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Interview With Massachusetts Senator Edward Markey; Republicans Seeking to Destroy Obamacare in Tax Bill?; Roy Moore Vowing to Stay in Senate Race; Trump's Nuclear Authority; CNN Exposes Modern Day Slave Trade. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired November 14, 2017 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:04]
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Is President Trump pressuring the Justice Department to go after his political enemies?
Moore troubles. Top Republicans are desperately trying to make Senate candidate Roy Moore go away after a new allegation of sexual assault. Tonight, the House speaker joins the chorus, as the Senate GOP leader reveals he's been talking about this with President Trump.
And hitting health care. A surprising new twist in the tax bill debate. Why are Senate Republicans suddenly hoping to use the legislation to try to destroy Obamacare?
We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. And you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
BLITZER: Breaking news tonight, Attorney General Jeff Sessions says he now remembers a key meeting in the Russia investigation that he didn't remember before. But he insists he has not lied to Congress.
Sessions testified under oath that media reports jogged his memory of that 2016 meeting when Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos offered to set up a face-to-face between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
The attorney general now says he recalls pushing back against that idea. But Sessions failed to recollect many other details sought by lawmakers, repeating more than 20 times that he couldn't recall.
Sessions also faced tough times about his department's review of whether a new special counsel is needed to investigate the Clinton Foundation in connection with the sale of a uranium company to Russia. Democrats demanding to know if Sessions is being pressured by the president to retaliate against Hillary Clinton. The attorney general denies any White House influence.
We're also follow the scramble by top Republicans to push GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore to quit the race. House Speaker Paul Ryan now says Moore should step aside after a fifth accuser came forward alleging he assaulted her when she was 16 years old. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell says Moore is not fit to serve. And he says he's talked with President Trump about ways to deal with the problem.
This hour, I will talk about those stories and more with Senator Ed Markey. He's a Democratic on the Foreign Relations Committee.
And our correspondents and specialists are also standing by.
First, let's go to our justice correspondent, Pamela Brown, with more on Jeff Sessions' testimony.
Pamela, Sessions was questioned for much of the day with a major focus clearly on Russia.
PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf.
The hearing on Capitol Hill with Attorney General Jeff Sessions lasted for several hours today. But most of the focus was on the campaign's contact with Russians from Democratic lawmakers questioning why he's now remembering contacts he didn't recall before.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN (voice-over): Tonight, Attorney General Jeff Sessions testifying under oath that he never misled Congress regarding contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian officials.
JEFF SESSIONS, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: In all of my testimony, I can only do my best to answer your questions as I understand them and to the best of my memory. But I will not accept and reject accusations that I have ever lied. That is a lie.
BROWN: But after previously testifying he was not aware of any contacts between Trump campaign surrogates and Russians, Sessions is now changing that answer.
Campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russians, revealed that he proposed setting up a meeting between Trump and Russian President Putin during a campaign conference with Sessions. Sessions testifying today he now recalls pushing back against such a meeting.
SESSIONS: I do now recall that -- the March 2016 meeting at the Trump hotel that Mr. Papadopoulos attended, but I have no clear recollection of the details of what he said at that meeting.
After reading his account and to the best of my recollection, I believe that I wanted to make clear to him that he was not authorized to represent the campaign with the Russian government or any other foreign government, for that matter.
BROWN: Sessions has been criticized for not recalling contacts earlier this year that would later be revealed. Today, Sessions said the confusion of the campaign led to his incorrect responses.
SESSIONS: It was a form of chaos every day from day one. We traveled sometimes to several places in one day. Sleep was in short supply.
BROWN: New York Congressman Hakeem Jeffries pressed Sessions on those inaccuracies, pointing to a case Sessions prosecuted years ago while a U.S. attorney in Alabama.
REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D), NEW YORK: While serving as U.S. attorney, you once prosecuted a young police officer who lied in a deposition. And in that speech, you decided to prosecute that young police officer, even though he corrected his testimony.
[18:05:02]
The attorney general of the United States of America should not be held to a different standard than the young police officer whose life you ruined by prosecuting him of perjury.
SESSIONS: Mr. Jeffries, nobody, nobody, not you or anyone else, should be prosecuted, not me, or accused of perjury for answering the question the way I did in this hearing.
BROWN: Sessions grilling come just one after the report from "The Atlantic" showing Donald Trump Jr. was in contact with WikiLeaks during the height of the presidential campaign.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This just came out. WikiLeaks. I love WikiLeaks.
BROWN: WikiLeaks sent several Twitter direct messages to Trump Jr., including requesting that he and his father tout WikiLeaks content to their supporters.
One message from WikiLeaks on October 12 told Trump Jr. their site was posting new e-mails that were stolen from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. Just a short time later, Donald Trump himself tweeted about WikiLeaks, writing: "Very little pickup by dishonest media of incredible information by WikiLeaks. So dishonest, rigged system."
Trump Jr. released the messages Monday night.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: And Don Jr.'s attorney denies there was any wrongdoing, anything worrisome about those communications. On Capitol Hill, there are mixed reactions, with the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Republican Chuck Grassley, calling the messages -- quote -- "innocuous" today -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Pamela Brown reporting, thank you.
Also breaking tonight, urgent new questions for the attorney general about whether he's being pressured by President Trump to go after Hillary Clinton. Jeff Sessions denies that, but many Democrats aren't buying it after new word the Justice Department is now considering the appointment of a special counsel, a second special counsel.
Let's bring in our justice correspondent, Jessica Schneider. She's working this story for us.
Jessica, Democrats pressed Sessions for some answers.
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Wolf.
And the common question here was, are politics in play at the Justice Department, especially now that senior federal prosecutors are deciding whether a second special counsel is warranted to probe President Trump's chief political rival, Hillary Clinton?
But Jeff Sessions did say repeatedly he stood by his promise that politics will not influence the DOJ's decisions.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Tonight, Attorney General Jeff Sessions is pushing back, insisting the Justice Department is independent, as Democratic lawmakers question whether the White House is using the DOJ to go after Hillary Clinton.
REP. JOHN CONYERS (D), MICHIGAN: In a functioning democracy, is it common for the leader of the country to order the criminal justice system to retaliate against his political opponents?
SESSIONS: I would say that it's -- the Department of Justice can never be used to retaliate politically against opponents, and that would be wrong.
SCHNEIDER: But critics are pointing to the president's own words and tweets, which often take aim at Sessions, plus this letter from Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd, as cause for concern.
Monday night, Boyd informed the House Judiciary Committee that federal prosecutors would evaluate whether a special counsel is appropriate after the House Intelligence Committee announced its own probe into whether Hillary Clinton improperly influenced the nine-agency approval of the sale of a uranium company to Russia because of Russian-backed business donations to the Clinton Foundation.
The president has pressed for a probe.
TRUMP: I'm really not involved with the Justice Department. I would like to let it run itself, but, honestly, they should be looking at the Democrats.
SCHNEIDER: Attorney General Sessions pledged to recuse himself from any investigation into Clinton back in January.
SEN. CHARLES GRASSLEY (R), IOWA: To be very clear, you intend to recuse yourself from both the Clinton e-mail investigation and any matters involving the Clinton Foundation, if there are any?
SESSIONS: Yes.
SCHNEIDER: But, before the House Judiciary, Sessions seemed to waiver. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you recused from investigations that involve
Secretary Clinton?
SESSIONS: Mr. Chairman, it's -- I cannot answer that yes or no, because, under the policies of the Department of Justice, to announce recusal in any investigation would reveal the existence of that investigation. And the top ethics officials have advised me I should not do so.
SCHNEIDER: Before finally answering yes.
REP. JERROLD NADLER (D), NEW YORK: At your confirmation hearing you said, "I believe the proper thing for me to do would be to recuse myself."
Do you stand by that statement, yes or no?
SESSIONS: Yes.
SCHNEIDER: Sessions did push back on any implication that a special counsel for Clinton is absolutely necessary.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I guess my main question is, what is it going to take, if all of that, not to mention the dossier information, what is it actually going to take to get a special counsel?
[18:10:07]
SESSIONS: It would take a factual basis that meets the standards of the appointment of a special counsel.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHNEIDER: And the uranium deal isn't the only thing the Justice Department is now probing.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions disclosed today the DOJ has 27 open investigations into the leaks of classified information. That's up from just nine investigations in the past three years. Of course, President Trump has made leaks a focus.
And, Wolf, now we're getting a closer look of just how big a focus it might be over at the Department of Justice.
BLITZER: Certainly are.
Jessica Schneider, thank you very much.
Let's get some on all of this.
Senator Ed Markey is joining us. He's a Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee.
Senator, thanks for joining us.
SEN. EDWARD MARKEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: No, you're welcome. BLITZER: All right, as you heard from our reporters, the attorney
general changed his answer today on the question of any contacts between Trump campaign surrogates and Russians.
He said he now remembers pushing against a meeting proposed by then campaign adviser George Papadopoulos with Russian contacts. And he recalled it after it was reported that Papadopoulos actually had pled guilty to lying to FBI about those contacts.
What do you make of that switch?
MARKEY: Well, I think what's happening with the attorney general and his memory is it seems to be improved every time that there is a leak about Russian contacts with the Trump campaign.
And then almost invariably, the attorney general remembers. And I think that's been a constant pattern throughout the course of this past year with the attorney general, in the same way that Donald Trump Jr. is constantly being reminded of things that happened that he forgot to disclose, as well with regard to his contacts with those that might have been trying to compromise the campaign.
So, I just think it's a pattern that has a constant throughout the entire year. And I don't expect it to stop. I just think that it's going to be the job of the media and the job of Robert Mueller, which is why we have to protect him and make sure that his investigation continues unconditionally from being stopped by the Trump administration.
BLITZER: Yes, I just want to correct you on one thing. In the case of Papadopoulos, it wasn't a leak to the news media with the official court documents where he pled guilty, documents filed by the special counsel Robert Mueller against Papadopoulos. So that was not a leak in that particular case.
But, as you know, Sessions has now also asked senior federal prosecutors to take a look into whether a new special counsel, another special counsel is needed to look into the Clinton Foundation. What's your reaction to this development?
MARKEY: Well, obviously, the president is obsessed with Hillary Clinton. It's almost like a banana republic, where the president who has won an election now wants to see an investigation and indictment of the person, the woman who he defeated.
From my perspective, it's just another red herring. It's just an attempt to draw attention away from the investigation into the Trump administration, into their connections to the Russians during the campaign. But by the time we reach the end of this year, Trump is going to have put out so many red herrings, that we will need an aquarium in order to contain them all.
It's just another part of his attempts to district from the main story line, which obviously is getting closer and closer to the White House.
BLITZER: I want to switch gears, Senator. Your committee, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today held a very important hearing, extraordinary hearing, the first time in 40 years or so, to discuss the president's authority to order a nuclear attack. It's not been discussed for decades.
But the specific reason for this hearing, and you were there, you wanted this hearing. Tell our viewers why.
MARKEY: Well, there's not been a hearing in 41 years in the Congress, House or Senate, on the question of what is the authority of the president of the United States of America to start a nuclear war if we have not been attacked with nuclear weapons?
So the issue obviously is very real. General McMaster, the president's national security adviser, said just a couple of months ago that there is a consideration of preventative nuclear war, meaning that nuclear weapons could be used by the United States against North Korea in an instance where North Korea has not used nuclear weapons against us.
In that kind of a situation, it should be the United States Congress exercising its constitutional responsibilities to determine whether or not a nuclear strike is ordered by the United States against another country as part of a preventative war.
[18:15:05]
And that's why I have introduced legislation, along with Ted Lieu, congressman from California, to ensure we have that debate and we have that insertion of congressional authority to ensure that Donald Trump does not start a nuclear war, where we have not been attacked with nuclear weapons, because obviously, under the existing situation, he can start a nuclear war with the same speed that he can tweet out something to the rest of the country and the world.
And that is too dangerous a situation for our country to be in.
BLITZER: You think you have the support in the Senate to pass that kind of legislation?
MARKEY: I think this hearing today was eye-opening to people.
It's one thing to say that the president has the authority to respond with nuclear weapons against a nuclear attack that's already been launched against our country. It's another thing altogether to say that Donald Trump can use nuclear weapons to try to attack the nuclear sites inside of North Korea where there is no imminent threat against our country.
That is very dangerous. That could quickly escalate into an all-out nuclear confrontation between the United States and North Korea, with North Korea attacking South Korea, Japan, Guam, and potentially, if we didn't get all of the North Korean missiles and nuclear weapons, towards the West Coast of the United States.
We need Congress to once again insert its constitutional prerogatives to make sure that this president or any president, no human being should have the authority to unilaterally start a nuclear war.
BLITZER: Senator Markey, thanks for joining us.
MARKEY: You're welcome.
BLITZER: Just ahead, how did Jeff Sessions do in his testimony before Congress today? Will the most important review of his performance actually come from President Trump?
And we will have a live report from Alabama, where Senate candidate Roy Moore will be speaking soon as allegations of sexual abuse explode. Will the president public join other top Republicans in demanding that Moore call it quits?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:20:44]
BLITZER: Breaking tonight, Attorney General Jeff Sessions angrily rejecting accusations that he misled Congress about the Trump campaign's contacts with Russia.
Sessions testifying that he now remembers a controversial 2016 meeting involving then campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, a meeting he says he didn't recall until a guilty plea by Papadopoulos became front-page news.
Let's bring in our correspondents, analysts, and specialists.
Gloria, seems like a pretty big shift in his memory.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: You think?
It seems as if he can't remember anything about Russia unless it's about how he stopped people from dealing with Russia. And that is the case with George Papadopoulos, because, of course, Papadopoulos came out and said, look, you know, I wanted to talk about Russia, and I wanted to have Putin meet with Trump and that Sessions put the kibosh on that.
And Sessions, of course, didn't recall until Papadopoulos did it. Jeff Sessions today to me looked like someone who was lawyered to the hilt. This is somebody who couldn't recall, to the best of my recollection, every cliche you know, because he doesn't want to perjure himself.
And so what was frustrating members of the committee, particularly the Democrats, is that you have somebody who wouldn't answer directly.
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, because you messed up the first two times.
BORGER: Right, totally, totally.
BASH: And said that -- he said things that were just not right about his interactions or at the time he said lack thereof. BORGER: Right.
BASH: But the thing -- you said that he can't remember unless it's something that he tried to stop. This is actually interesting because had he mentioned this before, it does make him look like he...
BORGER: Look good.
(CROSSTALK)
BASH: Sorry about that.
It looks like he is out there as sort of the adult in the room saying, whoa, whoa, whoa, this is a bad idea.
BORGER: Right.
BASH: The question is, why didn't he mention this before?
You know, I think this is one of the open questions. The other are all the other issues that they were painting him with, not the least of which is whether or not the Justice Department is taking political cues from the president of the United States.
BLITZER: Well, on that issue that there's now -- they're taking a look at the Justice Department, whether a special counsel should be named, following a lot of pressure, a lot of public statements from the president of the United States, special counsel should investigate Hillary Clinton on the uranium sale, the Clinton Foundation.
A lot of Republicans on the Hill want Sessions and the Justice Department to go forward. No one wants it more than the president.
REBECCA BERG, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.
And so Jeff Sessions didn't want to get into details today for obvious reasons about that potential investigation, Wolf. But at the same time, you have to wonder how he must feel being put in this almost impossible situation by the president, forced to either not pursue this investigation and potentially incur the wrath of the president or pursue this investigation, and people wonder was it because of the political pressure that was put on him publicly by the president of the United States?
And so that that's exactly why you don't want the president encouraging the DOJ to take any potential action, because then people do wonder is there political influence in this agency that's supposed to be independent?
BLITZER: Yes, Phil Mudd, you used to work at the FBI. Is there any evidence right now to justify another special counsel to look after Hillary Clinton and the uranium sale?
PHILIP MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: I'm not sure.
And Jeff Sessions set him up with an insulation so he doesn't have to answer that question himself. Look at what he did, Wolf. First, he should never have taken a step in this direction. Justice is supposed to be blind here.
Does anybody believe that if the president of the United States hadn't raised this issue, if this were not a public issue in America, that the Department of Justice, the attorney general, would have looked at it? I certainly don't.
That said, he's raised it. Let me talk about that point of insulation. He's asked the experts to look at it at the Department of Justice, people that President Trump would call the swamp.
If they come up with an answer that says this issue should not be pursued, Jeff Sessions goes to the White House and says, I can't do anything, Mr. President, I can't overrule my experts.
[18:25:00]
If the people who are line prosecutors, that is, career prosecutors, come back and say there is something to pursue here, there is something to look at, and he goes to the Congress, to Democrats, and says, I didn't make this decision, the people who preceded me at Department of Justice and who will outlive this administration made that decision.
So he shouldn't have gone down this path. But, once he did, he's a smart dude, he insulated himself.
BORGER: But I remember when Trump after -- right after election said he wasn't going to investigate the Clintons anymore. He was feeling sort of magnanimous in his moment of victory.
And he said no. Now he's changed his mind. And now Jeff Sessions is in a position where he's got to do something. And if you're one of those career people that Phil Mudd is talking about, how are you feeling doing this?
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: But, Dana, I thought he recused himself from anything involving Hillary Clinton.
BASH: Well, that's a very interesting question.
He sort of affirmed that today. But I think that's why he made the point that the Justice Department itself is going through the proper process to figure out whether or not whatever the president thinks that Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration did warrants a special prosecutor.
Remember -- and he mentioned this today -- a special prosecutor is actually rare. You have one now and you had one during the Clinton administration, Janet Reno's term. In recent history, that's it.
BLITZER: Yes.
Everybody, stand by. There's more we need to discuss.
Republicans take a new stab at rolling back Obamacare by linking it to their must-pass tax bill. Can they achieve two top priorities at once or will it all end up in another very embarrassing defeat?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: There is breaking news on Capitol Hill, where Senate Republicans are now including a repeal of the Obamacare individual mandate in their tax bill.
[18:31:34] Our congressional correspondent Phil Mattingly is working for the story for us.
Phil, this would allow for billions more dollars in tax cuts, but it would also mean millions more Americans without health insurance.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's exactly right, Wolf. And look, this is basically a proposal right now where the politics and the concerns that came with them are now outweighed by the policy realities. If you think about what this will actually do, if you go by the CBO score, Wolf, as you noted, this over the course of ten years will reduce deficits by $338 billion. That is lot of money, and money Republicans need to actually plow into their tax bill.
Now why does that actually happen? The individual mandate, when it goes away, fewer people will sign up for insurance, 13 million over the course of 10 years, according to the CBO. That means fewer government subsidies will be paid out, fewer people will enroll in Medicaid. That will save a significant sum of money.
Now why do Republicans need that money, Wolf? They need it for two reasons. One, they want to try and plus up in order to bring more members along their middle-class tax cuts, the efforts right in that area, that they want to direct money towards. But they also need to be very careful about how this bill actually ends up on the deficit side of things.
In order to stay in line with those very complicated budget rules that allow them to pass this in a simple majority, they need revenue. I've talked to several GOP aides over the course of the last couple of weeks who have always acknowledged this was on the table. But politically, they knew this was a very dangerous thing to do. Their kind of memories of health care are seared into their brains at this point, the repeated failures on that front.
The calculation in the end, Wolf, became pretty simple. They needed the money. This was the place to get the most money. If they could get this through, this would be two significant policy victories. Obviously, Republicans opposed to Obamacare, and they are willing to take the political risk of riling the Democratic base, riling Democrats on the health care issue to try and push this forward. The calculation: the political imperative will win out in the end, and on the policy, they simply had to do it, Wolf.
BLITZER: All right. Phil, thanks very much. Phil Mattingly up on Capitol Hill.
Dana, so what do you think? How's it going to play out, as far as the tax reform legislation is concerned?
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Phil just laid it out well. It is very, very risky. Not just because of the PTS that they feel about what they've gone through, trying not once but twice on the Obamacare repeal, and I obviously mean Republicans, but about the actual substance of it, about repealing the individual mandate.
You have Republicans who were the ones who brought it down the first two times like Susan Collins, who was not so sure that this is the right way to go, isn't so sure that this would be good for the people in her state who rely on Obamacare.
So it's really unclear whether or not this will -- this could get them to the place they need to be in terms of where the deficit reduction is and that goal, that necessity in the tax reform bill. But it could cost them the votes they need to pass the overall package.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. I mean, you'll get the deficit hawks, perhaps, like you know, maybe someone like Bob Corker, somebody like that who's a deficit hawk, and this, you know, gives you $300 plus billion over -- over ten years. But you could lose the moderates like Susan Collins who say, "You know, look, a lot of people in my state depend on this."
And don't forget if you do away with this, you'll have 13 million people who are uninsured. And that is a line for the Democrats to use, obviously. Chuck Schumer already started using it today. And you know, it seems to me that the last thing Republicans want to do in tax reform is redo Obamacare at this point, repeal and replace. I think that's a fight they had. I'm not quite sure they want to have it again.
[18:35:09] REBECCA BERG, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right and especially if you don't have had the replace component to go with the repeal.
BORGER: Right, exactly. Right, exactly.
BERG: This was the problem to begin with for Republicans. They weren't able to agree on some sort of viable replacement. And they would really be taking away a potential political win for themselves. Tax reform, framed as tax cuts, is something that could be potentially a big political winner for Republicans. Coupling that with repeal without replace, very risky.
BASH: But you saw this train coming down the tracks when the president started tweeting about it from Asia. About the individual mandate should be part of it.
BLITZER: He likes it.
BASH: Well, he likes it. But also, clearly, he was told that this is probably an...
BLITZER: Everybody stand by. The color of the day, purple. So...
BORGER (WEARING A MAROON SHIRT): Maroon.
BASH (WEARING A MAROON SHIRT): Marron.
BLITZER: There's no breaking news we're following. Embattled Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore is firing back at Republicans, calling for him to drop out of the race. We're going live to Alabama, where Moore is expected to speak soon.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:4:54] BLITZER: There's more breaking news tonight. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he's spoken with President Trump about Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore and the allegations of sexual abuse against him. McConnell says there's deep concern over the situation, and he calls Moore unfit to serve in the United States Senate.
Our senior national correspondent Kyung Lah is joining us from Jackson, Alabama, right now where Moore is expected to speak shortly.
Kyung, there are some new developments tonight. Update our viewers.
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is a development we're just learning about. The Republican National Committee has just pulled out of a financial agreement with the Moore campaign. This follows the pull-out out of that same agreement by the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
So all of this, this financial agreement, there's only one group left. It is the Alabama Republican Party.
None of this, though, appears to be slowing Moore down, who is scheduled to speak here tonight at this church revival, even as the national pressure grows.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAH (voice-over): The two most powerful congressional Republicans now the leading Republican voices against Alabama's Roy Moore.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MAJORITY LEADER: Roy Moore should step aside. The women who've come forward are entirely credible. He's obviously not fit to be in the United States Senate.
REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: He should step aside. I -- No. 1, these allegations are credible. No. 2, he should -- if he cares about the values and the people he claims to care about, then he should step aside.
LAH: And definitive words from Alabama's own Jeff Sessions. His appointment as attorney general cleared the way for the open Senate seat Roy Moore is running for.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you believe these young women? JEFF SESSIONS, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL: I am -- have no reason
to doubt these young women.
LAH: The number of Republican senators calling on Moore to withdraw from the election or withdrawing their endorsement is growing rapidly.
This after Moore's latest accuser, Beverly Young Nelson, recounted a detail an encounter she said happened with Moore when she was 16 and he was in his thirties, working as an assistant district attorney in Gadsden, Alabama.
BEVERLY YOUNG NELSON, ROY MOORE ACCUSER: I thought that he was going to rape me. I was twisting, and I was struggling; and I was begging him to stop.
LAH: Nelson is the latest woman to come forward recalling past encounters with Moore. Moore has denied all the allegations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a Republican but Roy Moore, no way.
LAH: The Democrat running against Moore, Doug Jones, is targeting Republicans to cross party lines in this new ad.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You read the story, and it just shakes you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just awful.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm for Doug Jones.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm another Republican for Doug Jones.
LAH: Alabama's leading news website calling on the GOP to pull its support of Moore, calling him "grossly unfit for office." But the state's Republican Party so far is not pulling its support, Alabama secretary of state saying he'll still vote for Moore.
JOHN MERRILL (R), ALABAMA SECRETARY OF STATE: As of today, with the information that's been introduced to me, and if these charges are not proven to be true, then I would continue to support and vote for Judge Moore. If they are true, then why would someone have waited this long to have brought this information out at this particular time?
LAH: in Gadsden, Alabama, we spoke to some women now in their '60s and '70s who tell CNN there were always whispers about Roy Moore, but they just never had proof.
(on camera): You're talking about this was folklore?
ANN GREEN, GADSDEN RESIDENT: Yes, my whole entire adult life it was always Roy Moore stories.
KATHY SISSON, GADSDEN RESIDENT: Well, it was common knowledge. You just steered away from him.
LAH: Even now, in this bright Republican red state, voters say the accusations are not enough to change their minds. JOYCE SHELLEY, ROY MOORE SUPPORTER: Allegations are just that,
allegations. And I'm not saying that anybody's lying. But eventually, the truth will be told. It has to be.
But I think it would be a shame for a man to lose out on the possibility of an election and then find out a few months down the road that it was all bogus. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: There is breaking news on Capitol Hill, where Senate Republicans are now including a repeal of the Obamacare individual mandate in their tax bill.
[18:31:34] Our congressional correspondent Phil Mattingly is working for the story for us.
Phil, this would allow for billions more dollars in tax cuts, but it would also mean millions more Americans without health insurance.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's exactly right, Wolf. And look, this is basically a proposal right now where the politics and the concerns that came with them are now outweighed by the policy realities. If you think about what this will actually do, if you go by the CBO score, Wolf, as you noted, this over the course of ten years will reduce deficits by $338 billion. That is lot of money, and money Republicans need to actually plow into their tax bill.
Now why does that actually happen? The individual mandate, when it goes away, fewer people will sign up for insurance, 13 million over the course of 10 years, according to the CBO. That means fewer government subsidies will be paid out, fewer people will enroll in Medicaid. That will save a significant sum of money.
Now why do Republicans need that money, Wolf? They need it for two reasons. One, they want to try and plus up in order to bring more members along their middle-class tax cuts, the efforts right in that area, that they want to direct money towards. But they also need to be very careful about how this bill actually ends up on the deficit side of things.
In order to stay in line with those very complicated budget rules that allow them to pass this in a simple majority, they need revenue. I've talked to several GOP aides over the course of the last couple of weeks who have always acknowledged this was on the table. But politically, they knew this was a very dangerous thing to do. Their kind of memories of health care are seared into their brains at this point, the repeated failures on that front.
The calculation in the end, Wolf, became pretty simple. They needed the money. This was the place to get the most money. If they could get this through, this would be two significant policy victories. Obviously, Republicans opposed to Obamacare, and they are willing to take the political risk of riling the Democratic base, riling Democrats on the health care issue to try and push this forward. The calculation: the political imperative will win out in the end, and on the policy, they simply had to do it, Wolf.
BLITZER: All right. Phil, thanks very much. Phil Mattingly up on Capitol Hill.
Dana, so what do you think? How's it going to play out, as far as the tax reform legislation is concerned?
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Phil just laid it out well. It is very, very risky. Not just because of the PTS that they feel about what they've gone through, trying not once but twice on the Obamacare repeal, and I obviously mean Republicans, but about the actual substance of it, about repealing the individual mandate.
You have Republicans who were the ones who brought it down the first two times like Susan Collins, who was not so sure that this is the right way to go, isn't so sure that this would be good for the people in her state who rely on Obamacare.
So it's really unclear whether or not this will -- this could get them to the place they need to be in terms of where the deficit reduction is and that goal, that necessity in the tax reform bill. But it could cost them the votes they need to pass the overall package.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. I mean, you'll get the deficit hawks, perhaps, like you know, maybe someone like Bob Corker, somebody like that who's a deficit hawk, and this, you know, gives you $300 plus billion over -- over ten years. But you could lose the moderates like Susan Collins who say, "You know, look, a lot of people in my state depend on this."
And don't forget if you do away with this, you'll have 13 million people who are uninsured. And that is a line for the Democrats to use, obviously. Chuck Schumer already started using it today. And you know, it seems to me that the last thing Republicans want to do in tax reform is redo Obamacare at this point, repeal and replace. I think that's a fight they had. I'm not quite sure they want to have it again.
[18:35:09] REBECCA BERG, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right and especially if you don't have had the replace component to go with the repeal.
BORGER: Right, exactly. Right, exactly.
BERG: This was the problem to begin with for Republicans. They weren't able to agree on some sort of viable replacement. And they would really be taking away a potential political win for themselves. Tax reform, framed as tax cuts, is something that could be potentially a big political winner for Republicans. Coupling that with repeal without replace, very risky.
BASH: But you saw this train coming down the tracks when the president started tweeting about it from Asia. About the individual mandate should be part of it.
BLITZER: He likes it.
BASH: Well, he likes it. But also, clearly, he was told that this is probably an...
BLITZER: Everybody stand by. The color of the day, purple. So...
BORGER (WEARING A MAROON SHIRT): Maroon.
BASH (WEARING A MAROON SHIRT): Marron.
BLITZER: There's no breaking news we're following. Embattled Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore is firing back at Republicans, calling for him to drop out of the race. We're going live to Alabama, where Moore is expected to speak soon.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:4:54] BLITZER: There's more breaking news tonight. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he's spoken with President Trump about Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore and the allegations of sexual abuse against him. McConnell says there's deep concern over the situation, and he calls Moore unfit to serve in the United States Senate.
Our senior national correspondent Kyung Lah is joining us from Jackson, Alabama, right now where Moore is expected to speak shortly.
Kyung, there are some new developments tonight. Update our viewers.
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is a development we're just learning about. The Republican National Committee has just pulled out of a financial agreement with the Moore campaign. This follows the pull-out out of that same agreement by the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
So all of this, this financial agreement, there's only one group left. It is the Alabama Republican Party.
None of this, though, appears to be slowing Moore down, who is scheduled to speak here tonight at this church revival, even as the national pressure grows.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAH (voice-over): The two most powerful congressional Republicans now the leading Republican voices against Alabama's Roy Moore.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MAJORITY LEADER: Roy Moore should step aside. The women who've come forward are entirely credible. He's obviously not fit to be in the United States Senate.
REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: He should step aside. I -- No. 1, these allegations are credible. No. 2, he should -- if he cares about the values and the people he claims to care about, then he should step aside.
LAH: And definitive words from Alabama's own Jeff Sessions. His appointment as attorney general cleared the way for the open Senate seat Roy Moore is running for. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you believe these young women?
JEFF SESSIONS, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL: I am -- have no reason to doubt these young women.
LAH: The number of Republican senators calling on Moore to withdraw from the election or withdrawing their endorsement is growing rapidly.
This after Moore's latest accuser, Beverly Young Nelson, recounted a detail an encounter she said happened with Moore when she was 16 and he was in his thirties, working as an assistant district attorney in Gadsden, Alabama.
BEVERLY YOUNG NELSON, ROY MOORE ACCUSER: I thought that he was going to rape me. I was twisting, and I was struggling; and I was begging him to stop.
LAH: Nelson is the latest woman to come forward recalling past encounters with Moore. Moore has denied all the allegations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a Republican but Roy Moore, no way.
LAH: The Democrat running against Moore, Doug Jones, is targeting Republicans to cross party lines in this new ad.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You read the story, and it just shakes you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just awful.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm for Doug Jones.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm another Republican for Doug Jones.
LAH: Alabama's leading news website calling on the GOP to pull its support of Moore, calling him "grossly unfit for office." But the state's Republican Party so far is not pulling its support, Alabama secretary of state saying he'll still vote for Moore.
JOHN MERRILL (R), ALABAMA SECRETARY OF STATE: As of today, with the information that's been introduced to me, and if these charges are not proven to be true, then I would continue to support and vote for Judge Moore. If they are true, then why would someone have waited this long to have brought this information out at this particular time?
LAH: in Gadsden, Alabama, we spoke to some women now in their '60s and '70s who tell CNN there were always whispers about Roy Moore, but they just never had proof.
(on camera): You're talking about this was folklore?
ANN GREEN, GADSDEN RESIDENT: Yes, my whole entire adult life it was always Roy Moore stories.
KATHY SISSON, GADSDEN RESIDENT: Well, it was common knowledge. You just steered away from him.
LAH: Even now, in this bright Republican red state, voters say the accusations are not enough to change their minds.
JOYCE SHELLEY, ROY MOORE SUPPORTER: Allegations are just that, allegations. And I'm not saying that anybody's lying. But eventually, the truth will be told. It has to be.
But I think it would be a shame for a man to lose out on the possibility of an election and then find out a few months down the road that it was all bogus.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAH: And creating -- trying to create that distance, the RNC, a reminder of what they have done this evening is try to create more distance with Moore by pulling out of that financial agreement.
Well, Moore is fighting back also on Twitter. Here is one of his tweets this evening, aimed squarely at Washington tweeting: Alabamians will not be fooled by this inside hit job. Mitch McConnell's days as majority leader are coming to an end very soon. The fight has just begun.
Wolf, he is scheduled to appear here in just about an hour -- Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: We'll see what President Trump decides to do tomorrow when he's back here in Washington.
Kyung Lah, thank you very much.
Much more news right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:50:44] BLITZER: Now, a CNN exclusive.
For years, migrants crossing the Mediterranean have brought with them stories of horror, beatings, kidnappings, even enslavement. Many of them make harrowing journeys from West African countries. Those migrants who do make it to Europe are often too terrified to go on the record about their ordeal.
For the last year, CNN has been working to bring these stories to light. A CNN team comprising Nima Elbagir, our producer Raja Razik (ph) and photojournalist Alex Platt (ph) were able to travel to Libya to witness the true inhumanity for themselves.
Nima is joining us now.
Nima, you got access to a migrant slave auction where men were sold like commodities.
NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is absolutely inexplicable, Wolf, that this is happening in 2017. And yet it is. This is what we found. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUBTITLE: Unknown location, Libya, August 2017.
ELBAGIR (voice-over): A man addressing an unseen crowd.
Big strong boys for farm work, he says. Four hundred. Seven hundred. Seven hundred? Eight hundred.
The numbers roll in. These men are sold for 1200 Libyan pounds, $400 a piece.
You are watching an auction of human beings.
Another man claiming to be a buyer. Off-camera, someone asks, what happen to the ones from Niger?
Sold off, he's told.
CNN was sent this footage by a contact. After months of working, we were able to verify the authenticity of what you see here. We decided to travel to Libya to try and see for ourselves.
(on camera): We're now in Tripoli and we're starting to get a little bit more of a sense of how this all works. Our contacts are telling us that there are one to two of these auctions every month and that there is one happening in the next few hours. So, we're going to head out of town and see if we can get some sort of access to it.
(voice-over): For the safety of our contacts, we have agreed not to divulge the location of this auction, but the town we're driving to isn't the only one.
Night falls, we travel through nondescript suburban neighborhoods, pretending to look for a missing person. Eventually, we stopped outside a house like any other.
Adjust our secret cameras and wait.
Finally, it's time to move.
We're ushered in to one of two auctions happening on the same night, crouched at the back of the yard, a flood light obscuring much of the scene. One by one, men are brought out as the bidding begins.
Four hundred. Five hundred. Five-fifty. Six hundred. Six-fifty. Seven hundred.
Very quickly, it's over.
We ask if we can speak to the man, the auctioneer, seen here, refuses. We ask again if we can speak to them, if we can help them. No, he says. The auction is over we're told.
And we're asked to leave.
(on camera): That was over very quickly. We walked in, and as soon as we walked in, the men started covering their faces, but they clearly wanted to finish what they were doing, and they kept bringing out what they kept referring to in Arabic as al buda (ph), the merchandise.
[18:55:08] All in all, they admitted to us that there were 12 Nigerians that were sold in front of us, and I honestly don't know what to say. That was probably one of the most unbelievable things I've ever seen.
SUBTITLE: Treeq Alsika migrant detention center, Tripoli, October 2017.
ELBAGIR (voice-over): These men are migrants with dreams of being smuggled to Europe by sea. They come in their thousands from Niger, Mali, Nigeria, Ghana.
It's hard to believe that these are the lucky ones, rescued from warehouses like the one in which we witnessed the auction. They're sold if those warehouses become overcrowded or if they run out of money to pay their smugglers.
If these rescued men so many here say they were held against their will. It doesn't take us long to find victory.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No food, no water, nothing.
ELBAGIR: Victory was a slave.
(on camera): We know that some people are being sold.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
ELBAGIR: Some people are being sold.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
ELBAGIR: Is this something you've heard about?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
ELBAGIR: Can you tell us about that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure. I was sold.
ELBAGIR: What happened?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On my way here I was sold.
If you look at most of the people here, if you check their bodies, you see the marks. They're beaten. Mutilated. You understand? Most of them lost their lives there.
I was there, the person who came to buy me, give them the money. Then they took me home. So, the money wasn't even that much.
ELBAGIR (voice-over): As the migrants now start to come forward with their stories --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They took people to work by force. Even when we were at the seaside port.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you are working. When you are doing their work, they will be beating you. They will be maltreating us.
SUBTITLE: Immigration officials, Tripoli, October 2017.
ANAS ALAZABI, ANTI-ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION AGENCY: But I promise you, I will take care of your husband --
ELBAGIR: Anas Alazabi is the supervisor here. With no international support, it's his job to look after the captured migrants until they can be deported. He says every day brings fresh heartbreak.
ALAZABI: I'm suffering for them. I am suffering for them. What they have seen here daily, believe me, they make me really feel pain for them. They come on, every story is a special case. A few, there was abusing them, few is they stole their money.
ELBAGIR (on camera): Have you heard about people being auctioned off, about migrants being sold?
ALAZABI: Honestly, we hear the rumors, but there is nothing that's obvious in front of us. We don't have evidence.
ELBAGIR (voice-over): But we now do.
CNN has delivered this evidence to the Libyan authorities who have promised to launch an investigation, so that scenes like this are returned to the past.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ELBAGIR: In addition to handing that evidence to the Libyan authorities, we've also passed it on to the office of the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, in the hope that they can work to bring some justice to those people you saw in that footage, Wolf.
BLITZER: You know, Nima, amazing, amazing recording. You and your team have done. It seems the Libyan authorities have very little control outside the capital.
You mentioned the ICC, the International Criminal Court. What can actually be done to stop this?
ELBAGIR: Well, the hope is that, you know, these are stories that we have all been hearing for so long. And whenever it's raised at the Security Council at the U.N., whenever it's raised in meetings with the State Department, with the British prime minister's office, they always say, but there's no evidence.
Well, we have now shown that there is, that this is happening. So, the hope is now that there will actually be concrete movements by the international community. The Libyans you saw them there, they're actually paying out of their own pockets in those detention centers to help feed and clothe those migrants. It really feels, Wolf, like the world has turned its back on Libya,
and our hope is at CNN, the team, all of us, that this can at least start to begin the conversation. What can be done more to help the people there?
BLITZER: You think they're going to really do something? Because we have been hearing about this for a while.
ELBAGIR: Well, I think what was so interesting is I remember president Barack Obama said Libya, the mishandled intervention in Libya was one of the biggest disappointments of his two terms in office. Now, we have seen the ramifications of that. You have essentially a failed state on Europe's doorstep, and there needs to be something to perhaps shock people into understanding what that means.
What that means is a foothold for terror and these horrifying medieval criminal networks, Wolf.
BLITZER: Nima Elbagir, amazing reporting. Thank you so much for doing this. Our viewers here in the United States and around the world are grateful.
That's it for me.
"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.
