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Tillerson Meeting with World Leaders, To Moscow Tomorrow; White House Feud Between Bannon & Kushner; White House Press Briefing. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired April 10, 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: The White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, expected to come to the lectern any moment to start taking questions from reporters. He'll likely be asked a whole bunch of questions on the Syrian strikes, Secretary Rex Tillerson's trip to Russia this week, and the eternal struggles ongoing inside the White House. We'll have live coverage of the briefing. That's coming up.

Happening right now, Secretary of State Tillerson is meeting with world leaders at the G-7 summit in Italy. The first chance for other member countries to speak with Tillerson face-to-face since last week's missile strikes against that Syrian air base. Tomorrow, he heads to Moscow for talks there.

We have full coverage of his trip.

CNN's international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, is joining us from Italy right now, the site of the summit.

Nic, you're there. What's the message that Rex Tillerson is taking to this meeting?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: He's meeting here with the British, the French, the German, the Italian, the Japanese, and the Canadian foreign ministers. And the message he's taken in, the message they want to hear is if the U.S. act against Assad if he uses chemical weapons. The allies here want to know the nuances of the U.S. position on ISIS, on Assad, on the Iranians in Syria. Boris Johnson, the British foreign secretary, canceled his own trip to Moscow today to so he could come here and try to align the G-7 nations behind Rex Tillerson. The message they all want him to take to Moscow is that Russia needs to back away from Assad, it needs to work to bring a cease-fire and work to bring a political solution, a political transition. But Tillerson himself prioritized this morning going to a small mountain-top village to commemorate a war crime from the Second World War. August 1944, Nazi forces entered this village. They gunned down and killed 560 local citizens and refugees, 130 of them children. They did that in the space of three hours. Rex Tillerson's message on that replaying today a very clear message for Russia and Syria. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REX TILLERSON, SECRETARY OF STATE: We remember the events of August 12th, 1944, that occurred. We rededicate ourselves to holding to account any and all who commit crimes against the innocents anywhere in the world. This place will serve as an inspiration to us all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: That's certainly a message that's resonating with other G- 7 members.

Tomorrow, unusually, bringing into play here foreign ministers from Turkey, from Jordan, from Qatar, from the United Arab Emirates, from the Saudi Arabia. What they all want to do, the G-7 and these Arab allies, and Turkey as well, is come together to bring that strong message, to give sort of strength behind Secretary Tillerson when he makes to journey to Moscow -- Wolf?

BLITZER: That's clearly the message they're trying to deliver.

Nic Robertson joining us from Luca, Italy, at the G-7 summit.

Coming up, President Trump forced to intervene in a deepening and increasingly distracting rift between his son-in-law, senior advisor Jared Kushner, and his chief strategist, Steve Bannon. That topic likely to come up at the White House press briefing scheduled to start any moment now. We'll go there life. That's coming up.

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[13:37:35] BLITZER: The White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, expected to come to the lectern any moment now to start taking questions from reporters. He presumably will have an opening statement, then he'll start the Q&A. We'll have live coverage of that coming up.

The president has a message for his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his chief strategist, Steve Bannon, quote, "Cut it out." A White House official says the president is frustrated over the riff between Kushner, his trusted advisor, and Steve Bannon.

Let's discuss this and more. CNN Politics reporter, editor-at-large Chris Cillizza is with us; and senior reporter, Nia-Malika Henderson is with us.

This is a big deal. You've got two top advisers to the president of the United States and all these reports coming in that they're feuding.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: And there have been nonstop reports about this feuding. The problem is these are two very different people who are, in some ways, at the same level. They're two top people. There's no sort of distinguishing what their portfolio is, how much sway they have in the White House, who is the top dog. That's what we see going on. Bannon is from the "Breitbart" wing of the party, and Kushner is from maybe the more moderate Democrat -- (CROSSTALK)

HENDERSON: Choose your own adventure wing of the party, maybe. That's what's going on. You have Donald Trump essentially saying cut it out. Interesting that he's using a phrase that parents would use for their kids, right?

(LAUGHTER)

In many ways, this is sibling rivalry. But the problem is I think the one who probably has a bit of an advantage here is Jared Kushner because he is the son-in-law.

BLITZER: He's family.

HENDERSON: Yeah.

BLITZER: Remember, the family is tough to fire.

HENDERSON: Yeah.

CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER & EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Yeah, very tough. I would say, to Nia's point, I don't want to say a problem, because Donald Trump knew this was part of the equation, but when you deputize four people all on the exact same level, all with indeterminate boundaries of what they do -- one does foreign policy, one does the economy -- but when you have people feuding and fighting for your ear, you create this. I think Trump does it on purpose. Let's return to what he did in his television show, "The Apprentice." Board room, people arguing, he comes in as the decider. I think that's what he's comfortable with. What's hard is if you're one of those four people.

(CROSSTAWLK)

CILLIZZA: It's easy if you're Donald Trump. It's harder if you're Jared Kushner.

[13:39:58] BLITZER: You wrote a strong piece on CNN Digital, "Steve Bannon's Worst Week in Washington." Among a sentence or two you wrote, "Bannon has watched his power within the White House steadily shrink, an erosion that culminated when he was removed from the NSC and is battles with Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner went public. Go ahead.

CILLIZZA: I was going to say, the remarkable thing is the roller- coaster ride of this White House, and there's rises and drops within days of one another. In February, Steve Bannon was seen as President Bannon. "Saturday Night Live" had the whole running joke about him. Now he's been reduced. This is the difficult thing -- and you know what you're getting into with Donald Trump. This is a difficult thin when you're dealing with someone like Donald Trump, who is literally saying this week, this one's my favorite, this week, I'm listening to this one. It kind of rotates. You're never exactly sure why. I think Steve Bannon is on a downward -- he's in a gully at the moment on the sort of broad plane of where the White House is. (CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Kirstin, the White House is downplaying all the reports of a potential shakeup. A spokeswoman says, "The only thing we are shaking up is the way Washington operates."

KIRSTIN POWERS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I don't think that's right. I think most people --\, there's definitely a lot going on in the White House in terms of people not getting along. There's no question about that. There's plenty of reporting that's been done on that.

I think one of the things you have to watch with Donald Trump is he doesn't like it when people get too much attention. As Steve Bannon was getting -- Donald Trump didn't like that Bannon is the puppet master, he's the real president.

(CROSSTALK)

POWERS: President Bannon "SNL" skit. He doesn't like that kind of stuff. He didn't like it when Kellyanne Conway was getting front cover of "New York Magazine," those kinds of things. You see that after that, her profile dropping a little bit, laying a little low. I think that's part of it.

I think part of it is also Steve Bannon, some of the things he was out front on, the travel ban, for example, didn't go well. And I think Donald Trump is starting to get comfortable in Washington and started to realize some of the things Steve Bannon is doing are may be on the fringe.

BLITZER: I suspect he's upset about the travel ban one, travel ban two still before the courts. Hasn't gotten off the ground yet. I'm sure he's very upset that repealing and replacing Obamacare went nowhere, at least so far.

HENDEERSON: You look at these 80 days and not a lot of "W"s on the board. The one today is Gorsuch's swearing in. That's --

BLITZER: That's a big "W."

HENDERSON: That's a big "W" and it will be a win that they have for many, many decades from now. But if you're a White House that's looking to figure out where they go from here and possibly turn the page from these last 80 days, then you want to look for some blame in some ways and a shakeup and a changing in course. Whether that means Bannon stays or goes, we'll have to see.

BLITZER: It's interesting that the former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, gone. K.T. McFarland, his deputy she is going to be nominated to become the U.S. ambassador to Singapore.

CILLIZZA: Yes. There's no question that -- that's why I always thought it was ironic that the messaging coming out with the Bannon demotion was, he was only there to manage Mike Flynn. Well, Mike Flynn and he and K.T. McFarland all have a similar role here. This is not Jared Kushner. This returns to Nia's earlier point, which is, look, Jared Kushner's experience, views, known views on policy and Steve Bannon's -- Kirsten may have more in common with Steve Bannon than Jared Kushner does.

(LAUGHTER)

Their views are not at all -- I mean, world view, radically different. I'm not talking about who they've given donations to. They just view the world in a very different way. To say, guys, just figure it out. It's not as -- Donald Trump can say cut it out, probably his purview and the right thing to do. I'm not sure you get past views that are as disparate as those two are.

BLITZER: Kellyanne Conway says the president likes people around him with different views.

POWERS: Sure, he does. And obviously, I have nothing in common with Steve Bannon, just for the record.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

POWERS: But I do think that Steve Bannon took advantage of a power vacuum. He was the person closest to Donald Trump. He was sort of the ideological force behind him. He and Sessions. And I think he took advantage of it. That's how you saw him getting onto the national security council. When you had people kind of coming in who were actually in control that weren't his sort of cohorts, sort of saying, this isn't OK and we're going to reorganize things. And you're starting to see I think things running in a little more normal fashion.

CILLIZZA: It's important to remember, too, about the wins and losses, every politician grades things on did I win or did I lose, but none more so than Donald Trump. Remember the first year -- really the entire campaign -- but the first year of the campaign, the central message was, I'm winning because I'm winning. The polls show me winning, therefore, I'm doing something right, therefore, I'm winning. That sort virtuous circle in his mind. So he is focused so centrally on putting points up on the board, and I think in his quieter moments -- he said we've done everything we wanted to do. I think he reflects and says it's 80 days in, to me, it's only a point. We don't have health care reform or repeal. We don't have --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: All right. Here he is, Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary.

[13:45:19]

SEAN SPICER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Welcome back, everyone. Good to see you all after a few days, those of you who didn't get a chance to go down to Florida.

This morning, in the Rose Garden, the president was honored to host the swearing-in of Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch.

His confirmation was the culmination of a thoughtful and deliberative process that the president started almost a year ago when he released his initial list of potential nominees for the Supreme Court. In September, he released a final definitive list, promising to select only from those individuals who would continue the legacy of the great Justice Scalia on the bench. And today, the president celebrated our new associate justice, who will protect our Constitution for generations.

It was a definitely a great day to kick off the week and another productive week we will -- you'll see here at the White House.

Before I get into the upcoming week, just a couple updates from over the weekend.

First, the president spoke with Prime Minister Lofven of Sweden to express our condolences for the loved ones who were killed in Friday's terrorist attack in central Stockholm, Sweden, and to wish a speedy recovery for those who were wounded.

The president also called President Sisi yesterday to convey his deepest condolences to Egypt and the families who lost loved ones in the heinous attack that occurred there. Dozens of innocent people were killed and many more were injured on this holy Palm Sunday. The United States condemns in the strongest terms these barbaric attacks on Christians' places of worship in Tanta and in Alexandria.

The president also spoke with the king of Saudi Arabia, the prime minister of Japan, the acting president of South Korea all about the United States' military strike on the airfield in Syria. All of the leaders expressed support for the United States' necessary action in response to the horrible chemical and bomb attack on innocent civilians.

And yesterday, he spoke with Commander Andria Slough, the commanding officer of the USS Porter, and Commander Russell Caldwell, the commanding officer of the USS Ross, to thank them and their teams for successfully carrying out that strike. During these calls, the president communicated that he could not be more proud of the crews of these two ships and their flawless execution of these operations.

As you know, these ships, between the two of them, sent 59 Tomahawk missiles and each of them hit all of their targets, showing America's power and the military's accuracy, which is just a small representation of our military's overall capability and a fraction of what this president will continue to build up the military to be throughout his administration.

The sight of people being gassed and blown away by barrel bombs ensures that if we see this kind of action again, we hold open the possibility of future action. The resulting action of -- of what happened ensured that their fueling operation is gone from this air facility, 20 percent of their fixed-wing aircraft were destroyed and knocked out.

And I think by all measures, the world and domestic reaction was highly laudable for the president's actions.

Additionally, obviously, we're all aware that the president had a very successful visit with the Chinese president and it concluded on Friday. As you've read, one of the most significant developments from these discussions was the agreement to create a 100-day initial plan, hopefully with some tangible near-term deliverables, to lead to a more balanced economic relationship between our two countries. As that develops, we'll make sure that we provide you with additional details.

And this morning, the president was glad to see Toyota announce that it will be spending $1.33 billion in its Kentucky plant as part of its plan to invest $10 billion in America over the next five years, a continued signal of the confidence American -- that businesses have in the American economy under President Trump.

Now, in terms of the week ahead, tomorrow, the president will have a discussion on strategy and policy with several members of his Cabinet and a group of CEOs. This is a follow-up from his meeting with 20 CEOs from the Strategic and Policy Forum just this past February, with some of the same business leaders and some new ones.

First, they'll meet in small interactive groups, each led by a Cabinet member, to discuss the priorities for those Cabinet secretaries and their agencies. The president will then oversee a report that we presented to the group -- by the group, rather.

The Cabinet-level participants will be Secretary of Ross -- Secretary of Commerce Ross, Secretary of Education DeVos, EPA Administrator Pruitt, OMB Director Mulvaney and Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao. We'll have the full list of additional participants for you later.

As part of the effort to deescalate the conflict in Syria and press for a political process that can resolve the conflict and eventually result in a transition of a new, legitimate Syrian leadership, the U.S. special envoy for Syria will be coming to Washington tomorrow for consultations with the State Department and with National Security Advisor McMaster here at the White House, among others. He has been overseeing the political talks among Syrian parties in Geneva.

On Wednesday, we will welcome the secretary general of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, to the White House. The president and the secretary general will have a joint press conference later in the afternoon.

And then the president plans to spend the Easter holiday in Florida. And he'll return to the White House on Sunday.

As the president noted today, we -- as we hit day 81 in the president's administration, we have done so many great things, including nominate and confirm a Supreme Court justice, roll back more regulations than any president in modern times, roll back the Obama- era war on coal, oil and natural gas, restored confidence in the economy. We're now seeing historic levels of consumer, CEO, homebuilder, manufacturer confidence. There's been a 12-percent gain on the stock market. And we've even seen a -- a real resurgence in the mining industry. We've reduced illegal boarding (sic) crossings by over 60 percent to the lowest level in nearly two decades, and implemented historic ethics reforms, including a five-year lobbying ban and a lifetime foreign ban.

So, with that, I'd be glad to take your questions.

QUESTION: Sean, why is it OK to bomb Syria but not OK to assist the refugees, one?

And number two, what's the reaction -- this administration's reaction to Russia saying we are running a danger of a real war within the Middle East?

SPICER: Well, with respect to -- to -- number one, the reason that we took action was -- was multifold. Number one, to stop the proliferation and the deterrence (sic) of chemical weapons. But when you see mass weapons of destruction being used, it should be a concern to every nation, especially our own people.

The proliferation of those weapons pose a grave secure -- threat to our national security. So, number one, we have to stop that.

Number two, we have to stop ISIS.

But with respect to the people of Syria, by us taking action and deescalating what's going on in Syria, that's the greatest thing you can do to support those people. Deescalating the conflict there, containing ISIS is the greatest aspect of humanitarian relief that we can provide, first and foremost.

Secondly, creating areas in which we can work with allies, including Russia, and -- and committing to ensuring that there are places that don't -- that are free from violence and are places of -- free for people to gather safely is another.

Because I think everyone would agree that the last thing the people want to do there is leave. They want to stay there. They want to be in Syria. They want to have a safe place to remain with their families and not be separated.

So our number one priority is to defeat ISIS, but we're also, I think from a humanitarian standpoint and a refugee standpoint, ensuring that we create an environment that provides a safe place for them to ultimately remain.

And then I'm -- and then on Russia in particular, you know, look, I -- I think that if you look at the counties that are with us, it -- it speaks pretty loudly the number of countries that have stood shoulder to shoulder with this president.

Russia, on the other hand, stands with Syria, North Korea and Iran. I think when you contrast the two groups of countries, sets, it's pretty clear that we're on the right side of this issue.

QUESTION: But... QUESTION: Sean...

QUESTION: ... (inaudible) going to commit troops? I mean, they're...

(CROSSTALK)

SPICER: No. What it -- what it means -- no, no.

What it means is that I think the action that we took last week has been widely praised domestically and internationally as -- as a great step to ensure the deterrence in (ph) proliferation of chemical weapons and of action against innocent people.

When you watch babies and children being gassed and suffer under barrel bombs, you -- you are instantaneously moved to action. I think this president has made it very clear that if those actions were to continue, further action will definitely be considered by the United States.

We continue to urge further the -- the world community to join us in this, in both stopping the deterrence (sic) and proliferation of those -- use of those weapons, but then further trying to create a political environment that'll result in new leadership.

Those -- those are -- those are very important. They go hand in hand.

QUESTION: Are we building a coalition, or...

(CROSSTALK)

SPICER: I -- I think we have a -- I mean, again, I think if you look at who's not with us, it's a pretty small group, and not a group that too many people are looking to bring on board. I mean, you've got Iran, Syria, North Korea and -- and Russia on one side of this. That's -- that's a pretty small group.

QUESTION: Thanks, Sean.

President Trump has spoken out extensively about the crimes of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Does the president consider Assad a war criminal? And does he believe Assad should eventually appear before the ICC?

SPICER: I think right now the focus is two-fold. One is defeating ISIS and the second is creating the political environment necessary for the Syrian people to have a -- new leadership there.

I don't think that there's -- I -- I can't imagine a stable and peaceful Syria where Basa al-Asshad (sic) is -- is in power.

I think we all recognize that that happens and there can be a multi- pronged approach where you're ensuring that ISIS is contained and there's a deescalation of the proliferation of chemical weapons, at the same time creating the environment for -- for a change in leadership.

QUESTION: But does the president believe Assad has committed war crimes?

SPICER: I don't -- I think that there is a -- is a court that decides those things and obviously there's a reason that -- while I clearly -- the actions -- when you take an action against the people that he has. And I think we feel unbelievably confident in -- in the intelligence that we have. But again that would be something for a court to decide.

Charlie (ph)?

QUESTION: A lot of -- a lot of people are talking about what the Trump doctrine is on foreign policy, what it may or may not include, and the president's even stated that he was very flexible.

Do you know what the Trump doctrine is on foreign policy? And can you explain it to the -- to us?

SPICER: Yeah.

I think the Trump doctrine is something that he articulated throughout the campaign, which is that America's first. We're going to make sure that our national interests are protected, that we do what we can to make sure that our interests, both economically and national security, are at the forefront and we're not just going to become the world's policeman running around the country -- running around the world, but that we have to have a clear and defined national interest wherever we act, and that it's -- it's our national security first and foremost that has to deal with how we act.

QUESTION: (inaudible) Syria fits in that doctrine?

SPICER: Absolutely.

I think if you recognize the threat that our country and our people face if there is a growth of use or spread of chemical weapons of mass destruction, those -- the proliferation of those, the spread to other groups is a clear danger to our country and to our people.

Kristen (ph)?

QUESTION: Sean, thank you.

I just want to follow up on what you were saying about Bashar al- Assad. Are you saying that defeating ISIS and getting Bashar al-Assad out of power, through a political process, should happen at the same time?

SPICER: I think -- I'm not trying to -- how you sequence them, but I don't think they're mutually exclusive. I don't think that you -- you have to do one other than others (ph).

But I think they kind of go hand in hand. As you reduce ISIS' strength, as you deescalate the conflict in Syria, the political environment to remove him becomes stronger and stronger.

QUESTION: And just to be clear, Secretary Tillerson over the weekend said, "We can navigate a political outcome in which the Syrian people will determine Bashar al-Assad's state and his legitimacy." Nikki Haley seemed to align more with what you were saying. She said, "In no way do we see peace in that area with Assad as the head of the Syrian government."

So who better reflects...

SPICER: I don't think that's a -- I don't think those are mutually exclusive statements.

Because I don't think -- I think that you can -- one of them's saying we don't see peace with him in charge, the other one's saying we need to -- we need to have him gone. I think that's -- that's the point of both.

The goal for both of them, the goal for the United States is two- fold.

As I've stated, it's, one, to make sure that we destabilize Syria -- destabilize the conflict there, reduce the threat of ISIS.

But then secondly, is create the political environment, not just within the Syrian people, but I think you can have -- work with Russia in particular to make sure that they understand that Syria backed up by Russia's own accounting is -- should be held accountable for the agreements that it's made with respect to its international agreements on chemical weapons alone.

QUESTION: And can you defeat ISIS with Assad still in power?

SPICER: Yeah. Sure.

But I think that -- I think you can defeat ISIS with him in power. I think that obviously, to your point, it's not like there's a single track that says you have to do -- I mean, if we can get both at the same time or one happens after another, that's fine as well.

But I -- I think that we obviously -- the number one threat that America faces is ISIS in that region, and we've got to make sure that we do everything we can to do that.

QUESTION: And just finally, when Secretary Tillerson meets with his Russian counterpart, what is his specific message going to be? Is he going to threaten potentially more sanctions if Russia doesn't get involved?

SPICER: I think he's on his way there tomorrow, and I'll let Secretary Tillerson talk about his meeting with Foreign Minister Lavrov.

I think -- there's a lot of things to, obviously, discuss -- the overall fight on ISIS. But I think with respect to Syria in particular, I think we need to remind them of the commitments that they've made and the commitments that Syria's made.

And I think that... QUESTION: (inaudible)

[14:00:00]

SPICER: I think that, first and foremost, we need to make sure that we all understand what the -- what the situation is on the ground.