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Obama States Trump Unfit To Serve As President; Trump Goes After Clinton Over Fundraising; Why GOP Still Endorsing Trump; Trump Talks Rigged System. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired August 02, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 10:00 a.m. in Los Angeles, 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 2:00 p.m. in Rio De Janeiro. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

The clock is ticking, now with just under 98 days to go until Election Day. Today, president Obama weighed in on the race, once again, answering questions at a joint news conference with the visiting prime minister of Singapore. He was asked about Donald Trump and controversial comments the Republican presidential candidate made about the family of a fallen U.S. soldier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think the Republican nominee is unfit to serve as president. I said so last week and he keeps on proving it. The notion that he would attack a gold star family that had made such extraordinary sacrifices on behalf of our country, the fact that he doesn't appear to have basic knowledge around critical issues in Europe, in the Middle East, in Asia means that he's woefully unprepared to do this job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: At the same time, not very far away from the White House in northern Virginia, Donald Trump held a campaign event where he was given a gift from a veteran in the crowd.

(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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: We'll talk more about the purple heart in a few moments. But first, Donald Trump also took a direct swipe at his Democratic opponent over her latest fund-raising numbers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: She raised, like, $50 million or $60 million, and 20 people gave it. I think it was -- let's see, 20 people gave her $60 million in her fund. $60 million from 20 people. I'm going to get a list of those 20 people.

Oh, those 20 people, I want to find out who they are. I want to find out how many I know. I want to find out. I want to find out how many I know. But I'll tell you what, 20 people gave her $60 million. And that's what I've been saying, folks. Look, I know the game better than anybody. And the game is played that way. They own her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Joining us now, our National Correspondent Jason Carol who's covering the Trump campaign in Ashburn, Virginia. That's just outside Washington, D.C., and our White House Correspondent Michelle Kosinski over at the White House.

Michelle, President Obama seems to have a lot to say about the Republican nominee and the Republican Party. Listen to this clip as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There has to be a point in which you say, this is not somebody I can support for president of the United States, even if he purports to be a member of my party. And the fact that that has not yet happened makes some of these denunciations ring hollow.

I don't doubt their sincerity. I don't doubt that they were outraged about some of the statements that Mr. Trump and his supporters made about the Khan family. But 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)

BLITZER: He was referring to those Republican leaders, Michelle, like Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, John McCain who were critical of his comments on the Khan family but still have endorsed and support Donald Trump.

[13:05:05] MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right, he's really calling them out. I mean, this is remarkable. This is the president feeling much freer, especially in this setting, a press conference, to be much harsher about Donald Trump than we've heard.

I mean, he was asked a very simple question. Do you feel like his recent comment might make him unfit to serve as president? And President Obama responded, yes. But he didn't want to stop there. He then unleashes this more than five-minute stinging criticism, not just of recent things Donald Trump has said but of his candidacy as a whole. Calling into question his knowledge of domestic and foreign affairs of the Constitution and the rule of law. Calling into question his common sense and basic decency to use the words of President Obama.

And then, he wanted to call out Republican leadership as well as the Republican Party, saying, you know, if -- on a daily or a weekly basis, if you're finding yourself having to denounce certain things that Donald Trump has said, why are you still endorsing him? President Obama said, what does that say about the Republican Party if Donald Trump is your standard bearer? And he said, you know, at some point, it gets to the point where you have to say, enough.

You know, you look back to what President Obama said during the Democratic National Convention a week ago, and that was criticism of Donald Trump. That was remarkable because he was repeatedly using Donald Trump's name.

But in that setting, President Obama seemed really conscious of making this historic speech, of using elegant language and concepts instead of direct, blunt criticism. And now, in this kind of setting, we're seeing the president do just that -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, good point.

You know, Jason, Donald Trump has been under fire for the comments to the parents of the fallen soldier. Explain that purple heart moment that we just saw at the -- at the event that you're covering.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was interesting, Wolf, to say the least. At one point, Donald Trump talked about a man who came up to him outside before coming inside the venue and wanted him hold his purple heart. And you heard Donald Trump, you know, at first asked if it was real. Then saying, I always wanted one of these. This way of getting it was much easier. I'm paraphrasing there.

But, again, I think some people will let those comments -- you know, they'll judge for themselves, in terms of how those comments are perceived by certain people. Certainly here in the room, it was perceived well. Outside the room, I think it's going to be perceived in a much -- in a much different way.

And this, once again, speaks to what so many people within the GOP are concerned about. It's Donald Trump's tone. He, obviously, was trying to pay the man a compliment.

But, in some ways, I think most people are going to say he lost the moment, in terms of how he turned what should have been a very emotional moment, a poignant moment, and turned that by using that particular phrase, in terms of, you know, I always wanted a purple heart, but this way of getting it is much, much easier.

Once again, this points to critics who say they want Donald Trump to stick to Hillary Clinton's record. They want him to stay focused on her. He did some of that here at the rally today, talking about how she's weak on the economy, weak on trade, weak on terrorism. I think he lost some of those critics though when he mentioned that moment about the purple heart recipient -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Jason Carroll, thank you. Michelle Kosinski at the White House, thanks to you as well.

Let talk a little bit more about what we just heard from the president and from Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump. Here with us, our Senior Political Reporter Nia-Malika Henderson. Ed O'Keefe is the political reporter for "The Washington Post." Jackie Kucinich is our CNN Political Analyst, the Washington bureau chief of "The Daily Beast."

Let me get -- Ed, let me get your opinion of what we just heard from the -- he was very, very blunt in saying Donald Trump is unfit to be president, woefully unprepared to deal with domestic and national security.

ED O'KEEFE, POLITICAL REPORTER, "THE WASHINGTON POST": I think it's no surprise he finds him unqualified and is no fan of Trump, given their years of history. What I found notable is that he's now using the full trappings of the presidency to make this point, a foreign leader at his side at a White House podium, not in a convention hall, not at a campaign event. But there, being president, essentially, in a big way.

And I think what's interesting, too, is he may have in essence boxed in Republicans because, at this point it's if you break with Trump some may accuse you of taking cues from the Democratic president. But if you don't, of course, it could continue to cause damage for the party.

And I don't think most Republicans are going to find any reason to break with Trump to say that they're not voting for him or supporting him until there's evidence that it's affecting gubernatorial races, House races, Senate races in any big way. And so far, there's no evidence of that, necessarily.

BLITZER: And the president also said, these Republicans whoever -- in a week or two find themselves criticizing various statements that Donald Trump's made, they have to come to grips. And he says, they have to reconsider their support for this Republican nominee.

[13:10:02] NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, and he said their denunciations of Donald Trump every time he says something off color or controversial, they essentially ring hollow. And he also hinted that this is damaging to the Republican Party's brand.

And it was, in some ways, different, I think, than what he said in his speech. Because he essentially said in his DNC speech that Trump didn't really represent the real Republican Party. And, at this point, he's saying, listen, Republicans, you're tying yourself too closely to this president. I think Ed is right. I think it's doubtful that most Republicans, certainly those on the ballot, are -- in red states, are going to come out and denounce Trump and break with him and un-endorse him. I think what the president and what Democrats are hoping is that Republican voters, Republican independent leaning voters will either stay home or vote for Hillary Clinton. And we've seen some of that.

People like Sally Bradshaw who was a Bush strategist came out and said she'll likely either not vote at all or vote for Hillary Clinton if it's close in her state of Florida. So, I think that's what they're trying to stir up, Democrats.

BLITZER: And, Jackie, only a little while ago, at his rally outside of Washington in Virginia, Donald Trump made the case for himself. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Listen, even if people don't like me, they have to vote for me. They have no choice. Even if you don't -- and you do like me, I hope. But, I said, even if you can't stand Donald Trump, you think Donald Trump is the worst, you're going to vote for me. You know why? Justices of the Supreme Court.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The next president will nominate one or two, maybe three Supreme Court justices. That's his argument.

JACKIE KUCINICH, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "THE DAILY BEAST": Yes, I'm assuming by you, he meant Republicans which is what's happening right now, particularly with leadership. Because people like Mitch McConnell, they're going to keep using that.

We heard Mike Pence using that yesterday, say -- and over the last couple of days, saying that Roe V. Wade could be repealed if Donald Trump is president. They are going to keep hammering that because that is really the best argument they have right now, is particularly when you have Donald Trump going after, sort of, sacred people like gold star families. It's the one thing they can keep falling back on, saying, you know, think about the future. Think about who Hillary Clinton would appoint versus Donald Trump.

BLITZER: What did you think about the point he was making about Hillary Clinton's fund raising? Because she had an impressive fund raising month.

O'KEEFE: Yes, 63 million raised in July which is her largest yet. The campaign said it raised 8 million, essentially, in the 24 hours after she spoke last Thursday night. That's a huge haul. That did not come from 20 people, as Trump was alleging in that speech there, saying that there were only 20 big donors who had given her all that money. It signals that she's still able to raise it. That there's some grass roots support perhaps coming her way now that she is officially the nominee. And we believe that Trump -- well, Trump said yesterday, he's got 35.8 million raised in July which is far behind. And remember, he's starting at a huge disadvantage. So, he can make this argument but the bottom line is Clinton has more money. He appears to be struggling to raise it, although that isn't necessarily his final tally for the month.

BLITZER: What was also extraordinary at this news conference, pretty unusual, was that the fact that the president of the United States said that the Democratic nominee, the vice -- the Democratic vice presidential nominee, of course Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, they're all wrong when it comes to the Trans-Pacific partnership.

He says once the dust settles after the election in November, he's going to roll up his sleeves, work with Democrats and Republicans to get that TPP passed during the lame duck session.

HENDERSON: Yes, and we'll see how Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren feel about that, and the Republicans as well, in the lame duck session. This has been a real fight. I mean, Bernie Sanders tried to get the Democratic platform to reflect where a lot of the Democratic Party is, meaning that they're against the TPP.

But it's very hard for the party to go against this president on TPP. He sees it as part of his legacy. He looks at -- he argued this would lower tariffs and, sort of, expand exports from America and this is part of his Asia pivot.

But listen, we'll see if this happens. He says he's the president now. It doesn't matter where Clinton and Sanders are on this.

BLITZER: And you can only imagine how Donald Trump's going to respond to that.

O'KEEFE: Yes, and I would just say, you know, we talked to some Democrats last week at the convention and this shouldn't come up, necessarily, the rest of this calendar year. Because, at this point, you have two nominees who don't like it. One of them is going to be president. Leave it to that person to renegotiate this deal.

The whole reason he was having this press conference was with the leader of Singapore to try to build last minute support for this. It doesn't really seem to be there in either party, at this point. It probably isn't going to come up with any success in the lame duck.

BLITZER: You remember -- but he basically said, remember, I'm still president --

HENDERSON: Yes.

BLITZER: -- of the United States and speaking to --

O'KEEFE: Two more months.

BLITZER: -- the others, you're not president. I'm still president.

Everyone, stay with us. We're going to have much more coming up.

It's probably safe to say Donald Trump's very bad week just got a little worse. We're going to tell you why. Plus, why Trump says the system is working against him. Stay with us.

[13:14:56]

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[13:18:43] BLITZER: Just 98 days and counting until the presidential election and Donald Trump is doubling down on his claim that the system is rigged. At a campaign rally last hour, Trump also took direct aim at the electoral process and at Hillary Clinton over the e- mail controversy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We've got to beat a dishonest machine. A totally dishonest machine. You know, as an example, how Hillary got away with what she got away with recently. How do you get away with it? Everybody thought, oh, wow, she's guilty. However, no, what she got away with was a disgrace, honestly. A disgrace to our country what she got away with. And who would think that that could have happened?

And then, on top of it, she lies on Sunday say, oh, I was just actually fine. I did everything fine. And that was not said. you know, it was said very embarrassingly. Nobody could believe that happened. That whole thing was incredible.

But we have to learn from it. It's a crooked system. It's a rigged system. We're running against a rigged system, and we're running against a very dishonest media.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, let's bring back our panel. Our senior political reporter, Nia-Malika Henderson, Ed O'Keefe, the political reporter for "The Washington Post," and Jackie Kucinich, our CNN political analyst and Washington bureau chief of "The Daily Beast."

When he says the system is rigged, what does he mean that the system is rigged?

[13:20:05] NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: You know, I think he finds himself at a very difficult moment now, right? He's had a real rough week with the gold star family, with the Khan family. He's doing terribly in the polls. And I think it's part of his frustration. So this idea that everything is going against him, not only the media, the debates, are probably rigged, too. And the entire system is rigged. I mean this has been part of his identity, this idea that he's sort of the little guy going against the big -- the man and the big machine. So I think it's just that.

And I think cynics might say he's sort of setting himself up to have a story if he loses the campaign in November. He can say, well, listen, this whole thing was rigged. Republicans didn't like me and everyone had their thumb on the scale for Hillary Clinton anyway (ph).

BLITZER: When you hear him say the system is rigged, what do you hear?

ED O'KEEFE, POLITICAL REPORTER, "THE WASHINGTON POST": He's setting the table for a loss potentially. I mean he did this in March ahead of the convention. Remember, he claimed there was going to be chaos in Cleveland. Well, there wasn't really chaos. I mean there was a little bit of chaos, but it wasn't --

HENDERSON: Yes.

O'KEEFE: But, you know, he got nominated and he won.

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Minimal, yes. Yes.

O'KEEFE: Yes. And it wasn't anything nearly as bad as it could have been. He's already said now that, you know, the election in November may be rigged.

Look, the media is not ignoring what Clinton -- what Mrs. Clinton said on Sunday. She said this to Chris Wallace.

BLITZER: Right.

O'KEEFE: She was -- as our "Washington Post" fact checker said in giving her four Pinocchios, she was selectively editing what the FBI director has said about her use of a private e-mail server. We've been covering this. We continue to cover it. The probable is, she wasn't the one insulting a gold star family on the Sunday shows, he was. That's why all the attention is focused on him.

BLITZER: I want to play another clip right now. This is the president suggesting that Donald Trump is unfit to be president of the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, there have been Republican presidents with whom I disagreed with, but I didn't have a doubt that they could function as president. I think I was right and Mitt Romney and John McCain were wrong on certain policy issues, but I never thought that they couldn't do the job. And had they won, I would have been disappointed, but I would have said to all Americans, they are -- this is our president, and I know they're going to abide by certain norms and rules and common sense, will observe basic decency, will have enough knowledge about economic policy and foreign policy and our constitutional traditions and rule of law that our government will work. And then we'll compete four years from now to try to win an election.

But that's not the situation here. And that's not just my opinion. That is the opinion of many prominent Republicans. There has to come a point at which you say enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: The point he's trying to make is that John McCain, Mitt Romney, they were fit to be president of the United States, even though he disagreed on lots of policy issues with them. They were prepared to be president of the United States. He says Donald Trump is woefully unprepared

KUCINICH: I mean this is aimed at maybe some independents who might be teetering, maybe some more liberal minded Republicans who don't know if they can vote for Donald Trump. So by the president saying "unfit," and as Ed said, using the entire weight of the office there, you know, surrounded by all the trappings of being president, really has some recess that he doesn't have when he's out on the campaign stump with his, you know, sleeves rolled up stumping for Hillary Clinton. So, I mean, yes, these are very, very strong words from the president. I don't know that he's gone that far before.

HENDERSON: And we haven't seen this, a sitting president, that a candidate in the same office really wants to have out there. Remember, Gore didn't really want Bill Clinton out there in 2000. Romney and McCain didn't want Bush out there either for them. So this is something different. And I think this is a preview of what we're going to see over these next 98 days.

BLITZER: In our new poll, our CNN/ORC poll, we asked Bernie Sanders supports which direction they're likely to move now that he's out of the race. Seventy percent said they would be supporting Hillary Clinton. Only 3 percent said they would support Donald Trump. You see the numbers up there. Jill Stein of the Green Party, 13 percent. Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party, 10 percent.

Ed, those numbers surprise you?

O'KEEFE: No. I mean we saw some evidence of Sanders voters who have said they might consider Trump in the streets of Philadelphia last week, but it was minimal. It was not wide spread. In fact, we saw more supporters for Jill Stein end up in the convention hall itself than we found for anyone else besides Clinton. And in talking to a lot of vanquished Sanders supporters, they said, look, we realize despite losing that she's a far better president than Trump could ever be.

BLITZER: So when Trump says he thinks he's going to get those Bernie Sanders supporters, 3 percent in that poll right there.

O'KEEFE: Not necessary a lot of them.

[13:25:01] BLITZER: There was a moment at this Donald Trump rally that just occurred outside of Washington in northern Virginia. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The biggest in the world, the Chinese bank. Don't worry about that baby. I love babies. So -- I love babies. I hear that baby crying. I like it! I like it! What a baby. What a beautiful baby. Don't worry. Don't worry. The mom's running around like -- don't worry about it, you know. It's young and beautiful and healthy and that's what we want. OK, they have ripped us to shreds. Ripped us absolutely to shreds.

Actually, I was only kidding, you can get the baby out of here. That's all right. Don't worry. I think she really believed me that I love having a baby crying while I'm speaking. That's OK. People don't understand, but that's OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: That was a -- as I said, Jackie, that was a moment.

KUCINICH: It certainly was. But, you know, women watching that, and we have a reporter, Betsy Woodruff (ph) who is there, who said women in the hall aren't reacting very well to that. So you see that. That -- that's humiliating for that woman whose child is crying to be called out from the stump like that. That's not presidential.

BLITZER: You've got a little baby, Ed.

O'KEEFE: I do. I just -- I feel for the Trump grandchildren at Thanksgiving should they start crying at the meal.

HENDERSON: Yes. No words --

O'KEEFE: Clearly he's got issues with (INAUDIBLE) babies.

HENDERSON: Yes, I don't know if the baby ended up getting escorted out. I don't know. Did the baby -- did -- I don't know.

BLITZER: It was a moment.

HENDERSON: Yes. Yes.

BLITZER: It was a moment. Let's leave it alone.

All right, guys, thank you very much.

Coming up, the race between Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton, neck and neck in the key battleground state of Ohio. Why is that state emerging now as make or break for each of these candidates? And what are their teams doing to try to win over voters in Ohio? We have a special report.

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