ticking on the political cliff hanger surrounding Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination. Christine Blasey Ford who accuses Kavanaugh of sex --