Interview With Arizona Congressman Ruben Gallego; Will Hurricane Irma Hit U.S.?; President Trump Ends Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program; Clinton Blames Sanders for "Lasting Damage" in 2016 Race.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now: Prepare for the worst. Hurricane Irma strengthens to a Category 5 storm. Forecasters warn it could be a potentially catastrophic. Florida's governor is warning residents to prepare for the worst, but when and where will it hit? Uncertain future. President Trump decides to end an Obama era program that protected nearly 800,000 young immigrants, claiming it's unconstitutional and will save jobs. Tonight, amid nationwide protests and increasing pressure on Congress, former President Obama is now speaking out. Moving missiles. Kim Jong-un is believed to be moving a mobile launcher into place for another missile test. As South Korean warships conduct live-fire drills, will the U.S. be able to stop an outbreak of war? And lasting damage. Hillary Clinton blames Senator Bernie Sanders for causing her -- quote -- "lasting damage" in the 2016 primaries. In an excerpt from her new book, Clinton also writes that Sanders -- quote -- "had to resort to innuendo and impugning my character" because the two agreed on so much. 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: We are following breaking news. Hurricane Irma strengthening to a Category 5 storm with 185-mile-an- hour sustained winds. It is tied for the second strongest hurricane ever in the Atlantic. Tropical-storm-force winds will be hitting the islands of the Caribbean later tonight. Florida residents are stripping stores of emergency supplies. Mandatory evacuations have been ordered and the National Guard is activated already. Stand by for the latest forecast. There is also breaking news over at the White House. President Trump just said he has a great heart for the thousands of young people whose undocumented parents brought them into the United States as children, even though he's ending protections President Obama put in place to keep them from being deported. As protests spread across the country, the former president issued a rare public rebuke, calling the decision -- quote -- "self-defeating and cruel." We are also following ominous new threats from North Korea, which now claims it can -- quote -- "blow up the U.S. main land and annihilate Americans." Can Kim Jong-un be swayed by shows of military force or threats of more crippling sanctions? We are covering all of that, much more this hour with our guests, including Democratic Congressman Ruben Gallego of Arizona. He's a member of the Armed Services Committee. And our correspondents and specialists are also standing by. Let's begin with the threat, and it is a very serious threat, posed by Hurricane Irma.</s>BLITZER: Yes, not good news at all. And don't forget the millions and millions of people in South Florida who are wondering what they should be doing. Certainly, they are getting ready, and the governor of Florida, Rick Scott,already ordering some mandatory evacuations, but presumably a lot more on the way. You say there's time, but there isn't a whole lot of time before the weekend. Tom Sater, we are staying in very close touch with you. There is other breaking news we are following, breaking news over at the White House. President Trump just met with the Republican leaders of the House and the Senate after tossing Congress another huge political problem. The president says lawmakers need to come up with a fix because he's ending protections for 800,000 young people who were brought into the United States as children. Let's go to our senior White House correspondent, Jim Acosta. Jim, the president is taking a lot of heat already for this decision, including from former President Obama.</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. We finally heard from the president on this decision this afternoon. He told reporters he has a -- quote -- "great love" for the dreamers, but those dreamers are not feeling the love tonight.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): For the young undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, known as the dreamers, it could be a nightmare. The Trump administration is terminating the Obama era policy that shielded the dreamers from being deported. The White House sent out Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a fierce immigration hard-liner in the Senate, to make an announcement that sounded tailor-made for the president's political base.</s>JEFF SESSIONS, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: To have a lawful system of immigration that serves the national interest, we cannot admit everyone who would like to come here. It's just that simple. That would be an open borders policy, and the American people have rightly rejected that.</s>ACOSTA: Instead, the same president who claimed he loved the dreamers...</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We love the dreamers. We love everybody. We are going to deal with DACA with heart.</s>ACOSTA: ... released a statement: "My highest duty is to defend the American people and the Constitution of the United States of America. At the same time, I do not favor punishing children, most of whom are now adults, for the actions of their parents. But we must also recognize that we are a nation of opportunity because we are a nation of laws." (on camera): Why did the president not come out and make this announcement himself today? Why did he leave it to his attorney general? It's his decision. These kids and their lives are on the line because of what he's doing. Why not...</s>SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It's in large part a big part of the legal process. This was deemed illegal by, I think, just about every legal expert that you can find in the country.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): Late in the day, the president finally weighed in.</s>TRUMP: I have a great heart for the folks we're talking about, a great love for them. And people think in terms of children, but they're really young adults. I have a love for these people, and hopefully now Congress will be able to help them and do it properly. And I can tell you, in speaking to members of Congress, they want to be able to do something and do it right. And really we have no choice. We have to be able to do something. And I think it's going to work out very well. And long- term, it's going to be the right solution.</s>ACOSTA: The White House is stressing Congress still has six months to pass a fix to protect the nearly 800,000 dreamers and that no immigrant of the program will be impacted before March. But for the president to sign a dreamer fix, he wants something in return, such as the wall. (on camera): You're saying that if we're going to allow the dreamers to stay in this country, we want a wall. Is that accurate?</s>HUCKABEE SANDERS: I don't think that the president's been shy about the fact that he wants a wall. And certainly it's something that he feels is an important part of a responsible immigration reform package.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): Democrats are already balking at that, questioning the president's motives, noting he pardoned Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was convicted in federal court for defying a judge's order to stop profiling Latinos, not to mention Mr. Trump's past statements about Mexican immigrants.</s>TRUMP: They are bringing drugs. They are bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.</s>ACOSTA: Fierce opposition to the president's plan is coming in from all sides, from a member of the president's own diversity council.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am resigning right now from that council. I don't see the point in continuing to try to work with people that clearly don't see this issue the way I do.</s>ACOSTA: To former President Obama, who said in a statement: "To target these young people is wrong because they have done nothing wrong. It is self-defeating, because they want to start new businesses, staff our labs, serve in our military, and otherwise contribute to the country we love. And it is cruel." Now that it's in the hands of Congress, the question is, do they have time to fix this?</s>SEN. RICHARD DURBIN (D-IL), MINORITY WHIP: Let me say a word about the six months. The calculation of six months is to March 5, so we have plenty of time, right? Not by Senate standards, we don't.</s>ACOSTA: Now, the Trump administration is not offering much comfort to those dreamers who handed over their personal contact information to the Department of Homeland Security when they received protection from deportation. Officials now say that information potentially could be used by immigration authorities and that, as soon as those dreamers lose their DACA status, they are eligible for deportation, just like anybody else who is in the country illegally -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: All right, Jim Acosta at the White House, thanks very much. Joining us here in THE SITUATION ROOM, Democratic Congressman Ruben Gallego of Arizona. He's a member of the Armed Services Committee. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.</s>REP. RUBEN GALLEGO (D), ARIZONA: Thank you.</s>BLITZER: I think there's about, what, 28,000 DACA recipients in your home state of Arizona. How is this going to affect them?</s>GALLEGO: Well, it's going to be terrible. And these aren't just recipients. A lot of them are my friends, and I consider them family. You're basically destabilizing their lives. These young men and women have started families, bought homes, started businesses. Some of them are police officers, firefighters. Some of them have joined the military and are now veterans. And we're just going to go and cruelly just take them away from this life?</s>BLITZER: Do you think that's realistic, that the 800,000 nationwide might eventually be deported or at least some of them will be deported?</s>GALLEGO: If we don't -- if we as Congress do not act to stop the president -- and we have to stop the president -- this is not something that we're doing for the president -- they will be deported. The way ICE is operating right now, they don't care who they are nabbing and grabbing right now. They would rather go for the easiest targets. And they're going to go for people that they know are good citizens. They know that they have steady routines. They're going to go and they're going to start taking these young men and women and their families, anyone they encounter, because at the end of the day, all they want to hit their quotas and that's what's going to happen.</s>BLITZER: How far are you willing to go to pass legislation that will prevent that, that will allow these 800,000 young people to remain here in the United States, to have a pathway for legal status and maybe even citizenship?</s>GALLEGO: We believe that there is a compromise among Democrats and Republicans.</s>BLITZER: What is that compromise?</s>GALLEGO: The compromise at a minimum is going to make sure that there is there protection for these dreamers, that they have some level of permanent residency here. At the same time, we are also not going to be put into a situation where we are going to be using human beings as a bargaining chip, especially when we know the president did not have to do this. This idea that the president was kind of put into a corner and this is the best decision he can make is absolutely false.</s>BLITZER: The attorney general, Jeff Sessions, says there was this deadline because these attorneys general from various states were filing motions against President Obama's unilateral executive order claiming it was unconstitutional, and they had to do something.</s>GALLEGO: Well, he could have also just challenged the attorney generals and actually defended DACA in court. Instead, they chose to go by this arbitrary deadline and use that as like the go/no-go situation that made them make this decision. Look, at the end of the day, this may go down as the most cowardly and cruel move ever by a president in the modern United States.</s>BLITZER: But he says he loves the dreamers and he has a great heart, wants to help them, that if in fact legislation is passed over the next six months in the House and Senate, they will be even better off. You heard him say that.</s>GALLEGO: I don't think the word love means the same thing to him that it does to other people. So, whatever the president is saying, we just -- you just have to take with a grain of salt. And that's why Congress needs to act and pass a -- you know, some form of DREAM Act that will actually protect them from deportation. At the same time, we are also not going to be used and we're not going to allow human lives to be used as a bargaining chip for a really stupid border wall that at the end of the day does not bring us any...</s>BLITZER: What if that is the only thing that will prevent these 800,000 young people from being deported? Will you vote for funding for the border wall with Mexico if it includes legal status for these 800,000 dreamers?</s>GALLEGO: At this point, I just have to say no. Again, this is not a situation where we want to set up a precedent where we're going to be able to use human lives for egotistical- driven, dumb ideas of what border security brings you, especially when your campaign promise was that Mexico was going to pay for it. That's not how you govern. That's not how you become -- that's not how you govern a nation like this.</s>BLITZER: How do you see this decision today by the attorney general and the president -- the president ordered the attorney general to make this announcement -- coming, what, a week after the Sheriff Arpaio decision, the decision to forget about his conviction, to pardon him?</s>GALLEGO: Well, I think this plays further and further to the idea that the president is just trying to play to his base, which is a base of voters that's really xenophobic. At the same time, I find it quite funny they want to talk about the rule of law. But Sheriff Arpaio was found guilty by a court of law by the Department of Justice, and the president interceded in the process of justice to overturn his conviction. Meanwhile, you know, they on the flip side try to say that this is something that they had to do in terms of -- to fulfill the rule of law. This is all going back and forth. The president at the same time wants to say he has authority to enforce his Muslim ban, but doesn't have the authority to also stop people from being deported. You can't have it both ways. And really the only reason you're doing this, again, is to excite your base, who at this point has pretty much lost everything that they have been trying to do.</s>BLITZER: Congressman Ruben Gallego of Arizona, thanks very much for joining us.</s>GALLEGO: Thank you, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Coming up: Just days after testing its most powerful nuclear weapon, North Korea is now directing ominous new threats towards the United States. Is Kim Jong-un's regime on the verge of testing yet another intercontinental ballistic missile?