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GOP Agenda In Limbo As Lawmakers Head Home; North Korea Slams U.S. Over U.N. Sanctions; Team Trump Rolls Out "News Of The Week" Video On Facebook. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired August 07, 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] DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Here's Senator Susan Collins mingling with staff at a lodge in Maine over the weekend. And Senator Jeff Flake, he tweeted about the view in his home state of Arizona. Senators, they're just like us.

In all seriousness, this is a crucial time for Republicans. Lawmakers are bracing for a hammering from frustrated voters over a stalled GOP agenda. Now keep in mind, a failure to convince voters the GOP agenda is on track, could be fatal for some Republicans next year at the ballot box.

And Jackie, I want you to look at this from yesterday's Wall Street Journal. It said this, a quote from Congressman Mike Kelly. "Back home people aren't mad at the president. They're mad at the Republican Party for not working with the president to try to get things done, said Mike Kelly, who hears complaints while he is doing errands at Wal-Mart in a district that Mr. Trump handily won."

And in addition to that, I want to play something from Congressman Scott Taylor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. SCOTT TAYLOR (R), VIRGINIA: But I think Congress has been the punching bag for many presidents. But as you know, we don't have a king so you have to play well with others and you have to get along with the legislative branch as well to enact your policies as a president.

So, I don't think that we're to blame. No, absolutely not. But for some things possibly but not everything, certainly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(OFF-MIC)

JACKIE KUCINICH, THE DAILY BEAST: But I think Republicans just haven't had a good answer to what have you been doing for seven years? Where is your alternative? And when you talk to -- I have senators that say to me off the record, well, we knew no one was going to sign it then. So these were not real votes but these were --

BASH: Political votes.

KUCINICH: -- these are political votes. And you can't say that to a constituent and expect a straight face that doesn't turn into a grimace. And that isn't the president's fault. It just isn't that they were not prepared with something to offer when he said, OK, where's my health care reform bill?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And the other big problem is they talked a huge game coming in right after the elections. Paul Ryan, the House Speaker, said this is going to be -- there's a unified Republican government. We're going to show what we can do as a unified Republican government (INAUDIBLE) in February in Pennsylvania.

They laid out a very ambitious timeframe. They'll going to get health care reform done by spring. They're going to get a tax reform done by the August recess. And as we know, health care pushed up until the August recess, they failed on that front.

And tax reform, who knows what's going to happen to that. Let alone infrastructure and the rest of the agenda.

What strikes me also, Dana, is the fact that some presidents come into this town, they try to dominate Congress. Some get dominated by Congress. This is a president who's being dominated by the Congress. He cannot get his agenda through and the one big piece of legislation that he didn't get through was something he didn't want for Russia's sanction bill.

BASH: Exactly. And you know, you mentioned Paul Ryan. I want to put up on the screen what a Republican voter in his district in Wisconsin said to the Associated Press.

"Paul Ryan? I don't know what he's done for the Foxconn deal", talking about a huge deal to bring, a big manufacturer into his district. "They're all working on this stupid health care crap."

And then I also want to play something that Paul Ryan himself said over the weekend about this whole notion of why things aren't getting done.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: Our frustration in this unified government is that it takes more to get things to the Senate than we would like. The administration is ready to get the bill signed. The House have been sending bills to the Senate.

We have over 200 bills sitting in the Senate that the House has passed that they have not acted on. And that is where the choke hold is right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: If we all had dimes for every time anybody in the House or the party complained about the Senate choke holding the agenda, we'd all be very, very rich.

MICHAEL WARREN, THE WEEKLY STANDARD: Yes. I mean, look, this is a problem here where basically every part of the Republican Congress whether it's the House or the Senate, you know, the conservatives , the moderates, they're all kind of partly to blame here. And so you have this problem where nobody's really you can point the finger at.

I think it's important also to remember the president's role in a situation like this. A unified Congress underneath a president of the same party. This is the place where the president comes in and sort of puts pressure on those recalcitrant members. Brings in the interest groups, you know, to get everybody in sort of outside on board.

This President hasn't done anything of that from the very beginning of the health care debate, for instance. I remember right after the first failure I talked to somebody at the White House, I said, so where was the outside support for this? There were no organizing of outside groups --

BASH: In fact, the outside groups, if you heard from them, it was an opposition.

WARREN: Exactly, it was like a -- it was a very late meeting late in the process and it just didn't do it. This is a role for the president in our current system, and this is a president who's not playing that role.

BASH: And Margaret, is part of the issue just that, you know, who Donald Trump is? I mean, he did come in as an outsider. He did -- many Republicans think he took a -- you know it was a hostile takeover of the Republican Party which is why the voters loved him. Because he's not, you know, your average guy, which is -- which had benefits in getting elected but certainly poses challenges in governing.

[12:35:10] MARGARET TALEV, BLOOMBERG POLITICS: Part of it to his and part of it is to the Republican caucus is. And this Russia sanctions bill as humiliating as it was for the White House to have to swallow is a gift in a sense. At least for John Kelly as he hits his effort at a reset button which is for the president and the team to say, OK, we get it now.

We get it. We understand we have to work with the Republicans not against the Republicans or this is the kind of thing that's going to happen. And on tax reform which has now taken on paramount importance because there isn't healthcare to share for it, you know. It's entirely likely that we're going to be talking about a tax cut, not a tax reform at this point. It is now all the pressure in all of this.

RAJU: And that will still very difficult to achieve. It was -- I asked Mitch McConnell this, how do you sell the fact that you did not pass health care to your voters after promising this for so many years. He said -- the first thing he said was, Justice Neil Gorsuch. So that's what he is going to tell his voters.

WARREN: It's a (INAUDIBLE) really. RAJU: He (INAUDIBLE) so we'll see if that works with the base which was of course expecting a lot more.

TALEV: But, you know, if you think that -- when we talk about the 200-day mark and we tend to think about this in terms of legislation as the limit test for whether they've gotten anything done. The administration with support from the Republicans and Congress has actually got a tremendous amount done in terms of rolling regulations, in fact creating a friendlier community for --

BASH: That's true.

TALEV: -- businesses. And, you know -- and this stuff is actually its really important if you can find a way to message it without alienating swing voters.

BASH: Yes, which the president did try to do in his tweets during this morning. One of the things he talked about was regulations. They also done executive orders which, you know, President Obama did it when he was an imperial president. But that's all with other conversation.

Up next, new sanctions and new demands on North Korea triggering new threats from Pyongyang and a vow to make the U.S. pay dearly.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:40:58] BASH: North Korea vowing to retaliate against the U.S. in response to new sanctions approved unanimously this weekend by the United Nations. This as the secretary of state calls on the rogue regime to stop its missile tests. Rex Tillerson was speaking at the regional secretary -- excuse me, Regional Security Conference in the Philippines.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REX TILLERSON, SECRETARY OF STATE: A best signal that North Korea could give us that they're prepared to talk would be to stop these missile launches. So this is not, give me 30 days and we're ready to talk. It's not quite that simple.

So it is all about how we see their attitude towards approaching a dialogue with us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: North Korea's government said in a statement today that, quote, "The U.S. manipulated the U.N. Security Council to rig up this sanctions resolution. The Democratic People's Republican of Korea will make the U.S. pay dearly for all the heinous crimes it commits against the state and people of this country."

And just this morning, President Trump spoke to Tillerson and White House Chief Of Staff General Kelly about those sanctions.

Let's bring in our Barbara Starr. And Barbara, I feel like you and I been having this conversation during the Obama Administration, during the Bush Administration, during the Clinton Administration. It is the same problem just getting worse and worse.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: It is. And it's getting worse and worse, of course, because North Korea is accelerating their weapons development with those two ICBM tests just weeks apart, continuing to work on their nuclear warhead program. And as this rhetoric shows today, showing absolutely no inclination to sit down and talk or even ratchet back on their program at all.

And so you begin to see a lot of discussion about, well, what about a U.S. military option? Could there be such a thing? Even as a limited U.S. strike, a preemptive military strike, there are a lot of skeptics about what could happen if this did go to a military solution.

And preeminent amongst them is the former director of National Intelligence James Clapper who while he served as general in the U.S. Air Force, served in the Korean Theater. He knows a lot about the intelligence out there. Have a listen to what he had to say about all of this earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES CLAPPER, FORMER DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: I realized we had to keep the military option on the table to use a phrase. But I think particularly preempt of a military operation against North Korea would be disastrous.

Because I believe the North Koreans would unleash all their artillery and rocketry they have lined up along the DMZ. And they would as they have vowed many times, turn Seoul into a quote, a sea of fire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: And one of the biggest supporters of not going to a military solution, at least not at this point, Defense Secretary James Mattis also, continuing to warn military action could lead to global disaster. Dana?

BASH: Barbara, thank you so much.

And Margaret, I was just with Vice President Pence in South Korea and then we went to the DMZ in April, and it is true. I mean, the tension was already pretty high then.

And the concern is sky high in South Korea, in Japan, and in the neighboring areas. Concern about what a preemptive strike could mean. You know, it really is unclear still whether that is just putting the teeth behind diplomacy or whether it's real.

TALEV: That's right. And I think this is another area in which the Chief of Staff John Kelly is going to be incredibly important in terms of guiding who gets in the door to talk to the president. And when they talk about his relationship, his friendship with, let's call him the generals but particularly with Mattis. The Pentagon is going to be incredibly crucial at this point. His support for General McMaster and that course of action also I think important.

And another area to look at is the emphasis that the U.S. is placing on its diplomacy with some of these complicated relationships. Russia is part of it, to be sure. Part of the administration's explanation for why they just want to try to chill stuff out with Russia a little bit is the importance of working on stuff like North Korea.

[12:45:02] But, look at China that's been the most important potential partner in this. And this balancing act between trades. And the clear signals the U.S. wants to send to China on trade versus the imperative of getting China to work with them on North Korea is something you really see playing out.

BASH: And the fact of the matter is, Nikki Haley and the Trump administration, they were able to get China and Russia onboard with this resolution. And, you know, people argue whether or not it really -- this resolution imposing greater sanctions is really that strong. It does target coal, iron, ore, lead, seafood exports, other things like that.

And when you're talking about a country of 25 million people and most of whom are starving already, it could. But, you know, that they should get credit where credit is due. Getting those countries onboard with something like this at the U.N. is no small task.

RAJU: Yes, and China (INAUDIBLE) Margaret was describing too is significant and so as the shifting approach in dealing with that country. And this comes also after the most the Russia sanctions bill that the president did not want to sign included actually in this sanctions against North Korea as well.

I think largely, though -- I mean, this also does show that the president is -- who is influenced by outside events beyond their control. And North Korea is one that has spent numerous general administrations. It's one issue that is going to continue to percolate.

It's an outside event that's going to force this commander-in-chief to respond in ways that he have not seen before. And it's an example that things are just outside of control when you are the president of the United States.

BASH: And that's why he is, as you answer, the president is on a working vacation. And when you are president, I don't care who you are, you do work. No matter where you are. No matter what time it is.

And another tweet from this weekend from the president, "Just completed a call with President Moon of South Korea, very happy and impressed with this 15th United Nations vote on North Korea sanctions."

WARREN: Yes. I think it's important to appreciate just how bad the situation is and how there are no good options.

BASH: Yes.

WARREN: And that is why you're getting this sort of disparity of rhetoric from people in the administration. There's a lot of disagreement within the administration about what to do.

One thing I think that should be said for military options is not so simple as, to say, you know, it is sort of a preemptive strike. There are other military options that the administration is considering including intercepting a missile enter, either in the sea from one our ships.

There's that missile that of South Korea, there's other missile defense in Alaska, in California, there are other military options here. And it's -- again, they all have their own risks in what could happen if the U.S. does act. But that's kind of the situation the president finds himself in.

BASH: All right, everybody standby. Up next, Twitter isn't the only way President Trump is bypassing the main stream media these days. Now you can get your newscast straight from Trump Tower. Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:52:06] BASH: To say that President Trump doesn't like the mainstream media may be the understatement of the century. He routinely takes to Twitter to correct the record as he sees it. For example there was a tweet yesterday lashing out at the press for not putting a more positive spin on what he's accomplished so far.

But now, on his Facebook page you may notice that the president is using a new tool to convey his message.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, "NEWS OF THE WEEK" HOST: Hey, everybody, I'm Kayleigh McEnany. Thank you for joining us as we provide you the news of the week from Trump Tower here in New York.

More great economic news on Friday. The July jobs report added a better than expected 209,000 jobs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And Kayleigh McEnany, who we should say as our friend and former contributor here at CNN ends the video by saying, "And that is the real news."

I mean, this takes the whole notion of going around us to a new level. What do you think Jackie?

KUCINICH: I mean, I think you have to say it's the real news, sort of.

BASH: Like we're in balance? KUCINICH: Yes because it will precisely. And it does seem like this administration has gotten this from certain people at certain networks like Fox.

That said, you have seen other administrations do something like this and not -- maybe not necessarily this blatant as Trump T.V. But it's not new that you see administrations pushing out videos. That is little more happy talk than you would see from a actual news outlet.

BASH: Yes. I mean, and then there was Barney Cam which is a little bit different.

KUCINICH: I will never say anything bad about Barney.

BASH: Nobody should. And we'd be happy for a pet cam from the Trump administration too.

But I want to read you -- remember, Scaramucci, put out a -- well, he had prepared a memo that CNN obtained that he never actually got to put forward because he was only there for five minutes.

But he -- in this, he said, "POTUS is the greatest T.V. star in history. Comms should produce video content that constructively operates as the "President Donald J. Trump" Show."

And I should also remind our viewers that back in 2016 when -- let's be honest, even the Trump world did not think he was going to win for president. They were preparing Trump T.V. I mean, they actually had some rehearsals. And remember the Vanity Fair headline in June of 2016, the candidate is considering starting his own cable empire.

WARREN: Yes. Look, I mean, actually I read that part of Scaramucci's memo. I thought he might actually make a good communications director. I mean that's a good plan if you're trying to communicate on behalf of the president. Play to his strengths. I'm truck, I was thinking of --

BASH: In a vacuum.

WARREN: Yes, exactly. Well, no, but look, I mean, think about the Obama administration videos, right. They kind of carried a cinematic quality, kind of played up to his Hollywood connections.

And this -- I mean, it looks like kind of like cable news. Well, this is the milieu in which Trump thrives. I think it's -- we can laugh about the low production values but probably plays this is --

BASH: You said it right, cable access. A little more kind of --

[12:55:07] TALEV: I just think it would be naive not to think that any administration would try to do whatever version of this fits the technological times and their brand. It's just important for people to know that it's not news.

BASH: It's not. TALEV: If you like the president and you want to hear what he's promoting because you're excited to see him and his people on T.V., that's great. If you don't like the president and you want to see what he's promoting so that you can get an inside track, that's fine. If you're just curious, that's fine.

BASH: Yes. It's a fancy press release.

TALEV: It's just not news. That's all.

RAJU: And the president doesn't do interviews with us in the mainstream media but right here we do interviews with Trump T.V.

TALEV: We do a plenty of interviews. Look, there's more.

RAJU: Yes, exactly.

BASH: You're welcome anytime Mr. President.

Thank you so much for joining us on the INSIDE POLITICS. Wolf Blitzer is up right after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer.