Transcripts For CNNW Inside Politics 20170410 : comparemela.

The white house, but no doubt about one rising force. Why did you push for steve bannon to be taken off the Principles Committee of the National Security council . Well, this is not as it appears i think. The president can get advice from anybody he wants. He does that. With us to share their reporting and their insights, cnn sara murray, peter baker of the New York Times, carol lee of the wall street journal, cnn ian henderson. Neil gorsuch is now Justice Neil Gorsuch and theyre back to nine justices. A second ceremony at the white house where gorsuch a mentor administered the judicial oath and where President Trump couldnt resist a little politics. Spring is really the perfect backdrop for this joyful gathering of friends because together we are in a process of reviewing and renewing and also rebuilding our country. A new optimism is sweeping across our land and a new faith in america is filling our hearts and lifting our sights. Cnn jeff zeleny was in the rose garden as the pat celebrated a win. John, there are very few audiences, very few opportunities for a president to have an audience in person face to face a few feet away from the entire all the justices on the Supreme Court, but thats what happened this morning. It was a beautiful morning out here. Its a sun splash day in washington and the president indeed had a bounce in his step because this without question is going to be the biggest accomplishment at least so far of his first 100 days in office. The nomination and indeed the confirmation wasnt always as pretty there. Of course the senate had to change the rules, but this is a moment for the president s legacy and this is a moment where he believes that this Young Justice age 49 years old will be serving on the Supreme Court for potentially three decades or more to come here. The Supreme Court justices can often not necessarily not surprise. I mean, weve seen many times over the course of history that justices have different rulings and things, but they believe and the conservative base believes that Justice Gorsuch is someone whos going to be on their side and indeed is a worthy replacement for Justice Scalia. So interesting that the president talked about the first 100 days. Its clear that they are on his mind. He said thats not easy. Hes right about that. He has seen that of course more than anyone else here. But the president was reading by teleprompter this morning. All of those words meant to send a message that he kngot a victo and it felt pretty good at least judging by the smile on his face. Probably back to reading notes about health care and tax reform. Not to mention Foreign Policy. This is a win for the president. And oddly, Supreme Court confirmation battles often become the overwhelmingly dominant story in washington, but because theres so much going on it was almost under the radar. Neil gorsuch is 49 years old. He just left the tenth Circuit Court of appeals. He clerked for justices wie yya and kennedy. Some big cases about to come before the court. This is a huge deal for this president and for the country and it was almost a blip. We had in fact a missile strike and the russian investigation. We had so many things his con fir mission w f confirmation was below the fold. Hes young. Hes 49. The last justice to retire was john paul stevens. He retired in 84. If neil gorsuch retires, hell be making decisions until 2052. The travel ban might make it on the Supreme Court. Well see what happens. There are big separation for church and state questions. Right to carry guns outside the home. Gun control before the high court. Legality of north carolinas voter i. D. Law. Due process of undocumented immigrants, another giant issue soon to be before the court t. s been 14 months, 14 months since Justice Scalia died and democrats have hard feelings about president obama not getting his pick. Im just struck by the fact that this was want all consuming in washington or at least the country didnt see it that way because of so many other things happening in the first 100 days. Thats about to shift because all of those cases that you just outlined are for divisive issues. If the travel ban were to reach the Supreme Court, thats another divisive issue and you have a very conservative judge who is now sitting on the Supreme Court and this white house clearly with that ceremony, which was an unusual ceremony to have, hopes will rule in the direction that the conservatives and republicans want him to. And so we may not have paid that much attention to it because of Different Things that were going on before, but these are all very high stakes and very divisive issues and theyre ones that politically people really care about. And on domestic issues, well get to the Foreign Policy questions, in a minute, but on domestic issues, a lot of chaos. Supposed to repeal and replace obamacare. A lot of turbulence and failures. This one is without a doubt from the announcement to a finish line a big success. Yes. And under the radar for washington, for the New York Times in terms of placement on the page. For conservatives, this is what they were counting on. This is what they were embracing. This is what they were looking forward to. This is why donald trump was able to consolidate republicans and they say why he got elected. I do think it will be interesting to see some conservatives are slightly worried about this pick. The idea that is he going to be more like john roberts who disappointed a lot of conservatives because he upheld obamacare, or is he going to be in the mold of scalia and thomas . Theyll get to see right away with all these religious liberty cases that come up. Its a great point. Conservatives always worry once its done is this a david schuter, is this a john robinson. A lot of deserves at home will be saying no, no, no. Sort of the conspiracy theorist in me is one of the Big Conversation system that Justice Kennedy has told some freiends e might want to retire. Was the president of the United States saying i love you, but give me another one. And you can trust me because look what a great pick im working. If you provide me another vacancy ill make another pick to make conservatives happy. There theres reason to be concerned. Now were going to get a much better sense of where gorsuch actually stands on these issues. For the Trump Administration in terms of the politics of this, the challenge of the fact that they were able to do it under the radar and do some smoothly, the roll out was smooth. Now they have to try to get the credit for that and say hey, we actually did this really enormous meaningful thing in our first 100 days and even though nobody was paying attention we still deserve a pat on the back. Now its out of the president s back. Hes on a lifetime appointment. To see that remarkable ceremony thr , this went back to the reagan administration. A lot doesnt come. They dont look to be associated with politics. It raises the question. Maybe ill get three, maybe ill get four. That would require sadness on the courts or retirement. Ruth Bader Ginsburg who was a critic during the campaign was at stanford and she was asked this question are you going to hang around . A lot of people have been expressing encouragement that you eat more kale so to speak, so that you can continue doing the Public Service work that youre doing for as long as possible. To that tune i was wondering who do you want to eat more kale in washington . Who . Justice kennedy. Proof there of how well she knows the politics with the court and the philosophy of the court, that kennedy has been the swing vote, that gorsuch for saly scalia is a conservative for a conservative. Ideologically the expectation. As the court goes back to where it was 14 months ago. The question is, is there another one that would allow this president to actually alter the balance of the court when youre talking about issues like same sex marriage, whether its abortion rights, some of these state and federal issues. They are targeting kennedy in the sense that hes begun to slow down. People noticed it. At a certain point in life you might want to do other things. He did go toto teach last summer. He didnt go to his reunion. Then he didnt hire clerks right away. Eventually he did, but that can change. What did the white house do . They picked neil gorsuch not just because hes a respected member of the tenth Circuit Court of appeals but because he was Justice Kennedys clerk. They leaked to my colleague the name of two other people theyre considering if there happens to be another opening both of whom happen to be former kennedy clerks. The idea is were not going to put some flame thrower, somebody you cant respect in your seat if you choose to give it up. And yet can i just say that because they changed the rule in the senate, the president s going to be under tremendous pressure from conservatives to nominate someone whos very conservative because he can get them through. If there is another one. We went through and changed the rules. Well see if the president sticks to that list. Up next, tough talk from the secretary of state and a warning from the cia director about north korea getting frisky. So that you can spend time on what really matters. Marie callenders. Its time to savor. Attention homeowners age sixtytwo and older. One reverse mortgage has a great way for you to live a better retirement. Its called a reverse mortgage. Call right now to receive your free information kit with no obligation. It answers questions like. How a reverse mortgage works, how much you qualify for, the ways to receive your money and more. Plus, when you call now, youll get this magnifier with led light absolutely free when you call the experts at one reverse mortgage today youll learn the benefits of a governmentinsured reverse mortgage. It will eliminate your monthly mortgage payments and give you taxfree cash from the equity in your home. And heres the best part. You still own yohome. 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Are you one sneeze away from being voted out of the carpool . Try zyrtec® its starts working hard at hour one and works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. Stick with zyrtec® and muddle no more®. Welcome back. New fallout today from the Cruise Missile strikes President Trump launched in syria last week. Irans president is critical accusing the United States of helping terrorists and he says violating international law. At the g7 foreign minister meeting today Nic Robertson is at that event. Do they really believe bringing in the stake holders theres some impetus to revive a political solution. You have the british, you have the brerfrench, the german the Foreign Ministers all here to learn the nuances of the u. S. Position position. It seems to them to have changed a lot when secretary tillerson was a nato meeting of Foreign Ministers. There was a lot of discussion about what that position may be. The United States precise position may be on assad isis iran, but the idea that all these additional stake holders as you say coming from the gulf turkey, sawed dudi arabia, can amplify that voice that sends a message to russia, back away from assad, bring a ceasefire and get a political solution goi going. When we heard from secretary tillerson, he made a priority attending a co memration event, happening in world war ii. Nazi groups killed 560 local people, some of them children, gunned them all done. When we listened to what secretary tillerson had to say, theres a very clear message. We remember the events of august 12th 1944 that occurred. We rededicate ourselves to holding to account any and all who commit crimes against the innocents anywhere in the world. This place will serve as an inspiration to us all. So youll find a lot of support around the table for those views, but the key getting that getting the ceasefire in that political transition, thats what hes going to hear from the allies around the table. In this caNic Robertson, liv. What is the next step here in this is a shock to some of the allies. . Are we going to make of this . Are they going to pull within the America First . Theres still a lot of questions, but what are we learning about the new administration and the new secretary of state as hes at a very important meeting now, but the next step when he goes to moscow and tries to theres no peace in sight. Whats next . Great question. The air base that President Trumps Cruise Missile strike hit is already up and operating again. This is a one off thing. As long as its a one off thing, it doesnt actually change the broader dynamics on the ground. That can only happen if secretary tillerson makes common cause with russia. Secretary tillerson knows Vladimir Putin pretty well. Chief executive at exxonmobil. They have a Good Relationship but its been strained the last few days. Hes been tough on him. This administration saying about russia they were responsible because they were in fact Bashar Al Assad patron. Nikki haley has been the toughest on russia and really i think foreshadowing Something Different in terms of what tillerson is foreshadowing. Tillerson is saying the policy is the same. Its basically a brushback to assad. And haley, who of course at this point is becoming the darling of hawks, is saying donald trump is prepared to do more, that assad shouldnt stay and that there cant be any diplomatic solution as long as assad is there. Youre getting two different points of view, something that typically happens behind closed doors or differences in obamas circle when he was dealing with syria. So you have these two officials sounding very different notes and communicating to donald trump via television in the way that we know he pays attention to television. Thats been interesting over the last couple days. And in moscow and tehran and elsewhere they try to process was this a one off or is this american president prepared to use military might when he has a point he wants to make. We have a u. S. Naval Carrier Group now steaming toward north korea. The president had a meeting with president xi of china. Interesting to me the chinese have not publicly condemned the syria strike which they used to do. Any strike in somebody elses country they would criticize. They havent even criticized the United States for sending naval vs into their neighborhood. This is the president s National Security h. R. Mcmaster essentially telling pyongyang you saw what we did in syria, pay attention. North korea has been engaged in a pattern of provocative behavior. The president has asked us to be prepared to give him a full range of options to remove that threat to the American People and to our allies and partners in the region. How much more meaning do those words have being, because its three or four days after the president launched Cruise Missiles. They have meeting and part of the goal was to show that this administration is willing to back up whatever it says with a credible threat of force which people felt the Obama Administration didnt have. To be clear, north korea is a totally different ball game. They have nuclear capabilities. Syria is already a war zone. North korea is very isolated, the most isolated country in the world. And so to use military force there is much different than going in and taking out an air base or part of an air base in syria. A lot more complicated and the most unpredictable regime in the world. L listen to the former cia director and noting that april 15th is the birthday of north korean founder. I think sending the vinson group there is probably a useful