Sessions Doubles Down on Hawaii & Judge Comments
BLITZER: The attorney general of the United States, Jeff Sessions, is clearly not apologizing for controversial remarks he made about the state of Hawaii in which he said he was, quote, "Amazed that a federal judge sitting on an island in the Pacific could block President Trump's travel ban." His remark wasn't disrespectful.</s>JEFF SESSIONS, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: No, I wasn't criticizing the judge or the island. Had a granddaughter born there. It is a point worth making that a single sitting district judge out of 600, 700 district judges can issue an order stopping a presidential executive order that I believe is fully constitutional, designed to protect the United States of America from terrorist attack. And I was just raising the point of that issue of a single judge taking such a dramatic action and the impact it can have.</s>KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Do you wish you had phrased that differently now?</s>SESSONS: Well, I don't know that I said anything other than I would want to phrase differently. No. We're going to defend the president's order. We believe it's constitutional. We believe there is specific statutory authority for everything in that order that he did, and he has a right to do and to protect this country.</s>BLITZER: The judge the attorney general was referring to is Federal Judge Derrick Watson. He was nominated back in 2013. Sessions was one of the 94 Senators who voted "yes" to confirm her. There were no dissenting votes. Joining us to weigh in on this and more Democratic Congressman Ted Deutch, of Florida. Congressman, thanks for joining us.</s>REP. TED DEUTCH, (D), FLORIDA: Great to be with you, Wolf. Thanks.</s>BLITZER: What's your reaction to what we just heard from the attorney general saying he wasn't criticizing the judge, wasn't criticizing state of Hawaii, and wouldn't rephrase his original remarks?</s>DEUTCH: Well, the attorney general is certainly welcome to have a position with respect to this law. I think he's wrong. I think that this ban actually makes our country less safe, but what's really shocking is to hear the attorney general of the United States show such an utter lack of respect for the federal judiciary. It's really hard -- it's hard to fathom that he would take that position and when you then take a step back and realize that he's talking about -- he's talking about a different version of an effort that was ruled unconstitutional once already, you realize there's a defensiveness there and, apparently, he's chosen to lash out at a federal judge in order to somehow make himself feel better. It was surprising and discouraging.</s>BLITZER: What's really irritating is so many people he referred to in the state of Hawaii as an island in the Pacific. A judge sitting on an island in the Pacific not mentioning that this is a state in the United States. It's a state just like Alabama is a state. That's what has irritated so many folks. But he's not walking away from his remark. He's pointing out that he's got a grandchild who was born in the beautiful island in the beautiful state of Hawaii. Let's talk about health care.</s>DEUTCH: Then he walked away and just -- then he, again, only continued by talking about what a lovely place it is to visit. It shows disrespect for the judiciary and disrespect for the people of Hawaii. And it was sad to see.</s>BLITZER: Let's talk about health care for a moment. The president says he believes there's a good chance that repealing and replacing Obamacare could change next week or shortly thereafter. Do you oppose any such legislation?</s>DEUTCH: I don't really understand what the president is trying to accomplish here. He had an effort before. His last version was wildly unpopular and was wildly unpopular for really good reason. It would have driven up costs on everyone. It would have taken coverage away from more than 20 million people. Would have done away with essential benefits like maternity care and pediatric care and emergency room care and it would have gutted Medicaid. That's why only 17 percent of the people in this country thought it made sense. That's why the percentages were so low. Now he's taken -- he's coming back and taking the -- by all accounts -- we haven't seen it, of course -- but he appears to be taking the same legislation and flipping it on its head to acknowledge that all of the things that we hated about the -- that the American people hated about his last effort to overturn the Affordable Care Act, that they are actually positive and that we're going to keep essential health benefits, we're going to keep the pre-existing condition language because people like it until you get to the fine print where he then points out that states will have the ability to walk away from all those requirements effectively gutting the Affordable Care Act and leaving us in, if it's possible, even a worse position than his last bill would have. I don't see why he's trying to rush this. I don't see why he believes that trying to appease the Freedom Caucus is going to bring along any -- certainly not the Democrats or any of my moderate Republican colleagues who look at this and understand that it would be devastating for their constituents and for the American people.</s>BLITZER: Let me quickly get your thoughts on North Korea. Is China right now playing a more productive useful role in easing this nuclear threat?</s>DEUTCH: Well, it appears that China understands the role that it can play here and I think it appears to be doing that. But if you look at how we got to this point, what's concerning and your guest talked about this just a little while ago, what's concerning here, Wolf, is that you have an American policy, a foreign policy that seems to lack any coherence. You have the president of the United States announcing it's on its way to North Korea and it's going the opposite direction. When that was pointed out he blamed the Department of Defense. This looks a lot like the same thing he did after the Yemen strike when he blamed the generals for the lack of success there. We need a coherent foreign policy and we need a full robust diplomatic effort to help us around the world and he's going the wrong direction there when he refuses to fill the important positions, the ambassadors, the consulates, the assistant secretary for diplomatic security and he wants to gut the State Department. Cut the budget by one-third. It's confusing. The diplomatic efforts are muddling. We shouldn't have to look to other countries for leadership. The United States should be the country leading these important efforts.</s>BLITZER: Congressman Ted Deutch of Florida, thank you for joining us.</s>DEUTCH: Good to be with you, Wolf. Thanks so much.</s>BLITZER: Still ahead, this is the Old City of Mosul. Take a look at this. This is what residents endure on a daily basis. We're taking you to the battleground in the fight against ISIS. We have a special report. That's coming up next.