Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren to Meet in Washington, D.C.; Trump, Warren Trade Jabs on Twitter; GOP Struggles to Unite Around Trump. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired June 10, 2016 - 09:00   ET

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


[09:00:36] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning everyone, I'm John Berman, in for Carol Costello. Thank you for joining me this morning.

We're following two major stories unfolding this hour. A final farewell for the greatest Muhammad Ali and a meeting that we just learned about between Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren, a meeting now fueling speculation and probably designed to fuel speculation that Warren could end up on the Democratic ticket.

We begin in Louisville, Kentucky, Muhammad Ali's hometown. You can see people lining up there on the streets. A funeral procession for the boxing legend about to get underway. Tens of thousands of fans expected to say goodbye.

Now Ali helped plan his own funeral. He wanted today to be a celebration, a true celebration. A tribute to his life, his legacy, his faith, everything he stood for.

CNN's Pamela Brown, who knew Muhammad Ali personally, is on the ground there in Louisville. We will go there in just a moment.

But first, the big meeting in Washington this morning that has VP speculation at 11:00 on a scale of 1 to 10. Want to show you live pictures right now. That is the Clinton home in Washington, D.C. Hillary Clinton, arrived there just a few minutes ago. She will be holding a private meeting with Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren inside that house. Elizabeth Warren endorsed Hillary Clinton last night.

Now the mere fact of this meeting shows that the Clinton team is totally willing to stoke all kinds of VP speculation. This comes on the heels of Hillary Clinton picking up her two biggest endorsements to date. President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Whoever the next president is, god willing in my view, it will be Secretary Clinton.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Look, I know how hard is job can be. That's why I know Hillary will be so good at it. In fact, I don't think there's ever been someone so qualified to hold this office.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Now one key endorsement is still missing. That of Bernie Sanders. The senator held a rally, a campaign rally, a vote for him rally in Washington, D.C. last night. He isn't ready yet to declare Hillary Clinton the presumptive nominee, but he is not attacking her either.

Athena Jones is live at the White House with the story. Good morning, Athena.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. The Democrats are doing exactly what they wanted to do which is come together swiftly and go on the attack swiftly even before Sanders has bowed out. You're talking about Senator Warren and speculation about her possibly being a VP pick for Clinton. She says that they haven't talked about this, asked about that in an interview last night. She said that there's been a lot of speculation about this, but that she enjoys the work that she already does for the people of Massachusetts.

But she was also asked if she is ready -- if she thinks she's ready to be a vice president, therefore ready to be president, and she said she thought that she was. But this is just so interesting in contrast to what we're seeing on the Republican side which is still coming together to unify and struggling with their presumptive nominee's rhetoric.

Take a listen, though, to Vice President Biden and Senator Elizabeth Warren going after Trump last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I find Donald Trump's conduct in this regard reprehensible.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Donald Trump says Judge Curiel should be ashamed of himself.

No, Donald, you should be ashamed of yourself.

BIDEN: I don't think the framers' envisioned a presidential candidate accusing a judge of being incapable of reaching a fair decision because of his ethnic decent.

WARREN: Trump is picking on someone who is ethically bound not to defend himself. Exactly what you would expect from a thin-skinned racist bully.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: So pretty strong words there from Biden and Warren. Talking about Trump who had raised questions about Judge Curiel's ability to judge his case, this Trump University case, impartially because of his Mexican decent.

Well, of course, we've seen Donald Trump responding on Twitter this morning, just about an hour ago. Using one of his favorite nicknames for Senator Warren, he said, "Pocahontas is at it again. Goofy Elizabeth Warren, one of the least productive U.S. senators, has a nasty mouth. Hope she is VP choice."

[09:05:09] Well, Warren, who's shown that she is absolutely willing to go tit-for-tat with Trump on Twitter, his preferred means of communication, she tweeted about 20 minutes later, "No, seriously, delete your account." That is echoing a tweet from Hillary Clinton's camp, saying that he should do that.

And so it's interesting to see both Warren and Biden come out. Warren moved up her endorsement by several days after President Obama made his endorsement yesterday. Now on the Republican side, as I mentioned, we're seeing continued criticism and questions about Trump as a nominee, both Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker Paul Ryan said they want to make sure that Trump picks a VP who has a lot of experience and knows how to delineate policy matters. These are things that Trump has so far shown himself unwilling to do -- John.

BERMAN: A whole lot going on this morning. Athena Jones at the White House.

And you heard Elizabeth Warren going after Donald Trump last night. Vice President Joe Biden going after Trump. Well, President Obama is getting in that game, too. Going after Donald Trump in his own way. He did it last night on "The Tonight Show" with Jimmy Fallon. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His first two terms ended in such a hurry. Wish he could go for three, like my man Steph Curry.

OBAMA: Now, now, there will be no third term. I can't say forever. Besides, daddy's got a Hawaiian vacation booked in about 233 days. But who's counting? That being said, the American people face an important decision this fall. The entire world is watching, and they look to us for stability and leadership.

Now I know some of the presidential candidates have been critical of my foreign policy. I don't want to name any names.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's talking about Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: It was a long clip, the slow jamming in the news with the president and Jimmy Fallon. You need to see the whole thing. We will play it for you later this hour.

I want to talk about everything going on in the world of politics. Right now let's bring in political science professor and politics editor for TheRoot.com, Jason Johnson, and Rebecca Sinderbrand, political news, editor for the "Washington Post."

Jason, if Hillary Clinton wanted to meet with Elizabeth Warren and have nobody know about it, she could. She could have had a private meeting to talk about important issues with Elizabeth Warren today privately, but that is not the path that they chose. They chose a very public meeting at the Clintons house in Washington, D.C., let it leak this morning to the "Washington Post" and other news outlets.

Why? Why does the Clinton team want the world to know she is meeting with Elizabeth Warren this morning?

JASON JOHNSON, POLITICS EDITOR, THEROOT.COM: Because this is comfort food for the Bernie Sanders supporters. OK. Hillary Clinton wants to feed them this idea that, look, if I don't pick Bernie Sanders as my VP, I might pick Elizabeth Warren. But I think people should remember, about a year ago, Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren had a meeting, I always think, you know, Hillary kind of Jedi-mind trick saying, you don't want to run for president and probably convinced Elizabeth Warren to not get into the race.

But I think they're going to play footsy for a while. Elizabeth Warren is incredibly popular. She is very quick witted. She's actually better at attacking Donald Trump than Hillary Clinton. And she wants to tease this out as long as she can.

BERMAN: Yes, the issue of whether or not Hillary Clinton wants Elizabeth Warren as her vice president is different than the question of whether Hillary Clinton wants people to think she is considering Elizabeth Warren today as her vice president.

JOHNSON: Exactly. Yes.

BERMAN: And the answer to that question is a decided yes.

JOHNSON: Yes.

BERMAN: And Rebecca, Elizabeth Warren, you know, perfectly happy to engage in national politics. We're watching a lot of SUV movement live right outside at the Clinton household right now. We expect Elizabeth Warren to arrive there soon. I don't think that's her right there.

But I was saying, Rebecca, Elizabeth Warren involved in this national game right now of attacking Donald Trump, she is engaging him directly. And you see it on Twitter this morning. She is causing him to engage her directly. That tweet where he calls her Pocahontas, you know, at a time when a lot of people are saying that Donald Trump is pressing a lot of racial buttons, he seems to be willing to do it here as well.

This refers to something that came up in her 2012 campaign against Scott Brown in Massachusetts, where Elizabeth Warren, some people say exaggerated her Native American roots.

REBECCA SINDERBRAND, POLITICAL NEWS EDITOR, THE WASHINGTON POST: Absolutely. Look, it's a twofer. On the hand, you have Elizabeth Warren, someone who clearly relishes tangling with Donald Trump and someone who's enjoying herself, and actually pretty good at it so far. She seems to be getting under his skin a little bit, pushing his buttons. And on the other hand, Donald Trump does not get -- seem to have figured out exactly how to push back. You know, you see the nicknames he's chosen for her. In the past, he's gone with crooked Hillary, he's gone with Lyin' Ted. These deal with kind of known qualities and narratives about these candidates.

Elizabeth Warren to some voters was a bit of an unknown but the adjectives that he's chosen, goofy, is not going to play very well with female voters, and Pocahontas, at a moment when he is facing criticism for his use of ethnically loaded language.

[09:10:02] That is not going to play well with some members of the Republican establishment. So he is struggling to find his footing a little bit in his interaction with her.

BERMAN: No. And Elizabeth Warren doesn't pull punches either. She flat-out called Donald Trump a thin-skinned racist last night. She doesn't euphemisms in this exchange.

It's interesting because everything that's going on with Donald Trump in these perhaps controversies if you will about what he believes or does not believe about people of other races, obscuring what could be some tough news for Hillary Clinton continued tough news. All sorts of reports this morning in the "Wall Street Journal" and other places that some of the e-mails that Hillary Clinton had on her server as secretary of state dealt with issues of drone strikes in Pakistan.

Now vague references, we are told, to the possibility of drone strikes, Rebecca. Again, showing the e-mail issue will not go away. Showing that there were things in there that could be of interest to a lot of voters.

SINDERBRAND: Absolutely. You know, you have the drip, drip, drip of these constant regulations and of course the continued testimony in the civil suit you seem to have a headline a week. And the biggest thing, you know, Hillary Clinton basically owes Donald Trump a fruit basket because all the headlines coming out of his campaign have obscured what for her could be a pretty big issue, could bring into question of matters of her judgment. When Donald Trump is dominating the headlines, it kind of gets pushed a little bit below the fold and she has him to thank for that.

BERMAN: You know, Jason, we keep looking at Hillary Clintons' house in Washington, D.C., seeing that live picture there, expecting Elizabeth Warren to arrive and meet with Hillary Clinton. Do you think Elizabeth Warren will come out and talk afterwards? Is it in her interest to discuss this public appearance?

JOHNSON: I think it's in her interest to play this out as long as possible. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if Hillary did like a decision thing with LeBron, like, who -- this is who I'm finally going to pick. Everyone benefits from associating themselves with this campaign at this particular point. In large part because, one, it's the biggest political story that we have left. And two, because as long as Hillary Clinton appears to be the saner or the less complicated of the candidates, whether you're Joe Biden or your Elizabeth Warren or Sherrod Brown or any of the other people who might be on the VP list gets your 15 minutes of fame before you have to go out and be a surrogate.

So I wouldn't be surprised if Warren says something. Maybe not as soon as she leaves the house, but probably sometime later on this afternoon.

BERMAN: All right, Jason Johnson, Rebecca Sinderbrand, stick around, stay with us. A lot more to discuss today.

Still to come, Democrats unleash new attacks. How is Donald Trump going to respond. He's already been on Twitter this morning. But what about when he is on a stage? He will speak in just a little bit. We'll talk about what he's saying next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:16:44] BERMAN: Donald Trump is ramping up his efforts to soothe new concerns among fellow Republicans. Today, he speaks to Faith and Freedom Coalition Conference, a largely evangelical audience. From there, he heads to a campaign rally in Virginia.

Now, this comes as some in his own party, the last holdouts of the never Trump movement are raising the notion of a potential challenge at the convention.

We're all over this story. Jeremy Diamond at the site of Donald Trump's speech this today. Chris Frates is in Washington.

Jeremy, I want to start with you. The audience today, as we said, an evangelical audience, any sense of what Donald Trump plans to say today?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Well, we don't know exactly, the campaign has been pretty silent on what exactly Donald Trump is going to say. But what we can expect is rally his base.

Evangelicals have been a component of that base throughout the primary campaign, despite most pundits expectations that Donald Trump would not fare well with the group. He has done pretty well throughout the primary. So, a big part of the speech will be reassure those people, make sure they know he is still with them, motivated to vote for him in the general election, and, of course, talking about Supreme Court nominations for example.

That's one of the things that evangelicals have been reassured him talk about, nominate a lot of strict constitutionalists in the model of the late Judge Antonin Scalia for example. So, certainly, Donald Trump, rallying his base as he moves into the general election. He has to both look for new voters, and make sure that his base sticks with him -- John.

BERMAN: Any sense, Jeremy, if he is using a teleprompter today? A lot of Republicans were happier with the scripted Donald Trump Tuesday night. Will we see that today?

DIAMOND: Well, there are some teleprompters here. It is unclear if those are for the speakers before him or for Donald Trump. But certainly, it would be in keeping what we've seen lately from Donald Trump.

BERMAN: It would be very interesting to see. All right, Chris Frates, I want to turn to you w. Paul Ryan has been

talking a lot lately. Something new everyday. A lot of it, very critical about Donald Trump. What is he now saying this morning about Donald Trump's criticism of the Judge Gonzalo Curiel?

CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, Paul Ryan is continuing to ride what is an awkward line. He is essentially condemning Trump's comments while still urging people to support him.

Ryan is trying to make the case that despite what even Ryan himself has called Trump's racist comments, the conservative ideas and policies that is champions are basically better served under President Trump than President Clinton. But whether he is talking to the national media or he is talking local reporters back home in Wisconsin, this whole policy argument he is trying to make is getting drowned out by his condemnation. Take a listen to what he said this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: This is something that needed to be condemned. That comment is beyond the pale. That's not political correctness, suggesting a person can't do their job because of their race or ethnicity. That's not -- that's not a politically incorrect thing to do. That's just a wrong thing to say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: And, look, Paul Ryan is not alone here, John. Other Republican leaders have called Trump's remarks racist. Many are shaking their head how far off course Trump's bluster has pushed his campaign and all of this controversy has some anti-Trump Republicans, well, does this give them an opportunity to overthrow Trump at the convention.

[09:20:02] You know, Bill Kristol, a conservative who has tried and failed so far to field an independent challenger to Trump used about a convention coup on Twitter last night. He wrote, quote, "I've been focused on independent candidacy, and still am. But struck by sudden level of interest in possible delegate revolt at convention."

He also wrote this, "A convention of conscience in Cleveland would be quite something. Made easier by the fact Trump only won minority of total primary votes any way."

Now, a delegate revolt is a long shot, if not a pipe dream for a couple of reasons. One, Trump has filled many of the conventions most important posts with delegates loyal to him. That's not any surprise. Number two, this is as crucial as it is obvious here, John. There's no one to challenge Trump.

Bill Kristol's attempt to field another candidate have fallen flat. Another there is another choice, this whole conversation, John, is largely an exercise in wishful thinking.

BERMAN: Yes. The other thing to remember is he actually won. He won the primaries, he beat 16 other people, pretty convincingly there. So, very hard for those other people to change that now.

Chris Frates, thanks so much for being with us.

FRATES: You're welcome.

BERMAN: I want to bring back Rebecca Sinderbrand of "The Washington Post", Jason Johnson, politics editor for TheRoot.com, and a Sirius XM Radio contributor.

Rebecca, I want to start you, because Paul Ryan keeps on talking, beyond the pale to talk about the comments made by Donald Trump. Beyond the pale isn't just over the line. It's way, way over the line. His comments keep on coming from Paul Ryan, who says he wants to see Donald Trump getting elected, yet he knows they can't be helping him get elected.

REBECCA SINDERBRAND, POLITICAL NEWS EDITOR, THE WASHINGTON POST: Absolutely, but of course, Paul Ryan has two priorities here. Number one, getting Donald Trump elected, a Republican in the White House, but he has to think about his own caucus, he's got to think about lawmakers in the House, some of whom in the purple and swing districts are starting to feel a little nervous. Democrats feeling a little more confident, not necessarily about retaking the House, but certainly making a dent in the Republican majority.

Of course, the story has been the two parties, at least at this moment, moving in opposite directions. You have Democrats making the sort of show of unity that might have been almost inconceivable last week, and you have Republicans seemingly the wheels coming off the Trump train at least right now. The campaign looking to steady nervous stoners, Republicans, and so we'll see over the next few days whether they've managed to calm the waters.

BERMAN: You know, Jason, one of the things that Jeb Bush says is apologize for the statements about Judge Curiel. Scott Walker says he won't endorse Donald Trump until he apologizes.

Apologizing is not something that Donald Trump does a lot by $, his own admission.

JASON JOHNSON, POLITICS EDITOR, THEROOT.COM: Right.

BERMAN: I want you to listen to conversation that Trump had with Anderson Cooper, I think it was back in March.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: You said on the radio right here in Wisconsin the other day that you do apologize and you believe in apologizing. When was the last time you actually apologized for something?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Oh, wow. No, I do. I don't know. I'll think. Can I think?

But look, I do believe in apologizing if you're wrong. But if you're not wrong, I don't believe in apologizing. For instance, I could have apologized, we started this with Corey, my campaign manager.

Will you apologize? I said apologize for what? I see the tape. I would love to apologize, it would be so much easier. Apologize, Corey, you're fired --

COOPER: You don't know of a specific example of when you apologized.

TRUMP: Yes, I mean, apologize. I apologized to my mother years ago for using foul language. I apologized to my wife for not being presidential on occasion. She is always saying, darling, be more presidential.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So he doesn't do it often, but he does admit to doing it, Jason.

In this case, for attacking Judge Curiel, pointing out the fact that's Mexican, when in fact, he is not. He is American born in Indiana, but saying his Mexican heritage is somehow coloring his decisions from the bench. Any chance you think we'll hear an apology from Donald Trump?

JOHNSON: It is like he has become the most offensive man in the world. I don't often apologize, but when I do, it is politically expedient.

He's not going to be apologizing anytime soon about anything because it's not required of him. The people who love Donald Trump love the fact that he makes decisions, sticks with them, whether they're right or wrong, one way or another.

But I will say this. Elizabeth Warren made a good point last night when she said it is fascinating that Donald Trump picks a fight with a federal judge who is federally and legally bound to not respond to his attacks. The more he attacks someone who can't fight back, the more it makes him look like a bully instead of a tough guy who knows how to speak it like it is.

BERMAN: Jason Johnson, Rebecca Sinderbrand, thanks very much for being with us.

It will be interesting to see what Donald Trump does today in the speech to the Faith and Freedom Coalition, whether he addresses the judge issue at all.

[09:25:01] So, we'll be watching that closely. Thanks, guys.

JOHNSON: Thanks.

BERMAN: Another thing we'll be watching closely, a big, big interview, a CNN exclusive. Mitt Romney sits down with Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM". Mitt Romney has spared no word for Donald Trump. He is the man who has been part of the Never Trump movement.

What does he say now? What does he say about Donald Trump's latest comments? He will tell Wolf, that's 5:00 p.m. Eastern, only on CNN. Still to come, thousands of people lining the streets in Louisville,

Kentucky. Look at that. What a beautiful picture that is right there. That is what today is meant to be a. A beautiful celebration of the life of Muhammad Ali. We'll take you there, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Good morning, everyone. John Berman in for Carol Costello this morning. Thanks so much for being here.

Today, the world says goodbye to boxing legend and truly international icon, Muhammad Ali.