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Donald Trump Faces New GOP Resistance; Wisconsin Polls Open for Ryan Re-Election Bid; Interview with Former Ambassador James Jeffrey; Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired August 09, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[10:00:07] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, Donald Trump tries to reboot.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want to jumpstart America. It won't even be that hard.

COSTELLO: While more Republicans revolt. But if they're not with him --

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Don't let a friend vote Trump.

COSTELLO: Will they be with her?

Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Donald Trump tries to get his campaign back on course and back on message.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: This is what I want to do for our country. I want to jumpstart America, and it can be done, and it won't even be that hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: But even as the billionaire businessman pivots to the economy, he faces another avalanche of defections. Dozens of fellow Republicans including a U.S. senator and national security experts say he is potentially too dangerous to earn their vote, and the top Republican in Congress hoping to beat back today's challenge that was largely fueled by his lukewarm relationship with Donald Trump, House Speaker Paul Ryan locked in a primary contest reflecting the party's growing divide.

But let's begin with Jason Carroll and a closer look at Trump's latest revolt. Good morning. JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you.

You know, Carol, this is not the message that the Trump campaign wanted to be talking about today.

Let's start with Maine Senator Susan Collins. She's the one who penned that op-ed basically coming out and saying she cannot support Donald Trump going forward, saying that she's dismayed by his constant stream of cruel comments and what she calls his inability to admit when he's wrong or apologize.

This coming on the heels of that open letter signed by 50 GOP national security experts. These people, some of them on this list include people like Tom Ridge, former secretary of state, saying that Donald Trump lacks the self-control, lacks the character, the values and experience to be president.

Here is a quote from that letter sayings, "We are convince that in the Oval Office he would be the most reckless president in American history."

Trump, as you know, Carol, has come out with his own response basically saying that this letter is politically motivated, that these people are politically motivated. He said, quote, "These insiders along with Hillary Clinton are the owners of the disastrous decisions to invade Iraq, allow Americans to die in Benghazi, and they are the ones who allowed the rise of ISIS."

Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka coming to his defense, giving an interview to the "Detroit Free Press" basically saying that her father does have the right temperament to be president saying, quote, her father's critics are simply scared of a Trump presidency.

COSTELLO: And some of those people who signed the letter, Michael Hayden, the former CIA national security agency director, John Negroponte, former director of the National Intelligence and deputy secretary of state. Eric Ettleman was Vice President Dick Cheney's national security adviser --

CARROLL: I mean, the list goes on and on. And the bottom line is this, I mean, the Trump campaign wanted today's discussion to be about the economy, all of the things that he laid out in that economic speech yesterday in Detroit. But what you're seeing now with Senator Susan Collins, other senators like Senator Mike Kirk from Illinois who as you know decided not to endorse in June. I mean, this is an ongoing problem for the Trump campaign. He says he has a party that's united, but it certainly looks like a party divided.

COSTELLO: And even when he spoke before the Detroit Economic Club, high-profile Republicans didn't show up for that speech.

CARROLL: A number did not show up for that speech. And this is clearly something that they're going to have to deal with. But look, in Trump's defense, he says despite all of that -- what's happening now, despite the dip in the polls, it's early, it's August. Come Labor Day things will change. We'll see.

COSTELLO: Jason Carroll, many thanks.

OK. So while Trump loses ground with GOP experts, Paul Ryan looks to win big in his home state. It is primary day for the Republican House speaker in Wisconsin. Voters right now heading to the polls just days after Trump's delayed endorsement.

CNN's Manu Raju is in Wisconsin with more for us. Hi, Manu.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol. Actually a steady stream of voters are coming into this polling location which is actually not far from Paul Ryan's house. And we'll see if there's actually going to be a high turnout primary, typically -- August are low-turnout primaries. And it's interesting, we hear in Wisconsin, it's not a closed off to Republican voters. So we'll see how those independent and Democratic-leaning voters may end up voting.

But Paul Ryan heavily favored here in today's primary. Paul Nehlen, his opponent, would really have to pull off a monumental upset to win tonight. There's no evidence suggesting that the speaker is at risk.

That flap between him and Donald Trump was viewed by the Ryan campaign as nothing more than a distraction, and not necessarily something that will hurt him politically, largely because this district overwhelmingly voted for Ted Cruz in the April presidential primary. That's probably one reason why Donald Trump turned around and endorsed Paul Ryan, knowing he needs to do well in southern Wisconsin, is where actually Trump's running mate, Mike Pence, will be tomorrow.

[10:05:10] Now Paul Ryan has avoided questions about Donald Trump over the last couple of days. He spoke to voters but was avoiding talking to reporters over the last couple of days. But yesterday in a campaign stop he was asked by a voter specifically about Donald Trump and whether or not the party could still dump Donald Trump and whether or not Paul Ryan could run in his place. He brushed it back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: Our party is different than the Democratic Party. They have what they call superdelegates where party leaders can sway the nomination. Our party doesn't work like that. Our party is a pure grassroots party. So the primary voter votes, and the person who wins the most delegates bound to those primary votes wins the nomination fair and square.

So it's a grassroots decision. And he won the votes fair and square. He won more votes than everybody else, enough delegates to get the nomination. And the convention occurred a couple of weeks ago where he got the nomination, so he is the nominee. And that's how it works in our party. It's grassroots. He got 14 million votes and nobody else got close to that. And so that's just the way the system works.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Not a real resounding endorsement of Donald Trump, but that's really the way this Ryan-Trump relationship has gone. Tonight Ryan will answer questions from reporters after the polls close presuming that he does win which is widely expected here today -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Manu Raju reporting live from Wisconsin this morning. Thank you.

So let's circle back to those Trump defections and talk about that. Jackie Kucinich is a CNN political analyst and Washington bureau chief for "The Daily Beast." Julian Zelizer is a historian and professor of Princeton University. And joining them CNN senior political analyst and senior editor for "The Atlantic" Ron Brownstein.

Welcome to all of you.

JULIAN ZELIZER, HISTORIAN AND PROFESSOR, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY Thank you.

COSTELLO: OK. So, Julian, provide us with some historical perspective, all of these high-powered Republicans coming out against the Republican nominee. Is this unprecedented? There are more than 50, more than 60, right? We couldn't count them all this morning.

ZELIZER: It's pretty remarkable and unprecedented. You have had controversial nominees, Barry Goldwater in 1964, many Republicans didn't like Hubert Humphrey in 1968, many Democrats didn't like. But this outpouring of opposition after the convention going into the general election is quite stunning. And I think it points to an unrest about Trump as a candidates and it points to many Republicans looking at very poor polling numbers including in states like Georgia and Utah and seeing that this could be a disaster for the party.

COSTELLO: But, well, Jackie, you heard what Jason Carroll said. He said Mr. Trump is sure that he could unify his party, the election is still, what, some 90 days away. He has plenty of time. Does he?

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I -- that should be done by now, right? I mean, now it's about the independents, it's not about recruiting other people to vote for him. The Republican Party after the convention and every other case that I could think of has kind of been on lock. But I think what you're seeing now -- you know, behind closed doors, you've had Republicans tell us that, you know, Trump is a different person. He says -- he sounds really reasonable. You don't see rally Trump behind closed doors talking to Republicans.

But there seems to be an awakening with some of these Republicans that, wait, he's not -- he's never going to be the guy behind closed doors out in the open. Perhaps, you know, going forward with foreign leaders if he ends up being president. And there is some very clear worry out there which is why you see this letter coming out yesterday and you also saw this, you know, before even the primaries were over back in March.

So the concern particularly among the intelligence and the national security community is just rising at this point.

COSTELLO: Well, Ron, you heard how Mr. Trump responded to that letter signed by those 50 national security officials. He's a counterpuncher, right? And he responded in kind. He said, quote, "These insiders along with Hillary Clinton are the owners of the disastrous decisions to invade Iraq, allow Americans to die at Benghazi, and they're the ones who allowed the rise of ISIS."

Now some of these national security officials weren't even -- weren't even in office, weren't serving their country, when, you know, that terrible thing happened at the consulate in Benghazi and they weren't present for the rise of ISIS. So why attack them that way?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, look, I think that argument will resonate with certainly a portion of his coalition and a slice of the electorate overall, the idea that Donald Trump is an outsider, that he's facing kind of almost bipartisan opposition from insiders in both parties.

The problem is that piece of the electorate is clearly not a majority. And this letter in particular I think is a missile aimed directly at Donald Trump's biggest vulnerability with the voters that are keeping him between where he is, in the low 40s, and any chance of getting near 50 percent. And that is essentially swing voters and in particular college-educated white voters where he's underperforming, every Republican nominee in recent times and with whom he faces two big challenges.

[10:10:04] One is that, you know, 60 percent of them, the ABC- "Washington Post" poll this week said they consider them racially biased against women and minorities. And the other even bigger problem is that 60 percent of them have consistently said they don't consider him qualified to be president. And when you get this kind of roster as you say that goes back to the Reagan administration, William Howard Taft IV, the deputy secretary of defense in Reagan, you have CIA director, former director of national intelligence, pretty much the entire Condoleezza Rice brain trust, all these of people, in essence, seconding that message that they, too, don't see Trump as qualified, that is a big hurdle with the voters that he needs to get from where he is to where he has to be.

COSTELLO: So, Julian, another poll just came out, a Monmouth poll. It shows Clinton widening her lead to 12 points. Is there a point when a nominee simply runs out of time to erase a double-digit lead?

ZELIZER: There sure is. I think people like to talk about these game-changing moments or turning points such as when Trump makes a speech on economic policy. But the truth is, it becomes harder and harder for a candidate to remake themselves, to fundamentally change the direction of national polls. And if you dig yourself into a hole that's too deep, there's no getting out of it. And I do think there are many Republicans, and this is what you are watching now, who are feeling that Donald Trump might be reaching that point.

So we shouldn't expect a game change. The only issue is some kind of crisis, some kind of economic catastrophe, national security issue that somehow changes the basic dynamics of the campaign. That's really all that can do it.

COSTELLO: So, Jackie, Hillary Clinton still has this problem with likability, her unlikability numbers are still huge. So if Donald Trump doubles down on that, would that matter?

KUCINICH: I mean, neither of them are terribly likable, if you look at the polls. And Hillary seems to actually be making up some of that. But, you know, to Ron's point, if people fundamentally don't think that Donald Trump is qualified to be president and think Hillary Clinton is, that's going to trump whether they want to have a beer with her at the end of the day. And that's what we're seeing right now in the polls.

COSTELLO: All right. I'll have to leave it there.

BROWNSTEIN: Carol?

COSTELLO: Go ahead, Ron, quickly, though.

BROWNSTEIN: To re-enforce Julian's point, even at this low in the polls for Donald Trump, he's basically running even with her on the two biggest issues, the economy and terror. And what that says is this is a personal judgment about his character, temperament, qualifications, viewing him as racially divisive. That is very hard to change. After 14 months, it's hard to imagine that it's going to change enormously in the next, you know, remaining 190 days or so until the election.

So I think it makes it even tougher that it's not issue debate that is putting him in this hole. It is a very personal judgment about his values and qualifications.

COSTELLO: All right. Ron Brownstein, Julian Zelizer, Jackie Kucinich, thanks to all of you.

ZELIZER: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Coming up in the NEWSROOM, I'm going to talk to one of those Republican foreign policy expert who signed that letter slamming Mr. Trump. Has he heard from the Clinton campaign, the Trump campaign? We'll ask him next.

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[10:17:04] COSTELLO: It's another damaging strike on the Trump campaign again from within the party. 50 national security experts, all of them Republicans, signing a letter refusing to vote for their party's nominee. They called Trump dangerous saying, quote, "Unlike previous presidents who had limited experience in foreign affairs, Mr. Trump has shown no interest in educating himself. He continues to display an alarming ignorance of basic facts of contemporary international politics."

These are some of Trump's recent comments that seem to have caught the attention of these national security experts. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing. He's not going into Ukraine, OK, just so you understand. He's not going to go into Ukraine. All right. You can mark it down. You can put it down. You can take it anywhere you want.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABS NEWS: Well, he's already there.

TRUMP: Wouldn't it be great if we actually got along are Russia? Am I wrong in saying that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. I'm joined now by James Jeffrey, whose signature is on that letter. He's a former U.S. ambassador to Iraq and Turkey, and a visiting fellow at the Washington Institute. He was a national security adviser to George W. Bush. He also served under President Obama.

Welcome, sir. How difficult was it for you to sign that letter?

JAMES JEFFREY, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO TURKEY AND IRAQ: It wasn't difficult. When the people approached me, I realized that the letter encapsulated my views and I'm happy to do it.

COSTELLO: You really think Donald Trump is dangerous?

JEFFREY: I think that I stand by those words. I think that this is a different candidate than any I've seen since I first voted in 1968. I believe that as we laid out in the letter, there are characteristics that he has shown repeatedly that indicate that the kind of temperament you need in the White House making life-or-death decisions is simply lacking in this individual.

COSTELLO: Mr. Trump did respond. He responded to you and these other 49 national security officials by counterpunching. Trump said, quote, "These insiders along with Hillary Clinton are the owners of the disastrous decisions to invade Iraq, allow Americans to die at Benghazi and they are the one who allowed the rise of ISIS."

Are you a political insider? Are you responsible for the rise of ISIS?

JEFFREY: I'm not responsible for the rise of ISIS. There are basic decisions that occurred. The point is, I'm not only someone who was in the White House and the State Department when decisions were made, I spent four years in Iraq and Vietnam up close, seeing the results of bad foreign policy decisions. And that's what motivated me to speak out. I don't want to see that again.

COSTELLO: Mr. Trump would say that Hillary Clinton contacted you and you're really -- you're working for her. Did the Clinton -- did Hillary Clinton contact you?

JEFFREY: Absolutely not. I don't even know if they know about this. I'm doing this out of my own volition.

[10:20:03] COSTELLO: Will you vote for Hillary Clinton? JEFFREY: That's a private position of mine. This is not about

Hillary Clinton. This is about Donald Trump. I've never done anything like this before. I think that that probably is the same with the other people who signed it.

COSTELLO: Some Republicans, obviously 14 million of them, voted for Mr. Trump, right? I'm sure there were some independents and Democrats in there, too. But they like something about Mr. Trump. Are they completely wrong about him?

JEFFREY: It's not a question of right or wrong in the part of voters. There's a great deal of frustration and concern in America, particularly about -- among lower middle class and lower income voters. And I think we all understand that. This is a question of one's capabilities based upon our experience doing this to carry out foreign policy and we don't think that he's shown any aptitude for this.

COSTELLO: What in particular bothered you the most that Mr. Trump said?

JEFFREY: It's not any one policy prescription he's given, although many of them are outrageous, from making Mexico pay for the wall to what you just had him saying about Russia. It's the seeming inability to learn from mistakes, to reach out, to get advice and to control his anger. Again, when we did this letter, when people disagree with him.

The first thing you have to do as an American leader in a foreign policy crisis is listen to alternative voices, listen to people, let people disagree with you. If you don't do that, you're going to get into trouble every time.

COSTELLO: I think some Americans think that America isn't as strong as it was, and it wants a strong leader, it wants a strong leader who will stand up to foreign leaders. Is that -- is that always such a good thing?

JEFFREY: It is always a good thing. The question is, how you stand up to them. We have leaders from Harry Truman to Dwight Eisenhower to Ronald Reagan and to Bill Clinton who stood up to foreign aggression, who stood up to leaders who were pushing the perimeters of their empire, and those leaders also did listen to advice. Those leaders did weigh the pros and the cons, they open the door to disagreement. And that's what you need to do.

COSTELLO: So it's not a sign of weakness if you listen to other people and maybe take their advice from time to time?

JEFFREY: It's a sign of strength.

COSTELLO: Ambassador Jeffrey, thank you for joining me this morning.

JEFFREY: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, just a third of Americans think Hillary Clinton is honest and trustworthy. But what about -- but what about those voters who say "I'm with her?"

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:27:16] COSTELLO: Checking top stories at 27 minutes past. Kansas City police say 10-year-old Caleb Schwab died from a neck injury as he was riding on the world's tallest water slide Sunday. They're still trying to determine exactly how it happened. Caleb's pastor says his death has been devastating.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINT SPRAGUE, PASTOR: Caleb was a 10-year-old child, but in many ways he was a man of God. And so he's going to be missed for his energy, for his life, for his smile, for the way he lit up a room.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The slide at Schlitterbahn water park is 17 stories high and drops riders at up to 50 miles per hour. The park is re-scheduled to -- is scheduled to open tomorrow. The water slide will remain closed during the investigation.

Three girls recovering this morning after falling at least 35 feet from a Ferris wheel at a county fair in Tennessee. The basket they were sitting in reportedly overturned. The 911 dispatch just released.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Got Ferris wheel accident. Three fell from a high height from the Ferris wheel. They are assigned one. They've also called for two helicopters. Two might need it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're putting aerial in operation. We're going to need engine one to set up a ladder. We've got I don't know how many people in a car that is sideways on top.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got three kids that have fell from the Ferris wheel. Three kids.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All three girls were rushed to a local hospital. Two are alert and talking. The third is in intensive care. Her condition unknown. Of course, an investigation is underway.

Thousands of people having to leave their homes in southern California. This as the Pilot wildfire spread. It's now burning more than 6,000 acres. First reported on Sunday now over 800 firefighters are trying to put it out. More than 5,000 homes are under voluntary or mandatory evacuation orders.

A new case of Zika detected in Florida. It is the 17th case diagnosed so far. This time the virus appeared in Palm Beach County. Florida health officials are investigating how that person got infected. Governor Rick Scott said in a statement that infected person had recently traveled to Miami-Dade County, the area of the original outbreak.

And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me. In her history making bid for the White House, Hillary Clinton is battling not only Donald Trump but also lingering perception about whether she is honest and trustworthy, and even for voters who support Clinton, there may be some serious concerns.

Here's more now from CNN's Randi Kaye.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A warm greeting for Hillary Clinton as she swings through the swing state of Florida where she's leading her opponent by six points.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is history in the making.

KAYE: History, perhaps, but what about Hillary Clinton's own history?