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Democrats Blast Republican Senator Working on Health Care Behind Closed Door; Kushner to Jerusalem for Mideast Peace Talks as Israel Breaks Ground on New West Bank Settlement. White House Daily Briefing. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired June 20, 2017 - 13:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:33:22] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Once again, some live pictures coming in from the White House. Any moment, we're told, the Press Secretary Sean Spicer will start taking questions from the news media. The briefing comes amid reports Sean Spicer himself may soon transition to a more behind-the-scenes role within the White House. That's one of many questions that almost certainly will come up. We're going to bring you live coverage of that as soon as the briefing begins.

Also, right now, Republican Senators and the Vice President Mike Pence, they are meeting behind closed doors up on Capitol Hill, likely working on the details of the Senate's version of the health care bill and preparing for a possible vote next week. This, as Democrats blast the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, for not allowing any kind of negotiations to take place, and crafting the plan behind closed doors.

Senator John McCain, a Republican, just spoke to CNN's Manu Raju, and he echoes that frustration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Are you satisfied with the process that they're taking right now?

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R), ARIZONA: No, of course not.

RAJU: Why not?

MCCAIN: For the obvious reason, no one has been sharing it. We used to complain like hell when the Democrats rammed the Affordable Care Act, and now they're doing the same thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's go to our congressional correspondent, Phil Mattingly, joining us live from Capitol Hill.

Phil, when will we actually see the details of this Senate bill and what are the big issues that apparently are still being discussed? [13:34:45] PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf,

according to Republican Senators, who I just spoke to as they were walking to that lunch meeting with the vice president, they expect details by the end of this week. Senator Bob Corker saying he expects bill-text, kind of a flushed-out proposal, by Thursday. But I think, Wolf, it's important to note, as this is all being lined up right now, an ideal scenario they finish up a bill by the end of this week. Senators get the week to digest it, the CBO gets the weekend to work and score it, and then by next Thursday, they would have a vote.

But, Wolf, before the lunch meeting, there was also a Senate Republican working group meeting a smaller group of Senators trying to hash out details of what this bill would entail. That's the most important element of all of this, they haven't finished the bill yet. When you talk about the outstanding issues, they aren't small. They aren't the types of issues you hammer out over a couple of hours. These are issues where there are extreme divides within the Republican conference. How quickly to phase out the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion, what to peg the growth rate of the Medicaid program in general, how the funding is given to the states, that's up in the air. A lot of conservatives very concerned that the Senate bill, as it currently stands or as its currently being drafted, doesn't cut back on Obamacare regulations enough, the structure of the tax credit, where they end up on abortion. Wolf, all of these are issues that they need to finalize within the next 48 hours. That's the goal, that's where they're headed, that's why the lunch right now with the vice president is so important. The Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price giving a presentation at this lunch, I'm told.

Basically, the end game now is Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, informing his members, you've had plenty of space to talk behind-the-scenes. You've had a lot of time to hash this out. Now is the time to come to an agreement. We'll see if they get there.

But one thing is certain, they want to vote next week, likely on Thursday, but, Wolf, they have to get a bill first.

BLITZER: They're going to be getting out of town during the July 4th recess. That's why they want a vote next week.

Phil, thank you very much. Phil Mattingly, up on Capitol Hill.

For more now on the health care bill and other questions the Press Secretary Sean Spicer will likely face in the course of this upcoming briefing, let's bring in Mark Preston, CNN's senior political analyst; David Chalian, once again joining us, our political director; and CNN politics reporter, Tal Kopan.

Tal, you think there's going to be a vote before the July 4th recess?

TAL KOPAN, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Like so many things in Washington these days, I'll believe it when I see it. Aspirational is certainly the adjective that's used to describe this process right now. And as Phil was describing, there's so many issues at this point that they're still working out. And certainly, when Congress wants to, it can move quickly. And Mitch McConnell knows how to operate the gears of Washington. But still many variables at this point. And they still need a CBO score after railing on Democrats, we need to see a CBO score before we vote. Legislators are saying they want time with this bill. The calendar is not their friend at this point.

BLITZER: The Congressional Budget Office report, assessment, analyzes how much it's going to cost, how many people might lose health care coverage, stuff like that.

Is it a done deal that they would only have a vote if they're guaranteed that they would get 50 votes, because the vice president, as president of the Senate, could break a tie, or would Mitch McConnell allow a vote to come up and they might lose?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICS DIRECTOR: I don't think there will be a vote next Thursday unless they have the votes. I don't think that will be sort of the first go at it for Mitch McConnell. I think he's unlikely to bring up a bill that would fail. His goal is to pass something. You can tell he and John McCain have different jobs. John McCain's job is to not to get 51 votes, which is why he pointed out the political problems Republicans have and the hypocrisy of all of this. Mitch McConnell is willing to take all that heat right now because he thinks that's the best way can he get to 51 votes.

BLITZER: Because he's got to worry about there's only 52/48 majority, Mark, that the Republicans have. And you go too far in undermining the conservatives, you might lose, let's say, a Rand Paul or a Ted Cruz or someone, someone like that. On the other hand, if you go too far in supporting the conservatives, you could lose moderates like Susan Collins or Lisa Murkowski.

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: No question, and it's become a very complicated mess right now for Mitch McConnell, one that I think he wants to get it over with. He doesn't want to see his members go home in August and face the wrath of these could-be very explosive angry town halls. The idea is to try to get this vote done before August, hopefully, by no later than mid-July, because that way they'd have a bit of a cooling off period before they head into August. So win or lose, I think Mitch McConnell is willing to put it for a vote at some point to try to protect his members as we head into August.

BLITZER: Let's not forget that whatever emerges, let's say a bill does pass in the Senate, it then has to be reconciled with what earlier narrowly passed the House of Representatives, and then it has to be voted on, once again, once there's a conference committee comes up with joint legislation, joint language.

CHALIAN: Which is why, Wolf, that I'm skeptical that McConnell would take the vote if it's going down, which means he still holds the hot potato. If he can get something passed and say, OK, you figure this out between the House and Senate, we'll try to hammer something, at least his members can go home and say we've acted on this, followed through on our promise to repeal and replace Obamacare. It may not be a popular bill. And they'll have to face those questions. But if it goes down in the Senate, then he still has that hot potato. He's still the one. And all those members have to deal with the heat that they're not delivering on the promise.

[13:40:04] PRESTON: It goes to show you where the divide is between David and I, how little that is on what we think might happen, it shows you where they are with the Republicans right now. Quite frankly, the lack of leadership from the White House to try to get this done, especially when President Trump said it was going to be his issue and he was going to work with them to try to get them done, and he's put them in a very, very tight corner.

BLITZER: Let's go around -- we're waiting for Sean Spicer. He's going to be doing this first on-camera briefing in eight days -- I want each of you to give me a question. If you were sitting there and he called on you, Tal, and said go ahead, what question would you ask.

KOPAN: I think some of the issue of what we've been seeing in Syria has been so under covered. My questions are who do we have for force, are we tow a line been war, are we risking a conflict with not only Syria but Russia, and is the president being involved in these decisions.

BLITZER: Your question.

CHALIAN: My question is back on the health care issue, which is -- and Sean Spicer was asked this yesterday at the off-camera briefing and -- about the president's words behind closed doors to Republican Senators where he reportedly called the House bill "mean." And Sean Spicer said, I'm not answering questions about, quote, unquote, "rumors." It's not a rumor. It's a report and it's based on sourcing from people inside that room. Sean Spicer may not want to answer that but I think the question for the press secretary is, when will the president explain his own words that he said behind closed doors to those Republican Senators, calling the House bill mean? When will we hear from the president to explain what he meant by that.

BLITZER: That's a big, big issue, and it undermines so many Republicans in the House of Representatives, moderate Republicans, who went out on a limb and voted for the House version of the health care bill, and then to hear the president describe it as mean in a closed- door meeting with the Republican Senators, that pulled the rug out from some of them.

Go ahead.

PRESTON: No doubt. And just following what David said about explaining his own words. Why does he think it's appropriate for him to go out and threaten to release audiotapes he supposedly had with a conversation of the FBI director and never provide proof of it, failing do so? Best-case scenario, it's childish. Worst case scenario, it's reckless. And worst worst-case scenario, it's both and it's all molded together. And I fear it could be the latter.

BLITZER: If I were sitting there, I'd say, what's so complicated? There either are recordings or there aren't recordings. Tell us if there are recordings, because it really should not be all that -- if there are recordings, he could say there are recordings, but they're sensitive, we're not going to release them. PRESTON: If you're a Republican, how embarrassing is it if somebody

comes up to you and says, you're a Republican, you support the president, how come he can't tell you there are recordings in the White House?

BLITZER: He's the one who raised it in that early May tweet.

Go ahead.

KOPAN: Keep in mind, the White House press shop as much as they get a lot of incoming these days there are a lot of southbound professionals in there including Sean Spicer and they know exactly what it means had they refuse to answer a question. And the continued intentional punting of any sort of clear cut answer on these questions, they know it fuels the fire, they know it keeps the questions coming, and they continue do it anyway.

CHALIAN: But they also know that only one person can actually answer that question. And it's the president of the United States. They are seasoned professionals, which is why they don't want to go out on a limb and answer a question that they don't necessarily know the answer to. It was the president's tweet that put that word tapes in quotes out there and so, yes, I agree they are seasoned professionals, which is why I think they're trying to make sure that the boss owns this from beginning to end.

KOPAN: And they don't want to be undermined in the end of it.

CHALIAN: Exactly.

PRESTON: And we saw it with his private attorney, you know, over the last couple days where he went out to try to explain something --

BLITZER: Jay Sekulow.

PRESTON: Jay Sekulow -- try to explain away a tweet from Donald Trump, from President Trump, and failed in doing so. They're all professionals, all trying to do their best, but the bottom line, the buck stops with the president.

BLITZER: Everybody stand by.

Once again, we're standing by to hear from the Press Secretary Sean Spicer. He'll walk out we're told fairly soon. We'll have live coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:48:18] BLITZER: Live pictures coming in from the White House briefing room. We're told the Press Secretary Sean Spicer will walk in any moment. We'll see if he's bringing a cabinet secretary or someone else to start off the Q&A. We'll have live coverage of that coming up. Stand by.

This briefing, by the way, comes amid reports that Spicer may transition to a behind-the-scenes role in the White House. It's one of the questions that will likely come up during this briefing. We'll have live coverage as soon as Spicer and company walk into that briefing room.

In the meantime, the president's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, is heading to Jerusalem and Ramallah to talk peace with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. This, on the eve of that visit, Israel broke ground on the first West Bank settlement in some 20 years.

Oren Liebermann is joining us live from Jerusalem.

Oren, I may have to interrupt you if Sean Spicer shows up, but set the scene for these talks that Kushner is about to have in Jerusalem and Ramallah.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kushner may be looking for concrete steps here. It's difficult to know. He hasn't played that open of a role in the peace process just yet, but what it certainly signals, Kushner's visit, that is, is that these are serious, and it raises the stakes for Israelis and Palestinians. Trump made it a top priority and Kushner's visit here signals that. It will be less than a one-day visit, but the U.S. embassy described this visit as meetings he'll have with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders as both, quote, "long and intense."

The groundwork has been laid. It was one of Trump's other advisers who's been here all week, who has made three or four other visits and has repeatedly met with Israeli and Palestinian leaders to set this up. He's gotten the questions done, but now it seems with Kushner's visit--

(CROSSTALK)

[13:50:07]BLITZER: Hold on. Hold on, Oren.

Sean Spicer, as we said, is showing up. I want to go listen in.

SEAN SPICER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Good afternoon.

Before I get in to what the president's going to continue to do to advance the tech week that we started, I wanted to shine a spotlight on two of the president's biggest legislative priorities right now: tax reform and repeal and replace of Obamacare.

By the end of the day, both the vice president and the speaker of the House will have both delivered remarks at the National Association of Manufacturers about why it's so critical that we come together and quickly deliver significant tax reform to the American people.

Simplifying and updating our overly complicated tax system is one of the most impactful ways that we can create jobs and strengthen our economy. And I think that's something that everyone in this town can probably agree upon.

There's also major agreement between the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress on what any -- on what any significant tax reform package must include. And frankly, I saw some of the Democrats earlier today, and I think there are some that share those general philosophies as well. We want to make it easier for companies to sell American goods abroad and turn that success into jobs here at home.

I think we all recognize that -- which I think every American also agrees with, which is that we need to simplify our tax code. Depending on the estimates you look at, taxpayers and businesses spend anywhere between 6 billion to almost 9 billion hours complying with the IRS's requirements. Those are frankly billions of hours that they're not building things, growing businesses, buying goods and services from other American businesses, spending time with their families, pursuing a personal hobby. And we must reduce that unnecessary burden in terms of both the burden and the time.

Perhaps most importantly, we also agree that we need to get this done sooner rather than later. That's why we're working hand in hand with House and Senate leadership and hosting regular listening sessions with outside stakeholders like the one that's being conducted currently in the Roosevelt Room here at the White House, with trade associations from the tech industry, to iron out details and get their input on what needs to happen.

We're also committed to seeing the repeal and replace of Obamacare through Congress. Obviously, the Senate is where the action is right now. This week is the deadline for insurers to commit to selling plans on the Obamacare exchange during the upcoming enrollment period. And unfortunately, we're continuing to see signs of its complete failure as data from more and more states comes in.

Last Friday, the New Mexico Health Connections, one of only five remaining of the 23 co-ops nationwide that was created by Obamacare, proposed hiking its rates by nearly 80 percent. And just today in Iowa, where the president will be traveling tomorrow, the only insurer left in the Obamacare exchange proposed a 43 percent rate hike for next year.

With almost every day that passes, another insurer either leaves the market or raises its rates by double-digits. The American people can't afford to front the bill for this failed law any single day longer. It's time to repeal and replace Obamacare, as Republicans have promised for a while.

Looking ahead this week, Tech Week, as I mentioned at the front, continues following on a very productive set of meetings and working groups with some of the country's biggest CEOs yesterday. The president will visit Cedar Rapids, Iowa tomorrow, where he'll see first-hand the transformative power of technological innovations in agriculture at Kirkwood Community College. Kirkwood's agricultural science program is a national leader and widely recognized as a center for innovation in the ag sector.

And on Thursday, we're bringing two emerging technologies to the White House that have the potential to revolutionize our economy: drones and universal broadband. The president will see demonstrations of how these technologies will contribute to the 21st century economy and how the government can ensure that their safe adoption leads to the best possible outcomes for the American worker and American businesses.

With that, I'll have some questions.

Katie?

QUESTION: Thanks, Sean.

My first question is, does the administration have anything to say to China about the death of Otto Warmbier?

SPICER: Well, I think the president has spoken very clearly about how he, the first lady and our country feels about the loss of this American. And obviously, when you look at how he was handled, it's something that we will continue to apply economic and political pressure and try to continue to work with our allies. We've had I think positive movement on China over the past five months of this administration.

And we'll continue to work with them and others to put the appropriate pressure on North Korea to change this behavior and this regime.

QUESTION: Sean, just following up on the president's meeting with the Ukraine president, would the president like to see Russia get out of eastern Ukraine? And does he see Moscow as the aggressor in this conflict?

SPICER: I think we've been clear that, yeah -- I mean, obviously that's part of the reason that there are sanctions is because until they are out of eastern Ukraine, we're going to continue to have sanctions on Russia. And we believe that that is -- that is Ukraine's view (ph) -- part -- part of Ukraine.

And so, therefore, until those -- those sanctions will remain. It was something that obviously came up to discussion with the president today. We'll continue to advocate for them.

QUESTION: And does the president support the Senate sanctions as they are now going to move to the House?

SPICER: I think we're going to wait and see what happens in the House before we weigh in on that package.

There's -- it's not just the package. I think there's some other areas of that package that we need to work with the House and the -- House and Senate on if it comes back to -- depending on how it -- how it's handled in the House that we have to address.

But as is usually the case, we won't have a statement of administrative policy until it advances through the House.

Jessica?

QUESTION: Thank you, Sean.

On the (inaudible) can you talk about what the U.S. is willing to do in retaliation for Otto Warmbier's death, (inaudible) sanctions, the United Nations or whatever?

And secondly, the U.S.-China Security and Defense Dialogue is beginning tomorrow, and it's already been stated that the North Korea (inaudible) to be at the top of the agenda. Do you anticipate walking away from tomorrow's dialogue with any kind of tangible results on North Korea?

SPICER: We have been very forceful in our political and economic pressure that has been applied in North Korea. I think we will continue to apply that.

And as I mentioned earlier, obviously China can play a -- has played and can continue to play a greater role in helping to resolve this situation. And we will continue to, hopefully, build on the relationship and the dialogue that we've had with China. I think there have been some positive steps that they've taken, both at the U.N. and economically to help strengthen the case against North Korea. But I'm not going to get ahead of where we may or may not go.

And obviously, we hope that those discussions with China are productive and continue to -- to move us forward.

Gabby (ph)?

QUESTION: Thanks, Sean.

There were some reports out that President Trump told members of that tech meeting yesterday that the Senate health care bill needed to have more heart.

Can you shed some light on what it is he's not pleased with in the legislation that's being drafted? And can you also tell us why he would feel that way after holding a press conference in the Rose Garden supporting the House's version of the health care bill?

SPICER: I mean, the president clearly wants a bill that has heart in it. He believes that health care is something that is near and dear to so many families and individuals. He made it clear from the beginning that those -- that was one of his priorities.

And as the Senate works its way through this bill as the House did, any ideas are welcome to strengthen it, to make it more affordable, more accessible, and deliver the care that it needs.

But this is an area that the president believes passionately about. He cares -- he understands the role that health care plays in so many people's lives and their families. And he wants to make sure that we do everything we can to provide the best option for them as Obamacare continues to fail. And...

QUESTION: Is there a specific part of this bill, though, that leads him to believe that the Senate is doing something...

(CROSSTALK) SPICER: There's -- I'm not -- again, this is an ongoing discussion with Senate leaders and individual senators that he's had. You know that we've brought a lot of those individuals to the White House. And there's been staff-level meetings as well, Secretary Price and others.

So I'm not going to get into the private discussions that have occurred. But I will just say that the more that we can do to produce a bill, as it works its way through the process, that achieves the president's goals, I think that's something that we can all agree on.

John (ph)?

QUESTION: Thanks, Sean.

(inaudible) two.

The first one's domestic. There's a special election occurring today in Georgia. Is this election, from the White House's point of view, a referendum on the president in any way?

SPICER: Look, I -- I've said before, I'm not going to comment on the political nature of -- of an ongoing race.

That being said, I think if you looked historically, special elections generally don't foretell of -- of the outcome of, you know, races multiple years down the road.

This is a race that the president -- or a district the president won by 1 point. Probably it's going to be competitive. But we'll have to see tonight. Obviously, it -- it's up to the people of Georgia's 6th District to decide.

QUESTION: And then on North Korea, I think the president once said that he'd be open to meeting with Kim Jung Un. Given what has happened with Otto Warmbier over the course of the past 24 hours, is he still open to that?

SPICER: Well, I -- I believe that the context in which he said that was if the conditions -- if the right conditions presented themselves. Clearly, we're moving further away, not closer to, those conditions being intact. So I would not suggest that we're moving any closer.

And obviously, this is an issue that the president commented earlier at the beginning of the meeting with -- with President Poroshenko, that it troubles him deeply. And he believes that if we had -- were able to get -- we were pleased, obviously, to get Otto back to the United States to be with his family. But if we had been able to secure that earlier, potentially there could've been, you know, medical help that could've been rendered earlier. Obviously, we don't know the answer to that.

But I think the president worked really hard to do what he could to secure the release of him. And it's a shame what happened.

[14:00:00]

And I -- I -- I think he was very clear about that when he spoke to -- to members of the media earlier today.