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Judge Joseph Bachman Abused Power On An Enormous Scale; Anticipated Meeting This Thursday Between Donald Trump And House Speaker Paul Ryan; One In Five Active Duty Service Members Said They Won't Vote If It Ultimately Is The Decision Between Donald Trump And Hillary Clinton; Donald Trump Need To Win Over Evangelical Voters. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired May 10, 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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[15:33:30] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Just past bottom of the hour. You are watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Stunning details now emerging in a case that is rocking the legal world. This apparent abuse of power on an enormous scale. Dozens of victims all targeted by one judge accused of swapping sexual favors for reduced sentences. I'm talking about Judge Joseph Bachman. He has now resigned after his search of his Arkansas home uncovered thousands of pictures of male defendants on his computer. Many of them in nude posed for the camera, at least one underage. Investigators believe the judge used the authority to prey on young men charged in his court.

Let me bring in Nancy Grace who host "NANCY GRACE" on HLN. She is also a former prosecutor.

Nancy Grace, what the what?

NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST, NANCY GRACE: Let me just start off. I don't like the way it's couched by saying swapped sexual favors. That kind of sounds like a party favor. OK?

This is what really happened. When young men at least one and I suspect many, many more, we're talking about 100 to 20 men. We are talking about 4,000 pornographic images that he forced these young men to take. He would bring them in, make them strip, bend over, have sexual acts with them, paddle them sometimes and take close-up pictures of their private parts. Now, that's what was happening. And in exchange, he would reduce their community service. Now, this is wrong on so many levels.

[15:35:10] BALDWIN: Nobody had any idea this was going on!

GRACE: See, that's another problem. I don't believe this. This goes back 30 years.

BALDWIN: Wow.

GRACE: That we know of, 4,000 images. Where people would bring their trash they pick up on the side of the road to his home. And then he said that he would take the photographs to document that they had done their community service. Now, I'm coming from the system. I consider myself part of law enforcement and this makes me sick.

Here's another question to ponder in your free time. Why isn't this guy behind bars?

BALDWIN: That's my question because he's resigned.

GRACE: Yes.

BALDWIN: He is not facing any charges. Correct?

GRACE: Do you see this? That's what he got. That's it. He resigns? He needs to go to jail. This is a sex predator. And he is disguised as a judge. And they let him in Arkansas sit on the bench while he did this to young men and some of the men teens? He needs to go to jail. It is not like we can't find the victims. They were before him on minor offenses. I'm not talking about murder, rape, dope dealing. Minor offenses for which you might get community service. He used his power. He dressed up as a judge and sexually stalked these young men. He needs to go to jail. Can I be anymore plain?

BALDWIN: I love that you don't hold back. That's why we have you on. As always, Nancy Grace, thank you. I got you. Slap on the wrist. Message clear.

Watch Nancy Grace tonight. She covers the search for missing 9-year- old Carly Trent. That is 8:00 eastern on HLN.

Thank you, Nancy.

Next, Donald Trump and the evangelical vote. He claims Christians love him but many influential religious leaders aren't quite sold just yet. We will talk to one of them why Trump's vice presidential pick could make all the difference.

Plus, our heroes, our men and women in uniform, weighing in on the presidential race. There's a new survey giving us insight into who they would like as the next commander in-chief.

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[15:41:39] BALDWIN: This in to CNN. New details about the highly anticipated meeting this Thursday between Donald Trump and house speaker Paul Ryan. The meeting will happen first thing in the morning 9:00 a.m. presumably in part how to unify the Republican Party in addition to just really getting to know one another better. Today campaign source also telling CNN that Marco Rubio's own people were one point at the stage of pitching their -- you know, senator Rubio hard to become Donald Trump's running mate. Keep in mind that was a month ago at the RNC meeting in Florida. As for the Florida senator, he was speaking in Washington today. He quickly put the whole thing to bed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My policy differences and reservations about Donald's campaign are well established and said them often and I stand by those. Those remain. And I hope they will be addressed but those remain. I said, I don't view myself as a guy who is going to sit here for the next six months taking shots at him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: With me now, host of "the LEAD," the man who will be interviewing Marco Rubio, and a matter of minutes, Jake Tapper.

Jake Tapper, this is the first national TV interview since he dropped out of the race so this is huge, huge for you and the network. What should we expect from the interview? Do you think, you know, a no and may necessarily means a no in July?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's the question. I mean, Paul Ryan, the speaker of the house, told me last Thursday that he couldn't endorse Donald Trump right now. But he did leave the door open to a future endorsement if Trump was able to build bridges and unite the Republican Party. And we will see what senator Rubio thinks. Could he ever endorse Donald Trump? Would he ever be willing to serve on a Trump ticket? If that was the way for Republicans to capture the White House.

Also, senator Rubio just got back from rather eye opening I'm told trip to Iraq and Turkey and Qatar to talk about -- to look at the threat of ISIS. What did he see in those countries? How bad is the threat from ISIS? How unstable are Iraq and Syria? We'll talk about all of that. Also, in the context of who the next president will be to face those challenges.

BALDWIN: We will look for that live at the top of the hour on your show.

Meantime, before I let you go, Texas senator Ted Cruz back, you know, at his day job today on Capitol Hill for the first time. What is it like, you know, heading back to work after, you know, such a race for someone like him or even Marco Rubio?

TAPPER: You know, it's very interesting. First of all, it is different because Rubio ha said he is not running for reelection. So assuming he sticks by that, this will be his last year in the U.S. Senate, at least in this term.

Ted Cruz did not make that pledge and his term is not up. And it's different. Every senator deals with defeat in a different way. I remember Senator John McCain in 2000 after he lost a hard fought race against then Governor George W. Bush. He came back to the Senate and he started working in a much more bipartisan fashion than he had been reaching out at about senator Lieberman who was then a Democrat and Edwards and others to work on legislation in a more bipartisan way and some ways being a thorn in the side of the Bush White House.

Who knows what Ted Cruz is going to be? He already was kind of a thorn in the side of not only President Obama but the Republican leader of the Senate. Will he try something new, a new approach? What will his new-found stature lead him to be in the Senate?

[15:45:00] BALDWIN: Tapper, thank you. Thank you. We'll tune in. Top of the hour for the big interview, bug live interview with Senator Marco Rubio.

Thank you so much here on CNN.

Let's move on and just talk about - let me show you an intriguing new voter survey about U.S. troops who they are supporting to be the next commander in-chief. The "Military Times" got nearly thousand responses from active duty service members. We should note the survey not scientific but it clearly shows Donald Trump beating Hillary Clinton by quite a margin here. Just as remarkable, one in five said they won't vote if it ultimately is the decision between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. The "Military Times" says two-thirds of the respondent identified themselves as enlisted personnel while a third said they were officers.

And Leo Shane co-wrote the story on these polls on the "Military Times" and joins me now from Washington.

Leo, welcome.

LEO SHANE, CONGRESSIONAL BUREAU CHIEF, MILITARY TIMES: Thank you for the invitation.

BALDWIN: What surprise you the most about these numbers?

SHANE: You know, I think the margin that Trump is winning, so to say in this race surprise me. You know, with all the criticism of Donald Trump on foreign policy, on some of veterans issues that we have seen, I would expected some sort of his numbers to be a little bit more hesitant to back him. But you know, as we saw in our survey, there are still a lot of support in there.

BALDWIN: He has talk the big talk about beefing up the military, you know. So in a lot of I know servicemen and women, they come into the military. Many of them are Republicans. It is not entirely surprising. The thing that is surprise me the most is that at least one in five said they won't vote, period.

SHANE: Sure.

Yes. And we didn't took votes the option for a third party candidate. We really wanted to try and figure out what their opinion was on Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. But, you know, there is obviously a large margin of the individuals in the service who are aren't happy with this. We heard a lot of anecdote comments that look. I'm going to be looking at third party candidate. I wish someone else will enter the race. I wish we had some other choice. How are these the only two choices we ended up with?

So you know, a lot of frustration. A lot of folks who feel like, you know, even these two options, they don't reflect who they like to be their next commander in-chief.

BALDWIN: You know, I'm curious so, Leo, for those who do support Mr. Trump. What is the quality that they admire most about him?

SHANE: Well, you know, from the numbers we have seen right now, it is just Republican, you know. It is the disparity on parties is start. But you know, among Republicans who are in the service, about 80 percent back Trump. Among Democrats who are in the service about 75 percent back Hillary Clinton.

So really, it just comes down to party affiliation and that sort of loyalty, you know. We will have to dig in deeper in the months to come to see exactly what the appeal is, whether or not that stays, whether or not some of those undecided rate one way or another. But right now, it really is just a reflection of, you know, where these folks come down in the political spectrum.

BALDWIN: We would love to hear those details.

Leo Shane, thank you so much with the "Military Times." We will talk again.

SHANE: Anytime. Thanks for the invite.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

You know, if Donald Trump wants to sit in the oval office, he has a bit of work to do. He is going to need to win over evangelical voters. That's what my next guest says. Top evangelicals Tony Perkins says among them are reportedly threatening to sit out this election if Mr. Trump doesn't elect or choose a socially conservative running mate. Evangelicals can move the needle in an election such as this. They make of about 25 percent of votes casts.

So joining me now, Bob Vander Plaats. He is executive president of the Family Leader. And he was a Ted Cruz supporter.

Bob, nice to have you on.

BOB VANDER PLAATS, EXECUTIVE PRESIDENT, THE FAMILY LEADER: Good to be with you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: So, you know, Trump is the presume nominee for the Republican Party. Why are you holding off in supporting him? What exactly are you waiting for?

PLAATS: Well, a lot of people just have questions. They want to get clarity on some of the comments that he has made on several issues. But I think --.

BALDWIN: Like what? Like what?

PLAATS: But I think what he said about Tony Perkins and others is who is going to surround himself with. And that the peep that is going to give us a clarification of who will Donald Trump surround himself with. Will he defend religious liberty? Will he champion pro-family values or will he align himself solidly with the nation of (INAUDIBLE). These are the things that we want have cleared up for us before we say we are just single blindly to Donald Trump because our organizations like the Family Leader, we are not a Republican subsidiary. We has a higher calling. We have higher values, higher standards that we attain to.

BALDWIN: On clarity, Bob, what would you say the top two most important issues to you that, if it is not Trump, his vice president should embody?

PLAATS: Well, I think what it is is that we are looking at who his VP pick and then who he is - who will he appoint as a Supreme Court justice. I have said very openly that I think he needs to select somebody like a Ted Cruz to be his running mate, someone who is very qualified in the U.S. Senate, someone that is completely trusted in the appointments of Supreme Court justices. And I'm not even sure Ted Cruz would accept that appointment to be the VP ticket, but if he wants to unify the party, if he wants to bring evangelicals into the camp, I believe that would be a great move by Donald Trump to say, all right, let's bring Ted Cruz. He had a large percentage of this race as well. I don't know if Cruz would accept it, but I think it would give a comfort level to a lot of us who are just kind of sitting and watching right now.

[15:50:43] BALDWIN: Yes, I don't know if he would accept it given the barbs between the two men. But, you know, as a Ted Cruz supporter, I have sure you've seen the news today. He was on the radio talking to Glenn Beck essentially saying, you know, if he wins Nebraska primary, he wouldn't rule out jumping back in the race. But do you think he should is this shouldn't the party coalesce around one candidate?

PLAATS: Well, the party should coalesce around one candidate, but I think what Ted Cruz is pointing out is that he suspended his campaign, he didn't necessarily end his campaign. And I also think, Brooke, is that when you look at Cleveland, Cleveland can be very interesting. The delegates are ultimately in charge. So let's say Trump would somebody up to be the vice president of the delegates to say absolutely not, that's another moderate or somebody that we cannot trust, then I think the delegates have the option of coming up with their own VP pick, someone that is accountable to the delegates, not necessarily someone who is just blind level to Donald Trump as well.

So this is far from over in regards to what makes up the ticket. Who are we going to be voting for? But I think the VP pick is crucial. And I think the appointment of Supreme Court justices, who will he appoint? I think that has to be something that has to be cleared up for us.

BALDWIN: I've heard that on Judge Merrick Garland, whether it's get him through if there were to be a Hillary Clinton presidency. As far as the delegates are concerned in selecting a vice president, I'm not quite sure. I think it might be up to the potential commander in- chief. But duly noted.

Bob Vander Plaats, thank you so much. We will see if you get that clarity with whoever he might choose. Thank you. PLAATS: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, John Walsh is here. He is launching the significance new campaign to help raise awareness missing children. We'll talk live with the host of "the HUNT" coming up.

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[15:56:49] BALDWIN: John Walsh, host of CNN's "the HUNT" is launching a new campaign to help find missing children. It is called "the Rock One Sock Initiative." The concept, how many times have you lost a sock, laundry under the bed, frantically searched hoping to find it one day it just shows up again? This to raise awareness of the hope of finding missing children. People are being ask to take the challenge in only wear once sock this month.

And John Walsh is with me along with his son, Cal, who works at the national center for missing and exploited children in Washington D.C.

And good to see both of you. You're the one who came up with this?

CAL WALSH, NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN: Myself, my team, and actually Discovery Communications as well.

BALDWIN: Sorry, I'm not wearing socks today, but I'm totally going to rock on sock later this month, I promise you. Why is this so important?

C. WALSH: Well, you know, May 25 is national missing children's day. So throughout the month of May, the national center for missing and exploited children is trying to raise awareness around our issues with the rock one sock challenge.

BALDWIN: You are in this before?

JOHN WALSH, CNN HOST, THE HUNT: No. It was their idea, the national center's idea. And I'm so proud of them because the challenge is, how do you develop something like the ice buck challenge? But when your child goes missing, not like when Adam in 1981 and the media didn't care. You get a lot of attention for about two weeks and then it drop off this news cycle. And where is your missing child, just a picture. Picture at the national center who are begging people to look at it. You can't forget about these kids.

So we all know what it's like to have just one sock. So we're all just rocking one sock to remind people that, you know, we get kids back alive. (INAUDIBLE) was in the backyard for 18 years. Elizabeth Smart was out there for eight months. Everybody gave up on those kids. But the national center never gives up on those kids.

So we are reminding people. So slow down, think about the thousands of kids out there that are missing. The horrible dad who didn't get custody and took the children and left the mom behind. Or the horrible mom who didn't get custody in a noncustodial. The strange of abducted childlike (INAUDIBLE) son, 25 years. People want to know what happened to that beautiful little person that they loved so much. They're scared. They are afraid. You just can't comprehend what it's like to have a missing child. But to not know is what kills you.

BALDWIN: I hear the passion from your daddy every time. And I grew up watching you or I respect what you do so much. Looking at you, you know, you weren't around yet when Adam went missing. And so Megan is your older sister. You know, you were what, it was four years later when you were born. What was it like growing up in this family knowing you didn't know him but a piece was missing and how had that that translated into this life's work of yours?

C. WALSH: Yes. I thank my parents for handling it the right way in my opinion, you know. They didn't sit me down one day and just drop the bombshell. I mean, keep it from me until they told me. I knew about it, you know, all growing up. We celebrated his birthday and different events. He always knew that I had this brother, a brother I never met, but a brother.

BALDWIN: It is called rock the sock.

C. WALSH: Rock one sock.

BALDWIN: Rock one sock. The one sock. I will rock my the one sock later will this month.

Thank you both, Cal and john Walsh. I appreciate it.

And CNN's "the HUNT" with John Walsh returns next month. Just stay tune for that.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thanks for being with me.

"The LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.