preparing a plan B for the CIA president Trump is standing by his nominee for CIA
director Gina Haskell though national security officials are already planning
a contingency plan if she doesn't make it through the confirmation process in
the US Senate pass will already offer to pull her name from consideration but was
talked out of it by the White House today the president tweeted his support
quote my highly respected nominee for CIA director Gina Haspel has come under
fire because she was too tough on terrorists think of that in these very
dangerous times we have the most qualified person a woman who Democrats
want out because she is too tough on terror when Gina close quote
with us right now is William Cohen the former defense secretary during the Bill
Clinton administration mr. secretary thanks so much for joining us she's got
some problems because of enhanced interrogation techniques waterboarding
torture you think she should be confirmed I think she should go before
the Senate Intelligence Committee and have the members examine what role she
actually played what were the instructions she was given did the
Attorney General give her permission the legal permission as such and then do the
members of the intelligence may say even though you think you were following
orders legal orders we don't default illegal if you were following legal
orders we still have a difference of opinion Senator John McCain my friend
who's now in some difficulty said he's against torture he knows what torture is
and what it does and what it doesn't do very fundamentally against it and
bringing up John McCain's name I just want to say a couple of words
John welcomed my wife Janet the first time she came and he saw that we were in
a racial couple he endorsed that relationship and said he was going to
throw his arms around us and I'll never forget that secondly he's a man of
believes in peace through strength not just weapons but of character and
courage and I would say if there's any individual they'll be deserving of the
Medal of Freedom it will be John McCain right now
unlikely that this president would do that but it'd be an act of great grace
and generosity to recognize the man who went through five years of torture was
still able to overcome that and then say let's have a peaceful arrangement with
Vietnam the people who tortured him he oversaw that overlooked that and said
it's more important that we do this for our country as you remember as a
candidate President Trump said Senator McCain was not a hero he was a Pio w you
know what heroes are not POWs even though he spent five years in a North
Vietnamese prison and now he clearly does not want the President of the
United States to show up at his funeral he's in very bad physical shape as we
all know I thought it was a disgraceful statement on the part of the president
to not recognize his heroism what he gave up the courage he demonstrated not
only in flying into a anti-aircraft weapons but also surviving five years of
almost day-to-day torture and then to say I'm not coming out before my time
that's the real character of this country strength of principles honor
Duty country and to say that he's not a hero because he was captured I thought
it was disgraceful yeah and he could have left Vietnam earlier they were
willing to let him because his father was a major now Admiral in the US Navy
but he said you know what I'm here and I'm staying as long as my men are with
me his father was actually conducting the bombings on North Vietnam that was
one of the reasons they were trying to get John to leave early so thinking he'd
get good graces of the of his father and stop the bombing what do you think of
the last couple days the president on our two occasions even at this late
moment in John McCain's life really going after him for that negative vote
at 3:00 in the morning on Obamacare you saw you saw what the president's been
saying lately I have been it's discouraging we're all anxious to have
the president United States rise above pettiness and grievances and conduct
himself as the leader of our country in fact when there's talk about a Nobel
Prize I'd like to have a Nobel Prize given for reuniting this
country of healing the divide that's taking place in this country that is in
danger of tearing us apart I would like to have the president take that measure
to heal us and be a present for all the people not just for hardcore Republicans
or be opposed to hardcore Democrats what do you think about what's going on now
there's almost certainly going to be a meeting between President Trump and kim
jungeun of North Korea maybe the end of May early June they're trying to figure
out where to do it could be along the Demilitarized Zone it looks like it's
gonna happen you support them I do I do but we should proceed with caution one
thing that really disturbed me over the last few days to see a document of
something leaked to the press that the president is asking the Department of
Defense to give him options about how we could reduce our presence that's making
South Korea in South Korea that may come later but to talk about that up front is
really undercutting a very major card that we have to play this is what kim
jongwan wants in fact he's publicly stated he's not asking for that so why
would you send out a message that DoD give me some options how I can reduce it
number one it's bad to give up something before you need to number two the the
reduction of troops it's very hard to put them back in once you reduce them or
take them out secondly if you try to put them back in that is a signal that
tensions are ratcheting up and you may be a prelude to an attack and so that in
itself could produce a preemptive strike against the South so I think for all of
the reasons that may come at the end it may work to our advantage but you also
shouldn't look at this as a transaction looking at simply as North Korea South
korea-us what about Japan if the countries in the region start to feel
that we're only interested in the u.s. Japan may find that it's on its own if
it's on its own it may in fact be attempted to go into the nuclear realm
which is what person Trump advised they should do when he was campaigning u.s.
has about 30,000 troops in South Korea and President Trump has made no secret
you'd like to get them out of there I'd like to get about it Japan get them out
of Germany get troops out of a lot of places but let me quickly get your
thoughts so Rudy Giuliani of the new President presidential lawyer
helping the president he said the other day that the three Americans being held
prisoner in North Korea would be released later that day they still have
not been released this is a very very sensitive issue clearly the US would
like to see those Americans released I'm sure when Mike Pompeo then CIA director
now Secretary of State was in Pyongyang met with Kim jong-un he raised this
issue but what do you think of the president's lawyer now all of a sudden
talking about a really sensitive subject like this on the eve of these trunks
well I think he's acting more as an advocate and less as a lawyer just
looking I used to practice law many many years ago and so I can't give
professional advice as such but as a lawyer you're trying to protect the
interests of the president and to minimize the extraneous assaults upon
him in any fashion and if you start to become an advocate start making
statements that are political in nature then you're serving is the political
advocate and not as a as a lawyer William Cohan thanks very much for
joining us it was good to have you here thank you
new reported accusations swirling around the White House right now did Trump ace
hire private Israeli spies to look into Obama officials in an effort to undercut
the Iran nuclear deal Plus on the eve of the West Virginia Republican Senate
primary the president has come out swinging against the controversial very
controversial candidate who's been surging in recent days we have new
details stay with us
what before Dane parts unknown new episodes Sundays at 9:00 on CNN
the first lady of Melania Trump by stepping into the spotlight in a little
while later this afternoon to announce her formal platform during a White House
rose garden ceremony all of this happening as a new Washington Post
report delves into the Trump sub marriage in details how they are
apparently according to Washington Post living largely separate lives and as new
CNN poll numbers show a boost a significant boost for Melania Trump 57
percent of the American people of polled have a favorable opinion of the first
lady jumping 10 points from the last poll in January joining us now to
discuss CNN senior political reporter nia-malika Henderson and our White House
reporter Kate and at NIA these these numbers are significant to give us some
perspective yeah they are I mean typically in Cait follows the first lady
in his written about first lady Zod pass typically first ladies are more popular
than their husbands you think about somebody like Laura Bush her poll
numbers were as high as 80% at times when her husband was in the White House
the question always becomes how can the first lady sort of transition that
popularity to the popularity of her husband's party or her husband so I
imagine when folks see these numbers say I'm sure Melania Trump is happy because
it's clear that Americans are starting to get to know her better and they're
starting to like her more but if you're Republican you're thinking what can we
do about these numbers can she be helpful on the fundraising circuit can
she be helpful on this stuff because we saw that from former First Lady's
Michelle Obama Laura Bush trying to help their husbands win re-election they were
very effective in that way not as effective in the midterms Laura Bush and
Michelle Obama but we'll see what isn't Melania Trump willing to do we see her
stepping out as you've written about Kate Bennet and so we'll see what
happens with her about an hour and a half or so from now over the White House
rose garden she's going to be announcing her agenda her platform set the scene
for us so for the past several months she's been talking about how she wants
to help children and the children's well-being as part of this that's a very
broad umbrella so I think today what we're gonna see her do is narrow that
down into a specific focus likely to be more than one thing probably
two or three I would imagine it won't include the opioid crisis something
she's focused on with families also emotional health and well-being she's
really focused on kindness and of course social media which includes the
cyberbullying issue of which she has gotten some flack because obviously her
husband is a prolific name caller via Twitter this is something the first lady
said that she's going to go forward with despite criticism she says she's aware
of the skepticism that's come her way because of choosing this topic I think
she's going to go forward with it we'll hear from her about that today right I
assumed correct me if I'm wrong the president will be in the Rose Garden
when she makes these these important announcements I I can't reveal that but
I would assume that he would be there he wouldn't want to miss his wife's big
moment I think we'll see other members of the administration as well the Rose
Garden of course is a historic location it's the first time giving a speech of
the length that I think we're gonna see and from a location on the west wing
side of the way so she's giving a formal speech with a teleprompter the whole
nine yard lot of coverage of that here on CNN another First Lady Michelle Obama
I want to play a clip what she's saying Kate then and then niogret you to react
as well she's sending out a very passionate message to American women
listen to this this last election I'm concerned about us as women and how we
think about ourselves and about each other and what and what's really going
on I mean I I think more about what what what is going on in our heads where we
let that happen you know so I do wonder what our what our young
girls dreaming about if we're still there if we as women are still
suspicious of one another if we're still if we still have this crazy crazy bar
for each other that we don't have for men if if we're still doing that today
if we're more comfortable with if we're not comfortable with the notion that a
woman could be our president compared to what you know pretty a pretty
significant reaction there what do you think I mean I think Michelle Obama is a
very effective public speaker I think she's really got a lot of traction
talking about women's issues I will say this about Melania Trump in this poll
that we had today Woolf the higher numbers to date the rise came from women
and Democrats there was a jump of 13 points for women in supporting and 15
points for Democrats so perhaps it's interesting hearing Michelle Obama sort
of raise a flag about women this could be a sign of a bit of a divide in the
Trump for something ID her popularity going up as reports are spread that
maybe there's some distance between her and the president exactly she's always
been independent this is a first lady who's not joined at the hip with her
husband we've seen her express that independence several times in different
ways mostly nonverbal cues but certainly not a huge surprise that they don't
interact away yeah listen to another clip from the former first lady listen
to this I wish that girls could fail as bad as men do and be okay
because let me tell you watching men fail up it is it is fresh straight airy
frustrate it is frustrating to see a lot of men blow it and win and we hold
ourselves to these crazy crazy standards we hold each other to these standards
sounds like another at least indirect job at the present I mean wasn't even
really that indirect right I mean we remember a Michelle Obama from the
campaign trail in 2016 she said in the wake of that Access Hollywood tape that
she was shaken to her core we know very well how she feels about what happened
in the 2016 election and there she is really asking women to look at
themselves and look at to see how women are viewing other women and we know for
instance that white women very much supported Donald Trump you didn't see
that with other races of women african-american women wholeheartedly
supported Hillary Clinton Latino women as well so she's really I think sparking
a conversation about women is there any real solidarity shouldn't there be
solidarity in terms of how women view each other
and we saw in that last election there wasn't a lot of solidarity particularly
along our racial lines but listen she is probably glad that she's finished
working on her book we'll see that book I think come out in the fall and you can
see there she's still very very popular and passionate about this she certainly
is and we look forward to covering our CNN coverage of the Melania Trump event
in the Rose Garden later today as well I know you're gonna be heading over to the
White House right now guys thanks very much president Trump blasting the former
US Secretary of State John Kerry for conducting quote potentially illegal
shadow diplomacy on the Iranian nuclear deal you're gonna hear how Kerry is
responding that's coming up next that as the president stares down a deadline in
the Iran nuclear deal we're on standby for a White House briefing there you're
looking live pictures coming in from the White House briefing room we'll have
coverage of that stay with us
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