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U.S., France and U.K. Attack Syrian Chemical Weapons Sites; Trump: Cohen Raid a Disgraceful Situation; Trump Slams Comey on Twitter; Ryan Announces He Will Not Run for Reelection. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired April 15, 2018 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:00:22] JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Welcome to INSIDE POLITICS.
I'm John King.
To our viewers in the United States and around the world thank you for sharing your Sunday.
President Trump declares mission accomplished and puts Syria's regime on notice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIKKI HALEY, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: We are prepared to sustain this pressure if the Syrian regime is foolish enough to test our will. When our president draws a red line our president enforces the red line.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Plus West Wing jitters. The President on edge after the Justice Department explains a stunning raid by disclosing long-time Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen is under criminal investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's a disgraceful situation. It's a total witch hunt. They only keep looking at us. So they find no collusion and then they go from there and they say well, let's keep going. And they raid an office of a personal attorney early in the morning. And I think it is a disgrace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: And more turmoil at the top. House Speaker Paul Ryan is stepping aside creating a challenge for a Republican Party already in a midterm mess.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: You all know me. I didn't take this job to get the gavel in the first place. I'm not a guy who thinks about it like that. This really was two things. I have accomplished much of what I came here to do. And my kids aren't getting any younger. If I stay they're only going to know me as a weekend dad. And that is just something I consciously can't do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: With us this Sunday to share their reporting and their insights: Julie Pace of the Associated Press; Jonathan Martin of "The New York Times"; CNN's Jeff Zeleny; and Karoun Demirjian of "The Washington Post".
Another dizzying week behind us and this question to starts our Sunday conversation.
What next in Syria? The retaliation came late Friday Washington time, early Saturday in Damascus and Homs; dozens of missiles and smart bombs delivered by the United States, the U.K. and France.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GEN. KENNETH MCKENZIE, DIRECTOR OF THE JOINT STAFF: In a powerful show of allied unity we deployed 105 weapons against three targets that will significantly impact the Syrian regime's ability to develop, deploy and use chemical weapons in the future.
They have lost a lot of equipment. They lost a lot of material and it's going to have a significant effect on us. I think the words "cripple" and "degrade" are good, accurate words.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: President Trump uses these words, "mission accomplished". Those are loaded words in American politics and dangerous to use when no one believes one night of military strikes will dislodge the Assad regime or bring order to one of the world's most cruel and deadly places.
But by mission accomplished Team Trump means "message delivered, red line enforced," it says and it is now directly warning Russia it best listen this time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HALEY: We can all see that a Russian disinformation campaign is in full force this morning. But Russia's desperate attempts at deflection cannot change the facts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: So the question is where are we today? And what next?
The Syrian presidency tweeting out a picture of Bashar al Assad walking to work, going through an office building, essentially trying to say nothing changed. The conversation among a lot of people, even Trump administration supporters, is that Assad has factored this in. "If once a year I have to take a rain of cruise missiles but I get to stay in power, so be it."
JULIE PACE, ASSOCIATED PRESS: I think that's exactly right. I don't think that much has changed substantially here. This is a slightly larger version of what Trump did about a year ago in Syria after a chemical weapons attack. And all that we have seen that had happened in the year that passed is that the Assad regime continued to use, if not sarin gas, chlorine gas against its own civilians.
Russia/Iran became more emboldened on the ground there and the U.S. position became more confusing frankly because Trump has said now publicly that he wants out. He does not believe like President Obama did not believe that Syria is a good use of U.S. resources. He does not believe that there should be a long-term commitment to the U.S.
So the fact that he has said that and then has said at the same time that he will use occasional military action to target the Assad regime if they use chemical weapons, I don't think it's going to shake Assad and change his calculus dramatically.
KAROUN DEMIRJIAN, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, "THE Washington POST": I mean at this point, yes -- at this point nobody knows really what the President's strategy is. Is he going to continue to pull out even though he's kind of, you know, dropped these particular (INAUDIBLE) missiles in this area or is he going to actually change course and say, ok we will actually stick around?
It is a little late to change course and not have it be very messy at this point because, you know, the United States has kind of let -- or the Syrian government with Russia's backing is in a stronger position now compared to where they used be.
But that's why you hear everybody looking at these strikes on Friday night whether you agreed with them or disagreed with them saying, where is the longer term strategy?
[08:04:56] You don't know what it is. We're not sure and you can't just kind of like go bomb a country and then kind of leave for a year and come back every time there is chemical weapon used.
JONATHAN MARTIN, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": You could if you're Donald Trump.
DEMIRJIAN: Yes, but it --
(CROSSTALK)
DEMIRJIAN: What is he going to do?
MARTIN: So there is this impulse I think understandably where we cover administrations and American policy to try to construe some kind of a larger strategy, some kind of school of thought. And you just can't do that with this administration.
Look, the fact is there are images that he doesn't like he wants to fight back. For the rest of the time he generally doesn't want to commit American troops in foreign conflicts. There is no Trump doctrine. He is watching TV a great deal and when he sees images that are very disturbing he wants to attack. And the rest of the time, he's not terribly engaged. And I think this attempt to try to like create a Trump doctrine, it just doesn't exist. That's not who he is.
KING: If nothing though -- in the President's defense if nothing else he said chemical weapons used at a certain scale. There have been chemical weapons used in Syria after the strikes a year ago --
MARTIN: It's the important images --
(CROSSTALK)
KING: -- up until now.
MARTIN: -- you think he's going to react to it?
KING: It's a great question which is the question is where do you -- the question is where do you go from here? You sent a message to Assad. There's no question about that. The question is does Russia get it? Does Iran get it?
Is there something beyond the military, is there some other way whether it's through diplomacy or power to get Russia and Iran to back up?
I just want to bring you this conversation. Lindsey Graham -- a Republican senator, a hawk -- says this. "I fear that when the dust settles this strike will be seen as a weak military response and Assad will have paid a small price for using chemical weapons yet again. The administration does have a strategy and it's to withdraw from Syria as quickly as possible. Simply saying not our problem was a losing strategy when President Obama adopted it five years ago and it is a losing strategy still today."
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And with the President saying "mission accomplished" yesterday unclear if he knew the actual history of that phrase. I mean he, of course, was very against the Iraq war. But we all remember that phrase from May of 2003 when President Bush has stood on an aircraft carrier with that huge banner behind him saying "mission accomplished". Obviously that was one of the biggest, you know, not good moments for the Bush presidency.
MARTIN: Very polite of you.
ZELENY: Trying to think of a word there.
(CROSSTALK)
ZELENY: I think that President Trump is probably not aware of the history. But what is the mission? That's the question here. The President has not laid out what the mission is.
And by saying a couple of weeks ago he wants to pull out all week long when so many things were happening inside the White House you could see how reluctant President Trump was to do something on this.
Initially, you know, in 24 to 48 hours he waited and waited and waited. And he was not exactly accepting what some of his advisers were offering here. So I think this was a one off, unclear what the mission is. The President has yet to explain that.
KING: He did on Friday night when he addressed it.
Let's have the President's voice into the conversation. This is the President Friday night. Late Friday night he announced that the strikes were underway and he essentially, if you listen here, he seems to be saying "Chemical weapons use, we will retaliate. Just about everything else I want out of there."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents. America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria under no circumstances. As other nations step up their contributions we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: The problem with that, and again -- and again, it is understandable and pretty much bipartisan agreement and global agreement that the use of these weapons is a heinous war crime and retaliating in some way even if it has no great long-term effect is important to send a statement.
But the President, the contradiction is right there what the President just said. As other nations step up their contributions -- who?
DEMIRJIAN: Russia, Iran --
(CROSSTALK)
KING: Right. The only people stepping up their contributions are against the United States.
DEMIRJIAN: Right. It's Russia, Iran, Turkey and maybe China will be let into that. It's not the United States' allies that are actually going to be stepping up and moving into that space. So he's basically saying we are relinquishing control consciously.
And that's something that -- ok, you can't take chemical weapons as completely disassociated from what is going on in Syria and we kind of are acting as if we can because that's somehow is shocking our consciousness when you happen to invest in everything else and all the other human rights abuses don't quite rise to that level. You can make that choice I guess on a moral plain if you want to but strategically it makes no sense.
I know you are saying they don't have a strategy but just default it ends up being a strategy, right. Because you've got Syria which we are kind of saying, ok, we're going to bequeath that to Russia, Iran, Turkey, you know, group.
At the same time we are, what -- a month away almost exactly less from the Iran deal deadline that if they don't come up with some sort of fix we're going to pull out of which, by the way, (INAUDIBLE) the waiver deadline is the same day as Iraqi parliamentary elections will be happening. You think Iran is not going to gain more influence there.
And then you are talking about not just Syria but the whole Middle East shifting in one direction. And that's the default strategy if it ends up happening.
MARTIN: Right. I think the great test will be if there is a subsequent use of chemical weapons against Syrians that is not seen in either photographs or television images, will this president then respond to that? That will be a very revealing moment.
[08:10:01] PACE: This is one of the problems though for Trump is that there have been plenty of other chemical weapons attacks that have occurred that we haven't --
KING: Right. His own U.N. ambassador said 50.
PACE: Fifty -- and sometimes there's a difference whether it's sarin or chlorine and there's different categorizations for those but it's not as though this is something that only happened last year and then this year and nothing in between.
KING: Right.
DEMIRJIAN: Right.
PACE: There just hasn't been a U.S. response.
DEMIRJIAN: One other thing just to keep in mind though is we are looking at what may happen, that other part of other nations coming in. It's not like Russia, Iran and these other countries have a lot of extra money to actually bring any civility to this country even if the fighting stops. You are not really talking about anymore control.
And what we are supposed to be most concerned about is, you know, failed states and unstable regions where you can have, you know, terrorism crop up. And I don't see that as being --
ZELENY: The new player here is John Bolton, of course, you know, on his first week essentially as national security adviser. I'm told he was essentially listening to the process. He was guiding it but certainly not taking a lead on that. That is a new player in all of this.
Will that influence the President's decision and mission going forward? It will we don't know how exactly. So a very interesting week but you did not get the sense that this was the top priority of the President at the White House this week.
MARTIN: Good segue. KING: We will talk more about that. We're going to talk more about that here at the program. I think, to your point -- number one, a Trump doctrine is hard to nail down sometimes. And number two -- even if -- you know, even if you say look this is one of the world's most intractable problems, even if you don't have a cohesive long-term strategy because it is such a mess -- just more communications. There's so little communication to the American people about what the goals are.
We'll take a quick break.
Coming up, anger and worry in the West Wing -- the new James book has the President's attention even this morning. And there's also the stunning Michael Cohen plot twist.
[08:11:38] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Welcome back.
Angry is a word we hear often when we ask about the President's mood. Rage and frustration also frequent responses especially if the context has anything to do with the new James Comey book or the special counsel investigation. The President is already tweeting about James Comey this morning.
But two other words that came up a lot in recent days standout -- nervous and worried. The President was rattled by news Monday that the FBI had served a sweeping search warrant on his personal lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen. Then in court on Friday the Trump Justice Department disclosed Cohen is under criminal investigation. Questions about bank fraud, possible campaign finance violations swirl around payments Cohen was involved in to women who say they had affairs with the President.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D), ILLINOIS: He is getting worried. If you follow his tweets and his language that he used in the last few weeks as this investigation continues to move forward he seems frenetic. So if I had to guess he is panicking and wants to come home, find out what is exactly taking place with his attorney.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: This one the Cohen -- again, the President is tweeting this morning about James Comey -- we'll get to some of that. He calls James Comey a slime ball again. He's getting a book review and, guess what, the President doesn't like the James Comey book.
I want to focus -- a lot of people don't like the James Comey book and we'll get to some of the debate about James Comey but the Cohen investigation and its impact on the President because for those of you who haven't been paying attention, Michael Cohen knows everything. He is the President's personal attorney. He is his fixer. He is a guy the President calls sometimes two, three, four times a day. This has them rattled for good reason. ZELENY: Without question. I mean there is no one who's closer to the
President, really anyone that I can think of. Maybe Ivanka -- that would be the only other person who's this close to the President. But he knows absolutely everything, like you said.
We are told the President -- I mean we saw how incensed he was earlier in the week when he first learned about that. And that grew throughout the week. And the fact that he is under a criminal investigation is something that is more worrisome the President's aides will say than about the Mueller investigation because he doesn't know where this is going.
And Michael Cohen reportedly recorded a lot of things and took notes on a lot of things. The President doesn't e-mail, he's lucky about that probably.
KING: Right.
ZELENY: But these, you know, conversations that are recorded in other matters, Michael Cohen is probably not the best lawyer in the city as we are finding out. And this is going to be a huge problem mentally for the President but also substantively with the Department of Justice.
KING: Right. And it's going to create the kind of things that get the President's attention which is getting a lot of discussion on cable television. Stormy Daniels said she may show up at the court hearing Monday, tomorrow, because they are worried about that some of these documents concern the settlement made with her and so she is looking for the public relations boost out of this -- roll your eyes if you will --
(CROSSTALK)
KING: -- he might throw a camera too. You can roll your eyes at that but her lawyer is smart. He knows how to play the public relations game.
The Justice Department -- again this is the Trump Justice Department -- this has been taken away from the special counsel Robert Mueller, handed over to the Justice Department in New York. They said that they did this because A, Michael Cohen is not being a lawyer anymore really in their view. And B, they have reason to believe he was going to destroy evidence.
Now the evidence we are told does include conversations, audio recordings of Cohen's dealings with other people including apparently the other lawyers involved in these negotiations to which Lindsey Graham, an attorney, senator from South Carolina says what?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: Michael Cohen is an idiot. If he did tape conversations with his clients, that's stupid. I don't know what kind of legal advice Michael Cohen gave Donald Trump. I'm not really impressed with him as a lawyer, just to be honest with you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: This -- if you talk to people close to the President he is a lot more worried about this right now than he is about Robert Mueller.
PACE: Yes. Lindsey Graham is kind of cutting to the chase. Michael Cohen isn't probably the legal representation most people would choose but it's who Donald Trump chose.
ZELENY: But it's worked. It's worked.
PACE: Because it has worked -- right.
MARTIN: Not --
(CROSSTALK)
PACE: He is willing to do things that other lawyers may not be willing to do. Now, if you are just off running a private enterprise maybe that works for you. When you're suddenly President of the United States thinking about all the things Michael Cohen did that may be why Trump is so worried.
And I think the other piece of it as we all know if there is one thing that Donald Trump is particularly sensitive about it is his business and his money. Michael Cohen in addition to all these potential side payments --
MARTIN: Yes.
PACE: -- that were going on and personal matters he was involved in had great insight into the finances of the Trump Organization and that is what has the President particularly on edge.
MARTIN: Yes. His business, his wealth and frankly his extra curricular activities -- right, I mean this is something that Cohen is all inside on.
[08:20:04] And I think it is important to just take a step back here. Folks think that Trump was the big mogul, you know, businessman. He had a small, basically family operation.
KING: Right.
MARTIN: His company was effectively run by his kids and a few other folks outside, one of them being Michael Cohen. And he wasn't just a lawyer. I have an e-mail going back to 2011 when I was covering a big conservative conference called CPAC here in Washington where Trump came and gave a speech. Again, this is the 2012 cycle, not last time around.
And I got this really nasty e-mail from Cohen to me complaining about our coverage, then at Politico of the Donald Trump appearance. It was not the work of a lawyer. I was the work of an adviser to the would- be candidate then just a business guy and reality TV star basically saying this is shoddy work basically you didn't give him respect. He had multiple standing ovations. He was speaking for President Trump not his lawyer.
KING: And that's a --
MARTIN: He's on the inside.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: -- and that's a problem because among the documents they've asked for, the Justice Department is communications with Hope Hicks and Corey Lewandowski -- two people who had key roles in the Trump campaign. They are trying to trace the money. They're trying to trace these payments. And they're trying to see if there was any campaign involvement or knowledge which would make it a campaign -- could make it a campaign finance violation which opens up a whole ball.
DEMIRJIAN: Right. Because Cohen has been saying he's freelancing on a number of these occasions just out of his sheer love and devotion to the President which, you know, doesn't always pass the smell test with everybody. But it's been his argument and if this proves otherwise this is in coordination with the President or any of his kids or whatever, it could certainly --
(CROSSTALK)
KING: And so this again -- Robert Mueller brings the threshold evidence to Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who says to the special counsel this is not your mandate, give it to me. Hands it over to prosecutors in New York and says there is credible evidence here, you need to pursue this.
So the President is mad again at Rod Rosenstein, yet another -- call it what you will, I'm going to be with you and saying --
(CROSSTALK)
KING: -- stay away from the words that come from us. And also interesting, we won't play it here, but the attorney general after all of this played publicly praised Rod Rosenstein, singled out Rod Rosenstein. Again so Jeff Sessions, Rod Rosenstein -- and so this question to Sarah Sanders.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The deputy attorney general was here yesterday. Is the President going to fire Rod Rosenstein?
SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I don't have any announcements at this time. The President has voiced some frustrations but beyond that I don't have anything to add.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: The President has voiced some frustrations. (CROSSTALK)
ZELENY: But our reporting shows, and it has for several days, that the President is hearing a lot from outside advisers that he should fire Rod Rosenstein. Never mind Bob Mueller. The President was focused, I'm told, squarely this week on Rod Rosenstein.
Of course, that doesn't solve the problem necessarily though at all but it would, you know, certainly be a way for him to lash out here.
We also found out the White House is preparing talking points for why he should leave if he leaves. And you saw Sarah Sanders right there. That was about the third day in a row she answered that exact same way -- no personal announcements at this time, which is a sign that it is coming --
KING: Or she is afraid to say no.
ZELENY: Exactly.
(CROSSTALK)
DEMIRJIAN: -- unforced errors.
Yes, exactly. I mean she could be caught in a lie that she didn't mean to do at any condition (ph).
But look, firing Rosenstein has always been the move the President could make to fire Mueller. We talk about firing Mueller, he can't do it. He can force Rosenstein to do it or kick him out. But the question is, as you pointed out when we were talking about Cohen, this is his own Justice Department making these moves.
MARTIN: Right.
DEMIRJIAN: The idea that there's necessarily next person in line would do his bidding and get rid of Mueller. which is the entire reason to get Rod Rosenstein, not a guarantee anymore.
KING: And that patience of the Republican leadership, which has been way too silent on these questions, way too silent on these -- but their patience is very limited if it were come to that.
Up next, we'll continue on this topic. Public tweets attacking James Comey, private venting at the Defense Secretary and the deputy attorney general, a risky phone call to the aforementioned Michael Cohen. Welcome to Friday at the Trump White House.
But first politicians say the darnedest things. Saturday Night Live imagining some legal conversations here between the attorney general, the vice president and Mr. Cohen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Cohen -- this situation is out of hand. BEN STILLER, COMEDIAN: I know. Can you believe what they are doing
to poor Mr. Trump? It's a disgrace. The whole raid was a complete violation of attorney/criminal privilege.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, if you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to worry about.
STILLER: Is that a joke? Look, we've got a real problem here -- Jeff. You know how much evidence I have in my office? I'm Donald Trump's lawyer. I've got a whole hard drive that's just labeled "yikes".
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[08:24:35] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: All right. The President already tweeting about James Comey in this new book today but we'll have a little bit of a flashback here to Friday.
The Comey book was driving the news cycle early Friday. Kellyanne Conway, part of the White House team sent out to paint the former FBI director as a liar. This -- 7:56 a.m. outside the West Wing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO THE PRESIDENT: The President will have his say either through those of us who do speak on his behalf or on his own. He is a busy guy. He's the President of the United States. But he has a different recollection of what happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Or on his own part came five minutes letter at 8:01, the President unloaded tweeting, "Comey is a leaker, a liar and a slime ball."
The busy guy part -- well that's no joke. The President's Friday included tweets attacking Comey, private venting at his Defense Secretary for military options in Syria the President viewed as too weak, a risky phone call to his personal Michael Cohen and then a decision to skip the normal process and issue a controversial pardon to former Dick Cheney aide, Scooter Libby.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VALERIE PLAME, FORMER CIA OPERATIVE: This is a way of, to my mind, sending a very clear signal to Manafort, Kushner, Cohen, Flynn -- that you can go ahead. If you get wrapped up in this, you are caught lying to the FBI, committing a crime in national security it's ok I will take care of you. Because we know Trump values loyalty above all else -- above party, above country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[08:30:00] KING: Each one of these things, venting at your Defense Secretary, calling Michael Cohen on the phone as the lawyers were in court arguing about the search warrant, pardoning Scooter Libby a man the President himself concedes he has never met to stir that debate about sending a message to other witnesses -- I think all of that happened before lunch on Friday.
I mean this is -- I covered the Bill Clinton White House during the Monica Lewinsky where there was some military action against Saddam Hussein back in the days -- some other things going on in the world but nothing like this.
ZELENY: And he was supposed to be in South America. He was supposed to be out of town on Friday. He cancelled that trip, of course.
Look, I mean the Scooter Libby thing -- it came out of left field in respect. It had very little to do with Scooter Libby, obviously. I think it was sending a message without question.
He was asked on the campaign trail when he was running for president if he would do this and he, you know, had no answer basically like "who". So this is certainly something that a lot of conservatives and friends of the Cheneys and Scooter Libby have been asking for but this it seems to me was much more --
KING: Kellyanne Conway said in that driveway it is about a special counsel gone amok. She had a little glint in her eye like --
ZELENY: And the timing of this was happening as Michael Cohen, you know, was getting in deeper and deeper here.
(CROSSTALK)
MARTIN: -- if I could real quick -- I have to. Scooter Libby, Valerie Plame and mission accomplished -- all in one week. I mean this is like -- this is like a throwback.
ZELENY: Way back.
MARTIN: It's back --
PACE: We all know by now that Trump is running a different kind of White House. But there are moments and I think Friday is one of them --
KING: Understatement.
PACE: -- yes, when you are struck by the fact that there is no cohesion to this presidency besides Trump's own persona. There is no attempt to do strategic planning. There is no attempt to drive a coherent message. There is no attempt to try to sell any type of agenda.
And again, Trump believes that he can be successful doing it a different way. But that is a really amazing shift in the presidency that we are seeing right now. And Friday was just very emblematic.
KING: And it has become common place, common place to the fact that sometimes we don't even consider it news, which I think is a mistake, when the President starts attacking Rod Rosenstein, James Comey. If you have issues on the facts, have issues on the facts -- let's have a debate about these things. Nobody's perfect. These guys made mistakes -- we'll get to some of Comey in a minute.
But, you know, attack them on the issues, not the personal attacks on those two guys with 50 years of law enforcement experience, federal law. The President tweeting this morning, "Big questions in Comey's badly reviewed book aren't answered like how come he gave up classified information? Jail. Why did he lie to Congress? Jail. Why did the DNC refuse to give its server to the FBI" -- he goes on and on. There are and more and more of these tweets.
This is the President this morning attacking the Comey book. Understandably, the portrait of the President painted by Comey is devastating. He said he's unethical. He said he runs the White House like a mob boss. That he doesn't care about institutions. He cares only about himself.
An interesting point though is you don't see Democrats rushing out of the woodwork to defend James Comey in part because of this answer. Here's James Comey talking to George Stephanopoulos of ABC News where he says "When I reopened the Clinton e-mail investigation because of what they found on Anthony Weiner's laptop late in the campaign. You know, I probably was thinking I have to do this because she is probably going to win."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES COMEY, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: I don't remember consciously thinking about that but it must have been because I was operating in a world where Hillary Clinton was going to beat Donald Trump. And so I'm sure that it was a factor. I guess I don't remember spelling it out but it had to have been that she is going to be elected president and if I hide this from the American people she will be illegitimate the moment she's elected, the moment this comes out.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS HOST: If you knew that letter would elect Donald Trump, would you still send it?
COMEY: I would. I would.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARTIN: Basically he is saying he was looking at the polls to help guide his decision. That is offering a gift to President Trump.
KING: Right.
MARTIN: I've just got to say, John, right now that we're talking about this extraordinary presidency. And Julie couldn't be more on the mark talking how there is no strategy.
Guess what? He is at 40 percent in a new poll today from ABC and the "Washington Post". Those are dismal numbers that spell real trouble for the GOP this fall. But guess what? That is substantially better than where President Bush was towards the end of his term during the depths of Iraq War.
And what does this tell us? The base of the GOP is still very much with this president. That is why he is at 40. That's why he's not at 25.
And that matters for this reason because for all of the talk about Michael Cohen and Rosenstein and the investigation, the Republican Congress is not going to take a hard line against this president as long as their voters are still overwhelmingly for him. And right now they are.
DEMIRJIAN: Right now also the Comey stuff I think does not necessarily appeal to those voters.
MARTIN: Of course not. It's Washington chatter -- yes.
DEMIRJIAN: Washington chatter and the Clintons, of course, and everything else. And also this is Comey's chance to kind of like have his say. He is not necessarily saying anything that, you know, is addressing some of the more serious investigative issues perhaps but he's, you know, reclaiming his character.
And frankly, he kind of -- given all of the carnage at the top of the FBI in the last few months --
MARTIN: Carnage.
KING: Wow.
DEMIRJIAN: -- well, I mean not really but most people have like -- there is a lot from the team that, you know, suffered and have been pushed out the door and he's not going to have this opportunity -- he's reclaiming integrity for himself and for the institution.
[08:35:00] KING: And to your point about the slices of the debate, people look at if you are president you look at your base. If you are Republican leadership and you're being pressured to stand up to the President, you are lucky to do so because you're looking at those Republican poll numbers.
The question is how does it play with Independents in the middle of the electorate? How does it play in places -- at suburbs? And we've seen how that's played so far in the election where it was devastating (ph).
And so "Time" updated their cover. This is -- you know, some might call this, you know, cost effective way to do your cover. Look at the cover of "Time" here. Back in February 2017 "Nothing to See Here". They re-updated it for this "Time", they added a little "Stormy", they call it now essentially that this is new details, new questions, new call them what you want, scandals, controversies but same chaos.
ZELENY: It definitely is. And the Comey thing, I mean that's confirming everything that the Clintons thought at the time. I'm not sure he's going to do himself any favors. Everyone who already has their mind made up about James Comey is not going to be persuaded, I don't think.
But the more substantive matter is the other C person, Michael Cohen --
KING: Right.
ZELENY: -- much more important than James Comey. But it will be interesting to hear his full interview, proceeding (ph) to read the book, of course. But I'm not sure he does himself many favors when he goes after the President, you know, in small ways like making fun of his hand size and other things.
(CROSSTALK)
MARTIN: See Rubio, Marco.
KING: Right.
MARTIN: It does not work.
ZELENY: The President always seems to win in this.
MARTIN: Yes.
ZELENY: That said, James Comey made the decision to go to war with this president through this book -- significant.
KING: There is no doubt about that; absolutely no doubt about that. And you have to assume he thought that part through.
Up next, it was already Donald Trump's Republican Party but Paul Ryan's big decision makes it even more so.
[08:36:34] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Welcome back.
Two more House Republicans headed for the exit this past week; one of them got most of the attention. That would be the House Speaker Paul Ryan. Dennis Ross also announcing he's not going to run reelection on Friday.
The attention was on Ryan. You see the red here -- more Republicans than Democrats are retiring, advantage Democrats in a midterm election year.
Here are the numbers. Forty Republicans have said they are leaving the House, not running for reelection; 18 Democrats have said that.
When you look at the map they are everywhere. These districts are all over the country. Red means they're Republican seats. Blue means they're Democratic seats. This goes from coast to coast.
Here is the dynamic when you look at it. Of the 58 members leaving, CNN ranks 20 of these races as competitive right now. Fifteen of those are held by Republicans, only five by Democrats so the math tells there again, advantage Democrat. More Republican seats are competitive in a year where Democrats think they have the wind at their back.
Ryan heads out; he says too much is being made of his differences with President Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Like I said, I'm grateful to the President for giving us this opportunity to do big things to get this country on the right tracks. So the fact that he gave us this ability to get all this stuff makes me proud of the accomplishments that I have been a contributor to and makes me satisfied that I have made a big difference. And he's given us that chance. So I'm grateful to him for that. And that is really -- that's really how I see it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: The obvious headline here is this is Donald Trump's Republican Party and anybody who thought otherwise here is your proof. If you were waiting for one last, you know, hammer, nail on the coffin that's it. This is Donald Trump's part.
The other question is will this be a signal? I was told by somebody who tracks this that he has a list of eight more House Republicans who might head for the exits. The second person told me three definitely. They see Ryan going and they say why stay? It's a bad year.
MARTIN: Yes. I'd be surprised if there was many more than five if for no other reason than there are only I think 18 states left now where the deadline has not passed to file for reelection. I think that this is a sort of an alarm bell going off showing this is going to be a tough year and the fact that the Speaker himself is not even running for reelection.
The reason for the shock in Washington was that everybody expected him to leave after the election, not in the spring of the election year. And so it's kind of a "Katy bar the door" moment.
But the problem with what Ryan is saying about working with Trump is I think deep down if you talk to some of his friends privately he gets the lasting legacy here. And he knows that the lasting legacy is not just going to be the tax reform bill that in 30 years or 50 years this era in Washington is going to be remembered for President Donald Trump and not for the fact that the marginal right moved a few points.
PACE: And the reality is that well, Ryan was trying to put on a bit of a sunny spin on all this. They hadn't actually gotten much done. They did get tax reform done. That is significant. It's something Paul Ryan has done. But it's now as though you had this long list of accomplishments that have happened under the first year and a half of the Trump presidency that Ryan and Republicans felt like they could have run on.
KING: And Ryan -- (CROSSTALK)
KING: I think Ryan built his name on saying structural entitlement reform --
PACE: Absolutely.
KING: -- social security and Medicare are key to the country's future.
PACE: That's gone nowhere.
KING: Key to the country's future let alone the Republican Party's future and he got nothing.
ZELENY: He wanted entitlement reform. And you know, for a guy who started out working for a Jack Kemp and leaves a Speaker under Donald Trump, you can just -- it's a fascinating arc of the Republican Party.
And this is not something -- and he actually mastered his relationship with President Trump pretty well better than most people. If he thought the Republicans could hold the House he would have stayed.
KING: And the President tweeted out this photo -- they all came for dinner the other night, the President in the middle, everybody giving the thumbs' up. You had Ryan and McCarthy; you had McConnell and Cornyn, the Vice President was there -- six white men. Six white men -- the Republican Party, Donald Trump in the center. That's going to be in Democratic ads this fall, you can bet your bottom dollar on it.
Paul Ryan in a series of interviews sat down with Gayle King of CBS, who had a question.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GAYLE KING, CBS HOST: When I look at that picture, Mr. Speaker, I have to say I don't see anybody that looks like me in terms of color or gender. When I look at that picture, I have to say I don't feel very celebratory. I feel very excluded.
[08:45:07] RYAN: I don't like the fact that you feel that way. And we need more minorities, more women in our party.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Gayle has a point, number one. And number two, forgive me, but that arc for the Republican Party is not getting better in the Trump presidency, at least in the short term.
DEMIRJIAN: No. And you hear everybody in this year, too, saying we need more women and minorities, that they're not taming the President and there are these things he's saying that's making it more difficult. They're not setting policies that many people would argue would be advantageous actually, you know, incentivizing that shift rather than saying, you know, why don't you join us? KING: And yet some odd, encouraging -- I wouldn't say good news but
less bad news for Republicans. Quinnipiac generic ballot, tight one at 3 -- you mentioned earlier the President's approval rating back up around 40. That is not great news for Republicans but it's less bad news. It's not as bad as the news has been and so you do have this debate as we, you know, head through April as to how bad is the climate.
PACE: It's not a given -- it is not a given that Republicans lose control of Congress. Democrats have an amazing ability to really muck up the situation in midterms and presidential elections but certainly the trend lines seem to be heading in one direction.
KING: All right. We'll keep an eye on all this as go.
Up next, our reporters share from their notebooks, including the embattled Missouri governor taking a page from the President's play book as he, the Governor, fights sexual misconduct charges.
[08:46:22] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Let's head one last time around the INSIDE POLITICS table, ask our great reporters to share a little something from their notebooks, to help get you out ahead of the political news just around the corner.
Julie Pace.
PACE: Republicans are hoping that money can outweigh the surge of Democratic enthusiasm that we're seeing across the country at the midterm elections. The Republican National Committee says that they're going to pledge (ph) $250 million into their ground game strategy with the goal of having 900 paid staffers out across the battleground states to register people to vote, get them to show up.
This really underscores a couple of things. One, the RNC remains a fundraising juggernaut despite a lot of the worries about the midterms. But two, it does underscore those worries. Republicans are incredibly nervous about this enthusiasm that we are seeing. They think it could translate into success for Democrats. And then secondarily, they are really concerned about the impact that this could have on the Trump presidency if Democrats take control of Congress.
KING: Let's just see. Money can help momentum.
Jonathan.
ZELENY: President Trump is not the only one who's lashing out against a witch hunt. Governor Eric Greitens in Missouri who this week was accused of a pretty unseemly report of sexually coercing a woman, and abusing her has been consciously echoing the language of the President in his public remarks defending himself against these accusations. That is according to a source who has actually talked to him about his strategy. The attempt here basically is to test whether or not other politicians can do what President Trump does which is basically deny everything, you know, attack your accusers, and hope that the base of your party will basically side with you and sort of ignore the accusations.
It is a really fascinating question as to whether the rules of political gravity that seemingly don't necessarily apply to the White House do still apply at other levels of American politics.
The challenge for this governor, he's already been indicted and is facing a trial which is something that President Trump is not himself facing.
KING: Keep an eye on that one -- big bellwether state.
Jeff.
ZELENY: As we have been talking about Speaker Ryan, of course, is on his way out and he has thrown his support to his number two, Kevin McCarthy. The wildcard in this potential speaker's race, of course, the voters will have the final say, but the wild card is President Trump.
As of now his aides tell me he's going to stay on the sidelines of this potential speaker's fight. He is not going to get engaged but we do know that he is close to Kevin McCarthy. And Kevin McCarthy is eager to get the President's support.
So watch in the coming weeks and months what Kevin McCarthy will do to get the President's loyalty and support here. Of course, he likes him and he is very much an establishment pick. So the President's base, obviously who the President is reaching out to very much, does not necessarily like Kevin McCarthy to get this. So watch what the President does and watch what Kevin McCarthy does to get his loyalty. He wants that endorsement bad.
KING: Might take more than a few starbursts -- is that what you are trying to tell me there?
Karoun.
DEMIRJIAN: So, I am watching one aspect on the Hill that is connected to the never-ending intrigue about Russia probes and Mueller and what is going to happen with the Justice Department. After nine months you have had a moment of a break through on the Hill which is that they are actually ready to start looking at this Mueller protection bill, the Judiciary's going to (INAUDIBLE). They're looking at it later this month.
But the question is going to be can these two sides, Democrats and Republicans, actually trust each other enough to get this done without screwing it up? Because the fight, the political fight is very, very alive and they actually have to be able to hold hands and be able to get through some of these amendments that are going to come up in order to be able to actually do something and have something out there before maybe this comes up again as a crisis question of whether the President will do something.
It has taken nine months of political in-fighting -- or not in- fighting -- fighting basically really for them to be able to get to this point. And the question is can they take it across the finish line right now and will the leaders even pay attention if they do?
KING: Keep an eye on that. A big political statement if, if, if they can move forward.
I'll close with something a little bit connected to what Jeff just talked about. Speaker Ryan is as adamant in private as he has been in public about keeping hold of the gavel through January. So an initial push by allies of Kevin McCarthy for a quick leadership vote, that initial push all but dead now.
Their hope had been for an election immediately after the Memorial Day recess. The thinking behind that plan was two-fold. McCarthy allies believed a quick election would deny other potential candidates time to organize. They also believed it would guarantee the California Republican at least six months as speaker.
But Ryan wants to, as he puts it, run through the tape. And McCarthy ignored suggestions from some advisers that he push the speaker to reconsider.
[08:55:01] If Ryan stays on through January and Republicans lose the House in November that contest will be for minority leader, not speaker. And some McCarthy allies worry a big election loss would affect the mood and the math for that vote.
That's it for INSIDE POLITICS. Again, thanks for sharing your Sunday morning.
"STATE OF THE UNION" with Jake Tapper is next. He'll sit down with Preet Bharara and get his reaction to the big Jim Comey book.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[08:59:59] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mission accomplished? President Trump says strikes on Syria were quote "perfectly executed" and he calls out the Syrian dictator.
TRUMP: They are crimes of a monster.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But does the Commander-in-Chief have any strategy going forward?
