Subject: RE: UPDATE: Video Request: Jeff Sessions On The Situation Room, 5pm
From: "Kasnetz, Joel" <[email-masked]>
To: Research_D <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2016 08:50:33 -0700

Let's some get more on all of this. Joining us, Republican Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama. He's member of Judiciary and Armed Services Committee. He's also strong supporter of Donald Trump for president.
Senator, thanks very much for joining us.
SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R), ALABAMA: Thank you.
BLITZER: Look at the numbers in the actual vote totals so far -- 40 states have already had their primaries and caucuses. Trump is at 10- 062,000, Cruz 6,857,000, Kasich 3,674,000.
When will this party start rallying around the guy who has got by millions, as he likes to say, the most votes?
SESSIONS: I think it is going to happen soon. You can feel it already in people out on the street and also in Washington in the halls of Congress.
BLITZER: Are you feeling that from your Republican colleagues in the Senate?
SESSIONS: Yes, and I think they feel like they can work with Donald Trump. They know he is resonating with the American people, he's raising issues that the people care about and they're flocking to him with enthusiasm.
He has got more enthusiasm than anybody else also. He has votes, enthusiasm, and delegates. I think he is moving very well.
[18:10:00]
BLITZER: You have no doubt he will win the nomination on the first ballot at the convention in Cleveland?
SESSIONS: No, I think he will. I certainly think so.
I presume he will win because he's got the most delegates and I think he will have over the number required for a sure victory.
BLITZER: I have noticed over the past 48 hours or so, he has been very complimentary to Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee. Earlier, he was saying negative things, the system is rigged and all of that, saying negative things about the RNC. But now he is being very complimentary to Reince Priebus.
Does it look like the party, the Republican Party, your party, is going to rally around him as well?
SESSIONS: I think so. Reince Priebus is a good leader. He knows we need to unite.
I think the Trump campaign was worried about some things that were happening, and they were firing some shots across the bow. I am hopeful that those are being settled now, and we will move forward to the party being united and then bringing forth members of Congress and other leaders, and bringing them on board in a unity effort.
Donald Trump can win this election. He can defeat Hillary Clinton. He has good policies for America. I think he will make a real difference.
BLITZER: The Carly Fiorina announcement today, the veep, that Ted Cruz says she will be his running mate, what's your reaction?
SESSIONS: I think that's an unusual step. Definitely maybe has a media day for it, but Trump just finished carrying five states, every county of five states, states that normally Republicans don't do so well in.
I think it would be a great asset to the party to be able to nominate somebody who can compete aggressively in the Northeast.
BLITZER: Do you think Cruz and Kasich should just drop out?
SESSIONS: I think they probably should. I don't see where they're going from here. We do need to more toward unity.
But they have got a right to continue. I respect both of them. And so we will see how they move forward with their personal decisions.
BLITZER: Senator, we have more to discuss, including the foreign policy, national security speech that Donald Trump delivered today. I know you have been helping him in those areas. You have been working very closely with him.
Jeff Sessions is staying with us. We're also standing by to hear from Donald Trump. He's getting ready to address this huge rally in Indianapolis, right now, Indiana, a critically important state coming up next Tuesday, the primary there. We will take a break and we will be right back.
[18:16:38]
BLITZER: We are back with Donald Trump supporter Republican Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama. We're going to talk to him about Donald Trump's foreign policy speech that he delivered earlier today.
...
BLITZER: All right, Jim Sciutto reporting for us, thanks very much.
Jeff Sessions is still with us, the senator from Alabama, a strong supporter of Donald Trump.
You advised him, you helped him with that speech, right?
SESSIONS: Well, I did give advice on the speech, but you can tell it is Trump's ideas.
In fact, one of the things that attracted me to Trump was his belief that we have been too involved in nation-building on occasion, that we have not stood up and had our allies contribute sufficiently to our mutual defense, and that we have an incoherent foreign policy today.
BLITZER: You want more of what they call an isolationist policy or, as Rand Paul would call it, a noninterventionist policy, as opposed to the robust policy of the Bush administration, let's say the Obama administration?
SESSIONS: Well, I think have we learned we can't be as successful as we would like to be in building democratic nations in very troubled areas of the globe. We have just learned that totally.
So, it is difficult thing. And I think Donald Trump has got it about right. We have got to be careful, not overreach, but at the same time, if we have to use military force, we will use it decisively.
BLITZER: He used that phrase America first.
And, as you know, his critics have been recalling that in the '30s and the early '40s, when the U.S. was thinking of going to war against Nazi Germany, the America First Coalition Committee came -- was around trying to prevent the United States in getting involved in World War II. Sort of an awkward phrase, his critics are pointing out.
SESSIONS: Well, let me just say this.
The United States' foreign policy must be based on the national interest of the United States of America first and foremost, and that's what he said today. Then you ask, are alliances good for us? Yes. He said we are going to meet with our NATO allies, strengthen that and update the NATO alliance.
At the same time, we're going to insist our allies pay more. We're going to meet with our Asian allies. We're going to develop a new modern up-to-date policy for the Pacific, and they're going to have to pay more, too. I thought it was a coherent and rational approach. And it's overdue, frankly.
BLITZER: He says, Donald Trump, he's now getting phone calls from people who have criticized him, but now are increasingly anxious to jump aboard his bandwagon, if you will. You're smiling. Do you know who some of these people are?
SESSIONS: Yes. People are coming to me, and I'm hearing it from friends and I'm hearing it from phone calls that come to my office.
And I think our members of Congress are also looking at this in a way that is saying this man is resonating. What's wrong with a policy...
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Who are some of these people?
SESSIONS: I am not going to talk about private conversations.
But I will just tell you there's no doubt in my mind that we can unify the Republican Conference behind Donald Trump.
BLITZER: Do you think they are going to come forward and announce their support for Trump?
SESSIONS: Well, Mr. Trump isn't just going around asking for endorsements.
He's going out, getting votes. He's winning elections and election with bigger and bigger majorities. That's where the power comes from. But, yes, I think our members will work together because the Trump ideas are solid and can be defended.
BLITZER: When he says he is going to destroy ISIS, and he because says, trust me, I know what I'm doing, I am not going to spell out my strategy, don't the American people have a right to know what is strategy is?
SESSIONS: He should not be telling exactly how he would go about ISIS, no. You don't do that in advance.
But I think this is a commitment that the American people can take to the bank. Donald Trump will step up the pressure on ISIS, and if we do it effectively, they will be gone.
BLITZER: What would be the difference between what the Obama administration's strategy to destroy ISIS is and a Trump administration strategy in trying to destroy ISIS?
SESSIONS: Well, we haven't been very effective so far with ISIS. In fact, we have been very weak. We have created areas where they have built their base, the destabilization of Libya, which is a direct responsibility of President Obama and Hillary Clinton, created now a base in Libya for it.
BLITZER: What would he do differently?
SESSIONS: Well, I think he will continue to press the case against them. But I'm not going to say exactly how he would do it.
BLITZER: Deploy ground troops, tens of thousands of ground troops to go into Mosul, for example, the second largest city in Iraq, city of two million people, and liberate that city from ISIS?
SESSIONS: One of the greatest disasters that we have had was President Obama and Hillary Clinton pulling our troops out of Iraq.
It was a fragile area. It hadn't been secured permanently. That's for sure. But pulling out prematurely has now led to Mosul, where we were able to establish a decent government there, to fall to ISIS.
[18:25:00]
So, yes, it is going to be a very difficult effort to retake Mosul, but it must be done and can be done.
BLITZER: You would support sending thousands of U.S. troops back into Iraq, into Syria to destroy ISIS?
SESSIONS: No, no. We have got allies in Iraq.
They can be strengthened. The special forces we have, we have drones and other capabilities. But a sustained effort can move, can defeat ISIS, but it is not going to be easy, but it can be done.
BLITZER: He spoke for 40 minutes. He went through a lot of important issues, and he elaborated on a lot of important issues. I didn't hear him say the U.S. will build a wall along the border with Mexico and Mexico will pay for it.
He says it in every other speech. He didn't say it today at the Mayflower Hotel. How come?
SESSIONS: Well, he did assert that we have to a legal system of immigration.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: He did speak about immigration. And he would secure the borders. But I didn't hear him say we will build the wall and Mexico will pay for it.
SESSIONS: Well, this speech was focusing mainly on international relations, the Middle East, our allies in NATO, and allies in the Pacific, how we can strengthen the alliances, and how we can ensure that they give -- pay a fair share of the cost of our mutual efforts.
BLITZER: He also didn't elaborate on what he said before, water- boarding. He thinks that would be fine, if you got a terrorist suspect, you go ahead and water-board, and even go further in what some call torture of these suspects. He didn't get into any of that. Was there a reason he didn't want to elaborate on that?
SESSIONS: I asked him across the board. My advice was not to get into troop levels, how many boats we need, how many ships we need, how many -- money we should spend or those kind of things in this speech.
He needed to state his approach to representing the United States and the national interest and the people of the United States and how he is going to protect this nation, advance our interests working with our allies and expecting to get more from them.
And he also said that he thinks he can advance a relationship with Russia that is better than we have today, and that would be good, if achievable, but he made clear that he knows how to negotiate. If they're not serious, then he will pull away from it.
BLITZER: And you believe that he will, A, be the Republican presidential nominee, and if he is, he will beat let's say Hillary Clinton and become the next president of the United States?
SESSIONS: I do. I think he is going to win this nomination. I think he's on track to do that. And I think when this issue is joined, the people are going to see the kind of leader and a person who is committed to advancing our interests and welfare of the American working people. They're flocking to him now and will continue to do so.
BLITZER: You have been a strong supporter of his for months now. And we will see where this goes.
Thank you, Senator Sessions, for coming in.
SESSIONS: Thank you, Wolf.

From: Kasnetz, Joel
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2016 6:35 PM
To: Research_D
Subject: RE: UPDATE: Video Request: Jeff Sessions On The Situation Room, 5pm

WOLF: Will party members rally around Trump?

SESSIONS: They already are. You can feel it.

WOLF: You feel it from Capitol Hill?

SESSIONS: Yes, he has more enthusiasm. I presume he'll win. He'll have more than he needs for victory

WOLF: He's being nicer to Reince

SESSIONS: Trump knows Reince is a good leader. I hope we'll move forward to the party being united then getting Congress members onboard

WOLF: Carly/Cruz

SESSIONS: Unusual step. For media attention? Trump just won almost every county

WOLF: Kasich/Cruz dropout?

SESSIONS: Yes, I think they should, but they have a right to continue.

WOLF: More on policy speech after the break

[Commercial break]

[New segment]

[back to Sessions]

WOLF: Were you involved in the speechwriting?

SESSIONS: I did write some of the speech, but you can hear Trump's voice

WOLF: The ideas he seems to be putting forward advocate disengaging from the world

SESSIONS: We can't go around nation building the way we have done in the last decade. But when we use force, we'll do it decisively.

WOLF: "America First"?

SESSIONS: US has to be about the USA first and foremost. We're going to meet with NATO allies and make them pay more.

We're going to make our Asian allies pay more, too.

WOLF: He doesn't seem to be getting more people on his bandwagon

SESSIONS: I'm getting phone calls from members of Congress.

WOLF: Who are those people?

SESSIONS: I'm not going to talk about private conversations

WOLF: Do you think they're going to endorse?

SESSIONS: Trump is more interested in getting votes. But I think members will come together

WOLF: When Trump says, trust me I know what I'm doing

SESSIONS: No, you shouldn't tell the country exactly how you're going to do something

WOLF: What would be different between Obama and Trump admins in fighting ISIS

SESSIONS: We haven't done very well, incl. destabilization of countries in MENA

WOLF:  But what would he do differently?

SESSIONS: He can't tell you exactly what he'd do.

WOLF: WOLF: WOLF: (missed)

SESSIONS: Pulling out of Iraq prematurely led to Mosul's fall to ISIS

WOLF: Would you support sending troops in?

SESSIONS: No, we have allies that can strengthen the special forces there now. Sustained effort can defeat ISIS.

WOLF: Didn't say build a wall. Why?

SESSIONS: He did say that we need to restrict immigration. That's not what the speech was about.

WOLF: Didn't elaborate on waterboarding. Torture? Didn't talk about it.

SESSIONS: I told him not to get into specifics. He needed to state his approach to represent the US and how he is going to protect this nation.

He also said he thinks he can advance our relationship with Russia.

WOLF: You think he'll be the nominee and beat HRC?

SESSIONS: Yes, he's on track to win nom. People will see what kind of leader he is. People are flocking to him. We'll see how this goes.

From: Kasnetz, Joel
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2016 6:10 PM
To: Research_D
Subject: RE: UPDATE: Video Request: Jeff Sessions On The Situation Room, 5pm

On now

From: Kasnetz, Joel
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2016 5:05 PM
To: Research_D
Subject: UPDATE: Video Request: Jeff Sessions On The Situation Room, 5pm

Sen. Sessions will appear on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer on CNN at 6:00 pm EST tonight.
Original Tweet: https://twitter.com/SenatorSessions/status/725430391851614209
Sent via TweetDeck

From: Kasnetz, Joel
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2016 2:55 PM
To: Research_D
Subject: Video Request: Jeff Sessions On The Situation Room, 5pm

Sessions will be on with Wolf. Not sure when during the show, at the moment.