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Colin Powell: Trump a "National Disgrace"; Polls Tighten as Leaked E-mails Reveal Colin Powell's Thoughts on Candidates; Questions Raised About Trump's Global Deals. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired September 14, 2016 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00] JAMES WOOLSEY, MILITARY & INTELLIGENCE ADVISOR, DONALD TRUMP PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN & FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: -- and to move towards renewable fuels, and I think particularly waste to transportation fuels, and do that in a way that doesn't require China to, in its own eyes, to push, throw its weight around in the south China sea to protect its lines of communications.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: One final question before I let you go. You know Hillary Clinton.

WOOLSEY: Slightly.

BLITZER: Former secretary of state, former U.S. Senator. She's obviously had a lot more international, international foreign affairs experience than Donald Trump. What's the single biggest reason you decided that she should not be the president that Trump should be the president?

WOOLSEY: Her extraordinarily bad maintenance of her duties as head of the State Department. And part of those responsibilities was to ensure security of information for the State Department, and the way in which she has treated this information, the way in which the e- mails and all the rest have turned up internationally, access to them by terrorists, access to them by Russians, Chinese, et cetera, I think it is as bad a performance with respect to security as we've seen from a cabinet member in the United States in decades.

BLITZER: When the CIA -- the FBI Director James Comey said there was no hard evidence the Chinese or Russians hacked into her private e- mail server, why are you saying that they probably did?

WOOLSEY: I think you're going to find -- you to people with experience in this area, you're going to find that it is sufficiently easy, given the way she did it, given the way she set it up with a separate server, et cetera, and it was available to the public, not just to the Russians. It's all sorts of folks could get into it. I think it was extraordinarily irresponsible.

BLITZER: That disqualifies her from your perspective?

WOOLSEY: I don't qualify and disqualify presidential candidates. You asked what was in my mind with respect to her. That one is front and center.

BLITZER: James Woolsey, the former CIA director, thanks very much for coming in.

WOOLSEY: Good to be with you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Coming up, Colin Powell also ripping into Hillary Clinton in those leaked e-mails. We'll talk about that.

Plus, Clinton is set to get back on the campaign trail tomorrow after taking another sick day today. Will it impact her campaign? One of her high-profile supporters, standing by. We'll discuss that and a whole lot more when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:36:46] BLITZER: Leaked e-mails from former secretary of state, General Colin Powell, not only shared his private thoughts about Donald Trump, but also about Hillary Clinton as well. Powell apparently vented his frustration about being called to Hillary's defense on her e-mail practices. In one February e-mail, I'm quoting, "I didn't tell Hillary to have a private server at home."

The Powell criticism comes as polls show the presidential race with Donald Trump dramatically tightening.

To discuss that and much more, I want to bring in the former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, senior adviser to Correct the Record, the only super PAC coordinated with the Clinton campaign.

And it's a super PAC coordinated with the campaign because you don't give money or general ads --

JENNIFER GRANHOLM, SENIOR ADVISOR, CORRECT THE RECORD SUPER PAC & FORMER MICHIGAN GOVERNOR: We don't spend money on advertising, unlike the other super PACs that take out ads in the battleground states.

BLITZER: If you're a super PAC is not supposed to be coordinated --

(CROSSTALK)

GRANHOLM: Some super PACs can. Depends --

BLITZER: Who spend money?

GRANHOLM: Right. We do research and do free media.

BLITZER: You take a look at the hacked e-mails that General Powell, former secretary of state, put out. Some of them not very kind to Hillary Clinton. Obviously, a very blistering attack on Donald Trump.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: But he's saying he wasn't very happy that her folks were trying to pin the blame on him for the e-mail server.

GRANHOLM: I don't think her folks were trying to pin any blame. She has great respect for him.

BLITZER: He was irritated.

GRANHOLM: He was irritated because he said he didn't tell her to have a server at home as opposed to using her private e-mail rather than the public e-mail.

BLITZER: She had already worked out that server even before they were exchanging e-mails. She knew she'd have a private server.

(CROSSTALK)

GRANHOLM: It had been there. Bill Clinton had been using it. But I don't think -- I think they have a close relationship and they will have a close relationship going forward.

BLITZER: You think he's going to endorse her?

GRANHOLM: I don't know if he will or not.

BLITZER: He endorsed President Barack Obama in 2008.

GRANHOLM: Right, he did. Obviously, he did that closer to the election. I think he sees what's at stake, Wolf.

I mean, you see this, this story this morning, which was so -- you know, everybody's talking about transparency and health records. All of that pales to the "Newsweek" story this morning that said that Donald Trump's 500 enterprises, part of the Trump organization, are in countries all around the world, including in Russia. His business dealings with Russian oligarchs. How do you untangle that? The "Newsweek" story said you can't untangle that.

BLITZER: He's not shy about saying he does business around the world.

GRANHOLM: Right.

BLITZER: He is sort of proud of that, that he's made a lot of money not just in the United States but in countries around the world.

GRANHOLM: Exactly. Absolutely.

BLITZER: Nothing wrong with making money dealing with other countries.

GRANHOLM: Of course. But if you are running for president, you have to show you're above conflict. So sitting right here --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: You want the transparency. You want the transparency.

GRANHOLM: It's more than transparency, absolutely. But you had Ambassador Woolsey sitting here.

BLITZER: Former CIA Director.

GRANHOLM: Right. Everybody who works inside of an administration has to sign documents and get rid of anything that even has the appearance of a conflict of interest of self-dealing. When you have a president making decisions that will benefit his family, now you are talking about potentially selling foreign policy. That, to me, is a blockbuster story.

BLITZER: He has said if he's president he will leave the business. His daughter, two sons, they're taking charge.

(CROSSTALK)

[13:40:05] GRANHOLM: I get it. You should have an ethics person on conflict of interests sit in this chair and they tell you, you can't put into a blind trust stuff you already know and you can't put into a blind trust things your children will be handling because your children are in your stead.

BLITZER: You want him to sell the Trump business?

GRANHOLM: He should sell it. If he wants to be president, it's one of the things you have to take on is you have to guarantee the people of the country that you are in it for them and not in it for yourself. If you're making foreign policy decisions with our adversaries or allies in a way that will affect your business interests, you cannot be president. You cannot tell people you are in it for them.

BLITZER: You know he's not going to do that.

GRANHOLM: So he's going to require all of his cabinet members --

(CROSSTALK)

GRANHOLM: -- to have no conflict but what applies to them won't apply to them? What applies to them and every other president and every other --

BLITZER: If you're a cabinet secretary, you put your personal businesses in blind trusts.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: You don't necessarily have to sell your business.

GRANHOLM: No, but if your children -- if your children are managing your business, and you know where your investments are, you can't -- it's like somebody analogized it to taking a big diamond ring and putting it in a shoebox in the closet as if you don't know what's in the shoe box. Of course, you know, experts are clear, you have to server these ties if you are to be determined to be free of conflict.

BLITZER: The polls are tight. You nervous?

GRANHOLM: We knew it was going to happen. I'm always nervous. You always run like you are 10 points behind any time. But we knew it would be close. Nobody has let their foot off the gas. Nobody has assumed anything. Pedal to the metal. And I hope people look carefully at the potential dangers and the potential benefits of these two candidates.

BLITZER: Jennifer Granholm, former governor of Michigan, thank you.

GRANHOLM: Great to see you.

BLITZER: Coming up, live inside Syria where the people are desperate for help now. But aide workers still can't get to them, as concerns grow about a ceasefire not even three days old. We go live to our man in Damascus now, Fred Pleitgen. He's standing by.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:45:28] BLITZER: It's been 48 hours since the start of the ceasefire in Syria, but aid hasn't reached hundreds of thousands of civilians desperately in need of that aid. The United Nations says it has trucks packed, ready to go, but are waiting for approval from the Syrian government and assurances of safe passage from all parties.

Our senior international correspondent, Fred Pleitgen, is in Damascus, joining us on the phone. Fred is one of the few Western journalists in Damascus now.

Fred, a Russian official is telling the TASS news agency the Syrian military is ready to pull out of a key Aleppo highway. What can you tell us about that? What is the significance if that happens?

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Supposedly very significant, Wolf. This road, Costello Road, as it's known. This used to be the main supply line for opposition into their part of Aleppo, the eastern part of Aleppo until it was cut by Syrian government forces just a couple of months ago, which essentially laid eastern Aleppo under siege.

The Russians, for their part, have said as part of the ceasefire they were willing to secure the road and make it a humanitarian corridor into the eastern part of Aleppo. Again, many are skeptical about that. If, indeed, the Syrian forces did withdraw, it would make it a lot easier to get aid into the eastern part of Aleppo, which has been under siege a long time, which is suffering from massive shortages and many, many people are on the brink of almost starving there in that area.

Now, the Russians say that the rebels would have to do the same thing, also withdraw from the corridor. And as you said, at this point in time, there's about 20 to 40 humanitarian trucks packed, waiting on the Turkish/Syrian border, ready to go. Al they need is formal approval from the Syrian government and security guarantees from the government and rebel factions to make sure they could come through. So if the Syrian forces withdraw from that road it will be a significant first step, and certainly a lot more than have been achieved on the humanitarian side of things in a very long time.

BLITZER: Fred Pleitgen in Damascus for us. We'll continue to check in with him for the very, very latest.

Fred, thank you very much. Coming up, the political story you haven't heard about the most

spectacular public failure in American life. Our own Gloria Borger gives a sneak peek at the CNN special report, "Almost President: The Agony of Defeat." That and more, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:51:49] BLITZER: We're less than 55 days away from the presidential election here in the United States, and while everyone anticipates the winner, people often forget about the candidate who loses. A new CNN special report looks into what life is like for the loser when they leave the spotlight.

Here's a preview of John McCain talking about the downfalls of the election of 2008.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Do you know when you mess up?

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R), ARIZONA & FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Oh, yeah.

BORGER: Like you get in the car and your staff is like --

MCCAIN: Uh-huh. Yes.

BORGER: -- oh, my god. And do you sit around blaming yourself?

MCCAIN: Unfortunately, that's my -- one of my character flaws is that I do sometimes sit around and say, oh, my god, why did I do that?

BORGER (voice-over): McCain believes he understands what is his biggest mistake was. There's a tug-of-war every candidate shares between being yourself and sticking to a carefully calibrated message.

MCCAIN: Thank you.

You can't become almost totally scripted so that there's no mistake and, as you know, my greatest strength is extemporaneous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Joining us now is our chief political analyst, the host of the CNN special report "Almost President: The Agony of Defeat," that would be Gloria Borger.

Gloria, terrific work. Was there anything that shocked you from that interview you had with Senator John McCain?

BORGER: It wasn't so much shocking as it was the fact that people who lose, like Senator John McCain, tend to be a little bit more candid and a little bit more reflective. Politicians are not known to be the most reflective people in the world. And it was clear to me from Senator John McCain, from Governor Romney, even former Vice President Mondale, that they thought an awful lot about their loss and the mistakes that they made.

And McCain was particularly honest about how he always used to second guess himself after debates, how worried he got about these things, about finding that balance between being yourself and not messing up. I mean, we see that candidates are always afraid of making that one mistake that's going to get them in trouble and become magnified over and over again. And McCain has a constant struggle with that because his trademark was, "I'm the maverick, I'm the honest truth teller in this campaign," and he -- he found that quite difficult.

As Mitt Romney said to me, look, people demand you become the perfect candidate. The truth is there is no such thing as perfection when you're running a presidential campaign that is as long and arduous as these things are. These are tough jobs and when you lose, Wolf, it's really tough for these people.

BLITZER: It certainly is. What interested you the most from the interview you had with these former candidates?

BORGER: What struck me is all of them said they would do it again, that it was the greatest experience of their lives. And what struck me is someone like Walter Mondale, 88 years old, great guy, remembers every single minute of it. I asked him, I said, "Do you ever get over it," and his way of explaining his answer was, "Well, I called George McGovern and I asked him when you get over it and he said to me, when I figure it out, I'll let you know."

[13:55:24] BLITZER: An amazing documentary and excellent work, a lot of great interviews.

BORGER: Thank you.

BLITZER: Gloria, thanks so much for doing it.

BORGER: Thanks a lot.

BLITZER: You can catch Gloria's special report later tonight, "Almost President: The Agony of Defeat," that airs at 9:00 p.m. eastern, and pacific, for that matter, right here on CNN.

That's it for me. Thanks very much for watching. I'll be back at 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room."

For our international viewers, "Amanpour" is coming up next.

For our viewers in North America, NEWSROOM with Brooke Baldwin will start right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:13] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, there. I'm Brooke Baldwin.