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Op-Ed: Congress Must Probe Trump over Sexual Misconduct Accusations; Is Presidency Hurting Trump Organization Brand; Trump Stakes a Lot on Tax Bill; Flynn Attorneys Stopped Communications with White House; Rep. Kathleen Rice: Conyers Needs to Resign from Congress over Sexual Allegations; Navy Crews Unable to Find Missing Argentine Submarine. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired November 24, 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] JUANA SUMMERS, CNN POLITICS SENIOR WRITER: There's a concern that there's the Moore stories. They tell you if that's likely true. The office of compliance had $17 million in settlements, not just sexual harassments and workplace disputes. In the case of John Conyers, he settled with the woman and that came from his office budget and not from the office of compliance fund that we talked about so much. That makes me think that not only is this a problem that we know it's going to be difficult to quantify.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: And there's disclosure agreements. There's going to be secrecy about it.

If we can move to the president's activities.

David, during the holiday, as you know, you often hide the fax that he plays golf, but today he was bragging about it because he had a special friend with him. Tiger Woods was golfing today. What's the connection, because the two of them don't just have a golfing interest?

DAVID FAHRENTHOLD, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Right. They've played golf before. There's a business interest relationship. Trump Organization, which he still owns, is involved in developing a golf course in Dubai, partially open now. And Tiger Woods is one of the people hired in 2014 to design the golf course. There's a business relationship there.

SCIUTTO: I thought the president promised not to do overseas business after the election.

FAHRENTHOLD: The business was done in 2014. The president's business has continued doing business overseas, but this is not a specific example of that.

SCIUTTO: We know his business activities have come under scrutiny since before and since he has been elected. That's the understatement of the year. Has his business grown or shrunk?

FAHRENTHOLD: A lot of domestic business, in the U.S. and Canada. This is interesting. It seems like the president is pulling business. The Trump hotel in D.C. where they see the administration and you are going to lobby them and stay there and get a leg up with the Trump administration. That place is doing extremely well. It's exceeding expectations. So many other places in the golf courses and hotels where there's no direct tie to the Trump administration, and they are losing money or struggling. The best example was when the Trump Soho, the jewel of the Trump Organization's hotel business, in lower Manhattan, announced they were taking the Trump name off and they were giving up management of that property.

SCIUTTO: When you look at this. as often any real question about Trump or any politician has seen through the lens of which party you support. Any evidence his supporters are concerned about these practices?

SUMMERS: I haven't seen that when speaking to Trump voters and supporters prior to the president being elected and most recently I travelled to states who heavily went for Trump. I talked to voters and I heard a lot of concern that the mainstream media is not giving him a chance. They see that as the product of the Washington machine and the swamp and they are not concerned about this.

SCIUTTO: Sunlen, the president is staking a lot on a tax bill coming out of this. You have the House that you wanted before Thanksgiving. The key vote will be in the Senate afterwards. Some Senators are coming out in support. Where is the count?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's not a count yet. Everyone is taking bets. It's no secret they need a legislative win. That's something they have been driving towards this year. The refrain, we have to get it done before Christmas and get the bill on his desk to sign before Christmas. It will be a big week in the Senate for this bill. I think it will go through many iterations before they reach a point where they are potentially there, but a lot needs to happen. We saw this grappling with whether you include the individual mandate, and will that be enough? What after that if the Senate votes and reconciliation. It's way too easy for a whip count. We know this is the w they all need.

SCIUTTO: David, pretty clearly, no matter how you slice the bill, the benefits are concentrated at the top, wealthy Americans, wealthy businesses. There's disagreement about how much the middle class gets a tax cut and for how long. They said the cuts are short-lived and not that great. There are increases at the lower level. Is it really a victory? Do you think Trump supporters and Republicans call it a wine no matter what the math is? Even if they are not taking much from it even if most Republican voters are not?

FAHRENTHOLD: If you look at the opinion polls, anyone knows what's in it. The consents have been changing. The bill is unpopular. Not quite as much as health care which is worse than bed bugs, but this is polling poorly. I think Trump and the Republicans count it as a win. What their supporters will think in a year or two years when it hits them, I don't know.

[13:35:00] SCIUTTO: David, Juana, Sunlen, thanks very much. Happy Thanksgiving. Thanks for coming in on the Friday. More on our developing story. Did Michael Flynn flip in Robert

Mueller's Russia investigation? I will ask one member of Congress to respond to Flynn's team stopping communication with the president's lawyers.

Plus, the feds say a woman mailed bombs to former President Obama and the current Texas governor, and one of them was opened. We will have details after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:39:46] SCIUTTO: A woman has been charged with mailing bombs to a Texas politician, President Obama, and the Social Security Administration this last year. Court documents reveal the bomb sent to President Obama was detected in a screening. The package sent to Governor Abbott was opened by the governor himself. The only reason he didn't explode was he opened it the wrong way. A close call there. The suspect was linked to the packages after cat hair found underneath the label was matched to her pets. Officials say she was upset her application for Social Security benefits had been denied.

A tragic development in the search for a missing submarine. What the Argentine Navy says about the missing sailors. Details are next.

Plus, Uma Thurmond breaks her silence, blasting Harvey Weinstein on the sexual assault allegations against him and she's now issuing a warning of more to come.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:45:10] SCIUTTO: New signs President Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, could be cooperating with special council investigators. A source said Flynn's attorneys have shopped sharing information with the president's attorneys, a sign that there's now a conflict of interest. You will recall, back in March, Flynn tried to seek immunity in exchange for his testimony. His lawyers said his client had, quote, "a story to tell."

I want to bring in Democratic Congressman Gregory Meeks, of New York.

Congressman, you worked as a prosecutor and assistant district attorney. You worked as a judge as well. Do you see that as a possible sign that Flynn may be seeking a deal or cooperating?

REP. GREGORY MEEKS, (D), NEW YORK: Absolutely. It doesn't happen by coincidence that you are firing one attorney and talking to another saying you are not going to be able to communicate. It was something, that when I was a prosecutor, I would negotiate, say, hey, you want to work with me, you cannot communicate with the other side. There's no question that there's something that has taken place between Mr. Mueller's office and Mr. Flynn's and his attorneys that said he should not have any further communication with the president's attorneys.

SCIUTTO: The special counsel is privy to details that we don't have, but as a former lawyer, former judge, based on the information we know about non-reporting of foreign income and failing to register as an agent for a foreign business but also contradictory statements about communications with Russian officials, which do you see as having a largest potential for actual charges connected to them?

MEEKS: I think it's wide open. What Flynn will give you the opportunity to learn, as a prosecutor, is the wide scope of what was taking place within the Trump campaign at the time. Who they were talking to and what was the practice and patterns of individuals, what were their goals. There's a whole avenue of items that could be looked at and information that could be gained from Mr. Flynn, who was an integral part of the Trump administration or the Trump campaign, and the early parts of the administration strategies.

SCIUTTO: You will remember, back in March, Flynn tried to seek immunity for his testimony. Are you aware of deals he made with, not the special counsel, but investigators?

MEEKS: I'm not aware of any deals he made thus far. I'm sure he is quite concerned about the Mueller report and the federal prosecutors because they are the ones who can put him and his son in jail. I'm sure he is listening to them and his attorneys. I would think if he had anyone looking out for his best interest, they would say that's what his focus should be. Therefore, to make sure he is talking with Mr. Mueller and the attorneys for the prosecution to cooperate with them. And it seems there has been a deal or something struck there, and that is the only reason why, all of a sudden, there would be noncommunication between him and the attorneys.

SCIUTTO: Congressman Meeks, switching gears to the issue of sexual harassment as it relates to the Hill, John Conyers has been accused of sexual harassment. You called on him to resign from his leadership position. But one of your Democratic colleagues, Kathleen Rice, also from New York, she wants him to resign from Congress. Listen to part of what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KATHLEEN RICE, (D), NEW YORK: Because enough is enough at this point. At this point, what I am voicing is what every single private citizen is saying across America. Why are the rules for politicians in Washington different than they are for everyone else?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: How do you answer that? Do you think that your colleague should resign from the House?

MEEKS: No, and I don't think the rules are different from anyone else because we see that one of the biggest "isms" we have is sexism and not just racism. You see sexism throughout America. We have to make sure we are talking about it everywhere, whether it's in Hollywood or corporate America or the street. And we have to make sure we can stamp it out. It's an important dialogue and conversation we're having. And Mr. Conyers indicated he did nothing wrong. As a result of that, the Ethics Commission, the committee needs to deal with it. And while it is in a process of review in reviewing, since he is the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, he should step aside, and should nothing be there, the Ethics Commission should deem that, and he should assume his position.

[13:50:10] SCIUTTO: I have to ask you, it seems that the congressional set -- the way it responds to these kinds of accusations, is fundamentally flawed. It's closed. The accusers have to sign a nondisclosure agreement when they reach a settlement. There seems to be something that gives an advantage to the accused over the accuser in the way Congress handles these, in addition to the time. If you look at the way the private sector -- the private sector in cases like this has been moving much more quickly. Do you at least see that changes must be made to the way Congress handles these kinds of cases going forward?

MEEKS: Absolutely. The process has to be reviewed. We've found too many cases. I don't want a scenario where anyone and particularly on the Hill where they are touched where they shouldn't be touched or harassed. We know clearly what's right and wrong. Clearly, statements like the president made that you grab somebody because of your position or you're a celebrity, that's wrong. We have to review it and the person complaining is not put in the position he or she feels they're threatened by doing so, or cannot do so. That process needs to be reviewed on the Hill and we need to fix that. There's no question about that.

SCIUTTO: A "Washington Post" editorial is calling for a congressional investigation of those women who have accused the president of sexual misconduct. Would you support such an investigation?

MEEKS: I think yes. I think we need to go through those types of investigations, throughout. I think it's the only way that finally we will get -- the scenarios that have been taking place for years in this country. I think what has been taking place is now prevalent. For the president, we knew it was because we heard it through his own mouth. He said what he said, and he would do it because he felt he was entitled to it because he was a celebrity. Yes, I think we need to look at the president and anyone else that's been accused, especially when you see there's a practice and pattern of assault and the illegal touching of another person.

SCIUTTO: Congressman Gregory Meeks, thanks very much for taking your time.

MEEKS: Good to be with you.

SCIUTTO: A tragic development in the search for a missing submarine. What the Navy says about the missing sailors.

Plus, more on our breaking news. Dozens of people killed at a mosque as worshippers (sic) open fire in Egypt. We are now learning how attackers lured them out of the mosque.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:51:58] SCIUTTO: The Argentine Navy is not giving up in the search for a missing submarine with 44 people onboard. The Navy spokesman said today, quote, "We keep searching." Crews from a dozen countries have been involved in the search by air and by sea. The Navy lost contact with the sub nine days ago.

Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, joins us with the latest.

Barbara, we are hearing the Argentine Navy vowing to continue the search, but there's new information about a sound detected when the sub lost contact.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Jim. The Argentine Navy has been talking about it. Here's what we know. An international sensor network that is actually aimed at monitoring for nuclear testing picks up an acoustic signal back on November 15, about five hours half the submarine last made contact in the area off Argentina, deep in the ocean. The signal was very short, very sharpe, small. It indicated to them it was not a natural event. It was not undersea volcanic activity, an undersea earthquake. They believe that what they picked up was the real possibility that there was an explosive event on board this submarine. They communicated that information right away to the Argentine government. The U.S. Navy well aware of the data and the analysis behind it. You see a representation there of that acoustic signature, those acoustic signals that this sensor network picked up. So very difficult, very grim news for 44 military families in Argentine -- Jim?

SCIUTTO: The group in Vienna that heard those sounds, not the first time they have been called in to assist with a search like this?

STARR: It's fascinating. This is a comprehensive test-ban treaty organization in Vienna, a group of dozens of nationals that ban together with a sensor network to monitor for nuclear testing. Because they are so expert in acoustics and geology, some of the finest scientists out there, they actually, when MH370, the Malaysian aircraft disappeared, they went and looked at their sensor data to see if they picked up any acoustic signals from that aircraft. They did have some information on it before it disappeared. That information is with MH-370 investigators. And years before that, when a Russian submarine went down, they were able to look at their sensor network and try to pick some data about what might have happened to that submarine. It is one of the most respected groups out there. They are looking for nuclear tests, but they are able to help in some of these other circumstances.

SCIUTTO: As you say, Barbara, sad news for 44 military families there. The U.S. has been involved in the search as well.

Barbara Starr, thanks very much, live from the Pentagon.

That's it for me. You can follow me, @jimsciutto, on Twitter.

The NEWSROOM with my colleague, Brooke Baldwin, begins right now.

[14:00:03] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, here we go. You're watching CNN on this Friday afternoon. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being with me.

Let's begin with the breaking news here out of Egypt. At least 235 people --