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Trump Does Poorly with African-Americans; Florida's Rick Scott Talks Preparedness for Storm; Hillary Clinton Takes Reporters' Questions at DNC Meeting. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired August 28, 2015 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:01] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I guess we shouldn't be shocked by those numbers.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: It's Donald Trump's way that he exaggerates his standings on many things. He was saying he's winning the African-American vote. He hasn't been a candidate who has tried this outreach. It's interesting, Jeb Bush's numbers aren't better when it comes to the Hispanic vote. And these numbers came before he used the phrase "anchor baby." And Democrats are trying to weigh him down with that phrase and tie him to Donald Trump and dampen his numbers among Latinos. We know that in a general election those Obama coalition voters will be so important.

BLITZER: They played a key role in getting Barack Obama elected twice.

HENDERSON: That's right. And that's why they are very much out there -- at least Jeb Bush is -- trying to relate to Hispanics, specifically, talking about his Mexican-born wife, speaking Spanish on the stump, even if he's in New Hampshire before an all-white crowd talking about immigration.

BLITZER: Remember, after the loss in 2012, Reince Priebus, the chairman of the RNC, Chris, they did an autopsy and said Republicans have to do better with minorities, with offers, you have to do better with Hispanics and women, have to do better with young people. How's that working out so far?

CHRIS MOODY, CNN POLITICS SENIOR DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, since then they have poured lots of resources into that project. They've been putting GOP operatives around the country, reaching out to minority voters and Koch brothers network are putting thousands of dollars into this effort, possibly even more than that. And then Donald Trump came along and made that message a lot more muddled. Made it much more difficult. As Joe Johns reported, Democrats are gleeful about the possibility of Donald Trump being the general election candidate. You notice Hillary Clinton talked about him. It makes it easy for her to associate Donald Trump with the other Republicans. That puts other Republicans on the defensive in that case and they have to answer for everything Donald Trump says, because he's the front-runner, that that makes that autopsy project more difficult to execute.

BLITZER: Stand by because we're awaiting Hillary Clinton. She's going to presumably answer reporters' questions in Minneapolis at the DNC meeting. We'll get to that shortly.

But I want to get back to our top story right now, Tropical Storm Erika heading west through the Caribbean right now. It has devastated parts of the region already. It is deadly. Ahead of the storm, Florida's governor declared a state of emergency.

Joining us from Miami is the Florida Governor Rick Scott.

Governor, thanks for joining us.

So what's the latest you're hearing? A lot of us have relatives and friends down there. What are you hearing about the Floridians and what they might be in for?

RICK SCOTT, (R), FLORIDA GOVERNOR: Wolf, the track, the latest information on the storm track, it's moved west, which means we'll get more rain through the middle of our state. Parts of our state are already saturated. We had flooding a couple of weeks ago in the Tampa area so I'm concerned about that. We're going to watch as it comes off Hispaniola, maybe it will go through Cuba, which will slow it down. But we're still worried. I'm trying to do everything I can to get our state ready. Our National Guard is ready. We've pre- positioned some members of our National Guard. We have another 8,000 members ready to be mobilized. Utilities are getting ready. Emergency Management teams around the state are getting ready. So now I hope every citizen is ready. We hope every visitor, everybody in our state thinks about this and says, I'm going to get three days of water, three days of food. Listen to the news, listen to CNN. You all do a great job telling people what's going on. That's my biggest concern is keep everybody informed. It's the weekend, so a lot of people are doing other things rather than getting informed.

BLITZER: It's been a while since Florida had a tropical storm or hurricane, right?

SCOTT: It's been years since we've had a hurricane. Think of how many people have moved to our state and never experienced one. We had a hundred million visits in our state. We have so many visitors here. They've never experienced a hurricane or a big tropical storm. So we're trying to get everyone to get prepared. We have a whole plan. Our National Guard is ready. We're ready. Our utilities are getting ready. I declared a state of emergency to make sure we could pre- position things in our state, but I need every citizen to really do their job.

BLITZER: What about FEMA and the federal assistance that you might be needing? Have you been in touch with Washington?

SCOTT: We do calls everyday with FEMA, with every Emergency Management team around our state, to find out if there's any un-met needs. We have -- as you know, living in Florida, you have to build a very good relationship with FEMA. The individual running FEMA used to run our statewide Emergency Management team, so Craig Fugate knows the issue. Your parents, siblings, children and grandchildren, think about what are their needs. Do they need a shelter? Have an evacuation plan. Do they need medicine? Just be prepared in case -- we'll see what happens but hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

[13:35:31] BLITZER: So right now, with the latest information you're getting from the National Hurricane Center, all the experts, Governor, is it more likely the severe part of the storm will hit Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, the east part of Ft. Lauderdale, or move to the Western part, Tampa, Orlando?

SCOTT: So, Wolf, right now, the track is moving west. It will come right through our state, the west side of our state. In tropical storms, in hurricanes, a lot of times the rain is on the east side, which means we'll get more rain. The southern part of the state is not saturated right now with water. The Tampa area is. So if we get a lot of rain -- we had experience where we had a tropical storm or hurricane dump a lot of water in our state and it causes a lot of flooding. That's probably what my biggest concern is right now is flooding.

BLITZER: Governor, we'll stay in close touch with you.

Governor Rick Scott, of Florida, has his hands full right now.

But good luck to all the folks in Florida right now. Obviously, the storm has caused a lot of death and destruction in the Caribbean. Good luck to all of our friends over there as well.

Thank you very much, Governor.

SCOTT: Thanks, Wolf. Thanks for what you all do.

BLITZER: Thank you.

Take a look at this. These are live pictures from the Democratic National Committee meeting in Minneapolis. Hillary Clinton is expected to come out and do Q&A with reporters. They have a lot of questions for the Democratic presidential front-runner. We'll bring it to you live. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: I want to go to Minneapolis. Hillary Clinton at the DNC meetings. She'll answer reporters' questions. I want to listen in.

(LIVE Q&A COVERAGE BEGINS)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Oh, as I've said before, I have the greatest respect and admiration for the vice president. We've worked for many years as colleagues in the Senate and as colleagues in President Obama's cabinet. I am not going to comment on differences or similarities. This is a difficult decision for him to make. And as I said before, I want him to have the space and time to do it. There are opportunities to talk about what I did in President Obama's cabinet and what I did in the Senate, but now is not the time.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Secretary Clinton, you have made the point that you have never sent or received any e-mails marked classified. Some have said ultimately said that falls on you to know what might be considered classified. Therefore, do you bear responsibility for information that may have been transmitted?

[13:39:56] CLINTON: Well, all I can tell you is what I've been telling you for month which is has the benefit of being true and factual, and that is that I never sent any classified material, nor received any marked classified. And you're seeing these questions raised now because questions about classification are always going to raise issues. The State Department is going through its process to determine how to or whether to make e-mails public. Other agencies are given the opportunity to weigh in. That would be true if you're asking for someone's e-mails to be made public because of a FOIA request or any other reason. And it was on the unclassified account that an official used for work-related, mails.

So, look, I have said repeatedly that I do not send nor receive classified material and I'm very confident that when this entire process plays out that will be understood by everyone. It will prove what I have been saying and it's not possible for people to look back now some years in the past and draw different conclusions than the ones that were at work at the time. You can make different decisions because circumstances have changed but it doesn't change the fact that I do not send or receive material marked classified.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Hi, Secretary Clinton. (INAUDIBLE QUESTION) -- you were speaking yesterday to a number total committed to you.

CLINTON: We are working really hard to lock in as many supporters as possible and that would include super-delegates. That's part of our strategy to win the nomination. We're going to continue to do that and I am heartened by the positive response I'm getting.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Madam Secretary, that was quite a response you got in there and in the hall afterward. Can you talk both about your own interaction with the members here and the degree to which your operation has sort of been a MUS scholar presence here? Is any part of that an attempt to send a signal to your challengers, your potential challengers that your -- (INAUDIBLE QUESTION)?

CLINTON: And I think it's more of a result of the lessons I learned the last time. How important it is to be as well organized and focused from the very beginning on delegate, those who are super- delegates, those who are going to be elected or named as delegates, and I'm very encouraged by the kind of response I'm getting. I have had the chance to meet with quite a few of the super-delegates who are here and other DNC officials and members, and they have had a lot of interaction with my team, and we have answered a lot of calls about how to become involved, and there have been a lot of public endorsements, more will follow. But this is really about how you put the numbers together to secure the nomination. As some of you might recall, in 2008, I got a lot of votes but I didn't get enough delegates, and so I think it's understandable that my focus is going to be on delegates, as well as votes this time.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Secretary Clinton, I'm curious, it sounds like you have frustration with the process in this country right now. Are you frustrated with the idea of how the House being operated do you think that needs to be reformed and the classification system? (INAUDIBLE QUESTION). What do you hope to achieve?

[13:45:38] CLINTON: I am -- I'm not frustrated. I'm just I trying to explain for people who have never had to follow this before that it is complicated and that there is nothing unique about the process that is being conducted about my e-mails. This is what happens any time something is FOIA'ed. Any time there is another reason why it -- information should be made public.

And there is a process that has been followed. As part of that process, people weigh in. It's confusing, and I understand why if for the press and public to make sense of this, like something wasn't classified in 2009 and 2010 but maybe now it should. But if you've been around the process you know that that's not uncommon. Maybe when we get this behind us people should say, hey, let's take a deep breath and try to figure out if that's the best process. Right now, it doesn't frustrate me. It's just the reality. I'm trying to do a better job of explaining to people what's going on so that there's not all of this concern and some sense made out of the confusion and to answer people's questions.

With respect to the appearance before the committee, I think this will be by my count the eighth committee in the Congress that has looked into the tragic events in Benghazi. I have been saying for nearly a year I am ready to go up and testify. I offered dates in the spring and summer. And when they came back with alternative dates, I immediately said I'll be there, and I will be there. I hope this will be the last effort by some in the Congress to politicize the tragic events of Benghazi and that we do what all the other investigations, both the Congressional ones and the independent one and press and others who have examined this, we do what we can to make sure it doesn't happen again. That's always been my focus.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How would you plan on dealing with 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S.?

CLINTON: Well, I'm glad you asked me that. Because I know that there are some on the other side who are seriously advocating to deporting 11, 12 million people who are working here. I find it the height of irony that a party which espouses small government would want to unleash a massive law enforcement effort including, perhaps, National Guard and others, to go and literally pull people out of their homes and their workplaces, round them up, put them -- I don't know, in buses? Boxcars? In order to take them across our border? I find that not only absurd, but appalling.

And that's why I support comprehensive immigration reform. I have for years. I supported it when I was in the Senate. I support it strongly now. And it was a deep disappointment to me that when there was a bipartisan agreement voted on by the Senate to do just what we needed -- a comprehensive immigration reform that included an earned path to citizenship that the House would not even give it a vote. I will oppose in every way I can what I consider to be nothing but a political stunt, and will also raise questions, as I'm doing today, about what the realities of that kind of claim actually are. UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Boxcars?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thank you. Thank you, Secretary Clinton.

Back to the delegate counting, are you concerned that the buzz around a potential Vice President Joe Biden and candidacy is leading Democrats to hold off support?

CLINTON: I haven't seen any evidence of that. We have picked up additional supporters yesterday and even today. I can only run my campaign. I can't speak for other current candidates but I can only tell you based on what is happening around me that I see no evidence of

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I wonder if I could ask you a couple of questions. Were you aware -- thank you. Were you aware that your husband wanted to -- (INAUDIBLE) -- in North Korea? Do you have any comment on the conflict of interest and, finally, I wonder, you said there's nothing unique about this situation. You've said this before. Can you name one other cabinet secretary who had a private server?

[13:50:15] CLINTON: Well, let me answer one of your questions because I think that's what you're entitled to. And the first question that you asked, about the process that was set up in my years as secretary of state, was for any requests that my husband received to be sent to the State Department to be vetted. So it didn't matter where it was coming from, it was going to go to the State Department. And there was some unusual requests but they all went through the process to try to make sure that the State Department conducted its independent review. He did neither of those speeches.

But, Ed, I will say this. You might not recall, but President Obama sent my husband to North Korea to rescue the two journalists who had been captured. This was after a painstaking negotiation to try to convince the North Korean leader to release these two young women. And every offer we made, every diplomatic overture we made was rebuffed.

And then finally -- and we offered many people to go. We said, what about this person, what about that person? And finally the North Koreans said, if Bill Clinton comes, we will give him the two journalists. We thought about it, obviously the president and I and others analyzed it. We wanted those young women home and we said "OK." I tell you that, because that was a successful mission that accomplished its purpose. Now, I think it's beyond unlikely that the State Department -- not involving me, but that the State Department would say, you know, we think it's a good idea for you to go back and see what more you can find out, see what you can pick up.

Now, in the end, that was not something my husband wanted to do and not something that the State Department wanted him to do. It never happened. But I'm just telling you, we had a process so that all of these requests would be vetted. It would be highly unlikely that it would be a positive response. Yes, we want you to go but not totally beyond the realm of possibilities. So that's the way we did it. We tried to really be as careful and thoughtful in that process and this is another example of how it worked.

Thank you all very much. Thank you.

BLITZER: There you have the former secretary of state, the Democratic presidential front-runner, answering a series of questions, seven or eight or nine questions from reporters who have gathered there. Several sensitive questions on the e-mail controversy and then the final question on the former President Clinton's paid speeches. There were two requests, for one speech from the Congo, one speech from North Korea, both of which were rejected from the State Department. She made the point that any speech he had to give -- paid speech -- while she was secretary of state, had to be approved by the State Department.

Nia-Malika Henderson and Chris Moody are here.

Let's talk a little bit about it. She sounded pretty subdued there in her Q&A with the press.

HENDERSON: I thought this was more of her sure-footed sort of moment in terms of talking about Joe Biden, in terms of talking about the e- mail. She repeated again that she never sent or received e-mails that were marked classified and that "marked" part is the thing she's going to hang her hat on that people will be talking about as the e-mails go about. I think she definitely was a little less lawyerly in terms of her explanations and instead of being a complainer about things, I think she's trying to explain, as she said, because it's obviously all very complicated and she certainly disregarded that flip approach that we've seen in previous pressers when questions came up.

BLITZER: No jokes about Snapchat or anything like that. She sounded very serious.

HENDERSON: No jokes, yeah.

BLITZER: She sounded very serious.

Also sounded very serious on this potential threat to the vice present, about Joe Biden maybe throwing his hat in the ring. She said she's working really hard to get all of the super-delegates in her corner so she won't have the problem that she had in 2008 when she lost to then-Senator Barack Obama.

[13:54:42] MOODY: Sounding similar in 2008. She was looking very confident with the super-delegates earlier on and a lot of them went to Barack Obama and he ended up being president. She does not want that to play out the same way this time around. I think she and her campaign are keeping a close eye on what Joe Biden is doing.

But I want to echo what you said. What a difference in tone from when the e-mail story broke and she joked about it, and now she's handling it much differently, answering questions. She will say that it was marked. She never said anything was marked "classified" and that's important because there was classified material going back and forth and that keeps her out of trouble. She talks about Donald Trump's immigration plan. She made -- (CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: She didn't mention his name but --

(CROSSTALK)

MOODY: The one candidate talking about deporting 11-plus million people is Donald Trump. Others are not saying that. As we mentioned earlier in the show today, she wants to make the Republican Party synonymous with Donald Trump. But it does make it very easy for her to paint the entire Republican Party as the Trump party.

BLITZER: She was very forceful saying, comprehensive immigration reform, you can't simply put 11 million people on boxcars, to use that phrase, and cross the borders.

HENDERSON: Yeah --

(CROSSTALK)

MOODY: The reason she's not holding up Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio's plans instead of Donald Trump.

HENDERSON: Their points, of course, are very different. But you're right. I thought the imagery, rounding people up and putting people in boxcars, obviously, she's intending to show what it would mean to physically and in terms of these people's families logistically, but also in terms of cost. The estimates are something like $100 billion to half a trillion dollars, and how much is would cost. So I thought it was a good show.

BLITZER: We'll continue to watch what is happening, especially with Joe Biden to see whether or not he decides to challenge Hillary Clinton and the other Democrats. We'll stay on top of this.

Guys, thanks very, very much.

That's it for me for this hour. I'll be back at 5:00 p.m. in "The Situation Room."

In the meantime, the news will continue right after a very quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)