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Bob Corker Speaks Out About President Trump; Interview With Bob Corker; Trump's Use of Dogcatcher Comment; Republicans Failure on Tax Reform. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired October 24, 2017 - 13:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: Following breaking news, President Trump arriving up on Capitol Hill to meet with Republican senators. He's there to sell his massive tax plan, but the escalating tension with some fierce Republican critics has just turned up a dramatic notch.

The president's feud with Senator Bob Corker erupting once again today. The president tweeting out several times against the top Republican lawmaker on the Foreign Relations Committee, including this tweet. Quote, "Bob Corker, who helped President O, President Obama, give us the bad Iran deal and couldn't get elected dog catcher in Tennessee, is now fighting tax cuts. Corker dropped out of the race in Tennessee when I refused to endorse him and now is only negative on anything Trump. Look at his record. Closed quote.

The senator fired right back against Trump on Twitter saying, quote, "Same untruths from an utterly untruthful president, hash tag, alertthedaycarecenter."

He then elaborated in an extensive interview with CNN's Manu Raju.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You didn't run for re-election because you couldn't get his endorsement. Is that accurate?

SEN. BOB CORKER (R), TENNESSEE: No, it's not the accurate. You know, nothing that he said in his tweets today were true or accurate. He knows it. People around him know it.

I would hope the staff over there would figure out ways of controlling him when they know that everything he said today was absolutely untrue.

RAJU: Do you regret supporting him in the election?

CORKER: Well, let's just put it this way, I would not do that again.

RAJU: You wouldn't support him? CORKER: I wouldn't, no. No way. No, I think that he's proven

himself unable to rise to the occasion. I think many of us, me included, have, you know, tried to, you know -- I've intervened. I've had private dinner.

You know, I've been with him on multiple occasions to try to create some kind of aspirational approach, if you will, to the way that he conducts himself. But I don't think that that's possible. And he's obviously not going to rise to the occasion as president.

RAJU: Do you think he's a role model to children in the United States?

CORKER: No.

RAJU: You don't.

CORKER: No, absolutely not. I think that, you know, the things that are happening right now that are -- that are harmful to our nation, whether it's the breaking down of we're going to be doing some hearings on some of the things that he purposely is breaking down relationships we have around the world that have been useful to our nation.

But I think, at the end of the day when his term is over, I think the debasing of our nation, the constant nontruth telling, the -- just the name-calling, the things like -- I think the basement of our nation will be what he'll be remembered most for. And that's regretful.

And it affects young people. I mean, we have young people who, for the first time, are, you know, watching a president, stating, you know, absolute nontruths nonstop, personalizing things in the way that he does. And it's very sad for our nation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And Manu is joining us now live from Capitol Hill. Manu, it's getting very, very awkward getting into this important meeting up in the Senate. Give us a little bit more background, how tense the situation is right now between the president and the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

RAJU: Well, Wolf, they -- these two actually used to be pretty close. Senator Corker was one of the closest senators who had a relationship with the president for some time. The president considered him to be secretary of state. He considered him to be vice president very briefly.

They played golf together. They regularly communicated. But it really started to deteriorate back in August when the president made those remarks at the -- following that deadly violence in Charlottesville after that white supremacist rally. Some -- Corker said that it was -- it showed that he needs to start demonstrating some competence and stability to be successful at the job.

And that sent off Trump. And that led to an extended back and forth that only escalated in the last several days when Corker suggested that if it weren't for several key members of the president's national security team, the country could lead to chaos. That, of course, led to more Criticism from President Trump.

And later, Bob Corker suggesting that this could lead -- the president's actions could lead to World War III.

Now, fast forward to today. Corker really was upset at the fact that the president continues to say something that he -- in Corker's view, is completely false.

[13:05:06] Is that Corker essentially calling him a liar, suggesting that the president said that he would -- he would not endorse him for re-election and that is the reason why he's not running for re- election.

On four separate occasions, according to Corker, the president promised to endorse him. That is one of a number of what the president, what Corker says, are mistruths, falsehoods, things that are coming from the president's mouth.

And the fact that Corker's retiring, he is at liberty to do what he -- to, really, rein -- try to rein in the president, try to go after the president and try to call out the president.

And one interesting thing in this -- from that interview, too, Wolf, was that he said he's going to use his Senate Foreign Relation Committee perch to -- in order to spotlight relationships around the world in which the president, quote, has purposefully tried to deteriorate those relationships."

So, he is -- Senator Corker is not going away quietly, planning to escalate this fight. And if the president wants to punch him, he's certainly ready to punch back -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, they're punching big time right now, Manu. I want you to stand by and keep us updated where it moves next as they -- the Senate Republican senators head into this luncheon with the president.

In that very, very special interview with Manu, Senator Corker called out the president for being untruthful. He stopped short of calling him an actual liar but his message is clear. Listen to -- listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU: You said he's an untruthful president. Are you calling him -- are the -- no question?

CORKER: Yes, no question. I mean, I don't -- we grew up in our family not using the "L" word, OK? And -- but, yes, just -- I mean, they're provable untruths. Provable.

So, I mean, on the Iran deal, everybody knows the role I played there. They're working with me, interestingly, right now on the -- on tax reform. I made the deal with Toomey that -- you know, has allowed that to go forward. Obviously, I want to make sure it's done properly.

But -- and then, everything else. I mean, four times he encouraged me to run and told me he would endorse me. So, I don't know. It's amazing.

Unfortunately, I think world leaders are very aware that much of what he says is untrue. Certainly, people here are because these things are provably untrue. I mean, just -- they're just factually incorrect and people know the difference.

So, I don't know why he lowers himself to such a low, low standard and debases our country in the way that he does. But he does.

And, you know, look, I don't like responding. I -- you know, you can let them go unanswered. But it's just not me to -- we don't do tweets like that. We've responded twice to, again, untruths.

But, you know, it's unfortunate that our nation finds itself in this place.

RAJU: Is the president of the United States a liar?

CORKER: The president has great difficulty with truth on many issues.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: All right. Here with a bit of a reality check, our White House Reporter Jeremy Diamond is joining us. And, Jeremy, how truthful are the president's charges, his claims against Senator Corker?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, you know, Wolf, this is just one of the latest feuds that the president has had with Republicans. And it's not always easy to give a reality check on these things.

But on this instance, we very clearly can. Let's start with what the president tweeted this morning when he went out and lashed out at Senator Corker, saying Corker helped President O give us the bad Iran deal, referring, of course, to President Obama.

And that was just the latest instance of the president lashing out at Corker, accusing him of supporting the Iran deal. That, of course, is not true at all.

Corker was actually a vocal critic of the Iran deal throughout his time in Congress. He wrote in a "Washington Post" editorial that Congress should, in fact, oppose that Iran deal, writing that the Congress should do so.

And that is exactly what Corker did. Look here, Corker's words. The deal, quote, "leads the United States vulnerable to a resurgent Iran, wealthier and more able to work its will in the Middle East.

And in that same opinion piece, he wrote, Congress should reject this deal and send it back to the president. And that is exactly what Corker worked to do, working with most nearly every Republican and even a handful of Democrats to reject that deal. He did just that.

That measure, though, that he put forward came just two votes short. He voted against the Iran deal in a procedural motion. But it fell just two votes shy of actual passage.

But even before that, even before the Iran deal came forward and Congress was able to weigh in, why was it able to weigh in? Well, it was because of what Senator Corker, as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, was able to do. He worked with the Republicans and Democrats to pass this Iran review act, which passed overwhelmingly in the Senate 98 to one and in the House 400 to 25.

[13:10:03] This bill was the bill that gave Congress the ability to actually weigh in on the Iran deal, which otherwise the Obama administration may have very well gone unilaterally and passed this motion by itself.

And so, of course, when we looked at -- look at this claim from the president, the reality check is that this is simply a false claim. Senator Corker was one of the most vocal opponents of the Iran deal and he worked with both Republicans and Democrats to oppose it -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, they needed 60 votes, this resolution of disapproval against the Iran deal, when they got 58. So, that was shy. But even if they would have gotten 60, the president would have vetoed that resolution of disapproval that they would have needed a two-thirds' vote to override that veto. Corker was opposed to the deal from the beginning, but they simply didn't have the votes, right?

DIAMOND: Exactly. That's exactly right, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Jeremy diamond, our White House Reporter. Thanks very much.

Our panel is standing by. We have a lot to discuss as we await the president and the Republican senators to emerge from their presumably pretty tense meeting that's going on right now. They're having lunch up in the Senate.

This is CNN special live coverage.

[13:11:27]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:15:32] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Underway right now, the U.S. Senate, President Trump, meeting with Republicans on Capitol Hill as he and Senator Bob Corker escalate their war of words. If you were wondering just how dramatic these talks on Capitol Hill are, this picture says it all. Look at this, Senator Tom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, tweeting this picture of himself bringing popcorn to the meeting with the president and the Senate Republicans.

All right, let's discuss this and more. Joining us, our CNN politics reporter, editor at large, Chris

Cillizza, our CNN congressional reporter Lauren Fox, CNN political analyst David Drucker and CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger.

You know, Corker, Gloria, as you well know, not the --

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Where's our popcorn?

BLITZER: Yes, no popcorn here. We're working hard.

He's not the only critic. (INAUDIBLE) Jeff Flake, Ben Sasse. I could go on. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski. Lots of critics of the president right now. Bottom line, though, in this push for tax cuts, how is all of that going to play out? The criticism he's getting from fellow Republicans and their eventual votes?

BORGER: It complicates everything. I mean this president doesn't exactly have a lot to show from Congress. He's got this much to show from Congress. He didn't -- he didn't do the, you know, repeal and replace, the Affordable Care Act. He hasn't yet done tax reform. Just yesterday he tweeted and undercut Republicans with him saying, you know, OK, we're not going to touch the 401(k).

So at the very least, Wolf, it has complicated things because he doesn't have anything to show and his personal relationships among Republicans are dwindling.

Now, having said that, I wouldn't say that any senator would vote against his constituents and what he believes to be good policy because he doesn't like (INAUDIBLE). But it is a (INAUDIBLE) also believe (INAUDIBLE) this is not a president who will have their back. If they do something controversial, if they do something that may not win 100 percent in the polls, will this president back them up? You saw in the House of Representatives when after the House passed their version of repeal and replace, the president called it mean. So they don't trust him. And why should they?

BLITZER: You know, Chris, you just wrote a piece on cnn.com in which you document the exchange that the president had with Republican senators. There's more than one or two or three that were sort of nasty.

CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Yes. I mean this is to Gloria's point. I mean Corker is the most obvious example here. But he's far from the only. There's 11, including the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who Trump sort of openly speculated, well, maybe you should resign if you can't get the job done. Ask me later about it.

BLITZER: Eleven out of 52.

CILLIZZA: Right. And it (INAUDIBLE). You know, this is not one or two small things. This is -- this is not --

BORGER: And it's only 1:00.

CILLIZZA: Right. Right. We're not even -- they haven't even gotten out of this meeting yet.

I think it's -- to Gloria's point -- it's a lot of legislative successes at the margins, which is 40 -- let's say 45 Republican senators are going to be for almost everything that Donald Trump is for, and the same thing would be true when Barack Obama was president. The issue is the five, six, seven in between. And a lot of them have very legitimate concerns that are both policy and politics focused. How can I make this work for my constituents?

The issue is, they don't trust him. Honestly, would you given that track record? Not just attacking personally, but, remember, he went after House Republicans agreed to a health care bill, Trump went and said it was mean and said Senate Republicans should do something. So that's number one.

And, number two, there's no personal goodwill that exists there among that small group. They are not inclined to bend over backwards -- maybe an exaggeration -- but even slightly to help him because they know he could be sawing that limb off as they inch out of it. He's done it before. There's no reason to suggest he'll do it again.

So that's where these pieces of legislation either go or fail. And it's that -- I don't know if it's a lack of understanding, a lack of care of how you get a big piece of legislation through, but no matter what the outcome is the same, Trump is going to be in a tough place when he goes to them in a week or a month and says, I really need you on this.

BLITZER: You know, David, when he went after Senator Corker, Senator Corker was on the morning TV shows, said some not so nice things about the president. The president immediately responded with that tweet. Isn't it sad that a light weight Senator Bob Corker, couldn't get re- elected in the great state of Tennessee, will now fight tax cuts plus. And then he said, Bob Corker, who helped President Obama give us the bad Iran deal, couldn't get elected dogcatcher in Tennessee, is now fighting tax cuts. He loves that phrase dog "couldn't get elected dogcatcher."

[13:20:23] But, you know what, we went back and we put together this little clip. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Without the media, Hillary Clinton couldn't be elected dogcatcher. I mean that.

And then I have to listen to a little guy like Rubio say, oh, he's a con man. This guy couldn't be elected dogcatcher right now if he ran.

I think Lindsey Graham is a disgrace. I don't think he could run for dogcatcher in this state and win again, I really don't.

Little Marco Rubio, you know, he's a -- he's a no show in the U.S. Senate. He couldn't be elected dogcatcher in Florida.

He couldn't be elected dogcatcher. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: He loves that expression. He uses it and uses it and uses it again.

DAVID DRUCKER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, this is the best Twitter spat, by the way, since Marco Rubio called Trump a midnight chalker and Trump, of course, immediately responded in kind plus.

Look, I think what is going on here, and Chris talked about it, Gloria talked about it, is on the one hand there is no trust between Senate Republicans and President Trump. And among the reasons there is no trust, it's not necessarily policy differences, although there are those. It's not necessarily they don't know each other well, although there's that.

Donald Trump likes to move around when it comes to negotiating legislative deals. And while that may work in real estate and entertainment, it does not work in legislation. You can even look at deals he has cut or outlines he has agreed to with Democrats. Look at the immigration bill. They were going to do something, but no wall. Trump then changes that. That is the original sin when it comes to negotiating legislation. If you agree to something, you have to stick to it or people don't trust you.

Now, understanding that, Corker did one thing that Republicans are not happy about today. Even though he has been in fights before with the president that the president has started, they feel like he is the one that struck first today, that he could have dismissed the questions about his past comments and let it be.

Tax reform is going to be very difficult to do. They're trying to contain President Trump from acting like President Trump. And Corker getting into a fight with him, being the instigator, in their view, does not help matters. I think he's going to be the most unpopular guy at the lunch today, not the president.

BLITZER: What happens, Lauren, if the President and the Republicans fail to deliver on tax reform or tax cuts going into the 2018 midterm elections?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Well, absolutely, it would be a major disaster if Republican senators cannot deliver on something. They failed on health care and everyone knows it. And going into that lunch today, I think that's why there was so much frustration with Senator Corker on Capitol Hill. You didn't see a lot of members going out on Twitter and supporting him, saying that he was right and the president needed to lay off.

Instead, a lot of people are just hoping they stop. Cut it out. And I think we're going to continue to see that going forward because a lot of these members -- Corker's not running again, but a lot of these members are going to go out in 2018 and they may be primaried by somebody who's being backed by Steve Bannon, one of the president's closest allies in Washington. And I think that they're all very concerned about that going forward. They don't want any more of this drama.

BLITZER: Yes, it's going to be interesting to see which of these Republican senators, very quickly, Gloria, actually goes out and speaks and reacts to the Corker/Trump feud after this meeting with the president.

BORGER: Well, I'm going to -- I'm going to predict what the ones who go out and speak will say. And the ones who will go out and speak will say, we had a very productive meeting with the president of the United States. We discussed the major outlines of what we want on our tax cuts and the president mentioned to us, as Jeff Zeleny is reporting this morning, that he'd like us to work a longer week so we can approve more judicial nominations and that's what they're going to say.

They're not going to come out and talk about this feud. And I think you're right, Lauren. I think they are saying to Corker, shut up. They are. They'd like him to shut up. Won't you just stop this and go away. We want to pass tax reform.

But at some point, some of these other senators are going to have to say, wait a minute here, we're dealing with a president who throws tantrums every morning and it hurts us. And it hurts our ability to get our work done.

CILLIZZA: I think --

BLITZER: And there are other Republican senators who privately tend to agree with Senator Corker, but they don't want to -- they don't want to go public and say it.

BORGER: Well --

(CROSS TALK)

BORGER: All of them do. Well --

CILLIZZA: It means something, Wolf, that, to Lauren's point, that the one guy who's willing to do this stuff is retiring. And I'll remind people, Bob Corker was not nearly as critical six months ago when he was undecided on running for re-election. The very fact -- Gloria's 100 percent right. The only people who are going to come out and talk are the people who are going to say, oh, it was great, we're all on the same page, blah, blah.

[13:25:08] BORGER: Well, let's see. Let's see.

CILLIZZA: The very fact that -- I think. The very fact that you won't have -- I don't think you will see any people say, you know what, Bob Corker's got a point.

BORGER: Right.

CILLIZZA: It speaks to the fact that Donald Trump remains the north star, the long star, of the m most powerful person in the Republican Party and people like Roger Wicker, Deb Fischer, even John Barrasso of Wyoming, they worry about what it means if they cross him, if they say look at Jeff Flake --

BLITZER: The senators are Republicans who are up for re-election next year.

All right, everybody stand by.

CILLIZZA: (INAUDIBLE).

BORGER: Right.

BLITZER: There's other developments we're watching. We're, of course, still waiting for the president and the Republican senators to emerge from their meeting. Let's see how tense it is inside. I'll speak live with a Republican lawmaker about whether he agrees with Senator Corker's criticism.

Plus, some breaking news involving the Niger ambush investigation. Officials now telling CNN why the American team was in that area to begin with. Big news, that's coming up as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)