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GOP Security Experts Sign Letter Opposing Trump; Senator Collins States She Will Not Vote For Donald Trump; Trump's Economic Speech Receives Mixed Reviews; Trump Fires Back At GOP Foreign Policy Critics. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired August 09, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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

[12:59:33] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's noon in Janesville, Wisconsin, 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 8:00 p.m. in Moscow. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

Up first, Donald Trump facing more oppositions from fellow Republicans. We'll have much more on that coming up. Both presidential candidates will be on the campaign trail next hour. Trump and Hillary Clinton holding dueling events in key battleground states. Trump will rally supporters and willing in Wilmington, Delaware, while Clinton tour as a health care unit in Florida. She'll be in Miami later tonight to highlight the battle against the Zika virus.

But let's begin with a new rift opening up inside the Republican Party. Maine Senator Susan Collins, the most senior ranking Republican woman in the Senate is now saying she cannot support her party's candidate.

Writing in "The Washington Post," Collins says, and I'm quoting her now, "The unpleasant reality that I have had to accept is that there will be no new Donald Trump. Just the same candidate who will slash and burn and trample anything and anyone he perceives as being in his way or an easy scapegoat."

CNN's Special Correspondent Jamie Gangel spoke exclusively with the senator just a little time -- while ago. Here's part of that conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. SUSAN COLLINS (R), MAINE: He simply does not have the restraint and the consideration and the judgment and the knowledge to handle those dangerous events with which presidents are inevitably confronted.

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Let me just ask you, in the last couple of days, there has been a line of Republicans, both elected officials, unelected officials. Most recently, these 50 Republicans who come from the national security world. People like Michael Chertoff who is director of Homeland Security, John Negroponte who is director of intelligence. Did that -- I know you talk about the Khan family and these other incidents. But did that group -- because you serve on the Senate Intelligence Committee, you were on Homeland Security. Did those 50 Republicans also have an impact on your decision?

COLLINS: I certainly respect and worked closely with many of the 50 intelligence, defense and homeland security officials who signed that letter. But my decision was my own. It certainly was informed by the many years that I served as chairman of the Senate Homeland Security, as well as the regular briefings that I receive now as a member of the Intelligence Committee. But the conclusion that I drew was based more on my own experience than listening to those experts much as I respect them.

GANGEL: So, the $64,000 question that you didn't answer in the op-ed is, who are you going to vote for?

COLLINS: I truly don't know. I have a lot of concerns about Hillary Clinton, and I am not going to support her. If the libertarian ticket were reversed with Governor Bill Weld, a former governor of Massachusetts, leading that ticket, then I would vote for libertarian ticket. Because I know Bill Weld well and I respect him a great deal.

I do not know Gary Johnson. I'm concerned about some of his views on drug use and I will have to take a hard look at that. I may well end up writing in a name for president.

GANGEL: So, a couple of weeks --

COLLINS: Something I've never done before.

GANGEL: I was going to ask you, have you ever not voted for the Republican candidate for president?

COLLINS: I have always supported my party's nominee. That's what made this decision so difficult. But in the end, I just cannot support Donald Trump. I do not believe that he is the president that we need at this time in our country's history.

And I believe that, in many ways, he is antithetical to the values of the Republican Party. The Republican Party believes in the dignity and worth of the individual. Based on what I've seen Donald Trump say over and over and over again, that is not his style.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And Jamie is joining us right now. Jamie, Susan Collins, as you know, very close to Senator John McCain. Do you think what she's now saying, what she's writing will have any influence on him?

GANGEL: So, we asked her about that, whether he might un-endorse Trump. This is what he would say. She said he has to make his own decision. That said, she did say they are very good friends, that Senator McCain was as offended by the things that Donald Trump has been saying as she is.

I think she's hoping, Wolf, that whether it's John McCain or some of the other elected officials, that maybe she's going to create a space, some room for other people to come forward now and increase this line of Republicans who just won't vote for him. [13:05:08] BLITZER: We'll see if that happens. Jamie, thank you very

much.

Senator Collins isn't the only Republican with reservations, very serious reservations about Donald Trump. Let's discuss this and more. I'm joined by "Washington Post" David Nakamura, and associate editor and columnist for "Real Clear Politics" A.B. Stoddard. Guys, thanks very much for joining us.

Not a huge surprise that Susan Collins has come out and said she cannot go along and support Donald Trump but her words are very tough.

A.B. STODDARD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR AND COLUMNIST, REAL CLEAR POLITICS: You know, it's so interesting about how difficult she said this process was for her because she's been a loyal Republican forever. Loyal Republicans everywhere in Washington are miserable about this choice. The ones who have endorsed Donald Trump but then have to keep saying certain things are offensive and putting distance between themselves, feel that they're in a bad corner.

People like Susan Collins feel that it's very hard not to support the Republican nominee. People like John McCain obviously are having a tough time, running in re-election where in a state where there might be Trump supporter that he doesn't want to turn off. So, it's really an across the board struggle throughout the party no matter what positions people are taking.

BLITZER: You weren't totally surprised by this but she reflects a growing, seemingly growing attitude among other Republican senators and members of the House.

DAVID NAKAMURA, REPORTER, "WASHINGTON POST": Absolutely and also national security advisers from previous Bush administration, other Republican administrations, really calling into account Trump's, you know, sort of fitness for office and his temperament.

And this is a time of the summer when you think that they're coming out of a convention. You're supposed to be uniting the party. We've talked a lot about Republican -- you know, try to get party unity going into the fall. But that's exactly the opposite of what we're seeing.

And if more senior Republicans peel off in the next few weeks, it's going to continue to be something that Trump's got to contend with, even as he tries to deliver this broader message that we saw him sort of try to get into yesterday in his economic speech.

BLITZER: We saw some strategy emerging from Trump the other day when, finally, after a lot of reluctancy, endorsed the House speaker, Paul Ryan, who's up for re-election today in his primary in Wisconsin. Even John McCain and Kelly Ayotte, two U.S. Republican senators with whom he has not necessarily had a very good relationship.

STODDARD: Right. Well, he had threatened not to endorse them and said he just wasn't going to come around just yet to them and actually said, I mean, really difficult things. He said that John McCain had done nothing for the vets. He said that Kelly Ayotte has given him zero support, basically saying it was sort of a personal thing.

I think the party made it clear to Donald Trump that his epic meltdown of last week had to stop. And it had to start with coming around to rallying behind Republicans and that's why you saw him endorse on Friday night, reading directly from notes. It was hardly passionate.

But I think if he can stick with the party and mend some other problems, he might -- he has time to reverse this damage. He just has to stick to and it's not something he's shown in the past that he embraces discipline and staying on message.

BLITZER: Because 24 hours ago, he gave a very disciplined, carefully written speech on the economic issues of the day. Nearly, for one hour, he stuck to that teleprompter. He was not -- even when there were protesters, he didn't really go after them. He was very patient, very quiet in the face of the protests.

He's going to be speaking momentarily. He's going to be having his own event. I don't think this one is going to be with a teleprompter. Are we going to see the traditional, the old Donald Trump reemerging or will he continue to be a bit more disciplined?

NAKAMURA: Well, I think the house money would be on sort of reverting back to the -- what we've seen over the past few months. We saw even Twitter today, he took on some of the Republican establishment. Look, that's work for him, countering that he's the outside candidate who's not going listen to Washington. He's going to change the way Washington works or does not work.

But, you know, if you going into a state like North Carolina, it's really in play this year. It's somewhere -- that's something where our President Obama, even though he lost in 2012, and the Clinton campaign sees a real opening with minority voters.

Women, with a senator like Susan Collins leading a Republican woman voice. I mean, this is somebody that Trump you think would like to have on his side. And for her to break off like this going into a speech like this today in a key swing state can't really be doing him any favors.

BLITZER: The reaction to his economic speech yesterday from traditional Republicans, conservatives, basically rather positive, right?

STODDARD: I think he did the right thing. He talked about policy and he stayed on the teleprompter and that's what they wanted. But he wasn't really speaking to any undecided voters yesterday. He was trying to calm down Republicans. That's what he has to do.

I think undecided voters are actually just debating his temperament, at this point. If they're not already with him and they're not with Hillary, they probably want an outsider. But she's making the frame of this discussion all about his fitness for office. And he has to work against that after the week he had last week.

BLITZER: Do you agree? NAKAMURA: Absolutely. You know, sort of, and that dovetails with

what the national security advisors, the previous presidents, they are saying about Trump and even what the Democratic Party is saying about Trump. He's not fit for office. His temperament is -- you know, it can be provoked by a tweet.

As Secretary Clinton says, you know what would that mean when he's in office having to make key decisions? And I think the public is sort of looking at that as a -- as a key motivating factor of how they decide who they might support.

[13:10:04] But certainly that's going to be -- continue to be a line of attack by Democrats. And when other Republicans are joining that cause, it really is a problem for the candidate.

BLITZER: And we'll look forward to his speech that's coming up pretty soon and we'll see what he has to say and how he says it today.

Guys, thank you very much.

Coming up, 50 GOP foreign policy national security experts issue a scathing critique of Donald Trump, saying he would be a dangerous president. We're going to have more on what they said and we're going to hear how Trump is reacting.

Also, later, battleground Florida, an in-depth look at what it will take to win one of the 2016 biggest swing states.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. Donald Trump is fighting back against new criticism from within his own party. Fifty Republican foreign policy and national security experts put out a statement saying Trump is, quote, "reckless and not qualified to be president and commander in chief." They said, and once again I'm quoting, "Indeed, we are convinced that he would be a dangerous president and would put at risk our country's national security and well-being. Most fundamentally, Mr. Trump lacks the character, values and experience to be president."

In an interview this morning on Fox Business, Trump blamed the 50 experts for the current state of world affairs. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[13:15:07] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (via telephone): Look where the country is now on national policy. Look where we are on defense. Look where we are -- look at -- look at the mess we're in, whether it's the Middle East or anyone else. And these were the people that had been there a long time, Washington establishment people that have been there for a long time. Look at the terrible job they've done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The advisers who signed that letter against Donald Trump, they worked in several Republican administrations from Richard Nixon to George W. Bush. Eric Edelman is one of them. He's a former undersecretary of defense and policy -- for policy, and a former national security adviser to the vice president at the time, Dick Cheney.

Eric, thanks very much for coming in.

ERIC EDELMAN, FMR. DEPUTY ASST. TO THE V.P. FOR NATIONAL SECURITY: Great to be with you.

BLITZER: How did this letter come about?

EDELMAN: Well, i was contacted by John Belinger (ph), who was a former legal adviser in the State Department and a long time government colleague who asked me whether I'd be willing to sign it. I'd signed the earlier anti-Trump letters and that's -- that's how it came about.

BLITZER: Was there any involvement from the Clinton campaign?

EDELMAN: I'm not aware of any.

BLITZER: When you say you're not aware, is it possible that some people from the Clinton campaign helped organize or orchestrate this letter?

EDELMAN: I'm not aware that this took place. I was only in contact with John Belinger and other Republican colleagues.

BLITZER: What's your biggest concern about Donald Trump as president?

EDELMAN: I think he fundamentally lacks the knowledge, the character and temperament to be president of the United States. I think he's shown that repeatedly during the debates, during the campaign. His lack of understanding of the nuclear triad, his apparent lack of understanding of the fundamental basis of nuclear deterrents, his calling in to question our extended deterrent guarantees to allies, all of that suggests to me that he's just not fit to be president.

BLITZER: You saw what Donald Trump said on Fox earlier today. He also put out a statement, his campaign, yesterday, really going after you guys and says, among other things, it says, "the names on this letter are the ones the American people should look to for answers on why the world is a mess. These insiders, along with Hillary Clinton, are the owners of the disastrous decisions to invade Iraq, allow American to die in Benghazi. They are the ones who allowed the rise of ISIS."

Now, I know you had nothing to do -- you weren't in the government during Benghazi --

EDELMAN: Right.

BLITZER: Or the rise of ISIS.

EDELMAN: Right.

BLITZER: But you were in the government leading up to the Iraq War in 2003. EDELMAN: Right.

BLITZER: You were a top national security adviser to the then Vice President Dick Cheney.

EDELMAN: Correct.

BLITZER: And the intelligence was bad. So does he have a point when he blames you for the disastrous war in Iraq?

EDELMAN: Well, it's a war that as has been demonstrated by your colleagues and the (INAUDIBLE) he supported at the outset, I think one can raise legitimate questions about how the war was conducted. But I think the world is better off without Saddam Hussein. I think we had stabilized Iraq by the end of the Bush administration. And I think what he's really doing in his answer is what he always does, which is, just to attack and -- critics without any substance to the criticism. There was no discussion of the role of U.S. alliances, no discussion of our nuclear arsenal and its modernization. There's no discussion of any of the serious national security issues, Russia, China, that face the country. It's just an assault on character of his critics.

BLITZER: Well, so, when he says the war was a blunder, it was a mistake, he had done that interview with Howard Stern before the war in which he seemed to support going to war.

EDELMAN: Right.

BLITZER: But subsequently he says it was a disaster and he blames people like you for that. As a result, he's telling his supporters, don't listen to these 50 advisers, look at the mess they created.

EDELMAN: Look, I mean, we -- we could relitigate the war in Iraq. I don't think there's any point in it. I think what's really at issue here is the questions that face the country now, a resurgent Russia, a challenge to the security of Asia from China, the emergence potentially of a nuclear Iran. The continued provocative actions by North Korea. Those are the issues the country faces today and not to mention the situation in Syria and the Middle East. And that's what we ought to be talking about in this campaign rather than relitigating the past.

BLITZER: Because he also makes the point that of the 50 individuals, the Republican national security foreign policy adviser, he said, you know, they all wanted to come on my team, they all wanted to advise me. I wasn't interested in them and this is their opportunity at payback.

EDELMAN: I've had no contact with the Trump campaign and expressed no interest in advising him at any point during the campaign.

BLITZER: You have no interest down the road?

EDELMAN: I do not.

BLITZER: I'm sure he has no interest in asking you for -- EDELMAN: I'm sure it's mutual.

BLITZER: So who are you going to vote for?

EDELMAN: You know, I haven't decided that yet, Wolf. I mean there are a lot of different, potential avenues for those of us who said we will not vote for Mr. Trump. I'm not prepared at this point to say that I would vote for Secretary Clinton. I have a lot of reservations, as do many of us, who signed that letter. Reservations about the ethics of a Clinton Foundation with her in the White House, questions about -- about the e-mails, lots of questions. I might vote for the Libertarian candidate. I might stay home. I might vote for -- I might write in Evan McMullin. I haven't really decided yet.

[13:20:05] BLITZER: So the only thing you have decided is that you definitely will not vote for Donald Trump?

EDELMAN: I will definitely not vote for Donald Trump.

BLITZER: Eric Edelman, thanks very much for joining us.

EDELMAN: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, let's get a different perspective. Donald Trump dismissing these 50 foreign policy critics as the failed Washington elite. He paints them as irrelevant has-beens out to advance their own careers. Here's more of what Trump said in that Fox Business interview this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE (voice-over): I hadn't planned on using any of these people. I guess, for the most part, I haven't even spoken to any of these people because I like to speak to a new group. The old group was not doing it.

Take a look at the Middle East. Take a look at the problems that we have. And the last people I want to use are the people that have been doing it for the last long period of time. So we -- and, you know, they don't feel relevant because of that.

MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX ANCHOR: Yes.

TRUMP: And they form a group and they go out and they try and get some publicity for themselves. And they hope that somebody else other than Trump wins because that way they can get a job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Kiron Skinner is a Republican Party strategist, a foreign policy expert.

Kiron, thanks very much for joining us.

KIRON SKINNER, REPUBLICAN PARTY STRATEGIST: Thanks for having me.

BLITZER: So you're someone the Trump campaign suggested we talk to about all of this. I assume you're a Trump supporter, is that right?

SKINNER: I'm evolving to a Trump supporter. I'm trying to really find a way to craft a foreign policy that is forward looking. A number of the statements and speeches that Mr. Trump has given and I believe that we're evolving in that direction.

And I disagree with my good colleague, Eric Edelman, that we shouldn't relitigate the Iraq War. I do think in the context of a presidential campaign, past is prologue for the future. And we really need to understand what went wrong and the lessons learned. I do think the world is better off with Saddam Hussein, I agree with him there, but I think that there were a number of path-dependent mistakes that we don't want to make again. And I disagree that there's no substance to what Mr. Trump is saying. In fact, he's talked about, we can't be nation builders in the Middle East. That we need to help create stability. These are things that many on that list of 50 agree with.

He's talked about having a more aggressive policy toward China in the South China Sea. This is something that many on the list of 50 agree with. In fact, many Republicans and Democrats agree with as well.

I think the pity (ph) of the whole Trump campaign in terms of what the media and others have done is that they haven't really looked at the substance of what he said. I do understand the blistery rhetoric stops many people cold. But, in fact, he is articulating a set of ideas that are not just extreme.

BLITZER: All right --

SKINNER: Many of them are in the center of the conversation. And I'd like to get back to that discussion because I think it's so vital now if we're going to revise American foreign policy.

BLITZER: One of the criticisms in that letter by these 50 Republican national security advisers was this, and let me put it up on the screen, Kiron, for you and for our viewers. "Unlike previous presidents who have 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." Now, Kiron, you're a professional of international relations. You constantly want to educate yourself. What are you -- what's your response to those national security advisers who served under Republican presidents that he doesn't have an adequate grasp of the international/national security issues?

SKINNER: What really bothers me about that conversation, not just from our 50 colleagues who've signed the letter, but for many others who are making similar statements, I just wonder if it's possible to run for and become president of the United States and not be part of the foreign policy or economic policy elite and establishment in the U.S. And I believe that Trump's campaign is as much about breaking down the control of existing elites and, in effect, selecting themselves whom the American public will choose from. So I think there's -- part of that's going on.

But also I do think that the fact that he has a deeper grasp through what he has said in his big April foreign policy speech for some reason just keeps being ignored. He talked about, you know, a much more detailed Muslim policy. He said -- and Middle East policy broadly. He talked about a summit with our Muslim allies. He talked about not abandoning NATO. So, at first he was talking in those terms, but he's talking about shared European security. And if we're going to have the NATO pledge mean something, where countries who have committed to this idea, war against one is war against all, then all should do more. These are not extremist views. And I'd like to see us be able to unpack his ideas and see where, in fact, he's offering some innovations. That hasn't started yet and I hope, Wolf, on your program, you will encourage that conversation.

[13:25:10] BLITZER: All right, so just to be precise now, Kiron, you're evolving towards supporting Donald Trump, but you're not there yet. Is that right?

SKINNER: No, I would -- you know, I use that term, but I think in terms of foreign policy and what I understand that he's attempting to do, I will support him and I want to see an evolution on issues of race and rights and discussion by the candidate. I think that will broaden his base of support. Reagan, in fact, began to do that in the 1980 campaign. And, Wolf, you know I've done a lot of work on Reagan. If, in fact, Mr. Trump can articulate more clearly his issues -- his views on this broad range of issues, from race and rights in America, to what it means to have America first security and America first economy, knit all of those together, I will be in a very strong supporter of this candidate because I think we need a broader conversation and he is the one who, in fact, won the Republican primaries. I don't think we can dismiss that very fact. It would be a mistake.

BLITZER: All right, Kiron Skinner, thanks very much for joining us.

SKINNER: Thank you.

BLITZER: Florida is the biggest prize of the so-called battleground states. Still to come, we're going to hear why the Republicans and the Democrats are using very different tactics right how to go after the state's millions of independent voters.

And take a look at this. You're looking at live pictures of a Trump rally that's about to get underway in Wilmington, North Carolina. He's set to take the stage very shortly. Another large crowd getting ready to hear from Donald Trump.

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