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CNN Interviews Sen. Claire McCaskill; Congressman Beto O'Rourke Of Texas Pitching In To Help A Group Of Some 200 Migrants Who Got Dropped Off In El Paso Late Sunday With No Warning; Donald Trump Speaks To Children On Christmas Eve As He Tracks Santa Claus. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired December 25, 2018 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00]

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR: After over a decade of service in the United States Senate, Democrat Claire McCaskill is bowing out. She lost her reelection campaign last month to a Trump favorite, Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley. McCaskill tried to enter the campaign to bridge the divide between herself and Trump supporters in part by distancing herself from members of her own party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Claire is not afraid to stand up against her own party.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, and Claire is not one of those crazy democrats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: I sat down with Senator McCaskill before she left Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

RAJU: You said you are not one of those crazy democrats. What propelled you to say that? And who are those crazy democrats?

SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL (D-MO): Well, we have a state senator in Missouri that put on her Facebook that she thought President Trump should be assassinated, that's a crazy democrat. The people during Trump's inauguration that were breaking windows, that's a crazy democrat. People who go into restaurants and scream in elected official's faces when they are eating with their families, those are crazy democrats. That doesn't mean I don't believe in my party.

RAJU: What about people like (inaudible) Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-cortez, is she a crazy democrat?

MCCASKILL: I don't know her. I am a little confused why she's the thing. But it's a good example of what I'm talking about. A bright and shiny new object came out of nowhere and surprised people when she beat a very experienced Congressman. And so she is now talked about a lot.

I'm not sure what she has done yet to generate that kind of enthusiasm but I wish her well. I hope she hangs the moon, but I hope she also realizes that the parts of the country that are rejecting the Democratic Party, like a whole lot of white working class voters, need to hear about how their work is going to be respected and the dignity of their jobs and how we can really stick to issues that we can actually accomplish something on.

The rhetoric is cheap. Getting results is a whole lot harder. Everyone knows they won't get 60 votes for free college for every body in the United States Senate anytime in the next three cycles. That's not going to happen. So that's great to talk about in the campaign but all that does is make people more cynical that believe in you when you don't get it done.

And the way you get things done here is by reasonable negotiation and compromise and finding things that people agree on, like the cost of prescription drugs, like opioids, like criminal justice reform. We can do it. And somebody who talks about leading in that direction is the one that can win places like Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan and maybe even compete in a place like Missouri.

RAJU: Do you think Elizabeth Warren could win those places?

MCCASKILL: I don't know. I think it's hard but I don't know.

RAJU: Have you been surprised that republicans have not said more to this president about these legal problems that he's had over the past couple of years and about his attacks against the FBI; that they've not, for the most part, stood up to him? Has that surprised you?

MCCASKILL: It has with some of them. I'm really perplexed that some of my colleagues have not stood up.

RAJU: Like who?

MCCASKILL: Well, I'm not going to name names. But the point is, they're keeping their head down and here's what they're rationalizing in their heads. Now they'll tell you, if it's just the two of you, you know the guy is nuts, he doesn't have a grasp of the issues, he doesn't - he's making brash (ph) decisions and not listening to the people who know the subject matter.

But in public, if they go after him, they know they get a primary. And they know that's tough. They watched what happened to their colleagues who did go after him and neither one of them are coming back. So in their minds it's I'm going to keep my head down, we're going to do what we can to thwart his worst instincts, to check his worst instincts and then I can stick around and this will be over soon.

So it's like look down and just hold your breath, it will be over. This isn't going to last forever. This is a completely different Republican Party. Now I think history will judge some (ph) of my colleagues harshly that they didn't stand up to this president at some of the moments where he has been unhinged about, particularly, the rule of law.

RAJU: Personally though, when you heard that the president was involved in apparent hush money scheme to silence women that he may have had affairs with, what was your reaction to that?

MCCASKILL: Well, it's weird that it's not a bigger deal. I mean, he's almost the master of I'm going to do so much stuff that's crazy that nobody notices crazy anymore. That's kind of where we find ourselves. Kanye West was in the oval office MF'ing (ph) on live TV.

KANYE WEST, RAPPER: ... we have to make it more (inaudible), we have to mix curriculum (ph) ...

MCCASKILL: (VOICEOVER) I mean, think about that. That is ...

KANYE WEST: I love this guy right here.

MCCASKILL: (VOICEOVER) ... crazy weird.

RAJU: Are you going to stay in Washington or ...

MCCASKILL: No, no, no, no.

[12:35:00]

I'm taking a train out of toxicland here. I am not going to be in Washington. I'm going to be home mostly, but I've got other things planned, I hope that will allow some travel. And, you know, my mouth has gotten me in a lot of trouble during these years in public service. I figure now the sky's the limit. I can really get in trouble with my mouth.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

RAJU: Back here with the panel to dissect some of the this. One of things that I want to - that she mentioned was interesting was talking about her advice for the Democratic party saying, you know, we needed to focus on tangible, achievable results. Her concern was we talk about these big policy ideas like tuition-free college. Never going to happen, these problem won't happen, and that it feeds cynicism among voters. It gives rise to people like Donald Trump to rail against Washington, but this is going to be a huge debate for this party come 2020 how exactly you position yourself and do you embrace the more middle of the ground road or do you talk about these big issues?

ELENA SCHOR, POLITICAL REPORTER, ASSOCIATED PRESS: Yes, I think she had some really salient advice for folks like Elizabeth Warren who noticed she didn't say she thought could win her red state ahead of this primary. Hey, don't veer too far to the left. I mean, you can go left. Do what you got to do to win, but I think McCaskill's words there are important. You know, you've got to leave room to tell people here's what's really possible, not just a dream of what I really would do in a fantasy world.

RAJU: Yes, and that's, of course, very hard in a campaign environment. She didn't mention anything about her campaign, about Brett Kavanaugh, the impact that the Kavanaugh fight had on her race and whether it cost her her seat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCASKILL: There were a number of things beyond our control. Donald Trump won my state by almost 20 points. He camped out so often in Missouri. The last 30 days, I figured he was building a golf course. We had the Kavanaugh spectacle combined with the caravan optics combined with him being there every 10 minutes.

RAJU: So if Anthony Kennedy did not step down from the Supreme Court, do you think you'd have won that race?

MCCASKILL: I think it would have been much more likely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: She just said much more likely she'd have won if it weren't for the Kavanaugh fight. I mean, I'm wondering - you look back, Jake, at the midterms this year how much did Kavanaugh shape things? Because obviously it helped Democrats do (ph) energize their base but ultimately could have affected things in the Senate, too.

JAKE SHERMAN, CO-AUTHOR OF POLITICO'S PLAYBOOK: Tough to say. I was travelling right after the Kavanaugh stuff, and I think the one thing I saw that's tangible was fervor among Republican donors and Republicans who are already in the camp to get out and vote. I don't - I think it's tough to make that argument in the state that the president won by 20 points, and the state had then had been trending away from Claire McCaskill for a very long time. That's represented by all but I think one Democrat - all Republicans besides one Democrat in the House. So I think it's a tough argument to make, but maybe you disagree.

DAVID DRUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, I was in Tennessee right as all of the Kavanaugh stuff was going down toward the end there, and there was clearly an uptick in Republican interest in the election. You know, in the month of September before Kavanaugh became a thing, we forget the Democrats were starting to profit from this idea that they could possibly win the Senate because the doldrums were setting in for Republicans. We're going to lose the House. Things don't look good, and voter interest on the right wasn't really that great, and Kavanaugh just energized them and gave them something to believe in. And in states where Trump is potent like Tennessee where I was, like Missouri, it had the effect, I think, of putting the lid on any hope for Democratic upsets. And I think that's why it was so key to what ended up happening in the Senate.

There's one thing I want to say about your interview with McCaskill, which I thought was fascinating, was that she had a chance to take some key votes with the president over the last couple of years. She decided not to every time, so there may be some crazy Democrats in Missouri, but she didn't do herself any favors by trying to at least say on the votes you notice and you like Trump, I'm with him on those votes. Joe Manchin did a much better job of that. RAJU: Yes. She didn't separate, and one thing she also said is that she thinks that Republicans - privately she said they tell her that Trump is nuts (inaudible). I'm wondering, you know, in the new Congress, you look at the membership of the new Senate is are any of these going - people you think are going to speak out particularly as more comes out of the Mueller investigation, the report comes out. Do you think that dynamic's going to shift at all or is going to be pretty much Democrats railing against Trump and Republicans hiding?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's really hard for me to see that this dynamic is going to suddenly shift. I mean, Republicans knew what Trump was when he was running for president. They voted for him anyway. They backed him anyway. The one's who refused to endorse him came back around. They voted with him once he got - you know, won the presidency came to Washington. So it's hard for me to see that all of a sudden they're going to wake up reenergized in 2019 and they're going to be out there really holding his feet to the fire. I think, you know, what you're more likely to see is what we're dealing with Mitch McConnell in the negotiations right now as sort of, you know, stepping back a little bit and saying, you know, this is your fight -

RAJU: You guys deal with it, yes.

MURRAY: - you figure it out.

RAJU: Yes, that's right. I'm sure there'll be a lot of that in the months ahead. And before we go to break, outgoing Defense Secretary, James Mattis, had a warm message for the troops just one day before he filed his resignation.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

JAMES MATTERIS, UNITED STATES DEFENSE SECRETARY: Since Washington crossed the Delaware at Christmas in 1776, American troops have missed holidays at home to defend our experiment in democracy. To all you lads and lasses holding the line in 2018 on land, at sea, or in the air, thanks for keeping the faith. Merry Christmas, and may God hold you safe.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

[12:40:30]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RAJU: Topping our political radar, the late Army captain who's parents feuded with then candidate Trump in 2016 is now being honored by the president. He just signed a bill that names a post office in Virginia for Captain Humayan Khan. Khan's father, you (ph) recall, got into a war of words with Trump after criticizing him at the Democratic Convention. Virginia's two Democratic Senators hail the measure memorizing Captain Khan who was killed in Iraq in 2004.

[12:45:00] Congressman Beto O'Rourke of Texas pitching in to help a group of some 200 migrants who got dropped off at a bus station in El Paso late Sunday with no warning. A police spokesman says - there says ICE apparently had no plan for housing them, leaving police scrambling to find shelter for men, women, and children. Immigration authorities plan more releases today with one Congressman elect saying they expect 1,200 more people in the next few days. ICE who has a statement (ph) blaming inaction by Congress while insisting it works with agencies to help migrants before they're released.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis not taking the day off this Christmas with just a week left on the job. A DOD official tells CNN Secretary Mattis is working in his Pentagon office today. Meanwhile, we're getting some new insight into Mattis's sudden resignation last week. The widely respected, several Trump administration officials tells CNN some insiders also believe he should have resigned sooner and disagree with matter and how he went about it.

CNN's Pentagon Correspondent, Barbara Starr, is with us now. Barbara, what are you hearing about all this?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well look, Manu, I think it's important to say this is some people we've talked to, not a massive unilateral view if you will, monolithic view. As the days have gone on since Mattis's resignation, of course, everybody comes out with their opinion about what happened and what should have happened. So some officials are saying, look, it was well-known that Mattis had disagreements with the White House, that his influence was on the wane as Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, seemed to appear more influential on a number of matters, that the president wasn't paying attention to him.

Syria - withdrawing troops from Syria was the final straw, but the question is maybe should Mattis have thought about leaving earlier, getting time for another person to come in who might be more influential with the president? Of course, this is a question that has no answer, does? You know, we may never really know everything that happened until Mattis either writes a book or decides to speak publically. For now, he doesn't appear to be doing either. Manu -

RAJU: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thanks.

STARR: Sure.

RAJU: And up next, a lighter side of President Donald Trump as he tracks Santa with kids, but first, a Christmas Day flashback to 1961 when President Kennedy wrote a letter to a child who was worried about Santa's safety during the Cold War.

"You must not worry about Santa Claus," wrote President Kennedy. "I talked with him yesterday and he is fine. He'll be making his rounds again this Christmas."

(COMMERICAL BREAK)

[12:50:00] (BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: Hi. Hi Grayson (ph), how are you? How are you? Merry Christmas? Well, you're looking forward to Christmas?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. Nice talking to you.

TRUMP: That's good, honey. What's Santa going to get you for Christmas? Right. That's fantastic.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

RAJU: That was President Trump last night on Christmas Eve chatting with kids from all over who are tracking Santa as he made his way across the globe. The calls offered the country a rare glimpse at President Trump's lighter side. Norad's Santa Tracker has become a White House staple with First Lady Melania Trump even tweeting, "helping children across the country track Santa's becoming one of my favorite traditions. POTUS and I enjoyed working with Norad Santa." I'm wondering why, you know, we never really see this side of Donald Trump? He - we see the other side, the very angry side, the tweets and the often ranting. How come the president doesn't show a different side of him - a grandpa - he is a grandfather, that side of himself?

DRUCKER: You know, I asked Corey Lewandowski this question earlier this year when I interviewed him for my podcast, and he said that the president doesn't want to look weak in public, and he said privately if you're on the president's team he is good to you, he's good to your family. And I said, "why won't he let it show a little bit? It would help." And Corey didn't argue that it wouldn't help. He just said it's not the president's style.

SHERMAN: And I just interviewed the president a month ago, and I was having - I haven't covered him as Sarah had during the campaign, but I was shocked at the dissonance between the public and the private persona. I mean, the private persona was not as blustery, not as intense. Almost very conversational and very inquisitive, and as somebody who has only dealt with him a couple times, it was surprising to me.

RAJU: And, you know, you hear of people when they meet with the president as you just said, Jake, I mean, they say that they see a different side of this president and then publically it's completely different.

MURRAY: He can be very charming, and people who go into meeting with him whether it's from Capitol Hill or whether it's voters who meet him on the campaign trail whether they agree with his policies or not often come away with that impression. That is often time a very private side of him.

SHERMAN: Yes.

MURRAY: It is not fit with his public brand of showing up and essentially, you know, breaking things down.

RAJU: Yes, I mean, the president himself, you know, he obviously is concerned about this undercutting his image, but maybe it could help him with women voters and other voters who don't like his brash style.

SCHOR: Absolutely. I mean, if you look at the Instagram feeds of his family, there's clearly a lot of affection among the Trump's and they're pretty appealing figures, particularly the kids and the grandkids. So, you know, he could stand to put himself around them more in 2019. I just want to say, though, I was really glad to hear that Norad Santa Tracker was essentially during the shutdown.

RAJU: Yes!

SCHOR: Right?

RAJU: You're right.

MURRAY: We have to keep track of Santa (ph).

[12:55:00] RAJU: You know, we'll see if they actually got paid. Maybe they won't, maybe they will. We'll see. Thank you all for spending your Christmas with us and thank you to the viewers, too, for spending part of your day with us. See you tomorrow on Inside Politics. Kate Bolduan now picks up our coverage after a quick break.

(BREAK)