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America's Feeling on North Korean Threat; America's Feeling on Iran Nuclear Deal; FBI Now Assisting Niger Investigation.; No Troops Left Behind; North Korea Writes Letters. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired October 20, 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 HOST: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 8:00 p.m. in Raqqa, Syria, 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning in Pyongyang, North Korea. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

No soldier was left behind, that's the emphasis from the defense secretary, James Mattis, talking about Sergeant La David Johnson. He's one of four U.S. troops killed in the ambush in Niger more than two weeks ago.

His body wasn't recovered until 48 hours after the ambush. It's been a question dogging the Pentagon.

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REP. FREDERICA WILSIN (D), FLORIDA: He was abandoned for two days, for 48 hours. Why? Why didn't they pick him up and put him on their shoulders like they did the other fallen comrades? And put him on a helicopter and take him to safety. He could have still been alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Democratic Congresswoman Frederica Wilson is demanding answers. She also wants an apology from President Trump for what she says was an insensitive phone call to Sergeant Johnson's widow.

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Mattis is strongly defending the troops and the military code.

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JAMES MATTIS, SECRETARY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE: The U.S. military does not leave its troops behind. And I would just ask that you not question the actions of the troops that were caught in the fire fight. Sergeant Johnson body was found later by local nationals and it says something that they would then endeavor to get the body back to us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Secretary Mattis is heading back to Capitol Hill to talk with Senator John McCain, the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Senator McCain complained that the White House was not forthcoming with details on the ambush.

Here with us right now, our Military and Diplomatic Analyst John Kirby. He's a former spokesman for both the Pentagon and the State Department.

John, Secretary Mattis is making a point there that no one was left behind. It's been a key question from this incident. What else are you hearing from the Pentagon?

REAR ADM. JOHN KIRBY (retired), CNN PENTAGON AND DIPLOMATIC ANALYST: I'm hearing the same thing, Wolf, from Pentagon sources about how strongly they're pushing back on this idea that Sergeant Johnson was left behind or abandoned in any way.

Now, they're not giving a lot of detail because they're citing the investigation that's ongoing to try to get to the root of what happened here in this ambush.

But, yesterday, Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie, the Director of the joint staff, did go up to the podium at the Pentagon briefing and also pushed back on this notion that Sergeant Johnson was left behind. Take a listen.

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LT. GEN. KENNETH MCKENZIE, DIRECTOR, JOINT STAFF: From the moment of contact, no one was left behind. Either U.S., our partner Nigerian forces or French forces, were on the ground actively searching for this soldier.

Now, the fact of the matter is, it's a battlefield. We just had a significant engagement. It's tough country. It's out in the middle of nowhere. So, it's not, perhaps, as clear as it might appear in the bright lights of this briefing room.

But spent a lot of -- a lot of men and a lot of women searched very hard to find him. It took us a little while to do that. We didn't leave him behind and we searched until we found him and we brought him home.

The sense that somehow it was a desolate site, we went back and didn't search for the soldier, nothing could be further from the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KIRBY: So, what I'm hearing, Wolf, is that during this time, these 48 hours, actually within the immediate minutes after the ambush, French jets were overhead, French helicopters were overhead, also trying to see if they could engage and help inside the ambush. They're working through the results of that and how that may have unfolded.

But French helicopters did evacuate the wounded very, very soon after the ambush. Then contract helicopters came in and rescue -- and took off the dead, the killed in action.

And then, on the ground, for the entire next 48 hours, you had U.S., you had French and you had Nigerian troops looking for Sergeant Johnson. They knew very, very quickly that he was missing and never lost their sight trying to find him and get him back.

BLITZER: John, we're now told the FBI is actually on the scene in Niger helping with the investigation. Is this unusual that the U.S. military has brought in the FBI to aid in this investigation?

KIRBY: It's not unprecedented. Certainly, we have had FBI help before in military investigations, particularly when there's loss of life or major casualties. But it is a little unusual.

I think it speaks to a couple of things. First, they have a presence there in Africa, because we are so widespread and counterterrorism fight there. And number two, it does speak a little bit to the intelligence picture and the degree to which that was probably unclear.

So, I think they're, really, going to bring their forensic skills to bear to try to help the military wrap their arms around how this happened and how the intel may have been so wrong.

BLITZER: John Kirby helping us appreciate the enormity of this continuing story. Thanks very much.

President Trump fires another shot in the war of words over honoring fallen service members. And the White House doubles down on calling a lawmaker an empty barrel.

[13:05:07] The president's latest salvo came just hours after the White House chief of staff, General John Kelly, defended the president in a very personal and very emotional message.

The president, again, took direct aim at a lawmaker who criticized his condolence call to a soldier's family, tweeting this. This is from the president. The fake news is going crazy with wacky Congresswoman Wilson, D, Democrat, who was secretly on a very personal call and gave a total lie on content.

On CNN's "NEW DAY" earlier today, Congresswoman Frederica Wilson fired right back. She rejected the notion she misinterpreted the president's intent during the condolence call when she said Sergeant La David Johnson knew what he was getting into.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILSON: That is not a good message to say to anyone who has lost a child at war. You don't sign up because you think you're going to die. You sign up to serve your country.

You say, I am so sorry that you lost your husband, Myesha Johnson. You call her by her name. And you say, your husband. You don't say, your guy. They were married.

And you say, I am so sorry. You have our deepest sympathy. If there's anything this nation can do to ease your pain, as your president, please let me know. I am so sorry. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Our White House Correspondent Sara Murray is joining us now from the White House. Sara, the White House just released a new statement on this. Tell our viewers what they're saying.

SARA MURRAY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we asked the White House to clarify what General Kelly was talking about yesterday when he was referring to the Congresswoman speaking at this event.

If you watch the video of her at this event, she does do a little bit of patting herself on the back. She does take a, sort of, braggadocios tone.

But what she's talking about, what she's doing in that video doesn't, really, sync with what John Kelly, the Chief of Staff, described her doing when he was in the briefing room yesterday.

But the White House is standing by Kelly. They released a statement saying, General Kelly said he was stunned that Representative Wilson made comments at a building dedication honoring slain FBI agents about her own actions in Congress, including lobbying former President Obama on legislation.

As General Kelly pointed out, if you're able to make a sacred act, like honoring American heroes, about yourself, you are an empty barrel. So, obviously, the White House is not backing down from this language today in any way -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Not at all. The White House chief of staff, Kelly, says, as you point out, he was stunned and brokenhearted that the Congresswoman politicized something as sacred as this condolence call.

But did he also acknowledge that the president, really, started all the politicization in response earlier in the week to a question from you?

MURRAY: Well, Wolf, that's one of the unfortunate things about this situation is that everyone seems to be upset that this is being politicized. And then, everyone seems to be taking the next step and dragging this further into a political battle.

Obviously, this started with the president. I asked him, basically, why we hadn't heard him say anything about this attack, this ambush in Niger.

And he turned it into, sort of, a political swore boarding (ph), comparing what he was doing, in terms of outreach to the family. With what President Obama had done. With what previous presidents had done. There was no acknowledgment of that from John Kelly.

And, certainly, in many ways, even though Kelly was in the briefing room sharing his own terrible experiences about losing his son, trying to emphasize with families who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

His own family. He is a gold star father himself. But he also took that swipe at the Congresswoman and that's, sort of, where we're at today -- Wolf.

BLITZER: A real swipe, calling her an empty barrel. All right, Sara Murray, thank you very much.

The four soldiers killed in Niger were providing advice and assistance to local security forces and counterterrorism operations. But there are now serious questions, a lot of questions, in fact more questions than answers about exactly what happened.

Let's get some further perspective. Lisa Monaco is joining us. She's a CNN Senior National Security Analyst, the former assistant to President Obama for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism.

Lisa, what's your analysis? Because I was surprised to hear that the Pentagon, the U.S. military, is now bringing the FBI into this investigation in Niger. It's pretty unusual.

LISA MONACO, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, I think John Kirby had it right. It is not unprecedented for the FBI to work with their military colleagues on an investigation like this.

Of course, the FBI has responsibility for investigating the deaths of Americans overseas. They have a very extensive international presence. They have legats, legal attaches, in -- all around the world, including in West Africa. Their closest, I think, legat in West Africa to Niger is in Nigeria.

So, I'm not surprised that they're calling upon their expertise for a military death here. But, as John said, it's not unprecedented.

[13:10:01] BLITZER: Not unprecedented but pretty unusual.

What is the U.S. role over there? A lot of Americans woke up and discovered four American troops were killed in Niger. And they asked themselves an obvious question, what were American combat troops doing in Niger? I assume this was going on during the Obama administration as well.

MONACO: Sure. I think what you're seeing here is -- and, unfortunately, it's under very tragic circumstances that we're focusing and people will focus now on the fact that our counterterrorism operations, frankly, since 911 and increasingly so, have to rely on and in partnership with international partners. And you heard Secretary Mattis talking about this, talking about working by, with and through local partners.

And what I think we understand thus far about what these brave soldiers were doing on the ground there was working with the local officials there and local security services there.

So, that's not unusual. But it's not a household name, right? Niger in our work with local forces there.

BLITZER: Because I heard the defense secretary, James Mattis, say the other day, there are about 1,000 U.S. military personnel in Niger. And probably many more civilians, civilian contractors. That's a -- that's a pretty significant number.

But you send out a group of soldiers like this just with rifles, there are ISIS terrorists out there much better armed. You know, there's an aircraft that flies over, a French mirage jet. But under the rules that the government of Niger put forward, they can't actually launch strikes from the air to try to protect these troops. They seem to be going in very dangerous circumstances.

MONACO: That's exactly right. And two, I think, very important points to focus on here. One is the presence of the French forces. Now, you referenced there are a thousand troops in the area and that is a significant number. And it's been growing over time and that's because we've seen Islamic militants grow over time, whether it's Boko Haram, whether it's Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the Al Qaeda affiliate in North and West Africa. And, increasingly, affiliates for ISIS.

So, we have been working steadily across the Obama administration and now into this administration with the French who have been historically taking the lead in that area. And that's why you saw them have a much more significant presence and bring the support in.

But also, I took note of the reports that said the vehicle that these soldiers were traveling in was unarmored which indicates, to me, that they did not think that they were going to confront enemy fire there.

And I think that's a number -- one of a number of questions that the Congress and others are going to have here. What was the intelligence picture? Why were these some 12-member, I think, Green Beret team, why were they surprised by the presence of 50 Islamic militants? That's a significant number.

What did the intelligence picture show? Was it coordinated across the rest of the intelligence community? Was the CIA and other members of the intelligence community involved in this picture? Who approved this? How did it get approved? What were the questions that were asked in advance?

So, there's a lot of questions to be asked here. And I think we heard yesterday from Chairman McCain about the number of questions he has. I imagine there's going to be a whole slew of briefings taking part.

BLITZER: And Senator John McCain's meeting with Senator Mattis later today. He's outraged. A lot of people are outraged. They seem to suggest there was a major intelligence blunder. They want to learn what happened to make sure it doesn't happen again because there's still 1,000 U.S. troops over there.

If they're going out in these vehicles that aren't even armored, and if they don't have the weapons and they don't have the air cover, this is an extremely dangerous situation. Given the fact that ISIS- supported terrorists are now very, very prevalent, not only in Niger but elsewhere in Africa as well.

Lisa, thank you very much for your analysis. Lisa Monaco joining us. Just ahead, former CIA director James Woolsey, he's standing by. He'll join us live. He's got some interesting thoughts on what he thinks happened in this ambush.

Plus, a president's club without the president. Just one day after George W. Bush and Barack Obama attack President Trump. They didn't mention him by name but it was clear who they were referring to.

You're going to hear why all five living former presidents are appearing together and didn't invite the current commander in chief. At least he's not going to be with them. We'll update you on that.

Also, an unprecedented move and a nuclear standoff. North Korea writing letters to countries around the world asking them to unite against President Trump.

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[13:18:30] BLITZER: In an unprecedented move, North Korea has sent letters to the parliaments of several countries asking that they unite against the Trump administration. The move comes as North Korea accuses the U.S. of trying to start a nuclear war and warns that it will retaliate.

Meanwhile, President Trump's national security adviser, General H.R. McMaster, says the U.S. is running out of time to resolve this peacefully.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

H.R. MCMASTER, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: The president's been extremely clear on his perspective on North Korea. He's not going to accept this regime threatening the United States with a nuclear weapon. He won't accept it.

So there are those who have said, well, you know, what about accept and deter? Well, accept and deter is unacceptable. And so -- so this puts us in a situation where we are in a race to resolve this short of military action. Everybody knows it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Want to bring in our CNN political director David Chalian. He's over here at the magic wall. We've got some new polling on how the American public feels about this threat from North Korea and how the American public feels about the way the president, President Trump, has responded.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: That's right, Wolf.

We asked a whole bunch of foreign policy issues and areas. Very serious threat to the United States? North Korea, you could see, is way up there, 62 percent of Americans in this brand new CNN poll conducted by SRS says North Korea is a very serious threat. Everything else is well below that. That has skyrocketed this year as we've seen the rhetoric heat up. [13:20:04] We also asked people, is Donald Trump handling the North

Korea issue recklessly or responsibly? And take a look at this answer here. Sixty-three percent of Americans, Wolf, say reckless is how Donald Trump's response has been to North Korea. Thirty-two percent has said responsible.

BLITZER: What about the Iran nuclear deal? How are the American people responding to that?

CHALIAN: They want to stay in the Iran nuclear deal. Take a look at this. Sixty-seven percent of Americans tell us that the U.S. should not withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. As you know, Donald Trump has said that may be very well where we end up. Only 27 percent say yes.

And take a look at how this breaks out by partisanship. I think this is really instructive because it's across the board here. Eighty percent of Democrats want to remain in the deal. You might expect that. It was a Barack Obama initiative. Sixty-seven percent of independents. Forty-eight percent of Republicans want to stay in the deal. The Republican Party, the president's own party, is split on this issue, Wolf.

BLITZER: Very interesting numbers indeed. David Chalian, thank you very, very much.

Just in, the State Department now increasing the number of diplomats who have fallen ill from those sonic attacks in Cuba. We're told now that 24 U.S. personnel have experienced, quote, health effects. The State Department says there have been no new attacks since August. President Trump, this week, pointed the finger directly at Cuba for being behind the attack. Much more on this developing story coming up.

Also, the mayor in San Juan, Puerto Rico, with a blistering response to President Trump after he says the administration gets a ten out of ten for its response to the crisis there. You're going to hear what she -- what she said.

Plus, very soon, the defense secretary will meet with Senator John McCain on the Niger investigation as James Mattis vows that no man was left behind. I'll speak live with the former CIA director, James Woolsey, on that and more.

Stay with us.

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[13:26:09] BLITZER: We've learned that FBI investigators are now on the ground in Niger helping to collect evidence following that deadly ambush that killed four U.S. troops. Meanwhile, there are already calls for what some are suggesting could be a Benghazi-style investigation by Congress into this attack. And Senator John McCain has already said he may actually go ahead and subpoena individuals to get answers to all of this.

The former CIA director, James Woolsey, is here with us. He formerly served as a senior adviser to the Trump campaign. So, Director Woolsey, thanks so much for joining us.

What questions do you want answered as far as the death of these four U.S. troops?

JAMES WOOLSEY, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: Well, I think the most important thing is that this is the future face of Africa. Not only are we going to be seeing lots of immigration from Africa up into Europe, we're going to be seeing terrorist events and attacks in northern Africa and the Sahara as basically the Islamists struggle with everybody else for control.

BLITZER: So what does that mean for the U.S.?

WOOLSEY: It means the United States is going to see more events like this terrible one that we have evident -- seen recently. We're going to have to have forces there that are well-equipped, better equipped than this small group was. And we're going to have to rely very heavily on the local military forces and train them and cooperate with them and learn from them.

BLITZER: But you think that keeping significant numbers of U.S. military personnel in Niger and other countries in Africa is an important -- is important for the U.S. or should they get out?

WOOLSEY: Well, if you get out, you turn Africa over to the Islamists.

BLITZER: The African governments can't deal with these terrorists?

WOOLSEY: Not alone, I don't think. I think the -- they need help and cooperation. And we need to learn from them.

BLITZER: Because France is involved. Britain is involved. What about the Europeans? Why can't they get the job done in Africa? Why does the United States always need to go in and assist?

WOOLSEY: Well, the French are probably the best equipped and best trained to do this now. And they've been there for a long time, centuries.

But we don't do well when we assume victory and leave. That's what we did with the aircraft carrier, remember, with George W. Bush. That's what happened when President Obama decided, well, the surge has worked, we'll pull everybody out. And what came in? ISIS.

So if you -- if you don't care about the Islamists controlling the -- increasing the Middle East but certainly the northern part of Africa, then you can shrug and say goodbye.

BLITZER: So your point is, keep these thousands of U.S. military personnel in various countries in Africa, but make sure they're better protected, that U.S. intelligence is better, because clearly there was some major mistakes that led to the killing of these four U.S. troops.

WOOLSEY: And work closely with the locals, with the Nigerians, with the French, who are there all the time, with the British and others. We've got to be serious about this. We can't just kind of dabble with it and declare victory the way it's done before once we decide to leave.

BLITZER: I want to get your reaction to something that's happened over the past day or so. The current CIA director, you're a former CIA director, Mike Pompeo, he was at an event and he spoke about Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election last year. Let me play the exchange he had with a journalist.

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QUESTION: Can you say with absolute certainty that the election results were not skewed as a result of Russian interference, especially given what we've learned just in the last few weeks? And, more importantly, are we vulnerable in 2018 and 2020? What are we doing --

MIKE POMPEO, CIA DIRECTOR: Well, I'm not sure there could be -- I'm not sure there could be anything -- I'm not sure there could be anything more important than that.

QUESTION: OK. Moving forward --

[13:30:00] POMPEO: That we -- that we conducted an election that had integrity. Yes, the intelligence community's assessment is that the Russian meddling that took place did not affect the outcome of the election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)