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California Bar Shooting Puts Guns Back in Spotlight; Trumps A.G. Pick to Replace Sessions Said Mueller Probe "Goes Too Far"; Sgt. Ron Helus Hailed Hero in California Bar Shooting; Bill Nelson Demands Recount in Florida Senate Race; Gillum Concedes but Wants Recount; Ga Dem Stacey Abrams Files Lawsuit Against Brian Kemp; Justice Ginsburg Hospitalized with 3 Fractured Ribs Following Fall. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired November 8, 2018 - 13:30   ET

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


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[13:33:28] WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: The overnight shooting at a California bar that left 12 people dead puts the issues of guns back in the spotlight once again.

Democratic Senator Kamala Harris, of California, just tweeted this, quote, "My heart aches to learn about the horrific shooting at Thousand Oaks on college night. Praying for the injured and the families of those killed who, like so many others, have lost their loved ones to gun violence. Leaders in Congress must act, not some day, but now."

Florida Democratic Congressman Ted Deutch is joining us from Fort Lauderdale.

Congressman, thanks for joining us.

Whenever there's a tragedy like this, opponents say it's not the time to discuss gun control. What are your thoughts right now?

REP. TED DEUTCH, (D), FLORIDA: Wolf, thanks for having me on. Thousand Oaks, like Parkland and like Newtown, is one of the safest communities in America. Here we are again with another mass shooting in a place that people always thought it could never happen. It can happen. It has happened. There have been four mass shootings in two weeks. Yes. Congress needs to act. Yes. We need to talk about this. It's not just one piece of legislation. It's not just talk. We have to move forward on a comprehensive approach to keep the communities safe. That's what is require and required immediately.

BLITZER: This latest tragedy, as you point out, comes on the heels of the synagogue shooting that left 11 people dead a week and a half ago. In your own state, we have seen the Parkland school shooting in your own district. The massacre at the Pulse Nightclub. What has been done since all of those shootings to prevent more?

[13:35:15] DEUTCH: Well, I can tell you, Wolf, about all of the pieces of legislation we have introduced and a couple of minor pieces of legislation that passed. You know what has been done since then? Thanks to the March for Our Lives activists, thanks to the families in Parkland, there was an election that happened. Dozens, dozens of my soon-to-be former colleagues, who had always believed that it was possible to simply sit back and take their funding from the gun lobby and ignore the needs of gun safety in their communities, won't be coming back. There's now an opportunity in the Democratically controlled Congress to move forward to advance the kinds of bipartisan legislation that we have always known would pass, but we just haven't had leadership willing to bring it to the floor. That's what's going to happen. We need bipartisan support, Wolf. I know the Senate is not controlled by Democrats. We need the Senate to acknowledge, when the House passes legislation, like comprehensive uniform background checks, that it is just as important in their communities to keep people safe as it is in ours. That's what has to happen. There's change. We saw it start on Tuesday. We are going to see it accelerate in January.

BLITZER: Even if you get that legislation passed in the new House of Representatives, which will have a significant Democratic majority, you have to get 60 votes for anything important to pass in the Senate, and then you have to get the president of the United States to sign it into law. Are you hopeful any of that will happen?

DEUTCH: The president is on record stating publicly and loudly that he is going to be the guy who signs legislation of background checks and to take other action. It was one thing for him to say that, and he can back away and he knew it didn't matter because he knew there wouldn't be legislation. Now there will be. It will come through the House. Good to luck to those Senators, when it comes to the Senate, defending their position against the people in their community, against keeping them safe from gun violence. We also, Wolf, need to create an organization that focuses on the issues all the time. Just like the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration works to keep our highways safe and prevent accidents with cars, we ought to have a national gun safety administration that focuses resources on all of the things that we can do to prevent shootings in our communities. That's one of the ways we can help keep our people safe.

BLITZER: While I have you, Congressman, I want to ask you about the firing of the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, yesterday. The appointment of Matthew Whitaker as the acting attorney general. What's your reaction?

DEUTCH: Well, it's consistent with everything -- it's shocking, but consistent with everything the president has done. This is one more step that the president has taken to try to influence the investigation into what happened in the last campaign in the 2016 campaign, the role that Russia played with ties to the Trump campaign and administration. We have seen this throughout. We saw it in the firing of Comey. We have now seen it, not just in the firing of the attorney general, but the decision to bypass a career Justice Department official and the deputy attorney general, and instead replace the attorney general with a political operative who has called for the defunding of this investigation. This is a big problem. We ought to have emergency hearings. We ought to pass bipartisan legislation to protect the Mueller investigation. But rest assures, Wolf, if these things don't happen because my Republican colleagues refuse, in January, a Democratic Judiciary Committee, if Mueller is fired before then, a Democratic Judiciary Committee will be more than willing to welcome Mueller before our committee so the American public can understand all of the decisions and the impacts by the president on the investigation, and so we can finally start to have a conversation about obstruction of justice and whether the president's actions constituted obstruction of justice.

BLITZER: And you are a member of that House Judiciary Committee.

Congressman Deutch, thanks so much for joining us.

DEUTCH: Thanks, Wolf. Thanks for having me.

[13:39:32] BLITZER: In California, as parents begin to find out their children are victims of the mass shooting, we will speak to one of the colleagues of the fallen officer in this tragedy.

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BLITZER: Back to the breaking news, 12 people are dead after another mass shooting at a bar in southern California during a college night event. One victim was 22-year-old Cody Coffman. His father was calling him all night hoping he would answer his phone, and this hour he learned that his son did not make it out alive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON COFFMAN, SON WAS SHOOTING VICTIM: I talked to you all this morning. I thought it was my honor and my duty to let you guys know that we found him.

I talked to him last night. The first thing I said was, please don't drink and drive. The last thing I said was, son, I love you. That was the last thing I said.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[13:45:09] BLITZER: Our hearts go out to Jason Coffman, who lost his son, Cody.

This is Sergeant Ron Helus. He was one of the first police officers to respond. He was also killed by the shooter. He was expected to retire within the next year.

Sergeant Eric Buschow worked with him at the Ventura County Sheriff's Office.

Sergeant, we are so sorry for the loss of your friend and colleague. Our deepest condolences.

What can you tell us about your fellow officer?

ERIC BUSCHOW, SERGEANT, VENTURA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: Thank you, Wolf. Ron, he was a cop's cop. He was the guy that -- I'm not surprised he was the first in the door last night. He spent years on the SWAT team. He was a tactician. He trained hard and worked hard. He served this community and the residents here with absolute professionalism and compassion. He was a phenomenal investigator.

There are no words. No words to describe how we are all feeling. It's just an awful tragedy for his family and certainly for the families of all the victims last night. This is just -- this will affect this community indelibly for a very long time.

BLITZER: I know Thousand Oaks supposedly was one of the safest communities in the country. Had you ever seen anything like this at all?

BUSCHOW: I have been on for 29 years. I started the same year that Sergeant Helus did. I lived in this community all my life. We never experienced anything like this.

BLITZER: How are you guys reacting and dealing with this awful situation? 11 people plus a police officer and 12 people all together. Simply gunned down when a guy walks into the bar with a pistol and starts killing people.

BUSCHOW: It's a very tough situation. We are all feeling it. At the same time we have a job to do. It's going to be a long drawn out investigation and a lot of methodical steps that have to take place. A lot of moving parts to it. Everybody is just really stepped up. We have a lot of assistance from our partner agencies in the county. Our partners from the FBI and ATF. We are working through it. And at the same time we are grieving for Ron and his family.

BLITZER: What can you tell us about the shooter?

BUSCHOW: He's a 28-year-old local resident. And my understanding was he served some time in the Marines, the Marine Corps. Four years of active duty and several years of reserve time after that. He was a machine gunner. Outside of that, we have had a few contacts with him. But nothing that even would remotely suggest this kind of behavior.

BLITZER: Yes. It's an awful situation. I know you guys are going to come and learn about it and, hopefully, lessons will be learned for all of us to try to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Sergeant Buschow, thank you so much for joining us. Pass on our deepest condolences to everyone in your community.

BUSCHOW: Thank you, Wolf. I appreciate it.

BLITZER: Thank you.

We are going to have more news coming into CNN, including in Georgia, the gubernatorial candidate, Stacey Abrams, the Democrat, is filing legal action as her rival, Republican Brian Kemp, declares victory.

Plus, Ruth Bader Ginsburg in a hospital here in Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court justice unfortunately fell. We are going to tell you what happened.

We'll be right back.

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[13:53:25] BLITZER: Almost all of the races of the 2018 midterms have wrapped up. This is where it stands right now. Democrats have taken control of the House of Representatives. They have 225 seats while the Republicans right now have 199.

But 11 seats are still undecided. The GOP still has the majority in the U.S. Senate right now with 51 seats, the Democrats have 46. Three races are still too close to call.

Let's start in Florida. Both the Senate and governor's races appear to be headed for a recount there.

Our chief political correspondent, Dana Bash, is joining us.

Dana, let's start with Republican Governor Rick Scott. He has the edge over the Democratic Senator Bill Nelson.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: On election night, I'm sure you were getting texts, like I was, from Republicans saying, why aren't you calling the race for Rick Scott in Florida yet? The reason is it is incredibly tight. The state law in Florida is that if the vote is within half a percentage point, .50, it's an automatic machinery count. Look at where it is right now. It's not only that is correct it's even tighter, .26 percent as of this morning. So that's a quarter of a percentage point. If it gets down to .25, that means there will be an automatic hand recount, manual, statewide.

BLITZER: Statewide.

BASH: That's the reason we haven't called it. It's incredibly close. It could take a while. Of course, you're getting the jockeying, back and forth, the trolling of Rick Scott and his people of Bill Nelson, saying this isn't the way to end a career, you should just concede and give up. But it's understandable that, it is this close --

BLITZER: It's 21,000 votes.

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: -- he's not going to give up. It's going to take a little while.

[13:55:15] BLITZER: We'll see what happens in Florida. We've been through those recounts in Florida. At least I have. You were in elementary school at the time.

BASH: That's our story and we're sticking to it.

BLITZER: And the race with Rick Scott's seat. Ron DeSantis, the Republican, and Democrat Andrew Gillum is also very tight right now.

BASH: It is. And Andrew Gillum, the Democrat, he conceded on election night. He came out and said, I'm not going to win this. But now, he's rethinking that. In part, it's because they are looking at the votes more closely, and, as I mentioned, same Florida election law applies as in the Senate race. The questions is, as they look more closely, will things change? Because, right now, it's .52 percent. Gillum is down about 43,000, .52 percent. If it goes down to under half, that's it, it's going to be a recount.

BLITZER: Yes. Will be a recount.

BASH: So, again, he conceded. His office is saying and his campaign is saying it's because that's based on the information that he had at the time, but they're not fully giving up. Talk about memories. That is probably the most exact memory --

BLITZER: We'll see Saturday --

(CROSSTALK()

BASH: -- a concession than never mind concession. Saturday at noon is when they're going to figure it out.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Let's go to Georgia. Stacey Abrams, the Democrat, running for governor. Republican Brian Kemp, he's given up his role as secretary of state of Georgia. Stacey Abrams has not conceded yet --

BASH: She has not.

BLITZER: -- even though she's behind.

BASH: She is behind. Let's look at the numbers. She's only behind by a little bit more than 62,000 votes. But, again, she is arguing that there are still provisional ballots, that there are still outstanding ballots that have yet to be counted that we don't even see there that could make a difference. And that is why she is not giving up. Brian Kemp, on the other hand, is arguing the opposite, that the way that they see it, there aren't enough votes that are outstanding that have been cast to make up the difference. But this is incredibly contentious for many reasons. The biggest of which is that Brian Kemp was the secretary of state, which means that he has been in charge of the very election process that he was a candidate for. He's resigned as of today, so that, going forward he won't be, but that is a big reason why this is incredibly tense.

BLITZER: Excellent reporting with all those key race alerts the other night.

BASH: You, too, Wolf.

BLITZER: Thank you very much. Do it again with the --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: -- elections coming up.

Dana, thank you.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been hospitalized in Washington, suffering three fractured ribs after the 83-yer-old justice fell in her Supreme Court office last night.

Let's go to our Supreme Court analyst, Joan Biskupic.

Joan, what else do we know about what happened? Do we know, most importantly, how she's doing?

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Yes, Wolf. This all unfolded just an hour before Brett Kavanaugh was going to have his ceremonial investiture. Many dignitaries had already been gathering in the courtroom.

This has happened to Ruth Bader Ginsburg before. It happened in 2012 when she was working on the big Obamacare case, and in 2013, it also happened. But what's different is this happened at the court. In the earlier instances, it happened at home. And she knew what was going on. Her recovery came pretty quickly. What happened this time, after she fell in her office, she thought she was OK. But during the night, the pain and discomfort was such that she knew she needed to go to the hospital.

I'm not sure exactly what's happening to her right now but the prediction is that she'll be as resilient as before and be able to resume her regular schedule.

BLITZER: Let's hope for a speedy recovery for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She's 85 years old but we know she's a tough, tough lady. Let's hope for the very best.

Very quickly, what was it like at the Supreme Court today? We understand the president was there looking at Justice Ginsburg's open chair during a ceremony.

BISKUPIC: That's right. She normally sits right next to the chief justice. We know he's eager for more appointments, and probably has had Justice Ginsburg in his sights. But many have predicted, Wolf, that Ruth Bader Ginsburg might not have long to serve, but if anybody has long to serve, she has proven she will do it. The ceremony only took about five minutes, Wolf, but it was a big deal and many dignitaries there.

BLITZER: It was a ceremony for the newest associate justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Kavanaugh.

Joan, thank you very much for that report.

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

"NEWSROOM" with Brooke Baldwin starts right now.

[14:00:09] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.