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What The World Thinks Of Donald Trump; CNN Series Reveals Heated Moments of Campaigns Past; Cooper Hefner Slams Trump; Feds Grant Ex-Clinton Staffer Immunity. Aired 3:30-4p ET
Aired March 03, 2016 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[15:30:22] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump says, Mitt Romney would have, quote, "dropped to his knees to get Trump's endorsement." And just like that, the saga that is the 2016 presidential race takes another uncomfortable turn, in case you were wondering, the world is indeed watching.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump is a business man, not a president.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a business man.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald Trump is a business man, a very successful one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is a business man.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A very, very rich man.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very rich person who thinks he can buy the world.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An entertainer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An actor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump is a funny man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A funny man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump is rich and --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not a very nice person.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's very nice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's nice man. He's a nice man.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald Trump is a man.
(INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that he caters to a very basic emotion.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're not listening to what he's saying. I think it's more about who he is.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So they're tired of those intellectual politicians so they're looking for someone fresh.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump is something new, something not normal. And they like someone who can speak out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good luck. Good luck for American people. And especially American people who vote Donald Trump.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They'll start having severe international relations problems with other countries. Much of Mexico, maybe Europe, much of China since he's always criticizing China.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that relations between Russia and the United States will be better.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's going to be horrible for the Middle East.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's going to be another World War III.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A third world war.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think he's somebody who I want to see with his finger on the nuclear button to be honest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very scared.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Worried about what's going to happen.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very scary.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know. It looks a bit dire.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He might be a good president for America. If they are not satisfied with Obama, maybe it will be a good change for them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In all the caricatures of the world papers, America with Donald Trump will not be very different from America with Donald Duck.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: All around the world perspective, and it is important and it is Trump's world view that has more than 75 Republican national security leaders turning on the likely 2016 nominee, signing a scathing open letter that slams his foreign policy ideas and warrants a Trump presidency would equal global economic disaster and endanger the United States.
Even Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, noting the letter, issuing a statement that says, quote, "I want Republican voters to pay close attention to what our party's most respected and knowledgeable leaders and national security experts are saying about Mr. Trump."
Here is, with me, one of the letter signees, one of those experts, Matt Kroenig, a former special adviser in the office of Secretary of Defense, Associate Professor at Georgetown University and foreign policy adviser on Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign.
So, Matt, nice to have you back.
MATT KROENIG, JOINED 77 SECURITY EXPERTS IN LETTER OPPOSING TRUMP: Thanks for having me on, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Explain to me first just this open letter that you and so many others of this defensive foreign policy leaders, you know, sent.
KROENIG: Well, the most important job of the U.S. president is to be commander-in-chief. President shares responsibility on the economy and domestic politics with courts, with the private sector. But in foreign policy, he calls the shots.
So, it's pretty important. And Donald Trump is just unfit for the job. He hasn't articulated a clear foreign policy division. To the degree he's articulated any views on foreign policy, they don't make any sense. So, he would be a disaster for the Republican Party. A disaster as president. And that's why my colleagues and I got together to write this letter to vow to energetically work to stop him from being elected.
BALDWIN: Since I don't have a Trump supporter on, just let me do this on balance. Giving him the benefit of the doubt if he were to be elected, you know, and he were to tap into some brilliant military minds in foreign policy et cetera, would that ease some of your concerns? I mean, what could he say? What could Donald Trump say to convince you otherwise?
KROENIG: Yes, well, Washington, D.C. is a small town. I know the other foreign policy experts, the other candidates are building serious teams. Marco Rubio already had a serious team in place. Hillary Clinton already has a serious team in place. I disagree a lot with Secretary Clinton but she has a serious team. I don't know anybody working for Donald Trump.
So, if he was going to build a serious team, he should be doing it already. I don't think he's doing that. I don't think he has any intention on doing it. I'm not sure where he's getting the policy ideas. He seems to be making them up. And that's why they don't make any sense. So, again, unfit for the job, would be a disaster as the Republican nominee and disaster as commander-in-chief.
[15:35:36] BALDWIN: So if he doesn't have a team as you're telling me here as DC is indeed a small two, is there anyone who would quell any of your concerns? Someone he could choose to help advise him? Who would you choose? KROENIG: I think that's what this letter shows. This letter brings
together many of the most influential Republican foreign policy experts. Former generals, diplomates, academics. And we are all saying that we will not work for Trump. We won't support his election. We'll work energetically to stop that from happening.
So, I think this sends a strong message, that Trump is not fit for the job, he won't be able to build a foreign policy team, we're refusing to work for him. And so he's going to continue to have these idiotic policies, like saying that he's going to bomb ISIS' oil and take the oil, saying that he's going to act as a racketeer basically and threaten Japan and so they pay more for their security. This isn't the kind of rhetoric we need from the leader of the free world from an American president. Again he's just unfit for the job. And we need to stop him from being elected.
BALDWIN: OK, Matt Kroenig, thank you.
KROENIG: My pleasure.
BALDWIN: Coming up next, he plays the President. Sorry, spoiler alert, if you haven't watched, on "House of Cards," and now he's the producer of this new CNN series looking back at the dirtiest political fights in American History. Hear what Kevin Spacey thinks about this year's race for the White House.
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[15:41:27] BALDWIN: Dirty, ruthless, unprecedented, yes, indeed. This race for president has been all of the above. But memory is fleeting. Kennedy and Nixon, Bush and Dukakis, dirty, ruthless, unprecedented. This Sunday, CNN teams up with Kevin Spacey for a new original series that revisits six of America's most controversial presidential races.
CNN Alisyn Camerota sat down with Kevin Spacey for a preview.
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ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST, "NEW DAY": So in researching all of these presidential races, which ones did you find most fascinating?
KEVIN SPACEY, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, RACE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE: There's actually, they're incredible, I think Dukakis/Bush one is really interesting, because it's remarkable how events that happen in the course of the campaign can become the singular thing that a candidate is then identified by. Certainly Dukakis' case, it would be the moments in the tank. Which of course tanked than his campaign.
It's really interesting, you know, you look back on it now and sometimes no matter how intelligence, articulate, how many incredible policies an individual might have, these individual moments, these slipups, these, you know, it's like I think of the great moment when George H.W. Bush looked at his watch in the middle of the debate as if he had somewhere better to be. And of course it wasn't what he intended. But it is so fascinating how little moments like that reveal something to a public, to a press, that can then change the course of history.
CAMEROTA: Some people characterized this race the -- 2016 race as the most astonishing race ever. How do you characterize it?
SPACEY: No, I think there are many parallels that we can make to the 1968 race, George Wallace ran a very similar kind of campaign. He did exactly the same sorts of things, attack journalists, attacked integrity of other candidates. Used racism. Insulted people. There were fights at his rallies. I mean, oh, yes, we've seen this before. And, you know, at least the good news about our country is no matter how crazy it gets and no matter how much fun we have and how insane it looked, we generally get it right in the end. We generally figure it out.
CAMEROTA: That's a hopeful take on this.
SPACEY: Very hopeful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Do not miss the CNN original series "Race For The White House," airs this Sunday night, 10:00 Eastern, only here on CNN.
BALDWIN: Next, he is the son of the famous playboy founder Hugh Hefner's and longtime family friend of Donald Trump but Cooper Hefner says, Trump is full of it. He'll join me live to explain why.
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[15:48:15] BALDWIN: Donald Trump is full of -- use your imagination and fill in the blank. That is a direct quote from the son of Playboy Founder Hugh Hefner. He is Cooper Hefner, he is calling out Donald Trump and the generation of millennial voters. He wrote in an op-ed this, here's the hard truth, it is time our generation collectively pulls our heads out of our bleeps and pays attention to something other than me, reality television and cell phone selfies. We need to talk about politics and we need to do it now."
And Cooper Hefner, founder of Hop Media, joins me live. Cooper, nice to have you on.
COOPER HEFNER, FOUNDER, HOP MEDIA: Thank you for having me.
BALDWIN: Before we get into the crux of your argument, let's just remind everyone that Donald Trump graced cover of Playboy in 1990. You call Trump family friend. Someone you've actually known since you were ittie bittie. Can you just first tell me, you know, cameras away, what was he like?
HEFNER: Well, it's important to understand the role of the mansion just in my life. There were so many different entertainers and so many different business men and women and actors that were coming through the house that had relationships with my dad. So I had the opportunity to obviously interact with a lot of these people. And obviously when you're spending time with somebody 11, 12, 13, it's unbelievably difficult to understand what an adult's motives are, and I never really had an opinion on Trump before. But obviously when you throw your hat into the presidential race, you judge a character very differently.
And a number of the political stances that he was taking, I was absolutely detached from and it was sort of shocking to me that there were a number of millennial voters that were willing to sort of step up and say no, we like this personality.
BALDWIN: Sure.
HEFNER: So, I sort of felt a duty to actually write something and speak, you know, whether it was one person who would have listened or 100 to say, look, actually, there is a large part of this generation that actually does not support any of what this individual is saying and this is somebody who has a relationship with my family.
BALDWIN: You know, I am curious, because I've talked to a lot of people who have known Donald Trump for a long time and they say, Brooke, you know, he's talked about this, he's floated this notion of running for president for quite a while and I'm curious with, you know, the relationship he did have with your dad, you know, had he ever mentioned that or were you aware of or what did your dad say, when you published this piece?
HEFNER: Well, that's a question that I've already been asked, but my dad, I mean, clearly has made a career out of sharing his opinions. So he's never been critical, even when I've gone a different route than what he would have gone. He's just proud of the fact that there is an opportunity to speak your mind regardless of what you're saying. So, I actually to tell you the truth, I haven't spoken to my dad about the piece. I'm going to see him after this and I'm sure he'll have some comments to make.
BALDWIN: OK. I appreciate you chatting with me before your dad, you know, the whole national television thing.
HEFNER: Talking to my dad? Yes.
BALDWIN: Yes. I wanted to point out this line really jumped off the page to me, Cooper. You wrote, "Truth be told, I don't believe a lot of Republicans even understand what they're rooting for in a candidate like Trump, making it even more important for our generation to promote diversity and display a united front against dated conservative ideology." Why do you think that Donald Trump is so appealing specifically to, let's say, your generation?
HEFNER: Because I think that millennials are tired of the establishment. I think that's very likely why Bernie Sanders is doing so well. I know I'm not saying anything that would surprise people, but I always find it interesting that when you talk to Trump supporters, they frequently say, you know, he seems like a great leader, he seems strong, he seems, he's got a great personality, he's loud. And I sort of take a step back and say, what about his policies? I mean, Kevin Spacey in the last segment that you just ran -- referenced George Wallace.
BALDWIN: Yes.
HEFNER: In the piece that I wrote, I did the same because --
BALDWIN: Yes, you did.
HEFNER: -- I can't help but draw the comparison of saying, look, here's somebody who sit and says these things like we need to institutionalize a Muslim database, you know, we need to deport immigrants. We need to make it difficult for immigrants to come in legally. I mean, I can't help, there are so many racist undertones to so many of the policies that I can't help but feel like do Republicans understand that by supporting a candidate like this, you're sort of inadvertently identifying yourself as a racist.
BALDWIN: Because we know how you feel about Donald Trump.
HEFNER: That's why, I mean, that's why I said in the piece, you know, I'm not quite sure if Republicans even know the candidate and I'm not quite sure if Republicans even understand what he actually stands for.
BALDWIN: Do you have a favorite quickly, Cooper?
HEFNER: Hillary Clinton, but if she doesn't get the nominee, then I'll vote Sanders.
BALDWIN: OK. Cooper Hefner, thanks for chatting with me before your pops. Appreciate it.
HEFNER: Yes. Thank you for having me.
[15:53:14] BALDWIN: Thank you. Coming up next, speaking of Hillary Clinton, a Hillary Clinton scandal that just won't go away. The former staffer who set up her private e-mail server now granted immunity in exchange for an interview with the FBI investigators. We will dig into what that could mean for the democratic front-runner.
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[15:57:41] BALDWIN: As democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton moves ahead closer to that nomination, questions are still swirling about her private e-mail server. The latest development is this, Bryan Pagliano, a former staffer who helped Secretary Clinton set up her private e-mail server, he is the man you see with the yellow tie, you saw with the yellow tie wearing glasses. He's accepted an offer of immunity from the FBI and the DOJ to provide an interview to investigators.
Let's go to CNN senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar with more on this. Now what?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's the thing. We don't exactly know, Brooke and this happening on several different fronts. You have the courts and we are talking about a number of different cases. And then you have this, it's the FBI investigation into whether this server setup was secure. And that is what Bryan Pagliano comes into this. He is the former State Department server staffer who set up Clinton's private server in 2009.
Before that, he worked on her campaign. And back in December, he took the fifth so he didn't have to testify before a Republican led House Committee. Now he has this offer of immunity so that he can talk to the FBI, he can talk to the Department of Justice and the campaign says they're pretty happy about this. And despite Clinton's initial attempts to keep this server private, they're stressing certainly his cooperation as well as her cooperation.
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BRIAN FALLON, SPOKESMAN, HILLARY CLINTON CAMPAIGN: And the point was that she was willing to answer any question, so have all of her aides been. We had wanted Bryan to do the same. He decided not to but we're pleased that he's at least cooperating with the Justice Department review. We think that the more answers he can give, the more it will qualify that Justice Department's understanding that nothing inappropriate took place here.
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KEILAR: So then, Brooke, you also have a number of court cases and you have a U.S. district court judge who has indicated he may ask the State Department to subpoena either Clinton or maybe her right-hand woman Huma Abedin to figure out a little bit more about how this whole process happened, about what exactly they know. And then it's also it's not just clear at this point who might get in trouble if anybody, people close to Hillary Clinton or indicating look it's not her. She received a lot of e-mails from people and so a lot of those folks are under the spotlight as well.
BALDWIN: You are the one watching this so closely. Brianna Keilar, thank you very much.
Speaking of Hillary Clinton, do not forget, you faces off against her rival, Bernie Sanders, this Sunday night. That is the next CNN democratic debate live in Flint, Michigan at 8:00 Eastern, only here on CNN.
I'm Brooke Baldwin here in New York. Thank you so much for being with me on this Thursday. Keep it right here. Let's go to Washington. "THE LEAD" starts now.
