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Battle for Ohio; President Obama Calls Out Republican Leaders Over Trump Support. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired August 02, 2016 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:03]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think I have some major cred here. I have earned my cred.

What team are you on?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

(CHEERING)

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where did you find a Pikachu? You found it here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come on. Are you serious? You know what?

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BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

President Obama today calling out Republican leaders for their ongoing support of Donald Trump, who is mired in controversy with now 98 days remaining until Election Day. The president called Trump -- quote -- "unfit and woefully unprepared to lead the nation," and he also decried Trump's clash with the Khans, the parents of a fallen Muslim- American army captain.

Multiple GOP heavyweights have decried Trump's comments against the family and the president is now pressing Republicans on just what it takes for them to say they have had enough of Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The question I think that they have to ask themselves is, if you are repeatedly having to say in very strong terms that what he has said is unacceptable, why are you still endorsing him?

This isn't a situation where you have an episodic gaffe. This is daily and weekly where they are distancing themselves from statements he's making. There has to be a point at which you say, this is not somebody I can support.

There has to come a point at which you say, somebody who makes those kinds of statements doesn't have the judgment, the temperament, the understanding to occupy the most powerful position in the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Joining me now, our chief Washington correspondent, Jake Tapper, who hosts "THE LEAD" and "STATE OF THE UNION."

Mr. Tapper, here's where I'm curious, because now that you have the president calling out these Republican leaders, right, for week after week denouncing Trump's words, but not quite -- stopping short of not taking back that endorsement, do you think now that's definitely not going to change?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: I doubt it's going to change any time soon. I mean, we will see what the landscape looks like in September or October. Certainly, the idea of Mr. Trump being a drag on the ticket potentially is something that Republican leaders discuss and talk about and what to do come September or October might actually be a reality.

But, as of right now, I don't see anybody distancing themselves. But what the president is doing is, first of all, we should point out, he's able to do this because his approval ratings are around 54 percent, 55 percent, which is pretty high for a president at this point in the second term of his presidency.

So he has some standing with the public to do this. He's putting pressure on Republican leaders. This is something that could have impact with independent voters. We have talked a lot about the importance of independent voters and how poorly Hillary Clinton has in the past done with them.

Here we have President Obama trying to push them, and that would theoretically in this world view appeal to independents, the idea that there is pressure being put on these leaders to be independent themselves.

BALDWIN: So that was the president today standing in the East Room right next to a world leader when he made these comments.

Then you have Donald Trump at a rally in Virginia. There was a moment I just want to play everyone where a supporter of his walked up and handed him his Purple Heart. Here you go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Something very nice just happened to me. A man came up to me and he handed me his Purple Heart.

Now, I said to him -- I said to him, is that like the real one or is that a copy? And he said: "That's my real Purple Heart. I have such confidence in you."

And I said, man, that's like -- that's like big stuff. I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And then you have the moment where that veteran who gave him his Purple Heart walks up, shakes his hand. Add to that the background of this. He is in the state of Virginia. This is where the Khan family is from, and, of course, this is all in the wake of the sort of controversy that he's embroiled himself in with back-and- forth tweets and comments over the weekend.

[15:05:03]

You are dear friends with, I know, a number of veterans. How do they feel about all of this?

TAPPER: Well, first of all, we should point out that's Lieutenant Colonel Louis Dorfman who gave his Purple Heart to Mr. Trump.

And I have asked the Gold Star families with whom I'm friends, both in private e-mails, on phone calls and also on Facebook, I have asked them what they think. And you may not be surprised to hear that they are really all over the map. There are those who are conservative and think that the Khan family is being used and exploited by Democrats.

And they note that at the Democratic Convention, some of these supporters there of Bernie Sanders booed individuals such as a Medal of Honor recipient and others. So these are conservatives and they're just not buying it. There are conservatives who like Donald Trump, but really think this is a bad moment for him.

One of them said to me, Mr. Trump is a genius when it comes to business, but he's ignorant when it comes to what it means to sacrifice in the way that he and his family had sacrificed. He also said, and I pray that Mr. Trump remains that ignorant, not wanting that pain to be visited upon that family.

And then there are a number of people who think that this is horrific and that Mr. Trump really is demoralizing and hurting a lot of Gold Star families by not understanding the tradition in this country of politicians respecting what Gold Star families say and not getting into a back-and-forth about it.

There was a time in the '90s when Bill Clinton was confronted by a father, a Gold Star father who had lost his son in Mogadishu, and the president tried to charm him, and then ultimately just stood there and was hurt in the situation, just took it, just took the abuse.

We saw on my show we aired yesterday George W. Bush saying about Cindy...

BALDWIN: Cindy Sheehan.

TAPPER: Yes, Cindy Sheehan, she has the right to think what she wants, and paying respect to her grief and her loss. Hillary Clinton has disputed what Patricia Smith, who I know you interviewed yesterday, who lost her son in Benghazi, disputed what she says Hillary Clinton told her, but otherwise says she can't imagine the grief.

And that really is what lot of people, a lot of Gold Star families think is the appropriate response. What is curious just on a political level is, why keep this story alive? And I know that that's something that a lot of top Trump advisers are saying. Why keep it alive? It's not a story that's good for you in any way. Just drop it.

But Mr. Trump feels the way he feels and he wants to defend himself. So here we are on day whatever, five, of this, still talking about it.

BALDWIN: Yes. Yes. Jake Tapper, thank you so much. I appreciate it. And we will see you at the top of the hour on "THE LEAD."

TAPPER: Thanks.

BALDWIN: Yes.

As the president piles on to this criticism of Mr. Trump as he spoke from the White House today, take a look at the poll numbers with me. The polls are stacking up against the Republican nominee, the latest here, CNN/ORC poll showing the Democratic National Convention propelled Clinton past Trump. Remember, Trump got the bump after Cleveland.

Now she is eight points over him.

Let me bring in my guests, Saba Ahmed, who is founder of the Republican Muslim Coalition and a supporter of Donald Trump, and CNN political commentator Amanda Carpenter, used to be Ted Cruz, Senator Ted Cruz's communications director. So, they're with me now.

Amanda, how damaging would it be for let's say a John McCain, a Paul Ryan to totally withdraw an endorsement? Or because the president has now touched this, they will never do that?

AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know what? I don't really -- I don't think it would be too damaging. Listen, we have watched a lot of Republican leaders tie themselves into pretzels going through this whole dance of I endorse, but I don't support him saying this. I don't know how many times you can keep saying that before you

eventually do have to walk away. I do think there's a way Republican leaders can play it. They can say, listen, we have choices we don't like this election, but, voters, I promise you, whether it is President Trump or President Clinton, I am going to hold them accountable.

That is the best way out of this, because we have been seeing this movie for the last year from Donald Trump. He's going to say something and then you're going to be forced to defend it if you say you support him. There are things that are just simply indefensible. They shouldn't put themselves through this. That should be the answer for the next 90 days.

BALDWIN: Saba, do you think Mr. Trump would care if he lost endorsements?

SABA AHMED, FOUNDER, REPUBLICAN MUSLIM COALITION: No.

I think he won the primaries and Republican nomination without any of their endorsements. He would like to see the Republican Party united, but I don't think he's going to lose any sleep about losing any endorsements.

But at the same time, we hope that, going forward, Republicans will stand solidly with all servicemen of this country. We have thousands of Muslims serving in the armed forces. And we do respect all of them and we hope Donald Trump will possibly meet with the Khan family and acknowledge their sacrifice.

[15:10:10]

BALDWIN: Let me follow up on that with you.

Just on a personal level, when you saw the interview with George Stephanopoulos over the weekend and Mr. Trump sort of questioning why Mrs. Khan wasn't speaking, pointing potentially to her religion, when quite simply she just lost her son and she was emotionally distraught, and the back-and-forth for days now, were you offended by that?

AHMED: Well, I understand. I think he was just assuming that Muslim women stay silent.

But I think yesterday there was quite a bit of a campaign to show that Muslim women speak up quite a bit.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Isn't that a bad assumption in 2016, Saba?

AHMED: Of course. Right. And that's why we're trying to engage with the Republican Party and especially with the Donald Trump campaign. I hope to see more Muslims involved, and we hope to see Muslims in his administration, especially Muslim men and women.

I think we all need to change the mind-set of Republicans when it comes to Islam and Muslims. We need diversity. We need religious diversity and we hope to see him change his mind on all of us.

BALDWIN: Amanda, what if -- just back to the president, speaking, the optics of it all. He is in the East Room. This isn't at a rally. He doesn't have, let's say, Hillary Clinton next to him. He's at the White House in the East Room standing next to a world leader saying Donald Trump is unfit and calling out these Republican leaders who denounce his words almost every week, but don't -- stop short of pulling back their endorsement.

Don't you think, though, that this is firing up those who love Donald Trump and potentially even those who are trying to make up their minds?

CARPENTER: Oh, definitely.

If you're a Trump supporter, you're going to say, look, they're trying to divide and conquer us, this is a campaign against us. I don't know why President Obama's trying to play it this way, if he really wants to bring people over to Hillary Clinton. I think it really pains me to say this, but Hillary Clinton has a lot of opportunity this election.

If she decided she wanted to go to Republican voters and say, listen, I'm going to keep your taxes low and I'm going to keep us safe, and maybe I will bring some Republicans you trust on foreign policy in this administration, she would have a big opportunity. I don't see her going there yet.

Right now, I just see these kind of things, like rhetorical graces that don't mean anything. But the question for me is, when Donald Trump calls Hillary Clinton the devil, the devil's beating him by eight points right now. But what's wrong with Hillary Clinton that she can't bring people over when faced with someone that Republicans are just so aghast watching every single day?

BALDWIN: And 98 days to go, ladies.

CARPENTER: Yes.

BALDWIN: Oh, that's plenty, plenty of time, plenty of time for both of them.

Amanda Carpenter and Saba Ahmed, thank you so much. I really appreciate both of your voices there.

And coming up next, we will actually talk to one of Captain Khan's closest friends about the man, about his life, about his service and what she thinks of Trump's remarks over the past couple of days.

Also ahead, we are getting new word, speaking of, kind of Amanda's point, another high-profile Republican is announcing she will vote for her. She will vote for Hillary Clinton this November. Who is this and who did she work for, interestingly, here?

Also, the Hillary Clinton campaign will join me live to react to Trump calling her the devil. This is CNN.

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[15:17:25]

BALDWIN: All of this recent back-and-forth between Donald Trump and the family of this Muslim-American war hero, it's been all over the news, I know.

We're getting more insight now, though, into exactly who Captain Humayun Khan was as a man, as a leader, as a supervisor, as a friend.

So, joining me now, Laci Walker. She served under sergeant -- she served as a sergeant under Captain Khan's command in Iraq.

So, Laci, thank you so much for your service. And welcome to the show.

SGT. LACI WALKER, SERVED UNDER CAPTAIN KHAN: Thank you.

BALDWIN: I read you said, "He was the most amazing officer I ever worked for."

Why?

WALKER: Absolutely.

There's no doubt in my mind he was the most incredible man to work for. He was easy to understand. His orders were concise and clear, and you always knew what he wanted. And...

BALDWIN: Tell me the little things, the generosity, the story about the tuna fish sandwich. I want to hear more about just the man.

WALKER: OK.

Well, we were actually in Hohenfels on -- in training getting ready to go to Iraq. And he was in shop office, where I worked, and he had a -- he always had a container of mayonnaise and a container of pickle relish in his office drawer, and then a loaf off bread on top of a shelf and tuna in the shelf.

I don't know why he didn't just keep them together. But he would always make -- if we had to work through lunch, he'd always make us all tuna fish sandwiches. And he was very kind all the time.

BALDWIN: So, everything from I know, obviously, something as simple as a sandwich to his bravery to his generosity. I understand you even have some ink on your body in honor of him.

WALKER: I do. He was by far the most respected man I have ever come into contact, beside my husband and father, of course. I love them both too.

But he was the best leader, and I was devastated at his loss. So, yes, I definitely have a tattoo in his honor.

BALDWIN: And to then suddenly see your friend, your supervisor, a man who you honor each and every day, sort of suddenly thrust into this back-and-forth involving the Republican nominee for president, what do you make of it? What do you think he would make of it?

WALKER: Personally, I think it is irritating. He didn't wear his heritage on his shoulder. He wore the American flag, like all of us did. He was a soldier. He was a man. He died honorably. He didn't die because he's a Muslim.

[15:20:08]

He didn't even -- he didn't even -- he didn't shout out that he was a Muslim. He was just proud to serve his country and proud to serve with his troops.

And I don't like the fact that at the's being honored because of his heritage. He should be honored as the man he was, the soldier he was, and this is like -- they say rest in peace for a reason. This has been 12 years. It's ridiculous to me, my personal opinion.

BALDWIN: Wanted to hear your personal opinion. It counts very much.

Let me play some sound. This is Donald Trump's son Eric appearing this morning on CBS, responding to this controversy now involving his dad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: They want an apology. Would your father be willing to apologize and move on?

ERIC TRUMP, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: I think that's a great question for him. And I think he has by calling them a hero.

In terms of the one question, whether you have made a sacrifice, I think my father has. Now, that's certainly not the ultimate sacrifice. The ultimate sacrifice is a soldier dying for this nation and dying to protect the three of us. There's no question about it.

QUESTION: Is it difficult for him to apologize, Eric, on anything? You know him probably better than anybody.

E. TRUMP: My father's a fighter. My father's a fighter and I think this country needs a fighter. And I think he was attacked the other day and he was attacked viciously. And, by the way, that's politics. You're going to get attacked.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Now I don't know if some of these Gold Star families I have talked to would say that that equates an apology, calling Captain Khan a hero. I don't also know if Mr. Trump will apologize. I know -- I have the feeling from you, you want this to go away and

you want him to be honored as the man you knew and respected. What do you think Mr. Trump should do?

WALKER: Realize that just because of someone's heritage, it doesn't make them a martyr, realize that, yes, everyone makes sacrifices every day of their life. Sacrifices come with living.

And no sacrifice is as infinite as giving your life for your country. And maybe if he just realized that, he would be a better person. I don't know. I don't get into politics. Politics and religion are -- mm-mmm.

BALDWIN: But you want to speak about your friend. And I appreciate you taking the time and doing so.

Sergeant Laci Walker, thank you so much for your service to this country and just thank you for taking a couple of minutes with me. Have a good day. Thank you.

WALKER: You, too.

BALDWIN: Coming up next here, Hillary Clinton, she is pumping millions of dollars into ads in the battleground state of Ohio. But Donald Trump's campaign has yet to spend a dime. A closer look at the strategy on both sides.

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[15:27:19]

BALDWIN: All right, let's hone in on a couple key states. This year's presidential election will likely come down to a handful of battleground states, perhaps none more important than the swing state of Ohio. Both Clinton and Trump have been campaigning hard there in recent days.

CNN's Jessica Schneider explains what exactly is at stake.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do believe that my vote matters. I want it to matter.

BERT BARRON, OHIO RESIDENT: So goes Ohio, so goes the country, yes.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are the voters Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump hope to capture. No Republican has ever won the presidency without winning Ohio. The last time a Democrat took the White House without the state, John F. Kennedy in 1960.

Both campaigns are fighting hard for the battleground. Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine traveled by bus through the state as part of their post-convention push. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are going to

be back. We will be in the Mahoning Valley. We will be all over Ohio.

SCHNEIDER: Donald Trump rallied in Columbus Monday.

D. TRUMP: I will be back so much, you will be sick of me. But November 8, you have to go and vote.

SCHNEIDER: Seven-point-six million voters are up for grabs. But there is a push and pull over registering even more. Federal judges have struck down voter I.D. laws and those reducing early voting time as unconstitutional, and now the state's purge of voters who haven't cast a ballot in six years is under review by the courts.

JOHN GREEN, UNIVERSITY OF AKRON: The ground game really matters, particularly in a year where both of the major candidates have a lot of negatives.

SCHNEIDER: Clinton's team has field offices sprouting up around the state, her camp counting on courting suburban women.

AARON PICKRELL, HILLARY FOR OHIO: I think that there are a lot of people in -- especially in suburban Ohio who may have voted for Mitt Romney last time, they're going to be turned off by the toxic rhetoric of Donald Trump.

They're going to look this way. They're going to take a strong look at the two candidates, and I think they're going to come our way at the end of the day.

SCHNEIDER: Ohio GOP officials say Trump's field offices will start opening next week, insisting Trump's tactic mean they haven't lost any ground.

ROB FROST, CUYAHOGA COUNTY, OHIO, REPUBLICAN CHAIRMAN: I think the Clinton operation, I think they're trying to do a lot to compensate for a weak candidate. What we have got with Donald Trump is a candidate who is taking his message right to the people, through his rallies, through Twitter, through media.

SCHNEIDER: But Trump is in an ongoing feud with the top Republican in the state. Governor John Kasich refused to appear at the Cleveland convention after taking on Trump during the primary season.

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), OHIO: You nominate the wrong Republican candidate who divides the country, we will lose the United States Senate, as well as the White House. They will not win Ohio.

FROST: I know the Trump team isn't happy, and it looks like neither side is happy right now. But while the bridge wasn't crossed, it also wasn't burned.

LINDA UHL, OHIO RESIDENT: I'm not sure about Trump. I'm not sure about Hillary. And I don't know. I don't -- I think I'm going to make my decision that day. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: So, on Ohio, the importance of money also definitely plays out here.