[Wolf Blitzer, Cnn Anchor:] Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 6:00 p.m. in London, 8:00 p.m. in Jerusalem. Wherever you're watching from around the world, once again, thanks very much for joining us. Right now, we're following several major developments, including this. Take a look at the live pictures coming in from the White House briefing room. Sean Spicer, the press secretary, about to take questions from reporters this hour and there will be plenty of questions. He'll likely be asked about today's comments from President Trump, promising major increases in U.S. military spending, and questions about his own push to find the source of White House leaks. We're going to go there live as soon as the press secretary shows up. That should be later this hour. The White House, meanwhile, says the meanwhile, says the magic number in the upcoming budget is $54 billion. That's the amount for the proposed defense and security spending increase as well as proposed budget cuts. Listen to this.
[Donald Trump, President Of The United States:] My first budget will be submitted to the Congress next month. This budget will be a public safety and national security budget. Very much based on those two, with plenty of other things, but very strong. And it will include a historic increase in defense spending to rebuild the depleted military of the United States of America at a time we most need it.
[Blitzer:] Joining us now, the from the White House, our White House Correspondent Sara Murray; from the Pentagon, our Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr; and our Chief National Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto. A major increase in military spending, Sara. Will that be the first topic presumably for Sean Spicer at the briefing today? $54 billion, that's a 10 percent hike in defense spending.
[Sara Murray, Cnn White House Correspondent:] I certainly think that'll be a big focus, Wolf. And not just this increase in defense spending, but also how do you offset that. That would those are pretty severe cuts in discretionary spending. They've mentioned things like foreign aid, cuts to the EPA. These will be very significant cuts, and you would have to go much further to other agencies if you want to offset that spending. But I think the other thing that people are going to be questioning Sean Spicer about and looking at tomorrow from the president is what he actually says about health care and the steps going forward to repeal and replace Obamacare. We've seen the president pay lip service to this issue, but we haven't really seen him go out with any specifics or even fully embrace the Republican plan that they're pushing on the House right now. That's certainly something that Republican leaders are going to be looking for Trump to do when he speaks to the Joint Session of Congress tomorrow.
[Blitzer:] Tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. I want to play, Barbara Starr, you're over at the Pentagon, something else that the president said today about the United States military. Listen to this.
[Donald Trump, President Of The United States:] Now, we never win a war. We never win. And we don't fight to win. We don't fight to win. It's either we've got to win or don't fight it at all.
[Blitzer:] How's that going to sit over at the Pentagon Barbara?
[Barbara Starr, Cnn Pentagon Correspondent:] Well, I think there's going to be a lot of questions about what the president means. I mean, he said he was taking this from watching the military during his days back in high school and college, in his words, when perhaps it was a much more clear time for military victories, World War II, Korea. You know, you had major tank battles, major air battles and the U.S. had overwhelming firepower. That is not the way the world exists today. The fight against ISIS, the fight against Al Qaeda is a fight against a spreading ideology that, indeed, has spread across many countries. And, you know, the president has this new plan sitting on his desk today about options for defeating ISIS. And it includes diplomacy at the very time he's cutting the State Department. It includes financial options. It does include some military options. But you're not going to bomb ISIS out of existence. I don't know a single U.S. military commander that thinks that's feasible.
[Blitzer:] Stand by, for a moment, because I want to bring Jim Sciutto in. Jim, we heard today from Devin Nunez, he's the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, in a lengthy briefing, a Q and A with reporters. You were up there. He was answering questions about the pending Russia investigation, contacts between Russia and officials in the Trump campaign, the Trump administration. Listen to what he said.
[Rep. Devin Nunes , Chairman, House Intelligence Committee:] since the election, that we've broadened the scope of that investigation to include any involvement in this in our elections here. And, of course, any ties that there might be to any government officials at any level, so it's not just not just here in Washington but governors and others. If there's anything out there, any American citizens from political campaigns coordinating with the Russian government, we clearly would want to we'd want to know that and we would want to investigate it.
[Blitzer:] He also said there's no need, at least yet, for a special prosecutor. So, what stood out in your mind, based on what you heard?
[Jim Sciutto, Cnn Chief National Security Correspondent:] Well, two things. One, he effectively contradicted himself because, as you heard him say there, they're broadening the investigation. Part of that investigation will be contacts between Americans and Russians. But later, and we pressed him repeatedly, he said that he's been told, in effect, there is no evidence of Trump campaign contacts with the Russians, or at least he has been given he says he hasn't seen any. And then, when we pressed him, he said, well, he seems to have gotten some message that there is no there there which has been a consistent talking point from Republicans and the administration. So, the question is, are they actually going to investigate that or has he already made a conclusion? And that, frankly, was a question that wasn't answered. The other thing that struck me, the first words out of his mouth were that major crimes had been committed. And we pressed him and said, are you talking about Russian interference in the election? No. He's talking about leaks, echoing the president's point that they want a very aggressive look at who's been leaking what they said are classified is classified information about the investigation into these contacts and elsewhere. That appears to be, if not the major, a major focus of his investigation, at least from the GOP leadership of the committee. Of course, you get a very different view from Democrats on the committee, as well as some Republicans, such as Senators Graham and McCain in the Senate.
[Blitzer:] You also, you and your colleagues, pressed him on these reports that the White House reached out to him, the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, to speak to reporters and shoot down, knock down, that report in "The New York Times" about extensive contacts between Trump officials and Russian intelligence officials. And he explained his position. Go ahead and tell us what he said.
[Sciutto:] So, he seemed to downplay that there was anything wrong with this. He said, listen, the White House might have given me a phone number of a reporter to talk to. I talk to reporters all the time. This is just normal back and forth. And he said, in fact, it's an example of greater transparency. I mean, let's put that through something of a smell test here. I mean, based on you are on own reporting, we know that this was coordinated from the White House. That the White House reached out to members of the Intelligence Committee in the Senate, in the House, and it appears as well the CIA who were friendlier, to their point of view, to go out and give a point of view to reporters. When we know, from our own reporting, Wolf, that there are differences of point of view on the analysis as to how serious these communications were. We know that the FBI, we know that both the House and Senate intel committees, at least they say, they are still investigating the significance of these communications. So, to say that this is just a, sort of, normal back and forth with reporters doesn't really gel with what we know about how this was a White House very concerned about reporting of contacts between Trump advisors and Russians during the campaign and made an effort to push back. And we know that it was a significant enough effort that the FBI said, no, it's not going to do it.
[Blitzer:] All right, Jim, stand by. Barbara Starr, Sara Murray, we're going to get back to you. The president clearing laying out some budget priorities today, including increased military spending, law enforcement spending increases, big spending increases of infrastructure and substantial tax cuts. Let's discuss with Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois. He's a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. He served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Congressman, thanks very much
[Rep. Adam Kinzinger , Illinois, Foreign Affairs Committee:] You bet.
[Blitzer:] for joining us.
[Kinzinger:] Thank you.
[Blitzer:] Who's going to pay for all the spending increases in defense, law enforcement, huge tax cuts? Where is all this money coming from if you want to have a balanced budget?
[Kinzinger:] Well, I think a couple of things are going to have to happen. Number one, obviously, he's going to put out his budget within a couple of weeks, so we're going to see more details there. I think in his address tomorrow night to Congress, there should be some details on that. In terms of an increase in spending, there are areas where we can cut on the domestic side that we should look at. Obviously, a government should be able to operate with less money and do what it needs to do. But we want to make sure it can function obviously as it needs to. I actually, personally, think we have to take a long-term look at the idea of entitlement spending and Social Security and Medicare.
[Blitzer:] Not touching he says he's not touching it.
[Kinzinger:] Well, I hope
[Blitzer:] He is not touching it at all. He says he made that
[Kinzinger:] Yes.
[Blitzer:] campaign commitment throughout the campaign, and he's sticking by it. No cuts in Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare.
[Kinzinger:] Yes, and I don't think he will for anybody that's in or nearing retirement, and I'm not even sure if he's explored this yet. What I think is, frankly for younger people like myself, you can make some changes to Social Security that can, frankly, solve and save that program for the future and current seniors. So, there's a lot of and in tax reform, you know, we're obviously working through that process. That is not going to be easy. But I think through that, we're going to see increased economic growth.
[Blitzer:] He wants to increase defense spending
[Kinzinger:] Yes.
[Blitzer:] $54 billion, a 10 percent hike. As you know, the United States already spends more on defense than the next seven or eight countries combined, including Russia, China, Iran,
[Kinzinger:] Yes.
[Blitzer:] Britain, France, all these other countries. At a time when the U.S. has so dramatically reduced foreign military involvement, going down from a couple of hundred thousand troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to 5,000 right now, why does the U.S. need to dramatically increase defense spending?
[Kinzinger:] Well, I think it's a couple reasons. Number one, with sequester, we dramatically cut military spending. Keep in mind, too, with the amount you're spending on the military, personnel costs increase every year. As we give people pay raises and benefits and things like that. You have to uncap that and grow, just to keep up with the investments. The other thing I think to keep in mind, though, is that Dick Cheney actually said, after desert storm when we obviously, it was a very one-sided victory. He actually thanked President Reagan for his investments then that led to the win now. So, these investments today are not just for the operations that we're doing today which are very important, but it's also investing in the next generation of body armor or MRAPS or aircraft so that we can fight and win the next war that comes inevitably.
[Blitzer:] It's funny you say fight and win because you heard the president of the United States says the military no longer wins.
[Kinzinger:] Yes.
[Blitzer:] In effect, what he's saying, they're a bunch of losers. You heard that clip and I asked Barbara Starr how that's going to play at the Pentagon. You served in the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan. When you went there, did you just want to sort of hang out or did you want to win?
[Kinzinger:] No. And I as a military guy, I bristle at that, obviously. I think, you know, the military does fight to win. We do it very well. But the nature of warfare is very different today. We're not fighting, you know, the Nazis where you can take out their war machine and then they have nothing left so they surrender. You're fighting an ideology right now. And an ideology doesn't go away simply if you destroy fighters or you destroy equipment. They go away once the next generation rejects their principles. So, we have two wars on terror. We have the current war on terror, and what I call the next generation of war on terror which isn't about guns and airplanes. It's about winning that next generation over so they reject those principles.
[Blitzer:] Do you want the U.S. to dramatically increase troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan to destroy ISIS? I raise the question because the president is getting a report now, recommendations how to beat ISIS from his military advisors.
[Kinzinger:] So, I don't know about dramatically increase. I think we have to use whatever is necessary to win. And it looks like we have some good progress right now in Iraq. The areas where we're hurting is in Afghanistan or, I'm sorry, in Syria. So, the question is, how do you liberate Raqqa? You have the issue with the Kurds and the Turks who, obviously, don't like each other. So, if it takes some ground troops to do that, we ought to be willing to do whatever is necessary to win. But nobody is calling for another, you know, 250,000 troops or anything like that. And I you're not going to see that come out of this administration.
[Blitzer:] The new national security advisor, General H.R. McMaster, says, you know, he does he's not comfortable using a phrase the president uses all the time, radical Islamic terrorism. And he's told his aides, I don't like that phrase. It's not helpful. Where you do stand?
[Kinzinger:] So, I use it, and I use it because I've talked to people, and I've talked to presidents of the region and kings. And they say it's actually not a big deal to them. It's not offensive. They're, like, look, it is Islamic terror. What you don't want to do, and I respect the general for his thought on this, you don't want to make it look like you're labelling the entire religion as that. Because right now, we're fighting a very small section of a broad religion. What you don't want to do is inherit more enemies than we have.
[Blitzer:] Because it'll create a lot more enemies down the road if it's not handled in the right way. On Wednesday, the president is going to release, you know, his revised version of his travel ban, part two. First one got rejected by the by the judiciary, by the courts. Seven countries, Muslim majority countries, presumably will still be banned from sending people over here to the United States. You're opposed to that, right?
[Kinzinger:] Well, I think the president has a lot of leverage. I didn't like his first executive order. We'll see what this one looks like. What I am uncomfortable with is Iraq being on that because Iraq right now is our chief ally in fighting ISIS. And you have the Iraqi translators. Frankly, their vetting standards for who gets passports are really good. When Mosul fell, all those passports were canceled and now put on the terror database. So, I'm uncomfortable with Iraq being on it but I don't know about the
[Blitzer:] What about the other six countries, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, these countries.
[Kinzinger:] I'm worried about the message, but I also think the president has a lot of leverage to do this. And I think any new administration ought to look at our vetting standards and make a decision. So, I want to see what this actual executive order says before I say yay or nay to it. But I do give a lot of leverage to the president in these areas.
[Blitzer:] As you know, there was a U.S. Navy SEAL who was killed in an operation in Yemen. And the father of this Navy SEAL did not really want to sit down and meet with the president of the United States, when the body was returned at Dover at the U.S. Air Base at Dover. He wants a full-scale investigation right now. Do you believe there should be a full-scale investigation? What these Navy SEALs were doing in Yemen? Why they're in Yemen? Why is the U.S. deploying troops there to begin with?
[Kinzinger:] Well, I think there can be questions asked, in terms of any military operation that's done. Warfare is inherently very dangerous. And this operation had been on the books. The president came in. The military said we want to go ahead. And he gave the go ahead to do it. And we got, we think, some pretty good intelligence out of it. But in war, you know, obviously a plan never survives first contact with the enemy, and that's what we had, an unfortunate situation where a Navy SEAL was killed. And I'd never question the decision of a father to not meet with the president. I can't imagine what's going through his heart. And so I just have a lot of sympathy for that.
[Blitzer:] And he wants him he's probably got a lot of questions why his son was there.
[Kinzinger:] Sure.
[Blitzer:] What were they doing? How important was this mission? And did it achieve anything? The administration says they got a lot of good intelligence, but that's what they you know, that's what they say. Have you confirmed that, that they really did get intelligence that potentially could save American lives down the road?
[Kinzinger:] I've heard I've actually heard people say, in the administration, that this was a treasure-trove of information that could lead to future action. In terms of any you know, any kind of classified setting where I got anything, I haven't, so I don't know enough. But I can tell you again, war is inherently dangerous. You're going to be going to places where people don't like you. And Yemen especially is a very rough place. But it's also where al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is right now and is planning threats against the United States and our allies.
[Blitzer:] Congressman Adam Kinzinger, thanks very much for joining us.
[Kinzinger:] Any time.
[Blitzer:] Just want to alert our viewers, it's your birthday today.
[Kinzinger:] It is.
[Blitzer:] So on behalf of all of them, happy birthday.
[Kinzinger:] Thank you. Thank you.
[Blitzer:] Coming up, President Trump will deliver his first address to Congress tomorrow night, and he'll detail his agenda for the first year. What do we anticipate? Stand by. We're also moments away from the White House press briefing. The press secretary, Sean Spicer, he'll take lots of questions from reporters there. This will be the first time since excluding some news outlets, including CNN, from an off camera briefing he held on Friday. We'll have live coverage of Sean Spicer's briefing. That's coming up.