Interview with Sen Richard Blumenthal.
COOPER: Well the breaking news, President Trump has lost his bid to reinstate his travel ban, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling unanimously against him. A short time ago, President Trump called the ruling political. He started his day by attacking Senator Richard Blumenthal on Twitter for revealing what Trump -- Supreme Court nominee according to the senator said to him, the nominee Neil Gorsuch, about Donald Trump's criticism of judges. The White House has been (inaudible), they denying that Gorsuch said -- not only what the senator said -- he said but with multiple people say they heard. Athena Jones tonight has details.</s>ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch meeting with senators who will decide his fate and avoiding questions about President Trump. (</s>OFF-MIC) JONES: This, after senators from both parties say Gorsuch told them in private that he found the president's remarks criticizing the federal judge's handling a challenge to the administrations immigration ban demoralizing and disheartening.</s>SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, (D) CONNECTICUT: There's no question that Judge Gorsuch said to me that he found this attacks on the judiciary by the president to be disheartening and demoralizing.</s>JONES: Today, meeting with the bipartisan group of senators to discuss the nomination to the high court, the president denying Gorsuch ever criticized him.</s>DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: His comments were misrepresented.</s>JONES: But White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer went further, insisting over and over that Gorsuch was talking in general term and not directly recalling out the president.</s>SEAN SPICER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The judge was very clear that he was not commenting on any specific matter, right? When he was asked about his general philosophy, he literally went out of his way to say, "I'm not commenting on a specific instance."</s>JONES: But that statement refuted by a Gorsuch's White House appointed spokesman and the Senate Republican who met with the nominee and said they discussed the president's criticism.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Disheartening is a great world. Judge Gorsuch and I actually talked about that and frankly, he got pretty passion it about it.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your answer about the context doesn't make sense when you think about what Senator Ben Sasse said today -- I mean, this morning on T.V. he said that he asked Judge Gorsuch specifically about the president's so-called judge tweet and in response --</s>SPICER: You know, this is like the fourth time, I've asked and answered.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, but this is a different context.</s>SPICER: I understand that.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you want?</s>JONES: Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal said Gorsuch made it clear he wanted his concerns shared.</s>BLUMENTHAL: In fact, Judge Gorsuch specifically said, "You should feel free to mention what I said about these attacks being disheartening and demoralizing."</s>JONES: Still, he and other Democrats want Gorsuch to go further and publicly denounce the president's comments.</s>SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER, (D) MINORITY LEADER: What he did does not show independence. It shows an ability to desire the appearance of independence without actually asserting it.</s>JONES: While Republicans contend the episode demonstrates Gorsuch's respect for judicial independence.</s>SEN. ROY BLUNT, (R) MONTANA: What Judge Gorsuch is showing here is his independent character, the fact that as a judge he's going to call them as he sees them.</s>COOPER: That was Athena Jones reporting. And just before the broadcast (ph), I spoke with Senator Blumenthal.</s>COOPER: Senator Blumenthal, first of all, I just want to get your reaction to the decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.</s>BLUMENTHAL: This ruling may be narrow in scope, but it has very, very broad ramifications in ending the chaos and confusion that the president's executive order unleashed. It's a real victory for the rule of law showing that courts will not be bullied by threats and personal inductive and insults. And my hope is that it indicates where the courts will be going and sending the president a message. Rip up this order. Do not adopt bans based on religious tests or unconstitutional standards.</s>COOPER: Today, the White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said that Judge Gorsuch was talking in general terms and not directly calling out the president when he was speaking to you. So I want to ask you, was Gorsuch talking in general terms?</s>BLUMENTHAL: Indisputably. He was talking about President Donald Trump's attacks on the judiciary. And I repeated several times that I was absolutely outraged by these attacks by the President of the United States and Judge Gorsuch responded that he found it disheartening and demoralizing, referring to those same attacks. But, Donald Trump --</s>COOPER: So were those that he found it demoralizing and disheartening? I mean, that -- if he was referring to you have no doubt was what you had -- that the tweets, the comments by the president?</s>BLUMENTHAL: Not only I have no doubt, but also his spokesperson that same day confirmed my interpretation, Judge Gorsuch's own spokesperson. And, at least three of my colleagues have heard the same thing from Judge Gorsuch and had confirmed it, two of them publicly. And so, I think that President Trump ought to listen to them and to his own White House staff who were at the meeting.</s>COOPER: So just to be absolutely 100 percent clear, when Sean Spicer says and I quote, "The way that Senator Blumenthal characterized them, -- I mean, the remark, he was talking about the tweets and saying that he, Gorsuch, was disheartened. That is not what the judge said." You're saying he's flat out wrong?</s>BLUMENTHAL: I'm saying that what Judge Gorsuch said to me was that disheartening and demoralized were what he found Donald Trump's attacks to be. And there is no doubt in my mind that he was referring to those attacks, because I urged him and, in fact, he must publicly condemn them, not behind closed doors in the privacy of my office or my colleagues, but publicly, clearly, directly. That's what he must do.</s>COOPER: And you said that to him?</s>BLUMENTHAL: Absolutely.</s>COOPER: And what -- how did he respond, because yesterday you said that, you know, he sort of didn't really answer.</s>BLUMENTHAL: Well, he declined to answer that question, and he declined to answer other questions, which I found very troubling.</s>COOPER: But, I mean, he will be appearing on the Hill in public hearings. You and others will have the opportunity to ask direct questions to him publicly. Isn't that the venue for -- I mean, for him to be able to talk about the president's tweets or to repeat what he said to you?</s>BLUMENTHAL: It's another venue. And I will press him very aggressively for answers then and in the meantime. But right now, there is a special obligation for him to condemn publicly these attacks, because the independents of the judiciary core principle of our democracy is at stake here. And it's not at some point in the future that he can avoid the damage to the courts. It's right now and he needs to demonstrate his independence. Otherwise, the American people will have justifiable doubts that he will be more than a rubberstamp for the Trump administration.</s>COOPER: As you know, the president also brought up an incident from 2008 where you said you served in Vietnam. You hadn't actually serve in Vietnam, but served during Vietnam as a reservist. President Trump this morning tweeted, "Senator Richard Blumenthal who never fought in Vietnam when he said for years he had major lie, now misrepresents what Judge Gorsuch told you." Do you have any response to the president?</s>BLUMENTHAL: This issue is not about me. It's far bigger than me, and far bigger than Judge Gorsuch's nomination. It's about the independence of the judiciary and Donald Trump's attacks on it, which really are a disservice to the core principle of our democracy, the integrity and independence of the courts.</s>COOPER: All right, Senator Blumenthal thanks very much.</s>BLUMENTHAL: Thank you.</s>COOPER: A quick programming note for the breaking news on the travel ban court ruling, "The Messy Truth with Van Jones" will not air tonight. Instead, that's going to air tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. I hope you'll watch that. Up next, in the second hour of "360," the Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson and his Solicitor General Noah Purcell, I'll talk to them live about their victory.