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Sessions as Write-in Candidate; Calls for Moore to Leave Race; Tax Bill Includes Obamacare Mandate Repeal. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired November 15, 2017 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:16] DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to INSIDE POLITICS. I'm Dana Bash. John King has the day off.

Is a Senate swap on the table? Mitch McConnell floats the idea of returning Jeff Sessions to his Alabama seat as a write-in candidate, even as the current Republican candidate, Roy Moore, digs in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROY MOORE (R), ALABAMA SENATE CANDIDATE: Why do you think I'm being harassed by media and by people pushing forward allegations in the last 28 days of this election? I'm now facing allegations. And that's all the press want to talk about. But I want to talk about the issues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: China sends an envoy to North Korea, while North Korea continues to hurl insults at President Trump. Can the president claim his victory on the Asia trip?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASH CARTER, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: The president's trip, as trips with Chinese leaders tend to be, largely ceremonial and symbolic. So we'll have to see where the trip overall leads.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And third time's the charm. The Senate Republican tax reform bill is morphing into Obamacare and trying to repeal it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MAJORITY LEADER: The goal is to repeal an unpopular tax from an unworkable law in order to provide more tax relief to middle class families.

SEN. RON WYDEN (D), RANKING MEMBER, FINANCE COMMITTEE: This is not just another garden variety attack on the Affordable Care Act. This is repeal of that law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: There are no shortage of opinions in the GOP about the firestorm surrounding Alabama Senate Candidate Roy Moore, but the person who usually is not shy about giving his opinion on matters large and small, the one who might matter the most, has yet to speak out, Donald J. Trump. Now, all eyes from here in Washington, all the way down to Alabama, are on the president's Twitter feed wondering if today is the day President Trump weighs in on whether Moore should quit the race over sexual misconduct allegations.

The Republican National Committee is no longer funding Moore's campaign and party leaders say Moore should step aside. But the embattled candidate, however, says he's not going anywhere. He told supporters last night, the allegations against him are part of a media conspiracy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROY MOORE (R), ALABAMA SENATE CANDIDATE: Obviously, I've made a few people mad. I'm the only one that can unite Democrats and Republicans, because I seem to be opposed by both. I'm now facing allegations. And that's all the press want to talk about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Just a few hours ago, Moore added this tweet to that defense, accusing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of trying to subvert the will of Alabama voters.

Now, McConnell, meanwhile, says the party's best option may be a write-in campaign for Jeff Sessions, who created the Senate vacancy in the first place.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MAJORITY LEADER: And the name being most often discussed may not be available but the Alabamian who would, you know, fit that standard would be the attorney general, who is totally well-known and extremely popular in Alabama. That, obviously, is -- would be a big move for him and for the president. But as the president is winding his way back to the United States, I'm confident this is an issue they're discussing in great detail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Confident because he's making sure that they're discussing it, trying to convince the White House, we're told. But even some of Moore's strongest defenders are losing patience. Fox News' Sean Hannity last night gave Moore 24 hours to explain inconsistencies in his statements.

Here to share their reporting and insights, "Politico's Eliana Johnson, Perry Bacon of FiveThirtyEight, CNN's Lauren Fox and Jeff Mason with Reuters.

I do want to talk about the Hannity dynamic here in a second, but let's start off with Mitch McConnell saying out loud, I was told, and my colleagues were told at the beginning of the week, about this sort of mounting idea to try to get Jeff Sessions back in the Senate. He's, as McConnell just said, a very, very popular -- I mean how viable do you think this is?

ELIANA JOHNSON, "POLITICO": Even if it seems viable, it poses risks. Jeff Sessions is unquestionably the only person in Alabama, the only Republican in Alabama, who could potentially pull this off because he's the only person who has the name ID, like Lisa Murkowski in Alaska when she did it, who could pull this off.

But I think when Mitch McConnell backs an idea, there are more supporters in Alabama who automatically dig in it against it. And so even if Sessions agreed to do this, it carries a risk of dividing Republican voters and handing a win to Doug Jones, the Democratic candidate. And I think that's what McConnell and Republicans in the White House are going to be grappling with right now and in the coming days.

[12:05:19] BASH: Not to mention the fact that it opens up the attorney general slot, which has a whole domino effect of conflict. Number one, the only reason why Bob Mueller is in his job, the only reason there's a special prosecutor, is because Jeff Sessions had to recuse himself as attorney general. So that is likely something that the president is weighing as a positive. Well, if I could get Jeff Sessions out, maybe I can -- maybe there's no reason for a special prosecutor. But I'm not sure Republicans on Capitol Hill would like that.

PERRY BACON, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT: The first step is, Jeff Sessions seems to like the job he's in. He seems very confident in staying in his job in the hearing yesterday. I don't get the sense -- I imagine he doesn't want to quit the job. So I think that's a key -- like you have a lot more power as the A.G. than one of 50 -- one of 100 senators. So I don't -- I think that's the first step is, does he move in the first place.

Then you have all kinds of questions of, can you get a replacement confirmed? How does that work? Who's the replacement? Does the presidents have to promise not to fire Mueller? There's a lot of steps there. But the first step is, Jeff Sessions may want to the stay A.G.

BASH: And let me just say, as we're talking, our awesome team at the White House, Jeff Zeleny and Jeremy Diamond, are reporting on what's going on at the White House. And it's wait and see. It's kind of how we started the show that we're all waiting to see what the president is going to do. They're trying to figure it out as well inside the walls of the White House. A lot of discussions about whether the president -- they're reporting the president believes it's bad for the Republican brand, meaning Moore's allegations, but he's not publicly commenting on it yet.

As they discuss it, I think it's really important to play what Sean Hannity said last night. He is not only somebody who has a lot of viewers in Alabama, but he is somebody who is one of the president's -- probably one of his closest advisers. So what he says could have an impact on the president. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN HANNITY, FOX ANCHOR: For me, the judge has 24 hours. He must immediately and fully come up with a satisfactory explanation for your inconsistencies that I just showed. You must remove any doubt. If you can't do this, then Judge Moore needs to get out of this race.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So is he giving the president cover? Is he giving himself cover because some advertisers were threatening to pull out? Maybe all of the above. But it's significant.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: I think it's all of the above. And I think when you talk to members on Capitol Hill, what they are saying is that President Donald Trump is more popular with the base than they are. What they are saying is important, but they recognize that the president has to be the one to come out and condemn this, call for him to exit the race in order for him to actually kind of heed that call, maybe more seriously.

And, obviously, when you have conservatives who are very popular with the base on national television calling for Moore to either clean up these inconsistencies or drop out of the race, I think that's very important. And a lot of base voters back in Alabama are going to be watching Fox News tonight and waiting to see what he says.

BASH: Yes. As we were talking, John Cornyn, who's the number two Republican in the Senate, who had a very good relationship with Jeff Sessions, just told reporters that he supports a Sessions write-in campaign on the ballot.

Do you think that there is any real possibility of that happening?

JEFF MASON, REUTERS: I just think the complications that come up with that are enormous. And confirmation is a big one. I mean the president already has a couple other cabinet secretaries that he needs to confirm. Try and do a confirmation hearing with -- for an attorney general right now in the middle of the Russia probe, as you were just talking about, with the context of the pressure that President Trump has put on General Sessions and at a time when Sessions is in the office that he wanted for a long time and still has things he wants to do, particularly on immigration.

BASH: Although after yesterday's hearing, you've got to wonder why he wants to stay in that job. It's a lot better on the other side on the day of --

MASON: But does he want to go back to the Senate? I mean --

BASH: Yes.

BACON: So far (INAUDIBLE) is not many Republicans in Alabama are criticizing Roy Moore.

BASH: I -- OK, hold that thought. Hold that thought --

BACON: Sorry. OK.

BASH: Because that's exactly where I wanted to go, because we're all talking in Washington about people in Washington and on TV and in New York.

BACON: And here in New York.

BASH: And, guess what, this is an Alabama Senate race. The voters there decide. And we have not heard very much at all in terms -- by way of criticism. Just the opposite. Dean Young, who is a friend of Roy Moore, a political adviser, said the following, what we're witnessing is a coup right in front of our eyes. Everybody, including the president, they know that Judge Moore is not going to get out of this race and it doesn't matter. All these false accusations keep coming.

And, I mean, this is really, really important. The only people who have the power to changing this are Roy Moore stepping aside, doesn't look like he's going to do that. The Alabama Republican Party doesn't look like they're going to do that at all. Or the governor also doesn't look like they're going to do that. So how much of this pressure from Washington matters if you're an Alabama Republican saying, back off?

[12:10:19] BACON: I would suggest less than we're saying. It may be very -- it matters to some extent in the sense that Trump got 62 percent in Alabama and Moore is polling at about 48. So Moore is not doing well. But that said, the idea that Mitch McConnell is going to push him out. Mitch McConnell's very unpopular among Republicans in Alabama. I don't think Mitch McConnell can push anybody out in any race, particularly in this race.

BASH: And just to sort of put a button on that before we go to break, this is what as Alabama RNC committeeman said about the notion of a Sessions write-in campaign, what it would mean for Alabama Republican politicians. He said the following, the next move they try to make is to find a home in the metro Atlanta area and get out of the state because they'd be dead politically here.

And therein lies the very big gulf between Washington and Alabama on what to do.

And up next, Republicans go big. Tax reform is now Obamacare repeal, too. The bitter fight over health care is back on and the bitterness on display just this morning on Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a tax.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a $300 billion spending cut.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Excuse me, senator, let me -- I try not to interrupt you. I hope you don't interrupt me all day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could you answer the question, chairman?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you -- when you have an opportunity to ask questions, yes, he can answer them. But let me move on. I don't want to get into some big hassle here this morning. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Chairman, this is not like you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, it isn't.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The ranking --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, it isn't, but it's not like you either.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:16:04] BASH: Welcome back.

Remember when President Trump was trying to woo Democrats to vote for the Senate GOP tax bill? Well, I hope he's not holding his breath. At least not since he and Senate Republican leaders decided to add a repeal of the Obamacare individual mandate to the tax bill.

Now, the individual mandate requires you at home to pay a fine if you don't buy health insurance. The main reason for this risky move is their tax bill was projected to add to the deficit big-time. A deal- breaker for some GOP senators.

Repealing the individual mandate helps with the deficit to the tune of $338 billion. A nice chuck of money, you see it there at the bottom of your screen. But look at the top of the screen. The Congressional Budget Office also predicted repeal would cost 13 million people their health insurance.

Now, to the left, the bill is now an unholy marriage. The death of Obamacare ushered back in on the back of the tax breaks for the 1 percent -- the top 1 percent of this country. To the right, it's a moon shot, a two for one played back by President Trump. An uphill legislative slog through.

So let's take a listen to Paul Ryan, the House speaker, last night trying to push the brakes on this idea a little.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: So, obviously, we're in favor of repealing the individual mandate, but we didn't want to needlessly complicate the passage of tax reform given we did not have the votes before to get this through the Senate. So we want to see the Senate go first and see if they can -- if they can get that done and then we'll discuss whether or not it gets included at the end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: CNN's Phil Mattingly is on Capitol Hill all over this. All the ins and outs and the nitty gritty.

So, first and foremost, what's the reaction and can Republicans in the Senate pass this bill with the repeal of Obama -- of the individual mandate of Obamacare? PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Dana, I can tell

you, when I heard about this yesterday, when this was about to break, myself and all of my colleagues up here made a bee line to three senators, John McCain, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins. Those are the three senators who effectively sank the repeal and replace effort and those are the three senators that would really be keyed on as to whether this was going to be a major problem.

Senator John McCain said no. Senator Susan Collins, concerned, but no outright no. Senator Lisa Murkowski, concerns, but not an outright rejection. That's important. That matters. That means that Senate Republicans, what they're doing right now, is they're gauging the proposal, they're trying to see what can actually move forward. But they're not getting any outright nos, which means the door is open.

And I'll tell you why. Dana, you talk about the $338 billion. It's what they do with it that they think can help persuade their members come on board. That's making the child tax credit jump up from $1,650 to $2,000. That's reducing some of the middle income rates a little bit here and there. That's adding some kind of additions to the pass through rate that will be important for small businesses. Those are important things and they think that that will help them get this across the finish line.

BASH: And, Phil, while everybody is talking about the Senate, let's not forget that the House is actually voting on its tax reform bill tomorrow. They feel pretty good about it inside the House GOP leadership?

MATTINGLY: Yes, let's put this in perspective. The House is about to pass a tax overhaul, something that hasn't been done in 31 years. Something you used to not even be able to get committees to even have hearings on these proposals, let alone put it on the House floor and pass it.

Yes, GOP aides I'm talking to say they feel very confident about their vote count. And this really underscores what matters more than anything else, perhaps even more than the policy right now, and, Dana, you know this quite well. It's the political imperative. It is making something that is incredibly difficult, incredibly complex, at least up to this point, move on a pretty smooth track.

Now, there's a long way to go. There's a lot of different ways that this could go sideways and very poorly very fast. But, at the moment, this is on track to pass the House. Senate leaders feel OK about where they are. And they might actually get this done.

But, again, caveat, this could go bad quickly. We'll just have to wait and see.

BASH: And, boy, are they well aware of that inside the Republican leadership.

Phil, thank you so much for that great reporting.

Look, this is going back to the Senate. This is incredibly risky. But the Republican leaders have their talking points ready to go and how they're trying to sell this, which is obviously -- let's just start there -- that's a big shift from the twice failed Obamacare repeal bill.

[12:20:16] Let's listen to James Lankford of Oklahoma describe why they think this is important, adding the individual mandate repeal to tax reform.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JAMES LANKFORD (R), OKLAHOMA: Clearly people around the country that are paying this fine that make less than $50,000 each year, it's economics for them personally. They want to be able to get rid of this. Eighty-one percent of the people that pay this fine in my state make less than $50,000. They cannot afford the insurance and they can also not afford the fine. They're looking for some way to be able to get insurance and actually have it, not just have a fine and still have no insurance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Lauren, you are another member of our team that's been really dug in on the details. Do you think that that message is going to fly, at least enough to do what they need to do in the short term, which is pass it in the Senate?

FOX: I think it's a smart talking point for Republicans. And I think, you're right, they have a message this time around and that's very good and the three Republicans who voted against this the last time around haven't come out and said that they are an outright no.

But we also have to remember, this could mobilize Democratic support against the tax bill. For a while it seemed like Democrats were having a little bit of a tough time figuring out how to campaign against tax cuts. That can be very unpopular. But when you are campaigning against repealing Obamacare, well, that is something that Democrats definitely know how to do. And I think that we should be watching how the base reacts to this.

Of course they don't have a lot of time. The House is going to vote tomorrow on a tax bill. It doesn't include this provision. But the Senate could vote right after Thanksgiving. So there's not a whole lot of time to mobilize here. But I think Democrats are hoping maybe their base will get fired up.

BASH: And that is a point that several Republicans, mostly in the House, were bringing up, kind of the giveth and the taketh away, both in policy and in the political play here. Listen to what Chris Stewart said this morning on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. CHRIS STEWART (R), UTAH: I actually think there is some risk to it. And I think even if, at the heart of it, it's something that we can defend, I think for a lot of Americans it does kind of muddy the waters a little bit. If the Senate were to include that, I think most of the Republican colleagues would still support it. Would I feel more comfortable separating them? Yes, maybe. But, once again, it's important to note this, we're not changing any of the dollar amounts, we're --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BACON: Ultimately, Susan Collins, Murkowski and McCain, if they have the votes, they have the votes. If they don't, they don't. It looks like right now they're saying they do. I mean -- but I'm skeptical of that. We'll -- they said that a lot during the Obamacare process, if you recall, so I'm not sure they have the votes.

But this is a risky move, but it does solidify -- there was a little bit of the Rand Paul and the Rubios who were saying, this bill does not cut taxes enough for the middle class. So you've taken this mandate money, you've given it for some middle class taxes, you made it so the corporate taxes will be in place more. So I understand why they did this. So it solidified the 48 to 49 votes they already wanted.

But I still think you've now made Collins more of a wildcard, Murkowski more of a wildcard. And McCain's whole rationale behind voting his health care was confusing in the first place. I'm never really sure where he is. But I assume he's going to be more of a wildcard now, too.

MASON: It certainly -- it destroys, though, any possibility that this becomes a bipartisan bill.

BASH: That's exactly what I was going to ask.

BACON: (INAUDIBLE).

MASON: Right. And I think -- and I think the White House wanted that. I mean I think President Trump, at least in his heart of hearts, was hoping that some Democrats would vote for this. And by putting those two issues together in one bill, you can't underestimate the mobilization that will happen by Democrats, which we've already talked about and which we saw very clearly in the first two attempts to repeal and replace Obamacare. And they're just not going to play ball on this.

JOHNSON: Yes, the president openly said he wanted this to be a bipartisan bill. He was courting Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and others. But Mitch McConnell said publically yesterday that this is going to be a partisan bill.

But I don't think this is as risky as it seems. John McCain said he voted against the health care bill because it didn't go through regular order. This is going through regular order. If it passes the Senate, they'll go to conference and iron this out. So I don't quite think -- you know, the repeal of the individual mandate wasn't what -- wasn't the sticking point in the House or the Senate the first time.

BASH: Right.

JOHNSON: So I think it's less risky on its face than -- than it seems.

BASH: Less risky politically.

JOHNSON: Politically.

BASH: But, at the end of the day, if they are successful, who knows what it's going to do to the insurance markets without the replace part of repeal and replace.

JOHNSON: Well, they're trying to put this Alexander Murray --

BASH: Hold that thought. Hold that thought. We have to take a quick break. Not that I don't love talking about Alexander Murray.

President Trump declares his trip to Asia a great success, but can he maintain the momentum now that he's back here at home?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:29:07] BASH: Welcome back.

President Trump is back in the White House today. Based on his overnight tweets, perhaps a bit jet lagged understandably from a marathon Asia trip. But among the topics of the president's tweet storm, North Korea, a major focus of his Asia tour. The hermit kingdom is a topic on Capitol Hill this week, as well, but concern expressed yesterday was about the president himself as much as Kim Jong-un.

Republican Senator Bob Corker, who has predicted that President Trump might start World War III, held a meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He's the chair of that committee. He wanted to talk about presidential authority over nuclear weapons.

Now, let's just put this in perspective. This doesn't happen very often. It was the first time the committee held a hearing on this issue in more than 40 years. Forty years. Now, Democrats on the committee, as you can imagine, wasted no time in sharing their concerns about the president.

[12:30:05]