Interview with Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA).
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The obstructionist Democrats would like us not to do it, but believe me, we have to close down our government. We're building that wall.</s>SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: He campaigned on the wall. He won on talking about building the wall, and he's going to make sure that that gets done, and he'll continue to fight for that funding and ensure that it takes place.</s>CAMEROTA: All right. That was White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders standing by the president's threat to shut down the government if Congress does not fund his border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. But will a Republican-controlled Congress really do that? Let's bring in Republican Congressman Morgan Griffith from Virginia. He's a member of the House Freedom Caucus. Good morning, Congressman.</s>REP. MORGAN GRIFFITH (R), VIRGINIA: Good morning.</s>CAMEROTA: Are we really possibly going to see a possible government shutdown over this?</s>GRIFFITH: Well, I certainly hope not, but the bottom line is this is what Congress does. It fights over issues and it tries to determine what's important. As you know, securing our southern border is important to the people of the United States of America. It is one of the major issues the president ran on. Many of us in Congress and United States Senate ran on that issue and were elected on that issue. And so, we've got to see it through. Ultimately, I believe that it will be built and hopefully we'll get it done. But we've got to start to process by appropriating money for it.</s>CAMEROTA: And who's going to pay for that wall?</s>GRIFFITH: Well, I will say to you that initially, we're going to have to prime the pump. But I believe that our friends in Mexico and the Mexican government want to be partners with the United States on a lot of issues, and one the things we have to be partners on is securing our borders. And I believe, although politically, they may need to do it indirectly, I believe that we will see significant contributions from our friends in the Mexican government.</s>CAMEROTA: And what would that indirect payment look like? Because as you remember, the president of Mexico, you know, we have these transcripts of the call that he had with President Trump, and just to remind everybody, the president of the Mexico, Pena Nieto, said: My position has been and will continue to be very firm saying that Mexico cannot pay for that wall. President Trump says but you cannot say that to the press. The press is going to go with that and I cannot live with that. So, it sounds like he's unequivocal that he's not going to pay for it.</s>GRIFFITH: Well, I think he's probably unequivocal on a public standpoint. Look, sometimes that happens.</s>CAMEROTA: This was private.</s>GRIFFITH: But I also recognize they want to continue to have trade with these United States and to bring their products north. And that's part of the negotiation between nation states and we're going to work that out. But I do believe that they will ultimately have to be a partner in making sure that our borders are secure.</s>CAMEROTA: But you're comfortable with Congress paying for it first and then keeping your fingers crossed that Mexico will pay the tab later?</s>GRIFFITH: Well, I don't have any question that Mexico will pay at least a part of the tab. It has to be a partnership. But I have no doubt of that and, yes, I am comfortable making sure because, look, we promised the American people, not just in this last campaign but we've promised the American people since the Reagan administration we would secure that border. We haven't done it. It's time for Congress to act.</s>CAMEROTA: How about the --</s>GRIFFITH: And I agree with president.</s>CAMEROTA: OK, how about the debt ceiling? The White House now sounds as though it wants the debt ceiling to be raised, it wants to work with Congress on that. In fact, the president sort of berated Congress for not tying the debt ceiling to the V.A. bill. But you all don't want the ceiling to be raised. So, o aren't you guys the impediment for tying it to any sort of other bill to get it through?</s>GRIFFITH: We certainly shouldn't be tied to a bill that has nothing to do with the debt ceiling. Now, if we're talking about debt and can have a debt ceiling, obviously, at some point, we're going to have to raise that debt ceiling. But if that's tied with reforms to make sure we debt the deficit under control, then we can see it raised but we're not going to do a clean -- at least I'm not going to support a clean debt ceiling increase because we have to get our debt and deficit problems at least on a pathway where we can see light at the end of the tunnel. Right now, we just keep piling it up. That's not the way the Republicans should govern. And when we do a debt ceiling increase, it should have significant reforms built into it to try to get that spending under control.</s>CAMEROTA: But then, Congressman, how do you make sense of President Trump's tweet yesterday where he said, I requested that Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan tie the debt ceiling legislation into the popular V.A. bill, which just passed for easy approval. They didn't do it. So now we have a big problem with Dems holding them up as usual on debt ceiling approval. Could have been so easy, now a mess. But you didn't want them to tie it to the V.A. bill.</s>GRIFFITH: No. It's not proper. You know, it's one of the problems we have in Congress. We tie bills that have nothing to do with each other together in order to force people to vote for it and make a choice between protecting our children and grandchildren versus protecting our vets. That's not fair. And I appreciate Paul Ryan not tying those two together, because we into need to have a discussion about the debt, the deficit and what we're going to do for our children, our grandchildren. Even now we're mortgaging our great grandchildren. We need to have that conversation and need to come up with a solution so that we're doing the right thing for the American people long-term. Not just today or tomorrow. But long-term.</s>CAMEROTA: Sure. But -- so why do you think the president wants to tie those together?</s>GRIFFITH: Well, I think the president is trying to do some great things out there and trying to make sure we get things together I think he just wanted to get that off the table because it is going to be a little bit messy. But I didn't go to Congress just to take easy votes, and this is going to be one where we're going to have to negotiate and fight it out and get something that works long-term for the betterment of the American people and for our economy long term.</s>CAMEROTA: Congressman Morgan Griffith, thanks so much for being here on</s>NEW DAY. GRIFFITH: Thank you.</s>CAMEROTA: David?</s>GREGORY: Alisyn, let's bring in our political panel now, CNN politics reporter and editor at large, Chris Cillizza, CNN political analysts Julie Hirschfield Davis, and April Ryan. Good morning to all of you.</s>APRIL RYAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.</s>GREGORY: So, Chris, let's get to the border wall in just a minute. But let's report on the president reacting to other reporting this morning at the same time there's a hurricane barreling down on Texas. That will be a test of his leadership in a natural disaster. This was reaction to political and "New York Times" reporting about the information flow within the White House, how John Kelly is trying to bring order. And here's what the president tweeted: General John Kelly is doing a fantastic job as chief of staff. There is tremendous spirit and talent in the White House. Don't believe the fake news. On the very morning we read in "The Financial Times" that Gary Cohn, his economics advisor, has talked about how unhappy he's been with the response to Charlottesville by the president and others in the administration. How do you react to this?</s>CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER AND EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Well, he -- first of all, we revealed yet again how closely he monitors the news, right? I mean, he is aware of every story that comes out, that he views as negative about him. And he likes to push back on it. He's also deeply invested and we know this before from his Twitter feed, deeply invested in the idea that everything is running smoothly, and that any attempt to say that it is not is, quote/unquote, fake news. Now, the facts seem to belie the idea that everything is running smoothly. We -- Gary Cohn in "The Financial Times" this morning, top economic adviser for President Trump, expressing his dismay about Charlottesville. We have a second chief of staff. We've had four communications directors. The press secretary has left after the new communications director was brought in, who then left ten days later. You know, there's been a massive amount of turnover. Obviously, I forgot Steve Bannon who was let go a week ago today. When there's as much turnover in the senior staff, you can't remember how much turnover the senior staff is, it's a lot. It's very clear Trump has set up a system in which these aides were with one another. He, I think, thinks there's creative tension that something good comes of it, but it creates a lot, a lot of tension there.</s>CAMEROTA: So, Julie, I mean, not only is there warring in h the White House, between different factions, but then there's also this intraparty war that the president has set up between, you know, himself and other leading Republicans. I mean, you heard me just talking to Congressman Griffith there about, you know, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell. How is this going to play out? Who wins this one?</s>JULIE HIRSCHFIELD DAVIS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, absolutely. And this is -- this is a fight that is at this point, largely of the president's own making. He keeps on sort of proactively poking Mitch McConnell and to some degree, Paul Ryan, in the eye at precisely the moment he's going to need them the most to sort of corral Republicans for some really key votes. You were talking about the border wall and government funding. They have to raise the debt ceiling. Somewhere in there, President Trump has been talking about wanting to get this tax rut through. All of those are huge, heavy lift that Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan are going to have to help him on not to mention other members of the Republican conference who Trump has also been attacking. And, you know, his repeated criticisms of them, his questioning of their tactics, whether it be to raise the debt ceiling or anything else is only going to make that process harder. And, you know, this relationship has always been somewhat of a tenuous one. Trump came in without having the strong support of many of these congressional leaders. They were a bit skeptical of him, but up until recently, the thought I think among Republicans on Capitol Hill was we cooperate to the president to the degree we need him to sign into law and help us push through long stalled priorities that we really want, on health care, on tax reform. And to the degree that's not happening, I think their patience is running very thin with that and things are colliding at a pretty bad time.</s>GREGORY: And tax reform is the most important of those. But, April, there is a tension here, right? I mean, there is the Trump brand and then there is the Republican brand. He has always kept that distinct unless they can work together. You see him starting to blame Republicans for not following through in his agenda. I'm expecting him like Nicholson in "A Few Good Men" to say you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. But he is -- the wall is I think kind of a concept that he'll compromise on in the end. But it's something that he's saying, look, this is something I really did campaign on and there's a lot of people, including a lot of conservative Republicans who think this is a good idea in some form.</s>RYAN: Yes, you have some conservative Republicans who agree there needs to be efforts to help stem the illegal immigration problem. But at the same time when it comes to the southern border, but at the same time, you have fiscal conservatives who realizes this president is blowing the finance coffers out the water. I mean, just, he's breaking the barriers. This wall, this wall is going to cost a lot of money. But also you have to remember, too, if the president really wants to sway their minds, this clash of the titans has to stop. He's not calling out Democrats like he used to. He's calling out leaders of his own party. Paul Ryan just said, David, you know, just recently, this week, but, you know, the president speaks differently than he does. The president is known and has been talked about how he is very brash and he uses very colorful words to say the least what he talks to these people and when he talks about them. So, if he wants to make this wall happen, he needs to really worry about how he gets along -- I mean, this is just the basics. How do you get along with people and people in his own party who can push this on?</s>GREGORY: Well, and he's going to torch anybody in his own party who takes him on, Chris Cillizza --</s>RYAN: Yes.</s>CAMEROTA: As evidenced by the tweet through the Twitter machine. There's a new tweet out this moment from the president about Bob Corker. Strange statement.</s>CAMEROTA: Chris Cillizza is audibly sighing. Strange statement by Bob Corker considering that he is constantly asking me whether or not he should run again in '18. Tennessee -- not happy.</s>CILLIZA: I mean -- OK. Bob Corker was someone who Donald Trump considered for vice president. Bob Corker was someone --</s>GREGORY: And secretary of state.</s>CILLIZZA: I was going to say, secretary of state. What he's doing here -- let's assume this tweet is accurate. What he's doing is taking a private conversation with a -- the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a well-regarded senator who is no Trump hater, and airing it to 36 million Twitter followers. What April just said, it's about human relationships. You have to learn to get along with people. This is literally the opposite of that. It's as if I -- you know, you tell me something in confidence and I then say, no problem I'll keep it to myself and go on television and tell everyone. I mean, again, the problem is there's no strategy. This is cutting off your nose to spite your facism run rampant. Attacking Jeff Flake in Arizona when the fact is he's the best chance of the parties holding a competitive seat that they could lose in 2018. It's just -- he's just --</s>GREGORY: Yes. Well -- we're going to leave it there.</s>CAMEROTA: Yes, Chris Cillizza, we hear your agita, as they say. Panel, thank you all very much. Great to have you here. All right. Back to our top story. All the breaking news: Hurricane Harvey taking aim at Texas and time is running out to evacuate. How ready is the Lone Star State? We have a live report for you next.