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Trump And Greek Prime Minister; Trump Says Ask Kelly; Drug Czar Pick Withdrawn; ISIS Has Fallen; President Trump On Syria; Pentagon Investigates Niger Ambush; Trump on Former Presidents; North Korea Warning; McCain on Trump's Threat. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired October 17, 2017 - 13:00   ET

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


WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington. Thanks very much for joining us.

Round two, moments from now, President Trump holding another news conference and this time, he'll be standing next to a man who once called him evil. Stop the damn lying. That from President Obama's former attorney general after President Trump claims his predecessor didn't call the families of those killed in action. Now, as backlash erupts, President Trump raises eyebrows with a new comment about his chief of staff.

And North Korea says nuclear war may break out any moment. You're going to hear what prompted this very disturbing new warning.

But up first, what will the president say next? We're going to find out very soon, when he holds his second news conference in as many days. He'll be standing beside the prime minister of Greece, Alexis Tsipras, a man who once warned about avoiding Donald Trump's, quote, "evil."

And it comes as the president makes new headlines on everything from Senator John McCain to ISIS to honoring fallen American soldiers. You're going to hear what he said in a radio interview today about his policy to honor the fallen versus President Obama's.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now, as far as other representatives, I don't know. I mean, you could ask General Kelly. Did he get a call from Obama? You could ask other people. I don't know what Obama's policy was. I write letters and I also call. But I have called I believe everybody, but certainly I'll use the word virtually everybody.

But I really speak for myself. I'm not speaking for other people. I don't know what Bush did. I don't know what Obama did. You could find out easily what President Obama did. All you have to do is ask the military people. But I believe his policy was somewhat different than my policy. I could tell you, my policy is I have called every one of them.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: Let's bring in our Senior White House Correspondent Jeff Zeleny. Jeff, this started yesterday when the president was asked why he hadn't mentioned the four U.S. soldiers killed in Niger. What did the president mean when he said, ask General Kelly, did he get a call from Obama?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this certainly has been an extraordinary back and forth. As you said, this started yesterday in the rose garden.

And the president continued the discussion this morning in those radio interviews. He walked back his assertion, what he said yesterday, that President Obama and previous presidents, most of them, have not made as many phone calls to the families of the fallen soldiers.

The reality here, Wolf, is that this is something that most people here at the White House and this administration and previous ones we've talked to simply would prefer not to discuss and politicize this.

But General Kelly, who, of course, is the president's chief of staff now, he and his wife lost their son, Robert, in Afghanistan some seven years ago. And the president seemed to be suggesting that he did not receive, John Kelly and his wife, did not receive a phone call from President Obama at that time.

The Obama side, the Obama or the Obama office is not talking about this on the record. And General Kelly has not declined our questions about this as well.

But, Wolf, we do know -- what we are finding out that in 2011, General Kelly and his wife attended a gold-star family breakfast here on Memorial Day at the White House. They sat at Michelle Obama's table. This, of course, was to honor the families of the fallen here. So, this is something that is a bit of an awkward situation all the way around here.

General Kelly does not want to talk about it. But the president does seem to want to draw this distinction, Wolf, as we saw him do yesterday.

But we should point out, Wolf, in 2010, almost 500 American fighters were killed in Afghanistan. This year, about six, Wolf. So, entirely different situation.

BLITZER: A very different situation, indeed.

Another sensitive subject that's come up, President Trump's nominee to become the nation's drug czar. That nominee has now withdrawn his name from consideration. We're talking about Pennsylvania Congressman Tom --

ZELENY: Right.

BLITZER: -- Marino's decision. It comes on the heels of a major report by both "60 Minutes" and "The Washington Post." Tell our viewers what the report revealed and what the White House is now saying about Congressman Marino's decision.

ZELENY: Well, Wolf, this is something the president also announced, on the radio this morning and on social media, that he was withdrawing. The back story here is that as a Pennsylvania member of Congress, he accepted contributions totaling about $100,000 or so from the pharmaceutical industry. And he was supporting a bill that many believe helped distribute drugs and opioids across America here.

So, this is something that was an explosive report by "60 Minutes" and "The Washington Post." The president said yesterday that, yes, he said seen that report. Many people, including the West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, said he would block this confirmation.

So, Wolf, it is one more nominee from this administration, from this White House, who is getting blocked and, in fact, withdrawn even before the confirmation hearings.

[13:05:04] Certainly, controversial here but it adds to the list of still unfilled government here in the cabinet and in these positions as top advisers -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes. All right, Jeff Zeleny at the White House, thanks.

We're standing by for the news conference later this hour, the joint news conference with the visiting Greek prime minister.

We're also following breaking news right now out of the Pentagon. We've just learned the Defense Department is now launching an investigation into the deadly ISIS ambush in the West African nation of Niger and the confusion that followed the attack that left four American soldiers dead and injured two others.

Let's go to our Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr. Barbara, a lot of unanswered questions. First of all, tell us the latest. What are you hearing?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, they are now doing this review, investigation if you will, hour by hour of the entire event which left in some two days, actually, trying to figure out exactly what happened. Where we are is two weeks after the ambush, after the attack that killed four soldiers and wounded two.

The Pentagon is not absolutely certain of the course of events. They are looking at everything. And one of the key questions is, of course, why did that green beret-led team of 12 men, when they went into that village in West Africa for a so-called advise and assist mission, meet with villagers, why did they not have intelligence that told them 50 ISIS fighters were lying in wait for them and were going to launch an ambush? What was wrong with the intelligence?

Fundamental to this review will be the fate of Sergeant La David Johnson. He is the young man you see there on your far right. And what we know is his body was not recovered until 48 hours after the attack. Two days later. For some reason, when the helicopters moved in to recover the wounded and the dead, he was not on board. We do not know if he was ever alive for a short period of time on the battlefield or whether he was killed instantly. We do not know why the military -- difficult words to say. He was left behind. He was not on the chopper when they lifted off with the dead and the wounded. So, this is a very central question to this review now.

I just want to take another second and tell you about La David Johnson. This young man, 25 years old, leaves a young widow, two children, a third on the way.

Before he joined the Army, he worked the produce counter at Wal-Mart in his Florida neighborhood. He rode his bicycle to Wal-Mart to work every single day. The president talked about it being tough to call the families of the fallen. This young widow now has her own very tough road ahead -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, our hearts go out to all of those families. Barbara, thank you very much.

Meanwhile, other important news. ISIS has now lost control of its self-declared capital in Syria. U.S.-backed forces say they have ended military operations in the city of Raqqa but it comes at a very high price.

Take a look at this. This is what Raqqa looks like right now in this exclusive drone video obtained by CNN. You can see the tremendous devastation after a month's long assault. Those U.S-backed forces, they are clearing out the final pockets of resistance right now.

It's a landmark moment in the decline of ISIS in the Middle East. This map shows how little territory remains in actual ISIS control.

Let's go to our Senior International Correspondent Nick Payton Walsh. He's covered the war on Syria against ISIS extensively. He's joining us now. Why is this victory, explain to our viewers, Nick, so significant?

NICK PAYTON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is the place that they called the capital, their self-declared caliphate. And it's no longer, really at all, in their hands.

The Pentagon says, possibly at best, there may be a hundred fighters perhaps hiding around in the ruins you see there, a devastated city. But they're being hunted down slowly and clearing operations by the SDF, the predominantly Kurdish forces that the U.S. has been supporting.

Why is this a landmark moment? Well, they declared a major military operation is over. And for about 48 hours now, there haven't been any air strikes or shelling by the U.S. in support of those operations. In the key areas, the stadium, the hospital which used to be where ISIS planned attacks against the west. They're pretty much now clear out of ISIS. So, it's a lengthy clearing job, looking for small cells of ISIS. But, most importantly, this is, really, the last major population center in both Iraq and Syria that ISIS had a claim to. That's over and so, really, is the idea of ISIS' caliphate as a territorial entity.

They now, kind of, go online into being a, sort of, virus that have inspired deranged people to commit attacks against civilians in western capitals -- Wolf.

BLITZER: So, is this the end of ISIS, Nick?

WALSH: No. As I say, they, sort of, continue as this idea. And, yes, there are individuals, like Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, their leader who will still be out there. Will be trying to inspire people to attack their enemies, both in the region and in the west also, too.

[13:10:08] They will continue as Iraq tag insurgency (ph), where they began, really, hiding out in the Euphrates or a valley in places where they have sympathy. Remember, an awful lot of the Sunni ethnic group in both Syria and Iraq found sympathies with ISIS to protect them, fight for them and felt massively disenfranchised in their original homelands.

Their grievances haven't been answered yet. There's a long road ahead for them. But that particular threat, to the west to the U.S., of ISIS as they suffered a major blow today, because it seems, pretty much, that conventional military fight to kick them out of Raqqa pretty much the last of it (ph) they had is over -- Wolf.

BLITZER: So, who takes charge of Raqqa now? Now that it's been liberated from ISIS, will U.S. troops be on the ground, will they be part of the occupying force in Raqqa right now? We know in Mosul which was liberated in Iraq, the Iraqi military is now in charge. What about Raqqa?

WALSH: Well, I'll give you the official version. The coalition version is that there is civilians and a council of people from Raqqa. Arabs who will move in, take control of matters there. And there's even an interim security force that's supposed to be stepping in to control it.

In reality, though, it's the SBF (ph) who are predominantly Kurdish who've got the U.S. support. The fighters who kicked ISIS out who are there right now.

The question is, do those Kurds want to hang onto a city that always -- hasn't, really, been Kurdish. It's mostly been Arab.

There is also a potential, too, of the Syrian regime who are literally a matter of miles away, fighting elsewhere with a lot of Russian military support. They may also have ambitions for it, too.

This is a massively important question. Because, obviously, there are those who say, well, the U.S. didn't want to put those efforts in with the Kurds to see that city suddenly fall back to the, kind of, more persistent opponents in the Syrian civil war to U.S. interests. And that's a Syrian regime.

So, a key question there. The Kurds probably don't want it. They may want to hang onto it as a bargaining chip maybe in the future. The regimes certainly do. They have the firepower to take it. And as is seen across Iraq and Syria, what happens after ISIS? Who fights it? Who takes on the territory they used to control as proving a pretty messy question to answer -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, it's -- lots of mess, you're absolutely right.

All right, Nick Payton Walsh reporting for us. He spent a lot of time covering this war in Syria.

In a radio interview today, President Trump responded to the victory against ISIS in Raqqa by taking credit. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I totally changed rules of engagement. I totally changed our military. I totally changed the attitudes of the military. And they have done a fantastic job. Yes, ISIS is now giving up. They're giving up. They're raising their hands. They're walking off. Nobody's ever that before. And that's good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why didn't that happen before?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Because you didn't have Trump as your president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right. Here with us, our CNN Military Analyst retired Colonel Cedric Leighton and Tony Blinken, our CNN Global Affairs Analyst, former deputy secretary of state under President Obama. Cedric, does the president deserve the credit that he's claiming for the liberation of Raqqa right now, saying it's because of him, a change in strategy which resulted in this win?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST, (retired) U.S. AIR FORCE: Not really, Wolf. Now, having said that, every president is going to take credit for any victory that occurs on their watch. But the fact of the matter, in this particular case is that the rules of engagement, really, did not change under President Trump. And the elements that did change under him were really cosmetic changes.

But what happened under President Obama when he finally took ISIS as a very serious entity, he went after them. And, really, we're seeing the results of that. And in this particular situation, you have a victory that, really, belongs to both presidents at this point in time.

BLITZER: It is significant, Raqqa, the so-called caliphate, the capital of ISIS, now liberated. It's a disaster. You saw the drone video. The city is in rubble right now. Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq that ISIS took charge back in 2014. The Iraqi military simply ran away from Mosul, at the time. They left behind U.S.-supplied armored personnel carriers and tanks. But that has now been liberated as well.

These are, from the U.S. perspective, fairly positive developments.

TONY BLINKEN, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST, FORMER U.S. DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE: Yes, Wolf, this, really, is a milestone moment. Because, as Nick said in his report, the self-declared caliphate, the state that ISIS claimed to be building, is gone in Mosul and now in Raqqa.

That means there's no place for foreign fighters to come to. They can't exploit the resources in the territory they control. And the idea that they put out, the narrative that they're building a state, is gone.

And I have to agree with Cedric. Look, this is the product of a coalition that President Obama built and a strategy that he put in place, working by, with and through local forces and implemented. Most of the territory was taken back during the Obama administration.

I'm very glad that President Trump has continued the policy that President Obama put in place. It's getting results.

BLITZER: In Niger right now, there's an investigation that they're launching. Why four U.S. Army soldiers were killed and two others injured.

[13:15:05] Do you understand why the U.S. has a military presence, special operators in Niger right now? Do you understand why the U.S. has a military presence, special operators, in Niger right now?

BLINKEN: You know, Wolf, when I was deputy secretary of state, I had the opportunity to visit with some of our special operators in Niger and also in Nigeria, in Chad, in all of that area, which is a witch's brew of extremist, jihadist groups. Some affiliated with al Qaeda. Others claiming affiliation with the Islamic State. And all of these groups are trying to play on local grievances, establish a foothold and become a terrorist presence.

So, we've had forces in the region advising local forces, advising the governments, advising the militaries. That's what they're doing. They're doing incredible work. And it's work that, until recently, hasn't been very visible.

BLITZER: It hasn't been very visible. A lot of people didn't even know the U.S. has military forces there in Africa, in Niger.

But the key question is, why would they go into a village where there was ISIS -- as you heard Barbara Starr's report, 50 ISIS terrorists ready to start killing these Americans. They didn't have the security. They didn't have the backup. They didn't have the intelligence that notified them, don't go there.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, at the very least, Wolf, this is an intelligence failure and obviously an operational one as well because without that kind of information, you really cannot put your forces at risk. So whatever happened in the -- obviously the AFRICOM, the African Command, is going to look at what the timeline of events was. But we clearly didn't have the assets in place, both from an operational standpoint, and from an intelligence standpoint, to really protect those soldiers that were on the ground and the special forces team that was there.

BLITZER: You served, Tony, with -- under President Obama for eight years, first on the National Security Council, then as deputy secretary of state. You hear what President Trump is now saying. Why didn't President Obama make phone calls to the families of these fallen U.S. troops? I want to you respond, because you have firsthand information of what President Obama did and what he didn't do.

BLINKEN: Yes. Look, Wolf, I almost don't want to dignify with a comment other than to say, of course the president, President Obama, made the calls, wrote the letters, visited with the troops, went to Dover, Delaware, as remains were brought back.

I think Marty Dempsey, who is the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said it very eloquently, speaking about President Bush, George W. Bush, and President Obama, that they cared deeply and worked tirelessly for those serving, for the fallen and for their families. Not politics. Sacred trust.

It is -- I can't even put words on it, that President Trump is playing politics with this is really beyond the pale.

BLITZER: Gentlemen, thanks very much. We're going to have a lot more on all of these developments coming up.

There's also, get this, other breaking news.

Yet another new warning from North Korea. Nuclear war could break out at any moment. That's what the North Koreans are now saying. You're going to hear what prompted these very disturbing words.

Plus, the president firing back at Senator John McCain after the senator calls his world view -- the president's world view half-baked and unpatriotic. The war of words escalated.

And what will the president say next? You're looking at live pictures from the White House. The Rose Garden. Another news conference only moments away. We'll have live coverage of that. We'll hear what the president has to say today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:22:32] BLITZER: Nuclear war could break out at any moment. That's the assessment from a top North Korean diplomat. And that comment follows another North Korean official telling CNN that the regime isn't interested in diplomacy until they complete development of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching well into the United States, including the East Coast. The nuclear threat from North Korea was likely a key topic when President Trump met with the defense secretary, James Mattis, just a little while ago.

Let's bring in CNN's Tom Foreman.

Tom, how close is North Korea to having an ICBM that can reach Guam or California or the East Coast of the United States?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They might -- might be able to hit Guam with one of their intermediate range missiles right now. But to reach say Los Angeles or Oregon or Boston or New York or Washington, D.C., then you are talking about a full on ICBM, an intercontinental ballistic missile. And they have not yet demonstrated that they are as close to that as their talk would have you believe.

And here's why. Let's assume that they have a nuclear weapon that they've miniaturized enough to sit on top of missiles. We don't know that, but we think maybe that's true. The missile that would have to carry this across that distance would have to be much more robust than what they've have seen so far. And that means more power down here. That means they need an engine powerful enough to push it at that steeper angle, though all of that atmosphere and all of that buffeting. We don't even know if they have such an engine.

But if they do, that raises another question about stability. Remember, you don't just take a more powerful engine and drop it into another rocket. That would be like taking a dragster engine and dropping into your Corolla. It could tear the car apart. Same thing here.

So you now have to look at, how do you beef up this rocket body to handle all that extra power, because, if you don't, it falls apart. And that increases weight, not to mention the extra fuel that the new power source is going to bring in.

So, you've now beefed it up to support the power. It now weighs a lot more, so now you need even more power to push it all forward. And all of this affects your ability to control this vessel as it tries to travel over that distance, release a warhead, and have it fall back into the atmosphere and hit a target.

This, Wolf, no matter what they say right now, remains, from all evidence we have, a very big ask for the North Koreans.

BLITZER: So, Tom, all of that considered, can the North Koreans fast track all their research, all the research they would need for such a missile?

[13:25:06] FOREMAN: I think a lot of rocket scientists will tell you, no, they can't really. They can speed it up as much as they want.

But let's say that they have green lit range, accuracy and a nuclear warhead for one of these short or intermediate range missiles out there. Effectively, because of all the things I just mentioned, this all goes red again if you start talking about an ICBM. They have to go through literally millions and millions of calculations rebuilding that entire system. New engines, new rocket body, new control systems. All of that has to be changed to make this work. No question, they are making strides in that direction, they are doing the tests, they are doing the things they need to move that way.

But, again, Wolf, this is a long haul proposition for them. And so far their tests have not indicated they're as close as they would want the U.S. to believe.

BLITZER: Tom Foreman reporting for us. Thank you very much. Excellent explanation.

Let's discuss the state of affairs with North Korea with my next guest, Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii. He's joining us from Capitol Hill. She's a key member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, as well as the Judiciary Committee.

Senator, thanks so much.

SEN. MAZIE HIRONO (D) HAWAII: Thank you.

BLITZER: The top Democrat on your committee, the Armed Services Committee, Senator Jack Reed, he's just back from a visit to the Korean peninsula. He was there at the DMZ. What did he tell you? How serious is this current situation?

HIRONO: Well, we consider the North Korean threat to be very serious. But, of course, not helped by the president's saber rattling rhetoric and his undercutting of his own secretary of state, who is pursuing a diplomatic resolution to the Korean situation.

BLITZER: Well, you think it's -- well, the North Koreans say they're stopped -- they're stopping diplomacy until they have an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the east Coast of the United States. You take that seriously or is that just rhetoric?

HIRONO: Well, we know that they have every intention of becoming a nuclear power. So that we take seriously. It's just a matter of how long it's going to take them. And your previous guests talked about all of the various challenges that they face. But they definitely are very intent in going in that direction and we should do everything we can to prevent them from doing that. And that is by pursuing a diplomatic resolution, which Rex Tillerson was doing through back channels and other methods. That is what we should be focused on and promoting.

BLITZER: When the president -- when President Trump is in Asia next month, he'll be visiting South Korea. Should he make a visit up to the demilitarized zone, as U.S. presidents have always done?

HIRONO: Oh, I think he should. Yes. In fact, the more the president sees the reality of the situation and what the North Koreas have amassed on the border, and all of that, the more he deals with reality and is able to incorporate that into his decision making, the better off all of us will be.

BLITZER: I asked the question because some have suggested that would be a provocative step by the president. And yesterday at his news conference when he was asked if he would go to the DMZ, if that would be provocative, he said, we'll I'll take a look at it. He didn't make a commitment either way.

Let's get into another very sensitive issue.

HIRONO: Well, as long as he doesn't make provocative statements after that. That's what I mean.

BLITZER: Yes, but --

HIRONO: If he continues to make provocative statements, no matter where he goes, it's not helpful.

BLITZER: The president is now in a feud once again with Republican Senator John McCain, who's the chairman of the Armed Services Committee. There's a war of words going on. The president now warning the senator to, in his words, be careful because at some point he will fight back. What's your reaction?

HIRONO: I think it just goes to show how egocentric the president is. And, you know, frankly, the way I look at it, there are a lot of problems and concerns that he should be addressing, such as his continuing attacks on the Affordable Care Act, which, by the way, he has said Obamacare is dead, which means that the president owns health care in our country now. And -- because he has ended the subsidies, everybody's health care costs will go up immediately.

I know for a fact that in Hawaii, everyone's health care costs in Hawaii will go up by 5 to 8 percent because of the stopping of the subsidies. So those are the things that he should be concerned about. And I'm really sorry that he's attacking a true war hero. Something that he doesn't seem to really understand or appreciate.

BLITZER: Well, let me play the clip of what Senator McCain said last night. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: The fear the world we have organized and led the three quarters of a century to abandon the ideals we have advanced around the globe, to refuse the obligations of international leadership and our duty to remain the last, best hope of earth, for the sake of some half-baked spurious nationalism, cooked up by people who would rather find scape goats than solve problems.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[13:30:10] BLITZER: You agree with him?