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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Speculation on Trump VP Pick; Interview with Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired July 14, 2016 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:01] DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: -- heading from Indiana to New York with Mike Pence's deputy campaign manager for his campaign for governor in Indiana. This is not somebody who makes regular trips to New York. I think it's fair to say that we can read something into that.

And then the last thing I want to report to you is that I'm told that Mike Pence has all of the paperwork ready to go, ready to file, to take himself off of the ballot in Indiana.

Now, why is that important? Because he is up for re-election, and the state law says that he -- in order to get off the ballot and allow somebody else to run as a Republican, that has to happen by noon tomorrow in Indiana. So that's ready to go so that they can make way for somebody else.

So those are the developments now I want to emphasize, again before coming on with you, our sources are saying that the actual call had not been made. Donald trump didn't pick up the call and say, Mike Pence will you be my running mate? But all indications are that the communications have been totally in that direction. Again, it is for any candidate, we need to say it's not a done deal until it happens. Even more so, for somebody who likes to be unpredictable like Donald Trump.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: And warm up your shredder for all that ballot preparation work that you filled out. Maybe that was what they were alluding to in that phone call.

Dana, stand by for one moment. I want to actually go out to the governor's residence, the residence where Mike Pence actually spent most of his days and had very important meeting yesterday. Sunlen Serfaty is there. This is the governor's mansion.

He had a very robust schedule today. It seems like any governor's regular schedule at 9:45 he was giving opening remarks at the innovation showcase tomorrow. Did anything seem different about today?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not at all, Ashleigh. You know, he seemed actually to be quite frankly trying to give a poker face for most of the morning. We saw him about two hours ago deliver a full speech, no mention whatsoever to the absolute buzz that was going on in the room. This was a governor's event about economic innovation. He delivered that speech. No mention at all about any of this excitement and speculation around him. He arrived back at the governor's mansion here about 90 minutes ago and has been inside ever since. We believe he's still inside right now.

Certainly, and again, I should note this is also the place where he met with Donald Trump yesterday in that breakfast meeting with their family. All indications afterward is that the families were getting along fabulously. So, as Mike Pence left that event earlier this morning, reporters yelling questions at him, he did not answer at all, ignored and got right back in his car, of course.

The weight of the world and eyes of the world focused right here on the governor's mansion. We'll see when he leaves, when he potentially departs and when we'll get more confirmation about potentially any calls that have taken place. Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Sunlen, as you were speaking, someone was tweeting, and it's not just someone, it's one Paul Manafort who means a lot to Donald Trump. And effectively if you could say is running his campaign and this is what said. "@realDonaldTrump V.P. selection, a decision will be made in the near future and the announcement will be tomorrow at 11 a.m. in New York, which was effectively what we knew last night."

But now with all of this rumor mill ginning up again, the dynamics seems to have changed or at least the energy seems to have changed.

Sitting with me onset right now is CNN Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger and Jim Acosta who is a senior White House correspondent also here. So, first to you Gloria, the tweet aside, we have heard all sorts of additions to the metric of choice. Last night, Newt Gingrich think, you know, I'd be pirate number two, who wants a two pirate ticket? I assume that means two big personalities on the topic.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Two big attack dogs maybe, yeah.

BANFIELD: Mike Pence is not that big personality.

BORGER: No. And I think that the process, as has been described to me that Donald Trump has been going through is sort of his gut versus his head. And his gut would be to go with somebody that he really knows well and likes a lot, somebody like a Chris Christie, for example, whom he likes an awful lot. New to him, he understands as an attack dog. Pence, is somebody relatively new to him. But he understands that Pence is the safe choice, checks a lot of boxes, brings conservatives along which is why ...

BANFIELD: Checks a lot of boxes.

BORGER: Right. Which is why we see it coming to this. I mean I have to caution again that I have been told, as has Dana been told, that while all signs are very much pointing to Pence, and Dana has laid it all out there for you with her great reporting, that the official call, I was told just a minute before I came on the air. I keep asking, has the call been made. And the answer is not yet. But all signs point to Donald Trump doing something that is actually the safe choice.

BANFIELD: The state -- well, his children has been pushing him as we hear in that direction. You were also talking to one of the Trump senior advisers and this is the direction you were getting from them.

[12:35:03] JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Earlier this morning, a senior campaign adviser told me that the lean at this point is Mike Pence. But earlier this morning they were saying no decision has been made. And just to echo what Gloria was saying -- I mean, basically what this boils down to is, will Donald Trump double down or try to calm things down?

And in Cleveland there are a lot of nervous Republicans, there are lot of Republicans who are going to Cleveland because they're so nervous where they projected Donald Trump.

BANFIELD: Would that change with the V.P. choice like Pence?

ACOSTA: Picking Mike Pence will calm a lot of people on Capitol Hill. A lot of Hill Republican will say, you know, what, we know Mike Pence, we can deal with Mike Pence. We might have some problems with Donald Trump but we can deal with Mike Pence.

I will tell you though when I reach out to Pence world, and I did this last night. They were saying, listen, we're still preparing for his re-election, we're still cutting ads, we're knocking on doors.

BANFIELD: Filling out paper work for tomorrow's noon deadline.

ACOSTA: But all that can be rolled back. And the point is that, you know, when you have a campaign aide for Mike Pences' re-election, getting on airplane and everybody sees it, you know, four, five different reporters who were in this plane this morning and this campaign operative is heading to New York City, that also tells you that something is afoot.

BANFIELD: You know, wait, just repeat that. How many of his people were on airplanes or some former transportation to New York City you're saying?

ACOSTA: Marc Lotter who is the deputy campaign manager for Mike Pence for his re-election campaign was spotted in Indianapolis getting on a plane to New York City, to La Guardia this morning.

BANFIELD: OK.

ACOSTA: There were four reporters who witnessed this, including our very own Jeremy Diamond. Now, when Jeremy asked Marc Lotter, what are you doing going to New York City? Aren't you supposed to be running for re-election? He didn't have any comment.

And so, you know, last time and Gloria will remember this. Four years ago, they snuck Paul Ryan out the back door and he snuck through the woods to get to a car that was driven by the Romney campaign to get him to that announcement in Morpheic, Virginia. So it was a bit more cloak and dagger than it seems this time. People are talking about what's happening and it's all pointing to Mike Pence.

BORGER: And let me just say one other thing about Mike Pence. Don't forget he endorsed Ted Cruz. And, so a lot of the Never Trumpers were former Cruz people. And if they see that Mike Pence is on the ticket, don't forget at our Town Hall the other night, Paul Ryan said I want to see a conservative on this ticket. He said he loves Mike Pence. He has said that just recently right?

So, it kind of blunts the Never Trump movement when you see this conservative evangelical Christian ...

BANFIELD: ... by the way is the speaker of the RNC himself ...

BORGER: Exactly, exactly.

BANFIELD: ... so there's a lot of a contest.

BORGER:: But if Pence is on the ticket, that takes, you know, that takes a lot of wind out of their sails.

BANFIELD: Oh wind, do you mean like the cities that have a lot of hot air. Which by the way, that's going to be Cleveland. Cleveland is going to rock not only ...

ACOSTA: Well communications were extra -- for Donald Trump's Jason Miller, just tweeted a decision has not been made by Mr. Trump. So, we should just be careful that, you know, we're saying the campaign is still saying a decision about this.

BANFIELD: They still feverishly tweeting out the decision hasn't been made.

BORGER: But they want to reveal right?

BANFIELD: Of course.

BORGER: They want to reveal and ...

BANFIELD: And that they want Cleveland to rock.

ACOSTA: And they've asked people to, you know, send their phone numbers in so they can get a text from Donald Trump saying, "This is my choice."

BANFIELD: And then you have the text would be afterward. We need your help, we need your money.

ACOSTA: Yeah, can you just donate a little money.

BANFIELD: Stand by if you will because I've got some people in Cleveland and after the break we're going to go out to Cleveland to find out how this kind of energy is resonating in that town as they get ready to launch full force on Monday. Back in a moment

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[12:42:51] BANFIELD: Live picture for you of the governor's mansion in Indiana. That would be the place where Mike Pence lives, probably does a lot of work and takes a lots of phone calls. And certainly he had some important meetings there yesterday with one Donald Trump.

We don't know if that black SUV parked out front is at the ready to whisk him away to an airport to head to New York City for what has been scheduled tomorrow, Eastern time 11 a.m. the big revelation of Donald Trump's V.P. choice.

There are a lot of signs as you can see on our banner now pointing towards Governor Mike Pence being that choice. Signs, no definitive decisions, we got plenty of tweets from the campaign that are suggesting otherwise. We can tell you this, Jason Miller who is the senior adviser in communications for the Trump campaign tweeted out, "A decision has not been made by Mr. Trump, he will be making the decision in the future and announcing his vice president pick tomorrow at 11 a.m. as planned."

Before that, we also heard from Paul Manifort who said, "@realDonaldTrump V.P. selection, a decision will be made in the near future and the announcement will be tomorrow at 11 a.m. in New York." But that does not stop leaks, does not stop the talk.

And in Cleveland that resonates by a hundred times. And that's where CNN's Mark Preston is standing by, our executive editor of CNN politics. David Chalian, our CNN political director also standing by in D.C.

To Cleveland first, is it rocking with this news or is this just sort of more whispers?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: You know, this is an interesting way that this has been all rolled out. It has been very transparent, something that we haven't been used to seeing or witnessing when we see a presumptive nominee looking for a running mate.

But f you look at all the evidence right now Ashleigh, it appears that it is going to be Mike Pence. We've seen the reporting out of our Jeremy Diamond that a Pence campaign staffer is going to New York. We've seen comments by Newt Gingrich well it indicate that he expects not to be picked.

We've seen the same from Chris Christie as well. And Mike Pence is somebody that Donald Trump appears to have warmed up over the past couple days.

Now, Ashleigh, I do have to say this. We have talked a lot about Mike Pence's conservative credentials and he does have very strong conservative credentials.

[12:45:07] However, there is a part of their conservative movement that is not enamored with Mike Pence. That is some social conservatives who were upset that he did not stand strong when the issue of religious liberty was brought up in Indiana last year. So there is some concern among social conservatives that Mike Pence isn't there the whole way. Having said that, it appears that Donald Trump is going to choose him and we'll see where it goes from there.

BANFIELD: Well, and then, you know, among those social conservatives, they remember, he is revered by evangelicals. They appreciate him greatly for a lot of the stands he's taken as well. So there's give and take on any choice.

Can I ask you, David Chalian really quickly about just who Mike Pence is? For you and me, and everybody working in this business, we seem to know him intimately. We know exactly who he is. If you're in Seattle, do you know who Mike Pence is? Do you need ...

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: No. You mean, just in -his name I.D. is not at all, that's it.

BANFIELD: The name recognition, he got Donald Trump whose name is blasted all over the world and then you go a Mike Pence who isn't.

CHALIAN: Yeah, and unlike Chris Christie or Newt Gingrich, who each in the last four years has run for president, dominated national story lines at times. Those are well-known figures, obviously Mike Pence is not. But if indeed, Donald Trump decides that he's the guy and is going to make that phone call and stand with him tomorrow at 11:00 a.m., if that is what is going to happen, his name recognition is going to go up real fast.

But listen, I think that what is critical here for us to look at as we're thinking about Mike Pence is what that tells us about Donald Trump. It tells us that Donald Trump, if he goes this way, is really listening to sort of political advice. This is different than we saw throughout the whole nomination season. This is him thinking, "Wow, this race is winnable for me, and I need to put the pieces together that can make that happen." And Mike Pence is an immediate, immediate credible source with the Republican establishment. All of the Republicans on Capitol Hill, the Republican governors across the country, the party regulars that sort of having the elected officials positions, Ashleigh, as you know, many of them had been reluctant to come around Trump or worried that the party won't be fully unified, worried he's slightly off-message at times.

All those worries and concerns, now that there's a sort of complaint department for them if Mike Pence is the guy, because he has instant credibility with all of those folks to help start translating the Trump campaign and the Trump agenda to the larger Republican establishment, that would be a really good thing for the party coming out of Cleveland.

BANFIELD: David Chalian, thank you Mark Preston, thank you. This conversation obviously continues. We don't have the official word yet. The Republican National Convention however we know for sure starts on Monday. So, buckle up, boys.

CNN is going to be there, those two guys are going to be there, our whole staff is going to be there with live coverage access. You're not going to get anywhere else as all begins Monday, 4:00 p.m. eastern time. It's going to be a barn burner back right after this.

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[12:52:15] BANFIELD: Amid nationwide tensions on policing and race relations our nation's capitol is looking for more potential officers to patrol the streets. Districts of Columbia's mayor is proposing some big measures when it comes to that very topic and among them, an effort to expand the police cadet program.

Here now to talk about is none other than D.C.'s mayor, Muriel Bowser.

Mayor Bowser, thank you so much for being here today.

MURIEL BOWSER, MAYOR, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: My pleasure Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Perfect timing on this particular topic. We just heard the Dallas police Chief David Brown saying, "Please, if you want to protest, the better way is to get off the protest line, I'm hiring. I'd like you there." And these cadet program sounds like you're, they're trying to get in on the earlier phases of that. Is that is the answer with the end-all, be-all?

BOWSER: No. it's of -- one tool in our toolbox. We're a growing city Ashleigh. And we have a thousand people move to Washington D.C. each in every month, people living and working and playing in places like never before. So we have to always be focused on how we can attract great officers to our department.

And one way to do it is look right in our high schools. Look at our young people born and raised in Washington, D.C. that reflect the city and the city's values joining the police department.

BANFIELD: Yeah, but is it like a hand -- talk to the hand of those kids have any interest and subtle, are you already up against the wall when you go into those schools at that age?

BOWSER: Well, actually, we know and our police chief says frequently when we get to young people and introduce them to policing early, that's when they catch the bugs. The earlier we can get to them, the better.

Now, what we're doing is expanding our cadet program. So you can be up to the age of 24, we would hire you, you would work 20 hours a week in the police department learning about policing while we pay for you to go to our university, the University of the District of Columbia. When you get 60 credits, you can join the academy. That's one thing we're doing.

We're also going into one of our high schools and creating a public safety academy. So high school students are going and learning while they're in school about policing, about working in the fire and EMS Department, about Homeland Security.

BANFIELD: It seems like a great idea for that big huge meeting at the White House yesterday.

BOWSER: Yeah. But I'm not sure.

BANFIELD: Do you know if the president had that on the agenda or many those other leaders were thinking, "What a smart idea, why not put some resources, energy, campaign money, anything toward ...

BOWSER: Well, I think it certainly is a national discussion about how. And then one thing that we know for sure is when police departments are close to the communities, the relationships are better. And so we've invested in that in Washington, D.C. over the years, and as we look to make sure we're attracting and retaining great officers, we know we want to look right in our own city to do that, and the cadet program is one way to do it.

BANFIELD: What about the issue of body cams.

BOWSER: That yet ...

[12:55:01] BANFIELD: So many people say that's the answer. Everybody behaves differently both the guy in blue and the person who is policing when you know it's all being recorded. Do you feel the same way? Do you think that's a huge tool in their facts?

BOWSER: Absolutely the same way. Last year I announced one of the most robust programs in the nation.

We put $5 million towards an additional $2 million for all of the employer requirements, and on recording and storage requirements that go with it. Today, 1200 of our officers have body-worn cameras. By the end of the year, 2400 of our officers. So we want all of our patrol officers to have body-worn cameras.

I have actually had the occasion as mayor to declare that in two instances that that footage served a public purpose and should be released. And we've done that.

BANFIELD: And not everybody feels that way. It's a topic for another day as this D.C. statehood.

BOWER: Absolutely.

BANFIELD: I want to talk about that on another day. We have breaking V.P. news.

BOWSER: Yes.

BANFIELD: And of course our biggest topic, you know, today also has been in these funerals on either side of the state. So will you come back and talk to ...

BOWSER: I look forward to talking to you.

BANFIELD: I tell you what, we'll tweet out a little teaser as well.

BOWSER: OK.

BANFIELD: And how you stand and where you think about that kind of issue.

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: Thank you so much for coming.

BOWSER: Thank you.

BANFIELD: Appreciate it. And thank you everyone. We are still following all the news developments about Donald Trump's vice presidential pick. There's energy in the air, folks. Sources saying all signs pointing to Indiana Governor Mike Pence, the man on your screen. Maybe get ready to see his picture a whole lot more. And we've got a whole lot more right after this quick break.

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