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President Talks About Kim Jong-Un and Respect; Democrats Struggling to Organize for 2008; Ex Russian Ambassador Denies Being a Spymaster; Navy Removes 7th Fleet Commander after Accident; Trump to Give Speech in Reno; Clinton: "My Skin Crawled" When Trump Stood Behind Me. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired August 23, 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] REP. BRENDAN BOYLE, (D), PENNSYLVANIA: It's a certain amount of growing pains about our checkered past where in the areas of race we haven't lived up to our nation's founding ideals.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: I want to go through some other issues with you, Congressman, sensitive issues. You're on the Foreign Affairs Committee. Listen to what President Donald Trump said last night about Kim Jong-Un, the North Korean leader. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Kim Jong-Un, I respect the fact that I believe he's starting to respect us. I respect that fact very much. And maybe, probably not, but maybe something positive can come about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Two weeks ago, he was warning of "fire and fury." He said the U.S. military was "lock and loaded" as far as North Korea is concerned. Now he's saying some positive things may actually come out of Kim Jong-Un. What's your reaction?

BOYLE: Wolf, I'm sorry, I wasn't able to hear in my ear President Trump's speech from last night. But I did watch most of the rambling 75 minutes. I would say, not just what President Trump said last night, but if you combine that with what Secretary of State Tillerson said in the last few days, we had seen a certain pulling back of the strong rhetoric on both sides, and I think that is a positive thing.

As you may recall, I have been on the show before, and I have actually cut President Trump some slack in this regard, that the North Korea issue has been a problem that's bedeviled us for 25 years now. We're deal with a highly unstable regime that seems hellbent on becoming a nuclear power. In this area, just like in many others, we need to be as bipartisan as possible. And also responsible. Some of President Trump's rhetoric a couple weeks ago completely unhelpful to the situation and increases the risk that someone could make a miscalculation that would leave us in a situation from which we cannot pull back.

BLITZER: I'll read to you what the president -- since you didn't hear it. -- what he said about Kim Jong-Un, "I respect the fact that he's starting to respect us, I respect that very much. And maybe, probably not, but maybe something passive can come about as a result of that."

Those were his words.

But let me move on, talk about some other issues while I have you here. You are a Democrat. Are the Democrats taking advance of this political environment right now, all the criticism, for example, that the president is making, failing to pass some substantive, really significant legislation, the Republican-led House, Republican-led Senate, Republican in the White House?

A recent CNN poll, Congressman, shows that only 24 percent of the American public approve of how Republican leaders are handling their jobs in Congress. 71 percent disapprove. But look at this, Democrats aren't faring all that much better. That same poll shows only 34 percent approve of the way Democrats are handling things compared to 59 percent.

So what is your party, what do the Democrats need to do now to change things?

BOYLE: Well, two things, Wolf. First, it is now a fact that eight months into Donald Trump's presidency, he has failed where every other incoming president has succeeded in terms of getting passed at least one of his major legislative initiatives. With George W. Bush, it was the big tax cut. With Bill Clinton, it was his economic policy, in 1993. With Barack Obama, it was the stimulus. So you have to go back to a time before my lifetime to find a president who in his first year hasn't been able to get through his major legislative agenda.

The second thing is --

BLITZER: But the question is -- sorry to interrupt you. But the question is, what do the Democrats need to do. I know you can complain about President Trump and the Republicans. But the Democrats, they've got some issues right now as well.

BOYLE: Well, I said two things. That was the second thing I was getting to, in terms of OK what do the Democrats stand for? Any time a party doesn't control the White House, there's always this question of speaks for the party and is that a problem. I think it's a great opportunity. There's a lot of energy going on right now from the grass roots all the way up on the Democratic side, and an opportunity for new leaders to emerge. Myself and a fellow colleague of mine, Mark Bussey (ph), also a younger member, co-founded the Blue Collar Caucus, we now have 40 of our House Democratic colleagues who believe that we need to recommit ourselves and connect ourselves with working- class Americans and working-class voters in this country. There's efforts going on in all parts of the country, especially at the local level.

So this is -- in America, there's no question, this is a tough time to be a Democrat. We don't control the House. We don't control the Senate. And the fewest number of state legislative seats in a hundred years. At the same time, it's a great opportunity for us to set the path forward, not just the next election, but the next 10, 20 years down the line. So I'm actually excited about this moment in making sure that we have the ideas and the energy to meet this moment.

[13:35:28] BLITZER: Congressman Brendan Boyle, of Pennsylvania. Thanks for joining us.

BOYLE: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Coming up, a CNN exclusive interview with the former Russian ambassador to the U.S., Sergei Kislyak. What he had to say about meeting with Trump campaign officials. You'll want to see this, right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:40:06] BLITZER: More breaking news coming into CNN. A senior White House official now telling CNN the White House is scheduling meetings between the president and the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, during the first week back from Congress. That's right after Labor Day, in early September. This coming amid reports of a serious feud between the two men. We'll keep updating you on this late development. They haven't spoken in several weeks and there it's been some serious rancor there. Much more coming up.

But quickly, I want to get to a CNN exclusive interview with a central figure in the investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election here in the United States. As Russia's ambassador of the United States for many years, Sergei Kislyak met with several key people in the Trump campaign. Those meetings and the fact that they were not initially disclosed led to the firing of President Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn. And forced the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, to recuse himself from the ongoing Russia investigation.

Kislyak has not spoken to any Western media until now.

Our Matthew Chance is joining us from Russia.

Matthew, you had a chance to meet with him. Tell our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world what Ambassador Kislyak had to say.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Wolf. Well, first of all, Sergei Kislyak was not expecting to meet us here in central Russia. We have been staking him out in the city for the past 48 hours. When we finally managed to track him down and have a face-to-face interview with him, we asked him some of those key questions that have been hanging over the Trump administration, the Trump team, about the allegations of collusion with the Kremlin. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE: Did you discuss opening secret channels with the Kremlin with Jared Kushner, for instance?

KISLYAK: I have said many times that we do not discuss the substance of our discussions with our American counterparts out of respect to our partners.

CHANCE: Fair enough. But when you met Donald Trump, the president, were you surprised when he disclosed secret information to you about Syria?

KISLYAK: I'm not sure that I heard anything that would be secret. But it was a good meeting. And we were discussing things that were important to your country and to mine.

CHANCE: What about the allegation that you are a spymaster, a spy recruiter?

KISLYAK: Nonsense. Nonsense.

CHANCE: Did you attempt to recruit any members of the Trump administration?

KISLYAK: You should be ashamed because CNN is the company that keeps up pointing to this allegation. It's nonsense.

CHANCE: It was U.S. security officials, intelligence officials that made it, of course.

KISLYAK: I heard that in the statements by them. Also by former head of the FBI who said it. I was a diplomat. I had no -- no reasons to doubt that he knew what he said.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE: Sergei Kislyak was recalled from his post a few weeks ago. He was replaced just a few days ago by another Russian ambassador to the U.S. But he's still the diplomat to the end, of course. He towed the Kremlin line, as it were, on all of those questions that we put to him. But again, these are questions that are not going to go away. And there will be searches in the future, U.S. investigations for more fuller answers -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Very good work, Matthew. I'm glad you caught up with Ambassador Kislyak and got that first interview with a Western news media organization, our CNN. And I'm glad you did that.

Thanks very much, Matthew Chance, on the scene for us working hard as usual.

Coming up, a major command shake-up at the U.S. Navy after a wake of deadly disasters at sea. What does that mean for the investigation and U.S. readiness of the fleet in Asian waters, especially at a time of tension with North Korea? We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:48:29] BLITZER: The U.S. Navy has now made a major command change in response to the deadly collision involving the "USS John McCain." It was the fourth such action in Asian waters this year alone. Ten sailors were missing, but now crews have recovered some remains. I want to bring in retired Admiral John Kirby, our CNN military and

diplomatic analyst, former spokesman for the State Department and the Pentagon.

We're talking about the vice admiral, Joseph Aucoin, the commander of the Seventh Fleet. He was supposed to retire in a month or so anyhow. So how extraordinary is this to remove him?

REAR ADM. JOHN KIRBY, CNN MILITARY & DIPOMATIC ANALYST: It's unusual. In fact, Navy officials cannot tell us when the last time that a Navy commander was removed in this manner. It's very unusual at that level. But what's also extraordinary and unusual, Wolf, is over the last 18 months, you've had four navigation-related mishaps in the Seventh Fleet area of responsibility, three of them collisions, two of them with lethal consequences. Obviously, they're concerned about a trend here. They maybe haven't connected all the dots yet, but they're concerned about a trend.

BLITZER: Wouldn't they normally wait for the investigations to be fully completed before making a decision like that? I know that's not the tradition of the U.S. Navy.

KIRBY: It's not. No, it's not. It's not unusual for the Navy to take accountability measures before investigations are completed. Just last week, you'll recall, Wolf, the Navy did relieve some officers off the "Fitzgerald" while that investigation is ongoing.

BLITZER: Seven sailors were killed in that.

KIRBY: Seven sailors were killed. The commanding officer, the executive officers and others have been already relieved of their duties there. So this is not -- it's unusual at this level, the fleet command level, but it's not unusual at all for the Navy to make this kind of accountability decision before the investigation is over.

[13:50:08] BLITZER: What is the message this sends, not just to the rank-and-file in the Navy, but the families and loved ones who are watching all of this and knowing, especially in the Asian waters in the Pacific, it's a tense time with North Korea.

KIRBY: It is very tense. The tempo is very high. I think the message to the rank-and-file, to their families, is that the Navy takes accountability seriously. It also takes leadership seriously. And even while the investigation is ongoing, what this firing tells me is that they -- at the minimum, the Navy believes that leadership, at the fleet level, is somehow wrapped up in terms of what we're seeing here, in terms of these accidents and this trend. Now, there may be other reasons here. The tempo we talked about, maybe budget uncertainty, training, material readiness. But a lot of that also comes under the fleet commander's purview. So what that tells me is they believe leadership at that level was wanting.

BLITZER: All four of these could simply be a coincidence or not.

KIRBY: Exactly. And they won't know until they get done these last two investigations. But I think they'll probably find some threads here in terms of the up-tempo and the readiness of the fleet at large.

Also I think one of the threads here is the leader himself. The commander has authority and responsibility for the well-being of the forces under his control and his command. And again, clearly, I think they're indicating with this action that they find that the leadership was perhaps not as effective as it should be.

BLITZER: Yes. All right.

Well, John Kirby, thanks for the explanation. Appreciate it.

KIRBY: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: As usual.

Coming up, we're just moments away from President Trump's speech in Reno, Nevada. Live pictures coming in. It comes less than 24 hours after what many are calling a very divisive speech in Phoenix last night. So what are we about to hear now? We'll go there live when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: President Trump's hand-picked ambassador to Israel now says the president's response to what happened in Charlottesville, Virginia, was, quote, "not fine." David Friedman is critical of the president's response to the violence in Virginia. Where, by the way, a large black shroud is now covering a statue of the Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Friedman, who was President Trump's bankruptcy attorney before posted to Israel, also says he thinks the president is being treated unfairly by the news media.

Take a look at some live pictures coming in from Reno, Nevada, right now, the site of the American Legion's 99th annual national convention. Any minute now, we expect to hear from President Donald Trump as he makes remarks to the influential veterans' organization. We're going to bring that to you live as soon as it starts.

Here with us now to discuss all of this and more, our senior political reporter, Nia-Malika Henderson, and our senior political analyst, Mark Preston.

So, Mark, what do you expect? Which, as they say, Donald Trump shows up for this speech in Reno?

[13:55:00] MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Let me roll the dice and we'll see what happens in a few minutes. I think the safe guess is that we'll see a little bit of what we saw last night and probably a lot of what we saw the other evening on Monday evening, when he was down there talking about how he was going to increase the amount of troops going into Afghanistan. But I do think that the energy that he felt himself off of his supporters is probably still inside of him. And I would be shocked if he doesn't go off script in some way, shape, or form today and do some things that would be, quote, unquote, "un-presidential."

BLITZER: He likes the very receptive, big crowd. And I think this, generally, will be a receptive, very big crowd.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: I think so. He loved it up there last night. He was up there for 75 minutes, really tossing red meat to that crowd. And you expect he'll do that today. This is, you know, he'll talk about veterans. Unfortunately, he didn't have such nice things to say about one of America's most famous veterans last night, John McCain. Maybe he'll make up for that and say something about him there. Maybe he'll say something about the soldiers who were lost, the 10 folks on that ship who were lost over these last days. So we'll see. I mean, I think we know who the real Trump is, right? I mean, it was who we saw last night. That he was off script at sometimes, he was on script at times and I think we'll see the same today.

BLITZER: We are also hearing, now, from Hillary Clinton, Mark. Hillary Clinton's got a new book coming out next month. And the first little excerpt has just been released, and there's audio of her complaining about then-Candidate Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, during that second presidential debate. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D), FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE & FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (voice-over): It was incredibly uncomfortable. He was literally breathing down my neck. My skin crawled. It was one of those moments where you wish you could hit pause and ask everyone watching, well, what would you do? Do you stay calm, keep smiling, and carry on as if he weren't repeatedly invading your space? Or do you turn, look him in the eye, and say, loudly and clearly, back up, you creep. Get away from me. I know you love to intimidate women, but you can't intimidate me, so back up. I chose option "A."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PRESTON: I think it was smart of her to choose option "A" at the time because, if you remember that, and specifically, in debates, too, that's a tactic that's used, that you're taught to try to intimidate the person you're debating against. Not just by words, but by your body action and your movements and what have you. Had she turned to Donald Trump, though, and said, "Back off, you creep," that probably wouldn't have played very well with the American public. Some people might think that she's not tough enough and strong enough to take the stare-down from Donald Trump. But I clearly remember that. That was a speaky, weird, strange --

(CROSSTALK)

HENDERSON: It was odd and awkward.

PRESTON: -- moment. In many ways, she didn't have to say anything, because I think Americans thought that was a spooky, strange, weird moment.

HENDERSON: It was just a couple days after the "Access Hollywood" tape had come out when he had bragged about groping women, something that he thought he could do because he was famous. So it was in the context of that that I think a lot of viewers were watching it.

I think it's smart of them to release this kind of excerpt from this book because we know how she feels in terms of why she lost, the Russian government having a role in why she ended up losing, and Comey. So this is something in real time, what she was thinking, and now she's revealing that. So I think, you know, this book comes out next month and we'll see what else she has to say.

BLITZER: She's clearly in her own mind reliving that moment and wondering what would have been the impact especially in the aftermath of the "Access Hollywood" video that had been released, what would have been the impact if she would have turned toward him, looked him in the eye, and said, "Back up, you creep, get away from me. I know you love to intimidate women, but you can't intimidate me." If she had -- I suspect she's still thinking, in her mind, what would have been the reaction to powerful words like that.

PRESTON: Right. And in some ways, it's a would have, could have, should have done it situation.

Although, you know, in the end, I still think that she did the right thing. I think it says a lot to show that you have a steel expression on your face when you're under that kind of pressure. Would it have helped her? In the end, he won. I don't think that moment would have made the turn for her, but who knows.

BLITZER: It was a moment a lot of us remember watching that debate.

HENDERSON: Yes.

BLITZER: And wondering how the "Access Hollywood" video might impact that debate. And we know now that that was very much on her mind.

All right, guys, thanks very, very much.

That's it for me. Thanks for watching. I'll be back 5:00 p.m. Eastern in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

President Trump will speak any moment now in Reno, Nevada. Our live coverage continues right now.

[14:00:13] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Here we go. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.