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Donald Trump attends several meetings in D.C. to discuss Republican Party unity and expectations. Who will make the strongest nominee to defeat Trump from the Democrat side? Aired 10:30-11a

Aired May 12, 2016 - 10:30   ET

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


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CAROL COSTELLO, CNN HOST: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello, thank you so much for joining me. It's not your average meet and greet. Donald Trump and House Republican leaders inside the RNC Headquarters right now. They're working behind closed doors to unify their Party. CNN's Chief Political Correspondent, Dana Bash is in Washington with more. And I should say, what, they're in the Country Club next door now, right?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they are. Country Club -- I guess that's technically what it is.

COSTELLO: It's a club, yes.

BASH: That's where -- it's a club, it's Capitol Hill Club. And it is a frequent meeting point for Republicans, for lobbyists. In this case, for the presumptive nominee of the Party. And the House Republican leadership. So yes, that is the meeting going on as we speak. It is Paul Ryan, the House Speaker; Reince Priebus, the RNC Chair; and four other members of the House Republican leadership.

Getting together and having -- kind of a, first of all, a get to know you meeting -- but then, my impression from talking to sources going into this -- is kind of an expectation discussion. "Here's what I expect from you, Mister Trump," from House leaders. And Donald Trump probably saying, "here's what I expect from you."

Remember, this is also -- it's obviously incredibly -- it's a spectacle right now for the obvious reason. That Donald Trump doesn't have his Party entirely on board with him -- including the House Speaker. But any other year, you would be having the Republican nominee getting together with House Republican leaders, with his Party leader, with the apparatus and the people who are going to have to be behind him, to try to propel him to victory.

Donald Trump was a one-man show and kind of went with his gut very successfully, in a way that it was kind of a phenomenon. But now it's a completely different phase, and he is melding resources and some strategy ideas with the Republican National Committee. So that's part of this. But the other part of this is the fact that every member of the House is up for reelection this year. And that, I'm told, was a big part of why Paul Ryan initially, and still to this moment, had withheld his endorsement of Donald Trump.

But at the same time, he's hearing more and more from the rank and file Republicans that we're hearing from -- I know Manu Raju has heard from -- that they want to be more aggressively behind Donald Trump because Trump is popular in their district. So those are the kinds of conversations going on. I think there's probably money conversations, will Donald Trump help out House Republicans by raising money for them? Also you know, some tone questions and discussions. And of course policy discussions, how they're going to work around very real policy differences, particularly with Paul Ryan and Donald Trump.

But I should say that before this meeting that's currently going on behind me, it was just a meeting with three men; Paul Ryan, Reince Priebus, and Donald Trump -- to try to have a heart-to-heart on how they are going to get along, whether they can get along. And Reince Priebus was very much kind of a bridge there, he'd been talking to Donald Trump every day multiple times a day leading up to this meeting. And also with his old friend, Paul Ryan, to try to be the go-between, and make things work in that meeting, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Dana Bash, thanks so much. And I know you're wondering why we keep showing you the shot of that alley there. That's probably the back of the Capitol Hill Club. That's where Donald Trump is meeting with the House leadership. And we're expecting, we're expecting them to exit one of those buildings -- and see that black car there? -- we're expecting somebody important to get in there. And when he does, of course, we'll bring it to you live.

Still to come in the Newsroom, Hillary Clinton facing attacks from the right and the left in her (bid for) the next Democratic nominee. How does she unify the party?

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COSTELLO: All right, we understand the second meeting Donald Trump is having has ended. And those children were not part of that meeting, they're just innocent bystanders. But earlier this morning around 9:00 a.m. Eastern time, Donald Trump met with the House leader, Paul Ryan. He also met with Reince Priebus, and then he moved onto a meeting next door. From the RNC Headquarters to the Capitol Hill Club where he met with the House leadership.

We understand that meeting is done, as I said. Now Donald Trump is expected to exit the building which is why we have that shot in that alley. Donald Trump's expected to come outside the door, pop in, and then he'll be driven down the street, where he'll meet with Senate leaders, Republican Senate leaders. And this meeting is also about Party unity, of course. Manu Raju has been covering all of this all morning long for us. Manu, tell us more.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, that's right, Carol. The first meeting of those three central players -- Trump, Paul Ryan, Reince Priebus -- lasted roughly about an hour or so, I would say. The second meeting with that broader leadership team that included four other members of the House Republican leadership team lasted maybe about 45 minutes or so. That is now concluded.

Now Paul is down there probably figuring out their messaging right now, exactly how they're going to communicate what happened in that meeting. And Paul Ryan is going to actually talk to the press in about 40, 45 minutes. We'll hear more details, hopefully, about what transpired in there. What will be interesting to see, is that whether or not any minds were changed. Whether or not any folks were willing to support Donald Trump in (there).

If you look at that broader leadership meeting, two of those members of the leadership team have yet to endorse Donald Trump. That includes Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington State, as well as, of course, Paul Ryan, who famously said last week on CNN, that he wasn't going to endorse Donald Trump at this point. How much closer did they get to an endorsement, whether -- did Donald Trump actually alleviate any of those concerns about his impact down ticket.

All those things will be fascinating to see as we get some more details about this meeting. But as you mentioned earlier on air, Carol, Reince Priebus saying this was a good meeting. I think you'll probably hear a positive message as this party tries to unite ahead of November.

COSTELLO: And at some point, Paul Ryan is going to hold a news conference, right?

RAJU: Yes, that's right. He's -- at 11:30, he usually holds his weekly leadership press conference at 11:30. We're expecting to hear more from him. And you know, he came in here saying, "I'm not going to talk a whole lot about the things that I'm going to ask Donald Trump to do." But what we've heard privately from our sources, is that he wants to make sure that -- his big imperative right now -- is protecting the House Republican majority, and that Donald Trump knows that. Paul Ryan has had concerns about some of the language and the tone that has been used on the campaign trail. Whether that's communicated to Donald Trump -- which we were told that that was going to be the case going in -- will be interesting to hear from the Speaker, himself, and how Donald Trump took that.

But I think (what) we heard -- the messaging going in -- from both sides, the Trump (world) and from Ryan (world), is that both sides wanted to come out with a more unified message. And I think Reince Priebus sort of suggested that in his tweet earlier today.

COSTELLO: All right, Manu Raju, thanks so much. RAJU: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: I know you'll continue to monitor this for us, and we'll get back to you as warranted. I want to bring in Brian Fallon now. He's the Press Secretary for Hillary For America. Welcome.

BRIAN FALLON, PRESS SECRETARY, "HILLARY FOR AMERICA": Thanks for having me. COSTELLO: So as a Democrat, and Hillary Clinton supporter, as you

watch what's going on in Washington today with Donald Trump and the House and Senate leadership, what goes through your mind?

FALLON: Well the fact that this meeting is even happening is just a remarkable statement about the lack of unity right now in the Republican Party. There's been all kinds of reports suggesting that Paul Ryan is getting closer to potentially endorsing Donald Trump. Party leaders are putting him under so much pressure to try to save face and have him come out and endorse Donald Trump.

I don't think that in the week since Paul Ryan went on Jake Tapper's show and said he couldn't support Donald Trump, that Donald Trump has done anything to be worthy of Paul Ryan's endorsement now. In fact, we've seen him suggest that he's not going to release his tax returns, which Paul Ryan's own running mate in 2012, Mitt Romney, said was disqualifying in and of itself.

So if he comes around now and expresses any degree of support for Donald Trump, I think it's just a testament to how much pressure (he's committed) from Party leaders. It won't (pick war) over the fact that (rank in file) Republicans and Independents out in the country today are very troubled by Donald Trump. That's why Hillary Clinton is continuing to reach out to those voters.

COSTELLO: But at the very least, Republicans are making a show of unifying, which the Democrats really aren't at the moment.

FALLON: Well, we're still going through our Primary. So the field has been cleared for Donald Trump because the (rotors) that have spoken on the Republican (side) ...

COSTELLO: But (yes, but) Bernie Sanders appears dim, so isn't it time?

FALLON: Well, we're -- at no point are we ever going to call for Bernie Sanders to drop out of this race. He has said that he's going to remain in it through the middle of June, until the contests have completed. And we're perfectly fine with that. We think it's an overall positive thing that we are having this process. That it's bringing more people in ...

COSTELLO: Even though Donald Trump is using some of Bernie Sanders' attacks to attack Hillary Clinton?

FALLON: Well, we had said that even as this process continues -- and we're happy to have it play out all the way through the middle of June -- we think that the tone should stay focused on the issues. And I think that increasingly, you've seen Senator Sanders calibrate his approach accordingly. We have no concerns that we are going to be able to unify this party after the contest is over in the middle of June. I'm ...

COSTELLO: Well I talked with ...

FALLON: A stark contrast to what you see on the Republican side. COSTELLO: I talked with the Sanders guy, Jeff Weaver, earlier this

morning. And he insists that there is a path to victory for Bernie Sanders. In fact, he released a sharply worded email warning that if Clinton is the nominee, Democrats are "courting disaster." Earlier -- and I'm talking about Jeff Weaver -- he told me exactly what he meant by courting disaster. Let's listen.

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JEFF WEAVER, BERNIE SANDERS PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN MANAGER: I think Democrats need to nominate the strongest candidate against Donald Trump. And all the polling demonstrates -- consistently now -- that Bernie Sanders is a much stronger candidate. The disaster is the election of Donald Trump. That's what the disaster is. So we don't want to see that disaster happen. And that's why Bernie Sanders is going to fight all the way to convention.

He's going to fight to make sure the Democratic Party stands by principles that protect working families, and middle-income families. And that's why we need to nominate the strongest candidate who can beat Donald Trump in the Fall. The disaster is not Hillary Clinton, the disaster is the election of Donald Trump.

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COSTELLO: OK so he's -- you know the polls he's talking about, right?

FALLON: Sure.

COSTELLO: It shows a very tight race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. But it shows like a bigger margin if Bernie Sanders were to run against Donald Trump.

FALLON: Well, first of all, I completely agree with Jeff Weaver, that electing Donald Trump would be a disaster. But there's no question in the minds of most objective observers, and Democrats, that Hillary Clinton is the best candidate to put forward against Donald Trump in the general election.

If you look at the exit polls coming out of these states that have held primaries, even in the states where Senator Sanders has won, the Democrats going into the polls in those states have said that they think Hillary Clinton is actually the best positioned candidate to take on Donald Trump.

COSTELLO: (But these guys force the typical talking) about swing states. And in those states, like Pennsylvania, most recently West Virginia -- these working class states, is a better way to put it -- Hillary Clinton hasn't done so well. Bernie Sanders has, though.

FALLON: So this is the argument that the Sanders folks have been making for a long time now. The issue is that Hillary Clinton is a very tested, vetted candidate. For two decades now, she's been through the wringer in terms of being exposed to all kinds of false partisan attacks from the Republicans. Bernie Sanders has not encountered that. There hasn't been a single dollar of independent expenditures against Bernie Sanders at all during this campaign.

Hillary Clinton's been on the receiving end of $6 million in independent expenditures in New Hampshire along, in the lead-up to that primary. To say nothing of the fact that during the point -- high point of this Republican primary had some 17 different candidates all trying to compete as who could be the toughest and have the sharpest rhetoric against Hillary Clinton.

So I think that those polls reflect the fact that Bernie Sanders is largely untested. Most Democrats agree, according to the exit polls in all the primary states that have voted so far. That's why Hillary Clinton has such a huge margin in terms of the popular vote over Bernie Sanders. She also has more votes than Donald Trump. She's got the most votes of any candidate on either side of the aisle.

COSTELLO: Brian Fallon, thanks for stopping by.

FALLON: Thanks for (having me).

COSTELLO: I appreciate it. All right, as we take one last look of Washington, D.C. The outside of the -- I almost forgot what this -- oh, it's the Capitol Hill Club. That is what it's called. Donald Trump is expected to exit that building at any time and go to yet another meeting -- his third of the day -- where he will be meeting with the Senate Republican leadership. We'll keep you posted, I'll be right back.

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[10:53:50]

COSTELLO: All right we are keeping our eye on this alley. We're expecting Donald Trump to leave the RNC Headquarters at any time to go to his third meeting of the day. He's going to meet with the Senate leadership next. He's also -- he's already met with the House Speaker, Paul Ryan, and the RNC Chair, Reince Priebus. And he's also had a meeting with a bigger group of House leaders. So let's go out live to Washington right now. Dana Bash has been monitoring all of this, and then we'll get to Jim Acosta a little later. But Dana, take it away.

BASH: That's right, Carol. We're waiting for Donald Trump now to leave this meeting. He's been in this facility, or at least the buildings behind me -- the RNC and around it -- for about two hours now. First, of course, with just three men; Donald Trump, Reince Priebus, the RNC Chair, and Paul Ryan. And then they expanded the circle, so to speak, to four other members of the House Republican leadership, to have discussions, serious discussions I'm told. About how the House Republicans and Republicans at large expect Donald Trump to comport himself. And how they are going to deal with some policy differences between them.

So those meetings have wrapped up. We are again waiting for Donald Trump to leave. And then he's going to head over to meet with leaders on the Senate side of the Capitol. They're going to do so, not at the Capitol, but at a building down the street. That's going to happen later in this hour. So that should wrap up the big meetings that Donald Trump is going to have today, here in Washington. Carol ...

COSTELLO: All right, Dana Bash, thanks so much. Let's go to the site of that next meeting, the meeting with the Republican Senators that Donald Trump is going to hold in just about an hour. Jim Acosta is there. And I understand you got word from sources in the Trump camp that there are what, no big expectations today?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right. And I think that's to be expected, Carol. I talked to a top Trump aide earlier this morning who said that they "have no expectations at all," of an endorsement from Speaker Paul Ryan today. And I think that is just really just looking at the reality of the situation. This is the beginning of an ongoing process. As one Trump aid said to me, this is the opening conversation in a process of healing that needs to take place inside the Republican Party. W

We are outside the National Republican Senatorial Committee, where Donald Trump will meet with Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell and other top Senate Republican leaders. And I can just tell you, Carol, I know you've been talking to Dana and Manu throughout the morning outside that scene over at the RNC in the Capitol Hill Club on the other side of the Capitol. But I can tell you, it is a much calmer situation here. Not as many people, no effigies of Donald Trump going up and down the street.

And so it's a very different situation. So if some of the Senate leaders, or if Donald Trump himself -- just put a little plug in -- if somebody wants to step up to the cameras here, they'll find, it'll be a lot less crowded on this side of the Capitol, Carol.

COSTELLO: OK, I think you're right about that Jim. Let's talk a little bit about the meeting that Donald Trump will have with Senate leaders. So there's not as much -- I don't know -- division amongst Senators, is there? I mean if you compare it to House leaders.

ACOSTA: There's not as much -- right, there's not as much drama going on. Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell did not go out in front of the cameras as Paul Ryan did and said, "I'm not ready to endorse Donald Trump." Mitch McConnell is not doing that. But he is essentially saying that Trump needs to talk to Senate Republican leaders, as well. And keep in mind, Donald Trump has this down ballot issue that he has to deal with, heading into the convention in Cleveland.

There are a lot of Republicans who aren't going to show up at the convention in Cleveland, in July, because they're concerned. You know, they don't want to throw their arms around Donald Trump just yet. And you have endangered Republicans in blue states. People like Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania, and other places. There's even a concern about Roy Blunt in Missouri -- even though that's more of a red state now -- of what Donald Trump will do to some of these down ballot contests, and some of these senators who are in swing states. And so there is something at stake for Donald Trump on the Senate

side. May not be as much as on the House side, but what the Trump campaign says, not only to the House side, but to the Senate side, is that, look at this movement that is taking place in the grassroots. Donald Trump has done something at these rallies, at these events, Carol. You've thrown to me at so many of these rallies across the country.

He has sort of recreated, rebranded the Republican Party. It may not be the Republican Party that Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan were dealing with just two years ago when they took full control of the Congress. But it is something -- it is a force to be reckoned with, no doubt about it. If you look at the swing states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida -- you were just talking about this earlier this morning with Gloria -- for Donald Trump to be that close to Hillary Clinton at this point, obviously we're months and months away, so take those polls with a grain of salt.

Those polls -- people took notice of those polls here, in Washington, I will tell you, inside the Republican Party. They noticed that Donald Trump has a very good shot at giving Hillary Clinton a serious run for her money in the Fall. And so that's why you're seeing some recalibrations going on. And people sort of coming to grips with Donald Trump being the standard bearer this time around, Carol.

COSTELLO: That's why I can't help but think that Donald Trump holds most of the cards. Before these meetings even began yesterday, Mister Trump said of these meetings, you know it'll be great if we make some kind of deal with Congressional leaders. And if we don't, he said, we will trudge forward like I've been doing, and winning all the time. So in a way, aren't these lawmakers going to be forced to coalesce around him? Because they'll have no choice.

ACOSTA: Well I think what you're going to -- you're going to see a couple of things happen. One will be either Paul Ryan may not come out today and make his endorsement, but he may say in the coming days, for the sake of unity we need to get behind our candidate, get behind our nominee. You're seeing people like Orrin Hatch already make statements like that this morning.

Or this is just going to be so icy and uncomfortable that that's never going to happen, and you're going to have a divided Republican Party in Cleveland. At this point I think that the odds are that you're going to see more unity than you're going to see division, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Jim Acosta. We'll get back to you as soon as Donald Trump's motorcade arrives at your location. I want to thank all of you for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello, AT THIS HOUR with Berman and Bolduan starts now.

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