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Trump Tweets Praise For Police Following Protests; World War II Plane Plunges Into Hudson River, Pilot Killed; Trump Campaign Denies Reports Of Infighting; Trump Contradicts Campaign Chief's Statement; Iraqi Burn Victim Yousiff Inspires Many In His Healing. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired May 28, 2016 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:06] SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Suzanne Malveaux. Fredricka Whitfield is off today. CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

Donald Trump's latest campaign stop in California was once again rocked by violent protests. Trump is praising police for arresting at least 35 people tweeting this morning saying, "San Diego P.D., fantastic job on handling the thugs who tried to disrupt our very peaceful and well attended rally, greatly appreciated." This all began as pro-Trump and anti-Trump demonstrators came face to face after the rally when thousands of Trump supporters flooded into the streets.

(PROTESTERS CHANTING USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!)

Some altercations became violent. Shouting matches, punching, shoving even some launching bottles, rocks and eggs at each other. San Diego police began to move in with riot gears, you see it there, shields and batons drawn. There were some officers used pepper spray. They began moving the protesters down the street or the ocean successfully dispersing the crowds. Well, this is now the fourth protests outside of Trump rallies in just as many days.

I want to talk about this more with Scottie Nell Hughes, she is the political editor of RightAlerts.com and also a Trump supporter, welcome. And Ben Ferguson is a CNN political commentator, host of "The Ben Ferguson Show." So, both of you, let's talk about this.

And Scottie, first to you, we saw just over the last two weeks that Trump spent a lot of time trying to unify the party, meeting with the top Republican leaders, Speaker Ryan, also the NRA. But what we see here, when we see these protests erupting, the question has to be, how does he unify the country because ultimately that's what the Republican or the Democratic president is going to have to do.

SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, POLITICAL EDITOR, RIGHTALERTS.COM: Absolutely. And protests are nothing new to our political system. We've had, I mean, how our country was founded in some ways with protests. But what we're seeing here though was actually helping Mr. Trump when these folks, who might have real grievances with Mr. Trump sit there and use things like violence and the assault police officers and they destroy your property and they show they have no respect for the law, all that does is just reaffirm the problem we have in this country and how the balance of order needs to be restored.

You know, you sit there and you look -- now they have been successful. Because instead of showing what Mr. Trump is saying from the stage and the thousands of peaceful people that are gathering to hear him, we're now focused right now on what's going on outside in the chaos. And unfortunately until we get people like Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton standing up and saying, I don't approve of these, if you're a supporter of mine, please don't be involved in this type of demonstration, unfortunately these are just going to continue to build throughout the political --

MALVEAUX: So, Scottie, just a follow-up if I can here. I mean, how does Trump do that. Because he does need to say that, look, that's not tolerated in our political discourse here, the violence. But also, he needs to say, I get it, I understand you have these grievances. We need to bring you into the fold. How does he start to make that happen?

HUGHES: Well, he has said that he does not agree with the violence going on outside. He encourages his supporters not to interact outside with them or go to other rallies and to do the same. And for us encouraging, these acts of protesting mainly has immigration policies, also his policy, temporary ban regarding Muslims. You know what? Those polices are definitely steadfast, he does say he's going to build a wall and he does say that we need a temporary solution to fix our security system here in the United States.

So, that's just how it's going to be. And as long as these folks are using this way to get their message across, I promise you it's not being met with very much thrive of acceptance and saying, OK, how do we work with you? This does not work. There's other ways of negotiations that are better.

MALVEAUX: All right. Now, let's go to you, hashtags trending now, chicken Trump, chicken Hillary, Trump's statements saying that based on the fact that the Democratic nominating is totally rigged and crooked Hillary Clinton and Debbie Wasserman Schultz will not allow Bernie Sanders to win and now that I'm the process, it seems inappropriate that I would debate the second place finisher.

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.

MALVEAUX: So, what do you make of this statement that we saw from Trump because, first of all, when has it Ben that he -- tells us about what appropriate, you know, that's not his brand. And second, he's know from the very beginning that Sanders was number two.

FERGUSON: Yes.

MALVEAUX: So, what do you think was behind this Ben and him actually polling out of this debate that he called for initially?

FERGUSON: Look, I think this is actually a very smart political move by Donald Trump. One he says, hey, I'll debate him which elevated Bernie Sanders and inspired his supporters and think of him as going to win this election. And then he immediately afterwards says, well, actually he's not going to win this, which is only going to inspire Bernie Sanders supporters that much more to come out and vote for him, which extends the fight between Bernie and Hillary. He wants us to go on as long as is it possibly can.

Hillary Clinton is struggling, she has got a trust issue among Democrats, we saw this week, she has got problems now with her e-mail again after you have the State Department making it very clear she was not authorized to set up her own private server and did not ask for permission. So, this continues to keep that going, it elevates Bernie Sanders, going into California which is important for him and it makes his supporters that much more mad that he was called second place guy and it reinforce what is Donald was saying and that is, hey, this is rigged, Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, they're trying to silence you Bernie Sanders supporters and you guys need to speak out even louder because they're stealing this from you and they're taking that and they're running with it.

[11:05:34] MALVEAUX: And Scottie, if you think that perhaps because I see this, Paul Manafort's fingerprints all over that statement there.

FERGUSON: Yes.

MALVEAUX: Because we have got this experience, political hand saying, you know what, perhaps this doesn't really do much for you here but you can play this state, I mean, you've got the nomination head already. And we heard earlier this week, the DNC, former head of the DNC Howard Stern saying that Sanders would clean his clock if they had a debate like this, that in fact Sanders himself saying that he was going to expose Trump for what he called his racist views. Do either one of you believe that it was a good idea in the first place for Trump to participate in something like this?

HUGHES: Let's remember how it came out. It was a late-night comedian show.

MALVEAUX: That's right.

HUGHES: He's the one who suggested it.

MALVEAUX: That's right. And he agreed to it.

HUGHES: I think he just threw it out there and kind of had the -- thinking that it would get the leg it did. Obviously after it got off air, it did get the legs and then I think the cooler heads prevailed and said, listen, strategy-wise as well as actually etiquette-wise, this is not how we do it. It's the Democrats are refusing to force Hillary Clinton to (INAUDIBLE) about one last debate with Bernie Sanders before California, it's not our place to go in there and try to encourage it as well.

MALVEAUX: Ben, do you agree?

FERGUSON: I think this really comes down to Bernie Sanders supporters who are frustrated and irritated. And Donald Trump's point was, I won't debate him, Hillary Clinton won't even do it and the Democratic Party is stealing this from you. It reinforces that messaging to Bernie Sanders supporters which inspires them and right now, you want them inspired. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton should debate. It's not over yet.

And the super delegates -- even though Hillary Clinton has a mass majority of them, the voters can continue to reject her on the issue of honesty. So, I think Bernie Sanders deserves one more debate and I think Hillary Clinton deserves to give the voters one more look at her before they have a chance to vote in California. Whether she'll do it or not -- I understand why she's not doing it. I wouldn't want to, you know, debate Bernie Sanders if I'm Hillary Clinton right now either. I do want to just keep, you know, running out the clock and try to wrap this thing up.

MALVEAUX: Scottie, I got one more question for you here. Just one more here. A little bit more time before I let you go. Through Trump passion yesterday. He said the Californians, quote, that there is no drought. If I went, believe me, we're going to start opening up the water, what does he mean by that?

HUGHES: I think he's talking about all the EPA regulations. All the regulations. Now granted, he cannot sit there and have mother nature pour rain down on California but you have to see that one of the things are happening, is you're having these -- you're seeing stars that are able to sit there and water their lawns with disregard and get no penalty for it. He's going to make it equal upon all and actually remove all of the EPA regulations that don't seem fairness to some of the ones that were involved in California.

MALVEAUX: All right. So, he's not calling for rain, that he's the rain God just quite yet, right?

HUGHES: We're not doing the rain dance yet.

(LAUGHTER)

MALVEAUX: OK. All right. Scottie Nell Hughes, Ben Ferguson, thank you so much. I appreciate your time.

FERGUSON: Thank you.

MALVEAUX: With Trump clinching the Republican presidential nomination, where does that leave Marco Rubio?

Well, this week, our own Jake Tapper sat down with the Florida senator and former presidential candidate. Jake, what did he tell you?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Suzanne, one of the first questions Marco Rubio got after dropping out of the presidential race was whether or not he'd be willing to serve as vice president to Donald Trump. The senator offers a lot for any ticket, youth, energy. Of course, he's from the critical battleground state of Florida, he's Latino. But in an exclusive interview with me, Rubio tells me why he will not serve as Trump's VP, as well as discussing his plans for the future.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So you're willing to go to Cleveland, you're willing to speak if appropriate, you want to do whatever you can to defeat Hillary Clinton and you'll like public service. Is the door still closed to being Donald Trump's vice president?

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: It is because in my view it wouldn't be the right choice for him. You know, Donald I think deserves to have a vice president, he's earned the nomination and he deserves to have a running mate that more fully embraces some of the things he stands for.

TAPPER: We should definitely think that, like those of us who cover politics and those of your fans who are watching this right now, that this is not the end of it for you. Like you think you will likely run, if not for president again, something that will --

RUBIO: Yes. I think that's a safe assumption. But I don't know where I'm going to be in two years. I don't know. I can tell you I enjoy public service. If there's an opportunity to serve again in a way that I feel passionate about, I most certainly think I'll explore it but I don't know where I'm going to be in two years. I don't know what my life will look like then.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:10:05] TAPPER: Now, Rubio is certainly leaving the door open to running for president again whether or not Trump losses in the fall. But his support for Trump in the party this November would be critical to show his loyalty. And perhaps this strengthens his position within the Republican Party -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Thanks, Jake. Check out his full interview with Marco Rubio tomorrow morning at 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

So, I want to bring in Larry Sabato. He is the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. And good to see you Larry as always. I want to start out with the V.P. question. Is there any chance you think that Trump is actually going to offer this to Rubio, despite the claims that he's not the right guy?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Suzanne, there's all piece of possibility, especially with Donald Trump. You know he can change his mind three or four times a day on the same subject. I don't think Rubio would be inclined to accept. It's probably not in Rubio's interest, nor would it guarantee Florida that Republican primary that Trump won handily over Rubio suggested that Rubio is weaker in Florida than many people thought.

MALVEAUX: And we've heard Rubio say he's not going to make another round for his current Senate seat because the current Florida Lieutenant Governor Carlos Lopez Cantera is actually going to go ahead and make a run for it himself, they're good friends. But Rubio despite that is being pressure to step back in, no less from Trump himself, Trump tweeting this this week saying that poll data shows that Marco Rubio does by far the best in holding on to his Senate seat in Florida. Important to keep the majority. Run, Marco, run. If you're Marco Rubio, are you listening?

SABATO: Well, he has to listen. Because these are very senior people from Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. If you can (ph) this to Republican caucus in the Senate right now since (INAUDIBLE) that almost all of the Republicans in that caucus want Rubio to run again because they believe correctly that he would have the best chance of the various candidates to actually hold that seat. He's the incumbent after all. But I think again, while Rubio is citing his good friend in the race, we know how much friendship matters in politics.

I think if Rubio saw it was in his interest, he would jump backing at, but again, I think he is playing a long game here. He wants to run for president in 2020. He wants to go out and make some money. He's got a young family, you know, a lot of personal consideration. So, probably this is a good decision for him to stay out but he's going to have a lot more pressure to get in.

MALVEAUX: And talk about that pressure because the stakes are very, very high. The Senate seat looking vulnerable right now and it could fall in the hands of the Democrats in November losing a majority here. I mean, what is -- what are they thinking when they're thinking we can't have this -- let this thing go.

SABATO: The Republicans are facing a very difficult channel to the Senate. Right now, they control the Senate 54 seats to the Democrats '46. But you have a sizable number of seats coming up in Democratic states, in blue states, but Hillary Clinton is very likely to carry. Something tells me that this year we're going to have a lot of straight ticket voting. When people start to vote for Trump, they'll vote for all the Republicans. When people start to vote for Clinton, they'll vote for all the Democrats. If Clinton wins the election, she has a pretty good chance of pulling in a Democratic Senate with her and that's what the Republicans wants to stop.

MALVEAUX: And that is why voter turnout is so critical in this election. Larry Sabato, thank you so much for your time and for joining us. Great to see you. We'll see you a little bit later.

Coming up, a third party option, the libertarian party picking their presidential candidate, but will this ticket possibly hurt the Republicans or the Democrats? We'll going to hear from the likely libertarian candidates up next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll hope to be the nominees here coming out of the libertarian convention. I think there will be a clear third choice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:17:08] MALVEAUX: The Libertarian Party is hoping the turmoil around the major parties pushes voters its way, the party holding its nominating convention this weekend in Orlando, Florida, founded in 1971 as an alternative to the Democratic and Republican Parties. Libertarians believe in individual freedom. Most support reducing the government's role in economics and social issues and on economics, Libertarians believe in slashing government benefits, reducing regulations and reforming or even eliminating the Federal Reserve.

Now, on social issues, they generally lean more liberal, favoring same-sex marriage and the decriminalization of most if not all drugs. But the Libertarian Party is also very pro-gun rights and on foreign policy Libertarians are non-interventionists. They prefer a military devoted only to National Defense and they support shutting down foreign military and economic aids.

So, I want to bring in our own Victor Blackwell, who was at the libertarian convention yesterday, really interesting, fascinating. You had a chance to sit down and actually talk with the very likely candidates from that party. Tell us who they are, what they're like. I mean, you know, this year people are paying attention.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: They are optimistic. And here's why. Because you have two candidates from the Republican and the Democratic parties who have really high unfavorables and a lot of people looking for that third option. And these are the likely candidates. The frontrunner, Gary Johnson, the frontrunner for the race for the presidential nominee, former two-term governor of New Mexico, ran for president as a libertarian 2012, got about 1.23 million votes, the most ever for a libertarian candidate. Johnson's pick for vice president, Bill Weld, the former Massachusetts governor, briefly ran as a libertarian for governor of New York and at one time was nominated for the post of ambassador to New Mexico.

Now for Weld and Johnson, this is the first interview together. And I asked about Weld's relationship with Bill Clinton, who nominated him for that ambassadorship and whether Johnson at one time -- was the CEO of a company selling marijuana products, would he use drugs in the White House?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: You were nominated before you resigned as governor of Massachusetts to be ambassador of Mexico by President Clinton. What is your relationship with the Clintons?

BILL WELD, GARY JOHNSON'S RUNNING MATE: It's good. And I worked with Mrs. Clinton back in the 70s. We were still in our 20s. That was on the Nixon impeachment. Fascinating time. Bill Clinton and I got along with very well as fellow governors and I was generally supportive of him as president as well.

BLACKWELL: When was the last time you spoke with the Clintons, Secretary Clinton?

WELD: I don't think I've spoken with her in two years. I've seen her in New York. Because I lived in New York for ten years, not long ago, and I would see both of them there.

BLACKWELL: And you ran for New York governor, do you have any relationship with Donald Trump?

WELD: I know Donald socially in New York, that's all. But yes, we did see him and Melania around town a little bit.

BLACKWELL: And what's your opinion of him?

WELD: Well, you know, there's the Donald Trump that you meet socially, and he's a warm person, not an ungenerous person. Some of the stuff that he's running on I think is absolutely chaotic. I'm going to do this to Mexico. Okay. That's a violation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which is the supreme law of the land. It's a treaty. We signed it. I'm going to do this to China, no questions asked. OK. That's a violation of the World Trade Organization rules, exposing us, the United States, to sanctions there. So we would be the rogue nation. I don't think we want to be the rogue nation. You know? Let's let North Korea be the rogue nation, not us.

BLACKWELL: Governor Johnson, Donald Trump is no stranger to name calling. Hillary Clinton has said that she's not going to get into what she calls the gutter with him. During the February libertarian debate, you called him a word that is so vulgar, I cannot say it on CNN. Is that the way you're going to wage this campaign?

GARY JOHNSON, LIBERTARIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, it was a really poor attempt at humor. It was a total misfire. I apologize and I'm better than that and you won't see that at all.

BLACKWELL: How do you then go after Donald Trump? Because some of the monikers he's handed out, they've stuck and they've worked. How do you go after him?

WELD: You don't go after anybody. I was never a member of the Never Trump crowd. I declined that invitation. I think he deserves a lot of credit for what he's been able to do bringing people into the Republican Party. I think some of those people are going to stay in the Republican Party.

BLACKWELL: Would you call him a friend?

WELD: No, no, no, no. I would call the Clintons closer to being friends.

BLACKWELL: Right before you announced your 2016 candidacy for president, you were CEO of a company called Cannabis Citiva (ph), maker and marketer of cannabis products. You've been very open about your use of cannabis products. I wonder, would a President Johnson use cannabis products in the White House?

JOHNSON: No, I would tonight -- I've been on record saying that. I haven't had a drink in 29 years. And no, I don't think -- I think I really have a proven record of discipline beyond most people. And, no, I don't think you want to have the president of the United States impaired or potentially being impaired in any way whatsoever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[22:22:17] BLACKWELL: Now, there was some excitement initially after the announcement of a potential ticket with two former governors, but lately there's been some trepidation about Bill Weld. Politico is reporting that last night during the vice presidential debate there in Orlando. He did not to himself any favors calling, libertarians the people that are the unattractive people down the street or in the neighborhood.

Also said that the U.S. should stay in the U.N., which is anathema to libertarian Orthodoxy. And then they're kind of concern about his views, as he was governor of Massachusetts. A support in assault weapons ban. Stricter EPA regulations which are things that as you said at the top, libertarians typically are not fans off.

MALVEAUX: That's right. I used to cover him when he was governor of Massachusetts. So, it's interesting to see his evolution here. But Bill, quickly here --

BLACKWELL: Yes.

MALVEAUX: The libertarian candidate, who does it impact more, Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump?

BLACKWELL: Well, because of their mix of views, they believe that they can pull from both sides. But because they are two former Republican governors in traditionally blue states, they believe they can take a lot of votes from the Republicans. We'll see though if Republicans are willing to support a ticket that is pro-marriage equality, pro-abortion rights. Governor Johnson says that they will vote for smaller government above those social issues. And you see here 10 percent in the polls, they've got to get to 15 to make that debate stage.

MALVEAUX: All right. The fact that we're even talking about them here makes this election season just completely different than previous ones.

BLACKWELL: Yes. In double digits. Yes.

MALVEAUX: Thank you, Victor. Good to see you. And you can catch more of Victor Blackwell's report tomorrow morning. That is 6:00 Eastern on "NEW DAY" weekend right here on CNN.

And up ahead, a vintage World War II plane caught on camera crashing into the Hudson River. What we know about the moments before the plane took a deadly nosedive.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:27:48] MALVEAUX: A horrifying scene. A vintage World War II plane plunges into New York's Hudson River. Police say they recovered the pilot's body. Fifty six-year-old William Gordon was the only one on board. Witnesses say they watched in horror as his plane slammed into the river last night. You see the video here showing the moment of impact.

Our Rachel Crane is following the story from New York. And Rachel, I understand that some people, they saw the pilot struggling to get out of the plane? RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. This is a very

populated portion of the Hudson. You have restaurants and running paths on either side so many witnesses saw this crash occur. And while there's many questions surrounding this ongoing investigation, the museum that owns the plane put out a statement earlier today. They said that "The FAA will determine the reason for the in-flight failure. But we know this much, Bill was a nationally respected pilot and we were lucky to call him one of our own."

Now, law enforcement officials tell us that they will be using a crane later today to try and recover that plane. It will be the army corps of engineers and the NYPD will be working together on this recovery effort. So the FAA and the NTSB can continue the investigation into what went wrong here -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right. Just very tragic, Rachel Crane. Thank you so much. We appreciate that.

Ahead, Donald Trump's campaign might appear to be on the upswing but there are now some reports of a clear power struggle that is going on inside the campaign. We'll going to explain what that's all about up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: This week, Donald Trump picked up enough delegates to help him secure the Republican nomination. It's a big deal, of course, for a political outsider and his campaign.

But just as Trump's team celebrating, there is a power struggle that is also going on. I'm going to take you inside his campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Donald J. Trump.

MALVEAUX (voice-over): Tonight fresh off of clinching the Republican nomination, the Trump campaign is rejecting new reports of more top- level infighting. The Trump campaign announced it was parting ways with its political director, Rick Wylie (ph), Wednesday. Just six weeks after he was hired.

Wylie, the former campaign manager for Scott Walker's presidential bid was originally brought in to build up the ground game to clinch the delegates needed to avoid a contested convention.

When asked if he was fired, the Trump campaign says Wylie was just meant to serve a short term role.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: General election matchups will change dramatically once we get through Cleveland.

MALVEAUX: But sources close to the campaign say Wylie butted heads with Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski. Wylie is also closely tied to Lewandowski's reported competitor, campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, brought in late March to broker a possible ugly contested July Republican convention.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Corey, good job, Corey. Good job.

MALVEAUX: Sources say tensions between Lewandowski and Manafort have worsened as Trump gets closer to the general election. So much so sources say the two are now working on different floors in the Trump Tower.

MJ LEE, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER: It's certainly not unheard of that there are tensions within presidential campaigns, but it is unusual that two such top aides are really going at each other and that the rift has shown up in such a public fashion.

MALVEAUX: Manafort's duties have expanded.

PAUL MANAFORT, TRUMP'S CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: I work directly for the boss.

MALVEAUX: As Trump consistently downplays reports of any inner team turmoil.

TRUMP (via telephone): Paul actually gets along very well with Corey. They get along. They have different functions, but I'm telling you they get along really well. They have separate functions, very separate functions, and they're doing great.

MALVEAUX: In an interview with "The Huffington Post," Manafort says Trump isn't likely to pick a woman or a minority as vice president, saying, "that would be viewed as pandering I think." Today, Trump said Manafort was misquoted and that he wouldn't pick a nominee just because they are a woman or minority.

TRUMP: I think it's likely that we would have somebody, but we don't do it for any specific reason. We're looking for absolute competence.

MALVEAUX: Manafort also said it's not his job to change Trump. "You don't change Donald Trump. You don't manage him. He's going to win unless we, meaning people like me, screw it up. This is not a hard race."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Now Lewandowski denied that there was any tension with him and Manafort, and Manafort did not return a request for comment about all this.

[11:35:08]But I want to bring in a co-chair of Donald Trump's New York campaign, Joseph Borelli and Joe is also a New York City councilman, and a Republican delegate. Welcome.

We're also talking to CNN political analyst, Josh Rogin. So thanks both of you for joining us here. Joe, I want to start off with you here.

Rick Wylie, I mean, he was brought in to strengthen the ground game going on to the general election. Hillary Clinton's folks, we have certainly seen in the last couple of weeks at least, they have been building there as we're tacking Ohio, California, Florida, and Pennsylvania.

So now that Wylie is gone, who plays that role? Who actually does act to make sure you guys are also competitive?

JOSEPH BORELLI, CO-CHAIR, DONALD TRUMP NEW YORK CAMPAIGN: I think as Donald Trump said, a lot of the ground game is going to be the function of a combination of the RNC and the Trump campaign itself. Let's not forget that Rick Wylie was hired specifically to mesh the two apparatus.

Now that that's happened, I don't think we should look too much into why he was let go or why he left or the situation there. Every campaign I've ever been involved with from presidential down to the town judge, has always been made up of a team of rivals.

People try to compete with different idea. They try to compete with the principal's attention. So objectively we really can't see this as that unique. I'm sure the same thing goes on if not maybe less spoken about in Clinton campaign and the Sanders campaign, but these things are not unique to the Trump campaign.

MALVEAUX: Joe, I give you that point but there is something -- Wylie did say and we expected that people within those states were going to report to him about the ground game. Who does that now? I mean, who do they report to? Who's actually running that operation to make sure the ground game is strengthened?

BORELLI: Right. Look, there's no doubt that the Trump campaign is working on developing a more robust operation than it is today. But before we even play specifics, look at the bigger picture.

If Rick Wylie was unhappy with the strategy, well, really the strategy was working. Donald Trump consolidated the Republican nomination quicker than people thought he would especially the pundits of the world.

He's tied if not winning in a lot of swing states. His unfavorables amongst different demographics are improving, albeit slowly but faster than a lot of people has said they would. So objectively the Trump campaign is doing fine and to really paint the picture that it's not would be misleading.

MALVEAUX: So Josh, I want to go to you because Joe brings up a good point, which is true, political infighting is very common with campaigns, I've covered many of these.

So Lewandowski, he wants the originals to stay, run the shop here. You've got Manafort on the other side who wants to bring in the more experienced operatist like himself. How does the campaign manage these two camps?

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. Well, Joe is right that this infighting happens in every campaign, but he is not right in saying it doesn't matter. It does matter.

This tells us not only about whether or not the Trump campaign will be able to mount the general election machine that can take on the huge Clinton apparatus.

But also it tells us about Donald Trump's leadership style himself, which speaks to how he'll be president. So, you know, what we can see here is that the struggle between Corey Lewandowski and Paul Manafort is still going on.

It seems that Lewandowski has won this battle, but the war is not over. And what a lot of the operatives are looking is not only what you rightly point out is, who is going to run all these ground operations?

Joe doesn't know and I don't know. I don't think the Trump campaign knows. I don't think they have figured that out yet, but also the bigger battle, which is who is going to signal which super PACs are going to organize the millions upon millions of dollars that the campaign is going to need.

And these are the two big questions that I think we are struggling to figure out, but also the Trump campaign is also struggling to figure out.

MALVEAUX: And Joe, Manafort says that he's going to let Trump be Trump. That's what he says, right? But he does seem to be a bit off message or at least not on the same page as Trump recently.

He did an interview with "The Huffington Post," and it sounded to me like Trump wasn't even aware of the news that Manafort made out of that interview so I want you to take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible) that "Huffington Post" article where --

TRUMP: I don't read "The Huffington Post."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Paul Manafort spoke to --

TRUMP: I'm sure he was misquoted because it is just -- I didn't think they covered politics, "The Huffington Post." Do they cover politics? All right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They said you were going to soften your position on the Muslim ban. Is that true?

TRUMP: Well, we're going to look at a lot of different things.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) your VP list, it's probably unlikely that there would be a woman or a minority in that mix because that would be pandering. It's something that you do not want to do. Can you respond to that? TRUMP: No, I think it's likely that we would have somebody, but we don't do it for any specific reason. We are looking for absolute competence. I fully expect that that we will have many women involved with -- I've had it with the campaign. But we're going to have many women involved and I think you're going to see that and you're going to see that very strongly.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: So Joe, can you explain how that happened? How they came about? Manafort was very public, very clear. Trump had to walk him back on a couple of points.

BORELLI: I think he rightfully should. You know, I would never characterize as diversifying a ticket as pandering. But let's be honest, I mean, people do consider disparate demographics because it does meet a certain need.

[11:40:01]And it does help brings people together. But I think what Trump said to clarify was that we're going to consider the best person for the job, period. Whether that person is a male or female, white or black or Hispanic or whatever. I think he's more focused on picking the best person for the job.

MALVEAUX: Josh, I want you to weigh in here because who does it look like has the most influence, from what you can tell seeing Trump's behavior about this? Because it does seem here that he wasn't quite on message, Manafort, with what Trump was trying to convey or maybe he was trying to change the whole thing as he was going.

ROGIN: Right. It's the total opposite that we've seen throughout the campaign. Usually it's Trump who says the frank and politically incorrect thing and his staff who has to clean it up.

And here we have the opposite thing where Paul Manafort is just speaking honestly about what he thinks and Trump is cleaning up and being politically correct.

But the overall impact of that interview and that reversal according to all the Republican operatives I've talked to is that it served to undermine Paul Manafort's credibility in the community.

He's the guy who is supposed to be speaking to all of the professionals on behalf of Donald Trump and when his boss, you know, overrules him and just sort of totally switches what he said on national television, it makes everybody think maybe Paul Manafort can't really speak and therefore can't really negotiate for Donald Trump.

The bottom line, there's only one person who really has influence with Donald Trump and that's Donald Trump and everyone else is just talking around him. And so that's just the dynamic that the Trump is in right now.

MALVEAUX: Trump being Trump as many people say.

ROGIN: Exactly.

MALVEAUX: Josh Rogin, Joe Borelli, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Ahead, a Texas official says the state is willing to give up $10 billion with a "b" in federal education funding. The reason, the president's latest guidance on transgender students in public school restrooms. Next, we'll talk to the Texas attorney general about that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:45:28]

MALVEAUX: Officials in 11 states including Texas say they will sue the Obama administration. At issue, the recent guidelines put out by the president on how schools should handle transgender students' access to bathrooms.

The administration has advised schools to respond to all sex based harassment, treat students according to their gender identity, allow students to participate in gender segregated activities, allow students to use gender segregated facilities and protect all students privacy.

Joining us now is Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Thank you so much, sir, for being with us this afternoon. Can you, first of all, briefly point out what the lawsuit is meant to do?

KEN PAXTON, TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL: It's meant to stop the Obama administration from implementing new guidelines that are in direct violation of current law and it's mainly trying to stop him from doing something that he's not authorized to do under the constitution.

MALVEAUX: Now, Texas receives nearly $10 billion in federal education money. The government, of course, could pull those funds, at least some of it, if you don't comply with the administration's guidance on treating transgender students.

So you have said before publicly on another network that this is a solution in search of a problem, that essentially there is no problem with abuse going on in bathrooms from transgendered folks. So why do you put funding for educating the state's children at risk for a problem that doesn't exist?

PAXTON: Well, so we're not putting the education at risk. It's the administration that has threatened to take away funding from our schools. There's 100,000 schools in the United States, millions of children.

If this policy goes into effect and a school doesn't want to implement it, they risk losing their funding. So it's the administration that's putting school children at risk.

MALVEAUX: But you actually know, sir, that the appeal if you go forward with this appeal, with the suit that that in fact puts in motion the very real possibility that your state, the state of Texas, could lose $10 billion in education funding for children. I mean, if you don't pursue that appeal, then there is no issue

here. If you cooperate, then the $10 billion, that doesn't become a problem. So that is -- that is on you.

PAXTON: Well, not really because we're not the one changing the law. Congress is supposed to change the law. They put this in place in the 60s and 70s. There have been attempts to change it over the last 20, 30 years.

Congress has failed at doing that. If Congress wants to change it, they can do it, but the president cannot unilaterally as president change law. That's what we're saying.

He can't do it and so we don't think we're going to lose school funding because he doesn't have authority to change the law. That is not in his constitutional authority.

WHITFIELD: You have confidence in your case. You don't believe that you're going to lose the school funding, but you do put that school funding at risk, that $10 billion if you move forward with this particular appeal.

I know you said before that you want to protect the girls in the bathroom from possible predators. There might be people in your state who say what about protecting their education, the resources that are so desperately needed in your state?

PAXTON: Well, that's what we're doing here. I mean, it is the Obama administration that is pushing this policy forward. This isn't a policy we made up in Texas.

We're just trying to defend the rule of law and defend the constitution and then also defend our schools from having to implement a policy that we already know.

Many of the parents in the state because I've talked to them are worried about the impact of the safety on their own children.

MALVEAUX: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, we'll have to have you back. We have many more questions, but we've run out of time here. Thank you. We appreciate your time.

PAXTON: Thank you for having me on.

MALVEAUX: It is a story that has touched the hearts of millions around the world. This is a little Iraqi boy doused with gasoline and burned in a brutal attack eight years ago. We'll show you how Yousef is doing now and hear his inspirational journey through recovery up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:53:01]

MALVEAUX: We first brought you the story of a little Iraqi boy named Yousif eight years ago. Ever since 4-year-old Yousif was burned in an attack outside

his Baghdad home, CNN's Arwa Damon has followed his amazing journey to recovery.

Now Yousiff is about to start high school and Arwa met up with him in California where he now lives to find out how his story is still inspiring the masses.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, look at you! You got so big!

(voice-over): Yousiff has grown in numerous ways. He has been a hero for many over the years. Superman is his.

YOUSIFF, IRAQI BURN VICTIM: So I had a project in my English class. So each person got to choose one superhero.

DAMON (on camera): Do you identify with him?

YOUSIFF: Yes.

DAMON: In what sense?

YOUSIFF: I try to fit in with everyone.

DAMON: Is that still hard for you?

YOUSIFF: Not really because now I make friends easily.

DAMON (voice-over): Yousiff was just 4 years old when masked men attacked him outside his Baghdad home. We reported his story. The outpouring of support came from across the globe, and Yousiff and his family ended up in Los Angeles.

Where his parents heard their son laugh and shriek for the first time in the months since the attack where strangers gathered in prayer on the beach moving his mother to tears.

He has since undergone multiple surgeries. The memory of Iraq and the evil he experienced all but erased.

(on camera): You were saying you don't remember anything about Baghdad?

YOUSIFF: Yes, I don't. I don't remember my family that much. Only my grandparents.

DAMON (voice-over): In many ways he's just like any other teen. Obsessed with soccer, has loads of friends, and still wants to become a doctor to help others. But he knows he may not see his homeland in his lifetime.

[11:55:02](on camera): You've been following the news about what's happening in Iraq with ISIS? YOUSIFF: I feel really bad for all the people and all of those kids and stuff. It's like, those terrorists aren't Muslims. They're just extremist

DAMON (voice-over): We still can't disclose his father's identity for the security of the family back in Iraq.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm trying not to read and see what's going on because whatever I see is sad there. Everything is just sad.

DAMON: And life as a refugee is never easy. Washam (ph) only able to find a part-time job and is looking for more work.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the same time as you see so many people looking for job. It's not only me.

DAMON: They are all profoundly aware that they are fortunate to have survived and escaped the war zone, thanks to the kindness of strangers, who continue to finance Yousiff's medical care.

YOUSIFF: Every surgery that I have is like one step closer to the finish line.

DAMON (on camera): You're starting high school?

YOUSIFF: Yes. I'm really excited, too.

DAMON (voice-over): Arwa Damon, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: All right, good for him. If want more information about Yousiff and you want to help with his recovery, go to cnn.com/impact.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Hello. Thanks for joining me. I'm Suzanne Malveaux. Fredricka Whitfield is off today.

We are following dramatic rescues in parts of East Texas where flooding has killed at least two people, three others missing. The area has been pounded by record breaking rainfall and flooding has already damaged hundreds of --