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GOP Bill to Overturn Obamacare on Verge of Collapse; Puerto Rico Dam on Brink of Collapse; N. Koran Foreign Minister Accuses Trump or Declaring War; Obama Warned Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg about Fake News; Jared Kushner Used Private Server; NFL Stars Defy Trump with Anthem Protests. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired September 25, 2017 - 13:30   ET

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


[13:30:00] SEN. BILL CASSIDY, (R), LOUISIANA: Let's first talk about something they base their analysis on, a study by Avalere, which scored our bill over 20 years. The bill is only for 10 years. Avalere says we got $3.2 trillion, but that's over 20 years. Folks saw that and said, oh, my gosh, they're cutting all this money. Avalere totally, totally --

(CROSSTALK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Let me interrupt you for a second, Senator. The Congressional Budget Office, which is supposed to score this report, can't even do that because they don't have time to elicit a partial report. But something like 50 percent of the local economy, something that affects so many millions of Americans, and John McCain keeps making this point, shouldn't there be extensive hearings, extensive discussion, and not simply rush into this as you're trying to do before the end of the week?

CASSIDY: If I may, Wolf?

BLITZER: Yes.

CASSIDY: First, it does not affect a fifth of the nation. We don't touch Medicare. We don't touch the V.A Tricare or employee-sponsored insurance. We don't touch that at all. It is the individual market. It the Medicaid expansion. And Medicaid itself.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: But health care, in general, affects the economy.

CASSIDY: Health care in general, but not our bill, and that's an important distinction. Secondly, the CBO has to understand that we don't contribute to the budget. We actually lower spending. We'll achieve that.

As regards coverage, the CBO bases its decision on coverage as to whether there is an individual mandate. The American people hate the individual mandate. We repeal that which, by the way, has been shown to have no effect upon coverage. So the coverage numbers won't be valid, because they're using something in which Jonathan Gruber, who wrote the ACA, says is not valid, which is the individual mandate has an effect, which it does not.

BLITZER: Why not do what Senator Lamar Alexander and Senator Patty Murray, a Republican and Democrat, have been doing the last couple weeks, trying to forge some bipartisan cooperation --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Hold on a second. Some bipartisan cooperation to work out some repairing of the current law, the Affordable Care Act? Why not work together with Democrats and come up with some significant improvements to the current system, as opposed to just on a very, very narrow partisan basis, making these changes?

CASSIDY: For the last three years, I've been going to Democratic Senators with a bill that I wrote with Susan Collins that would allow the blue state, if you will, to keep Obamacare if they wished, and the red state to do something different if the individual market were failing. Ten different Senators I spoke to, none would cooperate. None, not one.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: But you would be cooperating with Senator Lamar Alexander right now. He's the chairman of that committee.

CASSIDY: No, that's falling apart. That's falling apart. That's falling apart.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: It may be falling apart, but if you got involved, if the president got involved, maybe and you the Democrats could forge some sort of compromise. He's willing to work with the Democratic leadership on the DREAMers, for example. I suspect he'd be willing to work in a cooperative venture down the road on health care if your latest effort fails.

CASSIDY: If our latest effort fails, I presume, but it takes two to tango. If the world were ifs, ands and buts were candies and nuts, we would all have a Merry Christmas. The reason we're pushing for 30 is because the people in my state are paying $30,000 to $40,000 a year for premiums. They're about to get a 20 percent increase and I haven't been able to get a single Democrat to help me. I'm not going to quit fighting for my people. It's not just my folks, it's folks all across the nation. For whatever reason, there has not been a decision to collaborate with Republicans on this. This Republican will fight for those folks.

BLITZER: If it fails by the end of the week, what will you do?

CASSIDY: I'll keep working because, the fact is, premiums are rising by 20 percent every year in my state.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Will you try to forge a deal with Democrats again? CASSIDY: For three years, I've been trying to forge a deal with

Democrats. I wish this were bipartisan. Under the legislation we had, we let Democrats keep Obamacare.

BLITZER: I just to want to point out to my viewers, here in the United States and around the world, Senator, after this week, if you fail this week, you don't just need 50 votes, you need 60 votes, 40 Republicans inspect the Senate, 38 Democrats. Do you think there is a possibility Rand Paul will still support you?

CASSIDY: I can't tell you what's in Rand Paul's mind, but voting against this is voting to keep Obamacare. Voting for it gets rid of the individual mandate, the employer mandate, repeals taxes and gets a savings of $148 billion for the federal taxpayer. That's a good thing. Hopefully, he will vote for that.

BLITZER: If you lose Susan Collins, it's over, right?

CASSIDY: Yes, it is, but people in Maine, there will be a billion dollars for Mainers who are lower income to have coverage they don't have. On the other hand, Susan Collins knows a smart governor who knows insurance like she does could do a heck of a lot to provide coverage for people in Maine.

BLITZER: Your critics say you're trying to buy her off. And your response is with a billion dollars you're trying to get her vote?

[13:35:14] CASSIDY: No, absolutely not, because we're also giving $4 billion to Alaska. Two Senators who we know won't vote for us, we're giving $5 billion to Missouri. I doubt Lisa Murkowski will vote for that money to go to her state. $55,000 to provide lower coverage for Floridians. This attempt to make sure people in Maine, Florida or Missouri have the same resources as someone in Ohio or New York. And why shouldn't they? Where you live shouldn't dictate the amount of generosity you receive from the federal tax payer? We try to even it off. That's a good thing. It's not a bribe. For the American people, it's what is right. Whether you live in Virginia, where we won't get your vote even if it's good policy, or in Maine, we're trying to do what's right.

BLITZER: Senator Cassidy, in addition to being a Senator, you're also a physician. I know you're very passionate on this.

Thank you very much for joining us. Even if you fail this week, I'm sure the subject is by no means going to go away.

I want to alert our viewers to make sure not to miss tonight's CNN special on the health care debate. Republicans Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy -- you just saw him there -- they will debate their health care bill against two of its fiercest critics, Senator Bernie Sanders and Amy Klobuchar. That airs tonight, 9:00 p.m. eastern, only here on CNN, the critically important debate. Dana Bash and Jake Tapper will co-moderate this debate.

Senators, thanks very much for joining us. And as the president goes off on the NFL, the NBA, he hasn't said anything about the crisis unfolding in Puerto Rico where 3.5 million Americans are living in, quote, "apocalyptic conditions." They're begging Washington for help. We'll go there live.

Plus, the White House will have to answer very tough question son Puerto Rico, health care, the president's controversial remarks about the NFL. We're waiting for a live briefing at the White House. Much more after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:41:28] BLITZER: More than three million Americans are facing a dire situation in Puerto Rico right no now. A week after Hurricane Maria hit the island, there's still no power. Everywhere you look, the landscape is filled with damaged homes. Supplies are running dangerously low. What's worse, a cracked dam is in danger of failing. Officials told 70,000 people to leave the area.

CNN correspondent, Bill Weir, is in a town a little less than 20 miles away from San Juan. After the hurricane, it might as well be a world away -- Bill?

BILL WEIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, I'd like to show you around what is left of what once was one of the most scenic neighborhoods in Abas Buenos (ph), the Good Water, a town about 28 miles south of San Juan. It looks like a bomb went off. This is lush tropical greenery. Imagine the flowers and foliage. It's like a lawn mower from the sky came down. It's like that across the island.

But this hour is in a neighborhood perched right on a ridge. It's so beautiful up here. And this is Diana and her husband, Miguel.

Say hi.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello.

WEIR: She's OK. Her son, Miguel, and the little dog -- hello, hello -- he's doing OK. They survived, thankfully, but they're very worried. Her husband, Miguel, who is a Vietnam war veteran, is bedridden inside. He needs insulin, and refrigeration is a matter of life or death. And the power is out in Puerto Rico. Here's why. One of the main transmission towers that goes to San Juan crushed this home. Thankfully, the man who lives here evacuated before the storm. He's in a shelter. Only 50 people in this town of 28,000 evacuated. Most rode it out. And search-and-rescue teams aren't available to check on everyone because the roads are impassible, as you see. This is not something you fix with a bucket truck. This will take helicopters. This will take months.

As we follow the line across, imagine this scene is being played across Puerto Rico. And the need is so desperate.

I just spoke with the mayor here, Javier, and he told me there were no deaths during the storm, but six after the storm, including a 45-year- old man who died of a heart attack at the hospital because the hospital had no power. They couldn't help him.

He says they need water and they need power. They need all the bare essentials. But he did say, "I have a message for Puerto Ricans in New York and Boston, that we have a strong heart, a noble heart, and we will rebuild."

But if there is any indication -0 and we're just getting started today exploring -- but if this is any indication, Puerto Rico may rise again, but they will need a lot of help and a lot of time -- Wolf?

[13:39:08] BLITZER: Yes, they will, indeed, desperate help.

Bill Weir, in Puerto Rico for us. Thanks very much.

How will the White House respond to all the criticism that the U.S. isn't doing enough to help? The Trump administration is not there, not doing enough. The president of the United States, why has he not gone yet to Puerto Rico to show his solidarity with the 3.5 million American citizens who are there? Those are some of the questions that will no doubt come up at the White House briefing, moments away. We'll have live coverage.

Meanwhile, new work that former President Obama personally warned Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, about the fake news epidemic. You'll hear how Zuckerberg responded. That and more when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Breaking news right now. North Korea's foreign minister says President Trump has declared war on Pyongyang by tweeting over the weekend that North Korean leaders wouldn't be around much longer if they continued their rhetoric. U.S. military officials are now responding.

Let's go to our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr.

Barbara, what are you learning about this dramatic escalation in the rhetoric?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: One of the key things the North Korean said, Wolf, is this mounted, as far as they were concerned, to a declaration of war by the United States. The State Department rapidly pushing back, saying there is no declaration of war on North Korea by the Trump administration. The Pentagon also taking the opportunity to, one more time, trying to impress upon the North Koreans, if they can, that there are options for dealing with them and their weapons program.

The Pentagon chief spokesman, Colonel Robert Manning, saying, and I quote, "The military will take all options to make sure that we safeguard our allies, our partners, and our homeland, so that if North Korea does not stop their provocative actions, we will make sure we provide options to the president to deal with North Korea."

Again, sending that message that there are options the U.S. military can take if the North Korea continue down this path and threatens the U.S. and its allies -- Wolf?

BLITZER: A dramatic escalation in the rhetoric.

Thank you, Barbara Starr, at the Pentagon.

Other news we're following, we're now learning that Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, was warned about the danger of fake news and its role in the 2016 presidential race. That warning came from no other than then-President Barack Obama. A source confirms a "Washington Post" report that Zuckerberg and Obama had a discussion last fall about Facebook and fake news. Zuckerberg, apparently, shrugged off the then-president's warning.

Let's bring in our panel to discuss this and more. CNN chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, is with us, our CNN political analyst, Margaret Talev is with us. She's a senior White House correspondent for "Bloomberg News," and Rachel Bade, congressional reporter for "Politico."

Gloria, what do you make of the initial reaction from the Facebook owner?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: I think when the president of the United States goes out of his way to warn you about Russian infiltration into your organization, you ought to pay attention to it. And I think what you see Zuckerberg doing now is realizing that he should have paid more attention to it at the time, and so they're sort of playing catch-up. But what else would inspire an outgoing president to talk to a CEO like this unless it were really, really serious?

[13:49:55] BLITZER: And as you know, Margaret, the House and Senate investigators, they're saying the 3,000 or so Facebook ads sold by a Russian-linked -- bought by a Russian-linked account may just be the tip of the iceberg, that there potentially were a lot more that we don't know enough about yet, and that there are serious ramifications going down.

MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: That's right. I know I'm still struck even though this is all news how under the radar President Obama tried to stay under the election season probably because he didn't want to look like he was trying to intervene on Hillary Clinton's behalf. That was a mistake. And President Trump and his team now are faced with kind of a different, but a similar set of problems which is the president does not want to legitimize criticism or doubts about his election. But this is a major problem, and not just in terms of the private messaging and policy, wo, but in terms of the public face the president puts on this. So far, he's been more than understated and almost shrugging it off and this is a pivot point for the president to decide what he want his public message is today.

BLITZER: Rachel, I think you agree that from President Obama on down, including the Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, they just assumed she was going to win, and why create this huge uproar and this huge issue if he were to more dramatically, for example, talk about Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election.

RACHEL BADE, CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT, POLITICO: It was certainly political calculation at that point in time. I think this whole Facebook phenomenon we're seeing with the Russian ads is with the broader fall from grace, which was always put on a pedestal in Washington. You have the Facebook ads on Russia, fake news, et cetera. And you have conservative accusing them of suppressing conservative voices and opinions. And you have investigators on the Hill going after the tech industry about child sex trafficking. For a long time, I would say Washington had a light touch with the tech industry and now we're seeing that change. And the Facebook fake news will rev that up.

BLITZER: Another sensitive thing, Gloria, involving the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, senior adviser to the president, all of a sudden, we are learning that he was using a private e-mail account to send some Trump administration business to some colleagues and associates, this after the uproar involving Hillary Clinton's private e-mail.

BORGER: I would have to say oops to that, as his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, points out these are 100 e-mails and none of them involve classified information which is the key, I know, we're all laughing. None of it involved classified information which was the whole thing for the Hillary Clinton brouhaha. So I think that they have to be careful. This is the president who is leading rallies of lock her up because of her private e-mail server. Nobody is accusing Jared Kushner of using a private e-mail server. Nobody is accusing him of sending classified, mails. His lawyer says he was sending mostly clips and he was responding to people who e-mailed him on his g-mail account, but when you run a campaign that is based on "lock her up" about private e-mails, you open yourself to the charges of hypocrisy, I would say, at the very least and they understand that.

BLITZER: Getting to the other very sensitive story, an issue that's unfolding right now, the president's decision Friday night at that rally in Alabama, speak out about NFL players who are kneeling during the national anthem and then continue it all through the weekend, including today, and continuing to tweet about it. Why is he doing this?

TALEV: I think we'll hear a ton of questions about this at the briefing coming up shortly. Look, it may have seemed like the right message for that audience and kind of a Friday night lights crowd and it's always been the president's instinct to double down and it may be more strategic a few days out of this, it's obvious from the White House team to the policy folks that had has become this cloud that's obscured everything else. The debate on taxes and healthcare, if that's not by design then they have an opportunity now to pull back, but it is, you know, across the board has been the divisive issue across racial groups, across sports teams and turning the president's own political allies away from him.

BLITZER: Because some are suggesting there may be a political logic here and he wants to change the subject from defeat on health care and maybe his candidate in Alabama will lose, so he's trying to change the subject. You've heard that suggestion.

BADE: Obviously, we've heard rumors on that right now. I can tell you most of the Republicans on the Hill, yes, they're bracing themselves to fail this week and they probably don't want their noses rubbed in that at this point in time, but this is supposed to be a big week on tax reform and the president is supposed to go out and campaign for it and I can tell you from talking to Republicans on the Hill, a lot of them are banging their heads on the wall right now that the headlines are looking at this and they 100 percent blame Trump for this.

I had a Republican source say to me a couple of hours ago, before this weekend there were just a few players doing this and most of these headlines had sort of faded. Trump came out attacking predominantly black players, right, and just a couple of weeks after Charlottesville, and now you have the culture war taking over the front pages. And that's not what we want to talk about right now.

[13:55:31] BORGER: This is how Donald Trump thrives. He thrives on division. He's not a president interested in uniting the country unless he's reading from teleprompter. This is someone who was in Alabama giving a speech and knew exactly what he was saying to that audience. He's somebody who viscerally feels the audience in front of him. And what he's done, instead of uniting the country, is he's created another culture war, as you say. And maybe, in the end, as Lebron James was saying earlier that this starts the conversation and that people can actually continue it in a more civil way.

BLITZER: All right, guys. Thank you very, very much, Gloria, Margaret and Rachel.

Moments from now, the White House will face reporters in the briefing room, the first time since the president's attacks on NFL players. Will White House officials double down? Stand by.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:59:55] PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks for joining me. I'm Pamela Brown, in for Brooke Bolduan, on what's shaping up to be a very busy Monday.

President Trump accused of inciting a culture war, hitting NFL players for kneeling during the national anthem. They're protesting police brutality and mass incarceration of people of color. Players and team owners say the president is out of bounds.