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Trump: Flynn "A Wonderful Man, Treated So Badly"; Interview with McCain, Rubio on Russian Concerns; Trump: Leaks a "Criminal Act"; Other Trump Aides Met with Russians. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired February 15, 2017 - 13:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:30:00] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: At his news conference, just now -- very quickly, Senator Whitehouse, I want to get your reaction -- the president was discussing Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser's forced resignation. He said Flynn was treated very unfairly by what he called the fake news media, "Treated so badly, papers were leaked, this is a criminal act, very, very unfair, illegally leaked material that was smearing him."

What's your reaction to the way that the president described all of this?

SEN. SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, (D), RHODE ISLAND: Well, it's not the least bit clear that those leaks did not come from inside the White House and weren't part of the toxic backstabbing internal politics of the Trump White House. So, I think he's jumping the gun to blame the intelligence community for those leaks. But obviously, he's been attacking the intelligence community steadily. And I think his attacks on the intelligence community would be consistent with --

BLITZER: I think we just lost our connection on Capitol Hill. We'll try to reconnect. But he was wrapping up.

Sheldon Whitehouse, Senator from Rhode Island, suggesting, well, maybe those leaks didn't come from the intelligence community or the FBI but came from within the White House itself. We'll continue our conversation with the Senator down the road.

I want to thank him very much, and apologize for the loss of that connection.

Up next, there's been a lot of turmoil in the White House in the wake of Michael Flynn's resignation. That's just one of several controversies with the Trump administration. Republican leaders now sounding off about the issue. We're going to hear more when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:35:50] BLITZER: Welcome back. The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Republican Senator John McCain, says he's concerned right now that, at the moment, the country does not have a national security adviser. CNN spoke to Senators McCain and Marco Rubio just a while ago about

Russia, the departure of the national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and a White House that one of them is calling, quote, "more turbulent than we've been accustomed to."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Do you think anything happened, that any laws were broken during this period?

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R), ARIZONA: We don't know. We only have the small media reports of a very serious problem. We know that the Russians attempted to affect the outcome of our election. We know that, although we don't think they succeeded. But the latest information in the media requires questions to be answered.

RAJU: Do you think there's any evidence of coordination between the Trump campaign and --

(CROSSTALK)

MCCAIN: It's too early. I think it's too early. But it raises serious questions. And, also, my concern is also that, now with no national security adviser and the turmoil within the administration, makes it very difficult for us to exercise responsibilities as to defend the nation. There is turmoil as far as national security is concerned within the White House and that needs to be fixed as well. And the first step is to provide and appoint a new national security adviser, someone who is respected, both here in Congress and in the country.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The House speaker said this morning that it was very much appropriate for Flynn to be talking with the Russian ambassador during the transition. Is it possible that too much is being made about these communications?

MCCAIN: Well, I don't know what was said but there is a question. Then why did he deny it?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Would you like Flynn to testify?

MCCAIN: I want questions answered first. I think we've got to take this step by step.

RAJU: You obviously have been calling for this bipartisan inquiry largely into Russia. Is it time for the Republican leadership to join you in this?

MCCAIN: Believe there's a need for a bipartisan investigation of the Russian efforts to affect the outcome of the election. Now, on the Flynn issue, I think that we need to ask questions first and find out whether the scope of that committee or investigation needs to be expanded.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO, (R), FLORIDA: Every administration early on faces some turbulence. This is perhaps a little bit more turbulent than we've been accustomed to in the past. But we have a job to do here and our job that we're going to do here is we conduct oversight over the intelligence community, over our counterintelligence programs. We're going to conduct that. That investigation has begun. It's bipartisan. Everyone has bought into it on the committee. And so, I think there's important work that we're about to undertake.

RAJU: Are you confident no laws were broken during these contacts --

(CROSSTALK)

RUBIO: We don't know. That's why we're doing an investigation. That's the purpose of the investigation, to figure out what happened and what didn't. As we're conducting that, the facts will come out, the intelligence committee will issue its report, and then, obviously, the appropriate agencies and others will look at it and make that determination. The bottom line is, the leaks to the press are outpacing the information available to Congress right now. So, we're operating in a situation in which we don't have all of the facts before us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[13:39:22] BLITZER: Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. By the way, he and his wife have been invited to dinner tonight with the president and the first lady. We'll see how that goes as well.

There are dramatic developments unfolding in Washington right now. Donald Trump's secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, gets set to meet with his Russia counterpart. All of this as the Trump camp faces a new wave of controversy involving ties to Russian intelligence officials. We'll talk foreign policy with the former deputy secretary of state under President Obama, Tony Blinken. He's standing by live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The breaking news we're following, President Trump last hour speaking out for the first time since his national security adviser Michael Flynn resigned. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think it's a really sad thing that he was treated so badly. I think in addition, to that, from intelligence, papers are being leaked, things are being leaked. It's criminal action, a criminal act, and it's been going on for a long time, before me. But now, it's really going on. And people are trying to recover up for a terrible loss that the Democrats had under Hillary Clinton.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The president has yet to deny the allegations against Flynn and his campaign staff. His administration clearly struggling to try to regain the narrative about his involvement with Russia as well. And in the midst of the chaos, they are also trying to sort out their policy positions. Lots to discuss with our next guest, the former deputy national

security adviser under President Obama, CNN global affairs analyst, Tony Blinken, former deputy secretary of state as well.

What is your reaction, Tony, to what we just heard, the president saying that Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser, who he fired, was a great guy, and it's all the problem of the fake news media and the leaks coming from the intelligence community?

[13:45:28] TONY BLINKEN, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Wolf, it doesn't add up because, had the story not come up in "The Post" and "The times" and CNN, you have to wonder whether Mr. Flynn would still be on the job posing potentially a security risk that the Justice Department and the FBI were concerned about.

BLITZER: What kind of security do you believe he posed?

BLINKEN: Well, it's -- look, it's hard to know for sure, but clearly, the Justice Department and the FBI were concerned that having had these contacts with the Russians, having denied them to his own team, including the vice president, he might be susceptible to the Russians influence, and the Russians being able to say to him, hey, if you don't do what we want, we're going to reveal that you were misleading your own vice president, your own chief of staff, your own president.

BLITZER: The fact that he was interviewed early on as national security adviser to the president by the FBI, what does that say to you when he was questioned about the context, the communications with Russian officials?

BLINKEN: Look, the larger question here, now that Mr. Flynn has resigned --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Under pressure.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: He was fired by the president.

BLINKEN: To put a clear term on it.

BLITZER: Yeah.

BLINKEN: There's still more questions to be answered than there are answers. What were the nature of his conversations during the campaign period? Because, apparently, there were conversations and contacts then. Of course, "The Times" has now reported that a whole series of senior Trump campaign officials were talking repeatedly to the Russians, including intelligence officials, during the campaign. We don't know what was said. We need to find out.

But here's what really matters, Wolf. There's a tremendous amount of incoming now from all around the world. The Russians upping the pressure in Ukraine through the separatists and now, apparently, deploying missiles in violation of the INF treaty. The North Koreans testing a new missile. The Iranians potentially misbehaving in the gulf. The president needs a team, he needs a coherent team, and he needs it fast. But in order to do that, he needs not only a new national security adviser, he needs to answer all of these questions. Because until these questions that have been raised are answered, the administration is never going to be able to get out from under it. This will dominate everything. It will be hard for them to make policy. It will be hard for them to focus on all of these issues vital to our national security.

I think we all know, from our experience in Washington, that once something like this happens, the best path is to put everything out there. Let's know what the facts are. What were the conversations, who had them, what was said, get it all out there, get it done with, and get back to the business of running the country and looking for out for our national security?

BLITZER: I don't know if you follow his Twitter account, but earlier today, the president was tweeting all sorts of stuff, complaining about these leaks, and also one tweet saying, "Crimea was taken by Russia during the Obama administration. Was Obama too soft on Russia?"

You were the deputy secretary of state during the Obama administration. Go ahead and respond to the president.

BLINKEN: Well, I would say it gives me whiplash after everything we've heard from the president, first, during the campaign, and then as president-elect and as president, about actually making nice with the Russians and forgetting what has happened to Ukraine. Of course, President Obama led the international effort to put pressure and sanction Russia for its aggression in Ukraine. Absent that, absent that leadership, we wouldn't have the sanctions and we would have the possibility through the Minsk Agreement that was reached and now Russia needs to implement, to actually resolve --

BLITZER: I guess, his point, though, is that if the Obama administration would have been tougher with the Russians, they never would have never even thought of invading Crimea and taking it over from Ukraine.

BLINKEN: Again, coming from the president, given what he said about Russia in the past, it's hard to square that with what we've seen in his approach to date to Russia.

BLITZER: What do you think of the Palestinian issue? You heard the president, the Prime Minister Netanyahu, the president saying, one- state solution, two-state solution, whatever the Israelis and the Palestinians want, and maybe it's a good idea to bring in a whole bunch of other Arab countries and get a bigger deal. What did you think of that?

BLINKEN: Part of it makes sense, the part about trying to bring in other Arab countries, looking at a bigger deal, that's something that makes sense. In fact, Secretary Kerry, when he was secretary of state, was exploring just that. But leaving the two-state solution behind, talking about one state,

that means the end of a Jewish Democratic Israel. You can't have both in one state. The Palestinian Arab population is going to become a majority. In that case, if Israel is to remain Democratic, give them all the vote, it won't be Jewish. On the other hand, if it's going to prevent them from exercising their rights, it may be Jewish, but it won't be Democratic. I don't think any president wants to preside over the demise of the dream of a Jewish Democratic secure Israel. That's what would happen if we went to a one-state solution.

[13:50:03] BLITZER: Tony Blinken, thanks very much for joining us.

BLINKEN: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: Tony Blinken is our global affairs analyst.

Up next, we're going to discuss President Trump's meeting in-depth with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. What could this gathering mean for the future of U.S./Israeli relations? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're following the breaking news, an expansion of the planned Senate investigation on Russia and the Trump White House. A senior Republican official telling CNN the Senate Intelligence Committee is planning to look at the former national security advisor, Michael Flynn, who -- a man -- the president in the news conference that just happened called "a wonderful man."

There are also new reports emerging of other members of the Trump team being in what is being described as being in constant contact with Russian intelligence officials over the summer during the campaign.

Let's bring in our global affairs correspondent, Elise Labott; and CNN military analyst, Colonel Cedric Leighton, retired Air Force colonel.

Elise, these conversations that aides, supporters, advisors Trump had during the campaign with Russian officials being described as intelligence officials, raising all sorts of concern right now.

[13:55:38] ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Raising concern because you know that the intelligence community has talked about whether Russia was interfering, meddling in the election. And obviously, the big question on everyone's mind is, were those Trump aides in on what Russia was doing. What's really unfortunate about all of this, not only in terms of the investigation and what they may find, but the kind of distraction this is causing President Trump. We were just talking about this press conference with Prime Minister Netanyahu totally reverting from what otherwise is a good story, but it's also kind of hampering the U.S. and Russia from getting that relationship back on track. President Trump, throughout all the campaign, has said he wants to team up with Russia in Syria, wants to have a better relationship. And now these two countries, clearly, they're having very tentative signals between each other that, like, hey, we can't really talk right now. BLITZER: Cedric, there's a Russian spy ship is off the coast of

Connecticut right now. There's talk that Russians may have violated an arms treaty by launching some cruise missiles. It's a very tense moment, potentially.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I think it is, Wolf. The reason that we've got this situation, I think, is that the Russians are testing us, testing Trump specifically, because not only has he changed his national -- had been forced to change his national security apparatus, but this is the time when the Russians seek to take advantage. They want to move the pieces on the chess board and they want to move them quickly. So we may see something in Ukraine. That ship you mentioned off the U.S. coast, that's part of routine intelligence collection operations the Russians do, but now they're making it visible and they're making it known that they are here.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: It's not just the Russians that are this new American president, Elise. It looks like the Iranians are testing him, the North Koreans are testing him. There are elements out there that are probing right now.

LABOTT: That's right. And he's been coming with these much tougher lines against Iran, against Russia, even talking about Crimea. I mean, I think --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Not him personally. His U.N. ambassador.

LABOTT: No. I mean Russian - you heard this morning that Russia took Crimea. And it's a much kind of tougher line. I think this is an effort by President Trump to say, listen, I -- you may think I'm going to be soft on Russia, I'm not going to be soft on Russia. He was talking tough about North Korea. North Korea then did this missile test and is clearly testing --

BLITZER: If he personally is now talking tougher about Russia -

LABOTT: It's very significant.

BLITZER: -- that's significant. Because North Korea, he's been tough on. Iran, he's obviously been very tough on.

And, it's interesting, General Mattis, the defense secretary, was meeting with NATO allies today, in Brussels. And he said something very significant. He said, "The U.S. and NATO need to stand together in dealing with Russia." But also said, the U.S. could, quote, "moderate its commitment to NATO if members don't raise their financial participation."

Because only a few of those 28 NATO allies pay, allocate the 2 percent of their GDP on defense expenditures.

LEIGHTON: Yeah, and the 2 percent number is one that's really been at the forefront in the discussion for NATO. And what General Mattis, or Secretary Mattis did was kind of reminiscent of what he did in Anbar Province, when he was in charge of Anbar Province during the Iraq War. He said, no better friend, no worse enemy, so you better get your house in order, Europe, and this is the reason you need to that, because our commitment is not a commitment that will go on blindly forever and ever. And I think that's the signal Trump wanted him to send to NATO and to all those nations.

LABOTT: And I do think that countries are getting the message. You've been hearing, since Trump said that, that countries are talking about, we are willing to make more of a commitment. So, they hear the message, they don't like when he disparages NATO, calls it irrelevant, but they all understand that they need to step up their financial and defense commitments, too, because they do want see the U.S. continue to be part of that alliance. With everything going on with Russia, that alliance is more important than ever.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: That's a steady them of his going back to the campaign, the NATO allies have to step up and pay their fair share.

LEIGHTON: Absolutely. And the idea of having their fair share becomes really important. It was something that Secretary Gates did when he was secretary of defense, and now this administration is doing it, too.

BLITZER: All right, Cedric, Elise, guys, thanks very, very much.

That's it for me. Thanks very much for watching. I'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room."

The news continues right now on CNN.

[14:00:11] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.