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Clinton: "Historic Mistake" to Elect Trump; Speaker Ryan: I Will Vote for Trump. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired June 02, 2016 - 15:30   ET

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

(APPLAUSE)

[15:30:01] HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So it really matters that Donald Trump says things that go against our deepest-held values. It matters when he says he'll order our military to murder the families of suspected terrorists. During the raid to kill bin Laden, when every second counted, our SEALs took the time to move the women and children in the compound to safety. Donald Trump may not get it, but that's what honor looks like.

(APPLAUSE)

And it also matters when he makes fun of people with disabilities, calls women pigs, proposes banning an entire religion from our country, or plays coy with white supremacists. America stands up to countries that treat women like animals, or people of different races, religions or ethnicities as less human.

(APPLAUSE)

What happens to the moral example we set -- for the world and for our own children -- if our President engages in bigotry?

And, by the way, Mr. Trump -- every time you insult American Muslims or Mexican immigrants, remember that plenty of Muslims and immigrants serve and fight in our armed forces.

(APPLAUSE)

Donald Trump, Donald Trump could learn something from them.

And that brings me to the final point I want to make today -- the temperament it takes to be commander-in-chief.

Every president faces hard choices every day, with imperfect information and conflicting imperatives. That's the job.

A revolution threatens to topple a government in a key region, an adversary reaches out for the first time in years -- what do you do?

Making the right call takes a cool head and respect for the facts. It takes a willingness to listen to other people's points of view with a truly open mind. It also takes humility -- knowing you don't know everything -- because if you're convinced you're always right, you'll never ask yourself the hard questions. I remember being in the Situation Room with President Obama, debating the potential Bin Laden operation. The president's advisors were divided. The intelligence was compelling but far from definitive. The risks of failure were daunting. The stakes were significant for our battle against al Qaeda and our relationship with Pakistan. Most of all, the lives of those brave SEALs and helicopter pilots hung in the balance.

It was a decision only the president could make. And when he did, it was as crisp and courageous a display of leadership as I've ever seen.

Now imagine Donald Trump sitting in the Situation Room, making life- or-death decisions on behalf of the United States. Imagine him deciding whether to send your spouses or children into battle. Imagine if he had not just his Twitter account at his disposal when he's angry, but America's entire arsenal.

Do we want him making those calls -- someone thin-skinned and quick to anger, who lashes out at the smallest criticism? Do we want his finger anywhere near the button?

AUDIENCE: No!

CLINTON: Well, I have a lot of faith that the American people will make the right decision. This is a country with a deep reservoir of common sense and national pride. We're all counting on that.

(APPLAUSE)

Because making Donald Trump our commander-in-chief would be a historic mistake. It would undo so much of the work that Republicans and Democrats alike have done over many decades to make America stronger and more secure.

[15:35:04] It would set back our standing in the world more than anything in recent memory. And it would fuel an ugly narrative about who we are -- that we're fearful, not confident; that we want to let others determine our future for us, instead of shaping our own destiny.

That's not the America I know and love.

So, yes, we have a lot of work to do to keep our country secure. And we need to do better by American families and American workers -- and we will. But don't let anyone tell you that America isn't great. Donald Trump's got America all wrong. We are a big-hearted, fair- minded country.

(APPLAUSE)

There is no challenge we can't meet, no goal we can't achieve when we each do our part and come together as one nation.

Every lesson from our history teaches us that we are stronger together. We remember that every Memorial Day.

This election is a choice between two very different visions of America.

One that's angry, afraid, and based on the idea that America is fundamentally weak and in decline.

The other is hopeful, generous, and confident in the knowledge that America is great -- just like we always have been.

(APPLAUSE)

So, let's resolve that we can be greater still. That is what I believe in my heart.

I went to 112 countries as your secretary of state. And I never lost my sense of pride and wonder at seeing our blue-and-white plane lit up on some far-off runway, with "The United States of America" emblazoned on the side. That plane -- those words -- our country represents something special, not just to us, to the world. It represents freedom and hope and opportunity.

I love this country and I know you do too. It's been an honor and a privilege to serve America and I'm going to do everything I can to protect our nation, and make sure we never lose sight of how strong we really are.

Thank you all very much.

(APPLAUSE)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: There's your headline. You see it on the screen. Hillary Clinton saying if America were to elect Donald Trump as the next commander in chief, that it would be a historic mistake.

In that 30 minutes there on that stage, backdrop American flags, a military city, San Diego, California, days away from that California primary where she could potentially clinch that Democratic nomination, she wasted no time, every twist and turn, the try to eviscerate her potential foe here come November -- saying Donald Trump cannot do the job. That he has thin skin. That he has dangerously incoherent. That he doesn't have a clue.

She went on, talking about her policy, compared and contrasted with his, and most importantly talked about -- as we anticipated -- his character, his temperament, his honor, and again laid out two visions of America making the case why she unequivocally should become the next commander in chief here in the United States of America.

I have the voices to get to both neutral, on the left, on the right, and also, we definitely have a senior adviser to Donald Trump who will be joining me in just a moment.

Fareed Zakaria, as we stay on some of these pictures here, Fareed Zakaria, let me just begin with you and I want to bring in a couple of these voices.

Just quickly off the top. Sixty seconds. What jumped out at you? FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS": It's the strongest

speech Hillary Clinton has ever made. I this that, you know, people felt she is programmed, and what she says is too wishy-washy, that's middle of the road. This was none of those. This is the strongest speech she's made, very forceful.

She did what is often done by vice presidential candidates, which was take on the presidential candidate of the opposing party frontally, forcefully. You know? She swung it out of the park. She hit him very hard and that's why I think it's the strongest speech Hillary Clinton has ever made.

BALDWIN: Fareed, thank you.

Mike Rogers, what did you think?

MIKE ROGERS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY COMMENTATOR: Yes. This wasn't a foreign policy speech. It certainly was a political campaign speech. And I agree with Fareed this was strong speech.

And they're going to have to answer this. They're going to have to answer the temperament question, the Trump campaign. They're going to have to answer some of the questions about him not knowing what his foreign policy position is.

If I were that campaign, I would be nervous about this speech. They need to tighten up the game and get back to a coherent policy.

[15:40:01] I mean, lately, it's looking like putting socks on an octopus. It's kind of hard to follow. And I think this speech kind of took the tarnish off it.

However, again, not a foreign policy speech. Really, I think geared toward a political audience and a primary state in California, big Jewish vote there. I think that's why she defended the Iran deal so heavily there.

So, I think there's still a lot of room for the Trump campaign to move on a lot of those issues. She had some real problems as secretary of state, kind of prop up under her tenure. And I think that gives them an opportunity to try to right that record.

But again, if I were them, I would worry about the speech and I do something about it soon or this narrative sinks in for the Trump campaign.

BALDWIN: To Mike's point there, Jim Sciutto, let me ask you, did we learn anything new on Hillary Clinton's foreign policy?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: No. We did not because she has a record that we're well aware of and that she did the best to tout there saying for instance she was in the room of the time of the decision to kill Osama bin Laden in that raid. The point I would make here is what she's trying to do here is not just say the headline that he would be dangerous, that he's brash, et cetera. But to try to then paint the picture for people what that presidency would look like based on what he said about certain things.

I'll just mention the bin Laden raid is one example. Rather than just saying, we killed bin Laden, she said, she tied that to Donald Trump's position of killing the families of saying when they went in to kill bin Laden they took the time to set aside the women and children so they would survive saying that's America there. It was a very cleaver way to bring the point in and then to hit against Donald Trump.

And again, as well, bringing it back to the record saying, here's what he says, here's what I have done, whether it's the climate change agreement or negotiating the Iran deal, et cetera. So, trying to back up the headlines with hard experiences.

BALDWIN: Let me go to Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary under George W. Bush.

You know, Mike Rogers says it wasn't a foreign policy speech. It was a good speech. He gave her that, but it was a political speech. Would you agree with that?

ARI FLEISCHER, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Oh, absolutely. Look. I think here's the shape of things to come. Hillary has a lot to work with when it comes to Donald Trump's temperament and foreign policy.

Donald Trump has a lot to work with when it comes to Hillary Clinton's track record. If you're going to have a fight of track record versus temperament, and with Hillary I have so say is very effective today was the bin Laden raid and tying the decisions of President Obama made to Donald Trump's temperament, and racing the question of, can he handle the nuance? Can he handle the decision making process at a crucial moment where everybody in America thought Barack Obama did the right thing?

Very effective part of her speech. But it's not over. Donald Trump is going to be able to fire back at her because her track record can't change and her track record, of course, the status quo of failure around the world, vacuums in the Middle East, the rise of Muslim Brotherhood, failures in Libya, not to mention her vote for the Iraq war and then her opposition to the surge which Bob Gates, secretary of defense, said was for only political purposes.

So, they both have a lot to work with against each other.

BALDWIN: So, on your note on the track record, Michael Nutter, former Philadelphia mayor, Hillary Clinton supporter. I mean, you know, Ari makes the point how she's opening herself up. She's picking apart her track record. I went you to respond as a Democrat.

MICHAEL NUTTER, FORMER PHILADELPHIA MAYOR: Hillary Clinton has a track record which I believe is part of the point and then she's laid out the case as to why she should be president because of her record, because of her temperament, because of her ability to make the critical decisions.

We don't know anything about Donald Trump's able to make my any decisions -- maybe his toughest decision is which side of a building to put the oversized letters of his name on. We don't know anything about his capacity to do anything of these things and what we saw today and what we heard today was Hillary Clinton taking Donald Trump to president school 101. She took his pants down in public and spanked him in a real serious way about these serious issues and I think it's going to be pretty clear before the day is over in terms of his response which I assume will be on Twitter or some social media, something nasty, something sarcastic and nothing real.

She demonstrated today why she should be the president of the United States of America and lead us around the world.

BALDWIN: We do have a response on Twitter.

So, let me bring in the Trump campaign Ed Brookover, senior adviser to the Trump campaign.

Ed, thank you so much for joining me.

Your perspective is so, so important hearing from Secretary Clinton. I know your candidate or your -- Donald Trump tweeted, "Bad performance by crooked Hillary Clinton, reading poorly from the teleprompter. She doesn't even look presidential."

Ed, that is not a note, though, on policy or politics.

ED BROOKOVER, TRUMP CAMPAIGN: Well, it may not be, but we're not afraid to make this an election about foreign policy. Mrs. Clinton failed to mention just a series of things, like the Russian reset, the pivot to Asia, the regime change in Libya.

BALDWIN: Well, why is he not bringing that up instead of picking on how she's reading the teleprompter?

BROOKOVER: You are taking less than 140 characters and assuming that's our only response. That's not where -- we will continue to talk about her foreign policy failures which are just legion.

BALDWIN: It was the first response and so people are watching for that. That's the point I'm making.

BROOKOVER: Well, you know, it will come in just -- we're ready to talk about what she has done to put our country in a much less safe place today than it was when she first became secretary of state.

BALDWIN: Let me ask you about a point she made and something I heard from other Republicans who appeared on CNN earlier today. These are either Republicans or military families worrying with their own, you know, young men and young women overseas fighting for this country, they would feel better with Hillary Clinton as commander in chief than Donald Trump. They feel that he is a huge risk.

How would you respond to those Republicans?

BROOKOVER: I think that they're being selective in which military members they're talking to. Donald Trump has a support of military families, military members

around the world because they know that he's going to step up, he's going to work for them not only as members of the military, but once they leave and they become veterans. They also know that he's going to be the kind of leader around the world who's not going to let failure be an option.

BALDWIN: Hillary Clinton mentioned as she was, you know, picking apart Donald Trump, one of the criticisms is he was dangerously incoherent.

So, on that note, Ed, let me just play you -- this was Donald Trump last night in Sacramento saying essentially as it pertained to allowing Japan to have nukes which is a decades-old policy they wouldn't. This was him in Sacramento last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They said, I want Japan to nuke. I want Japan to get nuclear weapons. Give me a break.

North Korea has nukes. Japan has a problem with that. I mean, they have a big problem with that.

Maybe they would, in fact, be better off to defend themselves from North Korea. Maybe we would be better off --

INTERVIEWER: With nukes?

TRUMP: Including with nukes, yes. Including with nukes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, one thing last night, one thing earlier on Japan and nukes. Which is it, Ed? Explain that for me.

BROOKOVER: I don't think there's a contradiction at all. What he is saying is that if North Korea has nukes, we need options on table of how best for Japan, one of our good allies and us to work together --

BALDWIN: How is that not a contradiction saying that Hillary Clinton was lying and that he wasn't opening the door to nuke, and in a second, actually stand by because I have another example of how he said something else that backs up I think the point that I am trying to make on the flip flop. Here he was in a town hall with Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: It's been a U.S. policy, though, for decades to prevent Japan from getting nuclear --

TRUMP: Well, it might be policy. But maybe -- can I be honest with you? Maybe it's going to have to be time to change, because so many people -- you have Pakistan has it. You have China has it. You have so many other countries -- COOPER: So, some proliferation is okay?

TRUMP: No, no, not some. I hate proliferation. I hate nuclear more than any. My uncle was a professor at MIT, used to tell me about nuclear, used to tell me about the problem.

COOPER: That's contradictory about Japan and South Korea.

TRUMP: No, no, no. How many countries have it? Iran is going to have it.

COOPER: That's proliferation.

TRUMP: Excuse me. One of the dumbest deals signed ever, ever, ever by anybody. Iran will have it within ten years. Iran is going to have it. I thought it was very good interview --

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: So, you have no problem Japan and North Korea having nuclear weapons?

TRUMP: At some point, we have to say, you know what? We're better off with Japan protects itself against this maniac in North Korea. We're better off frankly if South Korea is going to start to protect itself.

COOPER: Saudi Arabia nuclear weapons?

TRUMP: Saudi Arabia, absolutely.

COOPER: You would be fine with them having nuclear weapons?

TRUMP: No, no. Nuclear weapons, but they have to protect themselves or they have to pay us. Here's the thing. With Japan, they have to pay us or we have to let them protect themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, Ed, which is it? Should Japan have nukes or no?

BROOKOVER: Brooke, listen to what he said. Maybe we should consider that. He said they should protect themselves. You are putting words in his mouth which just aren't true.

BALDWIN: He said he never said. That's the point of playing the clip of Sacramento.

BROOKOVER: He did not say for sure. He's right about that you're wrong and Hillary Clinton's wrong.

BALDWIN: How -- take me out of it. And just for voters in this country who are trying to make an educated decision come November.

BROOKOVER: Sure.

BALDWIN: You know, when they hear these different clips, how are they supposed to interpret his position, positions?

BROOKOVER: I don't understand why you think this is different when he opposes potential changes in our foreign policy. Right now, our foreign policy, NATO, Japan without nukes, are based on 1940s kind of situations.

We're in a new world today. We need to look at different options.

[15:50:01] I think the American public agrees with that.

BALDWIN: Let me ask you now about this big bit of news that dropped during the speech. Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House, has now officially endorsed Donald Trump, penned an op-ed right as she started speaking at his hometown paper, "The Janesville Gazette".

Let me just read for folks who aren't aware. Part of this he writes, "It's no secret he and I have our differences. I won't pretend otherwise. And when I feel the need to, I continue to speak my mind. But the reality is, on the issues that make our agenda, we have more common ground than disagreement."

As far as timing, Ed, orchestration, today of all days, was this planned?

BROOKOVER: If it was, I'm unaware of it. I hope it was. But we're pleased to have Speaker Ryan's endorsement. We know that he and Mr. Trump have been communicating, the staff have been communicating, and Speaker Ryan is 100 percent right when he says they have a lot more in common than they do than anybody on our side does with Mrs. Clinton.

BALDWIN: Also just a note on that, apparently Paul Ryan did not give Mr. Trump a heads up. It was always going to be the speaker's own timeline.

I want to ask more about that in just a moment as that that is certainly significant today. But here's a little bit more from Secretary Clinton talking about dictators.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: Hey, I don't understand Donald's bizarre fascination with dictators and strongmen who have no love for America. He praised China for Tiananmen massacre. He said it shows strength. He said you've got to Kim Jong-un credit for taking over North Korea, something he did by murdering everyone he saw as a threat, including his own uncle, which Donald described gleefully like he was recounting an action movie. And he said if he were grading Vladimir Putin as a leader, he'd give him an A.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Fareed Zakaria, thoughts on that?

ZAKARIA: Well, it shows you just how tough she was. As I said, it's not that common that somebody at the top of the ticket will do that. She was very tough and very specific. She took every stray comment he made, highlighted it, pointed out incoherent it was, how bizarre it was. She said at the end of that -- after the clip you showed, she said, I'd leave it to a psychiatrist to figure out what it is, why he has this bizarre affection.

But the reason why I think it was her strongest speech yet is because it attacked the heart of the Trump campaign. It's really about American decline, American being -- losing and everybody else winning and right at the start, she begun by contrasting her vision, which was confident America, a strong America, a big-hearted America, a generous America.

And that really is -- in a way, that takes it to the heart of the matter, which is, if you can contradict Trump's central narrative that America is in decline, you do two things. One, you puncture his narrative, but the second, you appropriate American patriotism and confidence, that's what she was doing. That's what the 19 flags behind her were about. It's about saying, "I am the American patriot who believes America is great, America is exceptional, America is strong and you are the guy who lacks confidence and faith in America."

That's I think a very powerful message. My guess is we have just seen the basic outline of the basic Hillary Clinton campaign against Donald Trump. And at least judging on this first salvo, it's very pretty effective.

BALDWIN: Ari Fleischer, she also mentioned, you know, we know what Donald Trump said about Mexico in particular. She brought up our neighbors, Canada, Mexico, and her point is, why would we want to go to war with our neighbors? Is she wrong?

FLEISCHER: Yes, she is wrong. Who is going to war with our neighbors? That's such a misstatement.

BALDWIN: When you talk about building a wall, that's what we're hearing.

FLEISCHER: It's one thing to enforce the borders and have respect for the rule of law. Now, only in Hillary world is respect for the rule of law the equivalent of going got war.

Look, I can't believe how this panel is giving Hillary Clinton who has some good moments in that speech a pass on America's track record and her track record for how dangerous its role has become on her watch. The status quo has become terribly dangerous.

She is the secretary of state who believed that Bashar Assad in Syria could be a reformer. She's for closing down Guantanamo. She got her lunch eaten by Vladimir Putin and she talked in this speech about the need for the military to go in, do it job, go out and leave things better, which is the opposite of what we did in Libya. We went in, we got out and Libya is far worse.

So, she's gotten a pass from virtually everybody on this panel for her track record and instead is focused on what Trump has said. Trump deserves the scrutiny but Hillary does, too.

BALDWIN: Jim Sciutto, as Ari points out, and we had discussed before we even, you know, saw -- OK, no Jim Sciutto.

[15:55:03] Michael Nutter. Michael Nutter. Do we have Michael Nutter?

Fareed Zakaria? Forgive me. It's live. This is what happens.

You know, on her track record and we were talking about this speech, whether or not this would, in being so critical of Donald Trump, and Ari Fleischer is right, in terms of having equal scrutiny. He's absolutely right.

But is she opening herself up to, you know -- I mentioned this before, Benghazi, Libya. Ari mentioned a number of areas where you could criticize her record. How will Democrats -- how can she respond to that? That will happen and this will only get worse.

ZAKARIA: Well, I think it's absolutely fair. The point I would make is, the reason we are talking about the attack on Donald Trump is because Hillary Clinton just gave a 30-minute speech which we carried live attacking Donald Trump.

She did not talk about her record. Of course, one can talk about it if Donald Trump give a speech attacking Hillary Clinton's record, that's what we'd be talking about. Of course, Hillary's record is open to scrutiny. Of course, there are people who are going to attack it. There are things I would attack myself.

I think that the idea, however, that every time she talks about Donald Trump, we have to start talking about her long record, I don't think that makes much sense. I do think that because she has been in public office, she has a big, long record that people can look at.

And people take her to task for things that happen in the Bill Clinton administration, which is kind of odd because she was first lady. She wasn't serving in any executive role. For when she was senator, the bills she voted, for the things she did for when she was secretary of state, all of that is fair game.

But as political speech, what this was really like is highlighting the central narrative that Donald Trump presents of an America that is in decline is wrong and that she stands on the other side. That's the point I was making and I think that's the heart of what this speech was about.

BALDWIN: Ari Fleischer, I see you shaking your head. Jump in.

FLEISCHER: Well, I think the problem is that, and you ask any American, which we all Americans will tell you that they don't think America is on track and they don't think our foreign policy is working. They think American is in a more dangerous place today than it was before President Obama came into office. They look at what Hillary Clinton did as secretary of state, her judgment.

Look, I think what Hillary has going for her is that her temperament is so disciplined and controlled and smooth, scripted, that she doesn't scare people the way Donald Trump scares people with his bombast. But what scares me about Hillary is her record. You look everywhere around the world, her judgment was flawed, her decisions were weak and America ended up in a worse spot and more dangerous spot.

And Iran deal is perfect proof of that, in my opinion, which she's defending the Iran deal at a time when we should have double down on sanctions against Iran. I question her track record and her judgment. I question Donald Trump's bombast.

But I'm much more scared of Hillary actually implanting the things she's done because we've seen what happens with Hillary in office. Donald Trump deserves the scrutiny, don't get me wrong. But Hillary Clinton has a track record that is very hard to defend.

ZAKARIA: Ari, I just wonder, why do you think when she was secretary of state, in doing all of these so-called terrible things, her approval rating was soaring and was up to 65 percent, she was one of the most admired secretary of states when she was in office. The people thought she was doing a good job. Were they all being fooled?

FLEISCHER: You know, I think that there's a halo around secretaries of state especially when they depart. You just measured it, Fareed, from after she was out of office, after she left the secretary of state and people tend to just think of her as a diplomat who travels to 112 countries and never lost their luggage.

So, it's not the same thing as measuring the track record and success around the world. But I go back to what I said. She actually thought that Bashar al Assad could be a reformer. And I think that tells you all you need to know about somebody's judgment. She may have may have met with generals and admirals and diplomats, work side by side by --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: What about her point, Ari, in the end about sitting in the Situation Room?

FLESICHER: But you still have to question her judgment and her calls.

Now, the part about being in the Situation Room, like I said earlier, Brooke, I thought that was an effective contrast you drew with Donald Trump, because you talked about President Obama's decision-making when it came to that. But she didn't talk about her own decision making when it came to that. She was mostly the one who pushed for action against Libya, which America did do and we had no follow up to it.

She's also one who voted for the Iraq war and then voted against the surge or opposed the surge because politically she had to get to the left of Barack Obama. She later acknowledged that her opposition of the surge was entirely political, which is horrendous to think that someone could take a position of things military for political purposes when lies are at stake.

BALDWIN: Ari -- forgive me. I have to end the conversation because I need to hand things off to Jake Tapper. But I thank you so much.

And, Fareed, thank you so so much.

Special coverage continues with Jake Tapper.