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Active Shooter Situation in Virginia; Trump in Hot Water Over Abortion Comments. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired March 31, 2016 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:02]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: He said women should be punished for having abortions if, one day, the procedure is outlawed in the United States. And then he later reversed his stance, ultimately taking three different positions in three hours, after swift backlash from people on both sides of the abortion debate.

That includes his GOP rivals. And John Kasich says it's far from the only reason Trump is unfit to be president. He laid out his own top five. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We know about his comments on abortion which have put women in a very difficult position. And we know that he has since moved to correct those in one way or another.

He actually talked about the use of nuclear weapons, both in the Middle East and in Europe. You wonder about his hand or his thumb getting any close to the critical button that presidents are in charge of.

Number three, he says that we should basically abolish the Geneva Convention, which was created to make sure that we had fair treatment for anybody who could be captured in war and that somehow we ought to abolish the Geneva Convention and engage in, I guess, more torture, which doesn't sit well with any of the people who have served our country so honorably.

He's called on NATO basically to be abolished, although I can't figure out what his position is today. I happen to believe that NATO needs to be strengthened. And then one of the most curious -- and I don't even know how he went there -- is that in picking the Supreme Court justice, that Donald Trump has suggested that we have to -- that any Supreme Court justice must make a commitment to review and investigate Hillary's e-mails. That -- I don't even know how you do that. That's something I can't even figure out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: But just moments ago, Hillary Clinton lumped in Kasich as well as other Republicans with Trump on the abortion issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump is showing us exactly who he is, and we should believe him.

But let's remember this. All the Republican candidates want to make abortion illegal. If you make abortion a crime, then you make women and doctors criminals. I'm always struck by the fact that these Republicans all want limited government, except when it comes to women's rights.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So, a lot to talk about, to say the least.

Let's get right to it with CNN political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson, David Catanese, senior political writer with "U.S. News & World Report" and Rebecca Berg, national political reporter for RealClearPolitics.

Great to have you all on.

We're all wondering what happened in that meeting between Donald Trump and the RNC, Nia? What in the world did they talk about? Do we know yet?

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, oh, to be a fly on the wall in that meeting.

Of course, it comes after what might have been the worst 24 hours over Donald Trump's campaign. And you have seen the RNC in some ways step in at critical moments during Donald Trump's campaign. Of course, when he flirted with maybe running a third party, they made him sign a pledge that he would back the nominee.

Of course, little good that did. He's already backed out of that pledge, as most of them did.

(CROSSTALK)

HENDERSON: But they have along the way, you know, encouraged him to tamp down on some of the rhetoric, whether it was around Muslims, whether it was around illegal immigration.

You imagine that's the kind of thing that is going on there. And then, of course, a likely discussion of what's going to happen and what the rules are in terms of the Cleveland convention.

But, again, this comes at a critical time for Donald Trump's campaign, where he has called for the GOP to unite around him, but at the same time, the GOP seems more fractured than ever and more emboldened, at least the establishment wing, the anti-Trump wing, to take him down.

BROWN: David, I mean, I don't know who asked for this meeting, but do you think that the GOP is really or the RNC, I should say, is growing concerned, especially in light of the last 24 hours, that this is all hurting the GOP?

DAVID CATANESE, "U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT": Oh, I'm sure they are very concerned. I think they have been concerned for a while.

You have really seen party leaders intervene at different points in times when these controversies have bubbled up, whether it be Paul Ryan making the call, Mitch McConnell making the call, trying to tamp down the Donald's rhetoric.

But I also think that his answer the other night on not pledging to support the nominee, which frankly all the Republican candidates said the same thing on that -- they all sort of wavered on that -- I think that there is some nervousness on Trump, given that he is the most likely one to bolt and run third-party.

So I think, if you're Priebus, you want to keep a constant line of contact there and feel him out, see where he's going, because that's the last thing the Republicans need. They have already got enough of a mess. The last thing they need is a third party that would get in this general election and hand the election to Hillary Clinton.

[15:05:02]

BROWN: You know, Rebecca, Donald Trump is no stranger to controversy. But the last 24 hours seems different, as Nia pointed out. What do you think, especially when it comes to abortion and some of these other big policy issues, particularly Republicans?

Has he not thought through these policies or does he just want to cause a stir? Is this an effective strategy? What do you think?

REBECCA BERG, REALCLEARPOLITICS: Well, it didn't seem to me, at least, Pamela, that this was a deliberate strategy on Donald Trump's to come out, say one thing about abortion and then flip his position entirely in the course of maybe an hour.

I don't think that's any politician's deliberate strategy, even if it does get news and cause a stir. I think this is probably a policy position that he hadn't fully thought through. Donald Trump, of course, as he himself will admit, is kind of newly a pro-lifer within the past couple of years, decade or so.

And so he doesn't know the ins and outs of pro-life policies in the way that someone like Ted Cruz would, for example, who has been a pro- life candidate for his whole political career. This really showed, for me at least, Donald Trump is still learning the ropes and there's still mistakes to be made.

But in terms of the political implications of something like this for him, we have to remember that he is already so unpopular among women. Evangelicals still tend to support Cruz. And so really among his core supporters, I don't think there are any core supporters among Trump's base motivated solely by an issue like abortion, and for whom this is going to be a big deal-breaker.

BROWN: And speaking of women voters, there's this new CNN poll, Nia, that shows Trump's support among women very low. This was taken actually before his abortion remarks yesterday.

Could his numbers dip even more? How could this impact Trump's female vote in Wisconsin, where we know the primary is in less than a week, and elsewhere?

HENDERSON: Yes, we are already seeing from these polls in Wisconsin that women are supporting Ted Cruz now at this point, at least if we believe this poll, than they are supporting Donald Trump.

In past races, we have seen it reverse, meaning that women were more likely to support Donald Trump than they were Ted Cruz. What's been remarkable I think about these last 24 hours is, if Donald Trump falters, it will largely be because of Republican women.

You have had Republican women almost have sort of a feminist moment over these last 24 hours and coming out, very high-profile women, women, you know, in the anti-abortion fight, really strongly opposing Donald Trump.

And it's almost like they have borrowed a line from Democrats. More women are using that strategy now against Donald Trump. It's something remarkable that I think we're witnessing now.

BROWN: And something else that's garnered some controversy is what Donald Trump has said about nuclear weapons, particularly what he told MSNBC's Chris Matthews about not ruling out using nukes in Europe. Let's take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC: Can you tell the Middle East we're not using a nuclear weapon on anybody?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I would never say that. I would never take any of my cards off the table.

MATTHEWS: How about Europe? We won't use it in Europe?

TRUMP: I -- I'm not going to take it off the table.

MATTHEWS: You might use it in Europe?

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: No, I don't think so. But I'm not taking...

MATTHEWS: Well, just say it. "I will never use a nuclear weapon in Europe."

TRUMP: I am not -- I am not taking cards off the table.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: David, your reaction to that?

CATANESE: Yes, I just didn't find this comment as controversial, especially if we're talking a Republican primary base.

I think Republican voters are very skeptical of sort of showing our hand. I think Trump did have an answer. He didn't say he was going to use nuclear weapons in Europe. He just said, I'm not going to show my hand. I'm not going to talk about it.

I think if you're a Republican voter or just anyone listening to that, his actual answer is, I'm not going to show my cards, which is different. And I think if you're listening closely to that, I think he probably gets a pass on that remark from Republicans.

I think the abortion comment, he was clearly just out of his league, didn't really know how to answer it, as Rebecca said. I think that is the most problematic answer he gave last night.

BROWN: And we know he just wrapped up this meeting with the RNC. Of course, as he normally does, he is tweeting about it.

Let's look at that tweet. He said: "Just had a very nice meeting with Reince Priebus and the GOP" -- "Reince Priebus," I should say, "and the GOP. Looking forward to bringing the party together and it will happen."

Rebecca, your reaction? Want to bring you in.

BERG: Sounds like the meeting went well. It's I think indicative of how much Donald Trump has changed over the course of this campaign, that he is now talking about uniting the party, tweeting out this very diplomatic really for him tweet about his meeting with Reince Priebus, just at the same time, really, in the same week that he has been warning the Republican Party against pulling any fast ones on him.

He flamed up over this Louisiana delegate selection process, where Ted Cruz's campaign went in and just by virtue of their better organization were able to come out with more delegates than Donald Trump. But it looks like, at least for now, they have made peace.

[15:10:00]

BROWN: All right, and, quickly, Nia, Rand Paul is touting this big endorsement tomorrow. Do we know anything about that?

HENDERSON: You know, I don't personally know anything about it. You know, we will have to see.

I think the story of endorsements this year is that they haven't really mattered. If anything, they have backfired. A lot of these folks have gotten governors' endorsements in these primary states and they have gone on to lose those contests. I think this is such an unpredictable year, that endorsements just have not mattered really at all. But we will have to wait and see.

BROWN: Yes, unpredictable is the name of the game this year.

Nia-Malika, David, Rebecca, thank you so much.

CATANESE: Thanks a lot.

BERG: Thank you.

BROWN: And we are getting some breaking news in at this hour, the word of an active shooter situation at the Greyhound bus station in Richmond, Virginia. Police have now confirmed they are dealing with this. We're making calls and we're going to going to have more right after this break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: We're following some breaking news at this hour.

There's apparently an active shooter situation at the Greyhound bus station in Richmond, Virginia. Police there have confirmed to us that they are responding to this. We're making calls as we speak. And, of course, we will keep you updated with any developments on this active shooter situation there in Richmond, Virginia.

[15:15:13]

And, meantime, Republican front-runner Donald Trump made some very revealing comments about the Supreme Court nominees he would pick. Trump says if he were to win the presidency, he'd nominate justices who would investigate Hillary Clinton's e-mails. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Well, I'd probably that would look very seriously at her e- mail disaster, because it's a criminal activity. And I would appoint people that would look very seriously at that, to start off with. What she's getting away with is absolutely murder. You talk about a case, now that's a real case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So, there's one catch to this. As a basic tenet, the Supreme Court does not prosecute individuals.

In fact, the Supreme Court is the final arbiter of cases involving laws of Congress and the Constitution.

So, let's talk this over with constitutional law professor Gloria Browne-Marshall.

Gloria, just to put this out there, one of Trump's advisers says that he thought he was talking about the attorney general, not a Supreme Court justice, but the question was pretty clear to him, as we heard.

So, what do you think? Given his answer, does Donald Trump understand how the Supreme Court works?

GLORIA BROWNE-MARSHALL, JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE: Well, no. U.S. Supreme Court justices are not pit bulls who are hired to go after anyone. As a matter of fact, the Senate hearings are supposed to reveal any

biases and look at the background of a particular nominee to make sure that they will be unbiased.

BROWN: And make their decisions based on what the law and precedent dictates.

BROWNE-MARSHALL: Of course.

BROWN: And we have been talking a lot about this, because, as we know, there's been a lot of focus on President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland.

Hillary Clinton was asked about him, and whether she would tap Garland if she is elected president, some would say she dodged the president. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: I really find this whole line of questioning one that I'm not comfortable with, because I -- we have one president at a time. And I think part of the problem right now is the Republicans are trying to act like he's not really still president.

I was one of the 65 million people who voted to reelect President Obama, so my voice is being shut out because the Republican Senate won't actually process Judge Garland's nomination. So, I don't want to -- I don't want any daylight between me and President Obama.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So, Gloria, what's your reaction? Do you think she did dodge the question?

BROWNE-MARSHALL: I think she did dodge the question because she's a politician. And U.S. Supreme Court justices are supposed to be above politics. That's why they serve for life.

They're not supposed to be people who have a hidden agenda. And all of that is supposed to come out during the hearing. And that's why the hearing is so important. The Senate has a chance, as representatives of the people, to ask a nominee questions and make sure there's no bias, that the nominee is very well-versed in the law, has a background and is not going to be a pit bull for any one particular political party.

BROWN: All right, Gloria Browne-Marshall, thank you very much.

And we're following some breaking news. As we mentioned, we're getting word of an active shooter situation at the Greyhound bus station in Richmond, Virginia. Police have now confirmed they are dealing with this. We are going to have more on this after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:22:43] BROWN: Welcome back.

We're following breaking news at this hour in Richmond, Virginia, where there's an active shooter situation, we're told, at the Greyhound bus station.

Police, as we see, authorities are responding to this active situation. Greyhound just confirmed the incident and released a statement saying there's an ongoing incident at the Richmond, Virginia, Greyhound station. The station is presently closed. And local authorities are responding.

I want to bring in our law enforcement analyst Art Roderick based in Washington, D.C.

Art, you have covered many of these types of situations in your career in law enforcement. What's happening right now?

ART RODERICK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, it looks like they have already -- the police obviously have responded to the scene and blocked the area off.

And it sounds like they're already collecting evidence. I have been watching some of the local news down there. And there's been different reports on the number of injuries I have seen. Of course, none of this has been confirmed up to this point, but I have seen somewhere upwards of four people injured.

But it looks like they have the scene under control at this point. And, obviously, they are -- I don't know if they have or if you guys have heard if they have neutralized the shooter or shooters at this point in time.

BROWN: No, we don't have that information. As you know, in the very beginning stages, it's often hard to get the facts.

But what we do know is that authorities are responding. You know, you look at something like this, I mean, this is a place that people go to day to day just to hop on a bus and get to where they need to be. So- called soft target, as they say, right, Art?

RODERICK: Yes, no, exactly, Pamela.

And, you know, the big question here is going to be, what's the motivation behind the shooting? Is it a simple criminal act or is it something more nefarious that we're very familiar with, unfortunately, in this country at this point? But I'm sure they will have this sorted out fairly quickly.

I can see some of the local news reporters on the scene there that are looking at that. They already have the evidence tape up and they're already gathering evidence at the scene. I see several ambulances there. So it looks like they have the area well under control at this point in time.

BROWN: So we're looking at pictures right here from the area. And some law enforcement officers look relatively calm. We don't know how close they are to the actual situation there at the Greyhound bus station.

But tell us about the coordination that goes on when that call comes in there is an active shooter at a bus station. What kind of coordination is taking place between the locals and the state and federal officials?

[15:25:10]

RODERICK: You know, as we have talked about in other shootings of this kind, there's a lot of training that goes on here between law enforcement and the local communities, whether it's a school.

I don't know if they have had any training specifically with the bus station. But it is classified as an infrastructure location, obviously looked at by Department of Homeland Security as a transportation hub.

So that comes into account. The police, obviously, with the training that they have in the past, want to respond as quickly as they can, enter that type of location and try to neutralize the threat as quickly as they can.

From seeing the news reporting here, you don't see anybody in a position where it looks like something's going on there anymore. It looks like they have got the situation under control. It also looks like they're at the point where they're, again, gathering whatever evidence they can at the scene.

We haven't heard anything about the shooter at all, which is kind of unusual at this point in time.

BROWN: Yes. Right. Still early very on, though. We're waiting to hear the facts.

Art Roderick, stick around. We're staying on top of this story.

We're going to take a quick break and we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)