White House Downplays New Trump Attacks on GOP Leaders; GOP Leaders Say No to Government Shutdown; Interview with Representative Ruben Gallego
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, the White House isn't ruling out a paralyzing government shutdown, threatened by the president if Congress doesn't fund the border wall that Mexico was supposed to pay for. Will Mr. Trump take drastic action that could back fire on him and his party. A mess. The president won't stop beating up on the top Republicans in Congress, accusing them of creating a new political mess, further alienating the people he needs to get his agenda passed. Is there any strategy behind the relentless attacks? Over-sharing. As critics dream of shutting down the president's Twitter account, he is stirring up even more controversy by re- tweeting a jab at President Obama posted by someone known for making anti-Semitic statements. And hurricane threat. A dangerous storm is gaining strength right now and could hit the Gulf Coast in a matter of hours. Is the Trump administration ready for what could be the first natural disaster on the president's watch? 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 tonight. President Trump is briefed on a major disaster likely to unfold in the hours ahead. A new warning was just issued on the danger from Hurricane Harvey. It is on track to hit the Texas coast as early as tomorrow night with life-threatening and catastrophic flooding expected. Harvey rapidly gaining strength as it churns through the Gulf of Mexico. People are racing for supplies and evacuations are under way. Also breaking, the White House says the president remains committed to building a border wall, leaving open the possibility that Mr. Trump will make good on his threat of a government shutdown to make that happen. GOP leaders are warning about the political danger of that. Some lawmakers in both parties balking about funding a wall that Mr. Trump promised Mexico would pay for. Also tonight, the White House is firing back at a Republican senator who's questioning Mr. Trump's stability and competence, calling the concerns ridiculous as tensions between the president and his own party ratchet higher. Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is trying to downplay the president's feud with GOP leaders, but Mr. Trump is pouring more fuel on the fire in new tweets. He is again slamming Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell for the failure to repeal and replace Obamacare and he accuses McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan of making a, quote, "mess" out of efforts to raise the nation's debt ceiling. This hour, I'll talk about those stories and more with Congressman Reuben Gallego. He's a Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. And our correspondents and specialists are also standing by. First, let's go to our senior White House correspondent, Jim Acosta. Jim, the president certainly isn't backing away from multiple fights with fellow Republicans.</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, the list keeps growing, Wolf, and the president is continuing to air his complaints about congressional leaders from his own party just as the White House is trying to ease tensions, tensions that may shift into overdrive with the White House openly considering the idea of government shutdown to force Congress to pay for a wall on the border, the same wall the president promised Mexico would fund. Over here at the White House, it's starting to sound like border wall or bust.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): President Trump is once again trolling one of his favorite Twitter targets, his own party, tweeting, "The only problem I have with Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell is that after hearing repeal and replace for seven years, he failed. That should never have happened." No big deal says the White House.</s>SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: I think the relationships are fine. Certainly there are going to be some policy differences, but there are also a lot of shared goals.</s>ACOSTA: Despite that talk of shared goals, the president is threatening to shut down the government if Congress refuses to fund a wall on the border with Mexico. A threat the White House isn't knocking down.</s>HUCKABEE: We know that the wall and other security measures at the border work. We've seen that take place over the last decade and we're committed to making sure the American people are protected. And we're going to continue to push forward and make sure that the wall gets built.</s>ACOSTA: Still outraged over his defeat on health care, the president is also playing the blame game on the need to raise the nation's debt ceiling. A battle set for next month that could rattle financial markets. Mr. Trump claims he tried to attach a debt ceiling measure to a bill to help veterans. Tweeting that, "McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan didn't do it. So now we have a big deal with Dems holding them up as usual on debt ceiling approval. Could have been so easy, now a mess." Ryan's response, don't worry.</s>REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: The path for the debt ceiling is we will pass legislation to make sure that we pay our debts and we will not hit the debt ceiling.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Does it get tiring us asking you about the president every time we see you?</s>ACOSTA: McConnell is also trying to lower the temperature, refusing to take questions about his relationship with the president while explaining what he's up against in the Senate.</s>SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), SENATE MAJORITY: I'm often asked what is being the majority leader of the Senate like? The best answer I've been able to think of is it's a little bit like being a groundskeeper at a cemetery. Everybody's under you, but nobody's listening. That's what you get with 52 to 48.</s>ACOSTA: But top GOP aides on Capitol Hill have had it with one source telling CNN, "The president is attacking leaders while we're selling his agenda."</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And for our friends in the Senate, oh boy.</s>ACOSTA: A frequent target of the president's ire, Senator Lindsey Graham, said he sees a strategy in the president's outbursts.</s>SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: He running against Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham and others that Congress is very unpopular, particularly with the Republican base, so there's nothing unhinged about it. It's a political strategy that I'm not so sure is smart, but it's a very thought-out strategy. There's nothing crazy about it. It's a political strategy.</s>ACOSTA: The White House did address the growing chorus of criticism of the president's handling of Charlottesville. Asked about GOP Senator Bob Corker's stinging assessment of the president?</s>SEN. BOB CORKER (R), TENNESSEE: The president has not yet -- has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful.</s>ACOSTA: Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders lashed out.</s>SANDERS: I think that's a ridiculous and outrageous claim and doesn't dignify a response from this podium.</s>ACOSTA: Now for the moment, the president's attacks on his party have yet to backfire inside the GOP. Poll after poll shows that while some support is slipping, conservatives are sticking with the president, proving once again the GOP is hardly the party of Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell. It's the party of Trump, but Wolf, government shutdown could shake all of that up.</s>BLITZER: Certainly can. All right. Jim Acosta reporting from the White House. Thanks very much. Let's talk a little bit more about the internal battles between the president and Republicans in Congress. We're joined by our senior congressional reporter Manu Raju. Manu, how do the Republican leadership -- how does the Republican leadership in Congress plan to get its agenda through if it keeps on fighting with the president?</s>MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's going to be difficult. But what they're going to try to do is work around the president. They know that they cannot afford a government shutdown. This is what Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, they lived through that in 2013 when that happened, and it was very difficult couple of weeks for their party, the damage lasted for some time. You know, they did end up doing pretty well in the 2014 midterms, but they know that the damage will be done very significantly if that happens, more if there is a debt ceiling increase that fails to pass Congress and they actually lead to a debt default. Those are the two must pass items. So the question is how does the president deal with this? He does not get his border wall money, because he's almost certainly not going to get that approved by this Congress. Does the president holds firm? Does he veto a bill that's passed by Congress that does not include border wall money? We don't know that yet. An interesting signal from Sarah Huckabee Sanders today suggesting that they'd accept a debt ceiling increase that does not have strings attached to cut spending. That's what conservatives have demanded. So if the White House sticks to that position, they're willing to fight with the conservatives on that key issue. But, Wolf, we're not even talking about the things that they want to get done. The big ticket items like tax reform, infrastructure, part of the president's agenda, uncertain how that even gets done. We're just talking about the basic essence of government right now. And that's what they have to worry about.</s>BLITZER: Yes. Congress passes that legislation without the funding for the border wall, he'll almost certainly have no choice but to sign it, just like he had no choice signing the Russia sanctions legislation that passed overwhelmingly in the House and Senate. He hated it. He said it was bad, but he went ahead and signed it into law.</s>RAJU: And I think that's the calculation of Republicans, they're going to end up taking, say, the president they believe a lot of these threats, this talk right now is bluster. I think at the end of the day, the president will back down when there's overwhelming support in Congress to pass something, to keep the government open. And maybe a veto could be overridden. The president may not want to go the government shutdown route. So there could be a bit of game of chicken when it comes down to it. But Paul Ryan also suggested today, Wolf, that they may have a short- term extension. They may not get their job done in time but their deadline is September 30th.</s>BLITZER: So certainly encouraging if members of your own party think it's just bluster coming from the president of the United States. All right, thanks very much, Manu, for that report. Let's get some more on all of this. Congressman Ruben Gallego, a Democrat in the Armed Services Committee, is joining us right now. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.</s>REP. RUBEN GALLEGO (D), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: Thank you, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: So listen to what the White House had to say today on President Trump's threat to shut down the federal government over the funding issue, the funding of his proposed border wall with Mexico. Listen to this.</s>SANDERS: He campaigned on the wall, he won on talking about building a 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. Let's not forget that there were a lot of Democrat senators that also voted for border security and a border fence, and hopefully some of those same individuals will talk to members in their current party, and maybe we can get a bipartisan group to support that and make sure it happens because this president is going to see it through.</s>BLITZER: All right. So what are the chances, Congressman, that you and your Democratic colleagues in the House would support funding for the president's proposed border wall with Mexico?</s>GALLEGO: Well, first of all, we're not going to support the border wall. It is not our job to fulfill his campaign promises and his ego. He made a promise, he said Mexico was going to pay for it, that there would be no American taxpayer dollar, and he should find the money over there. To begin with, the border wall is stupid. It's not smart border security. That's not the actual way that you want to secure the border. And at the end of the day, there's many more important things that we need to worry about. And we have to get to the debt limit. We're about to start shaking up markets if we don't fulfill our debt or at least start threatening or continue to threat that we may not fulfill our debt. You know, in general, this is just typical Donald Trump administration, a lot of bluster, a lot of instability. But at the end of the day, he is not going to get what he wants.</s>BLITZER: Well, as you know, he won the White House at least in part on that familiar promise about the border wall and Mexico paying for it. Listen to this.</s>TRUMP: We are going to build a great border wall. We will build a great, great wall. We're going to build the wall, don't worry about it. We're going to build it. We will build the wall 100 percent. I promise, we will build the wall. And who's going to pay for the wall? Who's going to pay for the wall? Who? It will be a great wall. Mexico is going to pay for the wall. Mexico is going to pay for the wall. Mexico will pay for the wall. And Mexico is going to pay for the wall and they understand that. Mexico is going to pay for the wall. Believe me. 100 percent.</s>BLITZER: But in a leaked transcript as you remember of one of the president's first phone conversations -- his one of the first phone conversations with the Mexican president, Enrique Pena Nieto, the president agreed not to say that Mexico would pay for the wall. He said this, this was in the transcript that was leaked, his conversation with the Mexican president. "You cannot say any more that the United States is going to pay for the wall. I am just going to say that we are working it out. Believe it or not, this is the least important thing we are talking about, but politically this might be the most important thing that we're talking about." So what do you think, Congressman? Are the Trump voters in your state, Arizona, upset that the president seems to be at least in their private conversation with the Mexican president backing out of that campaign promise?</s>GALLEGO: No, not really. I mean, the president is playing his base, you know, for fools, not just on the border wall but on so many other issues. You know, promising to be pro-worker, he is not being pro- worker. I mean, there are just so many things that he has lied about, you know, whether he was going to not attack Medicaid, you know, he said he wouldn't do it, he did it. The man continues to lie. At this point, Trump supporters, though, are still supporting him. However, the overall voter in Arizona, at least polling that I have seen shows that the border wall is not popular. As a matter of fact it's not popular in any of the border states and there are no border Republicans right now that are supporting the border wall. So in reality, you know, we have to focus on making sure that we're representing the majority of America. The president won the election for many reasons, including some Russian involvement, including some voter suppression, but he did lose the popular vote, and I'm not -- I can't for 100 percent say that the border wall was the thing that put him over the top, but let's just look at the reality. Spending $1.6 billion on something that doesn't give any more security just to fulfill the ego of the president is just bad policy, and then playing chicken with the debt limit or government shutdown at the same time is not a good way to go, but if they want to do that, Republican Party wants to play that game, I don't think there's going to be much good political payback when it comes to that.</s>BLITZER: Yes, that $1.6 billion I think would just be a down payment because building the entire wall is going to wind up costing many billions of dollars more. Also Tuesday night in your city, Phoenix, I think it was probably even in your district in Phoenix, maybe, maybe not.</s>GALLEGO: It was.</s>BLITZER: But he did carry Arizona in the presidential election, as he reminded all of us when he was speaking in Phoenix. The president, he expressed skepticism that the NAFTA talks, the North American Free Trade Area talks will be successful and speculating that the U.S. will, quote, "end up probably terminating the trade deal." How would that impact, Congressman, your constituents?</s>GALLEGO: Well, anything that -- you know, obviously anything that disrupts markets, especially trade, without any glide path is going to be horrible. Look, we can make some works -- do some work on NAFTA, but if you're just going to abruptly change it, I think that's going to be problematic. At the same time, it is a treaty. The president does not have carte blanche power to get rid of anything, he still has to go through the Senate at the end of the day, and I don't see that happening, but I mean, I'm not surprised. I think Donald Trump really just wants to talk as much as he can and you know, I think he believes the lies that he is saying and more importantly, the very hardcore Trump supporters do believe his lies and will continue to.</s>BLITZER: "The Wall Street Journal" is reporting that the Pentagon will soon receive guidelines from the White House, from the president, that would change the treatment of transgender Americans currently serving in the U.S. military, stop the military from admitting transgender Americans going forward. You serve on the Armed Services Committee, you're a military veteran. What's your reaction to that?</s>GALLEGO: Well, I think it's deeply ironic and actually kind of sad that a person that did everything to stay out of the war such as Donald Trump who admires and basically holds up the military to a very high regard will try to stop brave American men and women that want to volunteer to join. And more importantly, the only reason he's doing it, it's not because of a security issue, it's not because these men and women can't serve and serve well, it's not because of financial issues. It's just because he wants to throw a bone to his very Christian conservative base. And again, that's not how you should execute our Armed Services policy, our national security policy. We need everyone in the fight. We need the smartest people, we need the strongest people, and we need them all to be fighting with us, no matter who they are, and the fact that the president doesn't understand that really, you know, tells us where his mentality is.</s>BLITZER: Congressman Gallego, there's more we need to discuss. I've got to take a quick break. We'll resume our conversation in just a moment.