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Hillary Clinton to Give Foreign Policy Speech; Trump Launches Preemptive Strike on Clinton; Iraqi Forces Surround Falluja. Aired 9- 9:30a ET
Aired June 02, 2016 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:03] STEVEN ALEXANDER, GIVEN NEW LIFE: I don't know why they picked me out of anybody, but they pulled me out of the woods.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: Changed his life.
CAMEROTA: Have a hankie? Thanks.
CABRERA: That's cool.
CAMEROTA: Time now for "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello.
CUOMO: Allergies.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Hey there. Have a great day.
NEWSROOM starts now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Hillary Clinton, who lies -- I mean, she lies.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump himself is a fraud.
TRUMP: She has no natural talents to be president.
CLINTON: He is trying to scam America the way he scammed all those people at Trump U.
TRUMP: Crooked people, we don't need another four years of Clinton.
CLINTON: We see someone who is unqualified and unfit to be president of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello, thank you so much for joining me.
Familiar ground in foreign policy as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump intensify their bitter attacks on each other. The former secretary of state tosses a new weapon into the ring. Today she will deliver a major address on Trump's foreign policy ideas and why she believes a President Trump would make the world less safe. One Clinton aide says she will rebuke the fear and bigotry of Trump's world view.
Chris Frates is in Washington to preview Clinton's speech and Jason Carroll has more on Trump's preemptive strike, the blistering attack he's unleashed on Clinton ahead of that address.
But let's begin with you, Chris. Hi.
CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Carol. Hillary Clinton is set to slam Donald Trump again today in what her campaign is billing as a major foreign policy speech. It's designed to cast Trump as a lightweight and a security risk.
Now Clinton's campaign says she'll paint Trump as unqualified to be commander-in-chief, arguing that his policies, things like banning Muslims and questioning NATO are dangerous. Clinton adviser Jake Sullivan previewed the speech saying, quote, "Donald Trump is unlike any presidential nominee we've seen in modern times and he is fundamentally unfit for the job."
Now Sullivan says Clinton will highlight her experience on the world stage and talk at length about why Trump is not qualified to run the country. He says, "You will hear in her speech a confidence in America and our capacity to overcome the challenges we face while staying true to our values. A strong contrast to Donald Trump's incessant trash talking of America."
Now yesterday on the campaign trail Clinton herself gave us a little preview of what to expect.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: Donald Trump has disqualified himself completely. He has attacked our closest allies. He has said let's pull out of NATO. He has praised the dictator of North Korea. He's advocated more countries getting nuclear weapons.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRATES: Now this will be Clinton's first major foreign policy speech since Trump became the presumptive GOP nominee and politically this speech is aimed at several key audiences. She's trying to win over those "never Trump" Republicans who are part of the national security elite. And she's looking to win over GOP women who question Trump's temperament. She's also trying to eat into Trump's lead among white men.
And she's going to deliver this speech in California where she needs to predict strength not just against Donald Trump but also against Bernie Sanders. A new poll shows Sanders and Clinton neck in neck in California ahead of the state's primary on Tuesday.
Carol, back to you.
COSTELLO: All right. Chris Frates reporting live.
Donald Trump, the counterpuncher, has already unleashed a preemptive strike calling Clinton crooked and unqualified. She fired back calling him a fraud.
Jason Carroll has more on that. He's in Los Angeles. Hi, Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you, Carol. You know, we've heard Trump call Clinton crooked and unqualified before. Trump is the one, Carol, who might actually find himself a bit on the defense here. He's really going to have to do more explaining when it comes to his foreign policy stance in terms of him saying that perhaps South Korea and Japan should arm themselves with nuclear weapons.
Both candidates expected to go toe-to-toe and keep up even more attacks here in California.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: Hillary Clinton, she lies.
CARROLL (voice-over): After a day of intense scrutiny over his controversy-ridden Trump University, Donald Trump hurling a barrage of assaults against Hillary Clinton.
TRUMP: Hillary is not a talented person. One of the worst secretaries of state in the history of our country. She's not qualified because she has bad judgment.
CARROLL: Trump trying to get ahead of a Clinton speech today, where she criticizes his foreign policy proposals, including one where Trump suggests arming South Korea and Japan with nuclear weapons.
TRUMP: They sent me a copy of the speech and it was such lies about my foreign policy that they said, I want Japan to nuke. I want Japan to get nuclear weapons. Give me a break.
[09:05:07] CARROLL: That policy one he's actually called for multiple times.
TRUMP: North Korea has nukes. Japan has a problem with it. I mean, they have a big problem with that. Maybe they would be better off if they defend themselves from North Korea. Maybe we would be better off --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With nukes?
TRUMP: Including with nukes. Yes.
CARROLL: But Clinton unleashing her sharpest attacks yet against the presumptive nominee, relentlessly slamming him as a fraud.
CLINTON: He is trying to scam America the way he scammed all those people at Trump U. CARROLL: The Democratic frontrunner capitalizing on newly-released
testimony from ex-staffers, accusing Trump University of unethical, misleading and dishonest conduct, "a fraudulent scheme," that, "preyed on the elderly and uneducated to separate them from their money."
CLINTON: Trump and his employees took advantage of vulnerable Americans, encouraging them to destroy their financial futures, all while making promises they knew were false from the beginning. Donald Trump himself is a fraud.
CARROLL: President Obama also bringing the heat against Trump.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He just says, "I'm going to negotiate a better deal." Well, how -- what -- how exactly are you going to negotiate that? What magic wand do you have? And usually the answer is he doesn't have an answer.
CARROLL: Trump, unsurprisingly, vowing to hit back.
TRUMP: He's going to start campaigning. Well, if he campaigns, that means I'm allowed to hit him just like I hit Bill Clinton, I guess, right?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: Well, police in San Jose already preparing for Trump's rally there. As you know, Carol, he's been met by a number of protesters at all of his rallies here in California. As for Trump University, well, Trump's camp says that those allegations are false and Trump's legal team, Carol, has put forth a number of people who say they were satisfied with the experience they had at Trump U -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Jason Carroll reporting live from Los Angeles.
So let's talk about this. I'm joined by John Phillips, he's a talk radio host and a political columnist for the "Orange County Register." He's also a Trump supporter. And Steve Elmendorf, a former deputy campaign manager for John Kerry and a Hillary Clinton supporter.
Welcome to you both.
STEVE ELMENDORF, FORMER DEPUTY CAMPAIGN MANAGER FOR JOHN KERRY: Good morning.
JOHN PHILLIPS, TALK RADIO HOST, KABC: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Good morning. So the "New York Times" op-ed columnist Thomas Friedman was on "NEW DAY" and his interview got a lot of feedback. He wrote a piece in the "New York Times" called "Clinton's Fibs and Her Opponent's Double Whoppers."
So I'd like you to listen to part of that interview and then respond on the other side. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) THOMAS FRIEDMAN, NEW YORK TIMES COLUMNIST & AUTHOR, "HOT, FLAT AND CROWDED": It's very simple. Again, I'm really caring about what's going to affect me and my family. And her speaking to Goldman Sachs, even her, I'd say, really bad judgment around e-mails, is not going to, I think, affect me or my country. But when someone comes out with an economic plan for my country's future that's going to drive up the deficit, according to nonpartisan economists, by $10 trillion over the next 10 years, that will -- our entire country will be paying for it if the only way we can afford is if we cut the defense budget, the research budget, and the education budget. Those are Burger King double whoppers that will affect the entire country.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: But --
FRIEDMAN: I'm not trying to diminish what she says -- what she's done.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Because, you know, bad judgment --
FRIEDMAN: She'll give bad judgment --
CAMEROTA: Bad judgment also affects you and your future if she --
FRIEDMAN: Sure, absolutely.
CAMEROTA: -- if the president has bad judgment.
FRIEDMAN: What kind of bad judgment is not being able to do math? Ten trillion dollars, that's pretty bad judgment.
CUOMO: But Trump will say this. But Trump says, it's one, it's just a first offer, it's a suggestion, when I get in there we'll make it work. So let's talk about what we can look at to trust what will happen once we get in there. E-mail is not a fib, it's not a small thing, it matters, that IG report is filled with things to discuss. The FBI investigation is ongoing. The Clinton Global Initiative has unspoken questions that she doesn't want to seem to get out there about.
Benghazi looms large in terms of, would Clinton put life on the line in a risky way. None of those are small categories, all go to judgment and are probably a big chunk of her unfavorable. How can they be dismissed?
FRIEDMAN: They can't be dismissed. I think if you are concerned about Iraq, Benghazi, all those issues, Chris, you shouldn't vote for her. All I'm saying is when I weigh these things -- when I look at this news that Donald Trump who Politico -- PolitiFact, excuse me, fact-checking organization, says three-quarters of the time he's not speaking the truth, that's a pretty bad batting average, you know.
But I don't even care about that. What I care about is what is your vision for the country, and if your plan is to come in and bust the budget, not just a little, not just -- you know, just some extra, if you're out there selling the American people a budget that is utterly unrealistic -- by the way, not just that. If you're telling people Mexico is going to build wall, they're going to pay for it.
[09:10:08] We're going to evict 11 million undocumented or illegal immigrants. These are giant whoppers. I'm not simply -- I'm not saying that Hillary is innocent of it. I'm saying if you're saying she's the only one untrustworthy here, well, let's balance who's telling what. These are giant whoppers that will affect your kids.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: All right, so you get the gist of that. So, John, I'll pose the first question to you. Your reaction to that. I mean, Thomas Friedman is essentially saying two imperfect candidates but he'll choose Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump because he believes her more?
PHILLIPS: Well, I guess, first of all, this whopper talk has me hungry for a burger. But Thomas Friedman is a thoughtful guy but he's a man of the left. And look, I'm sure he didn't vote for Republican candidates in the past who had very detailed plans on all of these subjects we talked about.
Donald Trump is going to launch his campaign against Hillary Clinton with the Pottery Barn rule of politics, you broke it, you bought it. She's got a long record. She voted for the Iraq war, she was part of an administration that took out Gadhafi in Libya which led to that mess. She supports open border which makes us at risk for lone wolves and attacks in that realm. So Donald Trump has a lot of material to go after Hillary Clinton. He mentioned some of it but that's going to be the focus of his campaign against her, no question.
COSTELLO: Steve, what do you say?
ELMENDORF: Well, I think the focus of Hillary Clinton's campaign against Donald Trump is going to be that he is unfit to be the commander-in-chief. And I think we'll hear about that today. Some of the -- you know, this is about people's ideas and policies. And some of the people's -- some of his ideas and policies are just wrong and would put us -- America in greater danger.
You know, the notion that our foreign policy should be to build a wall with Mexico or to ban Muslims so that we have all sorts of problems with that part of the world or to have more nuclear weapons in Korea or Japan. I mean, it's -- or get out of NATO which has kept us safe for a generation, . He's got some really bad ideas that he is out there, saying and, you know, he's tried to say with some of them, I didn't say it, which is sort of what he does, he says something and then he changes his mind or denies he said it. But the fact is he is not fit to be commander-in-chief and I think when people look at the difference between these two candidates it's going to be a very clear choice.
COSTELLO: Well, John, and here's something that people are concerned about when it comes to foreign policy and Donald Trump.
PHILLIPS: Sure. COSTELLO: And here's why Mrs. Clinton will say he's unfit to be
president. She'll say that his policies are dangerous. And I'm just going to tell you one example of what she might bring up later today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I know more about ISIS than the generals do, believe me. I would bomb the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: I think that bite went on but we cut it off early. But you get the gist. He said he knew more than the generals. Most generals say we can't just indiscriminately bomb ISIS because ISIS hides among a civilian population.
So, John, does Mr. Trump know more than the generals and why would he say something like that?
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: Well, I don't know about that and clearly her attack line, as Steve said, is going to center around his credentials but we've seen this attack on candidates in previous years. It was against George W. Bush, against Bill Clinton. They're governors, they don't have foreign policy experience, so of course they're not going to -- they're not going to know as much as someone who has been in that world. However, it's not necessarily about how many leaders you can identify or how you do on a multiple choice exam, it's about what they do in their gut.
It's about wisdom, it's about whether or not you trust them to handle this, and Republican primary voters were asked that very same question and they said yes.
COSTELLO: Well, on the other hand, Steve, I'll ask you this question. That Quinnipiac poll that came out yesterday, it showed while most voters think Hillary Clinton can handle an international crisis, they feel Donald Trump can best handle ISIS, right? So they like when he talks like that. They like when he talks tough. So if they feel his policies are dangerous, we're not really seeing that. So how do you explain that?
ELMENDORF: Well, I think we're going to have a general election where people are going to have a chance to hear both candidates and I'm confident when they do that they'll choose Hillary Clinton. I think just listening to that last clip from Donald Trump where he denigrated the military, denigrated our generals, the reality is, we have the best military in the world and this is the greatest country in the world, and I think one of the problems we have with what Donald Trump talks about is his constantly denigrating not just our military but our country.
We are a great country. We don't need to make it great again. We need to do a lot more to build up the economy and engage more with the world. [09:15:02] And I think when you hear these two candidates on the stage
in a debate in the general election and people see that they are choosing the next leader of the free world, the choice is going to be very clear.
COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. John Phillips, Steve Elmendorf, thanks to both of you.
Still to come in THE NEWSROOM: Iraqi forces brace for a battle against ISIS and the key city of Fallujah is at the center of it all.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: A desperate situation unfolding right now in Fallujah, Iraq. Iraqi troops are battling to take back that key city which fell into the hands of ISIS two years ago. Those forces have now surrounded Fallujah and are expected to go in soon, but the offensive faces delays over concerns about civilians who may get caught in the crossfire.
Our senior international correspondent is live in Baghdad this morning with more.
Hi, Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol. Yes, that battle is ongoing.
[09:20:01] It's now in its 12th day and the Iraqi forces, even though they were hoping to be able to at least control part of Fallujah by the beginning of the month of Ramadan, which begins in less than a week, it appears that the going has been tough.
Now, we have gotten pictures in of Iraqi forces in the town of Saklawiya, which is outside of Fallujah, where they've been celebrating their victory there over ISIS. But really what we've seen that the city itself, the city of Fallujah continues to be very difficult for the Iraqi forces to penetrate. The day before yesterday in the morning, there was a counterattack by ISIS that lasted for four hours.
And so, the closer the Iraqi forces get to the city, the more and more resistance they run into because ISIS has been there for two and a half years. Many of their fighters are from Fallujah. They know the city well. They fought the Americans before there.
So, they have a lot of experience. They know the terrain and for the Iraqi forces, there's the added complication that there are about 50,000 civilians still stuck inside the city. The United Nations believes many of them have been moved to the center of the city and are essentially being used as human shields.
Now, among the 50,000, the U.N. estimated 20,000 children, some of whom are being pressed into fighting on behalf of ISIS as well since they've already taken a lot of casualties and fatalities. So, a very complicated situation, this battle could well be going on for weeks and weeks ahead -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Ben Wedeman live in Baghdad this morning.
Still to come on the NEWSROOM, who do you trust to take on ISIS? Two candidates, two very different takes on foreign policy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:26:04] COSTELLO: Checking some top stories for you at 25 minutes past.
A former Phoenix veterans affairs director who was fired during the V.A. wait time scandal is suing the federal government to get her job back. Sharon Helmand was fired in 2014 after dozens of veterans died waiting for treatment in Phoenix. Helmand argues a key portion of recent reforms passed by Attorney General Loretta Lynch is unconstitutional and denies her an important step to appeal her firing. House Republicans are outraged at the idea of Helmand working at the V.A. again, blaming the Obama administration for clearing a path that would undo months of work to clean up the V.A.
Recently demoted Baylor University President Ken Starr is now resigning as Baylor's chancellor. He will continue to teach, though, at Baylor's Law School. Starr says his resignation is in response to Baylor's sex assault scandal and the university only releasing a 13- page summary of an independent review that followed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEN STARR, FORMER BAYLOR PRESIDENT: We're so sorry for what happened. We grieve. We grieve for what happened. But it doesn't mean that you can't say it's a new day. That's the biblical perspective that we try to live up to here at Baylor University.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Starr told ESPN he did not know about the sexual assault scandal as it was happening but he has to take responsibility and, quote, "the captain goes down with the ship."
Parts of Texas under a flash flood watch until Friday morning. Officials warning storms could drop as much as two inches of rain per hour along with hail and 60 mile an hour wind gusts. The Brazos River near Houston is at record high, 55 feet. Officials say it could take a week before the waters begin to recede. The National Guard has been called in to assist with rescues as the governor declares 31 counties a state of disaster.
And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.
Hours from now, Hillary Clinton will unleash a scorching indictment of Donald Trump's foreign policy positions. She will call his policies dangerous and insist he is unfit to be president.
Trump already launching a preemptive strike, accusing Clinton of being unfit to hold office.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hillary is not a talented person. In fact, she's a person with absolutely no natural talent. She's one of the worst secretaries of state in the history of our country. She's not qualified because she has bad judgment. The Libya invasion was disgusting. She went to sleep when our ambassador was murdered.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: With me now, CNN political commentator and contributor for "The Atlantic", Peter Beinart, CNN military analyst and former army commanding general, Lieutenant Colonel Mark Hertling. I'm also joined by CNN national security analyst and author of "United States of Jihad", Peter Bergen.
Welcome to all of you.
OK. So, let's talk some foreign policy. So, Secretary Clinton and Mr. Trump have far different styles when it comes to talking about the enemy, namely ISIS, an example.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We should pursue a comprehensive counterterrorism strategy, one that embeds our mission against ISIS within a broader struggle against radical jihadism.
TRUMP: I know more about ISIS than the generals do, believe me. I would bomb the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: All right. So, a Quinnipiac University poll shows while voters think Clinton is better able to handle international crises, they do think Mr. Trump can better handle ISIS. So, Peter Beinart, could that have something to do with the way these candidates talk about defeating ISIS?
PETER BEINART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Sure. What's interesting about the polling is it shows that Trump has an advantage on ISIS and terrorism, which is when you make people really afraid, they go to Trump and his very crude way of talking about, you know, just bombing them to smithereens and not letting Muslims into the country.
