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New Pro-Clinton Ad; Sanders Revolt; Convention Chari Threats; Trump Hires Pollster. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired May 17, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:18] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you so much for being with me. You're watching CNN.

We are now witnessing really a pivotal moment in the race for the White House. In the head to head fight between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, it seems women are turning into the weapons and the prize. Here's the deal today. Two super PAC ads just released by Hillary Clinton's allies skewering Donald Trump for his treatment of women and using his own words against him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (voice-over): You know, you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her - wherever.

Does she have a good body? No. Does she have a fat ass? Absolutely.

You like girls that are 5'1"? They come up to you know where.

If Ivanka weren't my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her.

I view a person who is flat chested is very hard to be a 10.

And you can tell them to go (EXPLETIVE DELETED) themselves.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Does Donald Trump -

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: OK, that was just a piece of it.

Let's bring in Maeve Reston, our CNN national political reporter.

Maeve Reston, nice to see you. First, just on facts. Where - where are the big buy ads airing? Has Mr. Trump responded?

MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, these are ads that are airing actually in Ohio, Florida, Virginia and Nevada. And it's a $6 million buy for over a three-week period. There's obviously going to be a lot more money spent on this theme and, of course, we've seen it earlier this year in the primary campaigns from some of the anti-Trump forces that obviously two ads there going after the group that Hillary Clinton has really been targeting on the campaign trail in recent weeks, suburban women. We know that Trump's numbers with women are underwater and clearly the super PAC is trying to take advantage of that.

Donald Trump tweeted a couple of tweets this morning going after quote/unquote "crooked Hillary" and saying it was ironic that there would be an ad going after him on women when he, you know, said some derogatory things about Bill Clinton. So that's been his response so far, but I'm sure we will see more from him today.

BALDWIN: Maeve Reston, thank you.

RESTON: Thank you.

BALDWIN: I want to bring this out and bring in my panel.

Thank you.

I have actress Shauntay Hinton, Miss USA from 2002, who was actually one of some 50 people called by "The New York Times" reporters about that article about Trump's private interactions with women. Also with us today, Lisa Boothe, a contributor to "The Washington Examiner" and president of High Noon Strategies. And with me here in New York, CNN political commentator - ease for me to say - Kayleigh McEnany, who supports Donald Trump.

So, ladies, welcome.

SHAUNTAY HINTON, INTERVIEWED BY "THE NEW YORK TIMES" ABOUT TRUMP: Hi, Brooke.

BALDWIN: And - hi.

And, Shauntay, let me just begin with you. Just - you have sort of a fascinating story and I want to ask your response to the ad we just aired in a moment. But first, as I mentioned, you were, you know, called by "The New York Times." Your story, your quotes, weren't included. By the way, just for everyone watching, Trump's attorneys, you know, demanding a retraction of the story. But I want you to tell me - tell me about your experience with Mr. Trump after you won specifically that title in 2002. You - I understand you ran into him a little later at a fundraiser.

HINTON: Right. I did. I did. You know, my experience with Trump I would say was kind of nonexistent, you know, and I say that because he was almost like the foster father that really wasn't around during my reign. And I think that mainly because, you know, I pretty much was a queen, a title holder who did things, who played by the book, who played by the rules and who did things right, you know? He would only come around if there were scandal involved, if you know what I mean, competing in the Miss Universe Pageant from 2002, Miss Russia, Oxana Fedorova won. However, she was dethroned a little bit later. She was fired by Trump for missing engagements and a slew of other things. And that's when he reared his head to come out and say, you know, hi, you know, I'm the owner of the Miss Universe Pageant and, you know, I have to fire this girl. So - but for me, because I pretty much play by the rules, you know, we

really didn't have much of a relationship. And that even was proven a few months after I won my title. I ran into Mr. Trump at a fundraiser in New York and he didn't know who I was. I went up to say hello and he just, you know, kind of looked and said, oh, well very nice to meet you. And I was, like, sir, I'm Miss USA. And he was like, oh, you get so much prettier every time I see you. I've forgotten what you look like. So he's a smooth talker in that sense, you know? But, you know, it was definitely - he was the Daddy Warbucks that wasn't there.

BALDWIN: So fair to say - fair to say - your interactions were then pretty - pretty neutral with him. I mean I did read that you said, you know, the whole anecdote that started "The New York Times" piece was about this woman who, you know, who dated Trump, who in the '90s he asked her to put on a bikini. And from what I've read, you've said that is nothing to what you've experience in the pageant world, correct?

[14:05:05] HINTON: Yes. Nothing at all. I didn't witness anything. I couldn't really give the kind of the inside dirt on anything that, you know, that they were looking for. I'd only heard rums myself. You know, only had seen the things that everyone else had seen, like former Miss Universe, Alicia Machado, being, you know, put in front of the world to say like, hey, she gained a lot of weight and she needed to lose it. You know, Donald Trump did that. I mean things like that I heard like everyone else. However, I didn't experience, you know, or see or witness anything out of the ordinary like that.

BALDWIN: That's an important piece of the story. If from your perspective the dirt is not there, then the dirt's not there, you know? I'm going to take you 100 percent you word.

HINTON: Yes. Yes.

BALDWIN: So I appreciate that perspective. And, by the way, we're talking to Alicia later on in the week.

Let's - let's switch gears and, Shauntay, stay with me, but Kayleigh, let me just ask you, you know, we played part of the clips here using Trump's own words against him. That's not a new strategy. We saw that during the primary. But something I - my ears perked when I saw you earlier today officially sort of saying, you know, this women issue is his Achilles heel.

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Absolutely. And it's an important thing for him to address. I think to come out in front of it to say, look, I don't stand by the things I said in the 1990s. I am this man today. I'm a loving father.

BALDWIN: Should he say, I was wrong?

MCENANY: Yes, I think so. I think it would help him a lot. I think a lot of women would find that really refreshing. You know, they forgave Bill Clinton for some of the things he did in the Oval Office, which were less than presidential. I think the American people are very forgiving when you look at them in the eye and say, I made a mistake. So I definitely think that that would serve him well to come out and distance himself from that.

BALDWIN: Lisa, what do you think?

LISA BOOTHE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, look, there's no doubt that Donald Trump should look to improve his numbers with women. I mean you can just look at the polling to tell that that's something he needs to do. There's a lot of time between now and November for him to do that. I think one way to do it is to use anecdotal stories of the woman, like his daughter Ivanka Trump, that he has promoted to top positions at his - at the - at the - at his company.

Further, I think there's a couple of other things to look at, as well. if you look at Hillary Clinton, her numbers are underwater with male voters. So if we're going to talk about female voters, we should also talk about Hillary Clinton's problem with men. You also look at young women who have been flocking into Bernie Sanders and the Democratic primary and who have been rejecting Hillary Clinton. We've also seen her unfavorables in some polling as high as 58 percent with women. There's also this assumption, that I think is a false one, that somehow women are going to be excited about Hillary Clinton, going to be flocking to Hillary Clinton. You also look at what's the top issue for women voters? It's the economy. You look at states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida, and that's an issue that Donald Trump leads on. So I think those are some important things to take a look at, as well.

BALDWIN: Then you have this. You know, Anderson Cooper sat down with John Kasich, which was significant. It was his first one on one since he dropped out of the race. And to me the headline wasn't that he said thanks but no thanks on the VP notion, or that he wouldn't run as a third party candidate, it was what he said about the leading ladies in his life. Here he was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR, "AC 360": So just for the record, you're undecided about whether or not you would endorse Donald Trump for president?

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, I am. Right. I'm undecided.

COOPER: Are you undecided about whether you'd actually vote for him?

KASICH: Well, I - you know, at the end of the day, endorsing is going to mean a lot. And, frankly, my wife and my daughters have watched this. And if I were to turn around today and endorse him, they'd be like, why, dad? And that matters to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That matters to him. Lisa, does it matter to a general election audience? Because I mentioned there were, you know, similar ads during the primary. They didn't seem to stick to Mr. Trump. Will that change as the race moves forward? BOOTHE: Yes, and those ads are tough and I'm sure they're tough for

Donald Trump and his campaign to hear. And as I mentioned before, yes, he should absolutely look to improve his numbers with women voters. I think there are ways for him to do that. But I also think that people are really overestimating Hillary Clinton's candidacy. They're overestimating her - that she's somehow this strong candidate. She hasn't even been able to close the deal with Bernie Sanders who's a 74-year-old socialist who young women have actually been flocking to and reject Hillary Clinton.

And you look at Kentucky and Oregon tonight, and those are two states she could possibly lose. You look at West Virginia and 44 percent of Bernie Sanders voters said they're actually going to vote for Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton. Only 23 percent said they'd vote for Hillary Clinton.

So I think people are really overestimating Hillary Clinton and really underestimating Donald Trump, particularly when you look at the economy and you look at how many disaffected voters there are across the country and I think those people are going to look to Donald Trump here.

BALDWIN: Shauntay, I started with you and I'd love to end with you as well here. I mean on your former boss, will you be voting for him? Do you think he's qualified to be the next president of the United States?

HINTON: I think that with Mr. Trump, he says a lot of reactionary statements, he says a lot of incendiary statements and I think that, you know, his - he's very polarizing when it comes to certain issues and for that I will not be supporting Donald Trump during that - the election simply because, yes, the economy needs work and we need to move forward in America, you know, as far as like financially and getting jobs up and going. However, if I'm going to be degraded as a woman while he's doing that, then what's the point? It kind of seems like we're taking a step forward but like five steps back. So I won't be supporting Donald Trump during this election.

[14:10:15] BALDWIN: OK, Shauntay Hinton, Kayleigh McEnany and Lia Boothe, thank you all so much.

BOOTHE: Thank you, Brooke.

MCENANY: Thanks, Brooke.

HINTON: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

Coming up next, you've seen this scene, chairs flying, tempers flaring between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders' supporters at one state's convention. Now death threats against the woman in charge. She will join me live.

Also ahead, Donald Trump gives in and hires a new pollster. This is big news. We'll talk to a former Obama adviser who says, Dems, watch out, this guy's good.

And billionaire Mark Cuban has a prediction for the markets if Trump wins the presidency. Hear what he says will happen.

You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. We'll be right back.

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(VIDEO CLIP)

[14:15:00] BALDWIN: My goodness. Chairs flew, tempers flared at the Nevada Democratic Convention. Tensions between supporters of Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are reaching a boiling point. Their dispute centered on this handful of unpledged state super delegates. Now the anger that fueled this chaos has delved into death threats and a formal complaint filed against the Sanders' campaign. Party officials worry this divisiveness and unrest could make its way through other cities, including all the way to Philadelphia, the site of the Democratic National Convention this July. In just a moment we'll talk to the party leader who's been targeted with these threats.

But, first, on the reporting, let's bring in senior political reporter Manu Raju. He's been digging through all of this.

And so what have you learned, Manu?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, Brooke, really what we're seeing here is tension between the Democratic Party leadership and the Sanders campaign that we really have not seen in this primary season so far. The fear is that the tactics employed by Bernie Sanders' supporters by shouting, heckling, screaming and, in some cases, some reports of, as you mentioned, throwing of chairs, has caused a lot of fears among the party leadership that this could spill into the convention in Philadelphia in July.

Now, Bernie Sanders' campaign said that they were not responsible for that. But CNN has obtained audio of a top Bernie Sanders official, Joan Kato, speaking to Bernie Sanders' supporters before this - before this convention on Saturday, urging them to really take a firm line against the party leadership.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOAN KATO, SANDERS CAMPAIGN OFFICIAL: You should not leave. I'm going to repeat that. Unless you are told by somebody from the campaign, i.e. probably me or David, that you can leave, you should not leave. I don't care if the chair is up there herself or whoever the chair is and become - whoever becomes the chair, you should not leave.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now, one person who did speak at that convention was Barbara Boxer, the California Democratic senator, on behalf of Hillary Clinton's campaign. She was - there was loud cursing, there were vile comments, there were references to the female anatomy, really crude gestures that she said - I got a chance to talk to her about it. She said to say that they were disrespectful does not even - does not even really do justice to what happened to her. She said she really has not experienced anything like this before. Other Democratic senators have told me something similar. It's something they worry about. California Democrat Dianne Feinstein even said that she thinks that Bernie Sanders should drop out after June 7th when voting concludes.

Now, the Democratic Party, the national convention, has responded to this. I'll read you a statement of what they are saying right now, Brooke. They said, "we are deeply concern about the troubling details laid out in the letter by the Nevada Democratic Party. We will be reaching out to the leadership of both of our campaigns to ask them to stand with the Democratic Party in denouncing and taking steps to prevent the type of behavior on display over the weekend in Las Vegas."

The Sanders' campaign, again, said they do not condone violence, that they condemn that, but they also think those party rules in Nevada were unfair to their supporters, Brooke.

BALDWIN: It's incredible. We were talking so much about Cleveland and sort of like all eyes on Philadelphia, right, and the Democrats.

Manu, thank you so much.

As I mentioned a second ago, you know, death threats, harassment have followed that chaotic convention there in Nevada. And most of those threats were directed at Nevada Democratic Chairwoman Roberta Lange. She presided over the gathering, eventually ending it over security concerns. Lange and her family have become the target of harassment, threats. Here is just one of the calls she has received.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, Roberta Lange, this is a citizen of the United States of America and I just wanted to let you know that I think people like you should be hung in a public execution to show this world that we won't stand for this sort of corruption. I don't know what kind of money they're paying to you, but I don't know how you sleep at night. You are a sick, twisted piece of (EXPLETIVE DELETED) and I hope you will burn for this. You cowardless (EXPLETIVE DELETED), running of the stage. I hope people find you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Wow. Lange also receiving threatening text messages like this one. It says, quote, "hey (EXPLETIVE DELETED), loved how you broke the system. We know where you live, where you work, where you eat, where your kids go to school, grandkids. We have everything on you."

Let me bring in the woman on the receiving end of the threats. She is Roberta Lange. She is the chairwoman of the Nevada Democratic Party.

Roberta, thank you so much for joining me.

I am so sorry you are having to go through this. I mean hung in a public execution? And these are just a few examples. How often are you getting these threats? What else are they saying?

ROBERTA LANGE, CHAIRWOMAN, NEVADA STATE DEMOCRATIC PARTY: Hi, Brooke. Yes, I get threats every one to two seconds on my phone, on my e-mail, on Twitter, on FaceBook. It is endless. In fact, it has gotten worse as time goes on. And it, you know, it's awful. They've attacked my work where - my job here as a state party chair is volunteer. They have attacked the place where I am employed, posted - it's a restaurant and gaming bar. They've posted on their Yelp bad things about the restaurant. They've attacked my husband. They've made a clone FaceBook of my name and said awful things about my husband that looks like it's coming from me. There's no end to the threats and the vile comments that have been made.

[14:20:19] BALDWIN: What is your husband saying? What's your family saying?

LANGE: Look, I mean, we're raising our five-year-old grandson and, you know, this is - this is something that you wouldn't expect in America. Look, we are - we all feel threatened. I mean it is a threatening situation. It's vile. It's awful. And we take them very seriously. But, look, we're not going to stop. We are fighting for unity to bring the Democratic Party together and elect a Democrat in - for the White House and come out of Philadelphia with our nominee.

BALDWIN: Let me read a quote from Harry Reid, the Senate minority leader from, you know, your state saying, "I hold his people accountable," his being Bernie Sanders, "and I'm sure if Bernie found out about it, he would not accept what happened there."

Now, the Sanders camp, Roberta, as you know, they are pushing back on Leader Reid's allegation. Do you believe Senator Sanders has no involvement, had no awareness of the chaos that ensued in Nevada?

LANGE: What I can say and what I know is that they had high level campaign people that were trying to incite their people going into the convention. During the convention, when the convention was going on, when the rules were passed, they had an opportunity to submit, you know, changes, amendments, and no one spoke to add an amendment before the rules passed.

Look, the bottom line is, this is a numbers game and the Clinton people turned out 98 percent of their delegates and the Sanders people lacked almost 500 delegates. So it's a numbers game and they didn't turn out their people. The Clinton people turned out their delegates and that is the bottom line.

BALDWIN: I mean we just played that audio recording. I don't know if you had heard that before, that Manu had, you know, where you hear this senior Sanders aide essentially saying, you should not leave.

LANGE: Yes.

BALDWIN: I don't care who the chair is. The chair being you. How should - how should Senator Sanders handle this, you know, quell his supporters so this doesn't happen again? LANGE: Look, I - when - when - when staff people and the Sanders

campaign is feeding into this, people feel empowered to behave this way. Not only were people talking when we were trying to run the convention and yelling and rushing the stage and throwing chairs and yelling for my death in the crowd, those are the kinds of things that have to be stopped. And, you know, I've not -

BALDWIN: What should he say? How can he stop that?

LANGE: I've not received an apology. I - you know, I have not received anything from the Sanders campaign. I haven't seen anything that said that this should stop. And it's going to continue and - unless, you know, people are made to feel like this isn't OK. This isn't behavior that we should have.

BALDWIN: Would you like a personal phone call from the senator himself? Do you want to an apology?

LANGE: I think he should apologize publicly for what happened in Nevada.

BALDWIN: How concerned are you that this could play out not just, you know, in other cities, but to all the way in Philadelphia?

LANGE: I'm very concerned. I mean some of the text messages and e- mails I've received have told me that it's going to go into Philadelphia. The people, you know, and so I - I'm afraid for that. And I think our attorney has sent a four-page letter to the DNC rules and bylaws telling them this is what happened in Nevada. This is what we think you need to do in preparation for Philadelphia so that we can have a safe and fair and honest convention.

BALDWIN: Unreal. I am sorry you're on the receiving end of this, but I appreciate you expressing what's happening to you. Roberta Lange in Nevada, thank you.

LANGE: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Wow.

Coming up next, back on the Republican side here, Donald Trump loves to brag about polls, but he also loves to bash pollsters until now. The presumed Republican nominee has just hired a polling powerhouse, who my next guest says is bad news for Democrats. We'll ask him why.

Plus Hillary Clinton says she is looking forward with sharing the debate stage with Donald Trump, but what would the debate between those two look like? We'll talk to some experts.

[14:24:33] You're watching CNN.

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BALDWIN: All right, back on politics here. Donald Trump, he's had a change of heart. He's bucked his own trend and doubled back on his plan to keep pollsters out of his campaign. The presumed Republican nominee has just hired not just any pollster, but an insider considered to be the top pollster in the business. His name, Tony Fabrizio. Critics and supporters say he is no ordinary political strategist. He is known as a mastermind who can remake flawed candidates and sell them to voters.

So joining me now, long time Florida strategist and Obama campaign adviser Steve Schale.

Steve, welcome.

STEVE SCHALE, FORMER OBAMA CAMPAIGN ADVISER: Hey, Brooke. How are you?

BALDWIN: I am excellent. But this is about you. This is about your opinion of Mr. Fabrizio. I understand that, you know, you said Fabrizio is ruthless, that he is a bad hire for Democrats. Tell me why.

[14:29:53] SCHALE: Well, I don't know if I called him ruthless. Tony's actually a friend, even though we've been to war more than once. Unfortunately, I've come out on the losing end twice. And I think that, you know, when you look at - we look at Rick Scott, who's the model I keep sort of warning Democrats about. You know, Tony took a guy who, you know, Rick Scott, when he became a candidate, you know, was guilty of the largest Medicaid fraud fine (ph) in history.