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What Will Trump's Foreign Policy Rebuttal Look Like?; Parents Cope with Microcephaly. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired June 06, 2016 - 15:30   ET

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

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[15:32:43] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: With his foreign policy views under attack and quite honestly, his temperament, Donald Trump says he will deliver a rebuttal to Hillary Clinton's scathing takedown. Sat down with my colleague Jake Tapper there and the response could come apparently as early as this week.

Joining me now is CNN's global affairs correspondent David Rohde. He's also the national security investigations editor for "Reuters".

Nice to see you back here.

So, let's do the -- and the what-if game, once, you know, Donald Trump rebuts what we saw of Hillary Clinton last week, truly so much about his honor and temperament and character as much as, you know, ticking off his reversals and whatnot, how does he respond?

DAVID ROHDE, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I think he -- and to be fair, he'll first talk about trade deals. He said this a bit to Jake, you know, we have weak leaders. I'm a strong leader and I'll make great trade deals. I'll create jobs and I'll talk about other countries sort of freeloading off of Japan and Korea and this kind of stuff.

BALDWIN: OK.

ROHDE: But where he will attack is also Iraq and being war like and the problem is he himself, the more he talks, the less consistent he's becoming. You know, in this 2002 interview, he said, yeah, I'm for the war in Iraq. Now, in 2000 -- you know, in 2004, he said he was against it and using the vote against her. But his own positions moving so much and it could hurt him, and the more he moves around, it gets into the temperament argument which I think got under his skin.

BALDWIN: Let me get to that, because in addition to the Iraq war, it's been gun control. It's been, you know, nukes in South Korea and Japan and most recently and more recently, it's been -- I'm going to play this for all of you on U.S. military intervention in Libya. What he said in 2011 about yes to surgical strikes to just this past February in a CNN debate saying the world is better off with Moammar Gadhafi, to just now where he is back to yes of surgical strikes. Here he was. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Gadhafi in Libya is killing thousands of people. Nobody knows how bad it is. We should go in. We should stop this guy, which is very easy and very quick. We could do it surgically. Stop him from doing it. And save these lives.

I was -- I never discussed that subject. I was in favor of Libya. We would be so much better off if Gadhafi were in charge right new.

I was never for a strong intervention. I could have seen surgical where you could take out Gadhafi and his group.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

[15:35:02] BALDWIN: You know, I can appreciate talking to a lot of Trump supporters what it is about him that they really, really like. But it when it comes to major, major issues that he's gone back and forth, back and forth on I have to -- trying to channel the American voter and thinking what would he be like in the big chair?

ROHDE: Well, he'd be what he says and what's appealing is that he's strong. He sounds very decisive. The problem is that --

BALDWIN: At the time.

ROHDE: Yes, there's all this videotape out there showing him divisive in one direction on Libya. We just saw it. Go in. And now, he's very decisive in the other direction and should never have gone in.

And that's where as more and more of the remarks come back to haunt him, he could have a problem. Yes, people want strength in the oval office. This isn't a game. You know, these are American lives, you know, volunteer members of our military, and it's very important to show a steady hand.

Every Republican likes to sort of compare themselves to Ronald Reagan. There was a steady sense, you know, from him, you know, drove Democrats crazy. Are you seeing that from Donald Trump? And he seems to be sort of struggling with, you know, not overreacting to Clinton's attacks. And sort of figuring out what he'll say.

So, this address is an opportunity for him. Maybe he'll be more consistent. Maybe he'll be more of a clearer vision for him but he's under pressure I think to sort of settle down and show he'll be steady in office.

BALDWIN: Stay tuned for that later this week. Steadfast, fastness is a point, is a point.

David Rohde, thank you very much.

ROHDE: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, the stunning message here from a rape victim to her attacker. This 12-page letter that she read aloud in court that's been all over social media. We want to share that with all of you.

And after the judge gave her convicted rapist, a former Stanford University swimmer, just six months in jail. If you have not heard that story yet, do not move a muscle.

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[15:41:10] BALDWIN: All right. This next story is one that's fueled not only outrage across the country but also just absolute heartbreak. It pits a rape victim against the rapist all over again. The attacker in this case is a young man by the name of Brock Turner, 20-year-old former swimmer with Olympic hopes at Stanford University. Turner forced himself onto this victim behind a dumpster at a party where she was unconscious.

Before his sentencing, the victim wrote a 12-page impact statement directly addressing Turner in the courtroom. Let me just read a piece of this for you saying in part, "You have dragged me through this hell with you, dipped me back into that night again and again. You knocked down both our towers. I collapsed at the same time you did. Your damage was concrete, stripped of titles, degrees, enrollment. My damage was internal, unseen. I carry it with me. You took away my worth, my privacy, my energy, my time, my safety, my intimacy, my confidence, my own voice until today."

Turner's father read his own statement aloud in court asking for leniency despite his son's conviction on three counts of sexual assault, saying prison was, quote, "a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20-plus years of life." Judge Aaron Persky ultimately sentenced Turner to six months in county jail saying prison would have a, quote, "severe impact on him."

Amy Ziering is producer of the "Hunting Ground", a CNN documentary and investigation into rape in college campuses.

Amy Ziering, thank you so much for being such an important voice in this story.

AMY ZIERING, PRODUCER, "THE HUNTING GROUND": Well, thank you for covering this. It's so important.

BALDWIN: I read it this weekend and I had a tough time. I have to be honest. A tough time getting through it and to know that it's 12 pages, I was trying to put myself in this court. I know you called the victim's letter one of the most elegant and devastating testimonies about sexual assault and it was a brutal aftermath that you will ever read. Tell me more.

ZIERING: Yes, no. I got a text message after the sentencing from someone who was in the courtroom saying you must read the letter and she sent it to me and I read it, and I was -- it's devastating.

I just want to encourage everyone watching to read the letter in full. I mean, I know you read an excerpt, but it really doesn't do it justice. It's on BuzzFeed, just BuzzFeed.com, it's the number one trending item on BuzzFeed. And it's not an accident that it is. It is honestly one of the most powerful, elegant articulate and just graceful things I have ever read about sort of the pain and pathos of going through this kind of crime, and then not only that, what you experience in the aftermath. It does it all in a very brief 12 pages that, you know, everyone who's written to me and said, I read this, they can't put it down and it really affects them and it actually transforms the way they think about this issue.

BALDWIN: Tell me, I understand you've been in touch with this young woman. Tell me about what she shared with you as far as her reaction to how, you know, how much this has been shared, her very personal 12 pages and also the genesis of writing such a prolific letter.

ZIERING: We didn't discuss the genesis. I think she was, you know, wanted to convey what she'd gone through and as compelling a manner as possible and she did so. I mean, if you read it, she wrote from the heart. And just -- what I love about it is it takes the ways people tend to try to shame a victim and it turns and it says, no, you know, I'm not going to take the blame for this crime, I'm going to put it where it belongs on the perpetrator in such a brilliant way.

And, you know, we have corresponded since the letter has went -- has gone viral.

[15:45:03] And she's obviously extremely gratified the voice is being heard and she's getting so many letters of encouragement and support that it really is helping give her hope and support and that's so important not only to her but to survivors around the globe.

BALDWIN: Please pass along our support to her. It's an extraordinary letter. I definitely encourage every single one of you watching to read every word of it.

Amy Ziering, thank you, thank you, thank you for that.

ZIERING: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

Coming up next, contentious interview of Donald Trump by Jake Tapper. He pressed Trump nearly two dozen times about his comments on the judge in that Trump University case. We'll talk to Jake Tapper, get the scoop on that interview, coming up.

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BALDWIN: Donald Trump tripling down on attacks against the judge presiding over his Trump University case, arguing this judge is biased because, in Trump's own words, he's Mexican. Keeping in mind, he was born in Indiana.

I want you to listen to this exchange Mr. Trump and Jake Tapper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you were giving me fair rulings, I wouldn't be talking to you this way. He's giving me horrible rulings --

[15:50:01] JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: But I don't care if you criticize him. That's fine. You can criticize every decision.

What I'm saying is, if you invoke his race as a reason why he can't do his job --

TRUMP: I think that's why he's doing it. I think that's why he's doing it.

He's proud of his heritage, I respect him for that.

TAPPER: But you're saying he can't do his job because of it.

TRUMP: Look, he's proud of his heritage, OK? I'm building a wall. Now, I'm going to do very well with Hispanics.

TAPPER: He's a legal citizen.

TRUMP: You know why I'm going to do well with Hispanics, because I'm going to bring back jobs and they're going to get jobs right now. They're going to get jobs. I think I'm going to do very well with Hispanics. But we're building a wall. He's a Mexican. We're building a wall between here and Mexico.

TAPPER: If you were saying he can't do his job because of his race, is that not the definition of racism?

TRUMP: I don't think so at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Here he is, Jake Tapper.

Jake Tapper, I mean, that's only a sliver, I watched the whole thing over the weekend. And, you know, I saw "The Washington Post" piece 23 times, 23 times you in pursuit of an answer to that question. What did it feel like when you were in the middle of it? You wanted an answer.

TAPPER: Well, I wanted an answer and just for anybody watching the original interview when Mr. Trump called him a Mexican, I said he's an American, he's from Indiana and Mr. Trump corrected himself and said he's of Mexican heritage.

Look, I mean, I think it's a fundamental question. This country is based on religious liberty and the idea that we don't judge people solely based on their race, their religion, their ethic origin, their heritage, et cetera, and the idea that a judge can't do a job because none of his views or political affiliations, but just because of his ethnicity or where his parents were born, that seems to be antithetical to the American way of life.

And, in fact, Ben Sasse, the Republican senator from Nebraska tweeted something along those lines, saying public service announcement, "saying someone can't do a specific job because of his or her race is the literal definition of racism," this -- I just want to make sure people understand, this is not a liberal position. This is a conservative position, in many ways, or at least just an American position, that we don't do this in this country.

BALDWIN: Jake Tapper, thank you.

If you want to watch the whole exchange, I encourage all of you to do that. Go to CNN.com.

Thank you, my friend. We'll see you on THE LEAD at the top of the hour.

Coming up next, just weeks before the world descend upon Brazil for the Summer Olympic Games, CNN takes you to ground zero for the Zika virus outbreak. You know, we talk about numbers, statistics, this is something to see -- the young children who are affected and the families and how they're coping.

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[15:56:57] BALDWIN: The Summer Olympic Games in Rio are now just 60 days away and Brazil really is scrambling to fight a major outbreak of the Zika virus. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh shares the personal stories of Brazilian families coping with its devastating effects.

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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Born into a struggle that grows as they age, this clinic is in Recife, where the disease of Zika has been cruelest in Brazil, peeving with what happens when babies with microcephaly grow and so to their problems.

Unable to tell us the pains, agonies they may or may not be feeling or what we can do to help.

VERONICA SANTOS, MOTHER OF JOAO (through translator): It was when he was born and we faced the other people in the hospital, their expression, seeing and accepting the difference, for me, that was the hardest phase.

WALSH (on camera): So, how quickly Zika can spread here at ground zero, there's a whole different set of problems, and that's working really as the baby grow older quite what the disease means for their development.

(voice-over): Arturo (ph) cannot eat. Doctors say his brain can't switch between swallowing and breathing properly. So, he is fed by a drip and stunted in growth. The size of a 3-month-old when he is now 8 months.

They are testing his hearing seeing if it turns his head to look. A little to the right, to the left, nothing. This is how it goes here. Every minute, discoveries that alter the child's future.

Vitoria was abandoned by her natural mother at birth, adopted by Kely a month ago.

KELY OLIVEIRA, MOTHER OF MARIA VITORIA (through translator): When we saw her, we fell in love with her. I didn't want to know what she had. That didn't matter. She is my daughter.

WALSH: And today, may change her life. She's having her eyes stimulated being fitted for glasses to find out if she can see at all. It's hard to tell what she sees, real shapes.

With Lejandra (ph), it's a little more palpable. Her first sight. But still, her arms stiffen straight. Her underdeveloped brain telling them to do so.

The talk here of prejudice, days spent ferrying children between specialist doctors, but being fired from work because of the lack of state money to pull them through. This is the world that Zika brings and here and globally it is only beginning. Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Recife.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Tough to watch, important that we watch what is happening there in Brazil.

Thanks for being with me. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

"THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts now.