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tv   Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer  CNN  January 29, 2019 2:00pm-3:00pm PST

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video is farfetched. currently it is connected on faces and voices. follow me on facebook and twitter. we actually read them. coverage continues right now. thanks so much for watching. happening now, contradicting trump, they publicly on threats posed to america by isis, north korea and russia. >> voting for someone else. president trump brags about his popularity but he may want to
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take another look. why the worse is yet to come. you're in the situation room. >> threats facing the united states. from russia to iran, north korea income and isis the intelligence communities outline many publish testimony differs sharply from the president's own declarations. even the senate republican leader today issued a sharp rebuke to the president by pushing the amendment urging that u.s. troops stay in syria and afghanistan. it comes a mt. trufrpt's
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long-time ally appeared in a federal courtroom pleading not guilty to criminal charges stemming from robert mueller's russia investigation ranging from witness tampering to obstruction. i'll speak with house majority leader and our correspondents and analysts are also standing by with full coverage. let's begin with our chief white house correspondent. the president is facing very public repudiation from intelligence chiefs. >> he sure is. >> it raised a critical question who should the public believe the president or the leaders of the intelligence community?
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it contradicted at nearly every turn. dan coats said the terror group isis remains a potent threat. >> remain it will continue we agree. we assess to stoke violence. isis is intent on resurging and still commands thousand of fighters in iraq and syria. zblfrm he also seemed to difr on north korea after they agreed there is no longer a nuclear threat coats said that's not quite the case. that reality coming weeks before the president is set to meet with kim jong un.
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inspiring other countries to follow the kremlin's lead. >> not only of the russians have they continued do it in 2018 but we have seen indication they are continuing to adapt their model and other countries are taking a very interested eye in that approach. >> don't tell the president who sided with that last july. >> i have great confidence in my intelligence people. i will tell you he was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. >> the president meeting resistance from mcconnell who has plans to pull out troops could backfire. >> we are not the world's policemen but we are the leader of the free world.
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>> part of the problem is his sagging poll numbers. one in three wishing the party would pick another candidate. the president's political team is advising him to hold his ground on his border wall even as a former trump organization official told him not to expect the art of the deal to save the day before another government shutdown this month. >> there is no documentation that says donald trump is a great deal maker. he has made good deals and bad deals. >> he says in his new book that mr. trump has tendency to exaggerate. >> there could be good things about that. there is also kind of this atmosphere that gets created. >> tweeting about sims that he pretended to be an insider.
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he signed a nondisclosure agreement she a mess. >> he is a mess. >> there it is. >> and there it is. the trump campaign sigounds lik they are ready to throw the book. they are preparing to file a lawsuit against sims for violating that nondisclose stur agreement. top intelligence officials are telling the congress and really the rest of the world that they simply don't agree with the president's world view on an array. >> what a day on capitol hill. thank you very much. let's turn to chief national correspondent. the nation's intelligence chiefs contradicting on so many of the key national security issues. how significant is that? >> it is really hard to imagine a bigger void between a sitting president and the u.s. intelligence community. keep in mind they are all trump
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appointees. beyond contradicting what may be more disturbing is it exposes many claims about the most serious national security threats to this country. it is not based on intelligence or the facts as the u.s. intelligence community sees them. let's go through the list. isis says it defeated. there are thousands of isis fighters still in iraq and syria and they will exploit any reduction to strengthen. north korea not that it is not denuking today but that it will not denuke. it sees it as essential to survival. iran saying that iran still to this day complying with the nuclear agreement despite the u.s. withdraw and despite the many claims it is not contradicting on that. on russia, as you know, the president has doubted the intelligence committee about the
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2016 election and set that aside you had him saying forget 2016. they are interfering in 2018 and 2020 again and you're not seeing a response from this president to that. you're aware the president raising doubts but the president saying not only is it real but already causing national security threats to this country. one thing i have to tell you today from the intelligence, what they were briefing about was the southern border. it is despite the claims of national emergency. so what was behind this truth speaking to those senators and to the nation? listen to what dan coats said at the start of his excellents toda -- comments because it was telling. >> i have told them over and over our mission was to seek the truth. we work to enhance to agree with and enforce that mission on a
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daily basis. i want our people to get up in the morning to work to think this is what our job is despite the swirl of politics that swirls around not only the capital but the world. our mission is to keep our heads down. >> didn't mention the president in that swirl of politics around the capital but we know presidents direct a lot of desire. one final thought, wolf. another thing they talked about is that america's closest allies adjusting to america's positions here seeking to be more independent because they can't rely on the u.s. the same way they did in the past. it was a sobering briefing for sure. >> yeah. so many areas as you point out where the president and intelligence community, the u.s. intelligence chiefs are on very very different pages raising the question are they agreeing on anything? it is a real problem. >> it is.
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china often at the top of the list. that is where you see this administration being very tough going after chinese state enterprise and in trade negotiations as well. >> all right. thank you very much. president trump's long time ally friend and confident roger stone in a federal courtroom today pleading not guilty to seven criminal charges tieing to robert mueller's russia investigation. our senior justice correspondent is here in the situation room. what happened in court today and what's next for stone? >> as advertised roger stone pleaded not guilty to these charges, the severn counts ranging from witness tampers to false statements. he saw a bit of a smirk on his face. there was a plan that he and his lawyers had set up for him to
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speak to the media. you know, one of his favorite things since he was arrested on friday is to do this media tour. he wanted to speak to the cameras. there was a bit of a circus atmosphere. he managed to get his trademark signed. he was sort of overcome by the crowd. he decided to forgo that. we expect he will be back in court on friday. >> the former stone employee, he is fighting a subpoena to appear before a federal grand jury and we learned that mueller cistill wants him there. >> right. i think there is a very high possibility there is more to come for roger stone, the lawyers for andrew miller who has been fighting the subpoena from the mueller investigation said they were told they are
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still seeking his testimony. it means they trying to gather everyday they believe the prosecutors believe will be used in a superceding indictment. they brought initial charges and then additional charges. that is a big possibility for roger stone. we'll get a better idea perhaps on friday when he sees the judge for the first time that will be handling his case whether or not he will be allowed to continue to his media tour, how long it will be before he goes on trial. perhaps it will be months, maybe a year. >> yeah. a pretty tough federal judge presiding at this hearing. >> she does not take kindly. >> she doesn't indeed. thanks for that report. joining us now, house majority leader, thank you for joining us. >> you bet. glad to be with you.
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>> let's begin with the global threat assessment. several occasions they directly contradicted the president. do you believe president trump is deliberately ignoring what the intelligence leadership of the united states is telling him? >> it is to having his believes based upon facts. i think director coats presentation today and your reporter just pointed out how on almost every national security challenge the president is in denial or has a different view than the intelligence community. that's unfortunate. as you pointed out it's not good for allies. it is dangerous for them and for us. >> you have been in washington for a long time. i have been around for a long time. i don't remember a time when he
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is disagreeing. do you remember a time like that? >> i do not. i think they all respect it. it doesn't mean they agreed on every policy move that resulted from the facts but at least they agreed that they were the facts that the intelligence committee with very careful research had advised the country and the president of. again, it is very disappointing and unprecedented. >> i suspect it is unprecedented. let's go to ongoing negotiations. would house democrats offer any amount of funding for some sort of border wall or steel barriers or csignificant fencing? >> first of all this will be up. he is the chair of the homeland security committee has put
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proposals on the table which would be billions of dollars to try to beef up security at the border. we want border security. we support border security and obviously the other side will put on the table their proposals which will include some sort of barriers they believe are necessary. they will discuss that. i don't want to prejudge what they are going to do. i am convinced knowing the people that are on there that they will look at them honestly and with a view towards coming to agreement. i think we all agree that shutting down the government is not a good policy. it undermines the committee and undermines the confidence of business community and of our allies. i believe there's going to be very good faith negotiations and i think one of the things that we know in a democracy, you have
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got to goet to a compromise. we'll see what happens. i don't want to prejudge it. i think it will be open to discussion of the others view. >> let's see if they can work out some sort of deal. the white house does not have a representative at these negotiations that are underway right now. do you worry that the president might in the end shoot down a potential compromised hammered off by democrats and republicans? >> i think you have to worry about that. the united states senate plans the resolution that would have kept the government open and funded the government through february 8th. they thought the president was for that. by the time it got to the house the president indicated he was not for it and unfortunately the house did not pass it. therefore i don't think you can be sure. what the process is, the legislature makes policy. it sends that policy to the
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president. he can agree with it or veto it and send it back to us for further action. there is no doubt that the president is going to be in touch with members of the conference committee from his side of the aisle i'm sure and legislative people will be in touch. i was on the appropriations committee for many many years. obviously you're in touch with the administration and you know if it's not your administration they are in touch and many times in touch with you. i'm sure the white house is going to be watching this. the issue is whether or not if they say they agree that they stick with what they agree to. >> let's see what happens. the house majority leader, thanks for joining us. >> thank you very much. up next from isis to iran, from russia to north korea in intelligence chiefs on the global threats to the united states, is he listening as
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president trump's long-time ally pleads not guilty to seven criminal charges in the mueller investigation. does the special council have more charges to file? the fact is, americans move more than anyone else in the world. on average, we'll live in eleven homes. and every time we move, things change. apartments become houses, cars become mini vans. as we upgrade and downsize, an allstate agent will do the same for our protection. now that you know the truth, are you in good hands?
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during our rather sobering hearing top members of the u.s. intelligence community gave candid assessments opposed by isis, iran, russia and china time and again their warnings contradicted claims made by president trump. let's ask our political and national security experts about what we heard. it was really stark. i will play clips from what we heard over the past few months.
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we have beaten them and beaten them badly. >> isis is intent on resurging and commands thousands of fighters in iraq and syria. >> we have a great chemistry. we are well on our way. it said we will begin the immediate denuclearization. >> north korea will seek to retain the wmd capabilities and is unlikely to come plopletely up nuclear production tape blts. they are continuing to adant their model. >> fwla what do you think of that? >> it reaffirms their strategy is not working with the rest of his team is a good way to
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continue following. it is so the president could decide and the intelligence community does not think several of president trump's policies are working. north korea is not denuclearizing. isis is still strong. in this situation he would sit back and say how should i change what i'm doing based on what was publicly unveiled today? that would be the responsible move right now. >> he has said i know more than the generals. >> right. he knows more than his intelligence officials obviously. don't forget he also agreed -- disagreed with them on whether
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russia was in the election. you look for example syria the president didn't consult anybody. >> right. >> and now you have a move in congress lead to undo mcconnell to undo what the president did in syria. they decided to tell the truth to congress. one thing he did not mention is new huge threat at the southern border. it was completely not a part of this threat assessment. >> how do you think the foreign adversaries are watching what's going on here in washington, how do you think they are reacting? >> this works into their play
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books. in addition on them contradicting on whether they think should pull troops out of afghanistan, none of his advisers agree with him either. he said he would give more detail in a closed hearing. >> think about they di not show difference of the president of the united states because they were that against policies. you can forsee people like that saying let's not address it publicly. let me not shame in public and
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sighing wh saying that i don't want to disrespect them. it is probably because the reasons they are talking about that it was more important to tell the truth than to placate the president of the united states. that's very telling about what their view of him is. >> you to give them a lot of credit for knowing that the president disagrees with him. everybody stick around. much more coming up. we'll be right back. the latest innovation from xfinity
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ed we are back with our experts. you know the russia investigation is still trying to get testimony before a grand jury for a stone employee by the name of andrew miller. what does that signal to you? he is resisting mueller wants him to appear? >> it does to me. remember about a year and a half ago you had everyone thinking it was going to wrap up quickly. we have people optimist k it will end quickly but as long as you still have people that are still fighting subpoena power and fighting the opportunity to go in front of the grand jury it leads me to believe that mueller still has an interest in the information and he can't get it otherwise. you still know someone like rick gates has his time under their thumb has not ended. you have corsi that declined a
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plea offer a couple of months ago. we realize that if a prosecutor will give you a plea offer they had information to convict you in some way. it is elongation. miller gives another example where you know if mueller is still interested and there must be more information to come. roger stone, when they raided his home and pulled out electronic devices that takes time to review. we are in far longer period of time. >> do you think there could be more charges? >> there could be. it is a way of correcting the initial indictment to add more charges. some times to take away to allow the grand jury to take away and change their charges.
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>> the acting attorney general said that the report from mueller said he has been fully briefed on the investigation is close to being completed. so what does that mean? >> it is hard to say. first of all, we are not use to anybody in charge of an investigation or involved in an investigation talking about the state of the investigation. he started to answer the question. you could see him sweat because he realized he shouldn't be answering it. he was talking about his
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previous writings on the investigation which he said was from public documents and that would be reviewed perhaps, but if he says it is going to be over the question that i have is why was he briefed? you know, did he brief him and for what reason or was he sending a message to mueller, hurry this up, a little bit of pressure or was he sending a message, don't worry, it's going to be fine? >> we don't know if he briefed the president. >> we don't know. we don't know why whitaker got briefed. >> all the more reason to have not on acting attorney general at the department of justice right now. >> should the democrats allow the confirmation to become the attorney general? >> i think all should have let it go forward. we should not have acting cabinet secretaries and there's
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also as you both just referenced the real fact that whitaker has made comments and commenting on an ongoing investigation of counter intelligence is more than an oops moment. >> it was an awkward moment to say the least. you look at chris ray who was a professional and attempting to have a poker face. you can see his sort of surprise by what whitaker had said. if i could go back to roger stone in following this case, particularly his ties to wikileaks is remembering what pompeo said. he said it was a nonstate hostile intelligence agency. when you have somebody that is now the secretary of state, somebody in the inner circle and categorizing wikileaks in such a way it will be interesting to see how the president reacts. >> we have the president saying i love wikileaks.
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>> and urging them to provide what he actually did. >> and you think he knew at the time he saw wikileaks as the cutout of the gru? >> i think the president would be very clear that he is not a friend of the united states of america. he was running for president at the time. he would wonder if somebody wouldn't be aware if there was a situation in the united states and wikileaks. we invited them of providing information or even to go out and find deleted e-mails. he invited a foreign entity. so even that moment, if he didn't realize what pompeo, how he would characterize it surely he knew in his gut and mind it was a problem. >> he was getting intelligence briefings. >> right. it was public sector information. let's also focus on the then cia director. we know that special council
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believes members of the trump campaign were directed to tell roger stone to communicate with that intelligence service. there is a very strong chance that secretary of state is currently in classified meetings in the situation room with people that may have been involved in that effort to contact wikileaks. it is coupled with the fact that we have multiple people that shouldn't have them for counter intelligence purposes. it is a perfect storm. >> you talk about the president saying i love wikileaks. wikileaks released the e-mails, what have you. imagine the outrage if we found out it was happening privately. so it is something that the president announced during the campaign and on television may make it seem a bit more benign but it is shocking to say the least. >> and pompeo the gru was using
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>> about a quarter of the u.s.
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population will face sub zero temperatures as the week goes on. let's get the latest from allison. where will the worst cold be tonight? >> it is going to be mainly f focused across areas of the midwest. here is a look at our current temperatures and current windchills. keep in mind numbers will only keep dropping. the 2350 it feels like it is minus 19. that frigid air is is going to continue to push south and east over the next 48 hours allowing more people to really get in on some of that cold air. you're talking about potentially 15 cities with record lows. it expands in over 20 cities once we get to thursday morning. again, here is a look at where we get the windchills.
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min -30 to -60. you have to understand temperatures will go down over the next 24 to 48 hours. temperatures below zero. you 83 million people to show you how widespread this is that's all of the locations where temperatures are at or below freezing. it's about three quarters of the population and you'll have below freezing temperatures for portions of florida tonight including tallahassee. it is a long term. look at minneapolis. tomorrow morning's low-26. thursday is -31 frostbite can selt in in as little adds five minutes. >> it has been closing because they don't want the kidding
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standing out at the bus stops for 10 or 20 minutes when the frostbite could set in before that time. >> yeah. it is a serious situation here in washington. the federal government has told workers they can leave two hours early today because it will get really cold here in the nation's capital as well. thank you very very much. coming up top u.s. intelligence sounds a warning aim kim jong un's weapons of mass destruction. is president trump being fooled by north korea's brutal dictator? roger stone goes to court, saying stone could face even more charges. ou? oh, hey jeff, i'm a car thief... what?! i'm here to steal your car because, well, that's my job. what? what?? what?! (laughing) what?? what?! what?! [crash] what?! haha, it happens. and if you've got cut-rate car insurance, paying for this could
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president trump has been touting progress on north korean denukization denuclearizati denuclearization. his intelligence chief takes a different view. brian todd has been looking into this. a public break with the president? >> reporter: surprising it's such a stark contradiction. they have been opposing the president on other security issues. america's top-ranking spy delivered a sobering announcement. america's intelligence chief said today, the violent north
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korean dictator will probably have weapons of mass destruction at his fingertips for the foreseeable future. >> north korea will seek to retain its capabilities and is unlikely to give up its nuclear weapons and production capabilities because its leaders view nuclear weapons as critical to regime survival. >> reporter: it's an assessment which comes days after one of president trump's more optimistic pronouncements about his efforts to get kim to give up his nuclear weapons and missiles. >> no rockets. there's no rockets. there's no anything. we're doing very well. i've indirectly talking to chairman kim. when i came here, this country was headed to war with north korea. now we have a very good dialogue going. >> reporter: coats said that dialogue seems to be paying off. >> north korea has not conducted any nuclear capable missile or nuclear tests in more than a
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year. it has dismantled some of its nuclear infrastructure. >> reporter: there are indications that kim may have halted temporarily his production of some nuclear material, like plutonium. they believe he is charging ahead with other capabilities. >> there are indications that north korea may still be enriching uranium. it can be used as a fuel for nuclear weapons. north korea is likely continuing to develop ballistic missiles. there's significant activity at north korea's ballistic missile sites. >> reporter: recently, kim declared his country would no longer create or test nuclear weapons. analysts say that could be because he built an arsenal that could threaten the u.s. and his other rivals. >> it's likely north korea has produced enough material for 30 to 60 warheads and has perhaps assembled about 20 of those into actual weapons. >> reporter: as for the assessment that kim views nuclear weapons as critical to
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his regime's survival, analysts say that's in his dna. he believes it enables him to intimidate his neighbors and protect his regime. they say for that reason, total denuclearization of north korea is a bit of a pipe dream. >> i think they are interested in getting to zero at the same time that the rest of the world gets to zero. >> reporter: the cia director is hinting kim and his circle could be playing a double game, building their weapons in secret while talking to president trump. >> i think our analysts would assess that they value the dialogue with the united states. and we do see indications that kim jong-un is trying to navigate a path toward some kind of better future for the north korean people. >> reporter: with kim jong-un with dialogue will also come deception. u.s. officials have told cnn that no matter what comes of his nuclear negotiations with the united states, kim will always
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try to hide his nuclear weapons capability and his nuclear infrastructure. today, responding to that assessment from director of national intelligence dan coats, a white house spokesman said their goal is to get kim to draw down his nuclear arsenal as he agreed to in singapore. they are hinting this is a continuing dialogue. >> brian, thank you very much for that report. the nation's intelligence chiefs publically contradict the president on the threats posed to america by isis, iran and russia. the republican leader calls for u.s. troops to stay in syria and afghanistan. nda started here. and then, more jobs began to appear. these techs in a lab. this builder in a hardhat... ...the welders and electricians who do all of that. the diner staffed up 'cause they all needed lunch. teachers... doctors... jobs grew a bunch. what started with one job spread all around. because each job in energy
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happening now, opposite views. u.s. intelligence chiefs contradict president trump on security issues, undermining his takes on isis, north korea and russia. tonight, the president also is facing new resistance from the top senate republican. stone cold witness. as roger stone pleads not guilty, there are new signals that the special counsel may be considering an additional indictment of the longtime trump adviser. what does robert mueller hope to learn from a witness fighting his subpoena? silence by russia? a self-style sex coach who claims to have evidence of collusion says kremlin agents tried to keep her quiet. she's speaking out in an exclusive interview with cnn. a deadly deep freeze is endangering millions of americans. one-fourth of the population

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