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No New Russia Sanctions; Trump Takes Reporters' Questions; Trump Talks about Flake; Trump Blames Press; Trump on Fake Dossier. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired October 25, 2017 - 13:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 6:00 p.m. in Minna, Niger, 1:30 a.m. Thursday morning in Pyongyang, North Korea. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

Deadlines up. New questions as the Trump administration fails to start implementing sanctions against Russia, the ones overwhelmingly approved by the House and the Senate. So, what's the holdup?

Plus, bankroll bombshell. A source says the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee helped fund the infamous Trump dossier. I'll speak live with the former number two at the DNC and we'll get her response.

And CNN inside North Korea right now and one of Kim Jong-Un's officials delivers a new warning about its threat of using a hydrogen bomb.

President Trump will spend much of the rest of his day in Texas. But before he departed, he lit up Twitter with his remarks about his meeting with Senate Republicans, saying outside of Flake and Corker was a love fest, with standing ovations and great ideas for USA.

Both Senators Bob Corker and Jeff Flake had made some strong enunciations of the president's character, of the president's behavior. Neither of them is running for re-election. A point the president emphasized in another tweet. Quote, "The reason Flake and Corker dropped out of the Senate race is very simple. They had zero chance of being elected. Now act so hurt and wounded." Close quote.

Our Manu Raju caught up with Corker and asked him about the tweet. While earlier on CNN's "NEW DAY," Flake had a message for the GOP about the president's ongoing comments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BOB CORKER (R), TENNESSEE: I don't really care what comes out of the White House though.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. What do you mean?

CORKER: (INAUDIBLE.) There was no question that when I decided not to run, I was in a dominant position.

SEN. JEFF FLAKE (R), ARIZONA: I hope that we've reached a tipping point of some type, where we don't continue to normalize by being silent the kind of behavior that we've seen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Our White House Reporter Dan Merica is joining us now from the north lawn of the White House. So, Dan, why isn't the president apparently worried about the attacks against him and the unrest within his own Republican Party?

DAN MERICA, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Hey, Wolf, it's actually quite simple. He thinks he's more popular than these two lawmakers and there is some truth to that. Both Bob Corker and Jeff Flake are not exactly the most popular Republicans in their state.

Let's take Jeff Flake, for example. If he would have stayed in the race and copy odd run for re-election in 2018, he would have faced an uphill climb against -- in the Republican primary, let alone the general election.

So, the White House thinks and they may be right about this that President Trump right now is more popular with Republican voters than these two lawmakers.

What they are worried about, though, is that this now frees up lawmakers, like Flake and Corker and others who have spoken out against President Trump to just say what they think about the president, about his policies and about his leadership.

And that concerns them because when you have lawmakers, Republicans like Jeff Flake and Bob Corker, talking to reporters, talking to our own Manu Raju about what they think about the president, that can really screw up a media cycle.

Now, I want to let you know that President Trump is actually leaving right now to head to Texas for a fund-raiser. I believe that behind me I can hear the helicopter, the chopper Marine One about to take off. He is said to be speaking to reporters. So, we expect him to respond to questions about Senator Flake and about his comments.

He took to Twitter, as you noted this morning, to slam the senator and say, frankly, they wouldn't have had a chance of winning. And I -- and you have to imagine that's what he's going to tell reporters when asked -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, we're going to have that. They're going to get the tape ready. He's speaking and answering reporters' questions, even as we speak right now. Once we get that tape, we'll play it for our viewers. We'll all stand by for that.

Dan Merica over at the White House. Thank you very much.

The relationship between the president and some influential lawmakers is being strained on another major front right now, Russian sanctions. The White House missed an October 1st deadline, saying nothing about it until now.

And they just issued a statement saying, quote, "The Trump administration remains committed to holding Russia accountable and has on a variety of fronts. The State Department's portion is undergoing an interagency review and will be announced soon." The statement adds, "I'd refer you to the State Department for additional information."

Let's bring CNN Political Analyst, and the columnist for "The Washington Post." Josh Rogin is joining us. Josh, it passed overwhelmingly, the Russian sanctions, 419 to three in the House; 98 to two in the Senate.

Over the summer, it was all supposed to be implemented. The deadline in the law says October 1st. Now, it's the end of October. It has not been implemented.

What are you hearing? Why is there this delay?

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Sure. Well, there's increasing congressional anger over this blowing of the deadline.

[13:05:04] And when you talk to administration officials, they say basically what you saw in that statement. That they're working on it. That it's complicated.

There are a couple of very difficult issues to deal with. One of them is that the bill requires you cancel sell weapons to any country that buys weapons from Russia. And that means Turkey, maybe Saudi Arabia. These are tough problems.

So, maybe they're just working through it but maybe they're delaying. And I'm going to break some news on your show right now, Wolf. There's a bipartisan push in Congress to increase the pressure on the administration.

We're talking about a letter with dozens of signatures. We're talking about a press strategy. And we're talking about a possible resolution to express displeasure of the Senate that the administration hasn't met all of these deadlines.

We don't see the sanctions. We don't see an implementation plan. And we don't see the diplomatic engagement that would be necessary to roll out something of this magnitude.

BLITZER: Because the suspicion is, and a lot of lawmakers have the suspicion, not just Democrats or Republicans. The president, he never wanted this law to be enacted to begin with.

It passed overwhelmingly in the House and the Senate. He didn't want it. He didn't want to try to impose new sanctions against Russia. He didn't want Congress to tell him what to do and he was a reluctant signer.

He knew that if he wouldn't have signed it, it would have been overridden by the Congress, his veto. ROGIN: That's actually right. The president actually issued a signing statement calling the laws unconstitutional and he took issue with the law's requirement. And the Congress would get to weigh in if he tries to lift sanctions on Russia which is a whole other issue.

But this is not just about U.S.-Russia relations. This is a bill that would affect countries all over the world, including U.S. allies. It's complicated.

The Trump administration has not been good about getting these kinds of things done. So, there is a bureaucratic delay here. But they also have to make a decision.

They say they want to honor Congress' intent. Now, they have to put their money where their mouth is.

BLITZER: And we'll be hearing momentarily from the president. And we'll see the reporters over there just before he boards Marine One on the south lawn of the White House, answers questions about this. And we'll stand by for that.

Josh Rogin, thank you --

ROGIN: Thank you.

BLITZER: -- very much.

At the same time, we're getting some new information linking the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee to that salacious dossier on President Donald Trump and his relationship with Russia.

A source now tells CNN that the Clinton campaign and the DNC helped fund the research that led to the report. Today, President Trump jumped on the news, tweeting this, quote, "Clinton campaign and DNC paid for research that led to the anti-Trump fake news dossier. The victim here is the president."

Joining us now from Capitol Hill is Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii. She's a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the Armed Services Committee.

Congressman Gabbard, thanks so much for joining us. And I want to get your reaction just because we know you stepped down from the Democratic National Committee. You were one of the leaders there, back in February of last year. Four months before, apparently, they got involved directly with the dossier.

Did you know about the existence of this? Did you know about the fact that the DNC and the Clinton campaign were funding the research?

REP. TULSI GABBARD (D), HAWAII: I didn't have any knowledge of the dossier or any of the other things that having began to break a few months ago, earlier this year. But also, that there's new news coming out. To be quite frank, it's not surprising, given the state of our politics today. And I think this is a large part of why so many of the American people are just, frankly, disgusted with Washington and with the hyper partisanship and all the scandalous headlines.

And, meanwhile, they're asking, what about us? Who is actually caring and interested in what we are going through? Who is actually bringing forward solutions to the challenges that so many of the American people are facing in communities like mine in Hawaii and all across the country.

BLITZER: As you know, President Trump often blamed Hillary Clinton and the Democrats for that Russia research. Does this damage -- your party, the Democratic Party, does it help the president politically now that everyone has confirmed that the DNC and the Hillary Clinton campaign wound up paying for this research?

GABBARD: Wolf, I have no idea. I'm not a political pundit, and I'm not going to try to be one.

Again, I think it's most important for us to be focused on what is happening in our country, the challenges and the problems that we have. And how we can bring about real solutions. I think that's the most important thing we can care about, talk about and focus on.

BLITZER: Congresswoman, if you could stick around, the president is walking over to the microphones, speaking with reporters before he boards Marine One. Let's listen in to the president.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (live): -- what they've done with this fake dossier. It was made up. And I understand they paid a tremendous amount of money. And Hillary Clinton always denied it. The Democrats always denied it.

And now, only because it's going to come out in a court case, they said, yes, they did it. They admitted it. And they're embarrassed by it.

[13:10:05] But I think it's a disgrace. It's just, really -- it's a very sad -- it's a very sad commentary on politics in this country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE.)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't think so. I think it's fine the way it is.

We have actually great unity in the Republican Party. Yesterday I was --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE.)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Oh, that's OK. Look, they have to do their thing. We have great unity. If you look at what happened yesterday at the meeting, we had, I guess, virtually every senator, including John McCain. We had a great conversation yesterday, John McCain and myself, about the military. I think we had a -- I called it a love fest. It was almost a love fest. Maybe it was a love fest. But we got standing ovations.

There is great unity. I mean, if you look at the Democrats with Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, that's a mess. There's great unity in the Republican Party.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE.)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I think it's -- I think it's sad. But I think, to a large extent, in all due respect, I think the media causes a lot of it. Fake stories are being reported. A lot of bad things are being reported that aren't true.

And, you know, I think to a certain extent, maybe I can blame the media. But politics is a rough business. There's no question about it.

I will say this. I think the Republican Party has a pretty good unity. When I looked at that room yesterday at lunch, and you know and you reported on it very well, Kristin. I mean, you gave it a very good report.

The fact is there was tremendous unity in that room. And we're really unified. We're really unified on what we want to do.

We want tax cuts for middle class. We want tax cuts for businesses to produce jobs. There's great unity.

Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE.)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, look, he was against me from before he ever knew me. He wrote a book about me before I ever met him, before I ever heard his name. His poll numbers in Arizona are so low that he couldn't win.

And I don't blame him for leaving. I think he did the right thing for himself. But if you know, long before he ever knew me, during the campaign, even before the campaign, I mean, he came out with this horrible book. And I said, who is this guy?

In fact, I remembered the first time I saw him on television, I had not really been -- nobody knew me, in terms of politics. But the first time I saw him on television, I said, I assume he's a Democrat. Is he a Democrat? They said he's a Republican. I said that's impossible.

So, look, his poll numbers are terrible. He's done terribly for the great people of Arizona, a state that likes Donald Trump very much. As you -- even you will admit. And he would have never won.

In fact, even in the primary, he's way down in the primary. So, he did the smart thing for himself. This way, he can get out somewhat gracefully. But, you know --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE.)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, he's saying that -- he's saying that because he has nothing else to say. But I do think this. I do think this. I wish him well.

I really believe he's going to do the right thing for the country. He's going to vote for tax cuts because we desperately need tax cuts to put our people back to work.

We need tax cuts also to be able to compete with other countries.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE.)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know what? I hope Bob -- and I really believe that Bob Corker is going to do the right thing also.

Yes, go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, do you feel that (INAUDIBLE.)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I can't hear you. I can't what? Say it again?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE.)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, Senator Flake did vote with me. I understand it was about 91 or even more than that. So, from that standpoint, good.

No, I think I'll be boosted in Arizona because he's very unpopular. I think the fact that he did it the way he did it probably -- I mean, I'm very high on Arizona. I love the people. They like me. They like security at the border. You know, all of the things.

But I think I'm probably helped greatly in Arizona by what happened with Senator Flake.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE.)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't think they do that. I really know that they want tax cuts. They know we need it. We need it for the country. We need it for the people. We need it for the middle class. We need it for jobs.

I don't think they'd do that. I really don't. I know them well enough. I don't know Flake very well but I know Bob Corker. I think they really would do it. I think they would feel they have to do it for the country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE.)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Say it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE.)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think we're going to get some Democrat votes, yes. I do believe -- I haven't started the process but I believe that there are certain Democrats that if they don't vote for these massive tax cuts for business, for jobs, and for the middle class, they will lose their races in 2018.

[13:15:03] QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: Well, I think the press makes me more uncivil than I am. You know, people don't understand. I went to an Ivy League college. I was a nice student. I did very well. I'm a very intelligent person. I -- you know, the fact is, I think, I really believe, I think the press creates a different image of Donald Trump than the real -- the real person.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) do you ever apologize (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: Well, I think it's always OK when somebody says something about you that's false, I think it's always OK to counterpunch or to fight back.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: John.

QUESTION: You have talked, Mr. President, about the idea that (INAUDIBLE) tax free contributions to 401(k)s are off the table. That was (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: I wanted to end that quickly. 401(k)s to me are very important. And they're important because that's one of the great benefits to the middle class. I didn't want that to go too far. That's why I ended it very quickly.

QUESTION: But Kevin Brady, who is the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee said this morning it could be on the table.

TRUMP: Well, maybe it is and maybe we'll use it as negotiating, but I trust -- trust me, that's one of the great things. You know, there are certain elements of deals you don't want to negotiate with. 401(k)s, and Kevin knows it, and I think Kevin Brady is fantastic, but he knows how important 401(k)s are.

QUESTION: You told me -- you told me last week --

(CROSS TALK)

TRUMP: John.

QUESTION: You told me last week that you thought that the uranium sale to Russia was one of the big stories of the decade. Three congressional committees are now looking at that. We haven't heard you comment on it since those investigations were launched.

TRUMP: Well, I think the uranium sale to Russia, and the way it was done, so underhanded, with tremendous amounts of money being passed, I actually think that's Watergate modern age.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: I -- I can't -- say it again, please.

QUESTION: What more do you want to know about the mission in Niger and what have you asked the Pentagon to tell you and tell the country about what went wrong?

TRUMP: I can't --

QUESTION: What more do you want to know about the mission in Niger and (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: Oh.

QUESTION: What went wrong and what do you want the country to know about it.

TRUMP: Well, we're going to look at it. Now, I have to say, we are decimating ISIS in the Middle East. What's happening is they'll go to parts of Africa, they'll go to other places. When they get there, we meet them.

It's a dangerous business. I have to say, it's a dangerous business. So what -- no, I didn't. Not specifically. But I have generals that are great generals. These are great fighters. These are warriors. And --

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: I gave them authority to do what's right so that we win. That's the authority they have. I want to win. And we're going to win. And we're beating ISIS very badly. You look at what's happened in the Middle East. We have done more in eight months than the previous administration has done in many years.

Now, what happens is you decimate them and that's all we've done. We have decimated ISIS in the Middle East. They go to Africa. They go to places. When they get there, we meet them there. That's what goes on. It's a tough business. It's a tough war. But we are winning it. And, you know what, we're going to continue winning it.

With that being said, my generals and my military, they have decision- making ability. As far as the incident that we're talking about, I've been seeing it just like you've been seeing it. I've been getting reports. They have to meet the enemy and they meet them tough. And that's what happened.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) did you ever apologize to her?

TRUMP: I was extremely nice to her. She sounds like a lovely lady. I've never seen her, I've never met her, but she sounds like a lovely lady. But I was extremely nice to her. I was extremely courteous, as I was to everyone else. You know, it's interesting, you folks have called many people that I

spoke to. Everybody has said unbelievable good things about me. But you never report that.

QUESTION: We reported that.

TRUMP: Did you report it? Did you report it?

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: Thank you.

Tom.

Thank you.

QUESTION: Mr. President, what about your message to --

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) you called -- you called four families (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: I can only say this. I was really nice to her. I respect her. I respect her family. I certainly respect La David, he -- who I, by the way, called La David right from the beginning. Just so you understand, they put a chart in front, La David. It says La David Johnson. So I called -- right from the beginning, there's no hesitation. One of the great memories of all time. There was no hesitation. I think she's a fantastic woman. I was extremely nice to her. Extremely respectful.

QUESTION: Mr. President, you made four phone calls to four different families that day. Did you say anything different to Myeshia Johnson than you did to any of the other three families?

[13:20:07] TRUMP: I would say basically we talked condolence. I mean it's all about condolence. It's about warmth. In many cases, you listen, because, in so many cases, one of the family -- families they were saying, yes, he was a great football star. And, honestly, they poured their heart out, John. It's the hardest calls. They pour their heart out.

But I am always -- and, look, you people have called many people that I've spoken to. And every one of them has said I couldn't have been nicer. Now it's a rough time for these -- I mean how tough is it? There's nothing tougher. But I have such respect for those families. Nobody has more respect than I do. Nobody.

(CROSS TALK)

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: We're looking at DACA. We have to get something for it. But we are looking at DACA. And we'll see what happens. I'd love to do a DACA deal, but we have to get something very substantial for it, including the wall, including security, including a strong border. We have to be able to stop drugs from pouring into our nation.

(CROSS TALK)

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: The tax plan is going to be incredible for this country. It's going to bring back jobs. It's going to cut tax tremendously. We're going to bring back $4 trillion I think at least from overseas. That money's going to be put back to work in our country instead of other countries. The tax cut is going to be massive. It's going to keep companies from leaving our country. So important.

(CROSS TALK)

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: Say it?

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: Not that I know of, no. And I have to say, the whole Russian thing is what it's turned out to be. This was the Democrats coming up with an excuse for losing an election. It's an election that's very hard for a Democrat to lose because the Electoral College is set in such a way that it's very hard to lose that election for a Democrat.

They lost it. They lost it very badly and very easily. I mean you look at the votes, it was 306 to, what, 223 or something. They lost it by a lot. They didn't know what to say. So they made up the whole Russia hoax.

Now it's turning out that the hoax has turned around and you look at what's happened with Russia and you look at the uranium deal and you look at the fake dossier. So that's all turned around.

QUESTION: With Corker and Flake out, are there any other Republicans who (INAUDIBLE).

(CROSS TALK)

TRUMP: No, not at all.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: No. No. We have a very good relationship. Honestly, when you look at -- when you take a look what's happened with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and the hatred and the division and the animosity, I'll tell you what, honestly, the Republicans are very, very well united.

QUESTION: Mr. President (INAUDIBLE).

(CROSS TALK)

TRUMP: We're going to have a big meeting on opioids tomorrow. We're going to be doing -- we're going to be doing a very, very important meeting sometime in the very short -- very near future on opioids in terms of declaring a national emergency, which gives us power to do things that you can't do right now.

(CROSS TALK)

TRUMP: John, talk up, please.

QUESTION: Sorry. The two (INAUDIBLE) investigation began on the Republican side of things during the primaries. Do you have any idea who it was who was (INAUDIBLE)?

TRUMP: Well, they say it began with the Republicans. I think I would know, but I won't say. It will be determined. It will be determined.

(CROSS TALK)

TRUMP: Look, Hillary would have never announced it was them except for this great court case that's going on where the judge was going to reveal it. So they figured, we'll do it first.

They're very embarrassed by it. It's a disgrace.

Yes, it might have starred with the Republicans early on in the primaries. I think I would know, but let's find out who it is. I'm sure that will come out.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) Do you know who the Republicans are?

TRUMP: I think -- I think I would have. If -- if I were to guess, I have one name in mind.

QUESTION: What's his name, sir?

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: It will probably be revealed.

(CROSS TALK)

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: Say it. What?

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: Well, I'd rather not say, but you'll be surprised.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: You'll be surprised.

(CROSS TALK)

QUESTION: President Trump, how concerned -- how concerned are you over the Russia scandal (INAUDIBLE).

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, there's the tape from only moments ago. The president getting ready to board Marine One. He's heading out to Texas for a political fundraiser.

[13:25:07] But he spent about 15 minutes answering reporters' questions on a wide range of subjects, a wide range of issues, ranging from the unity or some would suggest lack of unity right now among his fellow Republicans. He said there's great unity. He strongly defended his condolence call for the fallen U.S. soldier who died in Niger.

Let's bring in Jim Acosta.

Jim, you're our senior White House correspondent. You were there with the president, I take it, on the South Lawn as he was answering reporters' questions. What jumped out at you?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, first, we should point out, Wolf, as you know from covering the White House for many years, typically these departures from the White House for a trip for the president on Marine One are not news conferences. The president more and more is turning these appearances into almost news conferences and he did one of those just a few moments ago.

I asked the president a couple of times about these comments made by Arizona Senator Jeff Flake, who announced he's retiring, and had some very stinging criticism for the president yesterday. At one point saying that the president represents a danger to our democracy. The president, as to be expected, went off on Senator Flake, saying he assumed he was a Democrat and chalked up much of the senator's criticism to the fact that he had written a book basically suggesting that perhaps the senator is trying to pump up his book sales.

But, Wolf, one thing that stood out to me more than anything else was this comment that the president made. I was pressing him on why he was going after Senator Corker and this lack of civility that Senator Flake was talking about yesterday. You know, the president referred to Senator Corker as little Bob Corker in these tweets. And I was asking the president, well, isn't this really a demonstration of what Senator Flake was talking about? He didn't really answer the question.

And then there was a follow-up question as to whether the president should just be more civil. Should you be more civil sir? And he said, well, the press makes me more uncivil than I am. So he's blaming the media on this criticism that he has drained the civility out of Washington. And that was something that jumped out at me.

Another thing, Wolf, that I think we should point out, and I think it's critically important because of this news about the Clinton campaign and the DNC being -- being behind, in part, that the Russia dossier on the president, that so-called Russia dossier on the president. The president almost was beaming. He was almost jubilant, I would say, during this exchange with reporters. He sounded like a man who felt like he was off the hook in this Russia investigation.

And as you heard there towards the tail end of those comments that he made to reporters, somebody was asking about this chatter that, well, there were some Republican candidates, or at least one Republican candidate, who was also dealing with this information that was in that so-called dossier in the early stages of the 2016 campaign. And you heard the president there say, well, I think I have an idea as to who that person is. I guess talking about one of those other contenders in the field, one of those former rivals in the field. And he said, well, you'll find out who that is, he thinks, sometime in future. And so it sounds like there are more shoes to drop perhaps on the Republican side. The president seems to be indicating that he knows who was behind perhaps on the Republican side and that -- when it comes to that Russia dossier in the early stages of the 2016 campaign.

BLITZER: Yes, it was seen as opposition research, as it's called, against Donald Trump. And originally was funded by some Republican, apparently one of his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination.

ACOSTA: Right.

BLITZER: But then, after he got the nomination, we have now confirmed over the past day or so that it was indeed continued to be funding by both the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign.

I want you to stand by, Jim. There's more I want to discuss.

I want to bring in our panel, as well.

You know, Gloria, the president also said that the uranium sale to the Russians during the Obama administration, he said, this is, in his words, Watergate modern age.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. Well, so, what he said, what he's trying -- the point he's trying to make in saying that the dossier is a hoax, that the Democrats funded it, and that the uranium deal is a huge story, as he said, he believes the whole Russia story, what he's trying to do is say it's been turned on his head and that now it's a Democratic story and it's a Democratic problem rather than a Republican problem or a White House problem.

I think we have to say here that while he said the allegations in the dossier were fake, we have reported, and others have reported, that while some of the most salacious allegations in the dossier have not been verified, that it's broad assertion that the Russians waged a campaign to interfere in our election has been verified by the entire intelligence community. And the president himself is still -- is still singing the same old song about that in contradiction to the intelligence community.

[13:30:09] BLITZER: He says it's a -- he says the whole Russia investigation is a hoax. It's a Democratic excuse --