Transcripts For CNNW Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer 20170918

And another try. Were following a new lastditch republican effort to repeal obamacare after multiple attempts and failures. Could this compromise actually get through the senate . We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. Were following breaking news tonight, extremely dangerous hurricane. We just learned that maria has intensified to a powerful category 4 storm. Its expected to intensify even more as it heads toward the caribbean island of puerto rico where its expected to make landfall. Also this hour, President Trump makes his debut at the United Nations, giving u. N. Members an initial taste of his unorthodox style and America First agenda, on this the eve of his big speech before the u. N. General assembly. Mr. Trump is dropping new hints that he may scrap the nuclear deal with iran, teasing that hell reveal his decision soon. Hes also vowing to keep the economic pressure on north korea just hours after he mocked kim jongun as rocket man. The u. N. Is taking kims nuclear and missile programs seriously, slapping north korea with new sanctions to punish the regime. Were also following Surprising New developments in the trump russia investigation. The New York Times reporting that white house attorney ty cobb was overheard talking publicly about the probe and disputes within the legal team about how much to cooperate with special counsel robert mueller. Cobb reportedly suggested that White House Counsel Don Mcgahn was withholding documents that were locked in a safe. Also saying colleagues may be wearing wires to record conversations for mueller. Ill get that and more from republican congressman will heard, a member of the intelligence and Homeland Security committees. Our correspondents and specialists are standing by. Lets go to our senior White House Correspondent jeff zeleny outside trump tower in new york city. Jeff, the president will be staying there tonight as he prepares for his major speech before the u. N. Tomorrow. Reporter wolf, President Trump has been here at home at trump tower working on that speech, i am told, throughout the afternoon. Aides describe it as one of the most important speeches he will give. Of course it is going to fill in some of the blanks on the trump doctrine on iran and most urgently, on north korea. The main message is make the United Nations great not again. Make the United Nations great. Reporter President Trump spri striking a family tone at the United Nations today in his first visit since taking office. With Foreign Policy challenges rising in north korea and iran, the president started with a message to reform the u. N. We encourage all Member States to look at ways to take bold stands at the United Nations with an eye toward changing business as usual and not being beholden to ways of the past which were not working. Reporter but his words today far more measured than on the campaign trail when he blasted the u. N. As a bloated bureaucracy. The United Nations is not a friend of democracy. Its not a friend to freedom. Its not a friend even to the United States of america where, as you know, it has its home. Reporter he even criticized the iconic emerald backdrop where hell stand tuesday in his first address to the u. N. General assembly, once saying on twitter, the cheap square marble tiles always bothered me. I will replace if they ask me. Today far more pressing challenges sit on trumps desk, a standoff with north korea and the Iran Nuclear Agreement high atop the list of global flash points. The president is meeting with a parade of World Leaders this week starting today with israeli Prime Minister benjamin netanyahu. Were going to be discussing many things, among them peace between the palestinians and israel. It will be a fantastic achievement, and we are giving it an absolute go. Reporter the u. N. Summit offers a chance for World Leaders to take mr. Trumps measure and to shower him with praise as netanyahu did today. Under your leadership the alliance between america and israel has never been stronger, never been deeper. Reporter during a meeting with french president emmanuel macron, mr. Trump also said he was inspired to hold a fourth of july military parade in washington. After witnessing frances bastille Day Celebration earlier this year. Because of what i witnessed, we may do Something Like that on july 4th in washington, down pennsylvania avenue. I dont know. Were going to have to try and top it. Reporter the chinese president is not attending the u. N. Summit this week but spoke to mr. Trump by phone today. The white house said the two leaders committed to maximizing pressure on north korea through vigorous enforcement of United Nations Security Council resolutions. North Koreas Nuclear threat is one of the biggest reasons the president is taking a softer approach to the unltd nations. He lives only blocks away but made a rare trip to the u. N. Headquarters. The real estate mogul and trump came through the moment he arrived in the towering building today. I actually saw Great Potential right across the street. Reporter trump world tower, the president said, became a successful project because of its proximity to the u. N. Despite disparaging the United Nations over the years, the president knows he now needs them, particularly the sanctions help from the u. N. Security counsel as he deals with north korea. The Iran Nuclear Agreement also on the president s mind. He was asked this average plansp in that deadline and he said, youll see very soon. Jeff, thank you. Also tonight, defense secretary james mattis is talking once again about u. S. Military options as far as north korea is concerned, as President Trump works at the u. N. To keep the pressure on kim jongun. Lets go to our chief National Security correspondent jim sciutto joining us from the United Nations. Jim, the north korea Nuclear Threat clearly an urgent concern over where you are at the u. N. Reporter no question and you have the odd situation of an american president who has repeatedly derided, even dismissed the u. N. As an institution, dependent on u. N. Security Council Resolutions to deliver punishing sanctions against north korea which were a central part of the u. S. Strategy in responding to north koreas military escalation, progress with missiles, with nuclear blasts, et cetera. That said, a consistent message the last 24 hours from Trump Administration officials has been that their patience for diplomacy is running out. For World Leaders convening at the u. N. General assembly this week, the most pressing threat is a nuclear north korea. The u. N. Security Council Resolutions speak for themselves. Reporter after unanimous Security Council vote to tighten economic sanctions on the north, Trump Administration Officials Say their patience for diplomacy is running short. We wanted to be responsible and go through all diplomatic means to get their attention first. If that doesnt work, general mattis will take care of it. Reporter those military options range from limited strikes on north korean launch sites to more comprehensive decapitation strikes intended to knock out north koreas leaders. If our diplomatic efforts fail though, our military option will be the only one left. Weve said from the beginning we dont have a lot of time left. Reporter any military strike, however, involves enormous potential human cost, including devastating threats to civilians and u. S. Service members in the south korean capitol, seoul, a fact that the u. S. Army chief of staff made clear today with allies. Its absolutely critical that we all, every one of our countries, does everything humanly possible in the months ahead to avert an Armed Conflict and convince north korea that their path of seeking Nuclear Weapons is the wrong path. Reporter u. S. And south Korean Forces are ramping up preparations. South korea and japan conducted a show of force with bombers and fighter jets over the Korean Peninsula and continuing drills with ground forces. China and russia beginning naval drills as well. I spoke to a senior u. N. Official a short time ago who told me that the reception here to President Trumps comments this morning, to his various bilateral meetings, his willingness to engage diplomacy has been positive. They say that this official says their level of concern about a military escalation in north korea not so great. General concern though. Greater concern about what President Trump will do with the iran nuclear deal, and weve heard this from his private conversations expressing real doubts about that agreement from the u. S. Perspective and concern here. Remember of course, wolf, it was at the u. N. General assembly that the first signs of diplomatic response between obama and rouhani happened here. The question among the senior u. N. Leadership is will President Trump begin to reverse that at this years u. N. General assembly. Thanks very much, jim sciutto at the u. N. Lets get to more of this. Republican congressman will heard is joining us, a member of the intelligence and Homeland Security committees. Congressman, how do you interpret what the u. S. Ambassador to the u. N. , nikki haley said when she said and im quoting her general mattis will take care of it if diplomacy fails . Well, shes alluding to the fact that our military would take some type of action to stop the problem of kim jongun trying to achieve a nuclear weapon. We should have all options on the table, and we should be looking at this problem and what can we be doing in the short term, medium term and long term. The reality is this is a great week to increase diplomacy with our allies during the u. N. General assembly and i know this is going to be a topic that is going to consume most conversations. Do you really believe, congressman, theres a realistic military option . Because as you know, along the militarized zone, the North Koreans have a million troops and thousands and thousands of artillery that could be aimed right at seoul, the capitol of south korea, 15, 20 miles away, and within a matter of hours thousands if not tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people would be killed. One correction on that, wolf. Its not a matter of hours. Its a matter of minutes. With kim jonguns longrange artillery, he can kill hundreds of thousands of people in seoul. So is there a military option thats going to result in zero casualties to our allies . I think that is difficult to imagine. But there are still some things we can be doing right now. I hope during the u. N. General assembly that talking about cutting off all fuel to north korea. What does that do . You need trucks to move fuel to fuel your missiles. You need trucks to move folks back and forth. You need fuel in order to power your generators that keep the computers going, that manage many of these programs. We have to start now because im sure they have stock piled a bunch of fuel to last for some kind of situation like this, but thats something that we should be doing. The latest round of sanctions which is a good sign, its a good sign that china and russia have agreed with us and our other european allies on this threat but we can go even further. The difference with north korea and any other country on this planet is that 90 of their economy comes through china, so we have an opportunity to tighten fuel, and that impacts every part of their military operation and their Nuclear Program. As weve seen with the naval exercises by china and russia, our military planners should be having conversations with the Chinese Military planners on what would happen if shooting does begin. China is nervous that theyre going to have a refugee problem, that is the millions of north Korean Refugees that would probably run to chinas borders if something were to happen. Thats a level of conversation that we should be having. But we should also still be focused on diplomacy. The current president of south korea, when he was campaigning, was talking about trying to have a lunch with north korea. That tune has changed. Secretary tillerson has always said that the goal is to try to resolve this situation diplomat diplomatically. In order to resolve something diplomatically, we have to create a space in order to do that. And we have to get kim jongun to think that can he stay in power without having Nuclear Weapons. Thats his calculations. Right now he believes that the only way he can stay in power is to do what his father and grandfather hasnt done, and that is having Nuclear Weapons that could strike anywhere on this earth. We also have to show that if he did not move and stopped his Nuclear Weapons program, that we can create a secure environment in which he would stay. If hes looking at the rest of the world, hes probably looking to the example of ukraine where ukraine willingly gave up their Nuclear Weapons after the fall of the soviet union and they were supposed to have security assurances and what happened . Russia invaded. Nothing happened there. That is more of a longterm issue where we can prove that giving up Nuclear Weapons, that there are certain security assurances you can expect from the world community. Also looking at Muammar Gaddafi who gave up his Nuclear Program and we know how he wound up. Quickly, put on your hat as a former cia officer, congressman. What happens when the president of the United States ridicules kim jongun and calls him rocket man . How do the North Koreans react to that . Well, i think kim jongun has shown himself someone who reacts to provocations. Whether that reaches the level of him responding in some way, the problem is most of North Koreans, the average north korean probably has never seen that or saw that comment because the type of stranglehold that kim jongun has on information coming in in that country. Stand by, congressman. Theres more were going to be discussing. We have to take a quick break and resume our special coverage right after this. 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The two lawyers were sitting outside a popular washington d. C. Restaurant and the New York Times reporter was at the next table. Well, i spent nine and a half years as an undercover officer in the cia and i have had a lot of private conversation. I think if you were involved in one of the most high profile investigations in the world right now, id either learn how to whisper or get a quieter restaurant. This is every piece of information that is said is going to be dissected and i think its good for nobody for information to come out that way. One of the lawyers, ty cobb, one of the president s lawyers, also mentioned documents that are being stored in the white House Counsel, don mcgahns safe. Will your Intelligence Committee seek those documents . Well, not understanding those documents what they are or not is the first step. Our investigation is to look at what actually did the russians do to try to influence our election, what was the governments response to that, were there any americans involved and working with the russians, and then the issue of intelligence information being shared publicly when it wasnt supposed to. Were trying to do this in a bipartisan and thorough way. We have to be methodical in answering each one of those four each one of those four issues. The New York Times also reporting, congressman, that white house officials, at least some of them, fear their colleagues may be wired, Walking Around with microphones to record conversations for the special counsel, bob mueller. That would be extraordinary if staffers in the white house were wired by the special counsel. What do you make of that . Well, i think everyone is going to be suspicious because of the nature of the investigation. Special prosecutor mueller obviously is onto something. The fact that hes still hiring people is an indication that there is work being done. I think everybody is going to be looking over their shoulders just because this is probably one of the most talked about and focused on investigations that weve seen in the United States in america for a really long time. You just returned from a visit to ukraine, congressman. Is russia still interfering in ukraine . What would you like to see happen . The russians are absolutely interfering in ukraine. Unfortunately, some people are still referring to whats happening in crimea in Eastern Ukraine as a separatist movement. Its not a separatist movement. It was an invasion of a sovereign country by russia. There are 920 tanks in Eastern Ukraine. There are more Russian Military officers in Eastern Ukraine than there are ukrainians. This is unacceptable and a violation of another countrys sovereignty. The russians are using their latest and greatest tools and techniques and Electronic Warfare in Eastern Ukraine and were seeing those tools and techniques exported to other parts of the world. Vladimir putin recently floated the idea of having peace keepers come. Well, this is not a conflict. It was an invasion. So if president putin wants to see the problem resolved, he should leave crimea and Eastern Ukraine. Im sure this is going to be a topic of conversation during the u. N. General assembly over the next few days, and i hope nobody thinks to delink the issue of Eastern Ukraine from crimea. The ukrainians are our friends, our allies. We should be supporting them, and they are on the front lines of defense of europe. What happens in ukraine could potentially happen in the rest of europe. Congressman will hurd, thanks for joining us. Always a pleasure, wolf. Just ahead, Vladimir Putin keeps a very close watch on new moves by russia that are making nato nervous right now. 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A reporter for the New York Times sitting at the next table hearing a conversation about some of the most sensitive issues involved in the legal case. Yeah, and two lawyers who should know better. Theyre not at some obscure spot which also they shouldnt be talking about sensitive matters anywhere but especially at a place thats such a common location in washington d. C. In terms of what it means politically is that the white house has gone with this narrative all along, not on the legal side but the political side, that theres nothing to see here, they have nothing to hide, theres no connections with russia. But if the reporting is right and there are documents that are being held back by the white house, at least at this point, it puts a hole in that narrative that theres nothing to see here. Jeffrey toobin, what are the ramifications of a conversation like this being overheard by a New York Times reporter . Well, one of the first things you learn in law school is that if a third party is present when two lawyers or a lawyer and client are discussing privileged matters, the conversation is unprivileged. So ken vogel of the New York Times, hats off to him. He was well within his rights in just sitting there and listening to this conversation. So legally, theres certainly no problem with this disclosure, but i think what they were talking about is something that every white house under investigation tries to deal with, which is how cooperative to be. There are often factions within the white house. Here it appears these two lawyers, the outside lawyers, ty cobb who is the main outside lawyer at this point, wants to be more fullsome in the disclosures and the white house does not. The real curiosity of this scoop by the New York Times is the reference to some documents in a safe that the white House Counsel may be keeping. That is something that will certainly attract the interest of congressional investigators and of course the mueller team as well. Phil mudd, theres also, according to the New York Times, a sense of paranoia among white house staffers, some believing that other staffers have been wired by the special counsel, robert mueller, to record conversations. How realistic do you think that is . These guys are squirming at the end of a hook, wolf, but theyre squirming for the wrong reason. I think theyre like their boss. Theyre watching too much tv. I would not be worried about wires. Id be worried about other things. Don jr. , when he lied about his meeting with the russian lawyer, he initially claimed it was about immigration issues. Turned out it was about Hillary Clinton. That wasnt a tire tap. That was an email chain. These guys have to worry about years of email records. They have to be worried about interviews. People on the prifrry of this conversation are going to tell them, dont lie to a federal investigator. Finally, wolf, you got to worry about flips. If the fbi says youre going to be charged with a federal crime, that person has to be careful about whether they want to go to prison or whether they want to talk about what they saw. Its not the wires that these guys should be squirming about. Its the arrogance of what they left in emails and phone records and what other people say in fbi interviews about what they heard. Donald trump jr. Originally said it was about adoption issues which is a form of immigration, adoption of kids from russia here to the United States. That was the original explanation that he gave about that conversation at trump tower. What does it say, rebecca, about the overall white house right now when there seems to be a sense of paranoia that some officials are wired and eavesdropping on conversations . Clearly its creating tension in the workplace, wolf, on a massive scale. Also feeding into these tensions, these frustrations that you would have in any sort of office, but the stakes here are incredibly high. This is the white house were talking about and a special prosecutor. You also have to consider that this is something thats in the background every single day at the white house. So as the president is at the United Nations, as hes engaged in these hurricane recovery efforts, as hes doing what a president does, the shadow is constantly over the white house, constantly on the minds of the people working within the white house. It begins to impact the way you do your every day job. If youre suspicious about your colleagues wearing a wire, youre wondering about what, when it comes time for them to interview with mueller, what they could potentially be disclosing to him. This has a big impact on how the white house functions every single day. The question of the legitimacy of the election, a very sensitive issue, jeffrey toobin. Listen to this exchange that Hillary Clinton had with terry gross of npr on this very, very sensitive issue. Listen to this. I want to get back to the question, would you completely rule out questioning the legitimacy of this election if we learn that the russian interference in the election is even deeper than we know now . No, i would not. I would say youre not going to rule it out . No, i wouldnt rule it out. Thats pretty extraordinary when you hear that, jeffrey. Well, it is, but perhaps we may be reading a little too much into what Hillary Clinton says. I dont think she is saying shes going to somehow go to court or go to congress and try to have this election overturned. Obviously that would be impossible at this point. She may say if there are further disclosures, i think donald trump is an illegitimate president , i think this election was not conducted in a fair or appropriate way. Thats what i think shes talking about. I dont think that statement and perhaps others disagree with me was any sort of indication that shes going to somehow challenge the results of the election at this late date. Phil, what do you think . I am so tired of this. I think the context is broader. Remember, she keeps saying she keeps telling us she takes responsibility. Then its jim comey and then its russians and then its Bernie Sanders and maybe if theres more information about how the russians were involved when she lost to the worst candidate in history shes going to go back and relitigate this. I dont mean that formally as jeffrey said. Can she choose to go high and found another National Security issue or get off the stage. Ive had it with relitigating the last election. Done. It just happened a few months ago. Why should she not talk about it . Oh, its ancient history. It was last november, it wasnt even a year. Its excuse after excuse. Enough already. Human events have multiple causes. It can be that she was a bad candidate. It can be that she takes responsibility. It can also be that Bernie Sanders hurt her. It can also be that james comey hurt her. I dont see why shes barred from talking about this. Its an appropriate it seems like a very appropriate topic and of interest to a lot of people. And shes talking about it a lot. Shes out there promoting her book as we all know. Everybody stick around. Senate republicans, they are gearing up for a new long shot effort to repeal obamacare, but time may be their biggest obstacle. We are the tv doctors of america, and we may not know much about medicine, but we know a lot about drama. From scandalous romance, to ridiculous plot twists. gasping son . Dad we also know you can avoid drama by getting an annual checkup. So were partnering with cigna to remind you to go see a real doctor. Go, know, and take control of your health. It could save your life. Doctor poses dad cigna. Together, all the way. Yet another effort to repeal obamacare is gaining momentum in the u. S. Senate tonight with the republicans trying to rally support for a lastditch longshot effort. Lets go to our congress at correspondent Phil Mattingly whos working the story for us. Phil, i know theres a very tight deadline. 12 days, wolf. Thats how much time they have to get something that over the course of the last nine months they have not been able to succeed in. They need to do that by september 30th if they want to do it under budget rules by a simple majority vote. Thats exactly why you see republican senators today still trying to get their heads around whats actually happening. Seven days ago this wasnt even an option, Something Senate leaders were taking seriously. Now they are. The reason why . Their conference said they want to give it another shot. What is actually in this bill, wolf, is extremely important. Its a bill that democrats, including chuck schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, is calling in the midst of a red siren moment. Thats how seriously everybody is taking this. This bill has some elements of a traditional repeal and replace plan. It repeels the individual and employer mandates and ends obamacare by 2020. There are significant differences. Past plans have kept the tax subsidy in place. This changes that entirely. While it keeps most of the obamacare taxes, it uses that money to fund block grants that would go to individual states. Thats something that conservatives like very much, states rights, something we hear about a lot up here. But the funding allocation, how that money would be dished out to states could cause a lot of concerns for senators that come from immediamedicaid expansion. Rant paul of kentucky says because this bill keeps the taxes of obamacare it doesnt go far enough. That means hes a no. When you look at the whip count its still very much in the air. Republicans leaders im told, count rand paul and Susan Collins as pretty firm nos. That means they cant lose anybody else. Currently stands, other senators up in the air including lisa murkowski, is undecided. John mccain who cast the thumbs down in that dramatic moment in july, he says hes not there yet either, is very upset with the process and says its not a guarantee hes going to be there. One thing we know for sure, over the next couple of days theres serious work behind the scenes. Compressed timeline. The only option they have is to get this on the floor by next week. Thats the goal right now. Whether they get there is still an open question, wolf. Will the Congressional Budget Office have enough time to assess this legislation and determine for example how many people would Lose Health Insurance . The short answer is no. Thats not a small thing. What the cbo said today is by early next week they will have a preliminary score that will decide whether or not the bill come pliez with budget rules. It wont tell how many people would lose coverage or fewer people would have coverage based on this bill. It wont go into details like weve seen in past iterations of this. Democrats are already crying foul. Republicans have made no secret that they have Serious Problems with the cbos methodology. One senator who has made clear thats a problem, Susan Collins. Saying she wants to study that cbo score. When she was told preliminary is the best shes going to get, said that was troubling. What does it do to planned parenthood . It would effectively defund it for one year. Wrin brings you to the alaska senator who was a no the first time around. Theyve made clear Defunding Planned Parenthood is essentially a red line or at least one of their red lines. Whether or not that stays in could dictate where this is going. As of this moment, an effective defunding of planned parenthood is in the bill. Its something conservatives want desperately, something the outside groups have called for repeatedly, but again, that creates math problems for them. Theres still a definite threading of the needle that needs to occur if this is going to happen, again on a very compressed timeline. The fact that this is even alive at all, wolf, given that most members havent even gotten their heads around the bill yet, its no small thing and definitely an indication that this is a very serious effort. I know the white house supports it. Would it be a done deal lets say the senate does pass it narrowly. Would the white house of representatives pass it as well . This is a great question because if they get it done next week, the house essentially has to eat it whole. They cant make changes and send it back because the budget window would be closed. Housekeeper paul ryan tweeted in support of the bill. He said hes urging all senators to support this but you talk about funding allocations. There are a lot of republicans in blue states in the house that would see their states lose a lot of money on medicaid because of the allocations, how they would be set up. There will be problems over there but theres no question theyre hoping momentum will carry the day. Phil mattingly on the hill. I want to go to new york right now, the president meeting with latin american leaders over at the United Nations. Theyre at a hotel in new york city. These are live pictures. You see some members of the u. S. Delegation. The president s going to be sitting down and meeting with these latin american leaders. We just saw general mcmaster, the president s National Security adviser. The president has been meeting most of the day with World Leaders. Earlier today he met with benjamin netanyahu, the Prime Minister. Lets listen in and see what theyre saying. Thank you. Congratulations, good job. Good to see you again. I assume theyre going to sit down at the table and have a little conversation but maybe the president will open it up with some remarks. Maybe well hear from some of these latin america leaders as well. This is a moment, david swird li swerdlick, that the president enjoys these meetings with World Leaders. You see the president doing the ceremonial aspects of being president , making his debut in front of these leaders, expressing his american leadership. As long as he has stuck to scripts so far today, it has gone fairly well for him. He has tomorrow and a bigger speech to get through, but right now this is the kind of president ial duty that youve seen president s do before and hes carrying it out in a fairly traditional way. Theres the u. S. Ambassador to the United Nations, nikki haley. Rex tillerson is there. You see mike pence, the vicepresident of the United States there. This is a major dinner that the president s having. Hes asking everyone to sit down. I think hes going to make a little statement. I want to listen in as they get ready for dinner and to hear from the president. Thank you very much, everyone. Its a great honor. I had the long conversation with president xi of china this morning. We discussed some of the obvious things and we discussed trade and we also discussed a place called north korea. It was a long call. It was a very good call. We have a very, very fine relationship, and lets see what happens. I think were making great progress. And we are going to be going to china on during the month of november. You probably have it in your schedules. I look very much forward to that. Im thrilled to host this important dinner with leaders of some of the greatest allies in the western hemisphere and that is so true. Were here to discuss the growing crises in venezuela, the socialist dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro has inflicted terrible misery and suffering on the good people of that country. This corrupt regime destroyed a thriving nation by imposing a failed ideology that has produced poverty and despair everywhere it has been tried. To make matters worse, ma dare row has defied his own people, stealing people from their own people. The venezuelan people are starving. And their country is collapsing, was one of the wealthiest countries in the world, for a long period of time, and now are the people are starving and the country is collapsing. Who would think thats possible. The Democratic Institutions are being destroyed. The situation is completely unacceptable. As responsible neighbors and friends, our goal must be to help them regain their freedom, recover their country and restore their democracy, i would like to thank the leaders in this room we have some great leaders in this room. I want to thank them for condemning the regime and providing the vital support to the venezuelan people. Most of the media, the press, other leaders have no idea the tremendous job that the people without exception in this room are doing as leaders of this country, and helping the people of venezuela, and i can tell you, we really appreciate it and the world really appreciates it. Thank you all very much, the world appreciates it so much. The United States is taking steps to hold the regime accountable. If the government of venezuela persists on a path of imposing authoritarian rule on the venezuelan people. We are fortunate to have incredibly strong and healthy trade relationships with all of the countries gathered here today. Theyre doing very well with the United States, we want to try to change that a little bit, so we can turn the tables just a little bit. Youre doing very i congratulate you all. Nikki knows exactly what im saying, and rex knows exactly what im saying. Our economic bonds form a Critical Foundation for peace for all of our people and all of our neighbors. I ask avenue country represented here to be prepared to do more to address this unbelievably serious crisis. We call for the full restoration of democracy and Political Freedoms in venezuela, and we want it to happen very, very soon. Again, id like to thank everybody, we look forward to having dinner with you, and we will talk individually about what ideas you may have concerning venezuela and other situations that were always dealing on, including trade. Mr. Vice president , thank you very much for being here, would you like to say a word, mike . Thank you, mr. President , it was my great honor to represent you. Were going to continue to monitor this meeting, the dinner the president is having with leaders from latin america. The president making a strong statement about venezuela. Lots of issues on the president s agenda, this is an incredibly important week as he makes his debut at the United Nations. Venezuela, north korea, theyre making hes making very great progress following his phone conversation with a chinese president iran. High on the agenda, terrorism, high on the agenda, all of these issues 450e8 discuss in his speech tomorrow morning. The stakes are high, and it will be interesting to see what progress if any the president can make in firming up the partnerships the United States has with some of its international allies, and trying to get countries like china to cooperate more with the United States against our shared adversaries like north korea. I will be interested to see what if anything comes out of the president s conversations with china. As you know, he has been pressuring china to do more in terms of pressuring north korea, hes threatened a trade war with china, and hinted at that in his comments today. You think the u. S. Is making great, very great progress in dealing with north korea right now . You just heard the president say that. You mean except for missile tests and Nuclear Explosions . I dont think so. I think what you have here is a remarkable reality check. When you saw the president through the campaign, critical of the u. N. , of china, very negative about immigration, and these areas of dealing with the iran Nuclear Program. Thats the United Nations. Dealing with venezuela, thats the latin americans, i think what hes realizing in the transition from campaign to governance, you cant critique all these people around the world, the u. S. Cant go it alone. You just heard that in his comments about latin america, wolf. Its a big week for the president. It is. I was particularly interested in what he said about his conversation with president xi in china. He wants to reach out to china for help with north korea about other things but the steve bannon wing steve bannon himself is gone now. But the populous conservative wing, they want a trade war with china. They want to confront jobs and trade. The intention of reaching out with one hand for partnership on north korea. Its a very difficult line to walk. It certainly is, and amidst all of this, nato is keeping a wary eye on huge Russian Military drills thundering right now. Personally being supervised by Vladimir Putin. Lets go to our Senior International correspondent in st. Petersburg tonight. These are some of the largest war games since the end of the cold war . They go on hundreds of miles. Those nato allies are concerned. Heres what they saw today. Russia unleashing massive fire power right on natos border. Under the watchful eye of president putin, tanks, rockets and aircraft showed their capabilities in choreographed war games. Translator youre able to see in action, different types of aircraft, tactical army, long range and military transport planes p. M. Operating under the operation of fighter jets. About 30 plains and helicopters participated. Kbla the russians say the exercise simulates an attack by a fictitious country on russia and belarus and their response. Theyre putting on a massive display of firepower. Theres at least 250 tanks involved. About 70 combat aircraft. They say these drills are defensive in nature. The u. S. And its nato allies are concerned. Some Officials Saying they believe as many as 100,000 troops might be amassed here. The russians say thats not true, and claim less than 13,000 troops are taking part. Nato fears russia may leave troops behind in the border area after the exercise is finished. Moscow rejects those claims as well. Nato recently conducted its own air defense drills in Eastern Europe with u. S. Involvement. This is the first exercise of this type, and they are necessary because it needs more investment many the Russian Military allowed observers, calling it a display of transparency. Russia made sure to show the world its military is better equipped than at any time since the cold war. It was remarkable to see how much firepower the russians unleashed there. And how choreographed that was. You can see why some countries are concerned about some of the things that are happening there on the border. The one thing the u. S. Will ub looking at as this maneuver ends is whether or not the russians will withdraw all of those troops back to where they came, from wolf. Its interesting that putin decided to go to these war games in russia, as opposed to coming to new york for the United Nations general assembly. Was that the reason he wanted to be behind . He certainly im not sure if thats the exact reason. He said through his spokesman, that these drills were so important to him, he wanted to see them, especially in these very important times. His spokesman came out and said, these are the most important drills the country is going to have this year. Thats why the president wants to be there. Thank you very much. Thats it for me. Erin burnett out front starts right now. Breaking news, the cnn exclusive, breaking at this moment many federal investigators wiretapped the former Trump Campaign chairman Paul Manafort before and after the election. What did they learn . Trumps legal team talking about the investigation out loud. As a nearby reporter took notes on that whole thing. Hurricane maria roaring across the atlantic, could the United States be about to be hit by