Interview With California Congressman Eric Swalwell; FBI Investigating U.S. Soldiers' Deaths in Niger; Despite Video, White House Defends False Comments by Kelly; Trump: Kelly Was "So Offended" Congresswoman Heard Call.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: The White House stands its ground after newly surfaced video shows Chief of Staff John Kelly's claims about a Democratic congresswoman were false. And Press Secretary Sarah Sanders calls it highly inappropriate to question Kelly because he's a four-star general. A mile away. New details tonight about the deadly ambush of U.S. troops at the heart of the Kelly controversy. CNN has learned that one of the American soldiers killed was found a mile from the scene of the attack. Lawmakers are now pressing for more information. Are they satisfied with what Defense Secretary James Mattis told them today? Brushing off Bush. The White House faces new questions about the sharp rebuke of the Trump presidency by former President George W. Bush. He denounced many of President Trump's policies and behaviors without mentioning him by name. Why does the White House now say the former president wasn't talking about the current one? And laughing it off. House Speaker Paul Ryan roasts President Trump, making light of controversies he usually doesn't address, including the president's insults, his Twitter habits, and more. Was Ryan revealing his true feelings under the guise of humor? 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 news tonight, White House efforts to quash the controversy over President Trump's condolence call to a Gold Star widow have thrown fuel on the fire instead. Newly surfaced video shows White House Chief of Staff John Kelly's allegations against the Democratic congresswoman who criticized the president's call are false. Kelly claimed that in a 2015 speech, Representative Frederica Wilson made self-serving and self- aggrandizing remarks that he called stunning, but video of the speech contradicts Kelly's claim. The White House responded by saying it's -- quote -- "highly inappropriate" to question a four-star general like Kelly. Also breaking this hour, new information about the ambush in Niger that killed four American soldiers, including one who was the subject of the president's condolence call, Sergeant La David Johnson. Four administration officials familiar with the investigation now tell CNN that Johnson's remains were found nearly a mile away from the central scene of the ambush. The Pentagon is trying to determine how and when Johnson became separated from his fellow soldiers. And the White House says that a remarkable speech by former President George W. Bush rebuking the Trump presidency wasn't about President Trump at all. Mr. Bush condemned bigotry, white supremacy, anti- immigrant nativism, and more in his remarks, but never named President Trump, but were clearly a takedown of his policies and actions. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters, quoting her now, "Our understanding is that those comments were not directed toward President Trump." We're covering all of that, much more this hour with our guests, including Congressman Eric Swalwell of the House Intelligence Committee, and our correspondents and specialists are also standing by. But, first, let's get straight to the breaking news, the White House defending false comments by the chief of staff, John Kelly. Our White House correspondent, Sara Murray, is joining us. Sara, new twists in this now four-day-old controversy.</s>SARA MURRAY, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. And nearly everyone who has been involved in this four-day-old controversy has expressed disgust that the death of a U.S. soldier has turned into a political battle. But that certainly didn't stop the attacks from flying today.</s>MURRAY (voice-over): The president's response to a U.S. soldier killed in Niger devolving into a political brawl. Trump taking to Twitter again overnight to blast the congresswoman who accused him of being insensitive in a condolence call when he told Myeshia Johnson, the widow of Sergeant La David Johnson, that her husband knew what he got into when he signed up to serve. "The fake news is going crazy with wacky Congresswoman Wilson, who was secretly on a very personal call and gave a total lie on content," Trump tweeted. What began as a question over an ambush in Niger that left four American soldiers dead now morphing into a political battle over how the commander in chief carries out his most solemn duty, comforting the families of soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice. Just a day earlier, White House Chief of Staff and retired Marine General John Kelly made a rare appearance in the Briefing Room. A Gold Star father himself, he lamented that a call between the commander in chief and the widow of a fallen soldier was being politicized.</s>JOHN KELLY, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: It stuns me that a member of Congress would have listened in on that conversation, absolutely stuns me. And I thought at least that was sacred.</s>MURRAY: Wilson says she's close with the family and was with them when the president called. But Kelly went further in his criticism Thursday, taking another swipe at the congresswoman.</s>KELLY: And a congresswoman stood up, and in a long tradition of empty barrels making the most noise, stood up there in all of that and talked about how she was instrumental in getting the funding for that building, and how she took care of her constituents because she got the money, and she just called up President Obama, and on that phone call, he gave the money, the $20 million, to build the building, and she sat down. And we were stunned, stunned that she'd done it. Even for someone that is that empty a barrel, we were stunned.</s>MURRAY: Wilson quickly took issue with how the chief of staff portrayed her appearance at the FBI building dedication.</s>REP. FREDERICA WILSON (D), FLORIDA: I was not even in Congress in 2009, when the money for the building was secured. So that's a lie. How dare he? However, I named the building at the behest Director Comey, with the help of Speaker Boehner, working across party lines. So he didn't tell the truth, and he needs to stop telling lies on me.</s>MURRAY: A video of the 2015 dedication from "The Sun-Sentinel" doesn't back up Kelly's version of events. While the congresswoman touts her efforts in getting the building named for the fallen FBI agents, there's no discussion of securing funding for the project.</s>WILSON: Everyone said, that's impossible. It takes at least eight months to a year to complete the process through the House, the Senate, and to the president's office. I said, I'm a school principal, and I said, -- excuse me my French -- oh, hell no. We're going to get this done.</s>MURRAY: And she takes pains to thank the law enforcement officials in attendance and praised the slain FBI agents being honored.</s>WILSON: Most men and women in law enforcement leave their homes for work knowing that there is a possibility they may not return. If I may, will all men and women and first-responders who work in law enforcement stand up, stand up now, so that we can applaud you and what you do?</s>WILSON: Stand up. We are proud of you. We're proud of your courage. Thank you.</s>MURRAY: Still, the White House is standing by Kelly's criticism of the congresswoman.</s>SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: As General Kelly pointed out, if you're able to make a sacred act like honoring American heroes all about yourself, you're an empty barrel. If you don't understand that reference, I will put it a little more simply. As we say in the South, all hat, no cattle.</s>MURRAY: Even going so far as to suggest General Kelly a military background inoculates him from questioning.</s>QUESTION: Can he come out here and talk to us about this at some point...</s>HUCKABEE SANDERS: I think he has addressed that pretty thoroughly yesterday.</s>QUESTION: Well, he was wrong yesterday in talking about getting the money.</s>HUCKABEE SANDERS: If you want to go after General Kelly, that's up to you, but I think that that -- if you want to get into a debate with a four-star Marine general, I think that that's something highly inappropriate.</s>MURRAY: Amid all of the political sniping, still few answers from the administration on what exactly happened during the mission in Niger that went so badly awry.</s>QUESTION: Mr. President, did you authorize the mission in Niger?</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you.</s>MURRAY: Now, Sarah Sanders essentially refused to entertain questions about what happened on that mission in Niger. She said the administration is going to wait until an investigation into the events that unfolded is completed -- back to you, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: All right, Sara, thank you, Sara Murray over at the White House. We're also learning tonight new information about that deadly ambush of U.S. troops in Niger. Our global affairs correspondent, Elise Labott, is working this part of the story for us. New details and a lot of additional questions emerging.</s>ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. There are new details about the circumstances surrounding the ISIS attack, but there are still more questions than answers, particularly how a fallen American soldier was separated from his team and left behind and why it took two more days to recover his body.</s>LABOTT (voice-over): Tonight, CNN has learned Sergeant La David Johnson was found nearly a mile away from the central scene of the ambush, according to four administration officials familiar with the early assessment. The Pentagon is still looking at the exact circumstances of how Johnson became separated. Officials say the entire team led by Green Berets has been interviewed about the last time they saw Johnson. Nigerian forces found his body 48 hours after he had become separated. Defense Secretary James Mattis was on Capitol Hill today to meet with Senator John McCain, a day after he threatened to issue subpoenas for the information on the ambush.</s>SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I felt that we were not getting a sufficient amount of information, and we are clearing a lot of that up now.</s>JAMES MATTIS, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We can do better at communication. We can always improve on communication, and that's exactly what we will do.</s>LABOTT: Mattis is defending his troops in the face of criticism.</s>MATTIS: Having seen some of the news reports, the U.S. military does not leave its troops behind, and I would just ask that you not question the actions of the troops who were caught in the firefight and question whether or not they did everything they could in order to bring everyone out at once.</s>LABOTT: U.S. officials are starting to provide a clearer picture of the circumstances surrounding the attack. The U.S. team stopped in a town on the Niger/Mali border, so the Nigerians they were working with could pick up supplies, including food and water, and then meet with village elders. Investigators believe the ambush may have started when the U.S. soldiers were back at their vehicles, perhaps even driving. With four Americans dead, the FBI is assisting Nigerian authorities with the investigation, providing technical assistance and helping to gather evidence, a routine step when U.S. citizens are killed overseas.</s>TOM FUENTES, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: The first thing they're going to do is speak with the military personnel who survived the attack. They will be analyzing every bit of electronic evidence, any kind of e-mail traffic that might have come and gone from that region, talk to all of the security forces throughout West Africa who may have information regarding the movement of the people who attacked them.</s>LABOTT: About 1,000 U.S. troops are in Niger supporting a French-led campaign against extremists. Senator Lindsey Graham now saying the war on terror is morphing, and we could see more U.S. actions in Africa.</s>SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: We don't want the next 9/11 to come from Niger.</s>LABOTT: At the Pentagon today, France's defense minister received full military honors and a thanks from Mattis.</s>MATTIS: Following the ambush of the U.S. troops in Niger last week, thank you for your support.</s>LABOTT: French fighter jets arrived on the scene to help the U.S. troops, but CNN has learned they didn't fire on the militants because they couldn't I.D. targets and risk hitting the U.S. and Nigerian forces on the ground.</s>LABOTT: And one of the main unresolved questions is why the American soldiers were caught by surprise. U.S. intelligence deemed it unlikely at first that ISIS was in the area, which meant that these U.S. troops were not traveling in armored vehicles and did not have any air cover, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: It's a major, major intelligence blunder that they're going to have to investigate, make sure if doesn't happen again. Elise, thank you very, very much. Let's get some more on all of this. Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell of California is joining us. He's a member of the House Intelligence Committee. Congressman, why do you believe, first of all, that the condolence call that the president placed has so -- has become so politicized over these days?</s>REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D), CALIFORNIA: Good evening, Wolf. First, let's just remember who these individuals are. We're talking about Bryan Black and David (sic) Wright and Jeremiah Johnson and La David Johnson. And I don't think their names have been said enough. The politics seems to dominate this. But for the families, they just deserve the peace of knowing that their loved ones are remembered for how they fought and who they were. And I think the president, if the family wasn't happy with the call that he made, call them again and express your sorrow in a better way, and this story would have been over. And it's just so sad to see, you know, Gold Star families continue to be, you know, hurt by this president when they need, you know, him to be consoling them.</s>BLITZER: Was it appropriate, Congressman, for the White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, today to argue that John Kelly, the White House chief of staff, a retired four-star Marine Corps general, shouldn't be questioned about this because he is a retired four-star general?</s>SWALWELL: Of course he should be questioned. I'm being questioned by you right now, Wolf. America's leaders are supposed to be questioned. That's what the soldiers who, you know, fight and sacrifice for our country, that's what they're fighting for is the ability of the press and our constituents to question us. I respect John Kelly a lot. But he's not above questioning, any more than I am.</s>BLITZER: Let's discuss the ambush that led to the deaths of those four U.S. soldiers. Was there an intelligence blunder that led to those soldiers being blindsided by 50 ISIS-affiliated terrorists who all of a sudden came up well-armed and killed these four soldiers, injured two others?</s>SWALWELL: There was a blunder somewhere, Wolf, and the families are owed an accurate explanation as to what happened to their loved ones. And I think the best way you honor the dead who have fought and served for our country is to take care of those who are still serving. And that means looking at the conditions that, you know, our troops continue to serve under. We have 1,000 now, as you reported, in Niger, and that number has grown over the past few years. And so I think, you know, Congress needs to look at the conditions that they're serving under, the terrain that they're covering, and the length of time that they're there and make sure that, you know, proper restraints are put in place. And this is a larger issue we're dealing with, Wolf. And we see it in Syria and Iraq, is that we're operating under authorities that were granted in 2001 and 2003, and we haven't revisited them. And I think we owe it to those who serve to put some restraints in place.</s>BLITZER: Yes, I suspect, Congressman, that most Americans, they know there are thousands of U.S. troops still in Iraq and Afghanistan, now in Syria, but they don't know there are thousands of U.S. troops potentially in danger not just in Niger, but a lot of other countries in Africa right now. Are you fully briefed on what their mission is?</s>SWALWELL: We are briefed, but I don't believe that we have received, you know, consistent updates about, you know, the growing presence in places like Niger or, you know, what the cooperation is with other services and what are our -- you know, what resources do they have if they come under attack. Clearly, here, the response time was not, you know, enough. It wasn't fast enough to save their lives. Now, the culprits here, Wolf, are not, you know, the U.S. or the French. It's ISIS. They're the ones that killed these soldiers. We shouldn't forget that. But we should also do everything we can to make sure that if soldiers are serving in harm's way, that they have all of the resources and force protection around them so that something like this doesn't happen.</s>BLITZER: Your committee, the House Intelligence Committee, is investigating the Russia -- the allegations of collusion. I want to talk a little bit about that. Listen to a comment made by the CIA director, Mike Pompeo, yesterday.</s>QUESTION: Can you say with absolute certainty that the election results were not skewed as a result of Russian interference, especially given what we have learned just in the last few weeks? And more, importantly, are we vulnerable in 2018</s>MIKE POMPEO, CIA DIRECTOR: I'm not sure there could be anything -- I'm not sure there could be anything more important than that.</s>QUESTION: OK.</s>POMPEO: That we conducted an election that had integrity. And, yes, the intelligence community's assessment is that the Russian meddling that took place did not affect the outcome of the election.</s>BLITZER: Not necessarily precise. The public report -- the report made public by the director of national intelligence, and that was released in January of this year, stated the intelligence community did not make an assessment of the impact that the Russian activities had on the outcome of the 2016 election. That's a direct quote. So what's your reaction to the CIA director drawing a different conclusion than that report? By the way, the CIA later clarified what the conclusion of the national intelligence community was.</s>SWALWELL: His statement doesn't reflect the facts or the findings, and it also -- it actually only reflects the belief that the president has, which is, you know, not fully accepting the Russians' role in interfering in our election. And, Wolf, speaking of troops, I led a group in Congress called Future Forum. I have gone across the country with my 27 youngest House Democratic colleagues. Almost everywhere we go, we talk to young service members. A million millennials served in Iraq and Afghanistan. And what they're so concerned about what Russia did is that we are losing our freedom to choose. And that's what they're fighting for is the freedom of democracy and free and fair elections. And if we don't have unity at the top from our CIA director and our president that Russia did this, Russia will use that disunity that we're seeing right now in the United States to sharpen their swords and come at us again. And so we need unity and agreement, a basic consensus on what Russia did if we're going to protect future elections.</s>BLITZER: Yes, the intelligence community did conclude that the Russians interfered in the U.S. presidential election. They tried to sow dissent here in the United States. They tried to undermine, hurt Hillary Clinton's campaign and indirectly help Donald Trump's campaign. But there was no bottom-line assessment on whether or not it had a direct impact on actual votes that were cast. Congressman, stand by. We're going to resume this conversation right after a quick break.