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Donald Trump Says Jeb Bush Owes Women An Apology, Not Him; Bernie Sanders Drawing Big Crowds; New Arrests in Ferguson Violence; Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired August 11, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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


[10:00:01] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Trump went on to say that the Republican candidate women should have a problem with is his rival, Jeb Bush.

CNN's Athena Jones joins us now from Washington with more on that.

Good morning.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. That was so interesting, the comment that Trump made about Jeb Bush. It's one he's made before but he expanded on it today. And you think he was running for a deflector-in-chief because the question from Chris Cuomo was about Trump's own potential problems with women because of comments he's made about women in the past.

But let's go ahead and play that clip, see how Trump responded, deflecting the attention to Jeb Bush.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": In terms of getting the female votes, it's going to be important to you. You said that you will be the best ever for women. The comments that Megyn was pointing to, you didn't say, hey, I have proof that she's lying about this, I never said them. Do you think that you owe women in general, if not an apology, at least some assurance that these comments are not who I am and they're not who I would be as president?

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, I think Jeb Bush owes women an apology because he made a terrible statement about women's health issues. And it was a foolish statement and perhaps a stupid statement. It's a statement that should never have come up, it should never have been made, and I was shocked that he made it. And I think that will prove to be his 47 percent.

I will say this. He has gone back, he said, I misspoke. He said -- meaning not me -- he.

CUOMO: Right.

TRUMP: He said that he misspoke. Well, that's an awfully big issue to -- I will be so good to women. I cherish women. I will be so good to women, I will work hard to protect women.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: And so Trump there was talking about the former Florida governor's remarks about whether women's health funding needed $500 million. Jeb Bush came out later and said he was really talking about whether to defund Planned Parenthood which is of course a big issue on the right.

And what's interesting there is that Donald Trump said look, you know, I'm pro life, I'm against abortion, I think Planned Parenthood is an abortion factory, but then he also said, you know, I would look closely at what good things they may be doing. He didn't paint with a broad brush as you've heard from other Republican candidates by saying just, hey, defund Planned Parenthood, so interesting nuance we heard from that very long, wide-ranging interview this morning with Trump -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Athena Jones, reporting live, thanks so much.

Hillary Clinton doubled down on Mr. Trump, though, and while she was at it, she slammed the rest of the Republican field.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I know it makes great TV. I think the guy went way overboard, offensive, outrageous, pick your adjective, but what Marco Rubio said has as much of an impact in terms of where the Republican Party is today as anybody else on that stage. And it is deeply troubling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: With me now to talk about this and more, Tara Grant, a Trump supporter, and Jamal Simmons, a Democratic strategist and co- founder of create.com.

Welcome to you both.

JAMAL SIMMONS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Good to be here.

TARA GRANT, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Nice to have you both. So, Jamal, I want to start with you and Hillary Clinton's comments. She hasn't come out swinging lately, but now she has. A new strategy, effective?

SIMMONS: Yes. It is effective. Here's the reason why. For weeks we've been bombarded with all these stories about Hillary Clinton, that she didn't want to have to talk about, and now she's getting back to the core issues which is how does she make America better for the next generation to succeed?

So Donald Trump talks about making America great again, but then he spends all of his time kind of attacking other people. Hillary Clinton is actually offering plans. A $350 billion over 10-year plan to change and lower the cost of college tuition for Americans. That's real money for real people that will make the country a better place. COSTELLO: Tara, what do you think? Because Donald Trump came out and

he says he supports women, he cherishes them, he'll take complete care of women. What do you make of those remarks?

GRANT: I think Donald Trump is a man of his word. I think he's a true American patriot. I think he loves this country, I think he loves our troops. I think he loves women. I absolutely believe, wholeheartedly, that he's got women's best interest at heart.

Yes, no one is debating whether or not he has come out hard-hitting against some women who maybe allowed their mocking bird mouths overload their humming bird behind. However, Donald Trump is keeping it real. And he is waking America up, folks. Can you hear it?

COSTELLO: So you're saying --

GRANT: America is getting -- I'm sorry?

COSTELLO: I like the mocking bird, humming bird thing.

GRANT: Thanks a lot.

COSTELLO: So are you saying that Megyn Kelly should not have asked Donald Trump that question?

SIMMONS: I'm glad you understand it.

GRANT: I'm sorry. Jamal -- I couldn't hear over Jamal. Sorry.

COSTELLO: OK. Do you think Megyn Kelly should have asked Mr. Trump that question during the debate?

GRANT: Oh, I don't have a problem with Megyn Kelly's idea, ideology behind the question. I have a problem with how she asked it. I mean, come on, Carol, you know as well as I do, there is a right way of asking a question and then there is a left-handed, smack-you-in-your- face kind of way of asking a question. And Donald Trump took offense to it.

[10:05:06] I think everyone who supports Donald Trump took offense to it, and kind of saw that Megyn Kelly -- OK, Megyn, you're -- there's a little more going on behind that question than just asking hard- hitting, good journalistic questions, come on.

COSTELLO: OK. So, Tara, your supporters seem to have a lot of clout because Mr. Trump talked to Roger Ailes and they came to, you know, this moment of -- FOX is going to be more fair and balanced towards Donald Trump.

So, Jamal, in your mind, did FOX News cave to Donald Trump? What happened there, do you think?

SIMMONS: You know what happened? Donald Trump rates. He does really well in the ratings. He gets great, you know, attention from people in the 25 to 54 demo. So people want to have him on television. FOX knows he's got a whole bunch of conservative viewers out there who want to have -- who want to see Donald Trump. And so yes, they absolutely caved.

But here's the problem. Donald Trump is -- says that he wants to be president. He says he's a tough fighter and negotiator, but if he can't take tough questions from Megyn Kelly on her debate stage, how is he going to battle the mullahs in Iran? How is he going to --

GRANT: I definitely think --

SIMMONS: How is he going to battle the -- you know, the Vladimir Putin. They're much tougher questions that have to be answered about the future of America as a power of the planet than anything he's going to get from a FOX News host.

GRANT: But, Jamal, come on, think about it. I mean, that wasn't a Vladimir Putin kind of question, that was a, hey, I'm going for your jugular. You know, come on, that was --

SIMMONS: Listen, Donald Trump admitted --

GRANT: It was a disgusting -- it was a disgusting question. And Donald Trump said hey, if you're going to be a big girl and you're going to ask big girl questions, then you know what, put your big girl panties on and come on and be able to go at it.

SIMMONS: Listen, I think -- I think that Megyn Kelly is a very tough woman. She can handle herself very well against Donald Trump.

GRANT: Absolutely there, without a doubt.

SIMMONS: That's not really -- that's not really the issue here. The issue here is whether or not Donald Trump has the skin that's tough enough to be able to manage and have a temperament to be president of the United States.

GRANT: I think Donald Trump --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: So, Tara, Tara, let me --

SIMMONS: And it's very clear that he doesn't.

COSTELLO: I'd like to ask Tara this question.

GRANT: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: Because this was in the "National Journal" just the other day. The "National Journal" featured an article titled "Trump is a Buffoon, His Backers are Not." Ron Fournier writers that he gets where Trump supporters are coming from, but he says, "Here's the rub, is Trump really something better? Is he the best you can do? Wouldn't you prefer a more credible vessel for change?"

Can you address that, Tara?

GRANT: What makes him -- what makes him uncredible? That's -- I mean, that's what I don't understand. He's a very credible person. He has made billions.

SIMMONS: Hey, Tara?

GRANT: He has built all kinds -- he has built multiple companies. Guys, he is very credible.

SIMMONS: Tara. Tara.

GRANT: The fact is he is not being politically correct. Hold on, let me finish my thought, Jamal. You know what, at the end of the day, he is not going to play by every other politician's rules. Mainly because he's not a politician.

SIMMONS: Tara.

GRANT: He is coming at it and he is speaking my speak, he is speaking to all those Americans who have gone for the last seven years that we did not have a voice. If we did actually voice our opinion on anything, we were too white or we were too Christian, or we were too this or we were too this, we were a bigot, we were a hypocrite. We were this. We were not politically correct. And he is now giving veterans a voice. And that's a first in seven years. He is now giving veterans of the United States of America a voice.

COSTELLO: OK.

SIMMONS: So that --

COSTELLO: OK. Jamal, last word.

SIMMONS: So, my question is, what is Donald Trump's plan to fix veteran's health care? What is Donald Trump's plan to get kids into college? What is Donald Trump's plan --

GRANT: Well, we are very early on --

(CROSSTALK)

SIMMONS: Hold on a second. What is -- hold on a second.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Let Jamal talk.

SIMMONS: Tara, hold on one second, you had a lot of time to talk. What is Donald Trump's plan to make sure small business owners, not the big business boys and girls that he plays with --

GRANT: I am a small business owner.

SIMMONS: But what's his -- so what's his plan to make sure you have more financing and more opportunity to get your products to market? What's his plan?

GRANT: All right. You know what, and Donald Trump, over the next year, will have a -- I mean, he'll have access to develop those plans or he will have a platform to tell us everything we need to know about his plan. But right now everyone --

SIMMONS: Good luck with that.

GRANT: Well, you know what, and good luck. I mean, it's -- see that right there. You guys can't make it past sound bites and that's the problem because he is not playing a politically correct game, and everybody's like, oh my goodness, well, I'm sorry, the gloves are off and Donald Trump is coming hard and fast, and he will make America great again. You watch.

COSTELLO: All right. We have to leave it there. Thanks so much, Tara Grant, Jamal Simmons, appreciate it.

SIMMONS: Thank you.

GRANT: Have a great day.

COSTELLO: You're -- you too. Thanks, Tara.

As for the Democrats, Bernie Sanders is drawing big crowds, recent events have been so jam-packed he's now taking to Twitter posting, quote, "Apologies to the large crowds who couldn't fit indoors at tonight's rally. We're going to have to get bigger venues."

[10:10:05] It's been back-to-back record attendance for Sanders on the West Coast. Yesterday 27,500 people came out to see Sanders in Los Angeles. That number spikes to 28,000 in Portland on Sunday. As for Saturday, he pulled in a cool 15,000 in Seattle. And while he's not selling out Madison Square Garden, he is beating his Democrat opponents crowd numbers. Hillary Clinton's largest crowd, a mere 5500 in comparison. That's back in June. Just as she kicked off her campaign.

CNN's Chris Moody is in Washington with more on this, so, Bernie, Bernie, Bernie.

CHRIS MOODY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Hey, Carol, well, there's a rich tradition in America for pure -- ideologically pure candidates who tell people what they want to hear who don't necessarily win elections in the end.

Now even though Bernie Sanders is bringing in Taylor Swift-level crowds, that might not mean he'll translate to primary victories, but that doesn't mean that Hillary Clinton is not keeping a close eye on this. She's going to have to find a way, if she wins the nomination, to mobilize those voters, to try to get that energy, harness that energy for herself.

And I think we're starting to see some of that in a couple of the policy initiatives she is rolling out. But certainly, at this point in the game, they're all for Bernie Sanders.

COSTELLO: So, Chris, are you saying that Bernie Sanders is to the Democrats what Donald Trump is to the Republicans?

MOODY: Oh no, I don't think that's a comparison or a fair comparison to them. Bernie Sanders says -- have been a senator for a long time and he's also rolled out a lot of specific policy plans that he's been talking about on the road. I think it's very different.

You know, I was in Phoenix, Arizona, with Bernie Sanders when he brought in thousands of people there, that's not necessarily a blue, or yes, not necessarily a blue state, so I think people would say he just brings people in places like Portland. He's doing it all over the country. And I think that's something that the Hillary Clinton camp needs to watch, but, crowds don't necessarily win elections at events.

Obviously votes do. And the closest thing we can look at right now is polls, especially in those early states, and I think those numbers that are showing Bernie Sanders really creeping in on Hillary Clinton is going to worry the Clinton camp far more.

COSTELLO: All right. Chris Moody reporting live for us this morning, thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, protesters versus police. For the second straight night in Ferguson, this time, some of the protesters were armed with frozen water bottles and rocks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:16:55] COSTELLO: Right now Ferguson, Missouri, remains on edge after another night of unrest. A state of emergency still in effect after dozens of arrests. This is what it looked like overnight. Angry protesters flooding the streets. Some even shutting down traffic earlier in the day.

According to police, some protesters hurled frozen water bottles and rocks at them, forcing authorities to push crowds back with riot gear. All of this mirroring what we saw one year ago when unarmed teenager Michael Brown was shot and killed by white police officer.

So let's get right to CNN's Ryan Young, he's on the ground in Ferguson. Good morning.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Of course it looks a little different here because the crowds, the terms of the size is a lot smaller in scale than what we saw a year ago. And of course being back here two other times since then, you can just look at the crowd and see the difference in terms of just how people are handling themselves.

There are a lot of protesters who wanted to make their point, the violence that happened on Sunday night had little to do with protesters. They believe that was an outside group that had their own fight that just happened to be near the protesters. But we did see people show up of course last night with those frozen water bottles and there was that conversation with that confrontation between police officers and protesters.

Now there was also a part where they decided to take over the highway yesterday. And we saw drivers' frustrations kind of boil over as people decide to cut their way through the crowd and some of the protesters were kicking at the car. Just talking to some of the business owners here, they were hoping for a reset of some sort, and now this violence in the more protests very upset about how things have progressed over the last three or four days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIA CHAPPELLE-NADAL (D), MISSOURI STATE SENATE: We all want to go home at night. We all want to want tuck our children in at night, and we all want to give our spouse or our partner a hug and a kiss at night. And so every single person, whether they are a police officer or an activist on the street, we have to be cognizant that everyone wants to go home.

And we're going to have to start building these bridges. I just wish that police officers and the people on the ground who feel that they are injured would come together. I mean, we realize that there are bad apples on both sides.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Now, Carol, of course now there's this big conversation because we did see some of the police showed up with riot gear last night. There are some people saying that maybe because of that, there'll be more protesters this evening. Nothing organized just yet, but just a conversation that's starting to happen. What will happen next, and that's something that a lot of people are just wondering but we'll see.

COSTELLO: All right. Also, Ryan, can you tell us about these charges that have been filed against two reporters who were arrested in Ferguson last summer?

YOUNG: Look, obviously a lot of us have been paying attention to this. They were two reporters who were inside a McDonald's. They were asked to leave at some point. And of course, according to those reporters, they weren't really given any chance to get out of the way before those police started to arrest them. And now both of them of course are upset about the charges. The charges will move forward against them. They're going to have to appear August 24th, somewhat of a surprise.

[10:20:02] I'll tell you this time since we've been back in Ferguson, it seems like police officers are treating reporters quite differently than what we saw a few months back. But now the charges have moved forward and of course this will bring up conversation about that line where as reporters we're there to cover a story and how far can police go in terms of the interaction between the two groups.

COSTELLO: All right, Ryan Young reporting live from Ferguson, Missouri.

Let's talk about this now with Bernard Kerik. He's a former New York City police commissioner. He joins me now live.

Welcome, Bernie. BERNARD KERIK, FORMER NEW YORK CITY POLICE COMMISSIONER: Hi, Carol,

how are you?

COSTELLO: Hi, nice to see you. So what do you make of what's happening in Ferguson? Why do these protests always seem to attract this element that butts heads with police?

KERIK: Well, I think Ryan -- you know, his report, the one thing that stands out is a lot of these people are from the outside. You have to look at what's happening in the community in Ferguson over the last year. There's been better community relations between the police and the community. The officer involved in the incident is gone. I think there's a new police chief there. There's new city council, new political leaders there.

There's all this great stuff that's happened within the community, but then you have outsiders come in, they instigate, they incite, and they riot. And that's a problem. It's a problem for the community, for the cops, for the innocent people that want to better the community, and I think these people have to be dealt with.

COSTELLO: How does -- how could police deal with it more effectively? They showed up in riot gear which only seemed to, you know, exacerbate the situation.

KERIK: Well, you know what Carol, when people start throwing bottles, and you know, they're throwing frozen bottles of water, which is like throwing a rock. So you've got people throwing rocks and stones and people throwing these bottles with glass or frozen water, they can hurt the cops. They can hurt other people. They're going to have protective gear. You can't send them out there without that gear.

And you know, there's people out there that use that, they use the very thing that these guys come out in this gear. They use that as an excuse that they now have a reason to riot and they have a reason to act out. And it's just -- it's inappropriate, it shouldn't be happening.

COSTELLO: All right. Bernard Kerik, thanks so much.

I want to bring in now Ferguson Committeewoman Patricia Bynes.

Good morning, Patricia. Thank you for being with me. I appreciate it.

PATRICIA BYNES, COMMITTEEWOMAN: Good morning. Thank you for having me.

COSTELLO: Good morning. So why do you think that violence erupted over the past several nights in Ferguson?

BYNES: Well, the other evening are you talking about the night there was a barrage of shooting?

COSTELLO: Yes. BYNES: Amongst people within the protests. So we started noticing

that when we first started having solidarity protests with the Freddie Gray incident in Baltimore. It seemed that there was a certain element that tried to start using the protests as a way to shoot at other people. I think one of the first nights that we had a solidarity protest with Baltimore, there was somebody that was shot in the leg. The next night, there was somebody that was shot somewhere else.

So as this seems to have progressed, our constant demonstrations, there are people that seem to think that this is an opportunity and maybe use the chaos that comes sometimes from the protesting environment as a way to try to hide from police enforcement. So the other night, that was just too much.

COSTELLO: So what's the answer? Some people are upset that police showed up in riot gear, but from what you're saying, they should have.

BYNES: Well, I think that the police response when there was a barrage of shooting the other night, I actually think that that was appropriate. Up until this time during this celebration weekend as it started, I think the police response was appropriate, it was measured. Many of us speaking within the movement said that wow, they seemed to have learned something since last year, but at the point when people start endangering other people's lives, including protesters, who aren't there protesting, they're there to, you know, shoot at each other. the police have to do something. And they have to step up to restore law and order.

Well, I'm not protesting to defend lawlessness. I'm here to question police brutality and inappropriate police tactics.

COSTELLO: OK. So I want to ask you a glass half full question because when you look at these pictures out of Ferguson, you think nothing has been accomplished. Is that true?

BYNES: That is not true. And I think that if you look at the pictures from last night, I think that we have taken a step back. And it's infuriating many people here because we've been working so hard on the issues here. The pendulum has not swung as much as many of us would have liked it to, but we had to do a lot of pushing here, either through protesting, through legislation, through policy, to move it just as much as it has. We're trying to move a culture, and that's very hard.

[10:25:08] COSTELLO: Committeewoman Patricia Bynes, thank you so much for being with me this morning. I appreciate it.

BYNES: Thank you.

COSTELLO: You're welcome.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, dangerous chemicals contaminating this Colorado river. Could the worst be yet to come?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: He's declared a state of emergency and now the governor of Colorado is expected to hold a briefing next hour with the latest on the millions of gallons of toxic sludge accidentally spilled into the Animas River. So far officials have provided few details about the potential environmental disaster. They haven't warned of health risks facing locals or whether or not their drinking water is in peril. But answers need to come soon because those pollutants that turned the river orange are spreading. And cities in New Mexico are now at risk.

CNN's Dan Simon is in Durango, Colorado.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Carol.