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Inside Politics

Trump Fires Attorney General Jeff Sessions; 11 House, 2 Senate Races Yet to be Called; 12 People Killed, Up To 15 Wounded in CA Bar Shooting. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired November 08, 2018 - 12:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:30:31] JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Some breaking news now on the fallout and controversy over the president's decision to fire Jeff Sessions and elevate Sessions' Chief of Staff Matthew Whitaker to be the acting attorney general. The Washington Post is reporting, I'm going to read this to you.

"Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker has no intention of recusing himself from overseeing the special counsel probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election. According to people close to him who added, this is very significant, they do not believe he would approve any subpoena of President Trump as part of the investigation."

There's more to the story but let's start the conversation there. Joining us to share their reporting and insights, CNN's Nia-Malika Henderson, Politico's Eliana Johnson, Rachael Bade also with Politico, and Catherine Lucey with the Associated Press.

So, the significance here is that Matthew Whitaker is now oversees Robert Mueller. Rod Rosenstein who has done so for months and has said don't worry, I approved everything. Bob Mueller is doing the right thing, he's off on the right track. Now you have a political ally of the president put in this job, no intention of recusing himself.

Let's start there. The questions about that have been -- because to be fair of Mr. Whitaker, as a private citizen he was sharply critical at the special counsel. As a private citizen, he said that, you know, if Jeff Sessions leave, you could crunch the budget, you could get in the way. As a private citizen he said Mueller, he thought had way too broad of a scope and that any requests that went into the president's finances would be over the limit.

The signals coming quickly from -- this is very excellent reporting team in the Washington Post saying no intention of to recuse himself. What does that tell you?

ELIANA JOHNSON, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, POLITICO: I think if Whitaker merely oversaw this probe and did nothing to clip Mueller's wings, this controversy would die down very quickly. I think the question immediately is going to turn to, is he going to do any of the things he previously talked about to try to curtail the Mueller investigation, whether it's making clear to Mueller that he would stamp out any attempt to issue a subpoena to the president. That's where I think the controversy is going to come in, and I think you could see the Republican senators very quickly make clear to the president they'll make it difficult for him to confirm a permanent replacement. There's, you know, sort of a string of controversies that I think could erupt from that.

KING: And this may be grossly unfair to Mr. Whitaker but the president of the United States is on record repeatedly damning and criticizing Jeff Sessions for essentially not understanding in the president's view, the attorney general is supposed to be his political guy at the Justice Department not an independent voice

CATHERINE LUCEY, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, ASSOCIATED PRESS: You know, which raises the other question here of the relationship between the president and Mr. Whitaker and exactly what the president might ask him to do. If he is going to, you know, put any pressure on him or make any requests. And we don't -- obviously, we don't know that but that's something to be watching as well.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: But don't we sort of know how that? I mean, we know how the president has talks about what he wants to see in an attorney general? The failures that he saw for instance or actually he thought that Eric Holder was a good attorney general for Obama because he was sort of like his personal attorney in Trump's estimations. So I think we know what his concept of how someone at the Justice Department should act. And that essentially they should protect him and be a loyalist.

So I imagine that's why this guy is in that position. And from what he is saying or he's essentially suggesting that he is going to carry out what the president wants to see from somebody in that position.

KING: All right. Just let me read a little bit more from the story because this is what jumps out. A first day law student, let alone a first year law student would have understood Jeff Sessions had to recuse himself. Because he was so active in the Trump campaign, he himself had a meeting with the Russian ambassador, and the big questions were about the campaign, any possible collusion with Russia.

So a first year -- even though the president was so harshly critical of this, a first day law student would say that's what Jeff Sessions has to do.

Ethic officials at the Justice Department are likely to review his past work, that means Mr. Whitaker to see if he has any financial or personal conflicts. In many instances, that office does not require a Justice Department official to recuse but suggest a course of action.

So if they look at all these past statements, the op-ed pieces he has written criticizing Mueller or the scope of the investigation or saying, hey, if Jeff Sessions is fired, you could name somebody to come in who could then essentially kill Mueller by cutting off the money and restricting him. If the Office of Personal Responsibility says, you know, you probably should recuse yourself, it's his decision. He can say thanks, but no. RACHAEL BADE, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, POLITICO: Yes. And he is already signaling that he is not interested in that. I think under any normal circumstance, we would see Congress sort of having emergency hearings right now. Republicans obviously still control of the House. We're not hearing anything from House Republicans in terms of push back on this. But what has changed now with the election is that Democrats are about to take power in two months.

[12:35:03] And we are already hear the chairman talking about how they're going to -- they want a hearing on this. They want to know did the president specifically pick Whitaker and put him at the Justice Department because he made all these statements saying he would try to reign in this probe?

And, you know, that oversight is going to take place. People want to dig into this more. So, you know, they're going to have to answer to Congress.

LUCEY: I don't know that it matters though in terms of his formal confirmation because he can stay in this position for 200 some days without being confirmed by the Senate. And so, you know, even if the Senate was to sort of look at his background and, you know, it's unclear to me that Senate Republicans who now have this wider margin in the Senate would actually vote him down, that they wouldn't confirm him. But maybe it doesn't matter.

KING: The timing is interesting just in that you know that Mueller is trying to write a report, you know, he's waiting for the president's written answers. You know, now Whitaker can serve in a period of time where the Democrats don't take charge until January. We have the rest of November and all of December.

We'll continue the conversation (INAUDIBLE).

JOHNSON: Oh yes. I mean, the strategy of naming an acting attorney general who the president knew through, you know, a wink and a nod was very loyal to him was a ploy to buy time until the Mueller investigation ends. So now he has a loyalist there who may clip his wings and he's hoping Mueller closes in 200 days, he's got a loyalist there. And then once that's behind him, he can put somebody permanent at the Justice Department and open a new chapter of his presidency.

KING: Again, some of this may be unfair to Mr. Whitaker. There's a way around that. He may meet with reporters, answer questions, tell us about what you're going to do and how you're going to approach this.

Up next, broken ribs and a trip to the hospital for the Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

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[12:41:05] KING: Topping our political radar today, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is in the hospital after fracturing three ribs in a fall in her office last evening. The 85-year-old justice undergoing observation and treatment. Because of that, she missed Justice Brett Kavanaugh's formal investiture ceremony this morning. Ginsburg has served on the high court since 1993.

And the White House is finalizing a new executive action for President Trump that would limit the number of asylum seekers allowed to enter the United States. Senior officials say they hope to have it ready for the president to sign tomorrow, that before he leaves for an overseas trip to Paris. President Trump talked about limiting the number of asylum seekers entering the country in the final weeks of the midterm campaign.

When we come back, the vote was Tuesday but we're still counting them and Democrats today picking up two more seats to add to their new -- what will be a new House majority.

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[12:46:04] KING: Two more pickups for Democrats today in House races both in suburban districts long represented by Republicans. That means, the new Democratic majority will have at least 225 seats. And let me show them to you. There are 11 more races still where we've yet to call the votes.

Where did that go? This is why, let me show you. You have to hit that button first. Here we go.

Eleven more races where we still haven't counted the votes so Democrats have the opportunity to get maybe as many as 35 pickups. Many of the Democratic pickups across the country as I just noted including the two today in Georgia and Washington state, suburban districts long held by Republicans where the president of the United States was a problem for Republican incumbents and Republican candidates.

Listen here to a retiring Republican congressman saying this new Democratic map of the House of Representatives is the president's fault.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RYAN COSTELLO (R), PENNSYLVANIA: Those members lost because the president's unfavorability in those districts was so sky high that it was impossible to differentiate yourself from him. And the president doesn't -- he not only doesn't appreciate that, he attacks you for that and he's blind to the fact that it was him that made it so difficult for you to run a race. And then when you lose that race, he attacks you for losing. I mean, it's just absolutely so mind blowing and insulting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Well, as you might have noticed, there's a lot of raw emotions and finger-pointing among Republicans after this. But it is just an indisputable fact that Republicans lost a lot of ground from coast to coast, in suburbs that for decades have been Republican seats. In suburbs that for a long time have been Republican strongholds.

The retiring Congressman is not wrong. The president was a huge drag in the suburbs. He may have been an asset in rural areas, in this big Senate contest, but in this House races in the suburbs, the president was a tremendous drag.

LUCEY: No. And you saw that in the president's closing strategy. He didn't go to these suburbs. He went to, you know, more rural, smaller areas in these red states that voted for him as he tried to unseat, you know, Democrats in those states. So the White House obviously has pushed back, they will hear a lot of retirements, the president can't go to every House district.

But what we saw with this election was really these two very different Americas. And the Trump support and the Democratic support are entirely in different places.

BADE: I think it'll be interesting to watch if House Republicans actually take a lesson from this because Costello was saying the areas we've lost in the suburbs and this was because of Donald Trump and him trying to (INAUDIBLE) independent voters and people who traditionally vote Republican. But they have some conservatives right now who are trying to argue that some of these people should attract closer to Trump.

I think that there is an obvious flaw in that logic and that is the people who did hug Trump, there were a number of House Republicans, Claudia Tenney in New York ran an ad saying Tenney and Trump. And Dave Brat in Virginia, he talked a lot about Trump and had people from the Trump administration calling on his behalf and that didn't work for him. It didn't work for either of them. They both lost.

So, there's a back and forth going on. And I think most Republicans agree with, you know, Costello there and they're going to take a lesson from this.

HENDERSON: Yes. But what is the lesson that somebody like Rick Scott draws from this or somebody like Josh Hawley who in some ways owe their Senate seats to Donald Trump coming into their states in those last hours and really sort of clinging to Trump. And so yesterday -- I mean, he was very clear about, you know, (INAUDIBLE) love showed me no love and look what happened to me.

KING: And look what happened. Not now. We'll see. Rick Scott was not done yet. There maybe a recount there but we'll see what happens there.

And Josh Hawley. They have -- if you win a Senate seat, at least you have six years.

HENDERSON: Yes.

KING: If you just win a Senate seat, you have six years to worry about it and you can -- you know, you can deal with it then. But the other thing that's fascinating is the president is getting kicked by a lot of these moderate Republicans and suburban Republicans. But the outgoing speaker of the House, Paul Ryan taking grief.

This is -- listen to this, this is from New York Times reporting, Alex Burns and Jonathan Martin. "He thought it was selfish said Josh Holmes, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's top political advisor, recalling the lawmaker's reaction to Mr. Ryan's announcement.

[12:50:03] If he wanted to leave, he could leave after the election. He let all his guys hang out to dry."

That is the big debate. Speaker Paul Ryan announcing months ago, you know, I'm done. I'm done. I'm not going to run for re-election.

And instead of a lot of people said, well, no, wait, stay as speaker and protect the majority and then announce the after the fact. It is striking to see this all coming out of public now and this Republican blame game.

JOHNSON: Well, I think that's what happens when a party is in the minority. You know, being a loser, you do see all of this finger- pointing come out. And, you know, what's so interesting to me is that the election results are sort of a, choose your own storyline or choose your own adventure where you see Republicans is focusing on the results of the Senate and Democrats focusing on the House results but the Republican losers in the House are finger-pointing.

But what I think -- if you look at the overall picture and setback, there's clearly a realignment of the political parties where the Democratic Party now is becoming the party of sort of suburban, wealthier, white collar, college-educated elites, and the Republican Party accelerated by Trump and the Trump presidency is now becoming a party of blue collar, you know, working class people which is so different from what the parties were even a decade ago.

HENDERSON: These are Democrats who have a lot of blue collar, black voters obviously, Latino voters of all --

JOHNSON: Right. That and minorities.

LUCEY: And Democrats had a good night in a lot of ways in the Midwest so I think it's interesting to watch for 20. They took governors' races in Michigan, in Wisconsin, in Kansas. And so those results I think -- because Trump took those states in '16.

KING: Yes, to your point about the acceleration now, Republicans have to figure out how do we talk to people in the suburbs, convince them we're with them, and Democrats have to figure out how to talk (INAUDIBLE) what used to be their biggest base there. A lot to still dissect. Autopsies as they say after these things.

Up next, President Trump says there's a long line of people dying to work in his administration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a hot White House. We are a White House that people want to work with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[12:56:34] KING: We need to take you immediately in California. This is Jason Coffman who just learned his son was among those killed in that bar shooting late last night.

JASON COFFMAN, VICTIM'S FATHER: Oh Cody, I love you, son. And I just want to thank everybody that let me get out this morning just to put his face on the news. That this is going to be an absolute heart wrenching time for me and my family. I just want to say thank you to every one of you, KTLA 5, thank you, FOX 11, everybody. I watch you and I love you guys and I just want to pray for everybody else that is going to be going through the same situation.

There is many more to come. But for me, this is the heart that I'll never get back. I'll never get back.

(INAUDIBLE)

COFFMAN: My son was on his --he was on his way to fulfilling his dream of serving the country, yes. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How old is he?

COFFMAN: He just turned 22.

(INAUDIBLE)

COFFMAN: He was talking to recruiters and doing his thing that he had to do to become part of the military, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What branch?

COFFMAN: In the army.

(INAUDIBLE)

COFFMAN: To me, his outgoing love for everybody, his outgoing love for his baseball team. He was a head umpire for the Camarillo Pony Baseball League. I mean, there were so many people that he touched. And now are going to be just as heartbroken as I am.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was he a hero like you thought he was (INAUDIBLE).

COFFMAN: He stayed behind. Yes. He stayed behind.

(INAUDIBLE)

COFFMAN: We don't know anything. They just told us that he was pronounced dead on the scene.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jason, you spoke to us earlier this morning and you said you were here because your wife was at home and she would not be able to bear the stress of being out here. Talk to us about this.

COFFMAN: Yes. She's -- all the family, she's here. Cody's mom is here as well. They have no -- they can't come out. I talked to you all this morning and I thought it was my honor and my duty to come up and let you guys know that we found him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When was your last call to your son?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He just moved in with them and was living with them for the last -- not even a month really.

COFFMAN: I talked to him last night before he headed out the door. First thing I said was, please don't drink and drive. The last thing I said was son, I love you. That was the last thing I said.

(INAUDIBLE)

COFFMAN: His name is Cody Coffman.

(INAUDIBLE)

COFFMAN: The companionship that I have with my son, the companionship that my son had with his other two brothers. This is absolutely going to crush those two boys. This is going to be -- this is not going to be easy for a very long time.