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Government Shutdown Debate; Congress Votes on Disaster Package; CHIP Program Vote; Congress to Look at DACA Fix; Another North Korean Defector; Paul Calls for Probe; U.N. Votes on Israel; Looming Government Shutdown. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired December 21, 2017 - 13:00   ET

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

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 8:00 p.m. in Jerusalem, 9:00 p.m. in Moscow. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

Ambassador Nikki Haley issuing a direct threat to U.S. allies as more than a hundred countries speak out against the president, President Trump's decision to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and recognize that city as Israel's capital.

Also, a growing battle over the Russia narrative as Republicans increase the call to investigate the FBI and the Department of Justice over alleged bias.

And shutdown showdown. A government shut down here in Washington, threatening to overshadow the Republican tax win. Caught in the middle, funding for health insurance for millions of low income children in the United States.

But let's get to the breaking news. A stunning rebuke aimed at the United States right now. In an overwhelming show of force, the United Nations general assembly just voted 128 to nine to declare U.S recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, quote, "null and void."

Before the vote, U.S. ambassador of the U.N., Nikki Haley, issued a threatening warning saying there would be consequences for that decision.

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NIKKI HALEY, U.S. AMBASSADOR OF THE UNITED NATIONS: The United States will remember this day in which it was singled out for attack in the general assembly for the act of exercising our right as a sovereign nation. We will remember it when we were called upon to, once again, make the world's largest contribution to the United Nations.

And we will remember it when so many countries come calling on us, as they so often do, to pay even more and to use our influence for their benefit. This vote will make a difference on how Americans look at the U.N. and on how we look at countries who disrespect us in the U.N. And this vote will be remembered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Very strong words from the United States ambassador to the United Nations.

Let's bring in Senior White House Correspondent Jeff Zeleny. Jeff, has there been any reaction so far from the White House?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the White House has not yet commented on the vote that happened a short time ago. We do know the president, though, was watching this very carefully. And he, in fact, supported what his ambassador there, Nikki Haley, was saying.

In fact, just yesterday, he issued a threat of his own. He said that all American aid will be rescinded from some countries if they vote this way.

But, Wolf, that is more bluster than reality here, because the fact of the matter is so much of the aid is in the Middle East, so much of the aid is going to countries that we depend on. And so much of the aid is dependent on the House and the Senate as well here.

So, it's not something the president can just rescind. But it is certainly a moment here, you know, that the Trump administration getting a stinging rebuke there.

But as of now, we've not heard from the president or his officials. I expect we will, Wolf, this afternoon.

BLITZER: I suspect you're absolutely right. Jeff Zeleny over at the White House, thanks very much.

Let's discuss this vote over at the United Nations with my next guest. The former U.S. ambassador, Dennis Ross. He was the former special envoy for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process under two U.S. presidents. He's now a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Dennis, thanks very much for coming in.

DENNIS ROSS, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR: My pleasure.

BLITZER: So, was all this predictable when the president, a few weeks ago, announced he was going to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital?

ROSS: My guess is yes, it was predictable. Because, basically, internationally, there has been a sense that Jerusalem is the last issue that you deal with, not the first issue you deal with.

So, even though the president was recognizing reality, nobody questions in truth that a significant part of Jerusalem is always going to be Israel's capital.

The question was, if you did this and you didn't also, at the same time, at least acknowledge Palestinian claims, would you not then produce a response both within the region, certainly from the Palestinians and a number of Arab states, but also from the Europeans and others.

BLITZER: Nine countries voted with -- actually, seven voted with Israel and the United States. A total of nine voted against the resolution. Thirty-five abstained. One hundred twenty-eight voted in favor of the resolution. A hundred and twenty-eight countries, many of whom received U.S. foreign aid.

Listen to the threat President Trump delivered yesterday to those 128 countries.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I like the message that Nikki sent yesterday at the United Nations. For all of these nations that take our money and then they vote against us and the security council or they vote against us, potentially, at the assembly. They take hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions of dollars and then they vote against us.

[13:05:00] Well, we're watching those votes. Let them vote against us. We'll save a lot. We don't care.

But this isn't like it used to be where they could vote against you and then you'd pay them hundreds of millions of dollars and nobody knows what they're doing.

So, Nikki, that was the right message that you and I agreed to be sent yesterday. And I've had a lot of good comment on it. Believe me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: How do you see that threat from the president?

ROSS: Well, I think if you're talking about Egypt or Jordan --

BLITZER: Egypt, which receives more than a billion --

ROSS: Correct.

BLITZER: -- in U.S. economic and military assistance.

ROSS: And Jordan which also receives a significant amount of --

BLITZER: Hundreds of millions of dollars.

ROSS: Right. And both these countries are partners of the United States when it comes to fighting terror. Jordan, in particular, has played a significant role, in terms of the battle with ISIS, and has to deal with potential sleeper cells within Jordan. Jordan has a very long border with Israel. Jordan is a buffer for Saudi Arabia. Jordan is a partner of the United States on the peace issue.

If we are really going to threaten them with aid, we are, in a sense, threatening our own national interest.

BLITZER: And Jordan and Egypt are two Arab countries that have diplomatic relations with Israel at the same time. That goes back many years.

So, you think that was just an idle threat from the president? Because if the president of the United States makes a threat like that and doesn't live up to the threat, that weakens his credibility.

ROSS: I think one always has to be careful about the threats you make if you're not prepared to act on them.

I suspect what we're already seeing is a turn in the administration. Because Nikki Haley, today, made it clear that the threats relate more to money we provide to the U.S. as opposed to individual member states.

BLITZER: So, you think that the U.S. will stop -- will accelerate the decrease in U.S. economic foreign aid to the United Nations and various U.N. agencies? Is that what you're suggesting?

ROSS: That's what I suspect. And I think that's what she was suggesting in her response.

Because the U.S. cannot afford to suddenly cut the assistance to Egypt and Jordan, even if the president had it within his power. Because actually these monies are actually allocated by the Congress still.

These are fundamental American partners. They play a role, in terms of terror.

The president of the United States wants to present a plan on Israeli- Palestinian peace. Egypt and Jordan are expected to play a pivotal role in that. You're not going to get them to play the role that we want and we hope that they will play on peace.

We need them to be very stable countries as well. We need to basically be supporting them, in terms of what they do with regard to counter terror. I think cutting assistance there ends up, in a sense, cutting off our nose to spite our face.

BLITZER: Does it make a difference that the president, he was very firm. He said the U.S. will recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. He says the U.S. will move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. It would be the only country that has an embassy in Jerusalem.

But since those strong words, the president and his aides have also said the U.S. is not determining the final borders, sovereignty of Jerusalem. Not determining what east Jerusalem, where east Jerusalem would be, which the Palestinians would like to have as their capital, a future state.

It's going to take, according to Rex Tillerson, at least three year, maybe four years to actually find some land in west Jerusalem, build a U.S. embassy there. In the meantime, the president will continue to sign that waiver every six months, keeping the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv.

And Nikki Haley made those points in that letter. But, apparently, it wasn't enough to convince a lot of these countries, 128 countries, to go ahead. They went ahead and still condemned this U.S. decision.

ROSS: I think, had the administration's position been one where you made explicit, not just implicit in the president's statement.

When the president made his statement, A, he was recognizing reality and trying to get everyone to acknowledge it. B, in effect, he was saying, we're recognizing that this is going to be Israel's capital.

Had he said at the same time when he said, we're not prejudging permanent status, we're not prejudicing the negotiations. We're not recognizing the boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem.

All that implied that, all right, there are Palestinian claims. Had at the same time he acknowledged that there were Palestinian claims, that's the reason that we're not recognizing certain boundaries. That's the reason we're not going to prejudge these negotiations.

I think the reaction internationally and even in the region might have been different.

BLITZER: Yes, because his aides seem to suggest all of those points you were saying. And they also went one step further, saying that the U.S., the State Department had no additional documents or passports.

We'll say it's Jerusalem, Israel. It will just say Jerusalem. It won't say comma, Israel, being part of Israel. That's still going to be the continued U.S. official position.

ROSS: Look, the irony is that what the president did, in many ways, was the right thing to do. It was the right thing to do, as long as you put it into context. By not putting it into context, you produce this response.

But, in effect, also what the president did was make a symbolic move. Well, symbolism in the Middle East is important. And what you're getting is a response, a, kind of, counter symbolism to what the president has done.

BLITZER: Yes, and he does say -- continues to say, Nikki Haley continues to say the U.S. supports a two-state solution, Israel a new state of Palestine. If that's what they -- the parties of the conflict want.

[13:10:02] But, clearly, that isn't wasn't enough to convince 128 countries to vote against the United States. Honest day.

Dennis Ross, thanks very much for joining us.

ROSS: My pleasure.

BLITZER: There is also brewing, right now here in Washington, a showdown over a possible U.S. governmental shutdown. The deadline for a new spending bill to keep the federal government running is midnight Friday, so just a day after Republicans scored a major victory with the passage of their $1.5 trillion tax bill. They must now buckle down to get an agreement on funding the U.S. government.

Let's go to our Congressional Correspondent Phil Mattingly. He's up on Capitol Hill.

So, where do things stand right now, Phil as far as a temporary legislative fix to keep the government operating?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, Republican leaders are increasingly confident that they will finally have the votes in the House. This has been kind of a wild 12 hours for them.

They had a rough full closed-door Republican conference meeting yesterday, where nobody seemed to come out of it satisfied with anything.

They had a few other meetings last night and then a few more this morning. And right, they feel like they're just about there, in terms of passing a short-term funding extension.

They've -- and how do you know that? Well, they've now scheduled a House vote. It's a House vote on the short-term extension around probably 4:30 or 5:00 p.m. tonight. They wouldn't be scheduling that vote if they didn't feel confident about where things were headed.

They have another vote before that at 1:15 on an unrelated matter where they'll, kind of, double check their whipping and make sure they're in a good place right now.

But it feels like, at least according to aids that I've been speaking to, they're on the way there.

Now, what is actually in the bill that the House will be passing later today or the House Republican leaders hope to pass? It'll be a short- term extension of the government funding through January 19th.

It will also be $3 billion to extend the children's health insurance program, which has been subject to much debate since it lapsed at the end of the September, until March.

It will also have a short-term extension of Section 702, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act provision that the intelligence community has been desperate for lawmakers to push forward. It will also have a short-term extension with some community health care hospital money as well.

So, trying to wrap at least as many of the must-pass items into a very short-term solution as possible. Right now, the big question, though, is can Republican leaders get the 217 votes? They believe yes.

After that, it'll move over to the Senate, Wolf. And there is a chance, at least according to some Senate aids that I've been talking to, that they could wrap this all up tonight. But, as we know, never guarantee anything up here. Things can fall apart pretty quickly.

BLITZER: Yes, the deadline, once again, Friday at midnight.

Thanks very much, Phil Mattingly. We'll check back with you.

There's other news we're following. And it has happened again. A young North Korean soldier has defected, crossing the demilitarized zone that separates North and South Korea. This is the second such defection in less than two months.

So, what really is going on here? We're going to talk about that and much more with Illinois Republican Congressman, Adam Kinzinger. He's standing by live.

[13:12:46]

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[13:17:05] BLITZER: President Trump is tweeting about the possibility that the federal government here in Washington could shut down. House Democrats, he tweets, want to shut down for the holidays in order to distract from the very popular just passed tax cuts. House Republicans don't let this happen. Pass the CR, the continuing resolution, today and keep our government open. That tweet from the president.

Joining us now from Capitol Hill, Illinois Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger.

Congressman, thanks for joining us.

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R), ILLINOIS: Every two weeks we're here talking about a shutdown. It's getting -- it's getting a little repetitive, isn't it?

BLITZER: So what do you think? What's going to happen?

KINZINGER: I -- you know, I think we're going to pass this. We'll extend the government funding to January 19th. And I think it's the right thing to do because it takes us past the holidays. But it gives an opportunity of a couple of weeks without trying to get too in the weeds here to give us an opportunity to negotiate a budget agreement, a cap agreement. Since sequesters been in place, sequester basically rehits again January 21st. So we need to get -- negotiate with the Democrats and they had, I guess, made up a lot of real estate at some point and hopefully we can get that done before January 19th. But, unfortunately out here in D.C., everything goes up to a deadline. It's kind of tiresome, but that's how democracy works sometimes I guess.

BLITZER: Is the $81 billion in disaster aid that's scheduled to go to Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, maybe some of the Caribbean islands as well, going to be included in this short-term deal? KINZINGER: Yes, it's also California with the fires and it will

actually be a standalone package. Our hope is to be able to get some Democrats on board that would otherwise maybe opposed the continuing resolutions. So, from my understanding, we're going to actually do -- maybe that comes up second, but we're going to vote for the one-month continuing resolution, and then vote for the disaster packages. As you know, that's one of the most important jobs of the federal government is to step in, in disaster-torn areas and it's been a pretty brutal summer for that, and fall.

BLITZER: What about the Children's Health Program, the Children's Health Insurance Program known as CHIP. It's running out of money right now. They maybe have a few months left. In some states it's basically gone. Will that be included, the few billion dollars you need to keep about nine million children with health insurance?

KINZINGER: Yes. Yes, that will be included. I think -- I don't know if it's going to extend just the length of the CR or if actually that extends it to March. Let's keep in mind, I'm on the Energy and Commerce Committee. We passed CHIP out of the Energy and Commerce Committee. We've passed it out of the House. But there's a lot of kind of back and forth going on in terms of pay fors. That's another thing we're going to figure out.

You know, I guess it's frustrating to me when you have programs that people agree with in a bipartisan way and, again, we just play this deadline game out there. But it's kind of the new normal, unfortunately.

BLITZER: What about the dreamers? The 900,000 or 800,000, 700,000, you get different numbers, you know, children who were brought here illegally by their parents but have grown up here in the United States. The DACA program, as it's called. What's going to happen to them?

[13:20:00] KINZINGER: Well, nothing's going to happen by the time -- by tomorrow night. And we have until March for this program. I think, look, the president has said that he's interested in fixing this, but it's going to be a give and take. So it will probably be an issue with border security as well. And we're in the majority. We're going to get some wins on some of that.

As you know, I'm a supporter of DACA and what's been going on, but we are going to have to ultimately get to something where there's a win for border, as well as for the DACA recipients. And we do have time to do it. The Democrats have been putting this kind of artificial panic timeline on this and frankly panicking a lot of people when I think both sides have been pretty clear, not 100 percent of both sides, but both sides have been pretty clear it's an issue we want to fix and I'm confident we will.

BLITZER: I know you're on the foreign -- the House Foreign Affairs Committee. I want to talk about North Korea for a moment.

Another North Korean soldier apparently ran across the demilitarized zone to South Korea. The second time in a couple of months this has happened. It's pretty extraordinary right now. As you know, tensions, nuclear tensions at a really high level. What is your analysis right now? You've studied this very closely.

KINZINGER: Well, if you ever want to know if freedom works or dictatorships, the answer is freedom and you can tell because there's nobody running for South Korea to the North.

Look, when people live in brutal conditions, especially right now with this -- these trade embargoes, people are probably in a much more desperate situations. This is courtesy of Kim Jong-un. He has made, on the backs of his people, trying to get nuclear weapons as a pet project and people are trying to flee this.

And I think the thing to keep in mind, when people flee, they're not just, you know, leaving themselves and putting themselves at risk. In many case their families can be put in work camps because of that. And so you've got to be in a very desperate situation to do that.

I feel terrible for the North Korea people. I wish there was a way to get rid of Kim Jong-un by them. But as this guy builds intercontinental ballistic missiles supposedly now to also deliver anthrax, this is frightening. This is a real national security challenge that, you know, look, reinvesting in our military and having those options is going to be essential.

BLITZER: Congressman Kinzinger, thanks for joining us.

KINZINGER: Any time, Wolf. Happy holidays.

BLITZER: Yes, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you.

The spotlight, meanwhile, is on Special Counsel Robert Mueller today with Republicans suggesting he's biased against the president and Democrats warning against any attempt to fire or undermine him. Our Manu Raju has all the details, all the late breaking developments. That's next.

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[13:26:51] BLITZER: There's a showdown brewing here in Washington up on Capitol Hill over the Russia probe. Democrats showing up in force today. Nearly 200 have signed a letter of support for the special counsel, Robert Mueller, warping against any attempt of firing him or to undermine his investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election.

Meanwhile, several Republicans are crying foul. They're claiming that Mueller's investigation is biased against the president. Republican Senator Rand Paul is even going so far as to call for an investigation into former Obama officials. Rand Paul writes this, quote, time to investigate high ranking Obama government official who might have colluded to prevent the election of President Trump. This could be worse than Watergate, closed quote.

Let's go to our senior congressional correspondent, Manu Raju. He's live up on Capitol Hill. Manu, the battle lines clearly being drawn. Help us understand these

late breaking developments.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, really two narratives are now shaping up, particularly here in the House. Republicans -- a growing number of Republicans are raising concerns about what they see is bias at the FBI, bias that occurred stretching back during the Obama years about how the Clinton e-mail investigation was handled and what they believe has also tainted the special counsel, Robert Mueller's investigation.

Democrats, on the other hand, are pushing back. They're saying that this is all part of an effort to discredit Robert Mueller and also give political cover to President Trump to eventually fire Robert Mueller as soon as next week when Congress is on recess.

Now, they don't have evidence that the president is going to do that, but they're raising growing alarms that the president could be taking those steps and they want Republicans also to join them in raising these concerns.

Now, right now, behind closed doors in the room next to me, Wolf, is a closed door hearing with FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, where a lot of these arguments are taking shape. Just moments ago, Elijah Cummings, who's a top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, which is in part doing this questing today, raised some concerns about this hearing as well and about larger concerns about what he views as a threat to democracy. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D), MARYLAND: This is a fight for the soul of our democracy. Nothing less. And so I'm going to work hard to make sure we save that democracy and I will fight until I die.

RAJU: What do you mean save that democracy? What do you --

CUMMINGS: We are -- we are -- we have seen over and over again how the very pillars of our democracy are being cut down. People's right to vote. Come on now. Freedom of the press. You know that. CIA, criticized. FBI, criticized, over and over and over again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And also Republicans, though, Wolf, are saying that that's overblown. The president is not doing what the Democrats are saying that he's going to do, which is taking steps to fire Robert Mueller. The White House itself has said that that is not under consideration.

And just before this closed door hearing with Andrew McCabe took place, I did ask some of these members about this, including one of the members on the committee, Mark Meadows, who said he had a conversation about firing Robert Mueller with the president and the president is not taking that action. This is what Meadows said.

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