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White House Block Live Viewing of Daily Briefing; Trump Admits He Has No Tapes of Comey Talks; Source: At Least 3 GOP Senators to Vote Against Health Bill; Recorded Audio-Only White House Daily Briefing. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired June 22, 2017 - 13:30   ET

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


[13:30:00] GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: The tape story is an important story since the president over a month ago said that perhaps there were tapes in a tweet. Now we've learned there weren't. There's a new conspiracy theory started by the president today regarding the tapes because he implied, unless there's another taping system that I don't know about. And we have a health care bill that is important to millions, as you point out, that has been produced by the Senate. I think the American people deserve to see what the White House is saying about it from that podium.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: They certainly do.

And you know, I'm wondering -- we're being watched not only in the United States but around the world, what viewers in Europe or Asia or Africa or South America are saying, who have always looked up to the United States as a home of the free press, they're wondering what is going on.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPODNENT: Or countries where you have leaders that are rightly berated by our State Department and former presidents for backsliding on a free press, who are looking at what we showed there which was pretty remarkable. If we can kind of think about the imagery that we showed on CNN. Sara Murray doing a live shot. The press secretary walk information to talk to the podium, in which we usually stop to listen, and we're cut off. We've covered the White House. There have been many, many times where there have been off-camera briefings. That's OK. But not at the expense of and in lieu pretty much across the board of on-camera briefings. It's not about whining, it's been television production. It is about transparency, end of story.

BLITZER: Your reaction, Eugene?

EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Yeah. My first thought is that many of the questions that journalists ask the Trump administration in these brief regular questions that the American people asking them. They've contacted us directly via social media. We get questions all the time in our tweets, ask this, ask that. We have an administration led by a man who said he enjoys social media because it allows him to get directly to the voters. This press briefing is another opportunity to get directly to the voters. Him not allowing us to show people who are watching, hoping to hear from his administration what he has to say about all of these issues we were hoping to hear about today harms him more than it helps him.

BLITZER: It does come on the day when the Republicans have finally released their health care bill. I want to get to that in a moment.

Let me -- let me let Evan Perez, justice correspondent, weigh in.

It was the president in the official tweet back in May, what, six weeks or so ago, where he raised the possibility of tapes. In this tweet as we've been pointing out, he's saying, "I have no idea whether there are tapes or recordings of my conversations with James Comey, but I did not make or do not have any such recordings."

As Gloria's saying, is he raising the possibility of another conspiracy out there against him?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: I think he's trying to have fun with us, Wolf. He knows that this is the kind of thing that will keep us coming back. This is like a reality tv show we're living in real time, obviously. And so the president wants us to keep coming back I guess for the next episode. That's what's happening. I don't think there's another recording system. Certainly, James Comey, the FBI director, indicated that he left the interactions and immediately tried to memorialize them in these memos that he's since shared. That's the only way we know what might have happened is from those conversations and if the president ever gives under oath a response to that and is ever questioned by the committees on the Hill or by the FBI and Robert Mueller, the special counsel. Those are -- that's how we'll get to the bottom of what exactly happened, whether or not the firing of James Comey -- that's really the big question here. That's what the tweet was about. Whether or not the firing of James Comey was an attempt to interfere with an ongoing FBI investigation. That's something that is still very much ripe in the air for us to answer. The president basically today is telling us that it's going to be his word versus the word of James Comey and his memos and whether or not there's any other proof that the FBI is able to cobble together.

BORGER: I think there's also a question now that the president says there are no tapes that he knows of, was that tweet an effort to intimidate Comey? It had the absolutely opposite effect, one would argue, because it led to the chain of events that led to the special counsel, but was the tweet an intimidation of the former FBI director?

BLITZER: All right. Dana, we have some more breaking news. We're now being told by a Senate GOP source that at least three Republican Senators are expected to publicly oppose the Senate's health care proposal later today. As you know, there are 52 Republicans, 48 Democrats -- 46 Democrats, two Independents, who side with the Democrats.

If they lose three, the Republicans -- no Democrats are going from to vote for this Republican health care bill -- it's over at least for now.

[13:35:04] BASH: It's over. That's right. I've been looking at my phone -- forgive me, trying to report on this. Phil Mattingly got this reporting. We might hear from these three even potentially in a group very, very soon, like the next half hour or so to know what's going on. We'll know more about how to interpret the opposition then.

But assuming it is conservatives, which we believe that it is conservatives, the question is going to be whether they are not gettable or whether they are -- this is a smart tactic. It's not just the bill, take it or leave it. There are going to be amendments during the debate process next week. And the question is whether or not the people who are opposed, never mind the people on the fence, the people saying, huh-uh, can be brought to yes with any kind of changes that will not end up losing the moderates on the other side of the Republican spectrum.

BLITZER: It's interesting, Eugene, because, by our reporting, we have about 12 Republican Senators who it's unclear where eventually they stand. There you see them up there, some moderate Republicans, some conservative Republicans. For different reasons, they're on the fence. A Senate Republican source telling us at least three Republican Senators are expected to publicly oppose the Senate's health care proposal later today. As dana says, it could be very, very soon. If they stick to that, at least for now, it's over even though the House passed a health care bill. If the Senate doesn't do the same, it dies at least for the time being.

SCOTT: Absolutely. Frankly, it's not that surprising considering what's come -- surprising considering what's come out of the bill. There are things that conservative lawmakers wanted that the bill doesn't meet. And we've heard complaints say that it's too close to Obamacare for those who want to see a complete repeal of Obamacare.

I think what's also interesting is this isn't a new argument. This is what people have been saying in the more conservative components of the Republican Party for months since we've been talking about this.

BASH: Can I say for people maybe watching, looking at the screen, trying to figure out what at least three Republican Senators means. The math is that the Republicans can only lose two and still get the bill passed --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: If they lose two, it would be 50/50. The Vice President Mike Pence, he would break the tie, and it would pass.

BASH: Yes.

BLITZER: If they lose three, it's over.

BASH: Exactly.

BORGER: You know, you have the conservatives saying, wait a minute, this is too much like Obamacare. We don't want anything that resembles Obamacare. Then the moderates are worried about Medicaid for their constituents who use this Medicaid expansion in their states, who say we need it. It's difficult to figure out how you get around that, at least how you get around that in four or five days, and this is all before, of course, we get the cost estimates on what this bill is going to cost and how many people would be left uninsured.

BASH: And remember, just -- tactically, politically, philosophically, if you have these conservatives who we believe are likely to come out, the Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Ted Cruzes of the world, we don't know what they're going to say, but assuming it is on the conservative side of the Republican Party, they don't feel like they have anything to lose.

BORGER: Sure.

BASH: They have enough of a reservoir with conservatives as people who have fought the fight to repeal Obamacare, and if they go to constituents and say I didn't do this because it didn't do what we promised it would do, it's hard to imagine them not feeling the heat from people in their states. Unlike moderates --

(CROSSTALK)

BORGER: They may feel vulnerable. The moderates do feel vulnerable. They do having to lose, like Dean Heller, of Nevada, for example. They're going to oppose it for different reasons. They're going to be out on the line. And their constituents are saying we need this, we need this Medicaid money.

BLITZER: One factor that is involved in all of this, I've been told by rare yours Republicans, they -- various Republicans, they were caught by surprise when the president the other day, Eugene, said that the bill that passed the House and was championed in the Rose Garden at the White House by the president, the president later told Senate Republicans that was a mean bill. He used the word "mean," and said publicly last night, earlier he said privately, the Senate's got to spend some more money. They have to have heart in their legislation, in their bill. And that was not very satisfactory to a bunch of Republicans wondering, well, where exactly does the president stand, can they rely on him.

SCOTT: Not at all. This press conference would have been a perfect opportunity for the White House to explain what the president meant exactly, what he would have wanted to see in this bill to make it less mean. We know that Chuck Schumer thinks what is represent is even more mean than the president himself saw. What the Republicans are going to do to make changes is not yet clear. But it's very clear, I think, that it won't happen by July 4th.

[13:40:12] BORGER: Can I just say something -- this White House has essentially ceded everything to Congress. When you look at what happened on the health care bill in the House, written by Paul Ryan, et cetera, the president got involved in the late stages of it. You look at this bill, White House staffers only went to the Hill to be briefed on it last night. This president has ceded an awful lot of authority to the leaders of Congress, on the major substantive issues that he ran on, and we don't know if he'll be that way on immigration, for example. But as it pertains to health care reform, this is a huge matter, and it has been written behind closed doors in the Senate, not by the White House, not with input from the White House so far. We'll see what happens after.

BASH: My understanding is that that is very much by design, that Mitch McConnell --

BORGER: Exactly.

BASH: -- the Republican majority leader, said, Mr. President, White House, we've got this one. Let us take care of this one.

BORGER: But it's --

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: The House got mucked up.

BORGER: That's right. It's interesting to me that -- ran as a strong leader, strong executive, has essentially said to the Congress, you do this. You do this. I don't want to get involved until I absolutely have to.

BLITZER: You know -- go ahead.

SCOTT: I think what's odd is that people in Trump's base, they look at the leaders in the Republican Party and say those are our people, those aren't the people that are going to put forth the agenda that you campaigned on that we voted for. They're looking at this guy who they thought would take over the White House and advocate for them, and he's passing the ball to people who make them go, he's not one of us. Ryan's not one of us. Mitch McConnell is not one of us. Trump, what are you doing to us? The people who put you there?

BLITZER: When the president says he wants this health care bill to have more heart, spend some more money, don't worry about it, it reminded me during the campaign, Dana, you remember this, he often would say, "I'm not going to cut Social Security. I'm not going to cut Medicare, and I'm not going to cut Medicaid." This bill, the Republican bill in the House, Republican bill in the Senate, does cut Medicaid.

I think we have a clip from the campaign. Let me play that clip. As I recall, the president often said, I know this will irritate, this will irritate some of my base, this will irritate some conservatives, but the president said this is what I believe, that Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, should not be touched. We'll get that clip. You remember that?

BASH: I absolutely remember that. I remember doing an interview with Donald Trump almost two years ago, that was a big part of his discussion. Him saying that, he used to say, I'm not going to throw people on the streets. People were probably -- some of the people in the Republican base aren't going to like that. And then he built on that notion throughout the campaign saying I'm not going to cut entitlements. Tweeted, saying I'm the only one on the stage the day after a debate promising not to cut entitlements. Whether he knew it in his gut or had the sense or somebody explained the demographics, it turned out that a lot of the people who rely on those kind of government benefits come from Trump country.

BLITZER: Yeah. (CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: I have the clip. Let me play the clip now. Then we'll continue this. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TURMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Save Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security without cuts. Have to do it.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Get rid of the fraud. Get rid of the waste and abuse. But save it. People have been paying in for years, and now many of these candidates want to cut it.

I'm not going to cut Social Security, like every other Republican. And I'm not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid. Every other Republican is going to cut. Even if they wouldn't, they don't know what to do because they don't know where the money is. I do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: You heard him. He said it many, many times during the course of the campaign, he has a heart, and he's not going to throw people on the street.

BORGER: Yes. But you see what's happening with the health care bills, which have -- you know, states could have opted in or out of Medicaid subsidies. And now this Senate version that gets phased out by the year 2021, that is what is giving some moderates real heartburn here. They know how much their constituents depend on Medicaid. So I think if you look at it as a presidential promise, you'd have to say, well, broken. What we don't know, because we're not watching this presser, is whether the president believes the Senate bill does have enough heart for him. We don't know the answer to that. Maybe the White House doesn't know the answer now because they just saw this version last night. We're not knowing the answers to these questions. Hopefully, we'll get them later.

[13:45:07] BLITZER: We are being told, Dana, that one of the Senators who will come out and oppose the current Republican draft that was released today in the Senate is Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. He doesn't like it.

BASH: Yeah. That is not a surprise. He has said he -- you can't get him to yes on this. No matter what they brought out of that room, given the fact that he had a pretty good idea of what the broad parameters are. Rand Paul was already going to be a no. I don't know that he's ever going to be gettable. Presumably, if he's joining up with people, he's not joining up with people in the left of his party. He's joining up with people who are more of his sort of philosophical comrades in arms, which are Republicans -- excuse me -- which are the true conservatives.

BLITZER: The ones who think it's too much like Obamacare. BASH: Right.

BLITZER: Everybody, stand by.

There's more breaking news coming into CNN. We've got to take a quick break. We'll resume all of our special coverage right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:50:01] BLITZER: The White House press briefing has just wrapped up. The reason we weren't able to watch it live here on CNN or on any of the other cable news networks or broadcast networks is because the White House decided to bar the news media from airing the briefings live for the American public, for people who may be watching around the world as well. The White House has, however, now given us permission to air audio, audio only, from the briefing now that it's over.

Here's the White House deputy press secretary.

[13:50:34]

SANDERS: Good afternoon.

This morning the Senate released the discussion draft of its health care bill. The president is pleased to see the process moving forward swiftly in Congress, and he looks forward to see a finalized bill on his desk so that we can finally repeal and replace Obamacare before it completely collapses.

Just yesterday, another insurer announced that it's pulling out of Obamacare exchanges. Anthem is leaving the exchanges in Indiana, the state in which the company was actually born and is currently headquartered, and also in Wisconsin.

Finally, I want to welcome Alex Pfeiffer (ph) to his first White House briefing. Alex is young, so he may need some help from a few of his colleagues to help him with this process.

And with that, ladies and gentlemen, I'll take your questions.

Kevin?

QUESTION: Thank you, Sarah.

I'm just curious about the president's revelation by way of Twitter that he has no knowledge of any tapes, didn't have any tapes, didn't have any possession of any tapes.

What can you tell the American people about why he decided to, sort of, make the inference at least at some point that maybe there would be tapes?

SANDERS: Well, look I think the president's statement via Twitter today is extremely clear. I don't have anything to add beyond the statement itself. (CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Can I follow up really quickly...

SANDERS: Sure.

QUESTION: ... on the wall?

I was at the rally last night. The president seemed to get great reaction to the idea that the wall was moving forward. And he mentioned the possibility of solar as a means to not only pay for the wall itself, but also to enhance the wall.

Can you, sort of, help me unpack that idea? Is this something that he's been kicking around for quite some time? He said it was the first time he's made it publicly known.

SANDERS: I think it's something he's considering. Certainly nothing final, but just an idea that he is considering and reviewing. Nothing more to add at this point.

Hallie?

QUESTION: I have a health care question, but I just want to follow up on Kevin's questions on the tapes situation.

I get that the tweet is speaking for itself, but I'm curious why it took so long -- 41 days -- for this to be laid to rest, and whether the president is recording any Oval Office conversations.

SANDERS: You guys asked for an answer. He gave you one. He said he would have it to you by the end of this week, which he did. And beyond timing of that, I can't really speak anything further.

QUESTION: And on the Oval Office recordings?

SANDERS: I'm not aware of anything. I think his statement here is pretty clear.

QUESTION: But I'm asking more generally, just not specifically...

(CROSSTALK)

SANDERS: Again, not that I'm aware of, Hallie.

QUESTION: So no Oval Office recordings that you're aware of.

SANDERS: Not that I'm aware of.

QUESTION: Then on health care, I just want to know a couple of things on that.

Is the president confident that he will have something to sign in the next few weeks?

SANDERS: I don't think we're are as focused on the timeline as we are on the final product.

We're looking for the best bill possible. And we're going to continue being part of technical assistance and providing that with both House and Senate members as we work to get the best bill we can.

QUESTION: And just on that final product, the president -- the Senate bill by -- announced (ph) so far cuts Medicaid, it doesn't look like it will cut deductibles for folks. Does that have enough heart? Does the president think that is a bill that is not mean?

SANDERS: I haven't had that conversation.

But I do know that he made a statement earlier that said this was a negotiation. And so, he's going to continue that process with both House and Senate members and his administration until we get the best bill that we can. And that'll be the one that he signs.

QUESTION: He's open to changes?

SANDERS: John (ph)?

QUESTION: Sarah, what was the president doing with this?

I mean, he let it go on for 41 days, as Hallie referred to. He -- he -- that -- that tweet, 41 days ago seemed to be, you know, very, kind of, ominous message to Comey -- "You better hope there are no tapes." And he was asked repeatedly during the intervening weeks, whether or not the tapes existed. You were asked many times. Sean was asked.

What -- why -- why the game? Why -- what was he -- what was he doing?

SANDERS: I don't know there was a game.

Again, he's answered the question. He gave a timeline in the frame that which he would and he did that. He said by the end of this week and he's done that.

QUESTION: But do you have a sense for what -- what was behind the original suggestion from him 41 days ago that there may be tapes?

SANDERS: Look, I think it was pretty clear in that original statement that he hoped, for his sake -- and that was, I think, the very intention. And he's laid out his position on whether or not he personally was involved in that in his tweet today.

QUESTION: Thank you, Sarah.

Back to the original tweet, did the president intend to threaten James Comey with that tweet?

SANDERS: Not that I'm aware of. I don't think so.

QUESTION: And -- and so why -- again, why was he compelled for the deadline time to be this week to clear it up?

SANDERS: I mean, that was -- has been laid out I believe also by Congress that -- that wanted an answer by the end of this week.

Peter?

QUESTION: Sarah, if I can, the tweet ultimately we know, according to James Comey, lead him to share the memos publicly, which led to the hiring of the special counsel, Robert Mueller, which ultimately lead to the reports that the president himself is being investigated for possible obstruction of justice.

Does the president regret the tweet?

SANDERS: I don't think so.

QUESTION: (inaudible) does he -- he said -- you can't say whether there's any Oval Office recordings, but he did say that, "I did not make and do not have any such recording."

Did he ever have recordings of conversations with James Comey?

SANDERS: Again, not that I'm aware of. I...

QUESTION: Then let me ask you about health care, if I can quickly.

On health care, the president said when he first became a candidate, after coming down the escalator, he tweeted, "The Republicans who want to cut Social Security and Medicaid are wrong. A robust economy will make America great again."

So if cutting Medicaid was wrong when he was a candidate, why is it right in the new Republican Senate bill?

SANDERS: I don't believe that the president has specifically weighed in that it's right to cut Medicaid.

I know one of the big parts of discussion is giving states flexibility. And again, the president hasn't weighed in specifically on any specific measure in this bill. And as he said earlier today, this is a negotiation between the House and the Senate and we're going to play a part in that.

QUESTION: To be clear, does the president still believe there should be no...

(CROSSTALK)

SANDERS: I'm sorry, guys.

QUESTION: Does the president still believe...

SANDERS: One at a time.

QUESTION: Does the president still believe, as he did as a candidate, that there should be no cuts to Medicaid? SANDERS: I haven't had a specific conversation to see if there is an update to that. But I do that he wants to protect that as much as possible.

David?

QUESTION: (inaudible) White House be doing with the Senate as this health care bill moves forward? You mentioned technical assistance. What does that entail?

SANDERS: I think -- I know members of OMB, Treasury and certainly members of the HHS and senior staff have been involved in the process. They're going to continue to do that.

This has been one of those things where, from the very beginning, we wanted all the stakeholders involved, and we're going to continue to do that until we get the best piece of legislation.

QUESTION: Will the president be involved or is he going to wait for the conference committee (inaudible)?

SANDERS: I -- I know he's been involved by having members of his administration -- I think it would be hard to deny the fact that they're an extension of the administration, when you have Cabinet secretaries and senior-level staffers that are in meetings and conversations regarding the legislation.

(inaudible)?

QUESTION: Thank you, Sarah.

Twelve days ago, the president announced a press conference in two weeks on his entire ISIS strategy. Can we expect a press conference in the coming days?

SANDERS: I'll have to get back to you on a specific date for when that might be.

QUESTION: Thanks, Sarah.

I wanted to ask you about the reaction from the left that we've seen this week.

SANDERS: I'm sure it's friendly.

QUESTION: Well, our microphones caught a woman who was dragged off from McConnell's office this morning. She was screaming, "My child is going to die and my family is going to die and they don't give a damn about it."

Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut said this week that Democrats are going to "lie down on the train tracks" to stop this bill from passing.

What do you make of all that? What's your reaction to it? SANDERS: I certainly think that not just Republicans but I think any American would certainly not support something that allows a child to die.

And the goal is, again, to look for the best health care possible that actually provides care; not just gives insurance but actually provides care. That's been a goal from the administration on the front end and we're looking for ways to do that.

Right now, we know Obamacare is not sustainable. It is literally collapsing under itself. Providers are pulling out every single day out of states. We are down to multiple counties that don't have providers.

And we are working day in, day out to make sure we have the best piece of legislation possible.

If Democrats really cared, they would try to be involved in the process. They said from day one that they didn't want to be in the conversation if it had anything to do with repealing and replacing Obamacare. I think that it's sad, that they've chosen to play partisan politics instead of trying to have a seat at the table.

Matthew?

QUESTION: Thanks, Sarah.

The intelligence community has concluded that the DNC hack was part of a Russian plot to disrupt and influence the 2016 election. I'm wondering after the president's tweet this morning, why does he continue to dispute that finding and call that hack a hoax?

And then a follow-up, if I may.

SANDERS: I believe that the president said even back in January -- and I'll read the statement from then -- that he "thinks it's a disgrace -- thinks it's an absolute disgrace. As far as hacking, I think it was Russia but I think we also get hacked by other countries and other people."

I think he's made it clear and been consistent that while everyone agrees the result of the election wasn't influenced, he think that it probably was Russia.

And I think that, regardless, President Trump has made it clear that we have to protect the integrity of the electoral system. That's one of the reasons he's a strong advocate for voter ID laws and why he's also put in place a voter election commission -- integrity commission chaired by the vice president, which I think shows the level of importance he's placed on that, to make sure that the integrity of all of our elections, particularly moving forward, are as sound and correct as possible.

QUESTION: So then -- thank you -- just a broader follow-up on that.

So, like I said, this morning, he called the hack a hoax. He hasn't accepted the popular vote tallies. You guys have been touting jobs numbers that he used to call fake.