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Erick Erickson Disinvites Trump To RedState.com Event After Comments About Megyn Kelly; Nineteen-year-Old Zachary Hammond Shot And Killed By Seneca Police; Aired 3-4p ET

Aired August 08, 2015 - 15:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:00:33] POPPY HARLOW, CNN HOST: Donald Trump dominating the GOP race for the presidential nomination like no other candidate. The new controversial comments to CNN about FOX host Megyn Kelly that cost him a spot at the conservative conference today, has he gone too far? Will his words caused him the nomination? Will they re-enforce his image as a maverick unafraid to say what he thinks.

I am Poppy Harlow in New York. You are watching CNN.

And we begin with this. A new day, a new controversy for Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate and current front-runner was axed from a conservative political gathering today in Atlanta after taking a dig at FOX debate moderator Megyn Kelly. It came from an interview with CNN's Don Lemon last night. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She gets out. And she starts asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions. And you know, you could see, there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her, wherever, but she was in my opinion she was off-base. And, by the way, not in my opinion, in the opinion of hundreds of thousands of people on Twitter because it has been a brutal day. In one way, a great day for FOX, another day in the Twitter sphere, it's been very bad because she's been badly criticized. She's a lightweight. I couldn't care less about her. You're competing against her, I have to do this show.

DON LEMON, CNN HOST, CNN TONIGHT: Well, let's take a look at some of that because you have been tweeting and you have been retweeting some pretty harsh language, Mr. Trump. So let's go through something.

You said wow, Megyn Kelly really bombed tonight. People are going wild on Twitter. Funny to watch. Then you retweeted someone who wrote, FOX viewers give low marks to bimbo @MegynKelly. We will consider other programs.

And then one of your top aides retweeted this Mr. Trump. Boycotting Megyn Kelly #realDonaldTrump. We can gut her.

A lot of people are wondering about this language when it comes to women. Do you worry that that kind of talk might drive some women voters away?

TRUMP: Well, I didn't see the last one. But she's able to take care of herself. She's somebody that you know is pretty tough. And I'm sure she can take care of herself.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: You can watch the whole interview, of course, on CNN.com.

I want to read you the response from the event organizers of RedState.com that disinvited Trump, Erick Erickson in part saying quote "he is not a professional politician and he's known for being a blunt talker, but there are even lines that blunt talkers and unprofessional politicians should not cross, decency one of those lines."

Trump fired back in a statement saying quote "not only is Erick a total loser, he has a history of supporting establishment losers in failed campaigns so it is an honor to be uninvited from that event."

Mark Preston, executive editor of CNN Politics with me now from that event where Trump was planning to be until last night.

Mark, in addition to all of this, we'll get to that in a moment, but more breaking news now on a major player in the Trump camp.

MARK PRESTON, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, CNN POLITICS: Yes, look. What we just learned now, our own Dana Bash is reporting Donald Trump has fired one of his senior advisers, Roger Stone, well known in political circles, long-time friend of Donald Trump. The Trump campaign said that Roger Stone was using the Trump campaign for his own personal highlighting himself.

However, Roger Stone has spoken to M.J. Lee, another one of our reporters, and he denies that. He says he resigned before Trump fired him. So we are seeing, of course, some turmoil right now in the Trump company. But this comes as you said at the top where Donald Trump is fighting back against Erick Erickson here at RedState and several others after the comments he made about Megyn Kelly.

And I got to say, Poppy, we have heard from the Republican rivals for the nomination who have started to come out. And they have been very critical of Donald Trump, the latest being Jeb Bush. Just moments ago, he had to say this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: Awkwardly, I'm going to have to ask my wife questions so I don't get in trouble at home. I'm already in trouble with Donald Trump, I can't be in trouble --

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I tell you what, my friend. You are on the side of women. I'll take your side of that bet. Thank you. I present it. Come on. Give me a break. I mean, do we want to win? Do we want to insult 53 percent of all voters? What Donald Trump said is wrong. That is not how we win elections. And worse yet, that is not how you bring people together to solve problems. That is not the way to do it. So your decision I think is the right one. Mr. Trump out to apologize.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: Thank you.

BUSH: OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:04:59] PRESTON: And there have you Jeb Bush the latest candidate for the Republican presidential nomination chastising Donald Trump -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Right. And so, Trump then came out and tweeted, sort of trying to clarify, if you will, his remarks, I think we can pull it up for everyone tweeting this morning. Re: Megyn Kelly, quote, "you can see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever, (Nose), just got on with thought."

Take that for what it is. But I do want to ask you interestingly also there, Mark, is Ted Cruz. And he was asked repeatedly what he made of Donald Trump and the remarks. And it seems like he is refusing to criticize him.

PRESTON: He is refusing to criticize him. Interestingly, he was asked that a couple hours ago. Ted Cruz speaking here before this conservative gathering. He said it was red state's decision not to invite them. And that was their decision to make. He also went on to say that they shouldn't be talking about political personalities, they I should be talking about issues of the day.

But Ted Cruz was not critical of Donald Trump. Now, Ted Cruz was not critical of Donald Trump, a few weeks ago, when Donald Trump came out and said John McCain was not a war hero, even though he was a POW. So Ted Cruz is making a play for the Trump voters. You have to wonder, is this just another way for Ted Cruz to do so?

HARLOW: Mark Preston reporting for us live there where there seems to be a new development every few moments. Thank you, Mark.

There has been backlash over Trump being booed. In fact, RedState organizer Erick Erickson took time out today at the summit to read the many hate emails he says he has received in the past 12 hours or so from Trump's supporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERICK ERICKSON, ORGANIZER, REDSTATE: You people especially liberal Erick Erickson are idiots. I'm 56 in Iowa around I'm a conservative. I'm so sick of political correctness that I may puke. I am mad as hell about what that asshole, the White House has done to our country. I want someone else who is mad as well. I want Trump, if you are smart, you'll back him, not the whore. A big mistake, from this Peter, dis-inviting Mr. Trump. Not a huge supporter, but he's America's best hope and I'm thinking that Trump is the only person who can save the countries. This remark dis-inviting Trump just showed how skewed the political process is. Maybe you should ask the c-word not to ask gotcha questions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: All right, let's talk to two folks very familiar with politics. One here with me is Ben Domenech. He is the publisher of the Federalist and he is also co-founder of RedState.com, the conference where you just heard from Erick Erickson there. Also with me, Republican strategist Liz Mair.

Thank you both for being here.

Ben, let me begin with you, were you surprised how much support Trump is getting despite those comments to Don Lemon last night?

BEN DOMENECH, PUBLISHER, FEDERALIST: You know, I'm not really surprised by it. From my perspective, Donald Trump has always been kind of this expression of rage on the part of a lot of frustrated voters. He has spoken to them in their kind of faux populist way about all sorts of issues that they cared about. Also to priorities that they care about. He doesn't have to get into specs. He can say all these politically incorrect things.

But there is a difference between being politically correct and just being a jerk. And I think that he's shown himself really to be a petulant jerk over the course of that past several days when it comes to his relationship not just with the typical main stream media that a lot of people on the right are typically frustrated with. But in this case with FOX News and with Megyn Kelly, in particular, who has a lot of fans from that same group.

I think that he did cross the lines here. And I think this is a good day if you are like me, somebody who is on the right, but is generally pessimistic about the chance of someone like Donald Trump and the expression that he makes as someone within the Republican race. This is a sign that the Donald Trump problem for the right is going to take care of itself. It's just going to sort of naturally take care of itself without someone having to step in and purpose him out of the race.

HARLOW: Maybe, maybe not. When you look at the latest polling. We will see what the polls say after this.

Liz to you, history matters. History matters a lot especially when, you know, the Republican Party is focusing and putting a lot of money behind the minority vote and women's vote, not since 1988, for the majority of American women voted for the Republican presidential candidate in a general election. What do Donald Trump's comments on women and what he said about Megyn Kelly last night do to those odds in?

LIZ MAIR, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, I think, theoretically nothing because I think people are increasingly realizing that Donald Trump is not representative of the Republican Party. He is not a conservative. He went on stage the other night and openly advocated for socialized medicine, basically doing what you have in the U.K. as far as the U.S. health care system is concern and that's a conservative position. And it is not a Republican position. He also basically said he is not really affiliating with the party and may run as a third party candidate. So, you know, I'm not really sure that Donald Trump reflects on the Republican Party in a wide range of the public's eyes, nor should he, quite frankly.

[15:10:02] HARLOW: Ben, you tweeted this, rather, about Trump's comments, let me read it to you. You said, if Trump can't take a few questions without resorting to periods aspirations, how will he handle Vladimir Putin? That's similar to, you know, the point that Megyn Kelly made in that debate and she said in that tone, in that language, something that will work for a president of this country? Does that make sense?

DOMENECH: You Know, we are talking about someone who is trying to hold the same position as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. And he is speaking in these terms. This is not exactly the Lincoln-Douglas debates. This is somebody who is basically just sort of speaking in this kind of fiery rhetoric. And I think not really putting a lot of substance behind it.

I understand why he appeals to a certain segment of the right. But I really think that in this context you see what happens when this kind of alpha male persona runs into reality. And the reality of politics is that someone like Donald Trump has no business anywhere near the presidency. I think that people will wake up to that. And I think supporting him now will turn to people basically in the same space in terms of their anger with Washington, with a lot more seriousness behind it and look a lot more like a potential president. People like Ted Cruz I think come to mind.

HARLOW: At the same time, Liz, you heard people cheering in that GOP debate on Thursday night when he talked about political correctness. Even Megyn Kelly's comments he has made about women, you heard people cheering in the audience. When does that change the reaction if this isn't going to resonate, and it's going to, he's sort of going to work his way out of this and the Republican party doesn't need to worry about him, if that's what you are saying, then what do you make of the reaction of the crowds galvanizing behind him?

MAIR: I think a couple things. I mean, first of all, generally, yes, there is a lot of sentiment of people being fed up with the concept of political correctness. But second of all, as Ben said, there are plenty of other people out there who can carry that message and speak to that very, very authentically who don't do it in a way that comes off as being a grade-a jackass, right? I hope I'm allowed to say that word on TV. I just went there.

At any event, so I think that's one component of this. I would also just point out, though, that I think when we talk about who supports Trump, I still really query how much we are talking about committed voters, let alone committed Republican voters. A lot of these people, a lot of these polls that have him leading are among registered voters, not likely voters. Not people who voted historically. So I'm not sure those numbers are really an accurate reflection.

In addition to that, when he's going out talking about he's hundreds of thousands of people on Twitter, and people are talking about a lot of the sentiment you are seeing on Twitter, I would also just to point out, this is the guy who has been repeatedly accused of astro-turfing (ph) all kinds of things including his campaign kickoff and paying people to show up. I would really not be terribly surprised if a lot of the pro-Trump sentiment that you are seeing out there from the quote/unquote "right" is actually totally inauthentic and being bought and paid for.

HARLOW: All right, I do want to point out this one poll number (INAUDIBLE). Trump is according to latest CNN/RNC poll conducted at the end of July the most popular among GOP women, among GOP registered voters, women voters with 15 percent.

MAIR: But he's also the one that everybody has heard of, right. I mean, most of these people, if you go out and you ask, you know, this pointed was made on CNN earlier, like you know, hardly anybody has actually heard of Carly Fiorina. Not that many people heard of Scott Walker. Probably quite a few of heard of Jeb Bush because his last name is Bush. But realistically, everybody in the country knows Donald Trump. Everybody knows who Donald Trump is. He, of course, at this stage no matter what he does, he is going to poll reasonably well. But I think he's on the slide now. And I think you are going to start seeing that.

HARLOW: All right. Got to jump in there. Stay with me. You just brought up exactly who are we going to talk about next. Carly Fiorina, she was the one woman on that debate stage on Thursday night. And in both of the debates, Megyn Kelly, not Trump's only target. He also went after Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina.

Next, will his non-stop attack mode work for his campaign for the presidency?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:17:11] HARLOW: Donald Trump kicked out of a major conservative gathering this weekend for a comment he made about a FOX News anchor, Megyn Kelly. She was not Trump's only female target in the Republican debate and since. He has very little positive to say about fellow Republican candidate Carly Fiorina. This was Trump last night with CNN's Don Lemon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: She ran for senator against Barbara Boxer in California. She lost in a landslide. And I'm not knocking her. I couldn't care less. She's not going to win, OK? I mean, to say, she glib. So what, you glib, it takes a lot more than being glib. But she is not going to win. But you know, she got fired and she ran for office and she lost in a landslide. You know, I don't see that as being necessarily great credentials.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Carly Fiorina did not directly respond to that. But she did say this to Trump for his rude comments about to Megyn Kelly, to tweet.

The first one, Mr. Trump, there is no excuse. Immediately afterwards, quote "I stand with Megyn Kelly."

Back with me Ben Domenech and Liz Mair to talk.

Ben, Donald Trump appears to, you know, go on the offense once again and he is going after Carly Fiorina who many people say was a big stand out, some saying she even won both of the two GOP debates on Thursday night. What do you make of him going after her in this way?

DOMENECH: Well, I think it's interesting in the sense that, you know, Carly Fiorina has actually become a much better candidate. And this is the thing that I think for anybody who is sort of paying attention, she has really increased. Her game has been stepped up significantly. And I certainly was impressed by her in the debates. I think many other people were. And I think that in comparison to Trump, you have someone who just comes across as being a lot more serious. I don't know if she is going to be the Republican nominee or maybe she might end up on the ticket. But I think that comparing these two people, you know, regardless of what you make of their business careers or how much money they made for their various corporations, in that experience, I think there is no situation where you would put the debate performances that they had side-by-side and not come away being more impressed with Carly Fiorina. I think that has gotten under Donald Trump's skin a little bit.

HARLOW: So Liz, Donald Trump took heat in a question on Thursday night about the fact that his companies have filed four bankruptcies, Carly Fiorina did not. But this is probably the biggest challenge that she is going to face is her business record as CEO Hewlett Packard, she was very publically ousted from the company. She oversaw 30,000 plus layoffs at Hewlett Packard. Something she will have to answer for. Do you think this is Donald Trump attacking someone that can be on that stage and say you say you know how to run companies? I know how to run companies.

MAIR: Yes. I mean, first of all, let me just stipulate that I have consulted for Carly Fiorina. She is somebody I am a very big fan of. And I consider myself be personally close to. That disclosure first up. But I think the reason Donald Trump is going here is because Carly Fiorina offers everything that people think that they like about Donald Trump. Plus, she is actually a savvy policy-smart individual who is capable of communicating in an appropriate and functional fashion. And if that weren't the reality, and if she weren't a threat, he wouldn't be bothering going there and they going her in the first place.

But just to deal with the substance of his attacks, having worked on that 2010 Senate race, let me also make the point that we entered that race with a 15 point registration gap between Democrats and Republicans. We did not lose by 15 point. (INAUDIBLE) did. We did not. We lost by far less than that.

So I think when you look at that record, you know, the fact that Carly was a more conservative candidate if California, that is worth bearing in mind. Because she is somebody that demonstrated that you can be a conservative and you can outperform typical Republican standards in an extremely blue state. So that is important on the political front.

With regard to her business record, people need to go and actually look at the totality. HP was in a tremendous amount of trouble when she took the helm. That's why she was brought in. It was probably going to be almost impossible to save. The reality is the company still exists today. There were some layoffs. Some times that does happen. As Carly has said, having been in that role, she knows why jobs are created and why they are taken away. And the role that government plays in that. That is an experience that is invaluable in this contest. And I think it is going to be something that really distinguishes her from other candidates.

She has that Washington outsider business executive experience, but she is also somebody who has actually had to sit in a room with Vladimir Putin, which Donald Trump never has does. And I suspect that if he did, he would actually destroy any ability we have to do anything functional with regards to our Russia relationship probably for the next 25 years.

HARLOW: Ben, can you speak to that as well? HP is still not a company that's been turned around, Meg Whitman who you mentioned who ran for governor of California, now the CEO of HP had to oversee another 55,000 layoffs there. She actually in an interview, I did with her, defended Carly Fiorina and said she needed to do what she need to do at the company.

DOMENECH: She did.

HARLOW: The company is not turned around. But to you, Ben, this is something she is going to face time and time again, especially if she does better and better among voters. Is this question on having a very rocky tenure there as an executive, how do you, you know, as a Republican, what's the best way to navigate that with voters?

DOMENECH: Well, I think that, you know, the challenge for Carly Fiorina is really just going to be something that has to play out over the course of this. We are going to see her have the chance to defend her business record going forward as she rises in the polls. She is not just going to be speaking in this kind of aggressive way against Hillary Clinton and not having to answer those questions.

But I'm pretty confident that she is going to do a better job of defending her record than Donald Trump has of his. He essentially is dismissive of any of the business failures have anything to do with him. He's a big --

HARLOW: He says I followed the letter of the law in bankruptcy.

DOMENECH: Exactly. I think essentially when you look at Donald Trump's careers, is the bigger question for a lot of Republican voters is he essentially made the argument time and again that as a crony capitalist he is proud of his behavior, that her is the best crony capitalists, the classiest crony capitalists. And I think that was essentially his answer to Megyn Kelly the other night which is really not in defense of what he's behaved, how he's and what he's done over the course of years and decades of these various deals. There have been questions raised by CNN as well about his mob ties in terms of his Atlantic City career. I think that there are much bigger questions when it comes to Donald Trump's career than --.

HARLOW: I don't want to put anything out there. I don't know what reporting you have on that, Ben. I'm not pulling anything out there on mob ties out there unfounded.

(CROSSTALK)

Liz, we do have to go. But for everyone watching, we do have some folks, huge supporters of Trump also coming on the program this evening.

Ben, Liz, pleasure to have you both on. Thank you.

MAIR: OK.

HARLOW: When you are watching a debate, it is not just the words the candidates used. How they say what they're saying is very important. The body language behind it all next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:27:40] HARLOW: When you're trying to win the trust of the American people, it is not just what you say but how you say it. That is why it is no surprise at this week's Republican presidential debate turned out to be a fascinating study on body language, from finger pointing to frowns and rolling of eyes.

CNN's Gary Tuchman looked at which candidate won in the non-purple category.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We look to the body to let us know what your emotion is, your true feeling is underlying the content.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Raise your hand now if you won't make that pledge tonight.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So he raises his hands, he moves his hand to the side, he smiles, nods his head, what does that tell you?

NICK MORGAN, BODY LANGUAGE EXPERT: He opening up there, which means he is saying in effect, trust me, I'm open. I'm not trying to put one over on you, that's who I am.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He is already hedging his get on the Clintons.

MORGAN: Donald Trump, his face is so unusual compared to those other candidates. He's got the squint going. He is frowning most of the time. It's a face that would normally be off putting for the average person. Somehow Trump makes it work. JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The bar is even higher for me,

that's fine.

TUCHMAN: Watching Jeb Bush in the beginning of the tape, what was your major take on him?

MORGAN: Fascinating because he comes out saying I'm my own man. But he does is he tilts his head as he talks about his dad --

BUSH: I'm proud of my dad and I am certainly proud of my brother.

MORGAN: He is tilting his head to one side. What that does is that gives up authority. That says, you're in charge, not me.

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you think it's bad now, you should have seen it when I got there.

MORGAN: So as Christie leans into the podium, he is both saying I am getting comfortable here and I'm creating more of a connection between me and the audience. And so, I like those moves on his part.

GOV. SCOTT WALKER (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And then I believe that is an unborn child in need of protection out there.

TUCHMAN: I thought it was interest in Governor Walker is holding his hands like he is holding a baby.

MORGAN: Yes. What happened was he started talking first and then he gestured. And if we are doing it naturally, what we do is we gesture first and then we speak.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Talk to him directly and say how you respond to that.

TUCHMAN: And Jeb Bush smiling, you know, Trump with his arms out like this. What does this tell you? This must tell you a lot of things?

MORGAN: This is Trump at his most typical. He is saying, I don't care, so sue me. He's wide opened. I'm not defensive about this.

PAUL: I don't trust president Obama with our records. I know you gave him a big hug and if you want to give him a big hug again, go right ahead.

MORGAN: What's happening there with Rand Paul is once again he looks borderline out of control. His voice has gone way up. His gesture versus gotten huge, he is almost pounding the podium there. He is waving his hand about. Whereas Christie is leaning on the podium once again, he looks a little more in control.

[15:30:14] TUCHMAN: Based on body language alone who won the debate?

MORGAN: I'd have to say Donald Trump. He came out strong from the beginning and stayed strong throughout.

TUCHMAN: And runner-up? MORGAN: Runner-up was surprising to me, was Chris Christie. I think

he connected better than anybody else except Trump with the audience. It felt like a conversation. It felt like he was being honest and open and talking to us the audience.

TUCHMAN: And that was based on his body language?

MORGAN: That was based on his body language.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Gary Tuchman reporting, certainly giving us something a lot more to think about and watch for the next debate.

CNN, by the way, will be hosting the next GOP debate on September 16th at the Ronald Reagan presidential library.

Well, several candidates have slammed Donald Trump over his comments about FOX News host Megyn Kelly, one notably has not. Ted Cruz, why he is holding back next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:34:11] HARLOW: Donald Trump's criticism of FOX News host Megyn Kelly escalated Friday night. And he added to his derogatory comments during an interview with our own Don Lemon. It was those remarks that got him disinvited from this weekend's RedState gathering in Atlanta. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Certainly, I don't have a lot of respect for Megyn Kelly. She's a lightweight. And you know, she came out there reading her little script and trying, you know, to be tough and be sharp. And when you meet her, you realize, she's not very tough. And she is not very sharp. She's zippo, key, she gets out and starts asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions. And, you know, you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her, wherever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Jeffrey Lord is with me. He served in the Reagan White House. He has written in the past in support of Donald Trump. Thank you for being here.

[15:35:03] JEFFREY LORD, FORMER REAGAN WHITE HOUSE POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Thanks, Poppy. Nice to be here.

HARLOW: Your reaction to his comments first to his comments with our Don Lemon last night that we just ran.

LORD: Poppy, the thing that exasperates here about this, Megyn, I should say, I like Megyn Kelly a lot.

HARLOW: So do I. LORD: I think she's terrific. I also like Erick Erickson. And I

know Erick Erickson. But I have to say, Megyn Kelly is being treated here like some sort of delicate flower. She is a serious professional journalist. And professional journalist who dish and she dishes, I mean, it's not unusual to journalists of either sex, get hit back by politicians all the time. They say things that are, you know, unfair, untrue, hard hitting, whatever.

And this notion that suddenly Megyn Kelly should be held up as some sort of frail flower, I mean, I think it is insulting to her. I think to be perfectly candid, Erick, my friend Erick, owes her an apology. I mean, Erick got into trouble with Megyn herself. She accused him of sexism on her own show for remarks about the women's role in the home and all of this kind of thing.

HARLOW: Right. I remember that.

LORD: I don't know if he's trying to regain, you know, her favor here or fought. But this to me is equally sexist. And I think it's flat out dead wrong.

HARLOW: Let me ask you this, Megyn Kelly isn't complaining about what Donald Trump said. She is not complaining about it. But you are saying she is being held up like the delicate flower. She is not asking to be held up.

LORD: No.

HARLOW: She answered a factual question. Other people are responding and saying, the way he treated her, in the interview, last night with Don Lemon was not OK.

LORD: She is not complaining because she's the professional. It's everybody else that's getting in this and playing this, you know, this gender card, which is wrong. They the ones who are treating her with condescension. Megyn Kelly, herself, to her great credit is silent as a church mouse on this. Good for her. I mean, she dishes and she can take it. And you know, that's what professionals do. And for all these other people to jump up an, you know, like they're defending Scarlet O'Hara's honor, I mean, it is sad. It's pathetic.

HARLOW: Let me ask you this, the sound bite we just played from Donald Trump with Don Lemon last night saying Megyn Kelly is bleeding out of her eye, she is bleeding out of her wherever. He also said Chris Wallace is bleeding out of his eyes. Do you think there is anything wrong, offensive, about that comment?

LORD: That's just the way Donald Trump you know talks. I mean, you have to take what he said at literal face value. To - I mean, I heard somebody say that, well, he's talking about -- he did not say that. I mean, all of this stuff that is coming out of other people is their perception, their interpretation. It isn't what he said. And whether it's Donald Trump or anybody else, you can be held accountable for exactly what you'd say, like not somebody's interpretation of what you said. I mean, that would seem to me to be elementary fairness no matter what

we're talking about here. And I saw Governor Bush on there. You know, I'm really sad about Governor Bush. I mean, he has played identity politics here with his wife in this earlier situation over illegal immigrants. And now he's into playing, you know, the political correctness card. I just think, no Republican should go near those kind of issues ever.

HARLOW: I want to play for you what Ted Cruz said today at the RedState conference, when he was asked repeatedly about Donald Trump. Let's roll it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I think as I'm sitting in the RedState, I think every candidate should treat everyone else with civility and respect that standardize (INAUDIBLE), I hope all of us aspire to. I also think we're not going to solve problems in this country, we are not going to defeat the Washington cartel by obsessing over the politics of personalities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LORD: Right.

HARLOW: So he seems to be one of the only ones not coming out and criticizing Donald Trump today or in the wake of the debate. What do you make of this?

LORD: Poppy, you know, I have met Mrs. Ted Cruz. Heidi, she is a professional. She works for I think or did before the campaign began. She worked for Goldman Sachs. She's a serious professional woman. I believe a Harvard education. Ted Cruz would be the last person that would condescend to a professional woman. It's just not in him. And I think his wife would bring him if he did.

HARLOW: I think what I was asking, sir, is why do you think it is that we are seeing Ted Cruz sort of repeatedly not -- he isn't going after Donald Trump at all? He didn't after the McCain comments, and he is not now. I'm just wondering, what do you think strategy wise?

[15:40:05] LORD: Sure, strategy wise, I think Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are a part of if you will the Regan side of what I call the Reagan-Bush divide or the conservative moderate or establishment divide. And Ted Cruz who has gone after his own Senate leadership, which garnered applause the other night at the debate and I mean he's been very strong on this, I think he and Donald Trump are if some form of agreement about this. So strategy wise, politics wise, I think they're somewhere on the same page politically.

HARLOW: Jeffrey Lord, really nice to have you on the program tonight. Thank you.

LORD: Tanks, Poppy, I enjoyed it.

HARLOW: All right. Tomorrow morning, guess who will be a guest on CNN's "STATE OF THE

UNION?" Donald Trump with Jake Tapper, 9:00 a.m. eastern, only right here on CNN. We'll be right back.

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[15:44:30] HARLOW: Tomorrow marks one year since an unarmed black teenager was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

HARLOW: Earlier today, crowds turned out to celebrate Michael brown's life and to mark the anniversary of his death. His death, of course, sparked national outrage and led to protests across this country. We are learning more now about another fatal shooting of an unarmed teenager. This one in South Carolina.

Nick Valencia reports.

[15:45:03] NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Poppy, the Seneca police department calls it a justified shooting, saying their officer feared for his life. But the parents of 19-year-old Zachary Hammond say their son did not have to die.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA (voice-over): July 26th, 2015, 19-year-old Zachary Hammond is on a date with 23-year-old tori Morton, who is the target of a drug sting. When they pull into a Hardee's parking lot, police are waiting. According to police report, Hammond, who was driving, attempted to strike an officer with his vehicle during the attempted arrest. He shot twice. He dies at the scene.

JOHN COVINGTON, SENECA POLICE CHIEF: It's a horrible situation. I mean, you get put in a predicament. And sometime you know when you sign up to be a police officer that that potential in your career that you might have to use deadly force.

[15:00:33] The Seneca police chief says his officer is a victim, too.

ERIC BLAND, ATTORNEY FOR ZACHARY HAMMOND'S FAMILY: A victim of attempted murder. That's what the police chief.

PAUL HAMMOND, VICTIM'S FATHER: I have a hard time believing it when my son is no longer here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That he's the victim.

VALENCIA: The Hammonds say police have not given them answers. So they went looking for their own. An independent autopsy they conducted shows their son was shot from behind and at close range. The family attorney adds the results show the car was stopped at the time of the shooting.

ANGIE HAMMOND, VICTIM'S MOTHER: It's been very hard. Not only are we grieving that our son is gone, we don't know why it happened or what happened. We're just trying to find the answers.

VALENCIA: Lieutenant Mark Tiller, the officer involved in the shooting, is a ten year veteran and has no history of getting in trouble. In a statement, Tiller's attorney put the blame on the 19- year-old Hammond. In order to stop the continuing threat to himself and the genuine public, two shots were fired by Lieutenant Tiller in quick succession. If not for Lieutenant Tiller's quick reflexes and his ability to push off the car, lieutenant Tiller would have easily been run over by Mr. Hammond.

On Friday, Hammond supporters held a vigil, in hopes that attention to his killing will bring them answers from police.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: The South Carolina law enforcement division is investigating the incident. They tell CNN they're still collecting evidence. We've reached out to them ask for the dash-cam video of the incident. But they say it's a part of an ongoing investigation and will not be releasing it at this time -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Nick Valencia, reporting.

Coming up next, a few Pew poll showing that and increase in the number of Americans that view racism as a major problem in this country. We'll break it down next.

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[15:51:49] HARLOW: Before the break, we told you the story of an unarmed shooting, of the shooting, rather, of an unarmed teenager. His parents say their son's case has not generated national attention because he is white.

Meantime, a new poll from Pew shows that Americans are becoming more and more concerned about racism in this country. It shows 50 percent of Americans polled called racism a big problem. That is up from 33 percent in 2010 and 26 percent in 2009. So awareness is increasing but are things getting better?

Let's talk about it with Tanzina Vega. She is a CNN digital correspondent. She joins me now.

When you look at this, what do you make, first of all, of the parents' claims in this in the South Carolina shooting? They're saying look, we're not getting the attention the Michael Brown case got and our white teenaged son was unarmed, shot and killed by a police officer.

TANZINA VEGA, CNN DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: So I think there's a lot of things to unpack here. First of all, we didn't have a video, there aren't any photos of this incident which is something that is often gotten out on social media and people have gotten a lot of attention to these cases because of the graphic nature of a lot of these videos and photos that have been out there.

But the other thing that's happening if you're watching Twitter in the past couple days and people are talking about this case is that folks that are involved in the Black Lives Matter movement are actually saying we are looking at this case, where are whites who are protesting, you know, are we going to continue to defend police along racial lines. And I think that's really where the conversation is starting to get interesting.

HARLOW: It's an interesting point. And when you look at the media and the focus on police and minority relations, do you think it is perhaps too focused on racial lines?

VEGA: I think the question is really with this case in particular, you have black activists and black folks who are saying, you know, in Black Lives Matter who are saying this is also a question not just of race, but also of police brutality and excessive police force across the board. And the hope is that maybe this will somehow bring an awareness to other communities that this is something that can happen to them as well.

HARLOW: I want to talk about this poll study that just came out because I find it fascinating. And not only 50 percent of Americans think racism in this country is a big problem, 53 percent of whites say that and the increasing number of Republicans who believe that is 16 point increase just from last year, just from 2014.

So what do these numbers tell you at least about the discussion about race in America that has really happened since Ferguson?

VEGA: This is something that if you go to black and brown communities, people are not going to be surprised that racism exists in this country, right? A lot of what we see again in videos and on television and in the photos that we have been seeing about police brutality, this has been happening for a very long time. This is not new.

What's new is that it has now gotten national attention. What's new is that presidential candidates are talking about the Black Lives Matter movement. What's new is there is a force to be reckoned with now that's really bringing these issues to life as national issues. We are talking about it. National media is talking about it in a way that hasn't happened in the past. And we are talking about things like structural racism, police brutality, unconscious bias. So these are all things that were not part of the conversation that are now -- it's almost impossible to ignore that.

HARLOW: Yes. Certainly reflected in these numbers and we are seeing it in the campaign stump speeches time and time again.

Tanzina, thank you very much.

VEGA: Thank you.

HARLOW: Good to have you on, as always.

Coming up next, much more on Donald Trump's controversial comments and his firing of a top big name aide. You will hear from a member of that aide's inner circle next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sloths are very cute because they're very slow animals. They like to hang out and they have always a smile on their face. Here (INAUDIBLE), we have the most pristine rain forests of the whole world but sloths are facing loss of habitat in the urban area.

Ten years ago, we started doing soft rescues, when sloths are in trouble, all the telephone calls come to us.

My biggest rescue out there was a plot of land that was supposed to be cleared. We rescued in total 200 animals, mostly sloths. There were sloths all over in my living room, in cages. I was sloth-tified.

I still have a lot of softs (ph). He came in with his nails cut. That's why he has to stay with us. There's a lot of work, but wherever I go in my house, I may see a sloth. What does it do all day? It sleeps, it grooms, it eats --

[16:00:00] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's why he has to stay with us. There's a lot of work, but wherever I go in my house, I may see a sloth. What does it do all day? It sleeps, it grooms, it eats, and it sleeps at bit more.

It's ridiculous the way he's lying. It's my life with a sloth. The best part of the rescue is when we release the animal. Sloths are not pets. Wild animals belong in the wild.

You found yourself a safe spot?

My work is about the environment. We should value it and protect it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)