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Nigerian Soldier Gives Firsthand Account of Deadly Ambush; Trump Doesn't Release All JFK Documents; Lawmaker Facing "Menacing" Threats After Spat with Trump; North Korea Official Rejects Call for Denuclearization. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired October 27, 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] WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: What are the big questions you think that need to be answered, and the lessons we need to learn, and why the four American soldiers were killed?

GAYLE TZEMACH LEMMON, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I think right now we see all of the things that Special Operations forces and AFRICOM commanders have been saying for years have come to fruition, which is there is only about 20 percent with the resources that have been met. Do you need more resources and more capabilities and more intelligence gathering? They are talking about the fact that there wasn't a lot of attention from Washington for a very significant amount of time. The former head of Special Operations Command Africa has been saying, listen, we were telling you all about these threats for months. Very few people were paying attention until this tragedy happened. The truth is that these are missions that go on all the time. There was nothing hidden about the fact that the U.S. was doing these operations. It was on the AFRICOM Web site. And what has gone wrong is a mission that's now occupying Washington's attention and Special Operations Command. And everyone focused on Africa is only focused on this right now. You had limited resources and escalating threats.

BLITZER: The concern is that there may have been a major intelligence blunder if these soldiers, the unit, go out there without body armor and armored vehicles and the proper weapons. They are wearing baseball caps and T-shirts. That's a problem.

TZEMACH LEMMON: It is. The situation is dynamic and kinetic. That means it will move very quickly. A lot is happening. In some ways, I am not so focused on the t-shirts and baseball caps. We were in northern Syria over the summer. This is obviously a very active combat zone. Special Forces group is there, too.

BLITZER: U.S. Special Forces.

TZEMACH LEMMON: U.S. Special Forces, absolutely, is there, too. You see them, low key, for security reasons. They are trying not to come in with a bunch of kit, armor and weapons. Their job is these foreign internal defense missions, training and working with and going on patrols with local forces. They are not coming in in full kit geared up. That's not as unusual to me as why didn't they have the intel and over-watch resources. I talked to people in Special Operations Command who worked that entire weekend after this to try to figure out what has been happening. This took attention -- Fort Bragg very much focused on what's going on. There are still so many questions that have to be answered.

BLITZER: John McCain, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, he says that the investigation could take another month or 30 days to start getting answers. There are plenty of questions, especially with Sergeant La David Johnson and why he was separated from the other soldiers.

TZEMACH LEMMON: Exactly. And how did it happen? How did it happen that they had to go back for him? How did he get separated in the first place? These are not folks who just came out for their first deployment. These are people who are well trained and used to multiple deployments, so they are not new to the situation. It clearly changed, and it clearly was dynamic, and they were trying to adopt new postures as it was going on. We don't know yet, even all the questions that have to be answered. And Fort Bragg is focused on this, and Congress has to be as well.

BLITZER: All right. We will continue our analysis.

Thanks very much for joining us.

TZEMACH LEMMON: Thanks for having me.

BLITZER: Thousands of pages of documents related to President Kennedy's assassination are now out. And we are left with one big cliff hanger. Was his killer actually involved, have some association with the CIA? We'll assess.

And Defense Secretary James Mattis is along the DMZ, the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea, with a stark message for North Korea's Kim Jong-Un. We will go there. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:32:48] BLITZER: Revealing details about a dictator, a movie star and a possible spy, all included in the public release of thousands of records from the JFK files, but that isn't everything. President Trump kept some of those files private, tweeting today, quote, "JFK files are being carefully released. In the end, there will be great transparency. It is my hope to get just about everything in public."

Let's discuss with my two guests. First, Philip Shenon, the author of "A Cruel and Shocking Act, The Secret History of the Kennedy Assassination." Also with us, former Secret Service agent, Clint Hill, the author of "Five Presidents, My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford."

Clint Hill was the agent who jumped on the back of President Kennedy's limo when the shots rang out in Dallas back in 1963.

What are your thoughts, Clint, on the documents that were released? Not everything was released. At the last minute, they decided to withhold a lot of the documents. But what are your thoughts about those that were released? CLINT HILL, FORMER SECRET SERVICE AGENT & AUTHOR: I'm glad. It's

something. That gives us a start. Hopefully, we can find something that is valuable that will give us answers, the answer to why and if there was anybody else that could be involved, which I don't believe is true.

BLITZER: So far, based on what you've gone through, did you learn anything from the documents that were made public?

HILL: Nothing I didn't know before.

BLITZER: Really?

What about you?

PHILIP SHENON, AUTHOR: I have to say this was a big disappointment. A lot of documents have been out in the public record for many years. We got the full text of them for the first time. The really important documents, the super-secret documents that we have seen not a word of are under seal and we may or may not see them in April.

BLITZER: You say we might not see them because the CIA and the FBI want to keep it secret?

SHENON: One thing we learned yesterday is agencies like the CIA, the FBI, the State Department, apparently, are all adamant that some of this information has to remain sacred even after next April.

BLITZER: It was surprising to a lot of us. For 25 years, we knew this date was coming where they had to release everything and, at the last minute, they said they are not going to do that.

[13:40:02] HILL: You would think with 25 years, they would have the opportunity to go through what they wanted to go through and make their point much before the 26th of October.

BLITZER: What did you think about, in that one interview, that Richard Helms, who was the deputy CIA director, later CIA director, who was asked about Lee Harvey Oswald having some connection, was he a CIA agent, and it sort of ends? The next page of the transcript of that interview is gone.

SHENON: That was bizarre. I have no explanation for it. I doubt that Helms acknowledged in that interview that there was a connection. That would have been big news many years ago. But that was a bizarre fact that the transcript was cutoff at that moment.

BLITZER: What did you think when you saw it? That was a cliff hanger there.

HILL: It would be surprising to me if he had any association with the CIA, even remote. That will be a surprise.

BLITZER: The key question still is, what was Lee Harvey Oswald doing in Mexico City? He met with Soviet officials and went to the Cuban embassy and there were transcripts and an intercepted phone conversation. Did they know what he was plotting?

What did you get out of the information about his visit to Mexico City?

SHENON: The documents we got do support the idea that something happened in Mexico City. Oswald is meeting with Cuban spies and Soviet spies, including a KGB assassinations expert. I don't think there is evidence the Soviet Union had anything to do with this. But if the CIA knew that Oswald was meeting with a KGB assassinations expert several weeks before the assassination, you would think that would raise a red alert with the CIA.

BLITZER: A Cuban diplomat, a Cuban official, in an intercepted conversation, was heard saying that they knew for a fact that he was a good shooter. They had the capability of shooting a weapon with accuracy.

HILL: He qualified as a Marine. When he was in the Marine Corps, he was qualified as a sharpshooter and he did have knowledge the weapons and was capable of doing exactly what he did.

BLITZER: The Cubans knew that because he was in the Marine Corps or because they saw him shooting?

HILL: I doubt if they saw him shooting, but they got information from the fact that he was in the Marines.

BLITZER: So your big takeaway from yesterday's documents is?

SHENON: There is a lot more to come. There will be a circus in April when the final showdown between people at the White House and some of these agencies. There is a much fiercer debate than we ever knew.

BLITZER: It was a fierce debate. And the president tweeted, "JFK files are being carefully released. In the end, there will be great transparency. It is my hope to get just about everything to the public."

That leaves open the possibility that not everything is going to be made available to the public.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: And I think he was expecting to release everything. He was probably as surprised as anyone when the CIA and the FBI made the last-minute appeal that you can't release some of these.

SHENON: When he was sending out these tweets assuring the public he was going to release them, I guess he was not aware that there was a fierce debate going on behind the scenes.

BLITZER: Yes, 25 years to conclude this issue. Obviously, it was a sloppy conclusion.

Guys, thanks very, very much. Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, of Florida, is facing a wave of

threats to her own safety following a very public spat with President Trump. Threats she said ranged from rude to downright menacing. The measures now in place to protect her. We will update you. Very disturbing information coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:47:55] BLITZER: Florida Congresswoman Frederica Wilson's office said they received threats to her safety. The Democratic representative made headlines for criticizing a condolence call from President Trump to a Gold Star widow, sparking a war of words between the two. A statement said, as a result of the threats, she is not traveling to Washington, D.C. It said, in part, quote, "We are not going to provide the specifics of what has been said, but the calls have run the gambit from racist and rude to out-right menacing. It is only because of the extraordinary circumstances that, to her dismay, she did not travel to Washington to vote."

CNN's Rosa Flores is joining us from just outside the congresswoman's office in Miami Gardens in Florida.

Rosa, these are credible threats. They beefed up security around her.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are taking these threats very seriously, Wolf. She has security detail here in Miami and the capital police are keeping an eye on her office there in Washington, D.C.

But the congresswoman not laying low. She was just at a meeting earlier today for infrastructure and transportation. She was greeted warmly by her colleagues.

I was talking to one of her spokespersons here. These messages were in the thousands both here in Miami and in D.C., coming in via voice mail, her Web site, e-mail, fax, and they were menacing, including racial slurs and cartoons and, of course, the threats.

But while I was inside, I witnessed three flower arrangements, showing her constituents' support. While she is receiving a lot of hate, she is also receiving a lot of love from around the country -- Wolf?

BLITZER: If she does have an enhanced security detail with her there in Miami Gardens. We are also told, Rosa, that the Capitol Hill police are keeping an eye on her office here in Washington. Basically, why the decision not to come to Washington if she was going to get good security here as well?

[13:50:06] FLORES: I asked her spokesperson that question, and they said the congresswoman feels safer here in her district. They also told me that number of calls, those menacing messages, have scaled down. So we are expecting the representative to return to D.C. next week.

BLITZER: Yes, we'll look forward to seeing her here in Washington. Hope those the threats go away. Rosa Flores, very distrubing information in your reporting. Thanks

very much for that report.

There is more we're news following, including the U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis visits the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea with a message for North Korea, the U.S. does not want war. But with North Korea firmly rejecting the idea of giving up nuclear weapons, is diplomatic solution really possible?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: "Our goal is not war" -- that message from Defense Secretary James Mattis as he stood in the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea. This comes days after Pyongyang renewed its threat to conduct a nuclear test over the Pacific Ocean. Mattis reiterated that the U.S. and South Korea are committed to a diplomatic solution to address what he called North Korea's reckless behavior. Meanwhile, North Korea officials have paid close attention to the visit by Secretary Mattis and this are flatly rejecting his call for denuclearization.

CNN's Will Ripley is the only American journalist in Pyongyang right now and has more on their reaction -- Will?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the sense I'm getting discussions with North Korean officials here in Pyongyang, Secretary Mattis didn't say anything in South Korea that separates the North and South that would further inflame this situation. Of course, the North Koreans were already furious at the United States, mostly because of joint military exercises and remarks of President Trump. Secretary Mattis said that North Korea is obsessed with weapons, that they pose a threat to the region. That's what they've heard before.

They are taking note the secretary continues to point out the diplomatic path is possible. But they say the deal breaker is that the United States continues to insist on total denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. And from the North Korean perspective, they think they have come so close to getting an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the mainland U.S., perhaps with a few more tests to demonstrate that they have that capability, they say they won't put their nukes on the table. They say, why would they? They feel they are protecting themselves from invasion from the United States. And look at countries like the U.S. and China and Russia that have nuclear arsenals that are safe and secure, and they think they will have peace and security if they bolster their nuclear weapons, which is counterintuitive to what many around the world think and worry that a provocative test flight of a nuclear detonation could trigger action by the Trump administration that could push this region down a very dangerous road.

North Koreans are also watching closely President Trump visit to this region. He'll arrive late next week in Japan, and speaking to U.S. allies in Japan and also in South Korea, China, and the Philippines. And if the president is in South Korea and decides to go to the DMZ and says something inflammatory, off script, that has potential to turn this volatile situation even further downhill -- Wolf? [13:56:27] BLITZER: Will Ripley, reporting from Pyongyang. Will,

thanks very much.

We're standing by right now for to the White House press briefing. Looking at live pictures. Sarah Huckabee Sanders will face reporters, likely to be asked questions about the president's push to get the gag order lifted for an FBI informant. We'll bring you that live once it starts.

We'll take a quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:05] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thanks for being with me on this Friday afternoon.

Very shortly, the White House is set to hold its daily briefing and, one again, facing questions about the president's improper --