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Graham: We Want an "Alternative" Plan on Health Care; Trump in Paris to Observe Bastille Day; Trump Visits Paris Amid Russia Investigation; Trump, Macron Make Statements After Meeting; Trump: Our Fates Are Tied Together More So Than Ever. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired July 13, 2017 - 12:30   ET

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

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Doesn't having this Graham/Cassidy alternative, does that undermine the chances of the bill that McConnell and the Republican leadership are pushing?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Maybe. Maybe. It depends on how much traction this alternative gets and then a lot of it depends on the governors.

Because if the governors -- the Republican governors, again, have a lot of power and a lot of say in this, if they decide that they like this alternative better, it might take the wind out of the -- out of this alternative that -- I mean, this fundamental Republican bill that they're trying very hard, as Ryan said, to kind of tweak around the edges to get to that 50.

TAPPER: All right. We'll talk more about this after we take a quick break.

Coming up, the president is about to speak in the City of Lights as Russia and storm clouds gather back in Washington D.C.

What will President Trump have to say about the latest controversy involving Donald Trump Jr.? We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:35:11] TAPPER: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. That's a live look you're getting right now at the French presidential palace where we expect Presidents Trump and Macron to come out any moment to deliver statements and take a few questions.

We will bring that to you live. We're expecting it any minute. The two men certainly have had their public differences, mainly attitudes toward trade and how to handle or whether to handle climate change.

President Trump had plenty to say about France both before and since the election. Not all of it flattering. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: France is no longer France. France is no longer France. They won't like me for saying that, but you see what happened in Nice.

Look at Paris. I have friends who used to go to Paris. They don't go anymore. They say, no, Paris is in Paris.

It is time to put Youngstown, Ohio, Detroit, Michigan, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, along with many, many other locations within our great country before Paris, France.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Our International Correspondent Melissa Bell joins us now from Paris. Melissa, do you expect a different tone from President Trump today given that he is the guest of honor during this major French celebration, and what do you think is on the agenda?

MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, a guest of honor, Jake, who's really been treated to things that an ordinary guest of honor isn't treated (INAUDIBLE) earlier was incredibly symbolic.

This was essentially Emmanuel Macron telling Donald Trump, this is Paris, this is France. This is the history of our alliance over the course of the last century and this is why it matters. You simply don't get those kinds of visits rolled out ordinarily for heads of state.

Tonight, they'll eat at the Eiffel Tower. Normally, they would've had dinner at Elysee Palace. So, you get a sense that Emmanuel Macron really wanted to show Donald Trump what France really was and how important the ties that bind Western Europe to United States really worth.

When the two then get up to speak at the end of this bilateral meeting which continues to on which is now going overtime, Jake, we'll be looking to hear, of course, what he has to say about his son's e- mails, since we won't have heard from him before on the question.

But I think more broadly, the world is really going to be looking to see whether Emmanuel Macron was right in thinking that perhaps the American president could be convinced of the importance of those alliances, of the importance of the common values that had underpinned it for so many years and whether essentially Donald Trump is willing to continue to play a leading role in the Western liberal order.

I think there is a huge part of Europe that has given up on that idea. Emmanuel Macron held out some hope and it'll be interesting to get a sense of whether he's managed to shift the president on some of those issues.

TAPPER: Indeed. The United States' oldest ally is France. Right across the street from the White House is Lafayette Park named after French General Lafayette. Melissa Bell in Paris, thank you so much.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump is standing firmly behind his son Donald Trump Jr. Trump waved off any suggestion that his son did anything wrong when the younger Trump took a meeting with a Russian lawyer who, according to e-mail, said and promising incriminating information Hilary Clinton.

In an interview with writers, President Trump said, I think many people would have held that meeting. And you have to understand when that took place, this was before Russia fever. There was no Russia fever back then. That was at the beginning of the campaign more or less. There was no Russian fever.

The moral relativism expressed there notwithstanding. The comment ignores the fact that Russia has been labeled a geopolitical foe of the United States by top national security officials for years. Though, yes, it is true that media coverage and response by politicians and national security officials about Russian interference in the U.S. election did not begin until after Russia began interfering in the U.S. election.

Let's bring in CNN Senior International Correspondent Matthew Chance based who's based in Moscow. Matthew, what is the Kremlin response to this story?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, Jake, they're trying to put as much distance as they can between this latest episode, this latest scandal involving this Russian lawyer meeting with Donald Trump Jr. in Trump Tower as they possibly can.

They're saying, look, it's got nothing to do with us. We don't even know who this lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya is. We've never heard of her. You know, and we certainly can't keep tabs on every Russian lawyer in every meeting they have.

Veselnitskaya as well I've spoken to very briefly said that, you know, she wasn't (INAUDIBLE) Kremlin and she had no compromising information on Hillary Clinton. She said she just went there to lobby for the lifting of the U.S. Magnitsky Act which is of course designed to punish suspected Russian human rights abusers and corrupt officials.

And so, look, everybody is trying to put as much distance as they can between themselves and the scandal. Sergey Lavrov who is the Russian Foreign Minister (INAUDIBLE) much more scathing that saying a few hours ago, I can't comprehend how grown-up people can be concerned with such a thing. So, he's being absolutely scathing about this latest scandal.

[12:40:07] TAPPER: All right, Matthew Chance in Moscow, thank you so much. Dana Bash, Gloria Borger, Nia-Malika Henderson back with me. Also joining us, CNN Political Commentator and former senior Trump adviser David Urban who won (INAUDIBLE) to Pennsylvania for President Trump and in New York -- am I giving you too much credit?

And in New York, CNN Political Commentator and former Democratic Congressman Steve Israel, chair of the Global Institute of Long Island University.

David, let me start with you. In his Reuters' interview, President Trump made the point about Russia's meddling in the election. He said, quote, somebody did say if he, meaning Putin, did do it, you wouldn't have fount out about it, which is a very interesting point. Look, something happened, we have to found out what it is because we can't allow a thing like that to happen to our election process.

Every single senior leader of President Trump's own intelligence community, every single one says Russia did this and they have no question on their mind -- I'm not talking about Obama holdovers, I'm talking about people President Trump appointed. Why the continued skepticism?

DAVID URBAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, Jake, I don't know -- even in the Reuters interview, if you read through it, right? The president says, look, he pressed Putin on it several times. Pressed, he kept pushing him.

I'm not sure the president has as much skepticism as he reflects to the media. Now the president is pushing back on it hard. The president raised it twice with President Putin. The point you make that he makes about, if the Russians really did this and are really good at it, we wouldn't have find out about it is probably true.

I mean, and -- so I don't think that he's discounting Mike Pompeo and others who come to him and tell him that or he wouldn't have raised it in the meeting with Putin to begin with.

TAPPER: Congressman Israel, what do you make of President Trump's argument, specifically, that Putin would have preferred Hillary Clinton to win because he is in favor of a stronger military and he is in favor of more energy independence than Hillary Clinton would have been, in terms of fossil fuel energy.

STEVE ISRAEL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, Jake, two things. Number one, it's ludicrous on its face. It departs from all of the analysis that the president has received from non-partisan intelligence officials and agencies.

And second, look, they do not invite me as a Democrat into political strategy sessions in the Trump administration. But if they did, my advice to them would be, stop arguing about this. The president of the United States is meeting with President Macron, he is in France. France has the third largest defense budget of our NATO allies, we have counter terrorist convergence, we are fighting together in Syria and Iraq. We have all of these things that going on and he keeps stepping on the critical issues.

The real -- the problem with the Russia story is that the president keeps continuing the Russia story by commenting like this, number one. And secondly and finally, it follows him and it is infecting everything. It has now followed him across the Atlantic.

It's affecting his legislative agenda on Capitol Hill. I talked to Republicans, members of the House who tell me that they're getting increasingly worried about the midterm election. He needs to stop talking about this, stop blowing oxygen into this, and focus on the critical issues that confront the American people.

TAPPER: Speaking of critical issues, here comes President Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron. About to hold their bilateral addresses and to take questions from reporters. Let's listen in. EMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. First and foremost, I want to thank President Trump for his visit to Paris this afternoon and tomorrow morning, as well as thank his delegation.

I was very pleased to be able to welcome President Trump and his (inaudible). He accepted the invitation I extended a couple of weeks ago in order to invite him to join the families on the 14th of July, tomorrow.

I think it is both a symbol and very important that a president of the United States could be with us tomorrow on the occasion of our national day, and attend a military parade in which the American troops will take part. We will be also commemorating the 100th anniversary of the American troops joining World War I with the Allies and France.

I think it is important because beyond daily news, we live in countries with roots which are deeper and go further and beyond who we are (ph). So the presence of President Trump (inaudible) not only natural, and I think it is also an excellent thing for the history of both our countries.

Earlier today, we started (ph) by sharing part of our joint history at the Invalides museum, the army museum. Then we had a working session. And I shall say that I'm extremely pleased about it.

We have been able to talk about a number of topics of joint interests, and we underlined a number of shared convictions,and most importantly a joint road map in order to work together in the coming months.

We agreed (inaudible) to implement free and fair trade and in the field (ph), and this is what the G-20 in Hamburg also expressed in terms of (inaudible). We want to work together in order to implement some efficient measures to tackle dumping anywhere it is taking place in all the fields by sharing of information that we have and making sure that both the European Union and the United States can take the necessary measures in order to protect -- within the context of free trade, but a fair free trade -- that we can protect all of our sectors of activities where we are active.

We then had a long discussion that enabled us to cover all the topics of international policies and the security challenges for people as well (ph).

When it comes to fighting terrorism, from day one, I can say that we've seen eye-to-eye and we are strongly determined to take necessary measures in order to root out terrorism and to eradicate it no matter where, in particular (inaudible).

On the internet, we agreed to strengthen our action and our cooperation in fighting against propaganda. We want to get all the major operators to limit the propaganda and also tackle cyber criminality.

(inaudible) I believe are fundamental, and I do hope that we can strengthen the coalition between both our countries.

And it is with a lot of satisfaction that I heard from President Trump the very same approach, and all services will therefore be working together in the coming weeks and months to have a solid action map for that.

Regarding the situation in Iraq and in Syria, here again we agreed to continue to work together, in particular in order to be able to launch together some diplomatic initiatives in order to put in place a road map for what will come after the war. We talked about our post- conflict role, but initially we want to put in place a contact group in order to be more efficient, in order to be able to support what is being done by the United Nations, in order to support a political road map in particular for Syria after the war. It is important to put in place some implicit political solutions for that period of time.

We know where destabilization comes from and the road map will take care of that, will cover it. And we also ask our diplomats and our staff to work along those lines, so that in the coming weeks some concrete initiatives can be taken and supported by the P-5.

We also share the same intentions regarding Libya. And like I told President Trump, I very much want to take a number of diplomatic initiatives (inaudible), given the situation that we know, and which requires more stability and better control over the region.

Be it Libya or the Sahel, I think I can say that we have the same vision, very coherent understanding of the situation in the region, and the same willingness to act very clearly against any form of terrorism and destabilization.

Next, climate, well, here we know what these agreements are. We have expressed them on a number of occasions. But I think that it is important that we can continue to talk about it.

I very much respect the decision taken by President Trump. He will work on implementing his campaign promises, and as far as I'm concerned, I remain attached to the Paris Accord and will make sure that step by step we can do everything which is in the accord.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is in summary what we've been talking about. We will continue with a friendly tone and an informal one this evening.

Regarding trade and security for both our countries, the fight against terrorism, stability in the Near and Middle East, in Libya or in the Sahel, I can say that we have a shared determination.

The United States is extremely involved in the Iraq war and I would like to thank President Trump for everything that's been done by the American troops against this background [ph). But I would like him to know that I am fully determined to act together with him in this respect -- fully determined.

I very much want both our countries, in these matters, to increase their cooperation in the coming months, because the threat we are facing is a global one; our enemies are trying to destabilize us by any way; and I believe that this is very much of the heart of the historic alliance between our two countries, and which fully justifies the presence of President Trump today and tomorrow in Paris.

Thank you. Thank you, dear Donald. Thank you.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, thank you very much, President Macron. And Melania and I are thrilled to join you and Mrs. Macron.

This is a wonderful national celebration, and we look very much forward to it. It'll be spectacular. Tomorrow, Bastille Day.

We're honored to be here in your beautiful country -- and it certainly is a beautiful country, with its proud history and its magnificent people -- and thank you for the tour of some of the most incredible buildings anywhere in the world. That was a very, very, very beautiful thing to see. Thank you.

When the French people rose up and stormed the Bastille, it changed the course of human history. Our two nations are forever joined together by the spirit of revolution and the fight for freedom.

France is America's first and oldest ally. A lot of people don't know that.

Ever since General Lafayette joined the American fight for independence, our fates and fortunes have been tied, unequivocally, together. It was a long time ago, but we are together. And I think together, perhaps, more so than ever. The relationship is very good.

This visit also commemorates another milestone. One century ago, the United States entered World War I. And when the president called me, he had mentioned that fact. A hundred years ago. And that was -- I said, "Mr. President, I will be there. That's a big, important date. One hundred years."

We remember the tens of thousands of Americans who gave their lives in that valiant and very difficult struggle.

We also pay tribute to the heroic deeds of the French troops whose courage at the Battle of Marne (sic) and countless other battles will never be forgotten by us. More than 1 million French soldiers laid down their lives in defense of liberty. Their sacrifice is an eternal tribute to France and to freedom.

French and American patriots have fought together, bled together and died together in the fight for our countries and our civilizations. Today, we face new threats from rogue regimes like North Korea, Iran and Syria, and the governments that finance and support them. We also face grave threats from terrorist organizations that wage war on innocent lives.

Tomorrow will mark one year since a joyous Bastille Day celebration in Nice turned into a massacre. We all remember that, how horrible that was. We mourn the 86 lives that were stolen. And we pray for their loved ones.

We also renew our resolve to stand united against these enemies of humanity, and to strip them of their territory, their funding, their networks and ideological support.

Today, President Macron and myself discussed how we can strengthen our vital security partnerships. Just had a meeting with our generals and our representatives, and it went very well.

France has excellent counterterrorism capabilities. The French troops are serving bravely in places like Mali to defeat these forces of murder and destruction. The United States and our allies strengthen our commitment to defeat terrorism.

We're also making tremendous progress. Earlier this week, with the strong support of the United States and the global coalition, Iraq forces liberated the city of Mosul from ISIS control. Now we must work with the government of Iraq and our partners and allies in the region to consolidate the gains and ensure that the victory stays a victory, unlike the last time.

Last week, the G-20 leaders also reaffirmed the right to sovereign nations to control their borders. We must be strong from within to defend ourselves from threats from the outside.

The nations of the West also face domestic challenges of our own creation, including vast government bureaucracy that saps the strength from our economies and from our societies. For this reason, I applaud President Macron on his courageous call for that less bureaucracy -- it's a good chant -- less bureaucracy -- we can use it, too -- and a Europe that protects its citizens.

We did not become great through regulation, and in the United States, Mr. President, we also have cut regulations at a level that we've never seen before. So we're very proud of that over the last six months. But by allowing our people to follow their dreams, that's what it's all about.

To achieve these dreams, however, we must also confront unfair trade practices that hurt our workers, and pursue trade deals that are reciprocal and fair. Both President Macron and I understand our responsibility to prioritize the interests of our countries, and at the same time to be respectful of the world in which we live. We live in a very complex world. We have to respect it.

The United States remains committed to being a leader in environmental protection, while we advance energy security and economic growth. The friendship between our two nations and ourselves, I might add, is unbreakable. Our occasional disagreements are nothing compared to the immortal bonds of culture, destiny and liberty that unite us -- so strongly unite us also.

As long as we have pride in who we are, where we've come from, how we got here, and what we've achieved as free and democratic nations, then there is nothing we cannot accomplish together. France helped us secure our independence. A lot of people forget. In the American Revolution, thousands of French soldiers fought along-side American troops so that, as Lafayette said, "liberty would have a country."

Ever since then, courageous heroes from both nations have fought for the same noble values and the same righteous cause. Tomorrow, the French tricolor will once again wave proudly along-side the American stars and stripes. Our brave soldiers will march side by side and we will all be inspired to protect and cherish the birthright of freedom that our ancestors won for us with their sweat and with their blood. President Macron, thank you for inviting Melania and myself to this historic celebration, and to you and your spectacular country, may God bless France and may God bless America.

Thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President.

MACRON (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Very well. We will be taking four questions. Neither President Trump nor myself have a microphone.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: He's getting the first question? The president?

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: A question from (inaudible) -- a question first of all for President Macron regarding what you said on the occasion of the press conference together with Chancellor Merkel.

Do you still hope President Trump -- or do you still hope that President Trump could change his mind regarding the Paris accord?

And now, President Trump, is it possible for you to come back to the Paris accord and change your mind?

Next regarding your relations, how would you describe it today? What about the dinner tonight? Is it going to be a dinner between friends?

MACRON (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Well, regarding climate, well, we have a number of disagreements which are in particular due to the commitments taken by President Trump vis-a-vis his -- during the presidential campaign.

[13:00:00] So did I. I'm aware of how important that is, but we therefore talked about our disagreement. And we actually discussed the matter even before President Trump reached a decision.