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And if we start sanctioning our European allies, because they're not willing to walk away from a deal which Iran is complying with, then we are going to be the isolated party, not Iran. |
What will happen, if we do somehow manage to destroy the Iranian economy and deprive Iran of any benefit of a nuclear agreement, is Iran will simply go back to enriching and probably with far greater speed than it was already. And there's no guarantees, if they throw the inspectors out, that they won't begin the weapon... |
So this is a no-win situation for the United States. And the reality is the administration has no road map. All they knew they wanted to do -- all the president knew that he wanted to do was erase the legacy of his predecessor, but it doesn't appear they've given much thought to what comes next. |
[17:15:09] BLITZER: Amidst all of this, as you know, Congressman, tensions could escalate dramatically in the region. Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, is reporting that U.S. officials are deeply concerned right now Iran could be on the brink of launching an attack against Israel. Have you seen intelligence co... |
SCHIFF: I haven't seen anything that indicates imminent attack on Israel by Iran. But I think what we may see, what may even be more likely than something as overt as that is that the Iranian-backed militias in Iraq start targeting U.S. troops. That Iranian suppliers provide new and more lethal munitions to those that ... |
And so this may put troops at greater risk. I think that's a more likely course for Iran, to essentially lash out than something like provoking overt confrontation with Israel. |
BLITZER: At the same time, President Trump is clearly eager to strike a deal with North Korea over its nuclear program. How do you think Kim Jong-un is interpreting today's announcement by the president? |
SCHIFF: Well, I would say in a couple of ways, first that he cannot count on Donald Trump to keep America's word. So he has to enter into any potential agreement with a history of Donald Trump reneging on the Iran deal. |
complying, and we have seen North Korea cheat in the future [SIC], will the U.S. have credibility, given its track record on the Iran deal? |
So it weakens our position with North Korea. It makes North Korea more skeptical, and I think ultimately makes a successful deal in North Korea more unlikely to succeed. |
BLITZER: We're staying on top of all of the breaking news. Much more right after this. |
[17:21:53] BLITZER: Our breaking news: as President Trump makes good on his threat to quit the Iran nuclear deal and moves to reimpose U.S. sanctions against Iran, Israel's military has gone on high alert right now for possible Iranian reprisals from Syria. U.S. officials share the concern about a possible attack on Is... |
U.S. military officials telling CNN there are concerns, based on intelligence at this hour, that Iran could -- could -- be preparing for some sort of attack against Israel. Not clear what it would be. Would it come from Iranian elements already inside Syria, proxies in Lebanon or from inside Iran itself, though that wo... |
This all does come as President Trump announces a withdrawal from the agreement, but tensions had been rising for weeks now between, of course, Israel and Tehran, perhaps culminating in Benjamin Netanyahu's public appearance, detailing what he thought the Iranian nuclear program was about. |
Now, what we do know is that, for some time now, the U.S. has believed Iran is shipping missiles into Syria to be used by Iranian-backed elements there, possibly to attack Israel. |
Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, say that there are now deep concerns that Iranian-backed forces in Iraq or Afghanistan or Syria, for that matter, will start launching specific targeted attacks against U.S. military personnel. Have you heard that at the Pentagon, as well, that American troops in Iraq or Af... |
STARR: Well, actually, the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, which also, of course, has troops operating in Syria, was -- a spokesperson was asked about that today. So far they say they see no evidence of it. |
But this is always a concern because of what you just said, Wolf. In Syria, in Iraq, in Afghanistan, there is growing Iranian influence, and that is no mistake by them. That is something Tehran has very much planned out, plotted to do over the months and years. They want to exercise their influence in those countries, ... |
BLITZER: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Disturbing news, indeed. Thank you. |
Coming up, the global fallout to President Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. |
[17:25:05] Also ahead, a rising Democratic star who's been a major proponent of women's rights resigns after multiple women accuse him of physical abuse. I'll speak with Ronan Farrow. He co-wrote the article that broke open the scandal. |
BLITZER: We're following multiple breaking stories right now, including President Trump pulling the United States out of the Iran nuclear deal. |
Let's get some insight from our analysts and correspondents. And Jim Sciutto, so where does the U.S. go from here? The president announced the U.S. is withdrawing from this 2005 -- 2015 nuclear deal, but what's the next step? |
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: We're just getting that information. For instance, in the State Department, there was just a briefing for reporters, and they laid out some of the time frame here. A six-month wind-down for energy-related sanctions. That's, of course, key because Iran wants to sel... |
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. |
SCIUTTO: -- our closest allies, who say shortly after the president made his announcement, you saw the leaders of France, U.K. and Germany all said, "We're staying in the deal. We still think the deal is working, and we still think the deal applies." |
BLITZER: So where do the Iranians, Shawn Turner, go from here? You used to work for the director of national intelligence during the Obama administration. Are they going to stay in the deal with the Europeans, the Russians or the Chinese, or abandon it and restart some sort of nuclear program? |
SHAWN TURNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes, well, Wolf, this news out of the State Department is really key, because there was a significant question as to whether or not there would be time for the Iranians, for our European partners to actually have a conversation about whether or not there was something that c... |
But at this point, now that we have a timeline and we know that the administration is looking to move extremely fast in order to implement these sanctions, there's a lot less incentive for the Iranians to stay in the deal. |
I think that -- that if they do pull out of the deal, countries like Russia and China, you know, they've some major considerations here. They've made some economic -- they've got some economic ties to Iran that they're going to be very reluctant to break. |
I think it's really key here that the president is willing to impose sanctions on European countries that may break this deal. One of the things that we know about China is that China may actually have the ability to absorb sanctions from the United States, while at the same time maintaining some of the economic relati... |
So there are a lot of unknowns here, but the fact that they're moving quickly means that Iran does not have a lot of incentive to stick around. |
BLITZER: You know, it's interesting, Gloria. During the campaign, President Trump always said, "I'm going to get out of the Iran nuclear deal, the worst deal ever. It is awful. I hate it." |
BLITZER: But it took a long time for him to do it. He waited until today, a long time. He's got a new national security team in place. |
BLITZER: How much of a factor was that? |
BORGER: I think that's a huge factor. I mean, the former secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, national security adviser General McMaster were both not proponents of withdrawing from the deal. And as you know, this had to be renewed every 90 days and -- and so the president unwillingly did that, because he was being advis... |
Now you've got John Bolton in there as national security adviser. You've got Mike Pompeo -- who by the way, is of course, on his way to North Korea, as a precursor to that -- that negotiation -- who are on the president's side on this. |
And as we've been talking about for, like, I would say, six weeks to two months now, this is a different president from the president who entered office. He believes that he's got control of this thing, that he now knows how to run it and that he's going to keep his promises, no matter what. |
And so, while the heads of European nations try to do an intervention, basically, on Donald Trump, meeting with him, talking to him, telling him "Don't do this" in every way they possibly way they could, it seems to me that his mind was -- was pretty made up and that there was nothing, even until the 11th hour, that th... |
BLITZER: And Bianna Golodryga, the -- so how is this going to affect U.S. relations with Germany, with France, with the U.K.? They basically came here and appealed to him, "Don't do it," and he said, "You know what? I'm doing it." |
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It didn't matter if there was personal chemistry with President Macron or the lack of personal chemistry with Angela Merkel. It seemed like the president's mind had been made up, and once again Europe draws the short stick here. |
You already hear from European companies, Total (ph), the CEO saying that he's going to put a pause on any sort of deals that they have in business with Iran, given the possibility that the U.S. could be sanctioning them. |
The real winners, you could say, are Russia and China. I don't see them pulling out of any business deals with Iran. And Russia, in particular, with Vladimir Putin just being sworn in for his fourth term, man, this looks great for him optically. Think about the reversal of a country that was isolated. Now all of a sudd... |
BLITZER: You know, David Axelrod, the former president, President Obama -- you worked for him at one point -- he put out a statement condemning this decision by the president. |
current president. What does it say to you that he has now decided to come up with this lengthy statement condemning this decision? |
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it says the gravity with which he feels this -- this decision of the president -- you know, President Obama has said that he won't -- he won't speak on a regular basis about what his successor is doing. But that he reserved the right to speak out on those things th... |
He feels that this accelerates the moment when Iran could get a bomb. It leaves us with -- as has been mentioned, no Plan B but military action. It divides us from our allies. It makes America's word in the world less good. And these are things he feels deeply, so I wasn't surprised. |
But I just want to say, you know, I don't think this ultimately was a decision about national security. This was a decision about optics and politics. |
AXELROD: Donald Trump from the get-go said that this -- this agreement was a disaster, as he has about everything that President Obama has done. And I think he was just determined to do it. I don't think it's a matter of -- as Gloria suggested, I don't think it's a matter of the national security team suddenly coming o... |
AXELROD: And the guy who's been quiet on this is General Mattis, Secretary Mattis, who told the Congress in the fall that it wouldn't be in the country's national interests to depart from this agreement. |
BORGER: -- to bring into the White House. He doesn't want anyone who disagrees with him. |
BLITZER: He's clearly comfortable with John Bolton, his new national security adviser, and Mike Pompeo, his new secretary of state. |
BLITZER: Guys, stick around. There's more breaking news we'll following. We'll be right back. |
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [17:42:02] BLITZER: We're back with our political and national security specialists and correspondents. |
And Jim Sciutto, as you know, Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, he's either already in Pyongyang or about to land in Pyongyang. A second visit for him. Maybe he'll meet with Kim Jong-un once again, set the stage for this upcoming summit between President Trump and Kim Jong-un. |
What's your sense right now, because the president says everything is all set for his summit meeting with the North Korean leader? |
SCIUTTO: Well, it's interesting, Secretary Pompeo, he made some comments to reporters on his -- on his plane on the way out, and at least in those comments, things are not set in stone. The date and the location of the meeting, but also the outlines of what this agreement will be. |
He made clear in his comments to reporters that the Trump administration is entering this with wide eyes, that they want -- they're not going to go for half measures; that they want real, hard commitments from the North Koreans before they move forward so that they don't repeat, as he explained, past mistakes. |
Of course, as you think the Iran deal, the Trump administration trying to be consistent here as they approach North Korea. |
He also mentioned the situation of the three Americans held there, saying that that's an issue he was going to raise with the North Koreans on this trip, which is interesting. Now, he may leave there with them. We don't know. But to make a second trip with the fate of those three Americans still a question mark, intere... |
So clearly, many of the issues in these negotiations are still being negotiated here. Even the preliminary ones like the release of the American prisoners. |
BLITZER: You think, Shawn, he would go back to Pyongyang if he doesn't have a firm, hard commitment from the North Koreans that he would leave with the three Americans? |
TURNER: If he has gone there under those circumstances, it is a terrible mistake on the part of this administration. These kind of negotiations are very delicate, and when you're talking about U.S. -- U.S. citizens who are being held in a country like North Korea, you want to make absolutely sure that you've got a deal... |
If he comes back and he does not have them, then I think that that looks -- that does not look good for the administration. But it also will play into kind of the tone and tenure of this deal going forward. |
BLITZER: He comes out of there, Mike Pompeo, with those three Americans. That would be a plus. |
BORGER: That would be a huge plus. Look, you just don't send your secretary of state somewhere for the second time when you don't expect to get something. I mean, if you were having sort of high-level staffers go over, do -- do -- you know, have pre-talk talks, et cetera, et cetera, set the table, if you will, for what... |
Now, Rudy Giuliani has already said these people are coming home. It's a little ad hoc from Rudy Giuliani on a lot of issues, as we know. So he's already said it. The president said, "Stay tuned." He mentioned today that Pompeo is over there. If he comes back empty- handed, I even wonder whether this whole thing will b... |
BLITZER: Everybody stick around. There's more breaking news we're following, including a prominent Democrat's stunning fall from grace. He was hailed as a defender of women's rights. Now four women are accusing him of physical abuse, and it's cost him his job. I'll speak with Ronan Farrow, one of the authors of the art... |
[17:49:56] BLITZER: We're following the political and social aftershocks after the stunning fall of a rising Democratic Party star. |
The New York State Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, has been a vocal proponent of women's rights and for the #MeToo movement. But he abruptly resigned last night, only hours after "The New Yorker" magazine published a stunning article in which four women accused him of physical violence. |
Schneiderman denied any wrongdoing in announcing his resignation. |
Joining us now, one of the co-authors of "The New Yorker" article, Ronan Farrow. |
Ronan, thanks so much for joining us. And tell us a little bit more about these women, why they decided that now was the time to come forward? |
RONAN FARROW, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, THE NEW YORKER: Multiple women doing an incredibly difficult thing, coming forward with really horrific, brutal stories of violence that turned out to be very, very well corroborated, Wolf. And independently, these women described uncannily similar patterns of behavior. Slaps, hitt... |
And I want to make one important point. Because a large part of Eric Schneiderman's rebuttal is devoted to his claim that this is consensual sexual role-playing. These women, one after another, went to pains to say that that was not what they were alleging. And indeed, that they wouldn't have come forward if it was sim... |
What they are claiming was that this was nonconsensual, very often in an entirely non-sexual context. And in one woman's case, not even in the context of a relationship. |
She alleges that he approached her and came on to her at an event. This is a prominent lawyer that he had worked with. And that when she rebuffed him, he began hurling slurs, and then slapped her hard enough to leave a mark. And we looked at that picture. |
BLITZER: And so why did they decide to speak out now? |
FARROW: You know, I think it's a combination of factors. Speaking out about domestic violence and sexual violence is always wrenching, doubly so when it's a powerful figure and when you fear retaliation, which these women did. They feared that he would use the power of his office to come after them. |
The reason that, I think, they feel the climate is different is partly because of the #MeToo movement and other women who have spoken, and partly because Eric Schneiderman had become such a prominent voice on women's rights. |
And the hypocrisy, in their minds, that was a word that several used, became too much to bear. They felt that they could and ultimately needed to protect the next woman to come along since this seemed to be a pattern of behavior. |
BLITZER: As you know, the investigation is now in the hands of law enforcement in New York. Do you believe Schneiderman will end up facing criminal charges? |
FARROW: I'm not going to speculate on that. You know, my job was simply to meticulously report out the facts, which I did with my colleague, Jane Mayer, at "The New Yorker." |
And, look, I think it's very clear that the activity being alleged is potentially criminal in nature. I'm not going to predict anything beyond that. |
BLITZER: Do you believe more women will come forward with similar allegations against Schneiderman? |
FARROW: There, again, you know, I'm very careful not to say anything beyond what we've reported. I will say, very clearly, though, that it became apparent, over the course of our reporting, and it was apparent to these women that spoke to us, that this was not just about them as individuals. That this was a repeating p... |
BLITZER: As you know, Schneiderman's office has been pursuing a lawsuit against the disgraced film producer, Harvey Weinstein and The Weinstein Company. Do you expect that effort will continue even though he's no longer the Attorney General? |
FARROW: You know, I would assume that the work of the many excellent attorneys, you know, that surround Schneiderman will continue. That the various initiatives that have policy import, whether they're about Harvey Weinstein or about President Trump, will continue. And that, you know, the people of the state of New Yor... |
BLITZER: Ronan, amazing reporting you and Jane have done, but how surprised were you that within, what, three or four hours, he resigned? |
FARROW: All I can say is that several women did reach out to me after that resignation and were incredibly moved, moved almost to tears in one conversation. This was a really painful thing for them to do, and they did it with a lot of fear. And it required a lot of strength. |
And I think feeling heard and feeling that their stories had an impact, that maybe could help others, is a significant step. It doesn't make it easy. I think it's going to continue to be a period of ups and downs for everyone involved in this story. But I think, for the first time, they feel that this story actually is... |
BLITZER: Yes. You and Jane, you did a great job, very strong reporting. You guys have been on a roll over there. Keep it up. We deeply appreciate it. Thanks so much. |
BLITZER: Coming up, there's breaking news. President Trump makes good on his pledge to walk away from the Iran nuclear deal and announces the U.S. will renew its sanctions. Israel is already on high alert. How will Iran respond? |
BLITZER: Happening now, Russian payments? CNN has learned that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigators have questioned a Russian oligarch about large payments to President Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, after -- after -- the election. What was the money for? |
Pulling out. President Trump delivers on a campaign promise, announcing he's withdrawing the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal, calling it, and I'm quoting him now, defective at its core. Will Iran respond by restarting its nuclear program? |
[17:59:55] Mission to North Korea. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo embarks on a second trip to North Korea to lay the groundwork for a summit between President Trump and Kim Jong-un. Will Pompeo be able to secure the release of three Americans being held by the Kim regime? |
Brussels — Europe is ramping up preparations for the economic blow of a possible “no-deal Brexit”, fearing the political crisis in London has killed off hopes of an orderly divorce. |
Contingency planning has been underway for months, but Prime Minister Theresa May’s apparent inability to sell any withdrawal deal to parliament has focused minds. |
EU leaders insist the British economy will be worst hit by a disorderly breakdown in trading ties, but Britain’s neighbours are also braced for disruption. Renewed border controls and regulatory barriers could slow trade and choke ports, and uncertainty hangs over the rights of British citizens living in EU states. |
A solution may be found, but in the meantime here are some of the key early decisions made in Brussels and key British trading partners. |
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