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Obama Endorses Hillary Clinton For President. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired June 09, 2016 - 15:30   ET

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


MARC LAMONT HILL, "HUFFINGTON POST LIVE" HOST: -- Hillary Clinton, the number is lower statistically largely because she was still in a primary. But now that Bernie Sanders has stepped out and now that Barack Obama has endorsed her, you will see that 80 jump up. This was the same narrative that Republicans had in 2008.

That you know, the Hillary voters will never turn to Barack Obama. We saw that that simply was not true. Bernie Sanders supporters are of a different sort and there will be more of a challenge, there's no doubt about that.

But it will happen largely because there's such a strong anti-Trump narrative circulating on the left that we'll see this happen very quickly I think.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Kris, what is Donald Trump need to do now to get his party organized, to get his party united?

KRIS KOBACH, KANSAS SECRETARY OF STATE: You know, I don't think there's all that much he needs to do in terms of -- a lot of it will happen naturally, especially as we go into the convention phase of the campaign.

I think, you know, if you drill down to what's really going to be important in deciding this race it is going to be unaffiliated voters in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Are those voters going to be swayed by how quickly the Democrat leadership rallied behind Hillary? I don't think so. You know, it's going to be reaching out to those voters.

And so a lot of what you will see from Donald Trump is I think very similar to what you have seen before. Him trying to bring people in the political process who are not necessarily long-time voters and voted for their entire lives.

And that's the unpredictable nature of this campaign. So, the Clinton campaign is doing everything according to the book. The Trump campaign from a year ago is not going according to the book and winning largely because of that.

So I don't think we can answer any of these questions with certainty, but I think ultimately the voters who are going to decide this election probably weren't even watching TV this afternoon.

BLITZER: All right, guys, stand by. We will have a lot more coming up, including the role of Elizabeth Warren, the senator from Massachusetts. She is about to deliver what her staff says will be a major speech. Much more right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:36:19]

BLITZER: Welcome back. I'm Wolf Blitzer. We are continuing our extensive coverage of President Obama's historic endorsement of Hillary Clinton to become the next president of the United States.

Jeff Zeleny is up on Capitol Hill. Jeff, another key moment will be Elizabeth Warren. She's got a significant amount of support among Democrats out there.

The Democratic senator from Massachusetts, she's expected to deliver what her aides say will be a significant speech later tonight. What are you hearing?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: She is indeed, Wolf. Elizabeth Warren who is also been on the sidelines in this long Democratic fight is getting into the race and into the race very quickly.

She for the last few weeks or so has been going after Donald Trump with some degree of success at least in terms of getting under his skin and she'll be doing that at another speech tonight here in Washington, at the American Constitution Society, a liberal judicial group.

Wolf, her office has provided a few excerpts of what she is going to say. Take a listen to this. This is one of the things about Donald Trump she plans to say. She plans to say that he is a loud, nasty, thin-skinned fraud, who has never risked anything for anyone and serves nobody but himself.

She says she'll go on to say and that is just one of the many reasons that he will never be president of the United States. Now, Wolf, for the last I would say three weeks or, so maybe a little bit more, Elizabeth Warren has been sending tweet after tweet directly at Donald Trump saying that, you know, he's not qualified and sort of nipping at him.

Well, she'll do that more again tonight. Wolf, we are also expecting some at point very soon after she talks and meets with Senator Sanders, she will also offer her support finally for the presumptive nominee, as well.

You know, her former colleague in the Senate, they worked together. They have not always seen eye to eye on things and jumping into the race soon -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Interesting point. That will be a significant development. I'm sure one that Hillary Clinton will gladly, gladly accept. Stand by, Jeff. I want to bring in Jackie Kucinich. She is the Washington bureau chief of "The Daily Beast" and David Gergen is with us, as well, our senior political analyst.

I want to get your reaction to what clearly will be the message coming forward from a lot of Republicans. Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee put out a short statement after pointing out he says that the Obama administration has not had success over these last nearly eight years.

Buried our country in $9 trillion of crushing debt, he said. He then went on to say this about Hillary Clinton. "As Obama's secretary of state, Hillary Clinton put our national security at risk with her elicit e-mail server, which she devised to skirt government transparency laws and obscure her unethical dealings as the nation's top diplomat.

Hillary Clinton is the first ever presidential candidate to be under an FBI investigation and her corrupt family foundation that has taken millions from foreign governments is an unprecedented conflict of interest."

Priebus adds, "I don't think there's been a candidate for this office more unethical and untrustworthy than Hillary Clinton." David Gergen, that's going to be the theme, I suspect, of a lot of Republicans going forward between now and the Democratic convention. And the Republican convention in July and then the election in November.

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think it is very -- they're trying to turn this into an anti-Hillary race and listen, they have a lot of support for that proposition across the country as you well know.

And, you know, the polls are even as the Democrats are elated with a last three weeks and how well this has gone, there is an army of people out there opposed to Hillary and they may pull it off.

But I do think it makes a difference what quality of team you have on the field and the general election. And at this point, the Trump team is not in the same league with the Hillary Clinton team.

[15:40:05]The Trump team doesn't have the surrogates and firepower that Hillary's now lined up behind her. These tweets, putting into -- sending up tweets against big guns, that's a no-contest over time.

And I can't get over the fact that how much the Democrats have now suddenly seized the airwaves to get their message out so that Donald Trump who loomed over sort of a dominant figure in our politics no longer -- you know, he's been cut down to some size now.

That does not mean he's not a real threat to the Clinton people, but clearly over the last three or four weeks her chances of winning are on the rise and I think they're kind of attacks that we have just heard about we're going to hear a lot more about them.

And obviously everybody's waiting for the FBI investigation to get itself, you know, settled out. But I must tell you, Wolf, I think over the last three weeks the Trump University has become to Donald Trump what the e-mail server problem is to Hillary Clinton, each one has got an albatross to deal with.

BLITZER: Jackie, we'll hear what Trump says will be a big speech on his part maybe as early as Monday going after not only Hillary Clinton but Bill Clinton, as well. He wants to go on the offense on this issue. You're hearing the same thing.

JACKIE KUCINICH, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "THE DAILY BEAST": Yes. We are. But, you know, it will be interesting to see what tact he takes on this because Donald Trump's allegations against the Clintons have swung from things that are legitimate.

Some of his questions about the Clinton Foundation to things that really aren't that -- end up being more of Ed Klein fan fiction type of that nature. So if he's going to go conspiracy theory, substance, really, really interesting with this speech and that's one of the things that we're watching.

What he does pull forward. How far back in the past does he reach? Is he going to be talking about Whitewater or is he going to be focusing on e-mails and things that happened, you know, in the last two decades? That is the open question right now.

BLITZER: Yes. I assume he'll go to things that happened while she was secretary of state, including Benghazi which, of course, he keeps referring to all of the time. I'm curious, Jackie, your reaction to the Democrats uniting right now, clearly, in very ambitious and very bold moves around Hillary Clinton.

KUCINICH: Well, you know, one of the interesting things about this is that when was the last time that a candidate wanted the incumbent president campaigning for them? This shows how popular Obama is at the end of his term, particularly with Democrats.

And it really -- so that in and of itself is interesting because Republican candidates didn't want George Bush anywhere near them. Al Gore didn't want Bill Clinton campaigning with him. So it really -- that's another kind of notable thing about Obama's endorsement.

Another thing that's going to be really interesting and I should have mentioned this before is how Obama tries to take it to Trump. These are two -- someone he enjoys sparring with, someone he enjoys going after. So that on the campaign trail is going to be something to watch for.

BLITZER: A lot of us remember, David Gergen, you remember, as well, the whole birther issue that Donald Trump had raised against President Obama and then once President Obama released his birth certificate showing, confirming he was born in Hawaii, he had fun with Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner when he, obviously, ridiculed him.

GERGEN: Well, that's absolutely right, but I think it's very clear that, Barack Obama's come to hate Donald Trump to treat him with disdain. Because he feels he's so far out of the mainstream, so far out of the group of people who might be acceptable running the country.

And Barack Obama wants to protect his legacy. He is going to do what he can, everything he can to get Hillary Clinton elected because that will protect his legacy and it will take down a person he regards as a real threat to the republic.

BLITZER: David, stand by. Jackie, stand by, as well. We have to take another quick break. When we come back, we'll take a look at some of the states, states that have gone Democratic in recent years that Donald Trump seems to think he can win this time around and vice versa. Much more right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:48:46]

BLITZER: We're following the breaking news. Welcome back to our special coverage. President Obama today formally endorsed Hillary Clinton to become the next president of the United States. He released a video actually was released by the Hillary Clinton campaign.

There's the tweet from Hillary Clinton, "President Obama endorses Hillary." And then she quotes him as saying, "I don't think there's ever been someone so qualified to hold this office." That was the statement the president made in that video released by the Hillary Clinton campaign.

Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, by the way, they both claim they can flip some states that have traditionally voted for the opposite party come November.

CNN's Tom Foreman is joining us now to talk about this. Walk us through the states they're each targeting, Tom.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One of the reasons Hillary Clinton wants to stand with Barack Obama is this map which is from 2012. If she just replicates this, Wolf, and takes advantage of the state that is he turned over, then she comes in with a pretty whopping victory here.

However, bear in mind that Barack Obama is very, very popular with Democrats, very unpopular with Republicans. And among independents, his performance has been tenuously or tepidly supported so she likes some insurance.

One of her ideas here is to look out west, see if she can maybe get Arizona to move over to the Democratic category. She wants to make sure that place like Colorado and Nevada stays in her corner.

[15:50:08]If she does that, look, this margin gets bigger, 270 is what she needs. She goes to 343, Donald Trump is at 195. Donald Trump, however, sees his own possibility here and part of it is a rustbelt strategy. He's looking at these states right up here. He's saying, if you look Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, he knows there are a lot of frustrated working-class Democrats up there, white Democrats, who have not been happy with some of the trade deals that she's supported. They might flip.

And he also knows that Bernie Sanders walloped her in Wisconsin. So he is targeting that. That would just barely get him over the line. He'd get 270. She'd get 268. But he does have one possibility beyond that, Wolf, and that is to sort of nuclear victory here.

If he could actually flip New York, which he thinks he can, and Florida, then he gets a big win 300-238, although those are real reaches. Can it be done? We don't know.

But there is no question, Wolf, they start with the map from last time and she says, if I hold on to that, I win. This is my race to lose. Donald Trump says I've got to change something from that last map. I've got to flip something or else I lose -- Wolf.

BLITZER: That explains why Hillary Clinton will campaign on Monday in Ohio, on Tuesday, in Pennsylvania. And on Wednesday, together with President Obama, they both will be campaigning in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Clearly, they see those states as potential battleground states. Tom Foreman, thanks very much.

When we come back, much of our special coverage. We are watching what's going on in this historic day, the president of the United States endorsing Hillary Clinton to become the next president of the United States. Much more when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:55:47]

BLITZER: Once again, the president of the United States formally endorsed Hillary Clinton for president of the United States, an important clearly critical endorsement for Hillary Clinton.

Let's discuss this and more. Joining us once again, Bakari Sellers. He's our CNN political commentator. He is a Hillary Clinton supporter and also Amy Kremer, co-founder of Women Vote Trump super PAC. She supports obviously Donald Trump.

And Mike Shields is joining us. He is our CNN delegate analyst, former chief of staff for the Republic National Committee. He is also the president of a super PAC that helps elect Republicans to Congress.

Mike, very quickly, is it at all realistic that the Republicans could change their rules and Donald Trump potentially would not be the Republican nominee?

MIKE FIELDS, CNN DELEGATE ANALYST: Realistic, no. No, that's not realistic. I think that you would have to have something just cataclysmic happen at this point. It's possible. The delegates make the decisions at the convention and you have a rules committee that's made up of delegates.

They can report things out to the convention that is then voted on by the entire convention, but there's no will to do that and I think it would take a huge number of Republican leaders convincing the delegates this is the thing they should do and we are not there yet or we are not there at all.

So I think people are talking about this. I think that Donald Trump can put this to bed himself by being a leader and leading the party and attacking Hillary Clinton every day and making the election about Hillary Clinton instead of about him and it will go away and it's not really an issue at the convention.

BLITZER: Amy, how do you think he should deal with this?

AMY KREMER, CO-FOUNDER, WOMEN VOTE TRUMP SUPER PAC: Well, I think Hillary is the issue and I don't understand why the people -- the leaders in the party keep pushing this stuff because that's exactly why Donald Trump is in the position he's in because they haven't been listening to the American people.

And Wolf, it's not just on the Republican side. It's the Democrat side, too, with all of the Bernie supporters. So I think Donald $ump may have more support than Republican leadership may want to believe.

The one thing I'd say to them is they need to stop focusing on parties so much and focus on about being an American.

BLITZER: Because Amy, you've heard some of the voices of the radio talk show host like Hugh Hewitt and others, suggesting maybe it's not too late and maybe they can find a way at the convention to change the rules and prevent Trump from being the nominee.

KREMER: And you know what I say to that, Wolf? Let them try. Because every time they've pulled one of those things, his support just grows and intensifies because the American people are fed up with it. They are tired of these elites and party bosses trying to dictate everything, and every time they pull something like that, Donald Trump's support just grows.

BLITZER: You know, Bakari, if the Republicans really start going after Hillary Clinton the way Reince Priebus did today in his initial statement and what Donald Trump presumably is going to do maybe as early as Monday in a formal speech, she says she's not going to get into the gutter but how should she respond?

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think she has to keep responding the way she is by using Donald Trump's own words and just to push back a little bit, it's not Republican leadership who are doing anything to Donald Trump. It's his own words and bigotry and xenophobia that this country is tired of.

That's why you have people like Senator Kirk, former Secretary Tom Ridge, Republicans, Lindsey Graham, I haven't quoted one Democrat yet who are pushing back and saying that our country is greater than party -- KREMER: Bakari, they have been doing this for a longtime.

SELLERS: Well, Tom Ridge hasn't been doing this for a long time. Secretary Ridge is as Republican as Republican comes. The fact of the matter remains that Hillary Clinton today has a very good day.

And Barack Obama who has a 51 percent approval rating in this country, who has a 90 percent approval rating with African-Americans and over 73 percent approval rating with Hispanics.

The only way Donald Trump could even dream of getting approval ratings like that high is if he got ordained tomorrow and I doubt that's going to happen.

SELLERS: Bakari, it doesn't matter how good of a day she has. She's still under investigation by the FBI.

SELLERS: If that's your only retort then good luck. Thank you.

BLITZER: We got to wrap it up for now. But our special coverage is not going away, by any means. Amy, thanks very much, Mike Shields and Bakari Sellers. Appreciate it very much.

I'll be back at 5:00 p.m. Eastern in "THE SITUATION ROOM." In the meantime, our special coverage of this historic day continues with JAKE TAPPER in "THE LEAD" right now.