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Paying Respects to Justice Antonin Scalia; Interview with Voter Questioning Trump on Iraq; Morgan Freedom Ad for Hillary Clinton. Aired 2:30-3p Et

Aired February 19, 2016 - 14:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:32:30] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Very sad day at the nation's highest court. The long-serving justice, a conservative icon, flanked by those marble walls for the final time. Long lines of admirers, lawmakers and relatives of Justice Antonin Scalia paying their respects as he lies in repose inside the great hall. Scalia's casket arrived there this morning met by the serving justices. A remarkable scene to see them all lined up. They attended a private service led by Justice Scalia's own son, Father Paul Scalia. The Catholic priest took a moment to pray over his father's body.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FATHER PAUL SCALIA, SON OF ANTONIN SCALIA: Blessed are those who have died in the Lord. Let them rest from their labors for their good deeds go with them. Eternal rest grant unto him, oh, Lord. May he rest in peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: His own son there.

Our White House correspondent, Michelle Kosinski, is with me.

Moments from now, Michelle we're expecting President Obama, to arrive to pay his last respects. He will do that today. He will not be at the funeral tomorrow, correct?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's correct. We should see the president and the first lady arrive. The White House has made a point of saying this is important to the president. He wants to pay his respects.

There have been questions, though, why not attend the funeral tomorrow that will be attended instead by Vice President Biden? Historically, not every president has attended every Supreme Court justice's funeral when that opportunity arose. But in this case, the White House did explain, even though they haven't wanted to go into a lot of detail on their thinking, on their decision making there, but they said the vice president has a personal relationship with the Scalia family, that his security footprint is obviously much smaller than the presidents when he goes somewhere. But the White House also did cite politics in this, without saying

that was a reason why the president might not want to attention. But they said, you know, it's a shame, right now, some out there are using this funeral to make a political point just as what could be an epic battle between the White House and Republicans in the Senate over the next potential nominee is just beginning -- Poppy?

HARLOW: Absolutely. But we will bring those pictures to you live. They should be arriving any moment, the first lady and President Obama, to pay their respects. We'll bring that to you as soon as we have it.

Michelle, thank you very much.

[14:34:55] As we mentioned, Justice Scalia's funeral is set for tomorrow. Vice President Biden, many other esteemed figures, politicians, family members, will be there. My colleagues, Wolf Blitzer and Jake Tapper, will also be on hand for this historic event. That is tomorrow, our live coverage begins at 10:00 a.m. right here on CNN.

Next, Donald Trump faces a lot of tough questions. Certainly, he did last night at that CNN town hall. One of the toughest was about whether he would take back calling former President George W. Bush a liar. We'll talk to the man who asked that live.

Also, Actor Morgan Freeman lending his legendary iconic voice to support Hillary Clinton. His new ad. His interview with our very own Don Lemon is next.

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[14:40:04] HARLOW: Welcome back. I'm Poppy Harlow, in today for Brooke Baldwin.

Something just in from the Vatican in terms of the back and forth between the pope and Donald Trump. The Vatican spokesperson, Father Frederico Lombardi, just saying that the pope's comments on the plane, as you heard them yesterday, about Donald Trump, were, quote, "not a personal attack, nor an indication of how to vote." The Vatican went on to say that, "The pope said what we already know when we follow his teachings and his position, that we should not be building walls but building bridges." The Vatican went on to say, "He has always said this and continues to do so." Interesting, the Vatican saying this, although it was a response to a question about Donald Trump and what the pope makes of him, was not about Trump, specifically, was not a personal attack or an indication of who to vote for. We'll see what Trump says in response. More on that in a moment.

Moving on, though, from the moment he launched his campaign, Trump has said the invasion of Iraq was a, quote, "mistake." But what has been less clear throughout is whether the man who is the Republican front- runner has always felt that way, and also whether he thinks that former President George W. Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction as a reason to get into Iraq.

At the Republican town hall that CNN hosted last night, an audience member wanted an answer, wanted clarity. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: Well, a lot of people agree with what I said. And I'm not talking about lying. I'm not talking about not lying. Nobody really knows why we went into Iraq. The Iraqis did not -- it was not Saddam Hussein that knocked down the world trade center, OK.

DR. ORAN SMITH, PRESIDENT & CEO, PALMETTO FAMILY COUNCIL: What you said was they lied, they said there were weapons of mass destruction and there were none, there were no weapons of mass destruction.

TRUMP: A lot of people think that. Bottom line, there were no weapons of mass destruction. They said there were weapons of mass destruction. I was against the war when it started.

(CROSSTALK)

SMITH: You think the president of the United States, George W. Bush, lied to the American people --

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Look, I'm not going to get into it. But that's OK --

(CROSSTALK)

SMITH: I am just trying to --

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Let me tell you something. Let me tell you very simply. It may have been the worst decision. Going into Iraq may have been the worst decision anybody has made, any president has made in the history of this country. That's how bad it is, OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Joining me now is the man who posed that question, Dr. Oran Smith. He is the president and CEO of the Palmetto Family Council, an evangelical nonprofit.

Thank you for joining me.

SMITH: Good to be with you.

HARLOW: My first thought was, what do you think? Were you satisfied with Trump's answer? Did you feel like in that back and forth -- it was even longer than what we played -- did you get an answer?

SMITH: Well, I got close to an answer. There was a lot of verbiage. I had to go back and read the CNN transcript to get a feel for what exactly was said.

I know I look like a really stern guy. I really didn't mean to be a stern guy. I didn't mean to be -- necessarily appear to be putting him on the spot. I honestly thought he was probably going to take back the "liar" comment and then we got into the war and it became a war discussion. I wasn't really interested in a war discussion.

HARLOW: When he said to you, and I'm going to quote here, "Look, I'm not going to get your vote, but that's OK," how did that make you feel?

SMITH: Well, I think he was -- I got the sense he was directing that sort of at me, but really sort of at the audience. He was having a good night interplaying with the audience. I thought that was really more for their benefit than my benefit, actually.

HARLOW: So you didn't feel like it was dismissive?

SMITH: No, no. You know, he has a way of looking stern and then smiling, and I got a pretty good vibe from him. I don't think he was being dismissive. I'm not sure he cared for the question very much to be honest, because it was one of the few -- there were really two questions last night that were pretty tough questions that were addressed to him. He might have gotten the two toughest questions of the whole evening. I don't think he was thrilled with the question but he gave it a shot.

I got most of what I wanted. I wanted him to back off that our president -- and I defended the president when he was president, George W. Bush. I was just uncomfortable with the word "liar." That's a very strong word to call the last Republican president for someone like me who's voted in Republican primaries since Ronald Reagan.

HARLOW: We know how popular the former President George W. Bush is in your state, right, down there in South Carolina.

(CROSSTALK)

SMITH: Oh, yes, very popular.

HARLOW: Has this swayed how your vote and, if you are comfortable sharing it publicly, is there a candidate you're backing?

SMITH: Well, you know, one thing that's happened, and I've noticed I have a lot to learn about Twitter and social media, because social media's sort of blown up, and I found all these things about myself that I didn't know. That I was fronting for Ted Cruz.

(LAUGHTER)

I was fronting for Anderson Cooper.

(LAUGHTER)

[14:45:10] I'm fronting for Marco -- look, I'm just a poor public policy guy, faith-based policy guy. I'm just asking questions I think are important. I'm not being paid to ask questions. I'm not fronting for anybody. It was just very personal for me. I was just stunned. I think I relayed it on the air. I said some words in front of my children I shouldn't have, because of what I heard about our former president.

(CROSSTALK)

SMITH: So I wanted closure. I wanted to give him a chance to take it back.

HARLOW: Might Trump get your vote?

SMITH: You know, I met with him about five years ago in his office in New York City. I found him to be a great listener. I found him to be articulating some very conservative positions. And I've always held him out there. But -- but the whole issue of what he said about the former president is still tugging at me as a negative, and it's kind of -- it's taking away from his candidacy in my opinion.

HARLOW: All right. Well, we'll see what you do tomorrow. And about that social media stuff. Don't take it too seriously. It happens to us all.

Doctor, thank you very much.

SMITH: Thanks for the lesson.

HARLOW: Thank you very much.

Coming up next, an iconic voice speaking out for the Hillary Clinton campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN FREEMAN, ACTOR (voice-over): She worked to reform juvenile justice in South Carolina, exposed racism in Alabama schools, registered Latino voters in Texas, and provided legal aid to families in Arkansas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: You know that voice. Our very own Don Lemon sat down with the man himself, Morgan Freeman, to talk politics, a lot more. Don joins me next. You'll hear that interview. Stay with us.

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[14:50:51] HARLOW: A legend, an iconic voice, Morgan Freeman, throwing his support behind Hillary Clinton. He sat down with our very own Don Lemon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: First of all, welcome.

These series of ads for Hillary Clinton. This is an endorsement?

FREEMAN: Yes, I have to pick somebody and she's been my choice since she decided, yes, I will go.

LEMON: Let's take a look at the ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN (voice-over): Her church taught her to do all the good you can for all the people you can for as long as you can. After law school, she could have joined high-priced law firm, but instead, she worked to reform juvenile justice in South Carolina, exposed racism in Alabama schools, registered Latino voters in Texas, and provided legal aid to families in Arkansas. Her life work has been about breaking barriers and so would her presidency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: That's very powerful. Why did you decide to do this?

FREEMAN: This is coming down to the wire. I think it is a very important election. We're in a situation in the world today where everybody's sitting on some kind of powder keg and matches, you know what I mean. So whoever is going to be part of the world leadership is going to have to have serious knowledge and smarts, and I think, because her background, knowledge, proven abilities --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: As a former secretary of state.

FREEMAN: Exactly.

LEMON: This is about -- for you, it sounds like this is about trust, who you can trust.

(LAUGHTER)

FREEMAN: Yes. Yes, absolutely.

LEMON: I want you to take a look at this. This is an exchange from a questionnaire from CNN's recent town hall with secretary Clinton. It's about the trust issue. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've heard from quite a few people my age that they think you're dishonest, but I'd like to hear from you on why you feel the enthusiasm isn't there.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I'm been around a long time. People have thrown all kinds of things at me it and, you know, I can't keep up with it. I just keep going forward. They fall by the way side. They come up with these outlandish things. They make these charges. I just keep going forward because there's nothing to it. They throw all this stuff at me and I'm still standing.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: Do you think that's -- do you think it's a good enough answer? The polls show she has a trust issue. Number one, is it a good enough answer? In your mind, do you think she has a trust issue?

FREEMAN: Well, not with me, she doesn't. I don't know. I can't say that she doesn't, because all you need in some cases, people, to say it, just put it out there, and it gets legs. The Clintons have being beat down ever since. Way back. So she just was going along with that legacy that she's inherited over the amount of time she's been in politics, which is a long time. This is -- I think this is just made up stuff, political hogwash.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: What an interview.

You know, Don, one of my colleagues said, oh, that ad just takes me back to "Shawshank Redemption," doesn't it.

LEMON: The voice of God --

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: The voice of God. It really is.

But what I think is fascinating, you learned a lot more from him. He doesn't just cut clearly down political lines. Yes, he endorsed Obama in '08. You said you found him to be more of an Independent.

[14:54:49] LEMON: He judges things on their merits whether someone is a Democrat or Republican or black or white. I don't want to speak for him, but I think he thinks, you know, we've been talking so much about race and this and the reason he did it he said wasn't because of race, was because of trust. Quite frankly, I think he thinks the whole racial discussion is a bit overblown in this particular election. He thinks, you know, Hillary Clinton is someone who's the most qualified person for him, this is him speaking, the most qualified person for him who happens to be a woman. Just like s happens to be white. Just like last time Obama was the most qualified person to him who happened to be black. I think he says I'm an American who happens to be a black American or African-American so I think he thinks this should be about trust and who can take over, you know, at 12:00 on January 20th.

HARLOW: You hear him say this is getting tight, this is getting close.

LEMON: I don't know when he decided but last time, as I said, he supported Obama and President Obama ran against Hillary Clinton, Senator Obama at the time and so again, that shows you it's not just about one particular thing. He thinks this time Hillary Clinton is more qualified. I think he had given it some thought obviously because someone with his weight, one of the most respected, if not the most respected actor in Hollywood to come to this decision to endorse and narrate, I think he would have to think about it for a while.

HARLOW: What an interview. Can't wait to see it tonight on your show.

LEMON: Yeah.

HARLOW: Thank you so much, Don Lemon.

The full interview with Morgan Freeman, 9:00 p.m. tonight, an hour earlier than usual, 9:00 p.m., "Tonight with Don Lemon," only right here on CNN. Tune in for that.

We'll be right back.

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