Turkey Retailers Slaps Sanctions On U.S. Officials
SAVIDGE: The relationship between the U.S. and Turkey is headed south. This morning, Turkey's president froze the assets of the U.S. justice and interior ministers in Turkey -- that's if they have any.</s>PAUL: The move comes after the U.S. did the same to Turkey's ministers, remember, over the detention of U.S. Pastor Andrew Brunson. CNN's International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson with us now. Nic, what are you hearing?</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, it's not clear because Turkey hasn't named them yet, which individuals in the United States administration they're actually targeting here. When they say justice and interior, do they mean the Attorney General Jeff Sessions? Do they mean Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen? Not clear, but it could potentially be. Do they have any assets in Turkey? We don't know. But it would seem unlikely that it's going to be a lot. So, there's something about this that looks as if it's a tit for tat, but it's a little unexpected and does hint at this deteriorating relationship. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Singapore, in the past 24 hours met with his Turkish counterpart. The meeting was said to be positive and constructive, that they would go away to their home countries and continue discussions, although the Turkish side did say we can't fix all our problems in one day. And that's the thing here -- you know, the United States and Turkey have some pretty big issues that they could be discussing. Syria would be high on that list. So, this is unexpected; hints that it's a deterioration. Perhaps it isn't that significant because the people involved do not have significant assets in Turkey, although we won't know until we know precisely who they are. So, it's, yes, it's sort of come out of left field a little bit, but it doesn't really seem to give confidence that Andrew Brunson, the pastor, who's just been released from jail in Turkey, put under house arrest, it doesn't seem to hint that he's going to get home any quicker, which is, of course, what President Trump wants to see.</s>SAVIDGE: It is, indeed. He's not alone in that. All right, Nic Robertson, thanks very much.</s>PAUL: Republican Congressman Ryan Costello of Pennsylvania with us now. Good morning, congressman. How are you?</s>REP. RYAN COSTELLO (R), PENNSYLVANIA: Very good. You?</s>PAUL: I'm well. Thank you. So, your reaction, first of all, to Nic's report about Turkey. Should the U.S. respond, and how?</s>COSTELLO: Well, that's obviously a very complicated question. I have the same concerns that everyone else does. I think I'll take a pass on saying anything too dispositive there.</s>PAUL: OK. I do want to get into this back-and-forth that we're seeing when it comes to national security. President Trump obviously giving a very different answer to what Russia is doing, directly contradicting what all of his national security leaders came out this week and said, that Russia is interfering. And I'm wondering, what do you tell Republicans where you are when they go to the polls? What is this doing to your party? What do you say to them to give them confidence that the president and that the Republicans and that national security is intact?</s>COSTELLO: That we should have faith in the administration officials that were at the press conference, I think it was two days ago. The president has missed the mark here in terms of coming down forcefully and clearly against Russia in its election interference, but the director of Homeland Security, the national director of intelligence, the national security adviser, those are the folks that we should be listening to as it relates to Russian interference in the election. I think we are well positioned to fight back against this. You had a guest on a little while ago who really hit the nail on the head in terms of the different types of Russian election interference. What we can do, what will be more difficult to get our arms around, the disinformation campaign is going to continue to persist. There's only so much we can do about that at any one time, but making sure that every vote that is cast is counted and that there isn't anyone getting in the way of that I think is the single most important thing that we can do.</s>PAUL: Right. Because like I said, I think people go to the polls and they want to know that their vote is counted. So, with that said, when we know where the president stands on this, where national security leaders stand on this, what is being done to secure the voting procedures, that equipment, that the infrastructure is solid?</s>COSTELLO: Well, I think elections happen at the county level. A lot of this on the cybersecurity side are things that we don't know about on a day-to-day basis because it's highly confidential, but those things are happening, and that was the point of the press conference. Our intelligence community, our homeland security community, they're doing what they need to do in order to make sure that Russia does not interfere there. I have full faith and confidence in that.</s>PAUL: I was just going to ask, so you're confident when you go to the polls?</s>COSTELLO: Certainly. I certainly am. And to be critical here, we just have to set aside what the president may have said at a rally or at a summit overseas and place our faith in those administration officials who have been tasked with this obligation. They were very clear that Russia is intending to interfere and that they are taking all precautionary steps and proactive steps to ensure that every vote cast is counted.</s>PAUL: I want to look at President Trump's endorsements, because he's going to be in Ohio today, of course, for this rally. When we look at, let's say his scorecard, 19 people that he has endorsed have won. There have been four losses, including Rick Saccone there in your state. How much weight does the president hold, do you think? How beneficial is he or not, to these endorsements as we head into midterms just three months away now?</s>COSTELLO: This weekend's rally I think is important for the following reason. This is a tight race. Everyone knows it. Democrats are coming to the polls. Republicans should be coming to the polls, but many Republicans hold very strongly favorable views of the president, and this is a get out the vote election. We're in August. Most people aren't used to voting in August. And so, getting your voters to the polls is extremely important. No one can do that better than the president as it relates to Republican turnout. This election may ultimately hinge on independent voters, where Governor Kasich coming out and supporting the Republican nominee I think is a step in the right direction. But if the president can get a couple extra thousand Republican voters to the polls, that's very, very significant in a special election.</s>PAUL: When you talk about voters going to the polls, and we were talking about what the Russia infiltration threat is here, how do people, or how would you convince people to disseminate between what is, you know, distinguish between what is noise and what is factual when they are deciding who they're going to vote for?</s>COSTELLO: It's such an excellent question. And to be honest with you, even if Russia were not interfering, that's a challenge for every candidate, just given how much noise is out there on social media, even from your opponent, right, and from a lot of the outside special interest organizations. I think you have to look at a candidate's character. You have to look at what they themselves are actually saying, what their voting record is, what their record in business and in the community is, and focus more on that than what someone else is tweeting about or what some outside organization may be misrepresenting. That's ultimately what it comes down to, and that's why there's always a local element to every single race. You cannot discount, particularly amongst independent voters and swing Democrats and swing Republicans. They're going to look at the individual, even in this year where I think the president's going to probably be on the ballot in November for most voters. You have to make sure you're cutting your own message and you're making sure that you're leading with your personality and what your record is. That is, I think, going to be the secret sauce for winning candidates in November and next Tuesday.</s>PAUL: OK. And last but not least, the economy. It is certainly in the president's favor, in Republicans' favor right now. Is it going to be enough, do you think, as a campaign tactic, to make sure that people get to the polls?</s>COSTELLO: We're going to find out. The economy is doing very, very well. That's a big part of the Republican message, but it can't be the only part. You have to be speaking about what you're going to be doing, where you may disagree with the president from time to time. But the other thing I might say is I think the challenge for Republicans right now is when things are going well, oftentimes voters then start looking at other areas or other issues. It's when the economy isn't going well that oftentimes the focus in an election is on the economy. When the economy's doing well, it oftentimes is on other things. So, we need to keep repeating the message of why our policies are helping improve the economy -- low unemployment, stock market, increase of wages. So, it's a tricky political environment when things are going well and you're saying this is why they're going well.</s>PAUL: Mm-hmm. All right. Congressman Ryan Costello, appreciate you being here. Thank you, sir.</s>COSTELLO: Thank you.</s>SAVIDGE: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Korea's foreign minister promise to cooperate on denuclearization this morning, but a U.N. report says North Korea is still going ahead with its nuclear program.