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Trumps Says He'd Talk with N. Korean Leader; Trump Releases Names of Supreme Court Picks; White House Responds to Trump Supreme Court List. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired May 18, 2016 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:30:49] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump says he would be willing to sit down with North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un, in an effort to rein in Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. The U.S. now has no formal diplomatic relations with North Korea so Trump's overture would mark a massive departure from current policy. But does it also signal a double standard within his own camp? Some of the very same Republicans who backed Donald Trump were not exactly thrilled when President Obama started saying years ago that he wanted to open up discussions with Iran.

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CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R), NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR & FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe that the American people are going to lock back on this and say this was the single worst thing this president has ever done. And every death that Iran causes is now on Barack Obama's head.

SEN. JEFF SESSIONS, (R), ALABAMA: The acquisition of nuclear weapons by Iran is a dangerous event because they have ideological, apocalyptic, theological views that are scary.

I think the president took going deeper into these negotiations. It's very difficult to enter into any kind of negotiation with a person who sees you as a Great Satan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: With that, let me bring in General Mark Hertling, former commanding general for Europe in the 7th Army.

General, nice to see you.

Do you agree with Mr. Trump? Is it time to chat with Kim Jong-Un?

GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, Brooke, every presidential candidate, not just in this election but in various ones, have always said that there -- that they are going to make inroads where past presidents have not. They are going to speak with the enemy. They are going to talk with dictators, and what they find out when they get into office is it's problematic. What we have with North Korea is a 63-year-old debacle of relationship it has been horrible. There have been repeated missteps and miscues of the State Department. To hear Mr. Trump say now he's going to be a one-person State Department again and talk to KJU is fascinating for those of who have had to do these kinds of dialogs across the table. This is a complex relationship requiring quite a bit of understanding of culture and history and what the differences are between the societies.

BALDWIN: General Hertling, thank you. My apologies for cutting it short.

We were just handed some breaking news. This is breaking news coming from -- coming from the Donald Trump camp. So essentially what we have is that Donald Trump has now -- has a list of potential nominees for the U.S. Supreme Court. With the passing of Antonin Scalia, it's now four/ four on the bench.

Sara Murray, let me bring you in on who the potential justices could be.

SARA MURRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brooke. Just getting this list and looking through it. A couple are names that Donald Trump has floated before, when you look at Will Pryor and Diane Sykes, conservative justices. But there's a list of 11 names that we're digging through.

A number of these are names floated by the Heritage Foundation before, of course, the very conservative organization.

And, look, the reason that Donald Trump is putting these names out here is to send a signal to the rest of the party that they don't necessarily have to worry about him not being as conservative as they would like on some of these issues, especially at a time when he's trying to rally the party behind him. There were a number of questions from conservatives, especially backers of Ted Cruz, about whether Trump really stands for conservative principles, for instance, where he stands on abortion. And I think that by putting the names out, a number well known to conservatives, he's trying to allay some of those fears.

But it is interesting, as you look at the list, when you like at Diane Sykes, the wife of a prominent radio host in Wisconsin, who was part of the Never Trump movement. So there's certainly folks on here who may not be as amenable to Trump as you might imagine or as amenable to a Trump presidency. But it's clear he's mining the wells of options that would be favorable to Republican voters and is willing to go beyond maybe people who have been very loyal to him during this process.

[14:35:08] BALDWIN: Which is extremely noteworthy, Sara Murray. Thank you for pointing that out.

Dana Bash, who just popped a microphone back on her because, you know, you were in the midst of it last week in Washington when, you know, Donald Trump went to the Hill, you know, meeting with House Speaker Paul Ryan, other members of Republican leadership. And you, part of your reporting was that a piece of that very key conversation had precisely to do with potential justices. DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right.

I was told after the meeting that Donald Trump had specifically had with the House Republican leaders last Thursday that during that meeting, he was pressed by the House speaker and others about his commitment to picking and appointing conservative Supreme Court nominees. Now the House, you know, technically and constitutionally, doesn't have anything to do with nominating or confirming the Supreme Court, but this is a huge issue for the conservative grassroots. I was told after the meeting last week that Trump's response was, yes, you have my commitment, and I'm going to get you a list very soon.

BALDWIN: This is follow through?

BASH: This is follow-up.

BALDWIN: That's significant.

BASH: This is follow-up, which is very, very significant on a whole host of levels. Number one, just process. He said, yes, I'm going to get you a list and he got the list. But more importantly, and what I don't know yet because this is just happening, is whether or not he did -- whether the House Republicans followed through and said, here, here are the names we like and whether he incorporated that -- that here, but most importantly it's about what it symbolizes about how far Trump wants to go to convince conservatives -- you know, many of them already knew, because they voted for him in a lot of these states, but some of them who have been skeptical, that he truly is there one of them, considering the fact that, you know, it wasn't that long ago that he said that he was pro choice and liberal on several issues, this is him trying to prove to them he means it. He's conservative on one of the most important issues, the Supreme Court, which isn't hypothetical. It's real.

BALDWIN: Right.

BASH: The next president, there is a vacancy. So this is absolutely critical.

BALDWIN: We also know today He sat down or he is sitting down with Henry Kissinger presumably to talk foreign policy. Ought to be a fly on that wall. That's foreign policy.

Who would Donald Trump be listening to, other than perhaps Paul Ryan and members of the House, on exactly how to select these names?

BASH: Well, Sara just mentioned the Heritage Foundation.

BALDWIN: OK.

BASH: That's a conservative think tank. The Federalist Society is specifically a group of conservatives that are focused on the bench and on the Supreme Court in particular.

I have to say that I was just -- and I'm looking at my phone now because I was e-mailing with a couple of conservative sources who like, you know, get together and kind of go into action when there's a Supreme Court vacancy, and they have, you know, their lists. And actually I got a response back saying, "I know off the top of my head, this is a conservative activist, Sykes, Pryor and Willett and others are good. They are checking on the others." Lee, I believe, is the brother -- I think he's the brother or some relation of Mike Lee, who is a Senator from Utah who is, you know, a tried and true conservative.

He didn't just find these out of thin air. There's no question that this is something that he worked on to -- to, as I said, to answer the specific request in a private meeting with House Republicans, the speaker himself saying, you know, prove it. Now he's trying to prove it.

BALDWIN: So, again, if you're just us, we now officially have a list of 11 potential justices for the U.S. Supreme Court. These names specifically coming from the Donald Trump camp.

And to Dana's precise point, it's significant for a number of reasons, namely, that he followed through after perhaps suggestions given to him when he went to Washington with his meeting with the speaker of the House and other members of the House of representatives, that this is a follow-through, that he listened and he's delivering.

We're going to stay on this breaking news.

Quick commercial break. We're back after this.

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[14:43:37] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BALDWIN: All right. Welcome back. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

If you are just joining us, Donald Trump has just released a list of potential nominees, his own potential nominees for the United States Supreme Court. These are individuals who, you know, would be considered potential replacements for Justice Antonin Scalia.

BALDWIN: Let me go for the reporting side. Sara Murray all over this, looking through these 11 different names.

Tell me what you're noticing. Any themes, how these were recommended to him? What do you know?

SARA MURRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, one of the things we do know is that the Heritage Foundation had floated a number of these names before and felt like these are people who adhere to conservative principles.

I think it's interesting when you look at the list, talking about Diane Sykes, the ex-wife of Charlie Sykes, a prominent conservative radio host in Wisconsin. He was among the Never Trump folks. He says they still have a good relationship. He gave a statement to CNN's Jim Acosta saying they have a good relationship but he's really not on board with Trump. When you look at some of the names, with Justice Don Willett, he in the past has tweeted and been critical of Donald Trump. So what that tells you is Trump put out names conservatives would be comfortable with, that would bolster his conservative credentials. And what's interesting is this is a candidate who prides his loyalty above anything else but doesn't seem to have taken that into account when he puts forward these names. By putting forth people who were not necessarily supportive of his candidacy, that says that he has spent time looking for candidates that he thinks will appeal to conservatives. Now whether those will appeal to all Senators necessary to confirm someone like that, that is a completely different question -- Brooke?

[14:45:21] BALDWIN: OK. Sara Murray, thank you. Stay with me.

Steve, let me bring you in, CNN contributor and law professor at American University.

I understand we've just sent you the names and I don't know how long you've had to marinate. A couple of pieces of information from our folks at the Justice Department, going through them, zero minorities in terms of race. Diane Sykes, who is married to a radio host who was a Never Trumper. All of the federal judges on the list appear to have been appointed by President Bush. And some of these, as she said, were on the Heritage list that was floated in March. Why about these names jumps out at you.

STEPHEN VLADECK, CNN CONTRIBUTOR & LAW PROFESSOR, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: Brooke, what jumps out the most is what Sara said, exactly the same list would I have expected from Marco Rubio as a presidential candidate, from Jeb Bush as a presidential candidate, maybe even from Ted Cruz.

BALDWIN: Why?

VLADECK: I think -- these are all young conservative judges most of whom have recently appointed to the federal courts, Justice Willett serves on the Supreme Court of Texas, true-blue conservatives, the kind of judges that groups like the Heritage Foundation would be very happy to tee them replace Justice Scalia.

BALDWIN: I think it's worth talking a little bit more about the emptiness in Washington that Justice Scalia left for conservatives. I mean, you saw what happened with SCOTUS, 4-4, that decision was handed back down to the lower courts as a result of this ninth justice, so, you know, obviously the president would like to have Judge Merritt Garland, his nomination, rolled through, but what about Antonin Scalia?

VLADECK: Brooke, you're exactly right. You're starting to see how important that fifth vote is either for conservatives or liberals. It's now crystal clear that on issues from abortion to immigration to health care to religious freedom, there just aren't five votes, what we might think of as the conservative position, and so I think that's why a list like this one from Donald Trump as the presumptive Republican nominee I think is going to be very reassuring to conservatives and to potential conservative voters because it suggests that he's not thinking that far outside the box and that he really is looking at Justice Scalia's seat as a seat that needs to be replaced and filled with someone of similar ideological and moral values as Justice Scalia.

BALDWIN: I think you hit on the exact right point because as he's now floated this list, right, isn't this Donald Trump's way of talking to perhaps the more hesitant members of the conservative party, you know, who aren't quite sure if they are ready to coalesce behind the presumptive nominee and by seeing the names on this piece of paper, including as we mentioned a wife of a radio host who has been a prominent Never Trumper, what kind of signal send to that fraction of the electorate?

VLADECK: We have to be very careful. The signal he's sending is that he is one of them and that he wants to put one of them on the Supreme Court in Justice Scalia's seat and that that is, therefore, a reason to vote for him come November, but, of course, Brooke, nothing he says now is binding, and so I think this list is tantalizing in the sense that it is clearly a -- an invitation to conservatives to rally behind Donald Trump as a candidate. I think the real question is whether he would feel in any way bound to it and, in fact, things end up going well for him in November.

BALDWIN: Excellent point. I love your word "tantalizing."

Let me ask you to stand by, Steve.

We now know the White House has responded to this list of potential nominees from Donald Trump. We will have that on the other side of the break.

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[14:52:55] BALDWIN: Welcome back. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Back to our breaking news. Donald Trump has just released a list of 11 potential nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court. These are men and women he would consider naming to the highest court in the land if, in fact, he were to become president.

Let's go to the White House now. As we know, the White House has responded to the releasing of this list.

Michelle Kosinski is our correspondent there.

Michelle Kosinski, how has the White House has reacted?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Brooke. They didn't have a whole lot to say, but they clearly wanted to make a statement on Trump's new Supreme Court nominee list versus the White House pick, which has been going nowhere.

Listen, this is press secretary, Josh Earnest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I would be surprised if there are any Democrats who would describe any of those 11 individuals as a consensus nominee. The individual that President Obama has put forward is someone that Republicans have described as a consensus nominee, and I think that speaks to the wisdom of the Senate acting on the president's nomination, and I think it speaks to the president's commitment to fulfilling his constitutional responsibilities to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court in a way that is consistent with his desire to protect the Supreme Court from the kind of partisan wars that it's been subjected to of late.

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KOSINSKI: Yeah. So what this ended up being conveniently for the White House was another chance to slam Congress for not taking up the White House's own nominee Merrick Garland and get into the ideological arguments for why that's not the case.

It wasn't a very Trumpy day in the White House briefing today. The White House didn't seem in the these things uncharacteristically mum, based at least lately on Donald Trump's assertion that he himself would go to talk to North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-Un -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: We'll take the silence as speaking volumes.

Michelle Kosinski, thank you at the White House.

Let me bring in our Supreme Court correspondent and producer, Arianne De, who joins me on the phone.

And, you know, how -- how do you read all of this, Ariane?

[14:55:03] ARIANE DE VOGUE, CNN SUPREME COURT CORRESPONDENT & CNN PRODUCER (voice-over): Well, it's interesting because several of the names on Trump's list were names that the Heritage Foundation put out last month. Trump had said that he would talk to them before putting out the list of names, and they, indeed, put out a list. It's not exactly the same. But what's interesting is there are appeals court judges on the list, and on the Supreme Court right now, they are almost all former federal appeal court judges, except for Kagan. And some people said, look, we need more diversity, former politicians, et cetera. Two big absences, names that we thought might be on a Trump list, in conservative circles, Brett Cavanaugh, a federal judge here, and Paul Clement, former solicitor general from the Bush administration, who has always been on some kind of short list, when we think about what a Republican nominee might -- who he might pick if he had a chance.

BALDWIN: Ariane de Vogue on that phone, thank you so much.

Quick break. Back after this.

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[14:59:45] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BALDWIN: Welcome back. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Breaking news here. Donald Trump has just released his list of

potential names, potential nominees for the U.S. Supreme Court. 11 people on the list here. Possible nominees in the event Trump is elected president.

So let's bring in, first up, Sara Murray, who has been looking through some of these names, before we bring in our panel.

And, Sara Murray --