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Conflict With North Korea; Trump At NRA Convention; Pentagon Investigating Flynn; WH Blames Obama Administration For Flynn's Security Clearance; Pentagon Investigating Flynn Over Foreign Payments; Comey, Rogers To Testify In Closed-Door Hearing Tuesday. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired April 28, 2017 - 13:00   ET

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


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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

Up first, President Trump is warning that military conflict with North Korea is a possibility as his administration nears the 100-day milestone. We're going to hear from the president live this hour on day 99 of his time in office.

Just a little while ago, he boasted about his administration's accomplishments so far.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And we're moving awfully well. We're getting a lot of things done. We are -- I don't think there's ever been anything like this. It's a false standard, 100 days. But I have to tell you, I don't think anybody has done what we've been able to do in 100 days so we're very happy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The president will address the National Rifle Association's convention in Atlanta, Georgia shortly. We're going to bring you his speech live. But it's a remark the president made during a Reuters interview that's making headlines.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, there's a -- there's a -- there's a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea. Absolutely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The president says he would prefer a diplomatic solution and secretary of state Rex Tillerson seems to be leaving the door open for North Korea talks.

At the same time, China is warning that the situation on the Korean Peninsula runs the risk of spiraling out of control.

Let's get some more on the crisis with North Korea and a preview of the president's address to the NRA. Our White House Correspondent Athena Jones is joining us live from Atlanta where the president will be speaking soon.

Athena, that was a rather stark warning from the president about the possibility of a military conflict with North Korea. What's the message the Trump administration is trying to send regarding its approach to this crisis?

ATHENA JONES, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf. Well, the message that President Trump and others are sending is that all options are on the table when it comes to dealing with North Korea. That has always been the case.

The problem is that the military option is complicated and dangerous. It's not like that strike the president ordered against the air base in Syria a few weeks back. You have U.S. allies, like Japan and South Korea, to think about when it comes to using the military option. That is why diplomacy has been front and center, the preferred route.

We've heard the president talk a lot about his hope that China will work hard to pressure North Korea. China, of course, is the regime's main trading partner. And the president has talked about a progress he's seen on that front.

You also mentioned secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, who, just a short while ago at the U.N., was talking about new economic sanctions. The need to increase the financial isolation of the North Korean regime and to bring maximum economic pressure.

But the real question here is you're hearing this new, tough talk from the president. Is there a new, tough plan? Will diplomacy and sanctions work now when they've failed in the past? This is something that success in the administrations have tried to do. Tried to pressure North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions.

And so far, that hasn't worked so it's unclear if it's going to work this time -- Wolf.

BLITZER: We're going to have a lot more on this issue coming up. But I want to get your thoughts. This is the first sitting president, President Trump, to address the NRA, where you are in Atlanta right now, since Ronald Reagan did that back in 1983. Is this a chance for the president to rev up members of his base? What do we expect to hear from this speech?

JONES: Wolf, I would say it absolutely is a chance for him to rev up his base. I've talked to a couple folks here who are strong Trump supporters. The whole crowd, we imagine, is Trump supporters. These are 10,000 tickets that I'm told were sold out; 80,000 coming to this annual meeting but only 10,000 able to fit into this room.

In an op-ed today, in the "USA Today," the NRA's executive director of the NRA's legislative arm, Chris Cox, sang the praises of President Trump. I've also spoken to a spokesperson here who said that this has been the most successful first 100 days when it comes to the second amendment in history.

So, I would expect the president to talk about the importance of protecting gun rights. He may also mention some of the steps his administration has already taken to expand gun rights, like removing some Obama era restrictions on things like lead ammunition and federal lands and restrictions that made it harder for people with some mental illnesses to buy guns.

So, I think it's going to be a very enthusiastic reception for the president here -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Athena Jones in Atlanta. We'll, of course, have live coverage of the president's remarks. That's coming up later this hour.

For much of the president's 100 days in office, North Korea's provocations have topped his foreign policy, his national security agenda. His latest warning of a major conflict has elicited a very strong response from Pyongyang.

[13:05:02] For more, our International Correspondent Will Ripley is joining us. He's the only western T.V. journalist in the country -- Will.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, North Korea is certainly watching very closely. This U.N. Security Council meeting chaired by secretary of state Rex Tillerson. And also, also listening very closely to the rhetoric from President Trump saying openly that a major, major conflict is possible with North Korea.

Now, the regime here ratcheting up their own rhetoric. There's a new commentary from state controlled KCNA saying, quote, "In case a war breaks out on the peninsula, the U.S. will be held wholly accountable for it, no matter who made the preemptive attack."

It has been a busy week here in North Korea. We saw that massive live fire exercise. North Korean army's largest in their history, they say, with a barrage of artillery fire. Hundreds of long-range self- propelled guns firing simultaneously.

Then, we saw North Korea release this chilling propaganda video, showing a simulated attack on Washington, the White House, the Capitol and also what appears to be the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier.

And then, you have this new information coming out of the ministry of foreign affairs in Beijing. China saying that they are now willing to work with the United States and the Trump administration to try to rein in North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un, using their considerable economic leverage that they have over this country. At least 70 percent of North Korean trade is with China. They also control a lot of oil flowing into the country through a large pipeline.

But North Korean officials here are defiant in extensive conversations that we're having with them on the ground. They say they will not be influenced by international pressure from the United States, from the U.N. or from China.

They say they have a right to develop nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them. In fact, they say they must develop them to protect themselves from what they view as an eminent and growing threat of war with the United States -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Will, thank you. Will Ripley of Pyongyang, North Korea for us. We'll get back you to.

During that United Nations Security Council meeting that Will just mentioned, we heard this from the secretary of state, Rex Tillerson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REX TILLERSON, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The more we bide our time, the sooner we will run out of it. In light of the growing threat, the time has come for all of us to put new pressure on North Korea to abandon this dangerous path. I urge this council to act before North Korea does.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Our CNN Military and Diplomatic Analyst, retired Rear Admiral John Kirby is with us, former spokesman at the State Department and the Pentagon. John, thanks very much.

So, what do you think Secretary Tillerson is trying to achieve at the U.N. Security Council right now?

REAR ADM. JOHN KIRBY, CNN MILITARY AND DIPLOMATIC ANALYST, U.S. NAVY (retired): I think he's trying to do two things. One, draw more international attention to the urgency of the problem in Pyongyang. And, two, really try to galvanize additional sanctions, more diplomatic and economic efforts to try to pressure Pyongyang into better behavior.

I didn't hear a lot from his speech that we haven't heard before. It's very much similar to the way President Obama tried to approach this problem. The difference is, A, the clock is running out and he's right about that. They're getting more capable every day, it seems like.

And, B, that this particular commander in chief is willing to participate more in brinksmanship, to up the rhetoric, to up the sense of urgency, in terms of what he's willing to do militarily that, I think, is trying to -- you know, trying to energize the problem.

BLITZER: Because he was so blunt, the president --

KIRBY: Yes.

BLITZER: -- of the United States in that interview with Reuters. I'll read it to you again. There is a chance -- the president said, there is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea. Absolutely. I haven't heard a president --

KIRBY: Yes.

BLITZER: -- openly speak about a major, major conflict because the ramifications of that would be so enormous.

KIRBY: Oh, it would -- millions of casualties, not to mention, you know, war and just not on the peninsula but in the region.

I think, to some degree, the president's a little disconnected from his national security team which has been running a very deliberate measured interagency process on this. But I also think -- I'm guessing here. But I think that the president thinks that by upping the rhetoric like that, by throwing threats, like, out there, he actually might try to bring China and Pyongyang more to the -- to the table.

BLITZER: So, when the secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, now opens the possibility of the U.S. establishing a direct dialogue with --

KIRBY: Yes.

BLITZER: -- North Korea. The U.S. has not done that. There have been back channels but the U.S. has not directly done that for quite a while. What do you think?

KIRBY: If that's what they really mean by doing, that's a -- that will be a huge shift. I mean, we've always said that we don't want to legitimize the north for their actions by doing that. We've always said we want to rely on the multi-lateral six-party talk process, if you will.

But that North Korea needed to prove able and willing to get to the table by committing to denuclearization. They're not going to do that. They obviously haven't and they -- just, in Will's piece, you can see they have no intention of moving in that direction.

So, I don't think that we're anywhere near a rightness for direct talks with North Korea.

BLITZER: But what if they, sort of, just halt what they're doing, right? Now, they're not going to give up their nuclear arsenal. They're not going to give up the ballistic missiles that they already have.

[13:10:00] But what if they make a commitment to China and to the United States, to the international community? They're not going to go further than they are right now. They're not going to miniaturize a nuclear bomb and put it on an intercontinental ballistic missile that could hit the U.S.

KIRBY: Well, maybe that could be the premise to sit down and talk. But I think that's where the discussion needs to go in the U.N. Is what do we want the north to do now so that we can try to solve this peacefully?

More pressure, more sanctions, all that is fine. But it hasn't had an effect on these guys yet. Maybe what they need to do is sit down and say, what would it take to bring them to the table? And we can make them -- make some sort of interim agreement to get them there, that might be worth it.

BLITZER: And describe -- when you say there could be enormous millions of casualties, when the president says a major, major conflict with North Korea, within, what, hours, certainly within days, there would be enormous casualties.

KIRBY: There are estimates that within the first two hours of a conflict, you could have more than 100,000 casualties in Seoul alone. And that has nothing to do with nuclear and ballistic technology. It could just be from artillery strikes.

BLITZER: because along the DMZ, --

KIRBY: Yes.

BLITZER: -- north of the DMZ, the North Koreans have a million troops. But they have thousands of artillery pieces, --

KIRBY: Absolutely.

BLITZER: -- missile launcher, conventional weapons. And Seoul, the capital, is, what, 30 miles below the DMZ, south of the DMZ.

KIRBY: That's right. This could go very, very --

BLITZER: It's a city of 25 million people.

KIRBY: Yes, it could be catastrophic very, very quickly.

I think what Pyongyang is trying to do -- well, first of all, they do believe in regime survival. And that's why they want to pursue these technology. But they want to amp up the situation so much that the -- that the international community has no other alternative but to deal with them on a -- as a -- as a nuclear-to-nuclear basis.

And that's where it gets really dangerous. And this guy's unpredictable. Whether he's rational or sane or not sane, that's not the point.

BLITZER: You're talking about Kim Jong-Un.

KIRBY: Yes, he's -- yes. He's brutal. He's ruthless. And, look, he assassinates people by using anti-aircraft machine guns. There's nothing rational about that. I think you've got to take him at his word when he issues these threats.

BLITZER: Yes, and there's 28,000 U.S. troops along the demilitarized zone --

KIRBY: Absolutely.

BLITZER: -- in South Korea. Another 50,000 or so in Japan, not very far away.

All right, John, thanks very much.

KIRBY: Yes.

BLITZER: John Kirby, our Military and Diplomatic Analyst.

Coming up, live pictures from Atlanta where President Trump is about to address the National Rifle Association convention this hour. Will he talk about North Korea or his 100-day milestone? We're going there live once he starts.

Plus, Donald Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, at the center of a Pentagon investigation into whether or not he hid payments from Russia. Will the latest news convince Congress to rethink Flynn's offer to testify in return for immunity?

We're going to ask Congressman Adam Schiff of California. He's the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee. He's standing by live. He'll join me right after this.

[13:12:42]

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[13:15:00] WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: We're following the breaking news. There you see air force one just moments ago landing in Atlanta. The President of the United States will head over from the Atlanta Airport over to the National Rifle Association's convention in Atlanta. It's an effort to reenergize his conservative base, no doubt about that. He's going to be speaking in Atlanta. Soon we're going to have live coverage of that once it begins. In the meantime, the White House says it's not to blame for failing to improperly vet its former National Security Adviser, Retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn. Instead, it's blaming the Obama administration saying it was the President's - former President's administration that approved Flynn's security clearances, renewed those security clearances in 2016. General Flynn was pressured to resign for lying to the Vice President about his conversations with the Russian diplomat. Now the Pentagon's Inspector General has opened an investigation into Flynn for apparently failing to disclose payments he had received from a Russian television station. Those payments were for an event that included dinner with the Russian President Vladimir Putin back in 2015. I want to get reaction to all these late-breaking developments with one of the leading investigators of the Russian interference in the U.S. Presidential election, Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff is the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee. He's joining us live here in the studio. Congressman, thanks very much for joining us.

ADAM SCHIFF, UNITED STATES CONGRESSMAN FROM CALIFORNIA: You bet.

BLITZER: So when the White House yesterday, Sean Spicer says, you know what, it's really the Obama administration's fault that Flynn got his security clearances renewed in 2016, the administration was still in office. They renewed his security clearances even though a year earlier, he went to Moscow, there was all that video of him having dinner with Putin. What do say? SCHIFF: Well, this is a continuation of what we saw in the early days of the Trump Presidency, when they felt the Yemen raid hadn't gone well, they said it's Obama's fault. Obama cleared this operation. Now they're saying it's Obama's fault that we didn't vet him better. The reality is, they have the responsibility as the new administration to vet people they want to place in senior positions. The security clearance forms we have requested on a bipartisan basis in the Intelligence Committee, we haven't received them yet. I look forward to going through them. But there's a question, did Flynn report any moneys that he received? That may have impaired the vetting process in terms of the agency for security clearance. But there's really no excuse for the Trump administration here and simply blaming Obama, that argument has really a shelf life that expired a long time ago.

BLITZER: If he didn't disclose the money he received from Russia and for Turkey for that matter, on those security clearances, his request to get his security clearances updated, renewed, that's a violation of the law.

SCHIFF: It is. So I think there are potentially three legal clouds that hang over General Flynn. One is whether his receipt of funds was unauthorized by law. Another whether he failed to properly disclose to receive these payments when he did a security clearance. And also whether he made false statements that are violate of a-of a privation of law. So, there are probably good reasons why he is now asking for immunity, but it is way premature for our Committee to be considering that kind request.

[13:20:24] BLITZER: And we learned yesterday, the Inspector General of the Department of Defense is opening formal investigation into all of this. His lawyer has suggested he's got a story to tell and he'll tell it to members of Congress if you grant him immunity, he raised the issue. Are you thinking about that?

SCHIFF: Well, it's I think very early for us to be considering something like that. What we ought to be doing is interviewing each and every other witness.

BLITZER: Have you invited him to testify?

SCHIFF: We - I'm confident the point will come where we will be inviting him, but nonetheless, we have a lot of work to do before that, to bring in other witnesses that can shed light on the circumstances that led up to his firing or whether there were false statements in connection with any of these issues. We also want to discuss with the Justice Department their equities and we would want to receive a detailed proffer from either Flynn or his attorney as to what he would say before we would be able to even evaluate that kind of request.

BLITZER: You have hearings coming up next week. Tell us about what we can anticipate.

SCHIFF: We have a hearing, closed hearing coming up with General Comey -- I'm sorry, Director Comey and Director Rogers.

Of the National Security Agency.

SCHIFF: Yes.

BLITZER: That's behind closed doors. That's on Tuesday, right?

SCHIFF: That is on I believe may 4th, but we also are trying to reschedule the open hearing with Director Clapper, Director Brennan, and Sally Yates.

BLITZER: That was supposed to be May 2nd, right?

SCHIFF: You know, I can't remember what the original date, I think we asked the two Directors to come in a closed session was the 2nd. I think they were available a later date that week so that, we anticipate is going forward.

BLITZER: It sounds like the schedule is changing now. Are there still problems with the republicans? Because we remember Devin Nunes, the Chairman, he has recused himself. Now, you've got a new acting Chairman at least as far as the Russian investigation. Is that cooperation back? Is it working or are there still partisan divisions?

SCHIFF: Actually it's been very good, very productive. I think Mike Conaway is doing his very best. We certainly are as well, to get this back on an even keel nonpartisan track. And I think we've largely accomplished that. We are inviting witnesses before the Committee. We're rescheduling hearings that were deferred or canceled. We're getting the documents that we want to get. We're working with the agencies to get the cooperation of the agencies we need. So we are now fully back on track.

BLITZER: So I just want to be precise. The FBI Director James Comey, the NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers, they will testify behind closed doors later in the week, later next week -

SCHIFF: Yes.

BLITZER: - but the other hearing with Sally Yates who is the acting Attorney General, James Clapper, John Brennan, the former CIA Director, that will be an open session, it would be earlier in the week or is there a date - is that date still open?

SCHIFF: That date is still open. We - I believe we're going forward with the closed hearing towards the latter part of the first week of May. The open hearing we're still in negotiation with the Senate over who will be interviewing what witnesses in open session but we expect that to go forward as soon as we can pin down the date as well as get the schedules of the witnesses. But in all of this, we're working very collaboratively, democrats and republicans together. I think we've really turned an important page in the investigation.

BLITZER: Quickly on North Korea, that's a - you've been studying this very closely as all of us have. When the President of the United States says in his Reuters interview, there is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea, absolutely, what's your reaction?

SCHIFF: My reaction is, if this was a statement made in complete isolation, it would be one thing. When it's a statement made while we have an aircraft carrier group headed there, when we're in the process of installing missile defense there, this is going to be read very differently. I'm all in favor of putting maximum pressure on China to really clamp down on North Korea economically. It's the only thing that will I think cause North Korea to think twice about moving forward on the nuclear and missile front, but I do worry about an excess of saber-rattling because we have erratic leader in North Korea and it puts the President of the United States in one of two positions. If the North Korean leader goes forward with nuclear tests now, what has the President locked himself into doing by way of response? But also, if the North Korean leader goes further, miscalculates based on what the President is saying, then we could have terrible conflagration. So pressure China, absolutely. Be very careful about the military saber-rattling.

BLITZER: One final, very quick question. Do you favor the U.S. opening a direct dialogue with North Korea?

SCHIFF: You know, I think in an appropriate point we should consider that. The alternative is a military confrontation. But I do think that we need to get some demonstrable show of progress by North Korea and if we ever do enter in a negotiation, the verification regime is going to have to be iron clad because they've cheated before. And if we don't have that kind of iron-clad inspection regime, they'll cheat again

[13:25:19] BLITZER: Congressman Adam Schiff of the Intelligence Committee, thanks very much for joining us.

SCHIFF: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: You're looking at live pictures over there. Air Force One just touching down at - in Atlanta. The President is aboard Air Force One. He'll be driving in a motorcade from the airport over to the National Rifle Association Convention. He'll be speaking later this hour. We're told we'll have live coverage of that coming up. In the meantime Republican Congressman Mo Brooks, he's standing by here. His reaction to the President's direct warning for North Korea, the one- week spending bill just passed in the House and Senate, and what's next for repealing and replacing ObamaCare. Lots to discuss with Congressman Mo Brooks when we come back.

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BLITZER: Here he is. President Trump just moments ago getting off Air Force One at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. The President aboard Air Force One arriving. He's going to be heading in a motorcade downtown Atlanta for the Nation Rifle Association's Convention. He'll be the first sitting president since Ronald Reagan in -