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Source: North Korea Rejects Diplomacy Until ICBM an Reach U.S.; Trump Allies: Losing House Could Lead to Impeachment; Rising Tensions Between Iraq, Kurds After Battling ISIS Together; Trump Statement at White House Following McConnell Lunch. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired October 16, 2017 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00] REP. BRENDAN BOYLE, (D), PENNSYLVANIA: Remember, in the early 1990s, North Korea was on this path. They were not this far along. They were on this path until they were brought to the table. There was a deal not to solve the problem for all time. But at least delayed, and bought us about 25 years. I still think we have to give diplomacy a chance. Otherwise the only other alternative is a preemptive strike and we know the consequences that would have, especially for South Korea.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: The point being, and a lot of the critics point out, that, over the last 25 years, the North Koreans worked very successfully and have an arsenal of nuclear bombs, maybe 60 or 80 potentially. They can miniaturize them and put them on intercontinental ballistic missiles and reach the United States. They have that capability, which they didn't have five or 10 or 20 years ago. It certainly hasn't worked out well, yet.

BOYLE: No. It clearly hasn't solved the problem, Wolf. Like I said, really, we only have two alternatives at this point. First, to continue pursuing the diplomatic approach. I think there is far more the Chinese could be doing, and if we work closely with them, and made it in their interests. Given the fact that about 40 percent of North Korea's GDP is dependent on China. That is a pressure point we have yet to exploit. If diplomacy fails, I don't think we can live with a situation in which North Korea has the capability to launch a nuclear weapon that reaches the United States. I don't think we can live with that as a possibility. Let's try to prevent it, diplomatically, before the worst-cast scenario.

BLITZER: If the Chinese come through and oppose much stricter sanctions on North Korea, that's what everyone in Washington seems to be hoping for. We will see what the Chinese do on that.

Let's get the quick reactions to the CNN reporting from Sara Murray, reporting that there is deep concern in the Republican Party ranks that infighting among the Republicans could cost them the House majority in next year's mid-term elections. And if the Democrats become the majority in the House, possibly lead to impeachment proceedings against the president.

Where would you stand on that?

BOYLE: I think any talk about impeachment is premature until we see what the Mueller investigation finds out. My position is really to suspend making any conclusions until we see the full evidence.

I strongly believe that the Democrats should take back the House because we would be a check on this administration, not just in the matter with respect to Russian interference in the election, but also on all the other issues, whether it's health care or tax reform or environmental policy. Right now, the only thing stopping the Republicans and the Trump administration from affecting public policy has been the complete inability internally to get on the same page. Otherwise, they would have been able to do far more destruction than they had been, for example, on health care. We were one vote away from 29.7 million people losing their health insurance. If Democrats take back the House, that's no longer a worry.

BLITZER: Congressman Brendan Boyle, thanks very much for joining us.

BOYLE: Thank you.

BLITZER: Coming up, new fears of potential civil war breaking out in Iraq. The U.S. caught in the middle as tensions escalate between two American allies over oil in the northern part of Iraq. There is a serious standoff, a military standoff under way right now.

Plus, we are only moments away from the White House briefing, as former White House strategic adviser, Steve Bannon, declares war on the Republican Party establishment. And the president, right now, having lunch with the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:38:15] BLITZER: We have just been told President Trump will make a statement in the Rose Garden momentarily following his lunch with Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, and Mike Pence, the vice president of the United States. Once the president is in the Rose Garden, we will have live coverage. We will see if he takes questions from reporters as well. He suggested earlier in the day, during his meeting with his cabinet, he would, indeed, answer questions following his meeting with Mitch McConnell. This could be very significant.

A very important week coming up for the president and the Republican leader in Congress on several issues, including their desire for significant tax cuts, tax reforms. Stand by for that.

Other breaking news we are following. CNN has just learned Iraqi federal forces are now in control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk in Kirkuk following the conclusion of an operation that pitted two U.S. allies against one another. Until recently, government forces and Kurdish fighters battled ISIS together. But tensions have been escalating in recent weeks and months.

Let's discuss the situation with my next guest. Lukman Faily is the former Iraqi ambassador to the United States.

Ambassador, thank you so much for joining us.

This is a difficult situation. You have the Peshmerga, the Kurdish military forces, closely aligned with the United States, and the Iraqi military closely aligned with the United States. They were fighting each other and coming on the heels of this referendum in Kurdistan for independence, non-binding referendum. You are an Iraqi Kurd. How do you see it unfold?

LUKMAN FAILY, FORMER IRAQI AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: Thank you for having me.

I see it as the next chapter after the liberation of ISIS, only to count the remaining Iraq without ISIS in control. That's one side. Now that the central government is trying to project his power across the country, without a referendum taking place that meant the acceleration had to take place. On the other side, you have these fighters together. They have common objectives --

(CROSSTALK)

[13:40:21] BLITZER: With the Iraqi military and the Peshmerga?

(CROSSTALK)

FAILY: They are in the town together. Now that we have issues within the Kurdish communities and the issues of how does the government try to have control. Yet, bloodless operation.

BLITZER: Who is more responsible for the defeat of ISIS in northern Iraq, Mosul and elsewhere, the Kurdish forces or the Iraqi military?

FAILY: No the military itself, I mean, it's no one military. But the central government with the corporation of the Peshmerga and others work together. The majority of the fighting was done in the central government and not just in northern Iraq. You have Anbar and other provinces as well. Certainly, it's not one as well as others as well, and the Peshmerga. It's not only one --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: In 2014, when ISIS took over Mosul, the second-largest city in Iraq, the Iraqi military, the regular forces in Iraq, they ran away and left behind the American supplied armored personnel carriers, their tanks. They ran away. The Kurds stayed behind and fought ISIS.

FAILY: It's not even that clear. The Kurds fighted. The army came back again and they incorporate. Now, we need to look at the next chapter. The next chapter is they have to go politically and make sure there is no blood on the street and make sure civilians are not affected by it.

BLITZER: Here's what concerns the U.S. A lot of these forces fighting the Kurds are supported by Iran, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard, that they have forces there. That is of deep concern to the U.S., as you well know.

FAILY: I understand the U.S. has concern about that, but this is more domestic, this is more internal with Iraq.

BLITZER: Because you want to play a role -- (CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: -- in Iraq right now?

FAILY: It does. Everyone else as well. Iraq is asking people, the Turkish, the U.S. to cooperate. They are not giving them what they are asking for. This is not because of the referendum. I think there was a misunderstanding from the government.

BLITZER: The Kurdish government.

FAILY: The Kurdish government in deciding on the referendum. And, unfortunately, we have to come to this stage. The prime minister has to project power. At the end of the day, he is governing the country and has to project within the constitution. And this is what he's trying to do.

BLITZER: Do you think the Kurds will support Haider al Abadi, the prime minister?

FAILY: Yesterday, there is a split within the Kurds and that's why there was no blood on the street and the clean-cut operation of the government. Because factions of the Kurds sided with the government.

BLITZER: This is a really dangerous situation. I think you will agree --

(CROSSTALK)

FAILY: Yes, but the --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: The U.S. is watching this very, very closely

FAILY: The U.S. -

BLITZER: -- because between the Kurds and the Iraqi Shia and Sunni and Iranians involved, this could explode.

BLITZER: Yes, but the U.S. has to have a proper reading of the situation. Better on the ground. They are not on the ground. They are looking at this from far off and saying, you have to be with this issue. But, unfortunately, we are escalating the situation. The U.S. has to have a better reading and a better addressing of the issues. They need to emphasize more on negotiations, certainly, the it needs to understand what the right reading is.

BLITZER: This could really explode into a major civil war.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: I hope it doesn't.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Everybody is watching very, very carefully. Lukman Faily is the former Iraqi ambassador to the United States.

Welcome back to Washington.

FAILY: Thank you.

BLITZER: Thank you very much for joining us.

FAILY: Thank you for having me.

BLITZER: Moments from now, President Trump will speak from the White House Rose Garden. We see live pictures coming in. We will go there after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:46:08] BLITZER: We want to quickly go to Sara Murray, our White House correspondent. She is over in the Rose Garden. Momentarily, the president of the United States will be walking into the Rose Garden, making a statement following his luncheon with Mitch McConnell.

Sara, do we know if Mitch McConnell is going to show up at this event as well?

SARA MURRAY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We are expecting that, but no firm word right now. We seem them still inside. The president and Mitch McConnell huddled inside, as well as Vice President Mike Pence. It will be very interesting if they give remarks together.

The president is walking out now with the majority leader. So I will let them take it from here -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Here comes the president and Mitch McConnell. Let's see what the president says.

[13:46:49]

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you very much.

I just want to say that we just spent quite a bit of time inside with the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, who has been a friend of mine for a long time, long before my world of politics, early into his world of politics, I think. But we've been friends for a long time.

We are probably now -- despite what we read, we are probably now, I think -- as least as far as I'm concerned -- closer than ever before. And the relationship is very good.

We're fighting for the same thing. We're fighting for lower taxes, big tax cuts -- the biggest tax cuts in the history of our nation. We're fighting for tax reform as part of that.

We are getting close to health care. We'll -- it'll come up in the early to mid-part of next year. We're going to have a vote. I think we already have the votes. We feel confident we have the votes. You pretty much know what the plan is.

I believe Republicans and Democrats are, as we speak, working together very hard right now -- working together to do an intermediate plan, a short-term plan, because Obamacare is a disaster. The rates have gone up. The premiums have gone up.

The deductibles have gone through the roof. I mean, it's terrible. You look at the deductibles. Unless you really have a problem, you're not going to be able to use them.

So we have -- we have been working together long and hard. We think we're in good shape for the budget. We hope. And we hope to be in good shape with the -- again, the largest tax cuts ever passed in this country.

It's going to spur business. You look at other countries, what they've done -- and we're competing with other countries. When China's at 15 percent, when I hear that Ireland is going to be reducing their corporate rates down to 8 percent from 12. But you have other countries also reducing. We can't be at 35 percent and think we're going to remain competitive in term of companies and in terms of jobs. So we worked on that.

I was very honored to see a man that I've had a lot of respect for, James Lee Witt, of the Clinton administration, the head of FEMA -- he -- he gave us an A-plus. I just see it just came out. And I've always had respect for him. He gave us -- he's the FEMA director of the Clinton administration. Gave us an A-plus for how we responded to the hurricane aftermath, all of the hurricanes, and that includes Puerto Rico.

So I just want to thank Mr. Witt, wherever you may be now, wherever you may be listening. I just want to say I really much appreciate, because that took it out of politics, out of the world of politics, in that he was with the Clinton administration, and I'm sure remains loyal to the Clinton administration. I hope he does.

So just to finish off, my relationship with this gentlemen is outstanding, has been outstanding. We are working very hard to get the tax cuts. We will continue to work hard to get the health care completed.

I'm going to be surprising some people with an economic development bill later on, but I haven't even told Mitch because I want to focus on tax cuts and some other things right now.

One of the unspoken elements that we discussed at lunch -- and it just is not talked about -- yes, we got a great justice, Justice Gorsuch, into the United State Supreme Court. He is going to be outstanding, hopefully for many, many years.

But something that people aren't talking about is how many judges we've had approved, whether it be the Court of Appeals, circuit judges, whether it be district judges. We have tremendous, right now, under review. The Democrats are holding them up beyond anything -- beyond comprehension, they're holding them up. I mean, frankly, they have terrible, terrible policy -- terrible policy, and perhaps they're not even good politicians, but they are good at obstruction.

So I looked at some of these numbers. Between the judges -- and I -- I want to say that we will set records in terms of the number of judges.

And if you read the Wall Street Journal, I have to give them a -- a little bit of a -- a person -- a writer, I won't mention names, but you can look at -- who has really been a really fair person, wrote an article or -- or wrote an editorial, in a sense, saying how well we're doing with judges and appointments.

I think it's one of the big unsung things of this administration, in addition to the fact that we have had a lot of legislation passed, on the V.A. and lots of other things.

But the judge story is an untold story; nobody wants to talk about it. But when you think about it, Mitch and I were saying, that has consequences 40 years out, depending on the age of the judge -- but 40 years out.

So numerous have been approved. Many, many are in the pipeline. The level of quality is extraordinary. And I just wanted to say that we're working very closely on that also, and getting really great reviews from those people, and in many cases, some scholars that have been studying it.

There has never been anything like what we've been able to do together with judges.

So with that, I'd like to have Mitch say a few words. And if you want to do a little question and answer, we can do that also.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MAJORITY LEADER: Well, thank you very much, Mr. President.

I want to underscore what the president said. We have the same agenda. We've been friends and acquaintances for a long time. We talk frequently. We don't give you a readout every time we have a conversation, but frequently we talk on the weekends about the issues that are before us.

Obviously, passing the budget, which enables tax reform and tax deduction comes next. Then the supplemental, to take adequate care of those who've been harmed by the natural disasters we've been afflicted with lately.

And of course the Senate's unique role, that seems to me a lot of people forget, we're in the personnel business. There are 1,200 of the president's nominations subject to confirmation in the Senate. The House is not in the personnel business; we are. The single most significant thing this president has done to change America is the appointment of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. But it's not just the Supreme Court. There are a lot of vacancies at both the circuit court and district court level.

As the president's indicated, young, conservative -- and when we say "conservative" about a judge, what we're talking about here are the kind of people the president's appointing to the courts believe that the role of a judge is to try to rule based upon what the law says, not what they hoped the outcome would be.

As Justice Scalia used to say, if the judge is not occasionally unhappy with the conclusion he reach, he's not a very good judge. Or as Justice Gorsuch put it down in my state a couple of weeks ago, judges don't wear red, they don't wear blue, they wear black.

And those are the kind of people the president is sending up to the Senate to be confirmed. Many of them, as he pointed out, younger, who will be on the bench for a long time and have a great deal to do with what kind of country we're going to have far into the future.

Legislatively, obviously the top priority is tax reduction. And I think what the president and I would both like to say to you today, contrary to what some of you may have reported, we are together totally on this agenda to move America forward.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: John (ph)?

QUESTION: Mr. President, what is the timetable for tax reform? Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said he wants to get it done by the end of the year; even (ph) make the House stay through the Christmas break in order to get it done. Senate majority leader said, "We'll get it done this Congress."

Would you be OK if tax reform was not passed until next year instead of this year?

TRUMP: Well, I would like to see it be done this year, John (ph). I would like very much to see it be done this year. So we won't go a step further. If we get it done, that's a great achievement.

But don't forget, it took years for the Reagan administration to get taxes done. I've been here for nine months -- a little more than nine months.

I can say the same thing for health care. If you look at Obama -- first of all, you look at Clinton, they weren't able to get it done. You look at other adminis -- they weren't able to get it done.

President Obama, after a long period of time, was able to finally push it through, but pushed through something that's now failed. Really failing badly.

But again, we're meeting -- Democrat, Republican are meeting right now, and right now they're working on something very special.

But I have to tell you, I really believe that we have a very good chance -- and I think Mitch feels the same way -- of getting the -- of getting the taxes done, hopefully fairly long before the end of the year. That's what we'd like to see.

Go ahead.

(CROSSTALK)

MCCONNELL: Could I just add?

Yeah, let me just -- let me just add to what the president said.

The goal is to get it done this calendar year. But it is important to remember that Obama signed Obamacare in March of year two. Obama signed Dodd-Frank in July of year two.

We're going to get this job done, and the goal is to get it done by the end of the year.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: And just to finish up for Mitch -- and we're nine months, right?

MCCONNELL: (inaudible) TRUMP: So -- so we could have a long way to go, but that's OK.

Yes?

QUESTION: Thank you very much.

Thanks for (inaudible) question.

One, do you still have confidence in Representative Tom Marino to be your drug czar?

And on health care, in a recent tweet, you said, "The only problem I have with Mitch McConnell is that after hearing repeal and replace for seven years, he failed. That should never have happened." Do you still think he failed?

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Well, let's go...

QUESTION: Do you have confidence in (inaudible)?

TRUMP: Let's go to the second part of your question, with Mitch.

Again, we've been doing health care for, really, seven months -- and probably six months, if you think about it, because we started in -- probably a total of six months. Others were two and a half years, and much more than that. Others were eight years, and they didn't get it passed. This man is going to get it done, OK? And I think get it done long

before anybody else. And I think it's going to be a great health care.

As far as Tom Marino, so he was a very early supporter of mine -- the great state of Pennsylvania. He's a great guy. I did see the report. We're going to look into the report. We're going to take it very seriously.

Because we're going to have a major announcement, probably next week, on the drug crisis and on the opioid massive problem, and I want to get that absolutely right.

This country, and frankly the world, has a drug problem. The world has a drug problem. But we have it and we're going to do something about it.

So I'm going to have a major announcement on that problem next week. We're going to be looking into Tom.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President. (inaudible).

I'd like to ask you, do you support the plan by people who previously served in your administration, such as Steve Bannon, to primary Republican candidates in the 2018 elections who do not support your agenda?

TRUMP: Well, I have a very good relationship, as you know, with Steve Bannon. Steve's been a friend of mine for a long time. I like Steve a lot.

Steve is doing what Steve thinks is the right thing. Some of the people that he may be looking at, I'm going to see if we talk him out of that, because frankly, they're great people.

What Mitch will tell you is that, maybe with the exception of a few -- and that is a very small few -- I have a fantastic relationship with the people in the Senate, and with the people in Congress. I mean, I have a -- with our House of Representatives.

I have a great relationship with political people. If you read the papers, you think it's -- I'm like on one island, and they're like on the other. Well, it's not the way it is.

We have a fantastic relationship. I'm friends with most of them. I can say, and I -- I don't think anybody could have much of a higher percentage, but I'm friends with most of them. I like and respect most of them. And I think they like and respect me.

Just so you understand, the Republican Party is very, very unified. When we get things approved, we have to go through hell, because we have no Democrat support. We have nobody. We don't have a vote from the Democrats. As an example, massive tax cuts. We may not get any Democrat votes. Now, we also may get three or four. But we may get no -- For massive tack cut -- tax cuts. We're the highest-taxed country in the world, and yet we may get no Democrat support. And that's because they're obstructionists, and they just basically want us to do badly, but that's not going to happen.

Yes, go ahead.

QUESTION: On the opioid crisis, I listened to you on the campaign trail talk about that repeatedly.

TRUMP: Right.

QUESTION: You said you watched the "60 Minutes" report last night.

TRUMP: Yes.

QUESTION: Number one, do you want to reverse the law that Congressman Marino helped pass that -- that the DEA whistleblowers say has contributed to the expansion of the opioid crisis?

[14:00:00] TRUMP: We're going to look at that very closely.

QUESTION: And -- does his sponsorship of that law in any way undermine your confidence --