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Trump on Broadening the Base with Women and Minorities; Baylor University Accused of Rape Cover-up; Trump Willing to Debate Sanders for Charity; Obama Beatboxes for Vietnam's Queen of Rap; Aired 9:30- 10a ET

Aired May 26, 2016 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00] PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, so what does this mean for a party that said it needed to expand its outreach to women and minorities after Mitt Romney's 2012 loss? Here to discuss, Leslie Sanchez, Republican strategist, and Sabrina Schaeffer, executive director of the Independent Women's Forum.

Thank you, ladies, for coming on.

Leslie, I'm going to come to you first because Trump isn't just targeting Democratic women as we saw there. He is also criticizing two sitting female Republican governors, who happened to be very popular in the GOP. Martinez for her job performance, and he also lashed out at Nikki Haley, saying that he won South Carolina despite her endorsing Rubio. How does the GOP court women with these kinds of comments?

LESLIE SANCHEZ, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: It's going to be extremely challenging. I mean, one thing we know for sure is that Donald Trump is under performing with women and with Hispanic voters, and this doesn't help. Especially when you consider the fact that a very popular governor like Susana Martinez was once a Democrat, crossed over in the '90s, became a Republican, knows how to work across the aisle and has been in her state avoiding the klieg lights, but doing the hard work of welfare reform, cutting taxes, things that are really catnip to a lot of conservatives and the base GOP voters.

So to isolate and really kind of target somebody who could be your biggest ally is a misstep. Not only with this governor, but any of the strong female leaders that we have within the party.

BROWN: All right. So, Sabrina, how does the party unify if Trump is going after some of the current leaders in the party?

SABRINA SCHAEFFER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INDEPENDENT WOMEN'S FORUM: Right, well, I mean Leslie is absolutely right. And it's a shame when you think about how far conservatives and by extension, the GOP has come with women. I mean, they did a lot to significantly shrink that gender gap during the midterm elections and this really sets us back.

That being said, I think in many ways the more interesting story is Hillary Clinton's failure with women voters, especially those younger women voters. And so while I think Donald Trump is doing a disservice to the GOP I do think that Hillary Clinton is the more interesting part of this. I don't think that her message or her policies are resonating with women. I think that they see through this. They don't like that she's made gender sort of the centerpiece of her campaign.

They recognize that policies like raising the minimum wage and mandating paid benefits and coming down hard on the energy industry, and doubling down on Obamacare, they realize that these bad policies for women and their families. And so that's where really I would think the Republicans have an opportunity to get back the policy.

BROWN: But do you think that her -- she is not doing as well among young women partially because she's also still in a fight with Bernie Sanders who does so well among young people, Sabrina?

SCHAEFFER: Well, absolutely. I mean, actually one recent poll found, and I'm sure Leslie has had seen similar things in her work, that when voters are asked who sort of represents your opinions or voices your opinions best, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump came out way ahead of Hillary Clinton. So when those voters, you know, consolidate, we'll have to see, do some of them break for Donald Trump and -- or do others help Hillary Clinton? That's the sort of big unknown right now.

BROWN: And, Leslie, Trump's campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, weighed in on the VP process. The "Huffington Post" is reporting that he said, quote, "The campaign probably won't choose a woman or member of a minority group," he said. "In fact, that would be viewed as pandering, I think."

Leslie, your thoughts?

SANCHEZ: We're going back to the '90s. You know, talking about the '80s, maybe -- that's not even the '80s, it's the '90s. You know, It's like a flashback of the party politics that, you know, I think individuals like myself and Sabrina have kind of worked against for the last two decades. It's really about inclusion and not looking at gender and ethnic I.D. when you're looking at a really qualified candidate. So I wouldn't just exclude somebody because it was some sort of pandering. I think the goal is to look at people based on their qualifications and let -- you know, color-blind, so to speak, to everything else.

I do think on the side, this is going to be a comparing contrast, right. So there is tremendous opportunity, the positive silver lining here for Donald Trump to appeal to a lot of these independent women voters who are now turned off by the brash style and the crash statements because they like the leadership style and they're just as fearful that Washington is broken as anybody else. And they want somebody to change that.

But it has to be a message that's inclusive. When you're talking about bringing people together on solutions that work and pocketbook issues, you close the Latino gap and you close the women's gap at the same time.

BROWN: All right. We'll have to see what happens. Leslie Sanchez, Sabrina Schaeffer, thank you very much, ladies. Great having you on.

SCHAEFFER: Thank you.

BROWN: And still ahead on this Thursday, did a top football university cover-up allegations of violent behavior and sexual assaults to protect its players? The investigation, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:38:45] BROWN: A major college football team, under fire over a sexual leaders. Top leaders at Baylor University, including school president Kenneth Starr, are accused of covering up allegations of rape and violent behavior by players on the school's football team.

Ken Starr, you'll remember, was front and center investigating Bill Clinton's relationship with Monica Lewinsky.

Ed Lavandera has the story.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pamela, top officials in the administration of Baylor University and its athletic program are under intense scrutiny for the way these officials have handled a series of sexual abuse cases involving students on campus.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Nearly nine years ago, the seeds of the Baylor University Renaissance were planted when the school hired Art Briles as its football coach. Then Ken Starr as university president. Yes, that Ken Starr of 1990s Clinton-Lewinsky cover-up investigation fame.

And after decades of mediocrity, Baylor football was blossoming. A new $266 million football stadium was built on campus. From the outside, Baylor was on the rise. But now some say it came at a painful cost.

IRWIN ZALKIN, VICTIM'S LAWYER: Absolutely there was a cover-up. The reality is it tends to be all about the money, you know.

[09:40:05] It's how do they protect their wealth, how do they protect and do damage control to protect that reputation?

LAVANDERA: Irwin Zalkin represents former Baylor student, Jasmin Hernandez, who is now suing Baylor for the way the school and the athletic program handled her rape allegations when she first came forward. At least three Baylor football players have faced sexual assault accusations and there are reportedly a number of other Baylor students who've come forward with allegations of being sexually assaulted. Two victims who've spoken with CNN say the university tried to cover up the rape allegations.

Jasmin Hernandez was sexually assaulted by Baylor football player Tevin Elliott in April of 2012.

JASMIN HERNANDEZ, FORMER BAYLOR STUDENT: This person had had numerous claims of assaults made against him before where we're claiming very serious allegations of assault and just being completely ignored and like sort of pushed under the rug.

LAVANDERA: Hernandez struggled with the trauma. Her grades suffered and when her mother asked the Academic Services Department for help, she says a Baylor school official told her, "If a plane falls on your daughter, there's nothing we can do to help you."

Hernandez eventually lost her academic scholarship. Elliott was convicted in 2014 of sexually assaulting Hernandez and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

As for Ken Starr, he's not spoken publicly, but the irony of a sexual assault cover-up happening on the watch of the man who investigated the most famous sexual affair cover-up isn't going unnoticed.

Then there's the case of Sam Ukwuachu, which raises even more questions about what was going on under Starr's watch. Ukwuachu transferred from Boise State to Baylor in 2013 after he was dismissed from that team for disciplinary reasons. It turns out, there were serious concerns about his violent behavior toward his then girlfriend. Last August, Baylor football coach Art Briles denied knowing anything about it.

(On camera): How much do you know about what happened at Boise State?

ART BRILES, BAYLOR FOOTBALL COACH: No, zero.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): But Boise State's former head coach said in a statement, "I thoroughly apprised Coach Briles of the circumstances surrounding Sam's disciplinary record and dismissal."

Ukwuachu arrived in Waco and was convicted last summer of sexually assaulting a Baylor student.

Irwin Zalkin says, Art Briles cannot claim he didn't know about the actions of his football players.

ZALKIN: You'd have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to know. And if he, you know, if he stuck his head in the sand and tried to avoid knowledge, that's just as bad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: Our repeated requests to interview Ken Starr have been denied, but there are reports that Baylor's Board of Regents has voted to fire Mr. Starr. However, a spokesperson for the university says that the Board of Regents is still deliberating his fate and that a final decision could be made by the end of next week -- Pamela.

BROWN: Ed Lavandera, thank you very much for that.

We want to check our top stories on this Thursday morning. Do not expect those long airport lines to get better right away at least. TSA administrator Peter Neffenger under fire yesterday for security wait lines, telling the House committee, it will be a, quote, "challenging summer." Neffenger telling CNN last hour how he's tackling the issues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER NEFFENGER, TSA ADMINISTRATOR: We have put a lot of resources into the top airports of the country, the top 20 in particular. We're watching them very carefully and we're watching it in real time right now. So I watch right now what's happening as well as predictive over the next 24 hours.

And we now have the ability to rapidly shift resources. We've put a lot of our -- we've redeployed most of our canines to the airports where we know if there's going to be a lot of travel volume this weekend. Those canines as you know can rapidly move people through a line, put extra resources in. I've got a lot more overtime hours pushed out. So I think we've done a tremendous amount to mitigate it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: But despite that, Neffenger still says you should arrive a couple of hours before flying at major travel hubs.

Well, one man is dead and three others are injured after a shooting at T.I. concert in New York City. Take a look, this cell phone video capturing the chaos. Investigators also pouring over surveillance tape which caught some of the shooting on video. T.I. was not performing at the time and CNN has reached out to the rapper's rep for comment.

Officials from 11 states are now suing the Obama administration to overturn a directive that mandates schools to let transgender students use bathrooms and locker rooms matching their gender identity. The states filing a 32-page lawsuit accusing the policy of turning, quote, "educational settings across the country into laboratories for a massive social experiment."

The next hour, we'll dive deep into the topic as Louisiana's attorney general joins me live at 10:00 a.m.

And in Boston a discovery more than 100 years in the making.

[09:45:03] Construction crews working on an office site found the remains of a ship from the mid to late 1800s. The 50-foot vessel was found in the city's seaport district. And archeologist think the ship may have run aground or crashed in the area during a storm. Pretty interesting.

And up next right here in the NEWSROOM, Sanders versus Trump on the debate stage? Didn't see that one coming. Both candidates say they're in, but will it happen? Who will win?

We're going to talk about this, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Well, neither side has clinched the nomination but Donald Trump and Senator Bernie Sanders could be headed to the debate stage, which would be the first GOP-Democratic matchup in this presidential race. But as Trump tells Jimmy Kimmel, there is a price.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[09:50:12] JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE: He wants to know if you will debate him.

TRUMP: Yes, I am. How much is he going to pay me?

KIMMEL: You would do it for a price? What would the price be?

TRUMP: Yes. Because if I debated him, we would have such high ratings and I think I should give -- take that money and give it to some worthy charity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Those conditions aside, Sanders says he is ready to debate. So will it happen? We are joined by a Bernie Sanders campaign surrogate and San Francisco City supervisor Jane Kim. Sanders is backing Kim in her race for state Senate.

Thank you for coming on. We appreciate it.

JANE KIM, BERNIE SANDERS CAMPAIGN SURROGATE: Good morning.

BROWN: Bottom line, do you really think this debate will actually happen?

KIM: I think that Senator Sanders has certainly made it very clear that he would love to debate Trump on many of these issues. You'll have to ask the campaign for more details, but we've seen in every single match-up between Sanders and Trump that Sanders does win by a wide margin.

BROWN: And let's take a look at the latest polls because, you know, there's still primaries coming up in California. A new poll shows Clinton and Sanders neck and neck there. 46 percent to 44 percent, which has closed the gap from two months ago when it was 48 to 41. Sanders says he is in until California and then the convention. "TIME" magazine this week asks how far will Bernie go? In your view, how far will he go? What is his end goal here?

KIM: Senator Sanders is speaking to the very issues that the constituents that I represent here in San Francisco care about. Income inequality, free higher education, affordable housing, solutions to homelessness. In fact, last month I unveiled a proposal to make community college here free for all San Francisco residents with a modest tax on luxury homes over $5 million. This is a common vision that Senator Sanders and I share, one where economic prosperity and growth benefits everyone here in our country, not just the very few at the top.

BROWN: So it's clear your values align with him, but at some point do you think it could damage, you know, the Democratic Party with this divisiveness inside the party and the, you know, attacks -- the ongoing attacks against Hillary Clinton? At what point do you think Bernie Sanders could cross the line if he is not the nominee, which at this point the math doesn't add up for him, frankly?

KIM: Having a debate on our wealth gap, on affordable health care, on how we can house all of our residents, that is strengthening the Democratic Party. We have seen nearly two million Californians register since January 1st. 200,000 on the last day to register this past Monday. The Democratic Party has grown 218 percent here in the state of California.

This is a good thing. Voters deserve a good debate, and Senator Sanders is speaking to the very values that many Americans and Californians care about. This is a good thing --

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Let me ask you this. Let me just ask you this before we wrap this up, because Senator Sanders has been quiet on Clinton's e-mail situation so far. The controversy surrounding that. The FBI investigation. Will he dig in now, especially in the wake of the State Department IG report that was released yesterday in an effort to overtake her in California? Should he?

KIM: The inspector general has released a report and there will be a careful process moving forward. We should let this process play out.

Senator Sanders is talking about the very issues that we are concerned with. In fact, the constituents I represent aren't talking about the e-mails. They're talking about how they're going to retire. They're talking about how they're going to own a home in the future. These are the very issues we want to see debated in the public.

BROWN: So you don't think he should address that with Hillary and make that an issue?

KIM: Again, the folks that I'm talking to, what I'm hearing on the ground, people are very anxious about the future of our country. We're concerned about the shrinking of our middle class and the growing wealth gap. These are the very issues we want to see debated over the next couple of weeks.

BROWN: All right. Jane Kim, thanks so much. Do appreciate it .

KIM: Thank you very much.

BROWN: Still ahead on this Thursday, meet the female rapper who got President Obama to beat box in Vietnam. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:58:31] BROWN: Well, if you're going to introduce yourself to President Obama as a rapper, you better be ready to show off your skills.

CNN's Jeanne Moos explains.

JEANNE MOOS, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We've seen him dance with Ellen. Tango in Argentina. And sing at the Apollo. But in Vietnam, President Obama got serenaded here.

SUE BOY, VIETNAMESE RAPPER: I'm a rapper here --

OBAMA: You're a rapper?

SUE BOY: -- in Saigon, Vietnam.

OBAMA: Oh, yes?

MOOS: It took a nudge from the president.

OBAMA: Why don't you give me a little rap? Let's see. Let's see what you've got.

MOOS: He even helped with a little beat boxing.

OBAMA: You need like a little beat?

SUE BOY: Vietnamese or English?

OBAMA: In Vietnamese. Of course.

SUE BOY: In Vietnamese.

MOOS: Her rap was about people with money and big houses, but are they happy?

OBAMA: Well, that was good.

MOOS (on camera): She wasn't just some random audience member. She is known in Vietnam as the queen of hip-hop. Her name, Sue Boy, comes from the nickname Sue, and her tomboy style. She's got music videos and tens of thousands of fans.

(Voice-over): She's been in movies and performed on "Vietnam Idol." No wonder she wasn't nervous rapping to the president.

SUE BOY: Actually, I was shaking. I was so excited and overwhelmed. A lot of like stereotype, like, you know, like, me, Asian rappers, they look and cute girls. And you know, people don't know --

OBAMA: Is that what they're thinking?

MOOS: Sue Boy says she taught herself English, rapping along with Eminem.