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Closely-Watched G.A. House Race Down To The Wire; Democrats To Begin Halting Senate Business Tonight; GOP Leaders Under Fire Over Secrecy Of Health Care Bill; Russia To Treat U.S. Planes In Syria As "Targets". Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired June 19, 2017 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00] JOHN KING, INSIDE POLITICS HOST: Look at the residents with college degrees, nearly 60 percent in this Georgia district, lower numbers in those other districts. Those are the voters if you go back to the Election Day 2016. That's why Democrats think they have a chance here. They think, yes, these are Republicans but they are not Trump Republicans.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Yes, and they want those crossover voters. That's going to be, of course, critical but those are highly educated suburban Republican voters. Early vote suggests that this is going to be -- Trump is going to be rather significant. More so than a typical special election. More presumably on par with what you would see actually in a midterm election.

The Republicans actually, they feel OK about the midterm or the turnout numbers so far but the question is whether or not those Republicans are coming out early, voting for Ossoff instead. It will be -- it was probably be pretty close.

KING: And in the last minute, the horror of last week here in Washington, the shooting, has been brought into this race. And it seems to be Republicans are hoping it helps them gin up turnout. It's a sentence I never thought I'd speak, now that Republican said -- some Republicans think a tragedy will help them gin up turnout. But here's Brad Carver, he's the Republican chairman in the neighboring congressional district. I'll tell you what I think the shooting is going to win this election for us. It's not going to be a blowout, it will be close but we'll win it.

And I really do think the congressional baseball shooting is going to decide the election. That's Brad Carver's opinion. He gave that there. Now here's an ad on television by a PAC that got involved in this race. Again, fact-check this yourself if you wish, but again, trying to seize on the shooting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The unhinged left is endorsing and applauding shooting Republicans. When will it stop? It won't if Jon Ossoff wins on Tuesday because the same unhinged leftists cheering last week's shooting are all backing Jon Ossoff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Kathy Griffin did a reprehensible thing there. I don't think she cheered last week's shooting, but she did a reprehensible thing. But ads often conflate things and go off the facts. But is there some reason to think that that can change the dynamic of the race? Or does that tell you that that's kind of a sort of a desperate effort?

MICHAEL SHEAR, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Well, I think my experience, and I'm sure we've all had the same experience covering these races is that that ads that kind of cross the line of acceptability in most people's minds generally backfire. They generally don't work the way that folks think, that, you know, the folks that are producing them think they might. So -- And because this race has had so much money and there have been so many ads, it feels like this one is sort of going to get lost in the bigger picture of the nationalized race and the Donald Trump and everything else. But I guess, you know, at the end of the day you just sort of never know, right?

KING: So let's start, what is this about? What will we be talking about on Wednesday in the sense that, you know, Democrats say if we win this, it's proof that the bottom has collapsed on Republicans, that the House is gettable next year because a lot of those, Democrats have to win a lot of Republican seats and when they look at the map they think there are a lot of seats like this. That are Republican, that Trump carried but not by huge margins and you have a lot of these suburbanites who might say, you know what, I don't like this and I want to send a message.

JACKIE CALMES, LOS ANGELES TIMES: Barring Karen Handel winning by -- winning and winning by a lot larger margin than anybody is predicting, I think even for Jon Ossoff to come close, that he's come this close is already sending tremors through the Republican conference in the Senate and the Caucus in the House. I just think this is a real turning point. It couldn't come at a worse time. The President has squandered his honeymoon, major legislation has not even come to a vote, and has not cleared Congress and this will just put scare into a lot of Republican voters.

KING: And let's listen to that point. A cabinet member, a Trump cabinet member, the Agriculture Secretary, Sonny Perdue, used to be the governor of Georgia, down there campaigning for Karen Handel this week and acknowledging some Republicans aren't happy with the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SONNY PERDUE, AGRICULTURE SECRETARY: I know some of you out there, some of you, some Republicans may even be turned off by our President. And I don't think you are. I'm not, because let me tell you, let me tell you, I know it's hard. And let me just share, I was in Miami yesterday with him. The President keeps his promises.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KING: Ending there by being positive about the President, but the fact that a Trump ally and a cabinet member and who is the former governor of the state has to look people in the eye and say I know a lot of you aren't happy, now that speaks volumes.

MARY KATHARINE HAM, THE FEDERALIST: Yes, I think that's going to be part of the language of 2018 and it has to be if they are going to do this. I do think special elections don't mean as much as we make them mean, but this would mean something if Ossoff was able to pull it over the line. On the other hand, demoralization once again if he's not able to. Because this was big -- this was the ring -- yes.

KING: With all the money that went into it, if the Democrats don't win this one, I think you'll see air come out of that balloon and you're right. If the Democrat does win this, will it be overhype, yes. But will Republicans, that technical term bedwetting they call it in Washington, we see some of it -- that I suspect we'll see some of that.

[12:35:01] Up next, putting together a giant health care bill in secret. That's a horrible idea, Republicans say. Well, that's what they used to say.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Welcome back. The work week is off to a contentious start in the United States Senate. Democrats are mad at what they call a shameful secret Republican health care negotiation, and say they will demonstrate their displeasure by using procedural rules to stall most Senate business starting tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: We have an insane process. Insane. Here you have legislation which deals with one-sixth of the American economy. That's the health care situation. And there are Republicans who haven't even seen this legislation and certainly no member in the Democratic Caucus has. What kind of process is it that when you deal with an issue that impacts tens of millions of people in this country, Republicans don't even have the guts to allow it to go to a committee where we can have an open hearing, where questions can be asked?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:40:06] KING: Republicans call the Democratic stalling tactics a stunt. Republican Marco Rubio of Florida says it's OK to work on complicated stuff in private up to a point.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: That bill has to at least have a vote in the Senate, and I hope it's a vote that allows plenty of time for debate, analysis, changes and input. And if that's the process we follow it will be fine. If it is an effort to rush it from a small group of people straight to the floor on an up or down vote, that would be a problem. (END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: The secretive process comes as Republicans race against the calendar. They want to vote on their version of Obamacare repeal and replace before taking a July 4th recess. There are just nine Senate working day schedule between now and then. And there's nothing official on paper as we speak this hour. So, is Mitch McConnell, Manu, going to prove his legacy as Harry Houdini here or?

RAJU: He could. That's one thing when you talk to Democrats. They say, well, you don't want to rule out Mitch McConnell's ability to get legislation through. But, that being said, they have problems in their own conference getting the support. They cannot lose more than two votes. They've already, almost certainly they'll lose Rand Paul, almost certainly going to lose Susan Collins. Then you have a whole bunch of senators who come from Medicaid expansion states who are concerned about the cuts that they're talking about here. You know, people who are up for re-election like Nevada Republican Dean Heller on a difficult position as well as what do the Conservatives like Mike Lee of Utah, Ted Cruz do if this bill moves to the left in certain areas in order to placate some of their more moderate members.

McConnell, that being said, McConnell still wants a vote by next week. Marco Rubio says it should be open to a deliberate process. But the procedure they are using is designed to short-circuit the process under the budget procedures. And they can pass it if they do have the votes in just a matter of a couple days in the Senate because of the rules that they are employing.

KING: And you mentioned some of the key senators, three or four over here on the conservative side, I guess that should be this way, that's to my right, three or four over here on the conservative side, four or five over here, moderate, more moderate or from states with opioid issues who want some money put in there. Among them, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska who doesn't like how they are doing this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R), ALASKA: Yes, I got a problem with it. If I'm not going to see a bill before we have a vote on it, that's just not a good way to handle something that is as significant and important as health care.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHEAR: Well, I think the great irony here as you mentioned at the top of the show, the Republicans had just hammered the Democrats for, you know, not being open enough about their health care bill, and yet I remember covering President Obama -- I mean, how many health care town halls and efforts did I, you know, sort of follow the President around all over the country? I mean, that health care bill was kind of out and in the public for months and months and months while they all debated and that allowed folks to take shots at it. But this is, you know, a matter of days.

CALMES: We can still remember how angry Democrats got that the Obama White House was leaving the process open and allowing then Chairman Max Baucus at Finance Committee to work with Chuck Grassley, the Republican, and other Republicans to try to get their input. And it just went on and on and on to the point where it was nearly fatal to the bill. And, you know, wants -- so it's just the -- it's bringing, as we are reliving this, it's putting the -- there has been all this talk about how they rammed health care bill through which was never true. And now, you know, those facts are coming out because we're having to relive it to contrast it with what we are seeing now. Which -- you know, I cannot understate how important this is, this secret process. This is going to change the way -- further the way Congress operates.

HAM: They also passed it on reconciliation explicitly to avoid the public message that Massachusetts of all places sent by sending Scott Brown to the Senate that they were not happy with this. And further it was sold on a giant lie, sort of fact, lie of the year, that you can keep your doctor and your plan if you want to keep them. So let's not rewrite exactly how perfectly that went down.

I share the concerns nonetheless of Republicans who think this should not go down in private. I don't think it should. It is a big deal. There are problems with especially individual market Obamacare exchanges still exist, the rising premiums, people dropping out, people opting not to buy even though they are forced to, that continues to be a problem. And you're not going to solve it by doing this entirely in secret.

CALMES: Right. McConnell does get it done.

RAJU: And it's almost going to be a dare to the Republicans who are concerned about it saying, look, this is your one chance to repeal and replace Obamacare even if it doesn't repeal the law fully. That is the argument that the leadership is going to make. This is your opportunity.

So, the Republicans who are concerned about am I going to be the person to prevent this from going forward and keeping Obamacare, that's going to be ultimately the question that the leadership wants them to consider and because they're in the both (ph) way.

KING: Quickly, let's bring the history in here when it comes to the secretive process. You might say Mitch McConnell was against it before he was for it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[12:45:06] SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MAJORITY LEADER: Democrats on Capitol Hill are working behind the scenes on a plan aimed at jamming this massive health care spending bill through Congress against the clear wishes of an unsuspecting public. What they have in mind is a last ditch legislative sleight of hand called reconciliation that would enable them to impose government-run health care for all on the American people, whether Americans want it or not.

Look, we have been dealing with this issue for seven years. It's not a new thing. We spent a lot of time on it, all of us, both sides, over the last seven years. We know a lot about the subject. We know how complicated it is. Nobody's hiding the ball here. You are free to ask anybody anything. But there have been gazillions of hearings on this subject.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: One of the things about these debates is sorry, senators of both parties, we keep the tapes.

CALMES: Yes.

KING: All right, everybody sit tight. Up next, an American jet shoots down a Syrian war plane and Russia says it will now consider U.S. war planes targets.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:50:25] KING: Welcome back to the world stage. Now, the U.S. military downed a Syrian fighter jet and now Russia is responding by putting crosshairs on any coalition plane that violates its air space. CNN's Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon. Barbara, the Russian military says it will now consider U.S. planes crossing into center air space as targets. U.S. commanders take that seriously and do they view it as a real escalation?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, tensions are rising and rising throughout this very day, John. A short time ago, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition told us that in fact, aircraft, coalition aircraft which largely means U.S. war planes are being repositioned over Syrian air space, that they will fly, they are not detailing it, but they will fly differently because of the rising threat and this is in response to what the Russians have been saying and doing and to what the regime is saying and doing. So we are now within hours of the Kremlin making that statement, that threat against the U.S. military.

We are seeing the U.S. military essentially respond with a very public statement, sending a message back to the Kremlin that they will reposition their aircraft, they will be very cautious, but we are told they will continue to conduct operations against ISIS and the U.S. wants to keep that so-called deconfliction line, the communications channel, with Moscow open. So both U.S. and Russian military officials every day continue to talk about where they are flying so there is not a disaster. But this is a day when we saw the Kremlin threaten the United States and the U.S. respond. It's verbal right now but nerves are a bit frayed, John?

KING: Nerves are a bit frayed. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Thank you, Barbara. We'll keep an eye on that.

As we come back in the room, consider what Barbara just said and what's happening over the air in Syria, I want to take you back last week, a hearing on Afghanistan. The President of the United States has given his defense secretary authority to set troop levels in Afghanistan. John McCain questioning Defense Secretary James Mattis and John McCain is not happy. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Do you agree that we're not winning in Afghanistan?

JAMES MATTIS, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Sir, I understand the urgency. I understand it's my responsibility. We are not winning in Afghanistan right now and we will correct this as soon as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Well, that was last week. And Senator McCain also writing an op-ed saying, "Six months into the new administration, it still has not delivered a strategy. We cannot keep going like this. If the administration fails to develop a strategy for success, Congress will need to play a greater role."

We are five months into the administration. Whether you're talking about the very tense situation in Syria right now or the President essentially outsourcing the decision about troop levels in Afghanistan, is it fair to say the President has not been articulated enough about how he plans to conduct all these things? Or do people think this approach of let the Pentagon, this is a general, this is a seasoned guy, it's his, is that the right approach?

CALMES: Well ultimately, the President has -- I mean, there's not a policy yet, a strategy yet, for Afghanistan or Syria. He had said there would be one for defeating ISIS on his first day in office. We haven't seen it.

The -- you know, the military to some extent can applaud the fact the President has loosened the restrictions, has given them more freedom to make decisions. At the same time, that also has had, we've seen it already where it's had the effect of letting the President distance himself from things. When the SEAL incident went bad in Yemen, he said that was the fault of the generals. So, you know, you need the President to have buy-in and needs to be seen, he needs to be enunciating the policies for the American people. We don't have declarations of war. We don't have strategy. We need to hear from him.

RAJU: And pressure is going to grow on him presumably to get authorization for use of military force if -- particularly if this becomes more U.S. involvement, may be even ground troops is potentially escalating, increasing ground troops in Afghanistan. That's going to come -- this will come with an increasing amount of pressure. But clearly giving Mattis this authority caught a lot of people on the Hill by surprise. Some were felt OK about it though because a lot of them trust James Mattis who was confirmed over (INAUDIBLE).

KING: And candidate Trump said let's get out of Afghanistan. He been tweeted this. So this is before he was candidate, time to get out of Afghanistan way back 2012, we're building roads and schools for people who hate us. It's not in our national interest. So, in some ways this is part of learning on the job. That's not picking on the President. A lot of candidates say things or people -- before they run for office say things and they get the job and it gets very hard.

But there are -- you hear Senator McCain and others saying Mr. President, you can give Jim Mattis the decision but please outline something for us so we at least know the umbrella strategy.

[12:55:05] SHEAR: Well, and that's part of the thing that what's striking about this is that you had several previous presidents, you had a march towards more presidential power. Presidents that want to bring the decision making into the White House, into the National Security Council away from the Pentagon, away from Congress. The debate over whether or not presidents should have to go to Congress more often to conduct the military strikes that sort of fall short of all-out war.

This is the first time you have seen a president sort of as Jackie says, kind of shrug off some of this responsibility, which both from a political perspective is kind of strange. And also, Congress is going to start reasserting itself if the president continues down this path.

HAM: I mean, he's walking a strange line here, right? Because he's got -- I think his sort of ethos is to show American strength but also not a ton of interventionism and that's what he promised, right? He also trusts his generals and folks on the Hill, trust them as well.

But I think there's a question always in this White House of where's the message coming from and who is authorized to give it. And that's a problem when you're talking about military actions. You have to sell them to the American people.

KING: Absolutely. And that's the commander-in-chief -- that's why they call him the commander-in-chief.

Thanks for joining us in the Inside Politics. See you back here tomorrow. Wolf Blitzer in the chair after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 6:00 p.m. in London, 8:00 p.m. in Moscow.