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Afghan Law Enforcement Matters; Carly Fiorina's Campaign; Rosa Flores' Encounter with Pope Francis Inside Papal Plane; Diane Warren Talks About Lady Gaga's New Music Video. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired September 21, 2015 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00] JAKE TAPPER, CNN, CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: And on Thursday nights when they would get drunk on fermented wine and it was something he dealt with the medical ramifications of it, but then as now it was essentially considered to be an Afghan law enforcement matter.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN: I mean hearing that story, reading the piece this morning, talking about boys being tied up to bedposts as we mentioned in some cases on U.S. Bases, do you think that anything will change based upon what you reference the VIN (ph) the reporting today in The Times, anything?

TAPPER: Well look, when -- when President Obama took over the war in Afghanistan after becoming president, one of the things that they started doing was lowering expectations for how much the United States could change the culture in this enormous country. They started talking less and less about educating girls for example. That was something that they talked about last.

Under First Lady Laura Bush, it was an issue that you talk about all the time. It became something that -- that, you know, whether you want to call it pragmatic or -- or a sellout, it was something that the Obama administration didn't think they could achieve and it wasn't going to be part of the mission as much. So along with that, I think you have to say how much can the American people change a culture if this is part of a culture and certainly this is not enough, you know, I don't want to overstate how much this happens, it's more in the -- in the rural areas of Afghanistan, but do I think it's going to change, probably not.

BALDWIN: Jake Tapper, thank you so much. We'll see you on the lead in half an hour. Thank you my friend.

Coming up next, she is hiding her business record on the campaign trail and you know what, it's paying off in the polls. We'll sort out fact from fiction on Carly Fiorina's time, the CEO of Hewlett Packard plus Pope Francis about to make his first trip ever to the United States. A behind-the-scenes look at what it's like to travel with the leader of the Catholic World.

[15:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right. We are just past the bottom of the hour, you're watching CNN, I'm Brooke Baldwin. The only woman in the Republican side of things, in the Republican race for president, now undergoing really the biggest surge in support for this Republican nomination, the first CNN poll after last week's Republican debate at the Reagan Presidential Library shows a whopping 12-point jump from 3% to 15% so officially Carly Fiorina in double digit. She is now just behind Donald Trump still at front running you see in there at 24% followed by Ben Carson at 14. Here is Carly Fiorina explaining her rise.

CARLY FIORINA: Now more people know who I am and we know based on what's happened before this debate that is people come to know me and they understand who I am and what I've done and most importantly what I will do, they tend to support me.

BALDWIN: Now with his lead shrinking, Trump is going after the former CEO of Hewlett Packard. We saw it last week in a debate. We're seeing even more of it including just this morning on NBC's The Today Show.

DONALD TRUMP: They look at her record of tremendous failure that she took Lucent into the ground, she took HP into the ground, destroyed it and, you know, I think that, you know, and then she for the Senate in a race that should have been won and lost because of the fact that she did so badly as a business leader.

BALDWIN: We'll come back to Trump's point here in a second, but next to me in New York of New York Times Op-Ed columnist and CNN political commentator Charles Blow and Rana Foroohar, CNN global economic analyst and assistant managing editor at TIME.

So hello to both of you.

RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST, ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR AT TIME: Hello.

BALDWIN: Back with you Mr. Blow. So you write don't coronate Carly Fiorina just yet. You say -- You say she's an outsider, not because she's successful, but because of her defeat and you called her a hypocrite. Explain.

CHARLES BLOW, NEW YORK TIMES OP-ED COLUMNIST, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well I mean she has -- she's been part of the political process for a while. She just hasn't won anything right.

BALDWIN: She hasn't win anything yet.

BLOW: So she -- In 2008, she was a top economic advisor for the McCain Campaign and in fact by -- by many people's account (ph), she was angling to be appointed the vice president of that campaign, but McCain chose someone else and she kind of fell out of favor with the McCain Campaign when she said that neither McCain or his running mate could run a company like the one that she got fired from right. So then she kind of disappeared and they didn't win. McCain didn't win.

Then she -- In 2010, she ran against Barbara -- Barbara Boxer.

BALDWIN: Barbara Boxer. BLOW: She spent $5.5 million of her own money, $22 million altogether.

BALDWIN: Lost.

BLOW: But she did not run a great campaign. She was that notorious, you know, Demon Sheep Ad was part of that campaign. She got caught on an open mike teasing, mocking Barbara Boxer's hair ...

(CROSSTALK)

BLOW: ... which makes it all the more ironic, the hypocrisy part of it.

BALDWIN: The whole face comment on Trump.

BLOW: She said -- She said "oh Trump, you know, this is a horrible thing" and she -- she kind of mix it out to be like American women know what you're saying. Well we know what you were saying when you were mocking Barbara Boxer Carly so you can't really actually ride that carpet.

BALDWIN: Be careful what you wish for. She's now number two and we're all like microscope right -- right on her.

Donald Trump, I mean he has taken her on. He took her on we're in California last week, continues, you know, this morning on his diatribe on The Today Show. Is he correct?

FOROOHAR: You know, I hate to give Mr. Trump credit, but I got to say her business record, her recod as an executive is -- is pretty bad. I think that most people would say that the merger that she orchestrated between HP and Compaq was a big failure and more troubling than that in some ways was the fact that she didn't really respect the HP culture.

[15:40:00] I mean this is one of Silicon Valley's great innovators. Yes, it was a company that was in trouble when she took over. Yes, it was a tech recession that happened shortly thereafter, but this was a merger that was not well executed, not well orchestrated.

She was taking a big pay package at the time that she was cutting not only people, but R&D. In some way, she epitomizes the kind of short- term capitalism that Hillary Clinton for example has been railing against and I think that that's something that people are going to dig down deeper on, but ...

BALDWIN: But what about this full page ad in your paper sir.

BLOW: Right, but yes so ...

BALDWIN: John Perkins who was on the board who wanted her fired is now saying with Hewlett Packard saying "hey I endorse her."

BLOW: But here is the danger right in a -- in a presidential campaign is you have that many people laid off, all of those people can appear in an ad against you right so you have this enormous population of people who are possibly going to appear in ad and say my life was ruined because of the way that she run this company.

BALDWIN: I had a woman on my show last week who was at that Trump rally ...

BLOW: Right.

FOROOHAR: Yes.

BALDWIN: ... who said "hey, my life is ruined after she took over Lucent."

BLOW: And -- And there's a -- If you go back and read about, you know, a lot of the stories around the time that she took over as CEO of Hewlett Packard, you see just a person who just doesn't quite connect well with people right.

BALDWIN: And didn't understand the culture.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: To like play devil's advocate.

BLOW: Yes because yes.

BALDWIN: She was in the arena four years.

BLOW: But don't -- But don't got -- don't got to walk around the work space and talk to everybody. It's in the basket to everybody when they -- when they had a baby. I mean it was -- it was very much egalitarian ...

BALDWIN: Yes.

BLOW: ... sort of situation and then she -- she was the kind of person who would cluster in her office and nobody would ever see her. I mean you got a very offensive like this person is not really part ...

BALDWIN: OK. OK.

BLOW: ... and in addition to that this enormous pay package and then, you know, one of the things that kind of stuck in my brain was her insisting that the company pay to ship her yacht from the ...

BALDWIN: Right.

BLOW: ... East Coast to San Francisco (ph) was it.

BALDWIN: Right. Yes that's ...

BLOW: I mean it was -- it was just ...

(CROSSTALK) BALDWIN: So we're shipping away now that she is second, you know, number two in the polls here and I'm sure it will continue and we'll have to watch to see how she -- how she fights back. Charles Blow and Rana Foroohar, thank you so much.

FOROOHAR: Thank you.

BALDWIN: On Carly Fiorina, well we are just one day away from the Pope's arrival here in the United States, his historic trip. CNN's Rosa Flores was traveling on that papal plane when she was personally blessed by Pope Francis. I will show you those moments and talk to her about that moment with the Holy Father.

Also we had Lady Gaga, her new hit taking on a very serious issue on college campuses across the county and the woman who wrote the song, the legendary Diane Warren will join me live and what inspired her to do this.

[15:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: He is well crowds (ph) in Havana. He even met with Cuba's reclusive former leader Fidel Castro and now Pope Francis is preparing to depart the communist island and head here to the United States. He is spending his last three last day there holding mass and blessing the cities he is visiting and our own Rosa Flores is following the Pope along his visit, got up close and personal here on the papal plane with the pontiff going from Rome there to Cuba. She joins me now on the phone and Rosa, I have been dying to hear in your own words what this moment was like. Did he approach you?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh my friend, this is incredible. It was an incredible moment. Imagine first of all sharing a plane with Pope Francis.

He is sitting at the front (ph) of the aircraft. All the journalists are sitting in the back of the aircraft. As soon as we take off, we start the key (ph) rumblings of OK, the Pope is probably going to come back here because all of the camera -- all the cameras go up. All of the photographers pull out the cameras and along the halls (ph), there he is, Pope Francis.

And so he gives everyone a brief greeting via microphone and then he goes aisle by aisle giving everyone individual attention and I was sitting in the back, the last seat actually and he made the U shape (ph), came around, approached me and then we started chatting. I talk to him in Spanish, his native language as you know, that, you know that he usually speaks from the heart and often talk (ph).

So I introduced myself that I was Rosa from CNN and then I gave -- delivered a message that a priest gave me to deliver. I talked to a priest before getting on the plane. He knows him very well and he said "Rosa, tell him that I'm happy that you are on the plane and give him a hug" and Brooke, I didn't give him a hug the Holy Father, but I delivered the message and so as soon as he hears this priest's name, he starts going off on him saying "oh I've got to tell you the story." He said two days before the conclave -- two days before the conclave, this priest comes up to me and said "how are you feeling, are you calm, are you calm" and he's like why -- why would you ask me that? Why would we -- Why would you ask me that? And so after that, he -- he blessed a couple of items for me. I gave him a little Aloha (ph) humble gift, a little prayer card of our Lady of Guadalupe and Brooke, I don't know if you're showing the video now, but as soon as he sees that card, he grabs it from my hand and starts kissing it. I go speechless of course and ...

BALDWIN: Incredible.

FLORES: ... then he also made his blessing. It was -- It was amazing.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: That is a lifetime. That is a life highlight you just had there, high above I don't know where in between Rome and Havana. Rosa Flores cherished it, phenomenal. Thank you so much for jumping on the phone. We appreciate it and I'll make sure you tune (ph) it and obviously we'll be covering the Pope through the rest of the week.

[15:50:00] Next, Lady Gaga joins the discussion over sexual assaults on college campuses. Her powerful new music video being shared all over social media right now. The woman who wrote the song, the legendary Diane Warren joins me live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Lady Gaga's new single could double as a public service announcement. In fact, it is a PSA about the dangers of campus rape. The video hit YouTube Friday and has already had more than 7 million views and it does come with this warning, "the following contains graphic content and may be emotionally unsettling, but reflects the reality of what is happening daily on college campuses." Here's a piece.

[15:55:00] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

You tell me it gets better. It gets better and I say upon myself together. Pull it together. You'll be fine. Tell me what the hell do you know, what do you know.

Tell me how the hell could you know, how could you know. Till it happens to you.

You don't know how it feels. How it feels. Till it happens to you, you won't know. It won't be real.

Know it won't be real. Won't know how it feels.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Till it happens to you written by award-winning songwriter, Diane Warren. It is the theme for a new CNN film entitled The Hunting Ground and Diane Warren joins me now live from Los Angeles. Diane ...

DIANE WARREN, AWARD-WINNING SONGWRITER: Hi.

BALDWIN: ... I mean I'm talking to you seven Academy Awards, five Golden Globes, 12 Grammy's, you are ...

WARREN: No, no.

BALDWIN: Corrects me, go ahead.

WARREN: Seven not Academy Awards, but seven nominations.

BALDWIN: Nominations. Nominations.

WARREN: Yes.

BALDWIN: There we go.

WARREN: Yes.

BALDWIN: Still nonetheless ...

WARREN: Seven losing.

BALDWIN: ... even racked up. Diane seriously though, I mean we know you for your love songs, this is entirely different. I have never seen a music video like this. I sat in silence after watching it in my office today. How -- How did you get involved with this?

WARREN: You know I got involved with the movie, wrote this song and it just -- I had to be a part of this and I, you know, I -- I called on Gaga and played her the song and she really responded and I flew out to New York and we went in the studio and she just added so much amazingness to it and this made this -- just I remember -- I remember just, you know, sitting there, you know, with my mouth open, it was so amazing. Her like watching it come alive, you know, and I wanted to be a part of this. This is a very, you know, important film, important subject matter and I think it's just culturally right now. It's just part of a larger issue as well.

BALDWIN: It is. We talked about it a lot nationally, but I mean I appreciate you being humble and giving a lot of credit to Gaga, but if I may brag on you a little bit just to say when you watch and you listen to the words, the ark of the song I think is what got me and I made the note, you know, in the beginning, you see these young women who are abused, it's this notion of can it possibly get better and then eventually there's like this glimmer of hope, but it's that vulnerability that just takes you in the gut (ph).

WARREN: That what and that's -- And to me, it's interesting because it's -- that's kind of like there's three parallels. The movie is like that because it's that -- these girls start out, you know, as victims. They become survivors and they become activists. Gaga's performance, she starts out very vulnerable and as it's going, she's getting more and more pissed to the end of that performance. It's just like it's like -- it's like it's so victorious and the same with the video where they -- where you're seeing them all as victims and you're seeing them with their friends or, you know, people helping them. They're pulling them out and at the end you just see them walking down a hallway victorious and we're not taking this anymore. No, no, we're not victims anymore.

BALDWIN: Yes.

WARREN: And so to me, the song and it all parallels and I think it's -- I just think it's really I mean people are really responding. I've never had people respond to a song line like this ...

BALDWIN: That's what I wanted to ask you about ...

WARREN: ... in my life.

BALDWIN: ... because more than 7 million people. This just came out on YouTube days ago, more than 7 ...

WARREN: This came out Friday.

BALDWIN: Friday, more than 7 million people.

WARREN: OK now it's a -- it's a Lady Gaga video without Lady Gaga in it.

BALDWIN: Exactly.

WARREN: You know what I mean.

BALDWIN: Exactly. How -- Why do you think it's so resonated?

WARREN: You know.

BALDWIN: Other than the obvious, it's so pools (ph) at the emotions. It's such a difficult issue to talk about let alone write -- write a song about, what kind of feedback have you gotten Diane?

WARREN: OK. The feedback makes me cry. People talking about being assaulted. People, by the way, the song has other meanings. It could be if you -- if you listen to the song without the video, you -- you could relate it to being depressed, being suicidal, losing your job, losing a loved one, you know, being sick and there's a million things, you know, that, you know, cutting yourself. There's a million things that you go through, you know, that people are going oh yes, yes, it's going to be time, you know, all you need is time, but wait a second, no that's not true because when you're in that till it happens to you, you don't know how it feels.

So I think the message of the song is resonating so deeply that's -- that's why there is, you know, since I woke up this morning, there's a million views, you know. It's just like because people are they are resonate -- it's -- the message is resonating, the song is resonating, I just think it's -- I've never had this kind of response to a song I have ever written.

(CROSSTALK)

[16:00:00] BALDWIN: Well I had this up to you and Lady Gaga, thank you so much for sharing some time and we mentioned the film, let me just remember the song written for ...