Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Hillary Clinton Enters 2016 Race for President; Turkey Recalls Envoy Over Pope's "Genocide" Comments; All Eyes on Jordan Spieth at the Masters; New Video of Deadly Police Shooting; U.S. to File Official Complaint After Close Call with Russian Fighter Jet. Aired 4- 5p ET

Aired April 12, 2015 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: We're covering all the angles of what this means with her video rollout today, the change of her Twitter page. With me now, political analyst Gloria Borger, CNN's chief national correspondent John King, host of "RELIABLE SOURCES" Brian Stelter, as well as Jeff Zeleny, all with me.

[16:00:11] So let's begin with you, Jeff. Let's talk more about this announcement, the way in which Hillary Clinton presented this announcement, and that she really is not the star initially, but she makes a number of other people the star first.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's right.

Good afternoon, Fredrika. This is something that we have been expecting, of course, for so long, that Hillary Clinton is finally in the race. But how she did it, as you said, is a little bit unusual. She's trying to drive the point home that this is not about her. This is about listening to the concerns of voters.

So this video that we are about to see was filmed over the last week or so, with real people across the country showing their real concerns. She's going to amplify that, as she travels coming up -- in the coming weeks to Iowa and New Hampshire, other states. But these are the messages she's fighting for. Let's take a look at the video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's spring, so we're starting to get the gardens ready. My tomatoes are legendary here in my own neighborhood.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My daughter is about to start kindergarten next year. We're moving just so she can belong to a better school.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After five years of raising my children, I am now going back to work.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every day we're trying to get more and more ready and more prepared.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: A big boy coming your way.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right now I'm applying for jobs. It's a look into what the real world will look like after college.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: I'm getting married this somewhere, to someone I really care about.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: I'm going to be in a play and in a fish costume. Tiny fishes.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: I'm getting ready to retire soon. Retirement means reinventing yourself in many ways.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, we've been doing a lot of home renovations.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: But most importantly we just want to teach our dog to quit eating the trash.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And so we have high hopes for 2015, that that's going to happen.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: I've started a new career recently. This is a fifth generation company, which means a lot to me. This country was founded on hard work, and it really feels good to be a part of that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm getting ready to do something to. I'm running for president.

Americans have fought their way back from tough economic times, but the deck is still stacked in favor of those at the top. Everyday Americans need a champion, and I want to be that champion.

So you can do more than just get by. You can get ahead and stay ahead, because when families are strong, America is strong.

So I'm hitting the road to earn your vote. Because it's your time, and i hope you'll join me on this journey.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: We heard her say right there "it's your time, I hope you join me on this journey." Not about her trying not to make it about her ambitions, her political ambitions, so very much a campaign that she says she's listening to other voters, and again, she's taking this on the road for the next six weeks or so, doing small sessions with voters. She will not have a big speech, a big rally, we're told, until May. Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: OK. And what do we expect that may rally might be like? Do we know.

ZELENY: We're certainly going to hear a lot of stories and anecdotes that she picked up along the way here. To answer the big question -- why is she running for president? We know she's in. We know she has been preparing to, but she still needs to articulate why she's running. So that is why she'll give a speech in May to sort of relay all these stories and concerns that she's heard from voters, but make no mistake, Republicans and even perhaps some Democratic rivals are not going to not wait until May to start attacking her work.

Already hearing from a lot of Republicans and even some mild reaction from some Democrats. So she's in this race, that means her competitors will instantly start going after her. Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: OK. All right.

We're going to broaden this conversation. We got a lot of people at the table here. Also at our table, Brian Stelter, back with us and Republican commentator Buck Sexton.

So I understand, Brian, you first, you had a little bit more information on maybe her Twitter page? Hillary Clinton's twitter page that used to say "TBD" and now presidential candidate but there's yet another update? What do you have?

BRIAN STELTER, HOST "RELIABLE SOURCES": All these little details. They put into place, Fredricka. Study them. It's easy to over- analyze them. I think the most criticize thing so far is the logo. A lot of designers out there think it's a pretty sloppy logo, but the core of the message -- the core of the video is getting pretty high marks. I think from a lot of commentors on line.

Obviously you can look at this stuff and decide it's too manufactured, and to much that way but there was a real strategy here to put this online on Facebook and Twitter. So, yes, people are going to learn about it on television, on the news websites.

But this way they can share it in a more intimate way. It can be the kind of thing you discuss with friends and family, share on Facebook and Twitter and other sides. She's not the first candidate to do this, but of course a very high-profile candidate to do this.

It certainly allows her to control the message to a degree that candidates only 20 years ago would have only dreamed about.

WHITFIELD: Yes and we talked about those details. John, you know, the details that really do make a difference, even something as small as that logo. That is memorable. That H with the arrow, implying with H, with Hillary, you're going to move forward.

You know, she talks about in that video -- "I'm getting ready too. I'm now running for president." How important is it to have monikers like that -- remember with the Obama campaign sort of that rainbow kind of image, how important will a moniker be for a campaign, for a non-incumbent who has the kind of name recognition that she has?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And yet, Fred, in many ways she is the incumbent. Joe Biden cringes at this, but even the president of the United States, Barack Obama, just yesterday was saying great things about Hillary Clinton, and when asked about Joe Biden, he said "I don't want to talk about future elections." Eventhough he had spoken great lengths about Hillary Clinton. So in many ways the Democratic Party is treating her as an incumbent vice president. It's very hard to hold the White House -- the very same party to hold the White House after two terms. George H.W. Bush was successful in the 1988 election. Al Gore failed in the 2000 election by 537 votes but we can have that debate another time.

But look, elections -- think about Bill Clinton's. Don't stop thinking about tomorrow. Fleetwood Mac.

WHITFIELD: Right.

KING: Presidential elections are about tomorrow. The Republicans are going to try to say she is about the past, she is yesterday's news. She has been around in her husband's administration. They will try to tie her to Barack Obama, but I think what was most again, from a political targeting standpoint, it's a very well-crafted video -- Republicans will take issue with the policies but if look at President Obama's two big presidential victories, why were they?

You saw black faces, Latino faces, working women, a guy on a factory floor. Hillary Clinton trying to build in places where President Obama might be a little bit weak. Two gay couples in a presidential announcement video. That has never happened before in American history, in that video there.