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Bomber Had Training, Prosecute Leakers; World Leaders At NATO Summit; Montana Candidate Assaults Reporter; Trump Vows to Prosecute Leakers; Trump Scolds NATO Allies. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired May 25, 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: I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 7:00 p.m. in Brussels. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

We're following developments right now on two big stories. President Trump is meeting with other world leaders at the NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium. It's an important chance for the president to discuss global security issues and to lecture member nations on how much they're contributing financially with the organization he once called obsolete. We're talking about NATO.

We'll have much more on this important story in just a few moments.

But first, anger in the United Kingdom right now over intelligence in the investigation that was leaked to the U.S. news media. It has prompted British police to suspend the sharing of information relating to the attack with U.S. officials.

The British prime minister, Theresa May, said she was looking forward to discussing this very troubling issue with President Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THERESA MAY, PRIME MINISTER, UNITED KINGDOM: On the issue of the intelligence sharing with the United States of America, we have a special relationship with the USA. It is our deepest defense and security partnership that we have.

Of course, that partnership is built on trust. And part of that trust is knowing that intelligence can be shared confidently. And I will be making clear to President Trump today that intelligence that he shared between law enforcement agencies must remain secure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And then, today, the president released a statement saying, and I'm quoting now, "The alleged leaks coming out of government agencies are deeply troubling. I am asking the Department of Justice and other relevant agencies to launch a complete review of this matter and, if appropriate, the culprit should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

Let's get some more on all of this. Our Senior International Correspondent Fred Pleitgen is over at number 10 Downing Street.

Fred, how angry are local officials where you are?

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they certainly are very angry, especially there in Manchester where the bulk of that investigation, Wolf, is, of course, taking place.

You hear words being used like this being unacceptable for some of these leaks that are coming out.

We have to keep in mind, this is a very, very important and fast- moving investigation that the Brits are conducting here because they believe there could potentially be a cell here active in this country that at least has the capability to build some very, very deadly bombs of the nature that were used there in Manchester.

So, the authorities there are saying, look, at this point in time, we simply don't want to risk giving any information to our American counterparts, because we believe that's something that could hamper the investigation going forward.

If you want to listen in real quick to what the mayor of Manchester had to say because he's quite vocal on this issue. Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDY BURNHAM, MAYOR, MANCHESTER, ENGLAND: My message is quite a quick one. It is wrong. It is arrogant. And it is disrespectful to the people of greater Manchester, but particularly to the families of those who lost loved ones and those who are injured.

And so, I say to the U.S. government today, from the very top, a clear statement must be made that this will stop immediately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: So, as you hear there, Wolf, some really strong words being used there by the mayor of Manchester. We can really feel here actually in the last 24 hours how the tone has changed from the Brits.

When the first set of leaks came out, especially the name of the attacker, they still said, look, we don't believe that this hampered our investigation, at that point in time.

Now, they're saying something very different. So, certainly, especially those pictures that were leaked and that came up in "The New York Times" of the remnants of the backpack that was apparently used and some of the bomb parts as well. That certainly is something that real angered the British authorities here -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Fred, there's some major new developments in the investigation into the Manchester terror bombing. Update our viewers.

PLEITGEN: Yes, certainly. It is a very fast-moving investigation. It's certainly one where the authorities here are trying to get a lot of information very, very quickly because they fear that there could still be that cell active here in this country.

They now believe that the explosive device was far too sophisticated for Salman Abedi, the attacker, to have manufactured it himself on his own. So, they believe that there is definitely a cell somewhere out there.

They've arrested several more people. Two more people were actually arrested today. They're being questioned. And the police are saying that the information that they're getting from these people is very, very important in moving this investigation forward.

They realize that they have to do this very, very quickly. At the same time, of course, they're relying on the public to be very vigilant. But they are moving forward.

At the same time, you have a whole other angle to all of this which is the Libya connection and what, sort of, connection Salman Abedi had there.

We, obviously, have his brother who was arrested there in Libya for allegedly also being part of some sort of extremist cell there. The Libyans saying it's ISIS. We're not exactly clear if that's really the case.

But, yes, it is an investigation where you see a lot of information come up very, very quickly.

[13:05:02] But, at the same time, the Brits are still trying to pinpoint what exactly the nature of the cell that they believe is active here in this country is how dangerous they might be and certainly, also, who is behind this attack and how big that cell may be -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And, Fred, we're getting some more information from U.S. officials that this suicide bomber, Salman Abedi, likely received some ISIS training by travelling to Syria in the months before the bombing. This according to U.S. officials. That set the stage, potentially, for his carrying out this terror attack in Manchester.

Fred Pleitgen, thanks very much for that report.

While President Trump no longer stands by candidate Trump's view that NATO is obsolete, he did revive one of his favorite lines from his campaign, how much NATO allies spend on their defense.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I have been very, very direct, with Secretary Stoltenberg and members of the alliance, in saying that NATO members must finally contribute their fair share and meet their financial obligations.

If all NATO members had spent just two percent of their GDP on defense last year, we would have had another $119 billion for our collective defense and for the financing of additional NATO reserves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's go to our CNN International Correspondent Phil Black. He's joining us from Brussels right now.

It was sort of an awkward moment, Phil, as the president was lecturing these NATO allies for not delivering on the two percent GDP commitment.

What was the reaction to the president's lecture?

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, as the camera moved across their faces, it showed stern expressions, some wry smiles and we're pretty sure we saw an eye roll in there as well.

It's not the ideas behind the lecture that would have surprised him. They knew President Trump has strong feelings on this and he was going to talk about it today. But it was the precise time and place.

It was at the commemoration of two very important new memorials. Not just plaques on the wall but historical precious artifacts. One was part of the Berlin Wall. The other was a fragment of the World Trade Center brought down on 911. It was supposed to be a more somber, respectful occasion.

And President Trump spoke along those lines at times. But in between, you're right, he lectured these other leaders in a pretty blunt way about why he believes that they are not living up to their spending commitments -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, he pointed out that only five of the 28 NATO allies make that two percent commitment. Twenty-three do not. And he said he wants them to live up to those financial responsibilities and even go back and pay for previous years. It was a very stern lecture from the president.

Phil black, thanks for much for that report.

Let's bring in Senator Ben Cardin right now. He's a Democrat from Maryland. He's also the top Democrat, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Senator, thanks so much for joining us.

SEN. BEN CARDIN (D), MARYLAND, SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: Wolf, it's good to be with you. Thanks.

BLITZER: I'll get to NATO in a few moments but let's talk about the leaks. How damaging are these leaks, the relations right now between the U.S. and the U.K.?

CARDIN: Well, the lesson we learned from 911 is that if we stove pipe information and we don't share it, it could be very dangerous to our national security and our personal safety. So, we've got to repair the damage that's been done.

We need U.K. and U.S. sharing intelligence information in order to keep the citizens of both countries safer.

So, the leak is very disturbing. And we, of course, saw how president Trump handled the classified information in his meeting with the Russian foreign minister. That's just the wrong signal as to how we have to keep information that's given to us from foreign sources totally for our own internal use.

BLITZER: And the president announced that he wants the Justice Department to investigate, look for the suspects in leaking and prosecute them if they get the evidence. Do you support that?

CARDIN: Oh, I think absolutely. When you're entrusted with classified information, you have a fiduciary responsibility to keep that information confidential. And you have, by the way, a security issue with our own country that you can compromise the safety of not only our sources but our -- of our own country. We need to know that.

But, again, let me tell you, it's got to start with the president. And the president also has to respect classified information.

BLITZER: Well, you raise an important issue because this whole U.K. intelligence issue sharing comes on the heels of the president sharing sensitive Israeli intelligence with Russian officials.

And he also, by the way, told the president of the Philippines about specific locations of U.S. nuclear submarines around the Korean Peninsula. Both of those very sensitive classified information.

[13:10:01] So, is there now another trust issue with American allies?

CARDIN: Well, look, we've got to straighten this out. We've got to make it clear that we need to share information. We need to do that because terrorists are a dangerous threat to Democratic countries around the world.

So, we have to be able to share intelligence information so this has got to be cleaned up and cleaned up quickly.

BLITZER: And -- but, specifically, the president is sharing sensitive classified information with Russian officials, the president of the Philippines. What, if anything, should be done about that?

CARDIN: Well, the president is just wrong to do that. And it would be nice to hear him acknowledge that he made a mistake. That would be, I think, helpful to know that he is sincere in making sure this doesn't happen again.

BLITZER: At the NATO meetings in Brussels, you heard the president deliver those comments during that dedication of a 911 memorial there. He took the opportunity to really blast NATO members for not paying their fair share. Is the president doing the right thing or is he alienating NATO allies by repeating and lecturing them in public?

CARDIN: I think he handled that in an inappropriate way.

We have a commitment from our NATO allies that they must meet their two percent obligations. They have to have a plan to get to that two percent. We have supported that for a long time. And we're on the path to make sure that becomes a reality.

The president I think would have been more effective if he handled that in a less public setting.

It's quite clear that that's a responsibility. It's quite clear that's an important point for U.S. participation. That didn't have to be emphasized in a public setting that was dedicated to a more somber occasion.

BLITZER: The president not only wants those NATO allies to spend two percent of their GDP on defense, he wants money from previous years. He says they were delinquent in previous years. He wants them to come up with money for previous years as well. Is that even at all realistic?

CARDIN: Well, no, I don't think that's realistic. We want to make sure we have a path forward. We want all countries paying their fair share. We're right to demand that those countries that are not living up to their commitments to NATO that they live up to their commitments to NATO.

I don't think we're going to go back and try to get retroactive payments. I think what we need to do is make sure that we have a security blanket moving forward, with every country sharing in the burden so that we can protect our mutual security. We need to expand that.

There's a bill just passed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today that I authored that will allow us to work with Europe to protect our Democratic institutions with our NATO allies and with our strategic partners and also to deal with Russia propaganda.

So, we need to expand our security blanket moving forward and we need to have an understanding as to what every country will contribute.

BLITZER: Senator, on another important topic, the attorney general of the United States, Jeff Sessions. The Department of Justice now says Sessions did not need to disclose all of his meetings with Russian officials because he was a United States senator at the time. Senators meet, as you well know, I'm sure you do as well, with a lot of foreign officials.

Should Sessions, though, have disclosed his meetings with the Russian ambassador to the United States on his security clearance forms?

CARDIN: Oh, absolutely. The time of that meeting was so closely connected to the elections. That is something that would be a standard reply when you're doing an FBI background check, whether it's for security clearance or for his nomination. To me, that's information that should have been made available.

BLITZER: Senator Cardin, thanks for joining us.

CARDIN: My pleasure. BLITZER: Right now, polls are open in Montana as voters cast their ballots in a very tight race to fill a vacant U.S. House seat.

But now, the Republican candidate, whom President Trump supported, has been charged after being accused of body slamming and punching a reporter for simply asking a serious question. Why voters are angry and what they're saying about that. That's next.

[13:14:52]

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[13:17:56] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Polls are officially open in Montana right now where a special election is garnering nationwide attention. That's because in part last night Republican candidate Greg Gianforte was charged with assault after allegedly body slamming a reporter. The reporter was recording his interview with Gianforte when the incident happened. Here's the audio. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN JACOBS: In terms of the CBO score. As you know, you've been waiting to make your decision about health care until you saw the bill and it just came out. And what -

GREG GIANFORTE: OK, We'll talk to you about that later.

JACOBS: Yes, but there's not going to be time. I'm just curious (INAUDIBLE) right now.

GIANFORTE: OK, speak with Shane, please.

(INAUDIBLE)

GIANFORTE: I'm sick and tired of you guys. The last time you came in here you did the same thing. Get the hell out of here.

JACOBS: Jesus.

GIANFORTE: Get the hell out of here. The last guy did the same thing. Are you with "The Guardian"?

JACOBS: Yes, and you just broke my glasses.

GIANFORTE: You - you - the last guy did the same damn thing.

JACOBS: You just body slammed me and broke my glasses.

GIANFORTE: Get the hell out of here.

JACOBS: You'd like me to get the hell out of here. I'd also like to call the police.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: CNN's Kyung Lah is in Montana following the race and she has the very latest.

Kyung.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, polls are open and as voters head to those voting booths, they have this to consider, the Republican on the ballot now charged with misdemeanor assault for that confrontation with "The Guardian" reporter. Astonishing audio caught by Ben Jacobs. Jacobs recounted on CNN what happened to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN JACOBS, REPORTER, "THE GUARDIAN" (voice-over): It was an open room in the campaign headquarters. That it was not - not marked off in any way. He was making small talk with other reporters but I politely asked the congressman a question about - about the health care bill that he had said he'd - he was waiting until the CBO score came in to make up his mind about health care. And I wanted the opportunity to ask him about that.

LAH: Gianforte's campaign offering a different version of events just after the incident, writing, "Jacob aggressively shoved a reporter in Greg's face and began asking badgering questions. Jacobs was asked to leave. After asking Jacobs to lower the recorder, Jacobs declined. Greg then attempted to grab the phone that was pushed in his face. Jacobs grabbed Greg's wrist and spun away from Greg, pushing them both to the ground. It's unfortunate that this aggressive behavior from a liberal journalist created this seen at our campaign volunteer BBQ."

[13:20:18] Both the audio recording and eyewitness accounts contradicting Gianforte's defense. A team from Fox News, who was in the room, recounting that Gianforte grabbed Jacobs by the neck with both hands and slammed him into the ground. Gianforte then began punching the reporter. The eyewitnesses also stressing that at no point did they witness Jacobs acting aggressively. Gianforte's opponent choosing not to address the incident in an interview Wednesday night.

LAH (on camera): Is there anything you want to say about the audio?

ROB QUIST (D), HOUSE CANDIDATE FROM MONTANA: You know, that - I think that's just more for - for law enforcement, you know, so - to understand.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAH: So, will any of this make a difference? Something to consider, seven out of ten - an estimated seven out of ten voters have already cast their vote because absentee balloting is so high here in the state of Montana. Some Democrats we spoke with say they're hoping that this will help their turnout and push their candidate over the edge.

As far as what happens to Gianforte, the sheriff's department says that he needs to appear in court sometime between now and June 7th on those misdemeanor assault charges.

Wolf. BLITZER: All right, Kyung, thanks very much. By the way, we're just getting this in from the office of Montana's secretary of state. He tells CNN, it's been getting - the office has been getting lots of calls from voters today wanting to know if they can come in and change their absentee vote. Under Montana law, ballots that have been mailed in and received by election officials - by election officials cannot - by election day officials cannot change those votes. That's the answer to that.

The House speaker, Paul Ryan, was forced to address this very ugly incident earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: There is no time where a physical altercation should occur with the press or with - just between human beings. So that is wrong and it should not have happened. Should the gentleman apologize? Yes, I think he should apologize. I'm going to let the people of Montana decide who they want as their representative. That's not our choice. That's the people of Montana who choose that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, let's discuss with our panel. Shannon Pettypiece is the White House reporter for "Bloomberg News." David Gregory is our CNN political analyst.

Shannon, he says this candidate has to apologize.

SHANNON PETTYPIECE, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, "BLOOMBERG NEWS": Yes. I bet Paul Ryan was hoping it was going to be a quiet week in Washington with the president abroad, but, yes, no quiet days anymore. You know, he's in the position of asking the candidate to apologize. The candidate hasn't. You know, you can judge whether or not this will have an impact on the election. But, you know, if he is elected, you know, in Washington, a lot of us reporters have recorders. We're going to ask you about CBO scores and health care. So whether he apologizes or not, if he wins, he better get ready for a lot of reporters asking questions with recorders.

BLITZER: That question was a really legitimate question. The CBO, the Congressional Budget Office, came out with their report on the health care bill that was passed by the House of Representatives. It was not an unfair question.

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Look, you know, I was talking about this this morning and I felt a little bit more compassion. He obviously lost his temper, did something that was clearly wrong. The right thing to do would be to apologize and try to make up for it when it could have a real effect on his election.

The fact that he hasn't done so up till now makes me think that Gianforte's not ready for prime time here. He may have made a lot of money in his profession, but you've got to respect the role that reporters play. You can't engage in thuggish behavior by going around beating reporters up. And you shouldn't - certainly shouldn't be in the House of Representatives if you can't clean up your act. You don't have the sense to come out within a few hours and say, you know, I slept on this thing. Clearly I was wrong. And he's going to face, you know, the criminal justice system as well. So it's really unfortunate.

BLITZER: He's facing a serious criminal charge.

PETTYPIECE: Right. Yes. And so -

BLITZER: Misdemeanor assault.

PETTYPIECE: Right. And I don't know, maybe you guys would know a better precedent, as their candidate that gets elected while there is a misdemeanor assault charge hanging over them. But I think it's going to be interesting to see what happens. But it also - I don't know if this speaks to any bigger climate or if this was sort of an isolated event, but there is a sense of this bigger climate of hostility towards the media. The Trump rallies, you know, attacking the media, people shouting, you know, CNN sucks or, you know, get them out, this sort of anger at the media out there. And I saw on Twitter last night, and you guys probably saw it as well, people saying, you know, good for him, you know, that's how we need to deal with the liberal media. So it just is sort of - speaks to a broader anger out there.

BLITZER: And in that statement his campaign put out, Gianforte, they referred to this journalist, this reporter from "The Guardian" as a liberal journalist, trying to score some political points.

GREGORY: Yes. I mean it's ridiculous. I mean not only is this a guy who goes around beating up reporters in this instance, but he has a guy that works for him who also is an amateur and lies in that statement. It's all very clear. The guy had a tape. I mean, come on, let's - I mean, I would tell my 11-year-olds what the appropriate thing to do here is, let alone somebody who wants to be in the House.

[13:25:19] And, you know, the overall climate, there's no question that it's bad. But, you know, reporters annoy a lot of people. It doesn't mean you go around hitting them. It's not a commitment to a free press. And we've got to get back to some of our core principles.

BLITZER: Yes, I agree.

All right, let's talk a little bit about this latest rift, this tension that has developed between the U.S. and the U.K. You heard the British Prime Minister Theresa May. She's not very happy that sensitive information about the investigation into the Manchester terror bombing was leaked by U.S. officials reported in the U.S. news media.

PETTYPIECE: And I think this is just the latest example of a reason - the reason countries have been getting increasingly nervous about trying to figure out how to deal with the U.S. Obviously there was information that was reportedly leaked in - that the president shared with the Russians in the Oval Office meeting. That caused some questions. Even before then, though, even, you know, weeks or months after the inauguration, countries in Europe were trying to figure out, how do we handle the U.S. Is it our friend? Is it our foe? Is it our ally? What can we tell them, you know, based on the statements that the president was making. So I think there is a snowball effect of concern, not just about intelligence sharing, but about what information can you trust with the U.S., even in a phone call or a transcript.

BLITZER: And the president said today he wants the Justice Department to investigate who the leakers are and prosecute them if they can find the evidence.

GREGORY: President George W. Bush, Barack Obama and now President Trump, just in recent memory, presidents who have investigated national security leaks which are serious. Here, complicated by the fact that the current president is also responsible for leaking classified information to the Russians. In one case, talking to Duterte (ph) from the Philippines, you referenced this a little while ago, revealing the location of our nuclear submarines. That is never done.

And in this case, again this is probably happening at a different level within law enforcement, has to be taken very seriously, and the new media is always going to push for more of this information, but it does have been balanced, obviously. As I know, I'm sure within "The New York Times" and other news organizations like our own here, you make - you balance what information you want, what the news is, with what the concerns are. I don't think, you know, the U.K. and the United States are too closely linked to the threat of terror is too important to share information about that this is not going to have a lasting impact.

BLITZER: There was an awkward moment, we showed it, at the NATO headquarters when the president started lecturing NATO allies for not paying up, for not spending 2 percent of their GDP on defense. Only five of the 28 NATO allies do that. But he was very stern on that issue. He doesn't call NATO obsolete anymore, but he gave them a stern lecture.

PETTYPIECE: Right, a public shaming. Something that arguably could have been done behind closed doors. It was supposed to be sort of an event that symbolized the unity of NATO. It was commemorating, you know, September 11th attacks. So it was more of a somber tone to the event. Also my colleagues in the room there in Brussels have told me, before and after the event, the president was sort of alienated. No one was coming up and talking to him. No one was shaking his hand. There's a video of him sort of slapping someone on the back and pushing them out of the way to get to the front row, which, you know, is sort of being - circulating and being joked about there.

BLITZER: That - that was the defense minister of Montenegro.

PETTYPIECE: Sort of a pat and shove move. So I think it's going to be a tense hours there ahead at NATO. And for a trip that's gone off arguably quite well, you know, we're getting near the end of it and now we're starting to see things shaky a little bit.

GREGORY: What strikes me about this president that is a consistent problem is the failure to take a longer view about what goals are, what challenges are. In this particular case, given his rhetorical history with NATO that's unfortunate, work this issue privately, get what you want. But, you know, he's got to play a longer game in terms of how he's going to want to work with allies on important issues from terrorism to migration to economic matters. I've run out of ways to explain why the president chooses to do things the way he does.

BLITZER: David Gregory, Shannon Pettypiece, guys, thanks very, very much.

Coming up, President Trump visiting NATO headquarters where he told the NATO leaders, once again, it's time to pay up. He lectured them on defense spending, finances. So how was his message actually received? That's coming up next.

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