Transcripts For CNNW Wolf 20170203

Unite the country on the eve of his election . I think theres a poll that showed a 50 approval rating. A majority of people approve i understand that. As the president s policies continue to get enacted for all the hysteria regarding his efforts to protect the country on those seven countries where we didnt have the proper vetting in place to ensure that the American People were safe, what we did have was a high response to the American People in support of that. His policies continue to do it. The president understands this is marathon, not a sprint. As he continues to get people back to work, protect this country, i think the poll numbers will act in accordance. I dont have staff announcement right now. Well see where we go. Criticize the bureau broadly. I think well have further updates on that. Thats an area we need to work with congress on. April. Two things. One, you said something about President Trump talking on the facebook live. He was going to talk about black History Month and issues pertaining to the africanamerican community. Couple when you first came, a couple of days into the administration, i asked you about the black agenda that he had possibly formulated as he came out the day before with the issue of chicago or the day after. Chicago sending the feds if it doesnt changed. Has he now formulated a plan to deal with the black community not just with issues of law and order . He had a meeting with africanamerican leaders the other day in the roosevelt room. It isnt just law and order. Its job, education, health care, Small Business lending. Theres a lot that goes along with that agenda. Part of these business meetings are about hiring and Small Business and job creation. Its not just a single thing. That impacts that entire segment of population whether theyre living in rural part of the country or inner city. I think thats what hes really focused on right now. Im not finished. Hes now formulating the agenda. The second question, cbe, whats on the table for that . I have nothing to announce on that. You dont have nothing to announce but people are i understand. We heard a lot of rumors. When we have something to announce on that, we will do it. I dont think it should be any surprise that the president when it comes to rooting out radical islamic terrorism, which is what that was supposed to be focused on, thats major focus. Keeping the country safe. I dont have anything further for you on that. What about excludeing people. April there are reports. I dont have anything for you. I just said i dont have anything for you. I will be clear this president to rooting out radical islamic terrorism is at the fore front of his agenda. Theres been a lot of reports about where that program or that effort will lie. Any target issues . I have nothing else. Thank you, april. Cecilia. The president has tough talk on iran. Should americans be ready for the possible of military action with iran . Is that on the table . Ive said that before. The president has been clear. He doesnt take options off the table but he understands the impact of Something Like that. The sanctions will be very, very strong and impactful and i hope that iran realizes that after the provocative measures that they have taken that they understand this president , this administration will not sit back and take it lightly. John. Thank you, sean. Monday some reports say that it will be a tie in the senate on the confirmation of betsy devos, secretary of education and mike pence will have to cast historic tie breaking vote as Vice President. Should we will watching for any surprises . Has the Congressional Affairs office gotten one more vote from the no camp into the yes or do you expect the Vice President to be on hand to confirm her . I would say this, betsy devos is an unbelievable champion of education for children, teachers, parents. I hope that vote gets 60, 70 votes. Shes an unbelievable, remarkable woman who has fought very hard to improve our nations Education System and make sure that schools are serving children. I think were going to make sure we do everything question and feel 100 confident she will be confirmed monday night and be the next secretary of education. Thank you. Have a great weekend. The president is about to sign executive orders. I hope you have a great weekend. To those of you who cant travel to florida, well be gaggling on the plane on monday. Thank you. Have a great weekend. Sean spicer, the White House Press secretary, wrapping up his daily briefings with reporters and announcing the president will sign some more executive orders. Well have coverage of that coming up as well. Im wolf blitzer in washington. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Lets get some quick perspective on what we just heard. Our senior media correspondent brian stelter. Jim acosta is in the briefing room. On iran, the Trump Administration posed new sanctions against iran today because of the Ballistic Missile test that the u. S. Condemned earlier in the week and now theres this back and forth going. Strong words between the u. S. , the Trump Administration and the iranian regime. This could get pretty intense but give me your analysis. Well, look, this is what President Trump said he was going to do, get tough on iran. He said during the campaign that the nuclear deal was no good and it was weak and iran got much more than it gave. The truth of the matter is its really quite tricky, this whole Ballistic Missile thing. The u. N. Resolution says iran should not do any missile test but only if the intent was to arm it with a Nuclear Warhead or nuclear capable. This is what the sanctions target. Those dozen entities and another dozen individuals all talking about, all being sanctioned because of trying to help irans Ballistic Missile program. The sanctions dont really violate the Iran Nuclear Deal because as the u. S. It has said, they always reserve the right to sanction iran on missile, terrorism, on human rights violation before, during and after this deal. The important thing is, i think, big picture, that the Iran Nuclear Deal has not yet been executive ordered out of existence or ripped up or opened up. Most people believe its actually a good deal in terms of keeping Irans Nuclear program totally visible and totally restricted. Stand by. Our senior White House Correspondent jim acosta is in the White House Briefing room. What jumped out at you, jim . Well, a lot of things. I think just to start on that, while these sanctions that were announced today dont impact the Iran Nuclear Deal, sean spicer the White House Press secretary made it clear that the president is still very much against that deal and while it remains in place for now, i dont think anybody should be placing any bets that its going to last for years and years. Thats the posture coming from this white house. There are lots of other subjects that came up. I thought it was very striking that once again as you heard from the president this morning, you heard from the White House Press secretary theres confidence in this white house in the unemployment numbers. You heard sean spicer talk about and tout the unemployment numbers that came out, the jobs numbers created in january. Why is that significant . For our viewers who dont recall this, ill refresh their memory. During the campaign President Trump then candidate trump, repeatedly raised doubts about the validity of the nations unemployment numbers that were being generated by the labor department. Now they seem to be embracing them. Thats a big change on the economic front when it comes to those unemployment numbers. On russia, everybody was surprised to hear nikki haley, the new u. N. Ambassador to forcefully say to russia the the sanctions will remain in place as long as theres a krimea in moscows hands. You heard sean spicer say during the briefing that nikki haley, Ambassador Haley spoke clearly and forcefully were the words he used. This was not the u. N. Ambassador going rogue in any respect. Thats a dialing back of whats considered to be. Sanctions with a slight adjustment to the sanctions yesterday but i think this was an open question heading into when nikki haley made the remarks yesterday. I think its interesting. This is a new day in the White House Briefing room. I think its worth noting to our viewers to have the White House Press secretary turn to local reporters who are chiming in from around the country, asking questions, i think thats a very healthy sign and youre seeing this white house working around the room trying to bring a lot of other reporters who dont normally get to ask questions during these briefings, during previous administrationadminist. Theres been a democratization. I thought that was pretty healthy. Wolf. The president s travel ban went into effect, the u. S. Is revoked more than 100,000 visas that had been granted to individuals to come visit the United States from those seven predominantly muslim countries. I didnt hear anybody ask the press secretary about that but maybe i missed it. There was a question from Ashley Parker from the new york times. She asked about that. Sean spicer did not answer that question. He did not have any information on that. It was one of the few moments that he didnt have an answer on. My sense is he will be going back and reaching out to his contacts at the Justice Department to get to the bot dom bottom of that number. Good point. Thanks very much. Nia, i want to play a clip for you. This is sean spicer bragging about the jobs numbers that were just released, 227,000 jobs created last month here in the United States. Listen to this. The economy added more than 227,000 new jobs, significantly more than the 175,000 that had been expected. Todays report reflects the Consumer Confidence that the Trump Presidency has inspired. As you remember, all of us remember, during the campaign that candidate donald trump would belittle the bureau of labor statistics numbers saying they are widely off and the Unemployment Rate was 4. 8 or 5 . He would say its really 15 or 20 or 30 . He thought those numbers were phony but theyre accepting these numbers. Theyre accepting them because theyre good numbers. The Unemployment Rate is 4. 8 . I guess its ticked up slightly. These are good numbers. Sean spicer there and donald trump himself very happy to take credit for this saying this is the sign of what the trump economy is going to look like. I think they probably should send president obama some flowers because this is really due to what he has done. This is an example of the obama economy and obama handed him off a very healthy economy. Obama didnt get that when he was coming in. I think the question is, if somebody starts to change with these numbers, if the Unemployment Rate starts to tick up, if next month theres only 70,000 jobs created, does he start to question this. I think its very easy to take credit. You wanted to make a point, david. My big take away is how normal it feels aftertwo weeks of disruption. This iran sanctions, i think theres a lot of consistency with the Obama Administration here. Hes taking the obama policy and applying it. Youve had pretty good jobs numbers. Sean spicer is, as jim said is opening up and taking more questions from other reporters. To me, this is probably trump maybe best day in the white house. All these gone through in 14 days. Just on the iran story because i think that is the big headline out of today. I think it also shows limitations of what we can do as a country no matter who is there without provoking war. This is how the Obama Administration tried to deal wl iran with sanctions. We dont know how effective they will be. Iran is saying this wont stop up. We will continue with building missiles. It will challenge President Trump and say you can go to the podium every day and draw red lines and say youre going to be tough but what is the effect what does that toughness mean . He said theyll be tough on iran in a way that bunts dowasnt do. You heard the idea of military action come up. Lets talk about these press briefings. Theyre a bit more produced with special guests, timing. Whats your take . Not to be the pessimist here but its ben i shaeficial to ha local reporters weighing in. It does take away from the jo m journalist kov isist covering t. They are bringing in conservative talk radio show hosts as well. They have a role to play. Conservative talk radio show hosts like dale jackson have an Important Role to play but when youre having questions from people like that, youre not getting as many questions about important domestic and Foreign Policy matters. I think spicer wrapped up pretty early today. He was not asked about that Bowling Green massacre mistake by kellyanne conway. Shes not apologized for it. I agree with your guest, the importance of establishing a baseline about the unemployment numbers and jobs figures. The fact this white house seem to be agreeing with the numbers and not disputing them is significant. The president woke up and tweeted a lot of wild things. Its a relatively normal day but were seeing a lot of disruption on a daily basis. Stand by. The White House Press secretary was asked about that white house statement in his name that was released yesterday. Here is what he said. You said they were not an impediment to peace, but you also dont want them building new ones. Right. I think statement is clear about that. We dont believe the existence of current settlements is an impediment to peace but the construction or expansion beyond the current borders will not be helpful moving forward. He went a little further than in that written statement yesterday. He said may not be helpful and this time he said is not helpful. He was pretty firm on that. It caught a lot of people here in washington by surprise given the statements that donald trump said during the campaign. Some of his advisors were saying. What was your reaction . Well i think people abroad, allies and other nations are going to fwbe taking a massive d deep sigh of relief. Youve talked about the position on ukraine, russia and crimea. Youve just now raised the issue of settlements in the west bank. Pretty much standard american and international position. The whole issue on iran and all the rest of it. Again, as yet they have not torn up this nuclear deal because most people say that on the nuclear thing that there is no other deal to be had at this precise moment because otherwise it would have been had a long, long time ago. Thats also important. Obviously, we expect to see much more sort of tough words and sort of trying to get around the edges and get at iran for missile and human rights and terrorism activities. It also raises the interesting question because iran and terrorism is basically about hezbollah now. Because of Donald Trumps ali alignment with president putin over syria and putins aligned with iran and hezbollah, it gets a little tricky. I think theres quite a lot to be sorted out but on some of these key issues, that kind of thing, its kind of reverting to sort of status quo antiu. S. Foreign policy. I think you make an excellent point. Thanks very much. Thanks to all of you. Theres much more news on this important day. The United States military has now released videos recovered in the deadly Counter Terrorism raid against al qaeda in yemen. Well play them for you. Get full analysis of those new videos just released when we come back. Every month . Additional fees. Tacked on taxes. Come on with tmobile one, taxes and fees are now included get 4 lines of unlimited lte data for 40 bucks each. Thats right all unlimited. All in and now, for a limited time save more than you pay in taxes on all smartphones. So switch to tmobile and save hundreds vs. The other guys. Its better than a tax holiday and its only at tmobile. Listerine® kills 99 of bad breath germs. This is 100 useful for a 100 fresh mouth. Just ask listerine® users. The very people we studied in the study of bold. People who are statistically more likely to stand up to a bully. Do a yoga handstand. 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For more were joined by our pentagon reporter and our cnn military analyst. Ryan, i take it theyve now released the pentagon five brief video clips that were found among the al qaeda and yemen terrorists. What do they show . Thats right. These videos are what the military is calling do it yourself videos for committing acts of terrorism. Theyre really well known for this kind of this strategy of inspiring lone wolf attackers. Providing them with the technical know how to carry out terrorist attacks. This video is showing how to make bombs that out of easily acquired km acquired Chemical Products much like the explosives used in the paris attack. In the initial statement that the pentagon put out, they said the u. S. Collected a lot of importance intelligence about terror operations. How will these videos help the u. S. Military deal with this down the road . This video, in particular, not necessarily advantageous. It does provide insight into what this terror Group Strategy is. Thats trying to inspire the lone wolf attackers in the west. This is one thing the military has released. Theres volumes of information that the military will not be leasing in hopes of exploiting that information to conduct additional strikes or raids against the terror group down the road. Looks like the videos were pretty slick propaganda. Were they intended to be posted on social media sites to promote this kind of home grown terror, if you will . Have some of those been posted or are these all brand new . We believe they are brand new. They produced english language magazine that was distributed digitally and traced to several terror attacks. This is something in the m. O. Of this terror group not necessarily bringing foreign fighters in like isis does but reaching out to these lone wolves, these disgruntled people to show them the know how to conduct terrorists attacks on their own. Stand al qaeda in yemen, they have the arabian peninsula, they have been sending out how to build bomb videos and articles. There was one famous article how to build a bomb in the kitchen of your mom. This is something thats not new. Thats true. The detail is very slick graphics and the fact they spent a lot of time discussing tatp which is the exact explosive used in paris, brussells and by the shoe bombers. Its probably the most dangerous, explosive that the group has used. It shows the degree to which the people are going to go to inspire their followers and to provide detailed instructions to them. You anticipate a lot more will be out there. Their goal like isis is to get individuals sympathetic to their objectives whether in europe or the United States or elsewhere, to build a bomb and go out and kill infidels. Absolutely. What this is is a perfect way to recruit the lone wolf. You give them the techniques that the military always talks about. It gives terrorists these tactics they can use and they can do it in either small groups or even in some cases as single people. Thanks very much. Ryan browns thanks to you as well. Were getting tape of President Trump signing two more executive orders in the white house. Lets watch. Today were signing Core Principles for regulating the United States financial system. Doesnt get much bigger than that, right . Why dont you explain this. Were returning to the American People low and middle income investors and retirees control over their own retirement savings. This is about main street and i am its been a labor of love for me for over four years. This is a big day. A big moment for americans that care to invest and save. She means that so much. Chairman, i think we should hand the pen to this very special person. Absolutely. She earned it. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Im grateful. Thank you. Theyre not behaving. All right. Thank you. You see the president there in the oval office signing two more executive orders. Executive actions on principles he wants to ease all the financial regulations that have been imposed over these past several years. Very controversial. I want to get back to that shortly. You heard the president of the United States say about the irania iranians, they are not behaving. This on the day they launched new sanctions against iran. Yesterday the White House National security advisor Michael Flynn saying iran has been put on notice. How is this playing . Youre in paris for us, but you spent a lot of time in that part of the world. How is this playing in iran right now . I think were seeing two different reactions from iran. Were seeing the more western friendly face of irans foreign minister who has taken to twitter to say that essentially reiterating this idea that the testing of this missile was purely for defensive actions. No one in iran has any intention of using them against another country. They are not aggressors. They are well within their rights to test these missiles. It does not contravene the agreement per the Iran Nuclear Deal. Thats the message for the world that youre seeing from iran. The Supreme Leader has lashed out at President Trump accusing him of ranting breathlessly and making a toy out of himself, whatever that means. He also referred to Michael Flynn as an inexperienced individual making false accusations. You have a different take. You have the public face, the private face. The question is how does iran respond to this. Do they feel the need, especially the hard liners within iran to test another missile to say hold on a second, President Trump, hold on a second, america, we wont be pushed around by you. Will they try to play it safe and dial things back a notch . Thats what remains to be seen. I think its key in all the rhetoric that were hearing from both sides and with the sanctions coming from the table, nobody is yet saying lets make an executive order to slash the iran deal. Were not hearing that from the iranians either. Definitely ratcheting up but not any talk about really jeopardizing the iran agreement, wolf. Thanks very much. Shes in london today. Shes not in paris. Thank you very much. Woo well continue to follow the breaking news on iran. Republicans knocking down the wall. Balli balking at the price tag. Republicans now questioning the need for that wall along the mexican border. As i was researching my family tree, i discovered a woman named marianne gaspard. It was her french name. Then she came to louisiana as a slave. I became curious where in africa she was from. So i took the ancestry dna test to find out more about my african roots. The ancestry dna results were really specific. They told me all of these places in west africa. 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Reporter i had chance to talk to a Cross Section of republicans, moderates, Republican Leaders like john cornyn in texas. A lot of these are raising concerns about a different variety of issues. Some do not think that a border wall will be effective in controlli inling illegal immigr. They need focus on other areas. A lot are raising concerns about the price tag. They believe the price tag were talking about 12 billion to 15 billion should not be added to the deficit. They should be offset by spending cuts. Right now were getting indications it will not be offset by spending cuts. A lot of republicans are objecting to the idea. Take a listen to senator bob corker who raised concerns about not just this but other proposals that will add to the deficit and the question about whether mexico will eventually pay for it. Theres so many things that people are talking about spending money on and at the same time lowering the amount of revenues that we take in here in the country. Its just a recipe for disaster. If you only build wall without using technology, drones, observation, et cetera, youre not going to steer the border. Hes talking about having mexico pay for it. Do you think thats a viable option . No. Why do you say that . Because its not a viable option. Reporter that was a significant statement by senator mccain. The plan for the Trump Administration is for congress to fund money, spend money for the wall and then trump is insisting that mexico will reimburse the United States 100 . There are skeptics like john mccain and senator hatch of utah have told me they believe mexico will not repay and taxpayers could be left on the hook if they do not find other cuts in the budget. Thats the big concern for republicans now. Finding 12 to 15 billion dollar to cut is a big challenge and its one reason why the Trump Administration and how Republican Leadership want to push this through as emergency spending so it will not be offset. As we can see, a lot of resistance from their own party. Just to be precise, they really cant Start Construction of a new wall along the border with mexico until theyve appropriatuated funds, right . The Trump Administration said they will use existing money but they will need congress to come in and appropriate a bulk of the money. Even if congress would agree theres legal issues, lawsuits along the border. A lot of obstacles facing donald trump in his campaign promise. Once again easier said than done. Coming up, first jobs report under President Trump out today. The president criticized the report multiple times before taking office. Well discuss very different tone coming from the white house on this day. Oh, look. Another antiwrinkle cream in no hurry to make anything happen. Neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair works. In one week. With the. Fastest retinol formula. To visibly reduce wrinkles. Neutrogena®. So beautiful. What shall we call you . 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Great spirit in the country right now. Were very happy about that. I think that its going to continue bigly. Were bringing back jobs. Were bringing down your taxes. Were getting rid of your regulations. I think it will be very, very exciting times ahead. With us now our cnn senior economic analyst stephen moore. Welcome to cnn. Good to have you. Hes a former senior Economic Advisor for the trump campaign. Were hearing a different tone from the president. Now that hes president , likes these numbers. During the campaign he would see the bureau of labor statistic numbers were pony ae phony and unemployment number ws were higher. Great to be back with you. Ill take issue with one of the things you said at the out set. I think its a critical point about whether donald trump is inheriting a strong economy. I dont think so. Its not a weak economy. Its kind of middling. If it was strong, i think Hillary Clinton would have won the election. If you look at the Fourth Quarter numbers that came out a week or two ago, last year we had 1. 6 growth. That just wont cut it. It is interesting that donald trump is taking credit for these numbers that came out in january because actually, for twothirds of that month he wasnt president. Barack obama was still president. These were decent numbers but we still have a long way to go in terms of getting back to not just a full employment economy. The big issue when i was on the campaign with donald trump, the big issue for workers were wages. A lot of them felt like there had been 13, 14, 15 years since the average worker received a pay raise. These new numbers that came out today show a tiny increase in wages. Let me interrupt. During the campaign, he would belittle the accuracy of these numbers. Now he doesnt any longer. Now he seems to accept what the bureau of labor statistics is putting out. That represents a change. Well, if he likes the numbers, hes going to put a pat on the back of the labor department. If he doesnt, hell probably say these numbers are juiced up. In terms houf th s of how this e Trump Presidency, number one, i think businesses are feeling it. You see that in the Small Business optimism number. You see that in Consumer Confidence and investor confidence. I think trump can take some credit. I would make the case, 225,000 jobs is not enough. We should be getting 300, 400, 500,000 jobs a month to make up for the lost jobs from the recession. Theres opportunity. The u. S. Economy should be doing better. There should be greater growth, more employment. The only point i was trying to make is if you look eight years ago when president Obama Took Office what the dow jones was 6500, 7,000. Look at it right now. 20,000 plus. The market is doing well today. The you take a look at where unplou unemployment was eight years ago, its 9 . Now its 4. 8 . 30, 40 months of consecutive growth. When he took office in 2009, the u. S. Was losing 800,000, 900,000 jobs a month. The only point i was trying to make is its a lot better today than eight years ago. No doubt. Its also true its been a long recovery but a weak recovery. This is the weakest recovery since the Great Depression and there were a lot of areas in the country that just didnt really feel the effects of this recovery. You go to towns like people would say what recovery are you talking about . Im not denying the stock market is doing well, low Unemployment Rate though i think that statistic is misleading maybe a lot misleading because weve had so many people drop out of the work force, but one piece of good news in this report was a pretty big gain for the first time and people entering the work force, thats a good sign. Once again, its good to have you here at cnn, steven, thanks for joining us. The biggest game of the year, now we go to Houston Texas for super bowl li. I think you will recognize both of them. Were going to update you. The build up to the super bowl. Next. Kich kickoff coming sunday. We have our team down there in texas, john bermen. And so, you can guess who they happen to be rooting for. Berman first to you, who is going to win . Reporter is there any doubt . Tom brady and the new England Patriots will win this game. Though i think it will be very, very close and i think the falcons will be the best the team has played by far. Reporter best offense in the league, highest scoring offense in the league, but you did admit your patriots are in trouble. Matt ryan is more tom brady than tom brady, its a guy he emulates and a guy he looked up to and now looking just like him. Reporter the only thing separating him are four super bowl rings, so they are a lot alike. Except he is the greatest of all time. I will not doubt that. Bill belichick is the greatest coach of all time, the falcons are inexperienced. Just four played in a super bowl compared to the patriots players who have been a part of one. Dan quinn has coached in the last three of the four super bowls, so they are going to be prepared. Reporter julio jones, a difference maker, theres no one in the league who seems like they can stop him. He does whatever he wants whenever he wants. Reporter i just talked to Antonio Brown and said if you had to pick a receiver an pick up a football, he said im taking julio jones, hes just on another level. Remember the movie avatar . Thats what we call him. Hes just bigger and faster. I see you julio jones. I was a linebacker in my day but that career ended very, very early. As you know, john bermen, a lot of people watch the super bowl not so much for the football but the commercials, and for the halftime entertainment, lady gaga is the performer, shes known for taking a stance on bullying and equality, listen to what she said when asked if she would get political. The only statements ill be making during the halftime show are ones ive been making throughout my career, i believe in inclusion, youre watching guys clash into each other, real strategizing happen aing, i didt want the halftime to take a dip, so its going to be a good time. And john bermen, tell us a little bit about the halftime show. Reporter shes comparing it to a football game. There are rumors she may be performing atop nrg staydium, se said she will not wear a suit of meat and her clothing will be tight so there will not be in i clothing mishaps, as with janet jackson. Reporter our sources tell us you were in fact singing lady gaga songs. Bad romance do you know that song . Reporter he admits hes not as cool as you. He does not know any lady gaga songs. I saw her perform here a few years ago at Verizon Center and she was absolutely great. Thanks to you and dont miss the bleacher report, special kickoff tomorrow 2 30 right here on cnn. Thats it for me, ill be back 5 00 p. M. Eastern in the situation room the news continues right now on cnn. All right, wolf thank you so much. Im brooke baldwin. Happy friday, lots to get to. The Trump Administration has slapped these new sanctions on iran. President trump saying iran is quote not behaving and issuing a warning on twitter that iran is playing with fire. Today, sanctioned 25 entities that support the Ballistic Program and missionary force, these are in response to irans on goigoing ballistic testing, january