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Rubio Comments About Trump; Rubio Advisers Pushed for VP; Trump Sets Sights on Donors. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired May 10, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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


[14:00:00] WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nonetheless, people on the streets were saying they are happy that their leader has this new position and they say they agree with his strategy to try to grow this nation's impoverished economy, but at the same time invest billions on developing an even bigger and stronger nuclear arsenal, even if it means heightened international sanctions and hardship for the people. They say they support him, but then again, here in North Korea, what else would they say?

Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Will Ripley in Pyongyang, thanks very much.

That's it for me. The news continues next on CNN.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf Blitzer, thank you so much.

Hi there. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You are watching CNN on this Tuesday.

We begin with a surprise twist in the race for president. A Republican source tells CNN that Marco Rubio's own people were pushing him, quote/unquote, "hard" to be Donald Trump's running mate. Rubio, as you well know, dropped out of the race back in March. This discussion apparently happened just last month at the Republican National Committee meeting down in Florida. This source says Rubio has, in fact, moved on, but added that the Florida senator would likely have demanded some changes in the Trump campaign. Quoting the source, quote, "Mr. Trump has shown he always leaves the space to walk things back when he needs it." He goes on, "with regards to the Hispanic community, there would have to be things that would have to be walked back."

This breaking development comes in stark contrast with what Rubio said in the hours after he dropped out of the presidential race, saying he did not want to be vice president. As far as the Florida senator today, what does he have to say about the frontrunner, the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party? Minutes ago he talked about Donald Trump before an audience of foreign policy experts in our nation's capital.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: I don't view myself as a guy who's going to sit here for the next six months taking shots at him. I - people know where I stand. They know how I feel. They know what our differences are. He's the nominee of the Republican Party, or the presumptive nominee via the voters and I respect that and accept it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's talk about this with CNN political director David Chalian.

David Chalian, there's a lot of pieces of this, right? This happened a month ago. Again, we're hearing over and over from Marco Rubio, no way, no way, no way. Not interested. Maybe he'd have to walk things back. Things would have to change. Cut through it. What's happening?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, let - let's break this down into pieces. First of all, when somebody says, in April or May, that they don't want to be vice president, that is very different from actually saying no when the nominee calls to ask you in July, right? So there is a whole art form about saying you're not interested and how - how vociferously you say that, and yet you do - you do kind of want to be on the short list behind the scenes.

I'm not suggesting Marco Rubio hasn't ruled it out. And, in fact, both sides seem to say now to our Jim Acosta and to others that the interest has - has waned. But I do think it is really interesting to see that Rubio's advisers and those that support him made this pitch to team Trump. First of all, it's not surprising politically, right? Marco Rubio on paper is a very attractive candidate. If you go back to that 2012 autopsy that the Republican Party did, he -

BALDWIN: Hispanics and women.

CHALIAN: Exactly. I mean he fits the bill there and on the ticket, obviously went through the rigors of the processes here, so he was somewhat already vetted in many ways, probably not too many surprises left about Marco Rubio, so that's an attractive quality. So there are lots of reasons why this may make sense. But you also heard Marco Rubio today - we didn't play it right there, but also today at that same event said, you know, he's not in a position to dictate anything or tell Donald Trump to be anything but Donald Trump should be who he is because he does, indeed, as he said there, respect the will of the voter and they have made him the nominee.

BALDWIN: So, quick question following up. If we know, according to these sources, that the Rubio folks were pitching, you know, Marco Rubio hard to the Trump folks, would that then infer that Marco Rubio would have to have consented to that push for that meeting?

CHALIAN: Not necessarily.

BALDWIN: Does that make sense?

CHALIAN: Yes, it makes -

BALDWIN: Not necessarily.

CHALIAN: It's a great question, but I don't think political advisers and strategists -

BALDWIN: Interesting.

CHALIAN: Need the permission of the principal to be able to start having those conversations.

BALDWIN: Interesting.

CHALIAN: So I think that could have easily happened without Marco Rubio's blessing. And, actually, if you're a Marco Rubio political adviser, it would probably be malpractice not to pursue that in some way. Remember, he gave up his Senate seat to run for president, so he's certainly in the market for a job.

BALDWIN: OK. Marco Rubio aside, what about these polls, these Quinnipiac polls? They talked to voters specifically in these swing states, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania. Because it's pollsters say since 1960 no candidate has won the presidency without taking at least two of those three states. And so just walking our viewers through some of this, you know, in Pennsylvania and Florida, for example, it is a virtual tie here. Secretary Clinton's one-point lead well within the margin of error, 3 percentage points. You look at Ohio, Trump edging out Clinton by just four points. I mean, you know, and then there's the whole gender gap issue, which is massive between these two. What jumped out at you the most?

[14:05:12] CHALIAN: Well, first and foremost, I was just like, wow, this is - this is -

BALDWIN: But it's so close.

CHALIAN: A close, contested race. And I guess if we look at elections, that shouldn't be too surprising. Those are the kinds of presidential elections we have in the modern era are closely contested ones. We would expect this to be the same. But, I do think you're right to note the gender gap. That was one of the first things I noticed in the poll was just that he is winning men overwhelmingly and she is winning women. So even if these are - numbers are not the exact numbers and you allow for the margin of error and all of that, I do think that that gender gap is going to be something for us to watch from now through November because it's going to be critical in determining just how close these contests are.

But the second thing - and I think this is really the most important thing out of these polls because, again, it's early, Brooke. You know that. We're going to have a lot of polling between now and November.

BALDWIN: Ys.

CHALIAN: But what Donald Trump needed this week was exactly this kind of information as he is going to Capitol Hill to meet with Speaker Ryan, to meet with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, to try to get the Republican establishment on board with the -

BALDWIN: Do you think it gives him leverage?

CHALIAN: Yes. Well, I don't know, leverage, but it certainly is a data point to present to them to say, guys, this is not some throw away I'm going the lose this race. Look at this. There's evidence to suggest this can be a contest. And it really is only going to be a successful effort if everyone gets together. So I think it's an - it's an important piece of information, a well-timed poll for Donald Trump and his aides to head to Capitol Hill with this week.

BALDWIN: David Chalian, you're so good. You're so good.

CHALIAN: Oh, thanks, Brooke. Thank you.

BALDWIN: Thank you so much.

CHALIAN: Thanks.

BALDWIN: A lot of data points to discuss right now, so let me bring in my panel. CNN political commentator Kayleigh McEnany, who supports Donald Trump, Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis, and Ben Howe, contributing editor to redstate.com.

So, welcome to all of you. And you just heard my conversation at the top there with David Chalian, you know, about this, you know, possibility of Rubio on the ticket.

Ben, to you. I mean we last chatted about your - you know, you're not shy, let's put it that way, about how you feel about Donald Trump. Would Rubio on the ticket entice you that way?

BEN HOWE, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, REDSTATE.COM: It would entice me to never support Rubio for anything ever again.

BALDWIN: Wow. OK.

HOWE: I've stood by a really simple I think common sense way of looking at things. If you think somebody is a liar, if you think they're unstable, if you think that they're dangerous, if you think that them being in the Oval Office would be bad for America, that doesn't change when the club you're part of nominates them. So if Rubio went back on everything he said in the election, which was far worse than anything that he said about Cruz or anything Romney said about anybody he would (INAUDIBLE) in 2012 -

BALDWIN: Not that politicians don't do that, by the way.

HOWE: Right, well, they do, but to this degree I think is - is - would be alarming. To say that somebody would be dangerous for America because they are unstable and then turn around and say, let's go, like, preach freedom together? It just - it seems - it seems like it would be a stretch.

BALDWIN: I hear you. And, again, you know, they've said Trump would have to walk a lot back. We don't know what a lot means, but I hear you on that.

HOWE: He'd have to walk himself back. I means -

BALDWIN: OK. OK. Your - that's your -

HOWE: The change would have to be Donald Trump being off.

BALDWIN: Wow. OK. So then now I turn to the Trump supporter, Kayleigh. Your thoughts on a potential, you know, Rubio-Trump ticket? If Rubio were to say yes.

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know as a - right. I have immense respect for Rubio. I think he would be a great VP candidate. I do respect the choice not to do it. They, obviously, were in some contentious battles on stage. But what I really respect about Marco Rubio is the fact that we just heard him say, I respect the will of the people. That is what the Republican Party has needed to do for a very long time and they haven't done it. That's why you see in poll after poll, every exit poll, 50-plus percent feel betrayed by the Republican Party. But the fact that we see people like Rubio supporting the nominee, Perry, McCain, go on and on and on, all of these people stepping behind the nominee and saying, you know what, this election isn't about us, it's not about what we want, it's about what the people want. That, I think, is the big story today, that Rubio had the courage to come out and say that. So I respect him for that.

BALDWIN: OK. Respect for that.

Chris, as the Dem, you're looking at this from a little bit different perspective. What are you thinking?

CHRIS KOFINIS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I'm just enjoying the back and forth between the two Republicans, sort of. I mean, listen, in terms of I think Rubio, I don't know, it would be one of the strangest political marriages, but, you know, Trump is a unique candidate in unique times, so I guess it's not impossible. I don't think it's realistic to think that they are going to be together. I mean he's going to have, I think, a serious challenge finding a credible vice president. I mean he can pick someone like Christie or Ben Carson, maybe there's someone else. But in the - in order to have someone next to him that's going to address some of the fundamental questions that voters have in their - in their - in their minds, specifically the idea that you're going to entrust Donald Trump with the nuclear codes, I'm not sure that vice presidential candidate's ever been created to be able to kind of create that credibility in voters' minds.

[14:10:20] BALDWIN: Kayleigh, I just have to pivot back to you. You're listening to these two men who obviously feel very strongly about Donald Trump. I want you to respond and then we'll move on.

MCENANY: Yes, you know, I would challenge you to say Rick Perry has already stepped up and say that he would be the VP. So there are many credible people who would agree to be Donald Trump's VP. And this whole, you know, crazy, outlandish idea that he's some maniac who's going to go off the rails, that's just simply not true. That's not a credible point of view. It's not a responsible point of view. And I don't think it's responsible to come on national TV and paint him as a maniac because that's just simply not true. And you're not only painting Donald Trump as a maniac -

KOFINIS: Wait - wait - wait - MCENANY: You're painting the millions of voting who are voting for him at unprecedented levels like never seen before, he will have the most of the Republican vote over any nominee in Republican history. So I think it's responsible to say (ph) not him, but his supporters like that.

HOWE: I just want - I want to be clear.

KOFINIS: With all - with all - with all - with all respect, it's not -

HOWE: I'm held to a higher standard than Donald Trump? Is that - is that how it works? I'm held to a higher standard than Donald Trump. He goes on national TV all the time and says unbelievably unforgivable things, but I'm the one who needs to reserve myself. I want to make sure that's what's going on here.

BALDWIN: OK. OK. OK. OK. I want to move on. Let's just move on. I don't want to have a scream fest over Donald Trump at the top of my show.

Let's move on to - let's move on to Ted Cruz because this was also sort of fascinating. I'm sure you know about what he said. It was kind of a bizarre interview. Glenn Beck, you know, interviewing him on the radio and essentially he said, if he were to win today in Nebraska, let me just be precise in my language, he told Beck that he would quote/unquote respond accordingly if he sees a path to victory.

Ben, should he jump back in?

HOWE: If - if there is a path that he can take, he has a responsibility to jump back in. I mean there are millions of people that represent him.

BALDWIN: You do think so?

HOWE: Absolutely. Do I think there is one? I have no idea.

BALDWIN: You have no idea.

Chris?

HOWE: I have no idea. I did not think there was.

KOFINIS: Oh, I - nothing would make my day more than Ted Cruz jumping back into the race. I mean that would be -

BALDWIN: Does that make it harder for the never Trump to keep up their case when it - when it's so close also, though, in those swing states, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, that we were just talking about?

KOFINIS: I mean, listen, the - you know, in all - you know, all joking aside about the craziness that we've seen in this primary season, especially on the Republican side, I mean, this is going to be, as I think every election is, a heated, contested, potentially very brutal election. I don't think - and no one should underestimate Trump's ability to cross any line. And he's going to have a certain swath of support. So I don't think if you're Secretary Clinton, you go into this race, or any Democrat, if you're - if you want to be serious and think this race is over somehow in June. It is not. He's going to be a formidable candidate and we should - we should respect that reality. That doesn't mean he'd be a good president. I think he'd be an absolute, unmitigated disaster. But that doesn't mean he can't win. You have to look at it that way and I think the polls are going to at least suggest that for the time being.

BALDWIN: OK, pause on this. Ben, Kayleigh, Chris, stick around. I want to bring you back in a moment.

But just a quick programing note for all of you watching. This is huge, especially with all the news today with regard to the Florida senator, Marco Rubio. He will be talking to Jake Tapper on "The Lead." It's a CNN exclusive. This is Rubio's first interview since dropping out of the Republican presidential race. Definitely tune in, 4:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.

Next, when it comes to raising cash for the general election, is Donald Trump starting a tad too late? We have that for you.

Also, Jon Stewart blaming Democrats for, in part, the rise of Donald Trump. But he doesn't stop there. He criticizes Hillary Clinton as well. We'll play that for you.

And, one college offering up a course on the, quote, "Trump factor" and American politics. What does that final exam look like? We'll talk to the professor, live.

You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:18:11] BALDWIN: Welcome back. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Donald Trump - Donald Trump has boasted throughout the primaries that he is self-funding his campaign, but to compete with Democrats this fall, he will need other people's money and a lot of it. One of the main assets he can tap into comes from the Republican National Committee and "The New York Times" is reporting that Trump and his advisers are close to a deal that would allow him to raise money for the committee and his own campaign at the very same time. But that plan isn't without hurdles. Some major Republican donors are still uncommitted or quite simply won't back Donald Trump and a key Republican operative warns, quote, "no one should underestimate how hard it would be for any nominee to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in a very short period of time."

CNN Politics and Money reporter MJ Lee is with me now.

So, tell me more about this.

MJ LEE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, I mean, Donald Trump faces an unusual situation right now. Remember, he has spent the last year really criticizing Republican donors, criticizing the political system, criticizing the RNC. And now that he has become the presumptive nominee, he really needs to tap into that party apparatus. He needs help from donors to make sure that he can raise the hundreds of millions of dollars that he needs to compete against Hillary Clinton in the general election. Now, a lot of the donors that I've spoken to say that they're waiting for Trump to reach out to them. They're waiting to see if Trump's tone will change. And a big part of that -

BALDWIN: What do they mean by tone?

LEE: Well, a big part of that is seeing actually what happens on Thursday after his meeting with Paul Ryan and other congressional leaders. Look, he has spent a really long time, you know, using messages that have not necessarily unified the party.

BALDWIN: Yes.

LEE: And, as you know, party unity has now become the key theme for the Republican Party after Trump has become the nominee. And I think a lot of donors are taking their cues from party leaders. They want to see if Paul Ryan comes out of that meeting and says, look, he's on our team now. This is a guy that you all can support and that I now support. I think a lot of donors want to hear a party leaders say that before they decide if they want to write these million dollar checks to support a very unusual candidate.

[14:20:15] BALDWIN: And they may or may not get that sort of language from Paul Ryan.

LEE: Right.

BALDWIN: You know, I think the meeting is anyone's guess. So that's one issue where, you know, they're pennies, nickels and dimes is contingent upon what Speaker Ryan says. At the same time, haven't some donors come out and say, well, I'm just, you know, I'm focusing on down ballot, the down ballot Republicans and that's it?

LEE: Absolutely. A lot of donors who are just not prepared to support Donald Trump and the presidential campaign, they get that it's very important to support Senate candidates and House candidates to make sure that they can have as many Republican representatives in Congress. So they say that they're focusing their efforts and their money and their checkbooks on helping candidates and committees that raise money for congressional candidates, as opposed to writing checks for Donald Trump and his campaign.

Now, that time may actually come in a couple of months. Especially if Donald Trump makes those overtures and, you know, makes sure that he's building those relationships. But I think that it's a little too early to see whether, you know, that's going to happen. I think we also need to see what happens on Thursday with that Paul Ryan meeting.

BALDWIN: Yes. Because there's a meeting. There's some kind of meeting Thursday. Did you know?

MJ Lee, thank you so much. Coming up, Jon Stewart coming out of retirement, kind of sort of, to

weigh in on the presidential race. Why he says in part the Democrats are to blame for the rise of Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON STEWART: I'll lay the blame then with the Democrats. The door is open to a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) like Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:26:14] BALDWIN: Jon Stewart is back, sort of, calling Donald Trump a thin-skinned man baby who ridicules rivals and minorities but implodes when faced with critics. But the Republican frontrunner was not the only one skewered by Jon Stewart.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON STEWART: He is a man baby. He's - has the physical countenance of a man and a baby's temperament and hands.

I'll lay the blame then with the Democrats. The door is open to a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) like Donald Trump because the Democrats haven't done enough to show to people that government that can be effective for people can be efficient for people. And if you can't do that, then you've lost the right to make that change and someone's going to come in and demagogue you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

STEWART: And that's what happens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: They're back, Ben Howe, contributing editor for redstate.com, founder and creative director of Howe Creative Group, Kayleigh McEnany, CNN political commentator and Donald Trump supporter, and Chris Kofinis, Democratic strategist and former coms director for John Edwards.

So, Chris, out of the gate to you. We just played some of his sound. You know, the note on blaming Democrats. Would - is there some truth to that?

KOFINIS: I think there's some - the truth of the fact that you can blame Democrats. I think you can blame Republicans. I think you can blame Washington. The frustration that's out there in the country is real, whether it's on the - on the right and those that are supporting Trump, or those on the left that are supporting, you know, Senator Sanders. And I don't think you should - you know, you can minimize it if you want to understand what's going on in this election with the electorate.

And the reality is I think both Republicans and Democrats, this has been a bipartisan failure, but, you know, I'll put more blame on my party on this one, you know, because I'm the Democrat here. We - you know, we believe in government. I believe, as most Democrats believe, that government can do good things. It can change people's lives for the better. We have not done a good enough job to communicate that. We have not done a good enough job to explain it. And we've not done a good enough job to make sure that the programs that so many Republicans, like Donald Trump, want to destroy, you know, aren't demonized for the good that they do when they're not run as perfectly as they should be.

And so, unfortunately, I think we have fed it. But that doesn't explain or justify Donald Trump and the way he's pursued his agenda by demonizing Muslims, Mexicans and any human being that somehow disagrees with him.

BALDWIN: Sure. And, listen, it's not news that Jon Stewart was critical of Donald Trump whatsoever, but I think it was newsworthy that he pointed out - that he did, you know, lay some of the blame with Democrats, and specifically on Hillary Clinton. He described her as, quote, "a very bright woman without the courage of her convictions." He noted that convicting voters of her authenticity will be crucial if she hopes to win the general election.

And, Ben, if you can kind of sort of take your redstate.com hat off for a second and just - how would Hillary Clinton, you know, in terms of authenticity, how would she do that?

HOWE: How would she come across as authentic to people who completely disagree with her?

BALDWIN: Yes. Yes.

HOWE: Well, I think that if she's going to make any case to people that completely disagree with her, it's going to rests entirely on the idea that she would be more stable in the government office, in the Oval Office than Donald Trump would be, and that Donald Trump isn't going to serve any of the positions that are important to conservatives. That's how I look at him. So she doesn't even have to convince me. But I think that running as sort of the never Trump candidate towards conservatives and Republicans is their only chance. I think I've called it bumper stickers that say, vote for the enemy, it's important. You know, that might be one of the things that she could do. You know, the authenticity has to be not trying to pretend that we agree on these policy issues. We don't. This is a question of character.

[14:30:09] BALDWIN: And on that authenticity, I think it's related to trustworthiness and honesty. You know, neither Trump nor