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Comey Will Testify; Trump's Agenda; Trump to Withdraw from Paris Deal; Embassy Stays in Tel Aviv. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired May 31, 2017 - 13:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

We begin with breaking news. We now have new details about efforts to get the fired FBI director, James Comey, to testify at a U.S. Senate hearing. The plans to testify were up in the air after it was announced that the investigation into Russian meddling was being turned over to special counsel, Robert Mueller.

Our Washington Investigative Editor Eric Lichtblau has -- is joining us right now with new information. You've been doing a lot of reporting on this. First of all, Eric, tell our viewers what you're learning.

ERIC LICHTBLAU, CNN WASHINGTON INVESTIGATIVE EDITOR: Well, what we're told, by our sources, is that, in fact, Comey will testify. He will testify publicly maybe as soon as next week before the Senate Intelligence Committee. And that he is ready and eager to discuss these tense confrontations that we've heard about over the last few weeks with the president over the Russian investigation.

BLITZER: So, you've got two bombshells. One, he's agreed to testify in public before the Senate Intelligence Committee maybe as early as next Wednesday evening -- Wednesday morning, is that right?

LICHTBLAU: That's in the mix, yes.

BLITZER: All right. So, that's one that he will testify in public, maybe as early as Wednesday morning, before the Senate Intelligence Committee. And, two, he is ready and even eager to speak about his conversations with President Trump about the entire investigation.

LICHTBLAU: Correct. He and Bob Mueller, the Special Counsel, have been discussing the parameters. They don't want to mess up the criminal investigation that Mueller is now embarked on with the public testimony. It's unlikely that Comey will be willing to discuss the Russia investigation itself. We'll stay from that.

But what we're hearing is that he is willing, and Mueller is willing as well, to have him testify about these run-ins where the president allegedly told him to let go of the investigation, for instance, into Michael Flynn, to -- where he wanted his loyalty to keep him on as FBI director. That he is ready and prepared to talk about those, you know, tense confrontations with the president.

BLITZER: You say tense. It's extremely tense because if, in fact, he says what has been reported that the President tried to discourage him from pursuing this investigation, some are alleging that that could even be obstruction of justice.

LICHTBLAU: That is the phrase that's being tossed around, especially by Democrats.

And, you know, it's one thing to have these accounts leak out over the last few weeks through the media. It's another to hear them directly from the fired FBI director all six foot eight inches. You know, we know how the president is glued to T.V. This will be about as close to a face-to-face confrontation as you might ever hope for.

BLITZER: Eric, guys, stay with us because I want to bring in the rest of our panel. Our CNN Senior Political Analyst Mark Preston is with us. Our Congressional Correspondent Phil Mattingly and our Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash. Eric is still with us, as well.

So, Mark, how significant, potentially, could this public testimony by the fired FBI director be?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Very significant.

And we should note to our viewers is that Comey and Mueller are very close, you know. They have worked together very well. And when he does come up to Capitol Hill, it is going to be a very orchestrated dance.

There's no question that what he says before Congress, when he does testify as Eric has reported, that it's going to be with a blessing of Mueller. There's not going to be anything that's going to be put out there that's going to jeopardize the investigation, the independent counsel investigation that Robert Mueller is going to do.

But I've got to tell you what. If I am the White House right now. If I am Donald Trump right now, I am concerned because these are very damning allegations against the president.

BLITZER: And, Dana, it will certainly keep all of this Russia investigation right atop the agenda.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Look, I am not afraid to admit on television that I was extremely skeptical that after Bob Mueller was appointed as special counsel, skeptical that Comey was really going to testify, even though the intelligence chair and top Democrats said that he would do just that.

This great reporting that Eric has about the idea that not only is he going to testify, but he's going to talk about what everybody wants to know which is what really happened in these meetings with the president. When he allegedly said, you know, back off. At the same time, he was saying, by the way, do you still want your job? Is going to be, of course, a barn burner of a hearing.

I still am going to be very interested to see, like you were saying, Mark, how far he goes, given the fact that he understands that that is very likely going to be and already is part of the Mueller investigation.

BLITZER: Yes. And the president, in a tweet this morning, Phil, he took a direct swipe at the fired FBI director. Let me read to you what he tweeted this morning. It was about six hours or so ago. So, now, it is reported that the Democrats, who have excoriated Carter Page about Russia, don't want him to testify.

[13:05:05] He blows away their case against him and now wants to clear his name by showing, quote, "the false or misleading testimony by James Comey, John Brennan," end quote, witch hunt. That's what the president is calling it.

And he's alleging that Comey, who is about to testify, and we're learning this thanks to Eric's excellent reporting, maybe as early as next Wednesday, next week sometime publicly. The president this morning said that he was engaged in false or misleading testimony. He used the word, testimony. If you provide false testimony to Congress, that's a crime.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's not a subtle statement. I think it's -- there's a lot to unpack in that tweet. First and foremost, is this is the same administration that, for the last six months, has essentially tried to keep Carter Page within six miles of them at all times.

And they don't want him anywhere near them. They don't want to acknowledge that he played any role in the campaign. And he played a very limited role.

It's also worth noting that what the president is tweeting out, in terms of Carter Page testifying, isn't exactly true, at least according to sources I've been talking to on the committee.

They had not set a date. Carter Page set his own date, suggested his own date. And, basically, the way he's being viewed right now, as this investigation moves forward, is somebody that they're interested in. Obviously, he's a noteworthy name but he's not a key component or a key player. They're more interested in talking to Paul Manafort or talking to Michael Flynn or talking to James Comey.

I think when you look at the entire scope of things, to both Dana and Mark's point, this is a really key component of this investigation because, publicly, it gives legs to what's been going on behind the scenes and, I think, we've all been told about for the last couple of weeks.

We know the parameters are really starting to form publicly, in terms of who these committees have reached out to, the documents that they're trying to get, the subpoenas that they're starting to release.

Now, we're going to see, in a very public forum, how these investigations are starting to progress. It's a bombshell moment. It's going to really, kind of, freeze the entire town in the lead up to and during this moment. It'll give a sense, kind of, based on the questions, no matter what Jim Comey can actually answer, where they're actually starting to go with this right now in these early stages.

BLITZER: Comey and Mueller, the special counsel, former FBI director, they're very close. And you say they've already had some conversations about how far Comey can go in his public statements.

LICHTBLAU: Right, right. I mean, there is concern, legitimate concern that you don't want public testimony to mess up the criminal case. There's precedent for that in the Iran-Contra case and other situations that it could, sort of, bleed over into the criminal investigation. A judge could throw something out. They are very careful and very concerned that that not happen.

But I think there's also a feeling, at least within Comey's camp, that the public has a right to know what happened here, when you're dealing with such enormous consequences.

And I would say, as far as -- as far as the president's tweets, it seems like trump is really playing, kind of, a dangerous game here when he is attacking the credibility of a former FBI director who, remember, we now know kept meticulous notes on all of these.

And, you know, he's basically -- Trump's basically saying, who are about you going to believe, me or him?

BLITZER: Not just the former FBI director but John Brennan, the former CIA director, as well. When he used, in quotes, "false or misleading testimony."

LICHTBLAU: Right. He's saying, believe me, not them. And we'll see.

BASH: And, you know, we're talking, obviously, about a very important thing which is the testimony and the investigation.

But there's also a human element we can't forget here. This is a man who dedicated his life, James Comey, to justice, to law enforcement and rose to the highest position possible in law enforcement, FBI director.

And he feels scorned and publicly humiliated by the president of the United States, by not only firing him when he was in California, learning about it on cable news. And then, you know, tweeting pretty nasty and taunting things at him afterwards.

So, he's -- and he's also somebody who was, you know this far better than I, known to, understandably, really care about his reputation and about the ethics that he's tried to live up to. A standard that he held himself to, that he hoped others would as well.

And you can't underestimate that, that he wants to try to set the record straight and, kind of -- I'm not saying he wants revenge. But the human element is, of course he wants to speak for himself. He hasn't been able to. BLITZER: You remember what the president told the Russians about

Comey in that meeting, according to all the reports.

BASH: Exactly.

BLITZER: Not very nice words about Comey.

I guess, Eric, let me just get your notion. Will he bring his notes with him? Will those notes, those contemporaneous notes he had on his meetings with the president, A, will they be made available to the Senate Intelligence Committee? And, B, will he start reading from the notes at that testimony?

LICHTBLAU: I think that's still at issue. The FBI, as we understand it, has been -- has frustrated the -- some of the committees with the slow pace of turning over documents, and Comey's notes and memos are central to that.

I will be surprised if he does not come with notes of his own. They may not be the contemporaneous notes that he made at the time, because those are now such a central piece of evidence.

[13:10:02] BLITZER: They certainly are.

Yes, go ahead, Mark.

PRESTON: Well, I was just going to say, actions and words need to be married together. And if you look at a couple of days after the inauguration, when President Trump called out Jim Comey. Made him walk across the room. Tried to give him this hug where there was this embracing.

Only to have, a month or so later, where now he is trashing him and fire -- and eventually fires him. You've got to take everything in perspective and in line here. And, in many ways, that helps Jim Comey a lot.

LICHTBLAU: I can't --

BLITZER: This is -- yes, go ahead.

LICHTBLAU: -- I can't remember, as Dana was getting at, such a personal drama between two figures like this. And maybe if you were talking about, like, Nixon and J. Edgar Hoover, you know, to have such personal animus between the president and the fired FBI director. I don't ever remember a situation like this.

BLITZER: Especially after what the president said about Comey really going --

PRESTON: Nut job, yes.

BLITZER: Yes. Because early as -- and as recently as this morning in this tweet, suggesting maybe he was lying in his testimony before Congress. All right, Phil, very quickly. This is a committee, the Senate Intelligence Committee, where there has been good bipartisan cooperation by the chairman and the vice chairman.

MATTINGLY: I think this is the investigation that everybody's been -- really been looking to on Capitol Hill.

And I think this is an important signal from Bob Mueller. There was a lot of question -- Dana hinted at this, a lot of question about how these investigations would be able to move forward now that there's a special counsel. That Bob Mueller is willing to take the time to work with Jim Comey, to figure out a way to make this happen publicly is a good sign for committees and committee staff that, I think, we've been talking to that are a little bit wary about how much leeway they'll have to actually conduct these investigations in the months ahead.

LICHTBLAU: That's a really important point and it's a sign how aggressive, I think, Mueller is going to be in his own investigation separately. The fact that he could have quashed this and he's not going to.

BLITZER: Eric, welcome to CNN. Great to have you on our team.

LICHTBLAU: Thank you.

BLITZER: Excellent reporting --

LICHTBLAU: Thank you.

BLITZER: -- for all our viewers here in the United States and around the world. Eric Lichtblau, reporting for us. Dana, Phil, Mark, guys, thanks to you as well.

Now, some other important decisions from President Donald Trump. As we wait for a pick for a new FBI director and whether he will send additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, the president seems to be moving ahead on two other critical issues, the Paris climate deal and moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Our White House Correspondent Sara Murray is joining us from the White House. Our Global Affairs Correspondent Elise Labott is the in New York.

Sara, first of all, what are you hearing about the U.S. and the Paris climate accords?

SARA MURRAY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, sources are telling us that President Trump is expected to withdraw from this agreement.

Now, the mechanism by which he will do so has yet to be determined and, of course, things could still change until he makes the decision and announces it publicly. He said on Twitter today, he'll announce it within the next couple of days. So, we are expecting that to be public later on this week.

But this is a huge shift, obviously, from what we saw under the Obama administration. But it's just a huge shift in how America lies with so many countries across the globe. Remember, 195 nations, nearly every country on the globe, signed onto this agreement in 2015. So, it's a very big deal. The notion that the U.S. is backing down on this.

It also highlights the split that's playing out right here in the White House, in the West Wing. The president has met with a number of advisers who are pushing him to stay in this agreement, including his own daughter, Ivanka trump.

He is set to meet with another one today, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who wants him to stay in this agreement.

But he's also hearing from other factions in the White House, Steve Bannon as well as his EPA administrator who are saying, get out of this. It is killing jobs. That appears to be the direction that President Trump is headed. Now, we just wait for his public announcement -- Wolf.

BLITZER: We'll wait and see for that. It looks like it's a done deal but we'll wait until it happens.

Elise, there's another important decision the president has to make, whether or not to live up to his campaign -- his oft stated campaign promise to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to the Jerusalem. There's a deadline, of sorts, tomorrow. Where does this stand?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. Well, the deadline is for the waiver that President Obama signed last year, that expires on June 1st. Then, in effect, that would keep the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv for now, instead of that controversial move to Jerusalem.

President Trump has said that he does want to move the embassy. But we are being told, myself and CNN White House Producer Dan Merica, that the president will hold off for now. That he will sign another waiver. He is expected to sign it sometime this week, in effect keeping the embassy.

What officials are telling us is that the president does still support the move. But, you know, with all of the efforts that he's making to restart the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians, it might not be the best time or the best climate.

You know, President Trump and his aides have been told, by diplomats in the region, the Saudis, the Jordanians, others, that this is not a good time to move the embassy. If it should be done, it should be done in the context of a peace process, Wolf.

So, for now, the U.S. embassy remaining in Tel Aviv.

BLITZER: Yes, American presidents have been signing that waiver for about 20 years, going back to Bill Clinton, George W. Bush Barack Obama and now the -- President Trump about to sign that waiver, that six-month waiver as well. Citing national security concerns for not moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. [13:15:12] All right, Elise and Sara, guys, thanks very much.

Coming up, more on the president's decisions. Is the president about to make a call that will reject the advice of every major European ally, the pope and his own daughter? We'll have a closer look at the Paris climate deal controversy.

And later, the typo gone viral. The president invents a new word, sends Twitter into a tizzy.

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BLITZER: On the campaign trail, then presidential candidate Donald Trump vowed to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement and move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Now the time has come to see if those promises ring true.

I'm joined by our senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen, our military and diplomatic analyst, retired Rear Admiral John Kirby, and associate editor and columnist for RealClearPoltics, A.B. Stoddard.

A.B., you got a lot of advice for the president on whether or not to go along with the Paris Climate Accord. Apparently even the secretary of energy, Rick Perry, was saying keep it, go with it. His daughter Ivanka said go with it. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, former chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil, said keep - keep to the agreement. But there were others saying, follow what you promised during the campaign and get out of it.

[13:20:17] A.B. STODDARD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR & COLUMNIST, REALCLEARPOLITICS: Yes, it appears that you would think the sort of stronger voices, the one that you mentioned, particularly Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, would prevail. But it seems that the president, who's really embattled right now, not only because of the Russia investigations, but also because his legislative agenda is so badly stalled, seems to want to really kind of satisfy the base. And I think that that - we shouldn't be surprised that news broke a few days ago. And he's going to want to be able to say that he fulfilled a campaign promise.

BLITZER: And he tweeted once again this morning, expect the announcement shortly. You were, what, the State Department spokesman when the deal was worked out. What are the national security ramifications, if any, from the U.S. leaving the Paris Climate Accords?

REAR ADMIRAL JOHN KIRBY (RET.), CNN MILITARY AND DIPLOMATIC ANALYST: Well, there's many. I mean the Pentagon itself, in a report in July 2015, called climate change a threat multiplier. And let me just read you a little section out of that report. "Climate change will have wide-ranging implications for U.S. national security interests over the foreseeable future because it will aggravate existing problems, such as poverty, social tensions, degradation from the environment, ineffectual leadership and weak political institutions that threaten domestic stability." It also goes on to say, "climate induces stress can generate new vulnerabilities, like water scarcity and thus contribute to instability and conflict even in situations which were previously not considered at risk." I mean it is - it is absolutely a national security imperative and threat.

BLITZER: You were once the spokesman at the Pentagon.

KIRBY: I was.

BLITZER: So from the U.S. military's perspective, you think this would be a blunder?

KIRBY: Absolutely, I do. Yes. And it's not just me. It's uniformed members of the military, generals and admirals who have been - who are out on the front lines right now and who are having to deal with the kinds of instability that is caused by climate change.

So, look, I mean he talks about wanting to rebuild the military. He's going to have to devote an awful lot more money in future budgets to the Pentagon and the Pentagon spending to deal with the kind of insecurity and instability that pulling out of this deal will cause him. And here's the thing, Wolf, he doesn't have to pull out all together. The great thing about the Paris agreement is there's flexibility in the targets. Each nation can determine for themselves what those are. So he can just take a look at the agreement and if he doesn't like the targets, you know, maybe adjust them. There's no need to pull completely out of it.

BLITZER: Well, what's the reaction over there, Fred? You're on the other side of the Atlantic right now. We know the president just returned from his big trip, met with E.U. leaders, the NATO allies, the G-7. Everyone is on board with this agreement except apparently the president.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Yes, and, you know, that's one of the things that Angela Merkel also lamented when she came back from a meeting with the president, both in Brussels and, of course, in Italy, as well. She said, look, right now on climate change, what you have is you have a 6-1 situation within the G-7 countries where all of them are on board with the Paris Climate Accords. They want to see this through and want this to continue. The only ones that apparently don't or are not clear on it yet is the United States.

And, you know, we've heard from European leaders, continental European leaders, over the past couple days saying things like, we're not sure whether we can rely on the U.S. anymore as a partner. Both the Germans said this and the Italians said this well. And the Italians specifically said, we simply don't see eye to eye with the United States on climate policy. So this is something that not only is a big issue obviously in the scope of - of climate itself, but then also diplomatic relations, especially with these close European partners, that, of course, anyway right now are questioning whether or not the White House is still behind them and fully has their back.

So this could be a big diplomatic problem as well. And on the other hand, Wolf, what could happen is you would see the European countries, who are still going to stick to this climate agreement, they're not going to give it up just because the U.S. is giving it up. They're going to try and forge closer ties with countries potentially in Asia as well who, of course, are also still going to hold on to this climate agreement. So it could make for some pretty difficult diplomacy, especially with these European allies, because climate policy here in Europe is really a very, very big issue, Wolf.

BLITZER: I want you to listen to this clip. Lindsey Graham speaking about if the U.S. were to withdraw from the Paris Accords. A.B., listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: But if he does withdraw, that would be a definitive statement by the president that he believes climate change is a hoax. Stay in the deal, make it a better deal would be my advice.

DANA BASH, ANCHOR, "STATE OF THE UNION": And so if he pulls out, what does that mean to you?

GRAHAM: Well, it means that the leader of the Republican Party is in a different spot than the rest of the world. It would be taken as a statement that climate change is not a problem, not real. That would be bad for the party, bad for the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Although he - during the campaign, you and I remember, he repeatedly said, if he's elected, he's out of that Paris Climate Accord.

STODDARD: Well, there are a lot of Republicans, like Senator Graham, who are hoping that once the president put this cabinet in of very respected, trusted people, that the, quote "grown-ups" would persuade him to take a different tacks and change his mind on some of his campaign promises.

[13:25:08] This is, obviously, as John points out, it's not only that the Pentagon has seen this as a national security threat for years, it is a real - it really affects our place at the able diplomatically. And that's why Secretary of State Tillerson was weighing in. It's not just environmental policy and whether or not he thinks it's a hoax. It's really about our place in the world and vacuums and voids being filled by the Chinese and others if we step away from that table.

BLITZER: He certainly is capable of changing his mind. Take a look at what he used to say during the campaign about moving the U.S. embassy, John, from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and what he's about to do maybe as early as tomorrow. Here's an exchange I had with him during the campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Will you recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem? DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The answer is, yes, I

would.

BLITZER: When? How quickly after you become -

TRUMP: Very quickly. I mean it's - it's a process, but fairly quickly. I mean the fact is, I would like to see it moved and I would like to see it in Jerusalem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Apparently he's not going to - his first - he's not going to do it now. He's got a deadline. Every six months for 20 years an American president has to sign a waiver saying for national security interests, concerns, the U.S. embassy will stay in Tel Aviv.

KIRBY: That's right. So governing is now coming - clashing up against campaigning and he's realizing what presidents before him have realized, that it's better for our interests to keep the embassy in Tel Aviv where it belongs. I mean we - we've talked about this many, many times, moving it to Jerusalem, while it sounds great, could actually do a lot of damage to the peace process and, quite frankly, it could put American tourists and American civil servants that are working in Jerusalem, I'm sorry, in Israel, at risk. So it's not a smart thing to do.

And back on that, if I could just back on climate change, I mean what we do by pulling out of this is seed leadership to China specifically. President Xi came out just the last couple of days saying, he's committed, he's going to stay at it. And if we seed leadership on climate changing to China, then the standards won't be as transparent. We won't have a voice in making sure that accountability is held for all the members of it.

BLITZER: Very quickly, Fred, is there a consistent reaction over there in Europe to how the president did during his meetings over the pasts several days?

PLEITGEN: Well, you know what, there is a bit of division here among the European countries. You have countries like Hungary, who felt that the president did quite well. But if you look at most of the larger continental European countries, you take Germany, you take France, you take Italy, I think that they came away a bit alienated with this new administration saying they don't really know where they stand with the White House at this point in time. And you have leaders like Angela Merkel saying, look, we're just not sure what this White House is going to be about in the next couple of years.

And I think one of the things that you're going to see is what John Kirby was just talking about. You're going to see a lot of these European countries, first of all, work closely together with one another. It's an interesting thing that actually for European cohesion, the Trump administration has been quite good because the Europeans really are working together a lot more closely, at least the continental European ones. But you're also seeing them gravitate towards Asia a little more, especially countries like Germany that have a big export sector, but also in terms of climate policy as well, trying to deepen and forge alliances with - with, for instance, China specifically. And tomorrow you actually have the Chinese prime minister going to Berlin and having meetings with Angela Merkel. It's going to be very, very interesting what those two are going to be talking about, what sort of agreements they're going to come to in light of some of the things Angela Merkel has been saying about the Trump administration and if the president does make good on his campaign promise to get out of that climate agreement.

BLITZER: Fred Pleitgen in London, John Kirby, A.B. Stoddard, guys, thanks so much. Important discussion.

Coming up, a devastating suicide blast during morning rush hour. At least 90 people are dead. The death toll expected to rise. We'll have a live report on how the attack was carried out.

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