Transcripts For CNNW Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer 20171218

Waiting to explode. In a new cnn exclusive, multiple sources now say the president is privately much less agitated about the russia investigation and insists hes be exonerate, but is a key figure behind the trump tower russia meeting talks to investigators, some allies fear the president could soon explode. And searching for space ships. Why did the pentagon spend 22 million taxpayer money to Research Claims about ufos . Well take a closer look the at the role played by a powerful former senator. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. This is cnn breaking news. Breaking news, there are multiple deaths as an amtrak passenger train on its first trip on a new route goes off the track on a curve in Washington State. Horrific images of derailed train cars lying on an interstate highway and dangling from an overpass tell part of the story. An ntsb Emergency Team is on their way to the scene to piece together what happened. President trump reveals his National Security strategy. Its a document every president in the last three decades has published, outlining threats to the United States and how to respond. President trumps plan builds on his America First Campaign Slogan and in a speech the president just slammed his predecessors over immigration, trade and the iran nuclear deal. He painted russia and china as rival powers, but the president avoided the part of the document that accuses russia of trying to undermine democracies. In a cnn exclusive, sources say President Trump is privately taking a calmer tone on the russia investigation, boasting to friends and advisers he expects special Counsel Robert Mueller rm not only to clear him of any wrongdoing, but even to write a letter of exoneration that he can show the world. One source worries, though, about a president ial meltdown if that done happen. That comes as the man who araked the trump tower meeting between russians and Campaign Officials talks to investigators. Our correspondents, specialists and guests, they are all standing by with full coverage. Lets begin with the breaking news, the deadly derailment of an amtrak passenger train which sent rail cars plunging off an overpass on to a highway in Washington State. Cnns rene marsh is covering for us. Renee, update our views. Tell us what your learning. Reporter well, wolf, at this hour, and we are talking about six hours after this derailment and we still do not have a clear handle on how many people have died. Local Law Enforcement saying that it is just not safe to search all of the cars at this point, but im quoting one Law Enforcement officer who says anyone in those cars at this point is not alive. Amtrak 501. Emergency emergency. Emergency. We are on the ground. Need ems asap. Reporter tonight, dramatic audio after amtrak 501 left the tracks. Were coming over the corner to go across the bridge and we went on the ground. Reporter plummeted on to an overpass and interstate 5 during morning rush hour near olympia washington. Is everybody okay . Im still figuring that out. Reporter Police Confirm multiple deaths and injuries on the highspeed train which was on its inaugural run between seattle and portland. Amtrak officials tell cnn there were 78 passengers aboard, along with five crew. More than 70 people were rushed to local hospitals. Witnesses describe the scene. We felt a little bit of a jolt and then at a certain point the we could hear a crumpling of the train car and we were catapulted into the seats in frontal of us. Reporter amtraks ceo tells cnn positive train control, a technology designed to slow down a train thats going too fast, was not activated on the tracks at the time of the crash. The National Transportation safety board is launching a full investigation, tonight dispatching a team of 20 investigators to the scene. This was called an inaugural run of this service, but we want to check and make sure what that exactly means and find out more information about that specifically. Reporter an ntsb official tells cnn the investigation will focus on recovering the trains data recorders to determine the trains speed. Theyll also examine the tracks and signals and conduct extensive interviews with the crew and passengers. We went down an embankment. We had to kick out the window, the emergency window. Reporter the last major amtrak crash was just 2 1 2 years ago in philadelphia when amtrak 188 from washington, d. C. To new york city derailed, killing eight and sending more than 200 others to the hospital. In that crash, the trains data recorder revealed it was traveling at 106 Miles Per Hour around a sharp curve that had a speed limit of 50. All right. So no doubt, wolf, they will be looking at speed as well in this investigation. We know that along the track at 89 Miles Per Hour, however, it could be slower within that curve. The other outstanding question is the experience of the crew. Were they used to this new route . What was their experience level with amtrak . Ied that question to the ceo of amtrak today and he was not ready to answer. So were waiting to see. Perhaps that would be another piece of the puzzle for investigators, wolf. Theyre saying mother deaths and scores of people injured. 89, 78 people taken to the hospital. Injured on board the train. All of the deaths, though, what weve heard from passengers on board the train, the injuries, youre right, both on the train as well as on the ground. We know that more than 70 people have been transported to the hospital, but, you know, weve heard from the sheriff earlier today. They still havent even gotten into the train to search all of the cars. So i would imagine, you know, we are going to find out a lot more as far as death toll and how many injured. Were being very careful with those numbers because as you know with these sorts of situations, its all preliminarily and it always changes. Ntsb, National Transportation safety board team on the way to start this investigation which could go on for months and months. Rene, i know youre working your sources. Well get back to you. Joining us now on the phone, the mayor of dupont, washington. Thats the town nearest to the scene of the derailment. Mayor, thanks so much for joining us. First of all, what can you tell us about the i understand there is a search and rescue effort underway. There is. All of the uninjured and rhode island apparently injured have been evacuated from the scene. In the city of dupont, we processed 21 people that were either uninjured or lightly injured and we brought them through our city hall. So my understanding, all of the known injured have been removed from the site, and as i heard your previous caller discussing, there will be a more detailed recovery effort that begins now. Were getting some confused some sort of different numbers as far as the death toll. Do you know how many people were killed in this derailment . I dont think anybody knows that yet. They have not gotten into the depth of the train and lifted the cars so, you know, i dont think anybody has any good numbers at this time. Have all the families been notified of their loved ones who may have been aboard this train . You know, those that came through dupont were provided the opportunity to call their families. Those that have been evacuated directly to hospitals, i dont have any Accurate Information on that. The mayor of nearby lakewood dawn anderson raised the alarm about needing more safety protocols for this train. He told komo news, and im quoting him now, this project was never needed and endajs our citizens. Do you agree . I know don anderson well. When that issue came up, my city joined the city of lakewood in a lawsuit to try to stop it. That was not going to happen. The issue is that there are several at grade crossings in the city of lakewood and one at grade crossing in dupont, so you bring a 79mileanhour train through the center of population centers. There will be concerns. Was it a needed move on the tracks . Im not in a position to make that decision. I do know that amtrak, Washington Department of transportation and others have worked very hard to mitigate those risks. Within a few years, my city will have a great separate crossing because of other work going on. Lakewood will continue to have at grade crossings. That continues to be a concern. The may be mayor of lakewood issued that concern two weeks ago. He was deeply concerned, and as you know, this was the inaugural run, the first time paying passengers were aboard that train. What do you suspect, mayor, youre there on the scene, went wrong . Well, i can tell you that the accident did not occur at any of the at grade crossings, and the accident did not occur on the new tracks. It took place at a location that is where that train has always been going. It was on a stretch of track that was crossing interstate 5 to a more inland portion before it turned south towards portland, and that piece of track has been in use for years. So as much as i have safety concerns for the at grade crossings, i dont believe that any of the new work had anything to do with it. So it will be interesting to see what the ntsb determines. Mayor michael courts of dupont, washington. Good luck to you. Good luck to all the folks. Lets hope we get a clear understanding of what happens to make sure it doesnt happen again. Thank you so much for joining us. Were going to have a lot more on this derailment coming up. Other news breaking now, including President Trump, hes just unveiled his National Security strategy. Thats a normal version of his America First Campaign Slogan. Lets go to our senior White House Correspondent jim acosta. Hes joining us. Jim, the president didnt exactly stick to the script of that lengthy document. Reporter thats right, wolf. The president did mention the Train Derailment in Washington State in that National Security speech earlier today, but the speech was also notable for what it did and did not include on the subject of russia. In a speech on his National Security strategy which covered a range of Global Threats from north korea to isis, President Trump used the r word, russia. We also face rival powers, russia and china, that seek to challenge american influence, values and wealth. We will attempt to build a Great Partnership with those and other countries, but in a manner that always protects our national interest. Reporter but in the president s roughly 30minute speech, there was no mention of russias meddling in the 2016 election, thats despite the fact that there is a reference to moscows interference included in the written version of the white house strategy, stating actors such as russia are using Information Tools in an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of democracies. Over the weekend, the president tried to put to rest any questions about whether he would fire special Counsel Robert Mueller over his handling of the russia investigation. [ inaudible question ] no, im not. No. Reporter even as top cabinet members dont seem to be completely ruling it out. I dont have any reason to think the president s going to do that, but thats obviously up to him. Reporter the president s message on National Security was muddled by his own lack of discipline. His first tweet on the train accident in Washington State didnt mention the loss of life there, instead he made a pitch for his policies. Tweeting the train accident that just occurred in dupont, washington, shows more than ever why our infrastructure plan should be submitted quickly. Our deepest sympathies and most heartfelt prayers for the victims of the Train Derailment in Washington State. All the more reason why we must start immediately fixing the infrastructure of the United States. Reporter the president also used his National Security speech to tout his tax cut plan thats on its way to final passage. We are days away from passing historic tax cuts. Reporter mr. Trump has pointed to the reagan tax cuts from the 1980s as proof his plan will work, but back in 1991, the then businessman slammed the reagan cuts as devastating for the economy. So this tax act was just an absolute catastrophe for the country. I truly feel that this country right now is in a depression. Its not a recession. Were in an absolute depression. And one of the reasons were there is what happened in 1986. Have you ever tried a jury trial . I have not. Reporter the white house is also responding to criticism over the president s picks for the judiciary, just days after a fellow republican blasted one of his selections Matthew Peterson at a hearing. I understand the challenge that would be ahead of me if i were fortunate enough to become a District Court judge. Reporter louisiana gop senator john kennedy urged the president to scrap the nomination. Peterson has now withdrawn his name from consideration, a move the white house has accepted. Hes never been in a courtroom before. And no disrespect, but just because youve seen my cousin vinny youre not qualified to be a federal judge. Reporter now the white house appears to recognize the president made some kind of mistake by tweeting about this infrastructure plan in reference to that Train Derailment out in Washington State. Later on in the afternoon, wolf, the white house did with the president s twitter handle as well as the White House Press secretary Sarah Sanders twitter handle go ahead and mention the human toll in the Train Derailment in Washington State after the president pushed for his infrastructure plan in the very first tweet on the drain derailment. Jim acosta, thanks very much. Lets stay at the white house. Joining us now, the white house National Security spokesman michael anton. Michael, thanks so much for joining us. Thank you. I got a copy, what, 55 pages of this National Security strategy of the United States of america. A lengthy document. Very detailed. Have you read the whole strategy document . Ive been reading it actually in development for many months. Has the president , as far as you know, read the entire strategy document . The president has been involved in the drafting of it from the beginning. Has been presented with sections of it over the past many months and was briefed on the final documents several weeks ago and then the president himself personally led the presentation of the document to his cabinet only about a week ago. But has he read the whole document . I cant say that hes read every line and every word. He certainly had the document, the entire throughout the process it has been briefed on it. Remember, this document specifically is based on his words. Its based on his Campaign Speeches and his major speeches this year. So this document is a summation of everything that he has been talking about for at least the last two years and really much longer. And everything hes been trying to operationalize in 2017 as president on the Foreign Policy realm. I asked the questions, michael, because in the speech he delivered over at the reagan building this afternoon, in the speech he certainly didnt go as far as the document goes on several key National Security issues. Let me give you a couple of examples. The document says, its a lengthy document, ill admit it. He said today actors such as russia are using tools in an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of democracies. And then the document says russia uses Information Operations as part of its offensive Cyber Efforts to influence Public Opinion across the globe. Its influence campaigns blend Covert Intelligence operations and false online personas with statefunded media, thirdparty intermediaries and paid social media users or trolls. The president didnt say anything along those lines in his speech today. Over the past year, as you know, hes insisted all of those allegations of russian interference and all of that, a witchhunt, a hoax, why didnt he mention those specific points . Thats not what he said. Thats not what he said over the past several months. He said collusion, the idea his campaign in any way colluded with a foreign power is false. Hes affirmed on three instances i can think of off the top of my head. The first in january of 2017 in the transition after he was briefed by intel agencies on what they judged the russians had done in the u. S. Election swm. Second time in warsaw standing next to the president of poland. He talked about russias destabilizing behavior. And the third and most recent time was at a press conference with the president of vietnam in vietnam. He was asked this question specifically by the press corps traveling with him and he reaffirmed yet again what he believed about russian interference. I dont know why you all keep coming back to this as this is something hes been denying or many way doubts. Hes affirmed it many times. He keeps getting asked the question, people dont believe his affirmation and then he repeats it. I think its time cnn and everyone else took yes for an answer and moved on. Michael, lets be specific. So the president firmly believes that russia interfered go back specific words from january, in poland and vietnam. Hes been very, very clear. He said on april 30th on face the nation, he said hackers could have been china or a lot o different groups. If you dont catch ats very had to say who did the hacking. With that being said, ill go along with russia, could have been china, could have been a lot of different groups. He sort of grudgingly has said over the past year, year and a half, maybe it was russia, maybe it was china, maybe it was something else. Youre the spokesman for the National Security council. Can you say flatly right now speaking on behalf of the president that he believes russian trolls, russian cyber warfare activists were engaged in trying to influence the outcome of the u. S. President ial election . Yes, he has said that. Getting to those comments that you just mentioned, hes also affirming a fact that the cyber problem is not simply a russian problem. There are other malicious cyber actors, including north korea, for one, and that Cyber Threats are not just these influence operations. The Cyber Threats, there are a range of Cyber Threats, threats to Critical Infrastructure, threats to American Intellectual property and our economic security. We face a growing cyber danger that the whole government has to get together to confront and its not just about one country and not just about one area. Let me ask you about another line that jumped out at me. In the actual document it says china and russia are revisionist powers who want to shape a world antithetical to u. S. Values and interests. Does the president believe that . He believes that, yes, these are powers that want to overturn the status quo that has been in. There are areas of cooperation with russia and china. For instance, right now the United States is cooperating strongly with china to put economic and diplomatic pressure on north korea, but at the same time we recognize that we have serious difference with china over trade practices, over our trade deficit and other Economic Issues that he is determined to discuss and confront forthrightly with the chinese. Its not a simple matter of all one or all the other. We can find areas of cooperation while were forthright about protecting our interests, which is exactly the line from the speech you quoted earlier. Thats exactly what that line says. The president says that america will build a partnership with russia where possible, as you correctly point out, but also stand up for the country when necessary. When has President Trump, as far as you know, and youre the spokesman for the nsc, the National Security council, when has he directly stood up to president putin either in a phone conversation or during a oneonone meeting . How about closing the russian consulate in San Francisco . Closing two other consular annexes earlier this year and expelling american diplomats in response to russian we thought unjustified reduction expelling Russian Diplomats in response to what we considered to be unjustified russian actions against american diplomats. Tightening up and shoring up the sanctions regime that the United States government put into place over crimea and ukraine earlier this year. With socalled maintenance sanctions. Those are clear instances of the United States standing up to russia and they were all led by this president. So basically are you saying that when he meets with putin, when he speaks on the phone with putin, he complains about various russian policies directly to the president of russia . He brings up american concerns and he forthrightly defending american interests. He talks about areas of cooperation. They talk about fighting isis. They talk about trying to Work Together to produce a stable syria. A resolution of the Syrian Civil War and a stable outcome in syria. But the president is also forthright in his statement and defense of american interests. I dont think i would use the word complaining, its a matter of being bold and of standing up for his own country. As the president likes to say about this country, other countries, he says hes got to be for russia, hell say that about other leaders, but im for america. Hes forthrightly for america. As he should be. The document, and its a lengthy document, also says, and im reading from the document says we must upgrade our diplomatic capabilities to compete in the current environment and embrace a competitive mooiindset. As you know, that seems to directly contradict the president and the secretary of states action severely cutting the budget, loving key positions unfilled. How committed is President Trump to the policies outlined in this document when it comes to the state department bolstering diplomacy . Hes completely committed. Again, this is a document that begins from his Campaign Speeches and flows directly from his speeches and actions as president. I think even the most, you know, people with the longest experience at the state department who wish the state department well and love its mission would admit that the state department is in need of reform. There is a lot of necessary reform that can take place. This is an Administration Working through that reform in order to precisely fulfill the goal, to make our diplomatic corps stronger and more able to advance american interests in 2018 and beyond. The president also in his speech over at the reagan center, at the reagan building here in washington, he used the words, as he always does, radical islamic terrorism, but that phrase does not appear at all in the National Security strategy document. Theres a reference to jihadist terrorists but no radical islamic terrorism in the document. Why is the language in the document different than what the president says if hes responsible for creating the document . This is a distinction without a difference. I think we all know what were talking about, whether the phrase is radical islamic terrorism, jihadism, violent extremism and so on. It is a Violent Movement inspired by a radical ideology that its adherents believe is inspired by religion, but many multiples of other faithfuls who cling to that same faith reject. The president is forthright is explaining what the adherence of this radical ideology where they believe that the basis of their ideology comes from, but he also has wonderful relations with leaders in the muslim world, in the gulf, in the arab world and elsewhere. As you saw in his trip to saudi arabia, the very first trip he took as president and the speech he gave to more than 50 muslim leaders, he spoke movingly about the importance of the muslim faith to those leaders and movingly about the need to confront those who take that faith and pervert it. So there is no difference. These are the same ideas expressed in slightly different wording in the speech and document and other speeches throughout the year, bunt its the exact same idea the president has been talking about all year and all of last year through 2015. I raise the question because he used to rail against president obama and secretary clinton for not using the phrase radical islamic terrorism. He says that was he was always angry, bitter that they were refusing to do so. He was complaining they were politically correct. Couldnt talk about radical islamic terrorism. The document doesnt talk about radical islamic terrorism. It talks about jihadist terrorists. I dont know how you go he was anger and bitter at Hillary Clinton and barack obama. He was pointing out correctly that american Foreign Policy, the elite consensus had drifted in a kind of Political Correctness that said there is no connection whatsoever. Why is the document politically correct . The document is not politically correct at all . It doesnt mention radical islamic terrorism. The document talks about jihadism, the document talks about these threats, the document is much more forthright than past National Security strategies. Dont you agree there is a difference between jihadism and radical islamic terrorism, using those words differently . What do you think the difference is . I think its exactly the way i described it. Why would the president make such a big deal about it during the complain when Hillary Clinton refused to use that phrase . He was running for a time during the past eight years you had an administration in power that essentially wanted to deny there was any connection between some peoples interpretation of a religion and what was going on, just skrucrub that out as t was a bland of violent extremism that had no source and that was not getting america anywhere. In fact, keeping our head in the sand about that fact was causing us to lose ground. Its a very fascinating document. Ive got to tell you. Ive read it. I know under the law you have to release a document like this. I think the Trump Administration released it a lot more quickly than earlier administrations. Theyve been required to do so for three decades. At lowest you got it out. I know you guys worked really hard on it. We believe were the First Administration to ever get it out in the first year and have the president personally introduce it to the American People. Thats a choice he made enthusiastically. He wanted to explain this document and the strategy behind it to the American People and remind them of what the challenges we face are and the things that we still need to do to implement the strategy that the document plays out. Im glad you clarified speaking on behalf of the president that he, like the intelligence community, like the fbi, firmly believes that russia did last year interfere in the u. S. President ial election. Hes only said it on camera on the record at least four times off the top of my head i can think of, wolf. Just to repeat it, he always does it grudgingly. Thats just something that ive noticed over the past year. Im glad you clarified that speaking on behalf of the president. Its worth investigating right now, what, if anything, can be done to prevent russia from doing it in 2018, in 2020, thats why this investigation up on capitol hill as well as the special counsel investigation from your perspective, michael, is so important, right . Theres really, unfortunately, nothing i can say about the special investigation. Id have to refer you to the lawyers specifically for that, but certainly what is important is protecting all of americas Critical Infrastructure and that absolutely includes our electoral system, protecting the integrity of our electoral system from any kind of outside interference. Michael anton, nice of you to join us. Thank you so much for joining us. Michael anton of the National Security council staff. Appreciate it very much. Youre welcome. Theres more breaking news were covering. Well take a quick break. Well be right back. It can detect a threat using ai, and respond 60 times faster. 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Fisher investments. Clearly better money management. In a cnn exclusive, multiple sources now say President Trump has been privately much calmer about the entire russia investigation, insisting that hell soon be cleared in writing. But some are fearing if things dont turn out that way, the president could explode. Lets turn oh our senior Congressional Correspondent manu raju. Reporter President Trump expressing some calm to his advisers, believing this investigation that Robert Mueller has initiated is going to be over soon and hell be exonerated. And believing that all he can actually have a letter, something in writing saying he did nothing wrong. This is creating some concern within circles in the west wing because thats theres no guarantee that will happen. In fact, there are indications that Robert Muellers investigation is still picking up some steam, particularly in light of michael flynn, that former National Security adviser who said that he is willing to cooperate with the special counsels investigation. Now, wolf, this comes as a key time this week. We understand that the president s attorneys will be meeting with the special counsel and his own attorneys to get a clearer sense of which direction the investigation is going to go. Now on capitol hill, wolf, a number of President Trumps close allies here are trying to do everything they can to steer clear of the subject of russia and russia meddling, not wanting to inflame the president and also whenever this comes up in private discussions, we are told that they like to steer the conversation back to other areas because they know that this is an area that does upset the president , but behind the scenes, wolf, the president trying to make clear that he believes that hes going to be exonerated some time soon. But the question is if hes not, what action will he take and will he do anything to get rid of special Counsel Robert Mueller . Right now his attorneys say that is not in the cards, but a lot of speculation Robert Muellers job might not be safe, wolf. Thanks very much, manu raju, up on capitol hill. Lets get back to the breaking news. President trump unveiling a new National Security strategy. A lengthy 55page document full of striking departures from the president s typical rhetoric, the strategy outlines a very tough stance towards russia, a policy he failed to mention during his speech touting the announcement. Lets get reaction from our experts. Peter bergen, youre a National Security analyst. Youve read every word in this document. Whats your bottom line . Whats surprising, the usual suspects are in there, iran, north korea, isis, but the focus on china as a state antagonist to the United States and on russia and the framing that were back to an era of great power of competition. Thats really the headline. You know, in terms of russia, a lot of discussion of influence operations, information warfare, subversion of democracies, nothing really specific about the u. S. Election, but clearly by implication thats an issue. Then, of course, with the chinese, a giant theft of American Intellectual property and also, you know, the expansion in the south china sea. So really framing these two countries and actually calling for the United States military to prepare for, quote, a major war because of these two revisionist powers. So thats new. And thats a good point, phil mudd, because in the document, the document calls china and russia revisionist power whos want to shape a world antithetical to u. S. Values and interests. Its a very tough document, very detailed documents. You heard all about the russian interference in the u. S. President ial election. But its, as i said, a marked contrast to what we hear from the president on a day to day basis when he refers to the russia involvement as a hoax. I think there are a couple of things to take note of here, wolf. You hit on one. The gap between the president and what he says including what he said about the strategy today and how policy is executed in the u. S. Government has never been broader in my view. For example, the president talks very aggressively about north korea and the state Department Rex Tillerson got sideways with the president a short while ago when he was talking about facetoface talks with the north koreans. The president has talked very tough about iran, but its not clear the state department and others are opposed to having some continuation of a nuclear deal with iran. So the air gap between what the president says publicly and what documents like this say that are developed by his staff is pretty fundamental. One quick comment, i think peter bergen is deadon. This is back to the buch. I would have thought in 1991 at the end of the soviet union, we talked about the peace dividend. We didnt think we would face another superpower rival. We were all concerned about the soviet union. Now we see a document that says the future is not only one superpower rivalry but with both the chinese and the russians. It feels like 1985 again. Its interesting because you remember last september 27th, mark preston, the president tweeted this, the russia hoax continues. Now its ads on fox. On facebook. This document spells out in great detail what the russians did during the election and anybody who reads this and remembers all the past year what the president has said has to come to the conclusion that there is a vast gap there. Yeah, there is a disconnect, and, in fact, the disconnect just happened just a short time ago, just a few hours ago. We didnt hear anything from the president when it came to directly addressing the election meddling that occurred in 2016. He didnt say that. He just described china and russia as rival powers. But to your point, what i thought was very interesting for everything that was written in that very important document, this one sentence stood out, it said the American Public and private sectors must recognize this and Work Together to defend our way of life. What its saying is we must recognize the threat that russia is doing and has done, however, the problem with that sentence is that the president neepds to be the one who recognizes it first. To your point on that interview that we just did, you just did, the recognition seemed to be there but it wasnt there because the fact of the matter is President Trump has left it so ambiguous about whether he thinks russia came in and meddled in our elections or if russia did not. This document basically signed off by general mcmaster, the president s National Security adviser. Hes still on active duty general right now. Hes known as a very serious guy. Wrote a book about the failures of the vietnam war. He knows these subjects quite well. Is there a gap as far as you can tell, rebecca berg, between what general mcmaster believes as opposed to the president . There absolutely is, wolf. You can point to what mcmaster thinks and russia and what hes said about nato and what the United States role should be in supporting and defending nato and participating in the alliance. There is a major gap between what he has said and the president has said, but there are two important things to remember about h. R. Mcmaster, and one is that he is still working in this administration. He is a survivor in spite of the differences of opinion he has with the president. So he has enough defenders in the administration that hes able to navigate those differences with the president , but its also also also an active duty threestar general, which is significant. Peter, youre our terrorism engine better. You heard michael anton, the spokesman for the National Security council when i said the president refers to radical islamic terrorism, the document refers to jihadist terrorists. Is there a difference there . What is the difference . Well, i think theres been a lot of discussion in washington of this and its mostly semantics. Michael anton is right, we kind of basically do know what were all talking about, whatever we call it. The Obama Administration was careful not to conflate radical islamic terrorism, conflating islam and terrorism. This document goes out of its way to not use that phrase. It follows the obama approach. Not necessarily the obama approach. As far as not using the radical islamic terrorism. Hillary clinton called them jihadist terrorists. The great thing about that is its accurate and 23409 controversial and doesnt mention islam so its not controversial. At the end of the day, however, it is kind of a washington thing to be very focused on the semantics. As president obama would say, look, it bunt matter what were calling them, were killing thousands of them. Similarly with President Trump, the United States has killed 70,000 members of isis. The fact is that isis is now basically gone from iraq. I was in iraq just over the weekend. The country is liberated from isis. And that was, you know, president obama did a lot to make that happen and President Trump obviously did something as well there. What else did you learn about whats going on in iraq right now, specifically how much influence iran has . Well, i mean, the big takeaway for me at Baghdad Airport there wasnt when i talk to people they said for the past two months in baghdad, its the first time that theyve felt secure and safe. Obviously, you kno obviously, you know, peace is not going to break out all over iraq. There is a feeling with isis gone they can take a breath. Really a pause here and really a moment where there might be some hope, which is not something you normally hear in iraq. What do you think, phil . I think thats true. Id make one additional point. One of the things weve seen in the past 15 years in the iraq war is the law of unintended consequences. When youve got 65 of people who are sunni, that guarantees when you get a democracy people supported by iran will take power. We brought some version of democracy or helped to to iraq, we also brought in iran. I think well see the iranian influence in iraq which is an influence counter to our interests for decades to come. Do you agree with that, peter . There is suspicion of the iranians in iraq as well. They call them the persians, which is not a term of endearment. Al sadder wer who is a very impt cleric just went to saudi arabia. Iraq is not an iranian client state. Its much more complicated than that, iranians certainly have enormous influence. I want to get phil to weigh in. The president over the weekend was trying to tamp down this notion he was going to fire special Counsel Robert Mueller, telling reporters on the white house lawn that wasnt under consideration. There are a lot of prominent voices in conservative media who are comparing the fbi to the cuba b kgb, whether or not mueller was leading a coup. Youre sort of smiling when you hear that, but those are very worrisome terms when you hear it and a lot of people could start to believe that kind of stuff. And thats why this is dangerous. This is what i would call a beltway ballet, that is the president knows based on his experience taking out jim comey that the consequences of taking out Robert Mueller are dire. He takes out mueller and all of a sudden you revitalize the congressional investigations. There is no way the senate can drop this investigation if Robert Mueller is removed. Whats happening here is that people who are fronting for the white house are setting up this dance. The setup is undermine mueller so if he ever brings charges that are close to the white house, then you go attack mueller and say we told you all along, this is a witchhunt, the charges are a witchhunt and the charges mueller brought have no validity because mueller himself has no validity. Theyre fronting for the president because the president cant take out mueller. Everybody stand by. There is more breaking news were following. Were also learning about a secretive military program. Why did American Taxpayers Fund research into ufos to the tune of 22 million . The secretive federal Program Designed to track unidentified flying objects is facing new scrutiny tonight. Were learning the fresh details about the nowdefunct initiative, which some officials deem a National Security priority. Others, a massive waste of taxpayer money. Brian todd is joipg us here in the situation room with more. Brian, what are you learning . A short time ago, u. S. Senator harry reid, the driving force behind this controversial program, defended it to cnn, saying it was groundbreaking. But we have learned senator reid was persuaded to push this program by a longtime friend who had donated to his campaigns, a man who says he believes in ufos and aliens. Commander david fraver says he still cant explain what he saw that day. November, 2004, the Navy Fighter Pilot was on a Training Mission west of san diego when he was ordered to check out something in the water not far away. On a clear day, over a smooth ocean, he saw the objects, waves breaking over it, and says he saw something hovering above it. Its randomly moving north south, east west, just random. You know, just stopping, going the other direction, like you could do with a helicopter, but a little bit more abrupt. It looks like a 40footlong tic tac with no wings. Reporter fraver said he and his fourman team tracked the object for several minutes until it just disappeared. Tonight, cnn has learned that the pentagon had a secretive program to research ufos like the one fraver spotted. It was run by an official named louise aliaondo. This is a National Security imperative. We have clear things that we do not how they work operating in areas that we cant control. A defense official tells cnn the program cost at least 22 million over five years before it was shut down in 2012. According to the New York Times and politico, which first reported this story, tens of millions of dollars for the project were pushed through by former Senate Majority leader, harry reid. Those publications say a lot of the money for the pentagon ufo program went to a Company Called bigalow aerospace, run by a longtime friend of reids, robert bigalow, a big believer in ufos. Public records show bigalow contributed about 20,000 to reid and his Political Action committee. That Campaign Contributor got Research Contracts from this program that just is a bad picture. It doesnt look good for anybody. Its hard to imagine that something that came about that way and profited somebody who pushed for the program was a good use of taxpayer money. A pentagon spokesman, in fact, told cnn that the program was shuttered because there were, quote, other, higherpriority issues that merited funding. Its definitely crazy to spend 22 million to research ufos. Pilots are always going to see things that they cant identify and we should probably look into them. But as to identify them as ufos, to target ufos to research, that is not the priority we have as a National Security matter right now. But pilots like fraver, who says he saw something, see merits in the program. If it is real, and i think its real, because i saw it, what if theres more of these and what if we do nothing . Just a short time ago, senator reid responded to cnn, saying hes, quote, proud of this program and its groundbreaking studies. Speak for themselves, he says. Reid says, its silly and counterproductive to politicize the serious questions raised by the work of the ufo program. The head of that aerospace firm, robert bigalow, did not respond to cnns multiple requests for comment by our deadline. Wolf . Brian, theres also information that former senator reid tried to keep information about this entire program out of public view. Thats right, wolf. A New York Times says that reid acknowledged to him that he and two other senators, ted stevens, and daniel inouye, both deceased, did not want public debate object senate floor over this program. Reid told the times that the funding for the project was socalled black money, meaning secret money for classified programs, and they didnt want it talked about. Brian today reporting for us, thank you. Coming up, the breaking news, there are now multiple deaths a as a passenger train flies off the tracks. Some cars flung from an overpass on to an interstate highway. Others left dangling. So what went so terribly wrong . [vo] quickbooks introduces rodney. He has a new business teaching lessons. Rodney wanted to know how his business was doing. So he got quickbooks. It organizes all his accounts, so he can see his bottom line. Ahhh. Thats a profit. Know where you stand instantly. Visit quickbooksdotcom. Happening now, breaking news. Deadly train crash. A highspeed train hits a curve, jumps the track with some cars plunging on to a busy interstate. We have audio from the accident as we learn more. Fearing a meltdown. Sources tell cnn that the president is expecting the special counsel to exonerate him and that mr. Trump might lose it if that doesnt happen. This as the man who organized that Infamous Trump tower meeting back in 2016 faces house investigators. New russia strategy. The president unveils a new Foreign Policy that is tougher on moscow and acknowledges its election meddling, at least on paper. But is it at odds with mr. Trumps personal views about russia and Vladimir Putin . And ruled out. A trump judicial nominee who failed to answer very basic legal questions drops out, after