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Trump Stokes Fear Ahead of Elections; Trump Calls Himself a Nationalist; Turkey's President Speaks about Khashoggi; Withdrawal From INF. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired October 23, 2018 - 13:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:00:11] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington. Thanks very much for joining us.

Call it what you will, embellishment, mischaracterizations, lies. President Trump pension for storytelling is more evident than ever out on the campaign trail right now. With exactly two weeks to go until the critical midterm elections, the president is touting a phantom middle class tax cut plan. He's claiming mysterious Middle Easterners are hidden in a refugee caravan. And the president knows what his supporters clearly want to hear and isn't afraid to dance around the truth to deliver for them.

Let's take a closer look now at some of those falsehoods from just over the past 20 hours alone, both big and small.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They've got so many people voting illegally in this country, it's a disgrace, OK, it's a disgrace. Voter ID, folks. Voter ID.

On day one, I approved the Keystone and the Dakota access pipeline, 48,000 jobs. Day one. Day one. And anybody want to leave now, go vote, come back? Get behind about 50,000 people outside. Who we love. And we put big screens out for them. Let's wave to them.

We're going to be putting in a 10 percent tax cut for middle income families. It's going to be put in next week. Ten percent tax cut.

You know how the caravan started? Does everybody know what this means? I think the Democrats had something to do with it and now they're saying, I think we made a big mistake.

We now have a brand-new member of the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

This is such an honor because, you know, you've had many presidents, that never get to put a justice on the Supreme Court. Republicans passed the biggest tax cut and reform in history with massive tax cuts for the middle class. Take your camera, go into the middle and search. You're going to find

MS-13. You're going to find Middle Eastern. You're going to find everything. And, guess what, we're not allowing them in our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Some supporters admit that they know the president is prone to exaggerate or even lie, but apparently that doesn't seem to be a problem for them.

Let's go to our senior White House correspondent Jeff Zeleny. He's working the story for us.

Jeff, you were there at the President Trump/Ted Cruz rally in Houston. What impression did you get from supporters on the ground? Do they really care about the lies, the mischaracterizations?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, inside the arena last night in Houston, or any of his rallies across the country, Trump supporters are not fact checking what he's saying, but rather getting fired up by the show. When you talk to these supporters, most of them are saying that they share his views on immigration and his world view as a nationalist, not a globalist, and other issues he raises.

But two weeks before the midterm elections, the question is what voters outside of those arenas are saying. Now, we're taking a closer look today at where the president is traveling, where he's want and where he's not.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY (voice over): President Trump knows the November election is all about him. He worries his supporters do not.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Pretend I'm on the ballot.

I'm not on the ticket, but I am on the ticket.

ZELENY: Two weeks before Election Day, a new air of uncertainty hangs over the 2018 campaign, revolving almost entirely around the Trump factor.

TRUMP: A vote for me --

For me --

Me --

Will make America great against.

ZELENY: While most presidents distance themselves from midterm elections to avoid nationalizing the races, Trump is doing the opposite. He's all in, firing up loyal supporters and fierce critics alike. A month ago, the president was all but resigned Republicans would lose

the House, CNN has learned, but now he increasingly believes he can awaken the Trump coalition to stop or slow a Democratic wave.

TRUMP: You know, I think that blue wave is being rapidly shattered.

ZELENY (on camera): The rally in Houston is the president's 29th of the year. He's far more likely to visit red states filled with loyal admirers rather than running the risk of firing up Democrats or independent voters in swing states.

ZELENY (voice over): A map of his travel shows where he is and isn't welcome, like deep red Montana, where he staged three rallies to try and defeat Democrat Senator Jon Tester in a race even most Republicans see as no easy task. Yet he's all but steering clear of Florida, holding no big rallies so far this fall. Governor Rick Scott, who's locked in a tight race to unseat Democratic Senator Bill Nelson, has asked Trump to stay away a GOP official told CNN.

His itinerary is far different than on his victory tour after the 2016 election, as he thanked voters in places he turned from blue to red. Statewide GOP candidates are trailing in most of those new Trump states, like Pennsylvania and Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin.

[13:05:08] But Republicans are likely to keep control of the Senate because of the blessing of geography. From red state races like Tennessee, where a Trump visit lingers long after he leaves because of TV ads blasting the Democratic candidate.

TRUMP: Phil whatever the hell his name is, this guy will 100 percent vote against us every single time.

ZELENY: Across the country, the president appears in nearly 20 percent of all political ads. So far this year, at least $55 million has been spent on pro-Trump ads and $61 million on anti-Trump ads in the top 100 House and Senate races.

The midterm election campaign has solidified Trump as the undisputed leader of the Republican Party. Even old rivals, like Ted Cruz, have long embraced him and now depend on Trump to fire up his coalition.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: Yes, I think it energizes people. I think it's going to help drives turnout. And this election is a turnout election.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY: And the Trump campaign is now saying that the president is going to have at least 10 more rallies between now and Election Day on November 6th, including adding a rally in Florida. That is one place where he's not been exactly wanted. But it's an open question if Governor Rick Scott is going to be there or not. His aides are telling CNN that the governor is focusing on hurricane recovery. They will let us know.

But, Wolf, it is a key sign the Trump factor in these midterm races, this is all revolving around him and that's just how he wants it.

BLITZER: Yes, those races in Florida are very, very close.

All right, Jeff Zeleny, thanks very much.

President Trump now defining himself and his views in very plain language. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A globalist is a person that wants the globe to do well, frankly not caring about our country so much. And you know what, we can't have that. You know, they have a word. It sort of became old fashioned. It's called a nationalist. And I say, really, we're not supposed to use that word. You know what I am, I'm a nationalist, OK, I'm a nationalist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The late French president, Charles de Gaulle, famously once said, and I'm quoting him now, patriotism is when love of your own people comes first. Nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first, closed quote.

And those other people don't have a favorable view of the president, at least right now. A recent Pew research poll, look at this, shows people in 25 countries that only have a 27 percent factorability, confidence in President Trump vote right now. That the president -- they have confidence the president would do the right thing regarding world affairs, only 27 percent. That's behind 52 percent for Germany's Angela Merkel and 30 percent even for Russian President Vladimir Putin. That poll in 25 countries.

Joining us right now, CNN global affairs analyst Max Boot, our senior diplomatic correspondent Michelle Kosinski, our CNN senior political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson, and associate editor and columnist for RealClearPolitics, A.B. Stoddard.

You know, Max, you study history. When the president says he's now a nationalist, he uses that word, what does that say to you?

MAX BOOT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: It has disturbing historical echoes to me, Wolf.

Now, nationalist has meant a lot of things over the years, and in the 19th century it was primarily associated with liberal movements. People like Theodore Herzel, the founder of Zionism, or Giuseppe Garibaldi, who helped to create the state of Italy, of Bolivar, who helped to create the states of Columbia and Venezuela.

But in the 20th century, nationalism has taken on a much darker, much more native connotation being associated essentially with fascist movements. And you think of nationalists, you think of people like Franco and Mussolini and Hitler and Kenosha (ph). Those are not exactly people that the president of the United States would typically be emulating. And that's why it's very hard for me to think of people in U.S. history who have described themselves as nationalists. This has not been a popular term.

I mean the only thing that comes to mind immediately is Theodore Roosevelt, in 1912, spoke about a new nationalism, but he was really speaking about a progressive agenda, that will be an anthem out of Donald Trump, whereas Trump is really embracing this racist, xenophobic, very exclusionary agenda that people associate with nationalism in other countries, not in the United States.

BLITZER: You know, Michelle, the president himself said, in describing himself as a nationalist, he said, I don't think I should use that word, but I will.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN SENIOR DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, he clearly doesn't feel like his base sees that as a bad word at all. It's almost this sort of daring other people to criticize it, putting things into ever more simplistic terms, which is what we've seen in other nationalistic movements around the world. You know, the phraseology now is like mobs, not jobs -- or jobs, not mobs. You know, others are globalists. We are nationalists. I'm a nationalist. Using that as something that is positive.

But it is, you know, very simplistically used here, as are other kinds of constructions that he'll put out there at these rallies.

[13:10:02] BLITZER: What do you think he means by that?

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: You know, I think when most people hear nationalist, a lot of people think white nationalist. And I don't necessarily know that he's making that same claim.

I do think he is a master of white identity politics, right? So he does use race as a divisive tool and a strategic political tool to rally his base and basically sort of make them think about race, make them fear the other. I mean if you think back to his first speech, right, when he announced he was running for president, he talked about Mexicans. He called them rapists. He called them murders. And so you hear the echoes of that throughout his presidency.

And it's what, frankly, made him a successful candidate. It resonates with his base. It's not an accident that, you know, two weeks before the election, he goes to this racist and sort of racialized language to gin up the base because he wants them to turn out.

BLITZER: And he makes it sound like the globalists or the internationalists really don't like America.

A.B. STODDARD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR AND COLUMNIST, "REALCLEARPOLITICS": Right.

What's interesting is, at the U.N. recently in a speech he contrasted globalist policies with patriotism and he didn't use the word nationalism. But his is -- I think if he begs people to criticize, he's going to say, no, no, no, we love our country. We're -- it's really patriotism. I think he believed that most people in the rally and listening at home who are his supporters believe they're kind of the same thing, and they are not. And so he -- it's a line he can fudge, but there's no question it's divisive. It's not a unifying nationalism. He put this out a long time ago saying America first. We're not going to engage with these other -- with the E.U. and we're not globalists. So it's not a secret that he's felt this way for a long time. We just knew that he used the actual term.

KOSINSKI: Yes, and he's saying this as a migrant caravan of thousands of people is headed for the U.S. border. It mean it's kind of like perfect timing for him to use these kinds of terms that makes anything else seem dangerous.

BLITZER: We're going to head there. We're going to heard towards that caravan in a moment.

Everybody stand by.

Timeline of a murder. Turkish officials revealing new details about how the Saudis killed a journalist in what's being called a political killing.

Plus, the president and the White House claim there's evidence of, quote, unknown Middle Easterners in the caravan of migrants heading north, but counterterrorism officials have just weighed in.

And, she could be Georgia's first black female governor today. Ahead of a big debate, she's defending a picture from the early '90s involving a confederate flag burning.

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[13:16:52] BLITZER: Two presidents and a vice president all weighing in today on the death of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. First, President Trump. Sources tell CNN he's growing increasingly frustrated with the fallout related to Khashoggi's death, saying he feels betrayed by Saudi Arabia.

And Vice President Mike Pence announcing just a little while ago that the CIA director is in Turkey reviewing evidence, vowing the U.S. will get to the bottom of Khashoggi's death.

Also, Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, rejecting Saudi Arabia's claim that Khashoggi was killed accidentally, instead declaring it was a brutal, premeditated murder.

And joining us now from Turkey's capital of Ankara, our senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman.

Ben, you've been doing a lot of reporting on this.

So what did President Erdogan say about the timeline of Khashoggi's death?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, really, what we heard from the president was a real sort of day by day outline of what he says happened regarding this case. And it goes back to the 28th of September when Jamal Khashoggi went to the Saudi consulate to ask for this document that shows that he is free to marry. And that is what set off sort of this sequence of events at -- the Saudis, the president said, activated this hit team. But they were preceded by others who came to sort out sort out the territory, figure out a plan, so to speak.

So that what we saw is, in his speech, he really just gave the presidential stamp of approval to this drip, drip, drip of bits of information coming from anonymous official sources here in Turkey. The only thing that was left out of this timeline was what went on immediately after Mr. Khashoggi entered the consulate at 1:14 p.m. on the 2nd of October, the last time he was seen in public. He did not mention some of the lurid details we've been told by Turkish officials, unnamed, that have made so many headlines, the torture, the murder, the dismemberment, and the -- somehow getting rid of the body.

And he pointedly asked, what has happened to the body? Because, according to the Saudis, they handed the body over to, quote/unquote, a local collaborator. Now, President Erdogan was obviously quite vexed about that particular point because what his consulate office doing -- being in contact with what is clearly a criminal element.

Also missing in his speech today before this parliamentary group was any reference to the Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. Now, he did say during this speech that the investigation has to go to the very source of the decision to send -- dispatch this hit team. So between the lines we can read, he is looking for not just intelligence officials and sort of mid-level people, he wants to know who gave the order for Jamal Khashoggi to be killed on the 2nd of October.

[13:20:07] BLITZER: Ben Wedeman reporting for us from Turkey.

Ben, thanks very, very much.

Meantime, sources tell CNN President Trump feels betrayed by the Saudis right now. You're going to hear what he's saying about coverage of his son-in-law's and senior adviser's relationship with the crown prince.

Plus, Senator Ted Cruz says he's worried about violence because of, quote, ugliness from the left. We'll discuss that and more. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:25:10] BLITZER: Right now, President Trump's National Security Adviser John Bolton is answering questions in Moscow after his meeting with the Russian President Vladimir Putin that just wrapped up a few moments ago. The meeting focused in on the U.S. decision to withdraw from the intermediate range nuclear forces treaty, otherwise known as INF. Washington and Moscow, by the way, they signed that treaty back in 1987. It banned all land-based missiles with ranges of up to roughly 3,400 miles. It resulted in more than 2,600 missiles being destroyed. During today's talks, President Putin suggested a meeting with

President Trump in Paris next month. Bolton told Putin, President Trump would indeed look forward to that meeting.

Let's bring back our guest.

So, Max, this withdrawal from the INF treaty, does that benefit the U.S.? Does it benefit Russia? Does it hurt both?

BOOT: Well, that remains to be seen, Wolf. I mean I think there's a case for what the administration is doing because the 1987 INF treaty was a landmark treaty, but the world has changed and there is compelling evidence that Russia has been cheating, they've been deploying a missile called the SSC8 (ph), which is in violation of the treaty. The Obama administration called them on it. They have refused to come into compliance. And we also have China, which is deploying a new range of its own intermediate nuclear missiles in -- and non- nuclear missiles in east Asia, where they're tilling the balance of power against us.

So you can make the case that it does make sense for the U.S. to deploy its own intermediate missile in both Europe and Asia to counter these growing threats. And so, therefore, pull out of the treaty.

Now, whether they're going to pull out of the treaty in a way that will keep the Europeans on board remains very much to be seen.

BLITZER: Well, what about the European allies? How are they reacting to this?

KOSINSKI: Yes, well, they don't agree with this.

BLITZER: They don't agree with --

KOSINSKI: With the U.S. (INAUDIBLE).

BLITZER: With the president's decision.

KOSINSKI: And there are people within the U.S. on both sides of the political spectrum that don't agree with the way the U.S. is leaving this, making it seem like the U.S. has ended the treaty. That it's just not a good look.

But when you argue the value of it, I think Max makes a great point. I mean what good is the treaty if, first of all, Russia is not abiding by it and if China is not even a party to it, does it matter anyway? But looking at how the U.S. is again leaving a treaty or an agreement, you know, people -- people have problems with that, that maybe this could have been done in a slightly better way.

BLITZER: And a headline coming out of this meeting that Bolton had with Putin, it looks like there's going to be another summit between President Trump, President Putin in Paris --

HENDERSON: Yes.

BLITZER: Like November 11th.

HENDERSON: Yes, which will be, obviously, right after the election. I mean everybody has in their mind obviously the last meeting, the Helsinki meeting, that he had and the kind of optics there, right? And him standing next to Putin, standing next to Putin, and believing everything Putin said essentially about Russia and sort of taking Putin's side. You wonder what could come out of this.

A lot of these meetings oftentimes are more about sort of optics than substance. The sort of substance and optics of their last meeting were terrible for this president. And you wonder what will come out of this meeting and if it happens. I mean we've seen this with this president sort of saying that there was going to be a meeting and then the meeting is scuttled. And we also know that he's very improvisational in these meetings. There's not often a lot of prep or planning or point to these meetings. So we'll see what happens.

BLITZER: We saw what happens in Helsinki over the summer.

HENDERSON: Exactly. Yes.

BLITZER: We'll see what will happens in Paris assuming this meeting actually takes place.

A.B., John Bolton, the president's national security adviser, also spoke about Russian meddling in the U.S. elections. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BOLTON, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: About a month ago that we didn't detect anything like the level of involvement in 2016. But as he pointed out, that could change with one key stroke. We have two weeks to go until the election. I hope there isn't any meddling at all. But it's worth noting that the president signed an executive order about a month ago that will requires a report from the director of national intelligence within 45 days after the election on whether any meddling took place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: What do you think?

STODDARD: Well, I think they want to do two things at once, which is look like they're confronting the Russians for cheating on this agreement, which they're pulling out of, and also to say we are on top of the meddling issue, even though it's clear that Ambassador Bolton -- or National Security Adviser Bolton did not go in and say, look, there will be severe consequences for any future meddling.

And so the fact that this is, you know, as Sam Vinograd put it today, a continuous lie of attack that the administration has not really trying to deal with is still an issue. A question for the U.S. -- for the U.S. voters. And then after the election happens and he has this summit, if the Democrats have won the election, President Bush (ph) has already told us he plans to say that the Chinese meddled and potentially altered the outcome. So it's hard to imagine what the narrative is going to be depending on the outcome of the election, but it could be quite controversial in terms of him blaming people.

[13:30:05] BLITZER: Let me get your thoughts, you know, Max, on the -- the murder of this journalist, Jamal Khashoggi.