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Trump Endorses Moore Despite Ivanka's "Place in Hell" Comment; Trump Unleashes Tweet on NFL, UCLA Players; Trump's Roy Moore Endorsement Defies Republican Leaders; Trump to End Protected Status for Haitians; Tillerson Rohingya Deaths as "Ethnic Cleansing" in Myanmar. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired November 22, 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] A.B. STODDARD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR & COLUMNIST, REAL CLEAR POLITICS: But it's also an interesting aspect he said something like they're Trump voters. He has this thing about believing he's going to hang with his voters no matter who they defend, no matter what the case. That ad, that Doug Jones ad is high-quality trolling using the two Senators from Alabama and the daughter.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: On this story, but it's not the first time you want to shake your head, right? It's that question we've reached after a number of controversies like this. What is beyond the pale, right? Is multiple accusations? Apparently not. Multiple accusations from women who at the time they were teenagers, that's not enough for this president to back away from Republican candidates. Something I just wonder. You're up on the Hill a lot. Do you hear Republicans who are upset with this?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean it's interesting. This is always the case for this presidency and this moment in time. You have Republicans on a daily basis do not want to be confronted with things that the president says. Tweets that the president tweets. I think this case is different. You have the Republican leadership, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan backing away from Moore here. You have them saying that they believe the side of the women. And that's what made his comments yesterday on the south lawn of the White House even more remarkable, the fact that he was not only basically throwing had I support behind Moore but saying in essence he doesn't believe the women. He believes the judge over the women. And so that certainly puts him at odds with the Republican establishment. Of course, he likes to be at odds with the Republican establishment. No surprise there.

SCIUTTO: Juana, in effect, you hear this from the president, and you heard this from Kellyanne Conway when she said a similar thing the day before, is that the president and those Republicans are basically trading tax reform for, you know, the suffering of these women, right? In effect saying a vote for tax reform is more important than whatever happened. We don't believe them by the way. I wonder if Republican voters, you know, that's their feeling, as well. Right? Is the president in line with his voters here?

JUANA SUMMERS, CNN POLITICS SENIOR WRITER: You know, I spent some time in Alabama not long ago, prior to some of these latest allegations, speaking to Republican voters ahead of the last election there, and what I really heard from people is a rejection of what Sunlen talked about, of Republican establishments. Names I heard most often was a loathing of Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell. In that instance now, I don't know if at the end of the day the Republican voters of Alabama or the voters at large will go ahead and say the voices of these women who have come out and said that Roy Moore either pursued them as teenagers or assaulted them matters less than having a Republican House, I don't know if they'll say this. I think there is something to the idea that they're willing to accept anything not the status quo. Every single Republican and Democratic lawmaker is going to be asked if they're comfortable having that man brokering des with him and working with him on legislation.

SCIUTTO: Moore's lawyers made the argument it's a conspiracy between the GOP establishment and the accusers. Somehow, they got around a table and decided to take him down.

I want to talk about something else. The president, before he went out golfing tweeted renewing his fight with LaVar Ball. You saw these tweets this morning accusing LaVar Ball of being "a poor man's version of Don King but without the hair." Again, claiming credit single- handedly for releasing them.

I wonder, Juana, as you look, it's hard not to see a racial component to those tweets.

SUMMERS: It is difficult. I think it's difficult mostly because if you look at the president's past comments and reactions he's spent a lot of type having high profile spats with African-American athletes and public figures. Also, this morning, Jim, he tweeted talking about again about the largely black members of the NFL who have chosen to kneel in protest of police brutality on the sidelines of games. There's another layer that is important. We're learning how the president sees gratitude and public admiration. He is someone who doesn't back down from a fight. He wants to be gratified for things, wants to be acknowledged and thanked. When he wasn't thanked he didn't like the answer he got. He then turned around and said these players should have been left in jail instead. I think that's really.

SCIUTTO: In an undemocratic country, China, a U.S. adversary.

I wonder, A.B., perhaps the same question we were talking about Moore. Does Trump have his finger on what the majority of Republican voters feel about, for instance, the UCLA basketball players or is he on an island with this?

STODDARD: He's playing on a resentment that many of his voters have towards who they feel are professional entitled athletes. The sales I'm told of NFL merchandise went down more than 70 percent following Trump's five-day NFL you know, binge whatever he started the morning after he threatened nuclear war against North Korea and he started again on that Sunday and went on. His voters respond to this. He also uses culture wars as a diversion. Whenever the plot thickens on Jared Kushner talking to Mueller or anything like that that looks like negative press, he goes right back to this kind of thing because I think it works and it stokes his base, and his base is all he cares about. He's not a president of persuasion. He's protecting his 35 percent. And that's his priority.

[13:35:35] SCIUTTO: We did, though, did we not, Sunlen, see the limits of that if you look at the Virginia election, it is true Virginia has been trending blue for some time, particularly the suburban districts around Washington, it was an enormous advantage for the Democratic candidate, the perception being some of that was reaction to Trump. By the way, the Atlanta Senate race, Roy Moore still may win. It should be a give-me for the Republican Party. You're seeing the limits, aren't you, of that.

SERFATY: That's right. Going back to Moore, great reporting from our team the fact that Trump still thinks Moore can win here. That's why in essence he is endorsing him, and he doesn't want to be on the wrong side again in the Senate race. That's a big factor that's going into play that's an important seat, the politics of the Senate very much in his mind.

SCIUTTO: The polls show still a tight race.

A.B., Juana, Sunlen, thanks very much for all this.

President Trump -- coming up, the president all but endorsing Roy Moore. Will Republicans jump on board in public? Republican congressman, Francis Rooney, joins me to discuss this and much more, right after this.

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[13:40:57] SCIUTTO: President Trump wants the people of Alabama to vote for Roy Moore for Senate, even though he's been accused of child molestation. Why? Because Moore's opponent is a Democrat. Here listen for yourself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESWIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I can tell you one thing for sure. We don't need a liberal person in there, a Democrat. We do not need somebody that's going to be bad on crime, bad on borders, bad with the military, bad for the Second Amendment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: The president's endorsement defies Republican leaders who have called for Moore to step down and begs the question at what point do morals come before politics.

With me to help answer that is Republican Congressman Francis Rooney, a Florida Congressman.

Thank you for taking the time, particularly on this difficult subject.

REP. FRANCIS ROONEY, (R), FLORIDA: Thanks for having me on.

SCIUTTO: You heard the president's words yesterday, not only tacitly supporting Moore but dismissing really the accounts of these women based on Moore's denials. What's your reaction? ROONEY: There's too much smoke for there not be some fire. I watched

the clip about one of the ladies that came forward and how she agonized many years on what to do about it. It seems most everybody that's heard these kinds of things seems to line up unanimously this guy is a bad guy.

SCIUTTO: The president seemed to say it's been 40 years. You'll often hear that when women come out, why did they wait, but as if it would be a pleasant experience for a woman to tell the story.

ROONEY: I think it's very difficult for these people to do that. I would rather him not be serving in the United States Congress with that kind of background.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you this. Reacting to the president's decision here, if this isn't a disqualifying offense, what is?

ROONEY: This is a pretty bad disqualifying offense. I agree with the president's frustration about having a solid Republican seat go to a Democrat. I said on CNN the other day, my wish list would be that he win, and is indicted and made to resign and we get a better Republican appointed by the Republican governor.

SCIUTTO: You want to see Roy Moore win a Senate seat regardless of what happens --

(CROSSTALK)

ROONEY: I wouldn't want to see him stay in the Senate.

SCIUTTO: You want him to win?

ROONEY: I would rather have a Republican Senator. I think the president's very frustrated about that, as well.

SCIUTTO: You would rather have a Republican Senator accused -- and you just said that you believe there's fire here.

(CROSSTALK)

ROONEY: As long as I knew he was not going to not serve, that he would be dealt with severely and made to resign immediately.

SCIUTTO: How can you get that guarantee? Is there any plan in place to do that if he wins?

ROONEY: I doubt it. You would have to know there was an indictable offense.

SCIUTTO: Right.

ROONEY: But it sounds like some of this stuff ought to be indictable. I don't know how long the statute of limitations go on, but these are heinous offenses he's charged with.

SCIUTTO: With no guarantee that's what would happen if he were to win and be seated, you're in effect saying that you would take a Republican accused of this behavior.

ROONEY: Only if I absolutely -- if we absolutely knew he was never going to serve. It's a pipe dream. I think the risk of this guy serving is too great to support having him win.

SCIUTTO: So what would you like to see Republicans do?

ROONEY: I would like to see Republicans continue to lead a moral regeneration of our country. I think this whole moral degradation we're suffering crosses many fronts, whether it's pro football players, whether it's hate crime people like the white supremacists and AntiFa people, and now this sex crimes across would, across business, across politics is just overwhelming.

SCIUTTO: Is the president helping or hurting fighting that, as you say, moral degradation?

ROONEY: It's up to the president to decide what he wants to do. I would have rather just seen no support for Roy Moore myself.

SCIUTTO: You have a daughter. You have a granddaughter. I have a daughter, as well. You must watch this with particular emotional reaction, I imagine, as well to see someone accused of this. You seem to have a pattern of preying on girls in their teens.

ROONEY: It is very, very -- it's emotional to me, but it's emotional in a broader sense, too. I was an ambassador of the Vatican. I believe we have a moral duty to lead and have a moral conscience in our country. That's how our country was set up through the Declaration of Independence. We weren't the corrupt monarchists of Europe. We're the people looking for the city on the hill. We've got to get back to that.

[13:45:19] SCIUTTO: How does the Republican Party take leadership in doing that if the Republican president is endorsing a man like Roy Moore?

ROONEY: Well, I think there's some things we can do. I think we can work to restore work opportunities into welfare and entitlements as President Clinton and Newt Gingrich did.

(CROSSTALK)

SCIUTTO: I know entitlement reform is a position. Does entitlement reform actually helping with a case like this where a guy's been accused --

(CROSSTALK)

ROONEY: Nothing helps with a case like this. In the broad brush of human dignity that comes with work is something we can do for people to broaden opportunities.

SCIUTTO: I'm asking you directly, do you think the president's position on this and other positions is hurting the country's moral standing? ROONEY: Well, I don't think it's -- I don't think it does any good to

come out and defend this guy with all these accusations made, even though they were 40 years ago.

SCIUTTO: I wonder if privately on -- obviously, it may be difficult for Republicans to make public statements that contradict the president vehemently and in public. In private, on the Hill, do you hear deep concern how this race is going and the president's endorsement and the very -- the possibility that Moore might very well be seated in the Senate?

ROONEY: I think what you have seen and reported on is pretty accurate. Nobody that I've heard wants to see a person with this background in the United States Congress, including me.

SCIUTTO: Well, I want to ask you, if I can before I let you go, the Trump administration's decision to end protected status for Haitians. Florida took in a lot of Haitians after the horrible earthquake in 2010. The designation was intended to be temporary. Why now, in your view? Why are they doing this now.

ROONEY: It was due to expire in March or earlier. He extended once to March. It's really kind of a bizarre policy to say to these people -- you can come here on a temporary protected status and stay for maybe as many as 20 years, and then we're going to kick you out? I know the Haitians in our community. They're good people, hard workers, important members of our community. I hope we have the two- year window to figure something out, perhaps in the nature of work permits and perhaps in the nature of immigration reform which beefs up our security and makes America feel again, combining those kinds of things so we can find a better answer for these people.

SCIUTTO: So you don't want them forced to go home?

ROONEY: No. I would hate to lose them. One of the issues we have to face after tax reform is, if we want to get the full benefits of it to ignite growth in our country, we have to deal with the workplace. We need career technical education, so we have jobs that can be done by the people that have the skills to do the jobs we have now. We need to have work permits for people to do jobs that no one wants to do in America. The agricultural industry, construction industry and the hospitality industry is crying out for H-2 visa people.

SCIUTTO: Congressman Rooney, thanks for taking the time. Let me take this chance to wish you and your family a happy Thanksgiving.

ROONEY: Happy Thanksgiving. Thank you for having me on.

SCIUTTO: Thank you very much.

A massacre unfolding before the world's eyes as militants murder thousands belonging to a religious minority and now the U.S. making a major declaration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:52:55] SCIUTTO: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is formally calling violence against a group of minority Muslims in Myanmar "ethnic cleansing." It's a term he's refused to use previously, only saying he was "very concerned" by reports about the actions of Myanmar's military. Those reports find that in the last three months alone after a million people have fled Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh to avoid simply being murdered, simply, again, for being Muslim.

In an exclusive CNN report earlier this month, survivors detailed their stories of mass murder and rape. One woman told us she escaped from a mass grave only to be raped by soldiers and locked in a house that was then set on fire. These are facts.

I want to bring in CNN senior diplomatic correspondent, Michelle Kosinski.

Michelle, quite a strong statement from Secretary of State Tillerson after a delay.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN SENIOR DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT: It is. It's saying something powerful, but you could also say it's saying in the a very gentle way. It's not as if the secretary of state comes out before cameras and announces this. In fact, they buried the lede. And when you call something ethnic cleansing, it doesn't have any implications under either international or domestic law. The State Department isn't blaming anyone in particular. They only refer to some elements of the military, security forces or other vigilante groups, and they're not blaming the Burmese government. But the way it works there now, there's a power-sharing agreement between the civilian government, which is very, very new, and the military. So the State Department sees the government as not having a whole lot of control over much.

SCIUTTO: Is that a fair -- because, I mean, there have also been questions about Aung San Suu Kyi herself not calling out the military activities.

KOSINSKI: The State Department says they continue to push the government to do more. But the State Department has also been worried, according to sources, that if the U.S. came out right away and called this ethnic cleansing or worse that it would lead to massive unrest there, and then that new democracy that's only 18 months old, if you want to call it a democracy, could just be taken over by the military. They've been worried about that.

What does this do then? Well, they're considering more sanctions against some individuals. They see this as putting pressure on both the government and the military to stop the violence and come to an agreement about letting these people back into their country. And they see it as adding urgency. But, let's talk about urgency here. This is a full two months after

the U.N. secretary-general said that this was a textbook case of ethnic cleansing. It's three months after the violence started. And, granted, it's complicated. The U.S. sees the violence starting from an attack by a Rohingya militant group that the State Department considers terrorists.

So what this actually shows by calling it ethnic cleansing is that, in today's world, ethnic cleansing still happens and the world can't come up with an acceptable intervention.

[13:55:57] SCIUTTO: Those people have been suffering for a long time.

Michelle Kosinski, thanks very much.

Now a desperate search under way as a U.S. Navy plane crashes in the Pacific in yet another incident. The details right after this.

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