Interview With Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse; Trump Bans Transgender People From Military; Trump Blasts Attorney General; Republican "No" Votes Defeat Another GOP Health Bill
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We are learning more about the internal pressure on the president to stop shaming Sessions. No repeal, no replace. Republicans fail to approve another bill aimed at dismantling Obamacare. Can they muster enough votes to push any kind of health care legislation through the Senate? And stalled sanctions. A measure that would limit the president's ability to ease penalties on Russia hits a new snag. Tonight, new doubt about when and if the bill will make it to the president's desk. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in</s>THE SITUATION ROOM. ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.</s>BLITZER: Breaking news tonight, the commander in chief creates new confusion and uncertainty in the U.S. military with a surprise decision to reinstate the ban on transgender service members. Mr. Trump announcing a major policy decision in a tweet, declaring the United States will not allow transgender troops in any capacity. Tonight, the White House isn't offering any clarity on what will happen to transgender Americans who are serving right now in the military, saying the administration and the Pentagon still have to work out a plan to implement the president's order. Also breaking, the White House insisting Mr. Trump still wants Jeff Sessions to lead the Justice Department, even as he continues to publicly vent his disappointment with his attorney general. The president blasting Sessions in yet another tweet while the embattled attorney general was under the same roof attending a meeting at the White House. We are told multiple top White House officials have urged the president to stop bashing Sessions, advice he appears to be ignoring, along with a growing backlash among Republicans in Congress. And a new Republican defeat tonight in the Senate's marathon health care debate. A bill to repeal Obamacare without a replacement in place failed because of opposition by seven Republicans and all the Democrats. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell now planning more votes on another variation in an uphill battle to scrape together enough Republican support to at least get something passed. This hour, I will talk about those stories and more with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. He's a Democrat on the Health and Judiciary Committees. And our correspondents and specialists are also standing by. First, let's go to our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr. Barbara, a lot of questions and concerns tonight surrounding the president's very surprise decision to ban transgender troops.</s>BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, tonight, it looks like the heads of the military branches here at the Pentagon caught off-guard by the president's decision and the crucial question for the thousands who are still currently serving. What will happen to them? Will President Trump have them forcibly booted out of the military?</s>STARR (voice-over): President Trump making military policy via Twitter, today suddenly announcing: "The United States government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military," sparking instant criticism from Democrats and Republicans.</s>REP. TED LIEU (D), CALIFORNIA: I believe that is an awful decision. I serve in active duty in the military, and I can tell you, we don't care about gender orientation or identity or who you love.</s>STARR: Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, also saying: "There is no reason to force service members who are able to fight, train and deploy to leave the military, regardless of their gender identity." But some lawmakers agree with the decision, citing Trump's reasoning that the military "cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical cost and disruption that transgender in the military would entail."</s>REP. VICKY HARTZLER (R), MISSOURI: We need to spend every defense dollar where we need to, and this has been a real concern.</s>STARR: A 2016 RAND study concluded gender transition health care coverage for transgender military members would increase the Defense Department's health care by as much as $8.4 million, a tiny fraction of the Pentagon's overall $49.3 billion health care expenditures.</s>SARAH MCBRIDE, TRANSGENDER ACTIVIST: This isn't just about health care. This, according to Donald Trump's tweets, is about not allowing transgender people to serve at all.</s>STARR: That same RAND study put the number of transgender service members at between 1,300 and 6,600. Two unanswered questions? Under President Trump's ban, will those already serving be forced out? And what about Defense Secretary James Mattis, who just last month ordered a six-month delay so DOD could study the issue further? The Pentagon will not say if Mattis agreed with this sudden Trump announcement.</s>SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The decision is based on a military decision. It's not meant to be anything more than that.</s>STARR: Very unlikely we have heard the last from Congress about all of this. Just recently, the House defeated a measure that would have banned the Pentagon from spending funds on transgender persons health care -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thanks very much. I want to talk some more about the questions that the Trump administration can't or won't answer at least now about the president's new transgender ban. We are joined by our senior White House correspondent, Jeff Zeleny. Jeff, you were in the briefing today. And we certainly did not get a whole lot of clarity.</s>JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, indeed, not a lot of clarity. Many questions about this policy, and largely because of how it was announced. It wasn't a speech. There wasn't a backroom briefing, no information handed out. It was simply sent out in a short burst on social media this morning, and it certainly gives rise to a lot of questions. At this briefing today, the new press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, she called it a very difficult decision. But then she had trouble answering what it actually meant and how it would be implemented.</s>HUCKABEE SANDERS: Implementation policy is going to be something that the White House and the Department of Defense have to work together to lawfully determine. The president has a lot of support for all Americans, and certainly wants to protect all Americans at all times. The president has expressed concern since this Obama policy came into effect, but he's also voiced that this is a very expensive and disruptive policy, and based on consultation that he's had with his national security team, came to the conclusion that it erodes military readiness and unit cohesion. The decision is based on a military decision. It's not meant to be anything more than that and it's simply about -- obviously, it is a very difficult decision. It is not a simple one. But the president feels that it's the best one for the military. When the president made the decision yesterday, the secretary of defense was immediately informed, as were the rest of the national security team that had been part of this ongoing conversation.</s>ZELENY: So, Wolf, the very end there is very interesting. It said when the president reached a decision, the secretary of defense was informed. He was informed that the president had reached the decision, but, Wolf, virtually no one, certainly from the Pentagon to Capitol Hill, were expecting this announcement to be made this morning. Some Republicans in this town I talked to, Wolf, wondered if the White House was trying to change the subject, get it off of the Russia investigation, the Attorney General Jeff Sessions matter. We don't know if that's the situation or not. But this was a very major policy decision made in a very unusual fashion, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Extremely unusual. Jeff Zeleny, thanks very much. We will have more on this story coming up. I want to go to the president's newest attack by tweet aimed at his attorney general. The president defying advice from his top aides and top Republicans to stop berating Jeff Sessions. CNN's Dianne Gallagher is following the Sessions saga for us tonight. Dianne, as the White House notes, the president has been very clear about his anger at the attorney general.</s>DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, Wolf, this is the one-sided feud that just won't go away. Sources say that the president hasn't spoken to his attorney general in days, choosing instead to air his grievances online and in public forums, all the while Jeff Sessions trying to carry on like business as usual.</s>GALLAGHER (voice-over): The president refusing to back down.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am disappointed in the attorney general.</s>GALLAGHER: As White House aides trying to defuse a public assault by the president on one of his most loyal supporters.</s>HUCKABEE SANDERS: You can be disappointed in someone, but still want them to continue to do their job, and that's where they are.</s>GALLAGHER: President Trump finding himself under attack by conservatives.</s>SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R), UTAH: Jeff ought to be treated better than he's being treated.</s>GALLAGHER: As Capitol Hill sides with Jeff Sessions.</s>SEN. RICHARD SHELBY (R), ALABAMA: He is not the president's personal lawyer. He's the attorney general of the United States. He took an oath to the Constitution, not to the president, and I think the president needs to realize that, that he is not his lawyer.</s>GALLAGHER: Republicans calling for Mr. Trump to quit publicly shaming his attorney general.</s>SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: I would fire somebody that I did not believe could serve me well, rather than trying to humiliate them in public, which is a sign of weakness.</s>GALLAGHER: Sessions was inside the White House for what officials say was a routine meeting, but did not meet with the president, who at the same time was firing off yet another tweet attacking his attorney general, writing: "Why didn't A.G. Sessions replace acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, a Comey friend who was in charge of Clinton investigation, but got big dollars, $700,000, for his wife's political run from Hillary Clinton and her representatives? Drain the swamp." The president's tweet is inaccurate. Dr. Jill McCabe ran an unsuccessful Virginia State Senate campaign in 2015 as a Democrat. The political action committee of Governor Terry McAuliffe, who is a friend of the Clintons, and the state Democratic Party made contributions to her campaign totaling nearly $700,000. The donation also took place before McCabe had any oversight of the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's private e-mail server. President Trump also once interviewed Andrew McCabe seen here heading into the Department of Justice today to replace Comey as head of the FBI. Over the last week:</s>TRUMP: We could use some more loyalty, I will tell you that.</s>GALLAGHER: An irritated President Trump blaming his attorney general for everything, from failing to prosecute Hillary Clinton to the Russia investigation to intelligence leaks.</s>TRUMP: I want the attorney general to be much tougher on the leaks from intelligence agencies, which are leaking like rarely have they ever leaked before at a very important level.</s>GALLAGHER: Tracking down those leaks, something Sessions has been vowing to do for months.</s>JEFF SESSIONS, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: It is a priority. We have already begun to step up our efforts. And whenever a case can be made, we will seek to put some people in jail.</s>GALLAGHER: This morning, Anthony Scaramucci carried the White House's message when he told CNN that the attorney general is and must be focused on leaks.</s>ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, INCOMING WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: He's putting a plan together for the interagencies, and I want to work very closely with him as the director of communications. And I want to work with the other agencies and departments to get our message coordinated amongst ourselves. And we want to uproot some of these leakers.</s>GALLAGHER: Over the past 24 hours, Sessions has also continued to tackle his shared priorities with the president, going after sanctuary cities and getting tough on crime. But while Sessions may be focused on the job, the president yesterday didn't seem sure.</s>TRUMP: We will see what happens. Time will tell. Time will tell.</s>GALLAGHER: Now, sources tell us that Sessions has no intention of resigning, so that means if the president wants him out as attorney general, he's going to have to dust off that famous phrase of his, you're fired. Wolf, if the current climate is any indication, you can bet that the blowback on that decision would be severe.</s>BLITZER: Yes, it certainly will be. Thanks very much, Dianne Gallagher, reporting for us. Let's talk about all of the breaking news with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. He's a Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. Senator, thanks for joining us.</s>SEN. SHELDON WHITEHOUSE (D), RHODE ISLAND: Good to be with you, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: We heard from the White House today that they want to -- quote -- "lawfully implement" President Trump's ban on transgender Americans serving in the U.S. military. They want to coordinate together with the Pentagon. Do you believe the president's tweets constitute a lawful order, at least right now?</s>WHITEHOUSE: It's not really directed to anybody, so it doesn't have the nature of an order. And obviously it's something that can't be implemented right away, because it hasn't been developed to the level of detail where you could actually implement it. It's like saying, build me a house. Well, you can't go build it until you have architectural plans and done the basic legwork to figure out how it's going to affect whom. Obviously, not a military decision, first, because the president isn't qualified to make that kind of decision, and, second, because it interrupted the military's process for making a military recommendation to the president that then would have been a military decision.</s>WHITEHOUSE: So, this looks like he's just trying to change the topic as Russia starts to strangle him more and more.</s>BLITZER: I was going to say, he is the commander in chief. It is his constitutional right to make these kinds of decisions.</s>WHITEHOUSE: I'm not saying he doesn't have the authority to do it. I'm saying he doesn't have the capability to do it. This is the kind of thing where anybody responsible would refer to their own generals and get the advice of the actual military about how to implement this, instead of just firing off a tweet. It doesn't have the aura of seriousness. It looks like he's trying to throw yet another shiny object out there to distract people from what's going on with Russia. And, as usual, when he throws the shiny object, he figures out a group that he thinks is vulnerable and just tries to be mean to them.</s>BLITZER: Yes, we are told that the top generals and admirals at the Pentagon were all caught off-guard by the president's announcement on Twitter earlier this morning. So, Senator, what does it tell you...</s>WHITEHOUSE: I understand they actually had a process going to reach this decision, so they could get it to him. So, he actually interrupted his own process.</s>BLITZER: Well, General Mattis, the secretary of defense, announced last month he needed six months to make a thorough review of this proposed ban on transgender Americans serving in the military. It's only been a month. He had five more months to go, and then all of a sudden the president made this announcement on Twitter this morning.</s>WHITEHOUSE: Yes.</s>BLITZER: This new policy affecting several thousand service members, transgender service members already serving on active duty right now, what does it say to you about their future?</s>WHITEHOUSE: Well, it's one of the unknowns. Thankfully, people who are serving our country in uniform have certain rights to be treated fairly, both under the Constitution and under the rules of the United States military. And I don't think that a presidential tweet is cause to remove them. What happens if you find out that the person squirrelled away at the Defense Intelligence Agency who knows the most about this particular faction of ISIS and uses that knowledge every day to save our service members and to attack ISIS happens to be transgender? You actually make the decision to get rid of that person because of a presidential tweet, potentially putting our mission in harm's way because a core individual with specialized knowledge is no longer available to them? I mean, none of this makes sense.</s>BLITZER: let's talk about the future of the attorney general of the United States. What do you think, Senator, President Trump is trying to accomplish with his repeated humiliating attacks on Jeff Sessions?</s>WHITEHOUSE: He's trying to manipulate him. Every single complaint he has is the backside of a suggestion. Why won't he fire the acting director of the FBI? Suggestion: I want you to fire the director, acting director of the FBI. Why won't you indict Hillary Clinton? Suggestion: You should indict Hillary Clinton. Why didn't why did you recuse yourself? Suggestion: You should go back and start interfering in the Mueller investigation. All of these are suggestions, and they are suggestions that Jeff Sessions do something improper. And that is an offense to people who know Jeff Sessions, which is why so many Republicans are speaking out about this. But it's also an offense to the Department of Justice. This is not an institution that is designed to respond to that kind of presidential direction. It's designed to be independent from the president, to follow the law, and to follow the Constitution. So, I think what he's probably doing is cementing Jeff Sessions, who probably rides a little bit uncomfortably over there with all the career people, into a band of brothers who are going to resist this kind of improper political pressure because they know it's the right thing to do. It's why they're there.</s>BLITZER: Do you believe that if the president were able to remove the attorney general one way or another, do you think he could successfully get a replacement, a new attorney general confirmed through the Senate?</s>WHITEHOUSE: It would be extraordinarily challenging and would create an absolute firestorm. I think that we are probably better off with an attorney general than without one and that ultimately one would be confirmed. But he may find out the Senate stacks up against him and demands a nominee that meets our requirements, rather than just the willy-nilly pick of the president under these circumstances. So, he may find out that he ends up with an attorney general he is a lot less comfortable with than Jeff Sessions.</s>BLITZER: All of this comes, Senator, as the president's anger over the Russia investigation clearly continues. Your committee, the Senate Judiciary Committee, held a hearing today, but you reached a deal with Paul Manafort's lawyers. He's the former Trump campaign chairman. So, he did not have to publicly testify today. Are you, first of all, satisfied with Paul Manafort's cooperation? And when can we expect the American public to hear testimony not only from him, but from Donald Trump Jr.?</s>WHITEHOUSE: The committee is working with Paul Manafort's representatives. We're working on getting a schedule for when he can testify publicly. As you know, the subpoena was for today, so, it was very short notice. And I don't fault him for negotiating back from that. We are also seeking a variety of documents, and potentially even a staff interview to prepare the committee for questions at a public hearing. So, it's regular work ongoing in the committee to prepare for a good public hearing later. And I approve of all of that. We are kind of tied up right now with health care, and we have the August recess at some point coming. So, I would not expect at this point to see Paul Manafort or Don Trump Jr. in the Judiciary Committee until sometime in September. But I do think it is the committee's expectation that we will see them in the committee in public hearing in September or perhaps October.</s>BLITZER: Senator Whitehouse, thanks so much for joining us.</s>WHITEHOUSE: My pleasure. Thank you, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Senator Whitehouse of Rhode Island. We have much more on all the breaking news right after this.