Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
100,000-Plus Coalition Forces Battle for Mosul; Clinton, Trump Trade Jokes Jabs at Charity Dinner; Officer Shot in Baton Rouge Battles for His Life. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired October 21, 2016 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00] AARON DAVID MILLER, VICE PRESIDENT & DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR, WOODROW WILSON INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR SCHOLARS & AUTHOR: And clearly civilians are going to be caught up in what is going to be a fierce and incredibly determined struggle. Then there's the question of humanitarian flow and refugee migration. So I think the big losers, just as in Syria and Iraq, will be the people of Syria and Iraq. I don't think there's any question about that. What the coalition forces can do in order to mitigate or anticipate and prevent these losses it's hard to say right now.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: We'll get to what Petraeus said.
Let's back up. Mosul was captured by ISIS, it was 2014, a thousand ISIS soldiers to some 30,000 Iraqi troops. Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the head of ISIS, announced the creation of the caliphate at the Grand Mosque in Mosul. That's the last two years. Why is it so significant now?
MILLER: I think for symbolic reasons alone. The reality is ISIS is going to survive Mosul. But the reality is if you can deprive the Islamic State of its main asset, which is control over territory governance, the capacity to recruits to a place, and however bitter the experience may be to offer an alternative form of governance, you deny the Islamic State a caliphate. You demonstrate that they are, in fact, a nasty ideological organization driven by hatred and propaganda. And you can begin, it seems to me, to invincibility and inevitability that seems to have provided by this proto-terror state with an extraordinary message and that's what needs to be done. That's not going to deal a bitter blow to its ideology, its capacity to inspire disgruntled individuals in Europe and other places and in the region as well, but deny them the caliphate in Mosul. And, you're right, I mean, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi announced the caliphate at the Grand Mosque. Mosul is a hugely important city, as you pointed out, two million people before 2014. It has the largest single Christian population of any Iraqi city. And it stands as a potential symbol of a new Iraq, of a kind of multicultural Iraq with a sectarian economy. Now that's a dream right now but it carries great and tremendous value, particularly for the Iraqi government that has yet to demonstrate its competence and capacity. This is the largest single operation that the Iraqi military has undertaken, clearly, since the American invasion in '03.
BALDWIN: Which would lead to the question, to your point, you have this actual battle, you have this ideological battle, and if and when it finally is over and falls, to General Petraeus' point, we have to go.
I just want to tell our viewers, what about afterwards, the competence of Iraq to move forward.
Aaron David Miller, please come back. As always, we appreciate having you on. Thank you, sir, so much.
MILLER: Thank you, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Thank you.
Coming up next, back to presidential politics. A new batch of WikiLeaks. What it reveals about the Clintons' relationship with Al Gore, specifically this election cycle.
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton traded jabs at a charity dinner last night. Got some pretty big laughs, but Trump also got booed, repeatedly, for ignoring the dinner's tradition. We'll have the highlights and the lowlights next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:37:58] BALDWIN: How about this special guest at the White House this afternoon -- Bill Murray -- I think he's a Cubs fan. I don't know why I think that -- standing in front of reporters at the White House briefing room. So I can't eavesdrop. He's in Washington to accept the award for the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. And he had a little advice for the White House press corps. He suggested they switch out the coffee machines for an ice luge. Bill Murray, duly noted.
It was pretty icy in the room last night. It was tense before it started. At last night's Al Smith Charity Dinner, there were high expectations and perhaps higher anxieties for how Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton would address the crowd, especially on the heels of the final debate. The Catholic Foundation event is rooted in a tradition of political unity and comedy. The two candidates typically put their differences aside for one night of light-hearted jokes. And Trump and Clinton got the memo, at least for the first half of their acts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hillary accidentally bumped into me and she very civilly said, "Pardon me."
(LAUGHTER)
And I very politely replied, "Let me talk to you about that after I get into office."
HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald wanted me drug tested debate.
(LAUGHTER)
And, look, I've got to tell you, I am so flattered that Donald thought I used some sort of performance enhancer.
(LAUGHTER)
Now, actually, I did. It's called preparation.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: Michelle Obama gives a speech and everyone loves it. It's fantastic. They said she's absolutely great. My wife, Melania, gives the exact same speech.
(LAUGHTER)
And people get on her case!
[14:40:04] CLINTON: People look at the Statue of Liberty and they see a proud symbol of our history as a nation of immigrants, a beacon of hope for people around the world. Donald looks at the Statue of Liberty and sees a four --
(LAUGHTER)
-- maybe a five, if she loses the torch and tablet, and changes her hair.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Ooh. Hillary Clinton there with the burn. Now, Trump ended his bit with some attacks that sounded like they came out of one of his campaign rallies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Hillary believes it's vital to deceive the people by having one public policy --
(BOOING)
TRUMP: -- and a totally different policy in private.
That's OK. I don't know who they're angry at, Hillary, you or I.
For example, here she is tonight in public pretending not to hate Catholics.
(BOOING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: I like liking at the faces behind everyone.
I have Michael Daley, a special correspondent for "The Daily Beast." He wrote a piece, "Donald Trump, Son of a Catholic Hater, Disgraces Al Smith Dinner." Steve Cortez is here, Trump campaign surrogate and a member of Donald Trump's National Hispanic Advisory Council.
Gentlemen, great to have both of you on.
(CROSSTALK)
Steve, to you first.
Donald Trump, this is a man, he knows how to read a room and play to an audience, but the reviews are in, and a lot of people say he bombed, a lot of boos. You are a Catholic. Did he go too far?
STEVE CORTES, DONALD TRUMP SURROGATE & MEMBER, DONALD TRUMP NATIONAL HISPANIC ADVISORY COUNCIL: I sure am. I'm a Latino and Catholic, very proud of both. Listen, he wasn't playing to the room. That's kind of the inside joke, I think. He didn't care necessarily that a room full of incredibly elite New Yorkers were booing him. He was speaking to America. He was speaking to workers in Ohio, in Pennsylvania and Nevada, regular parishioners in regular pews out there. So if the room didn't like it to some extent -- and this has been our campaign from the beginning, we are the outsiders, we are an insurgency of the ballot box. And do the elites like us in New York news rooms? No. Do they like us on K Street and Washington, D.C.? No. That's fine. We are the voice of working people who have been left behind economically and don't feel the security of the United States is taken care of by the elites, and that's fine if they boo him there at a white-tie dinner.
BALDWIN: Michael, what did you think? And what do you think of what Steve just said?
MICHAEL DALEY, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT, THE DAILY BEAST: I think he should be an outsider, as he should have been outside the room. And I think he went too far when he walked into the ballroom. That's what I think.
(CROSSTALK)
DALEY: I don't think he should have been there in the first place.
BALDWIN: You said he disgraced. It was your word.
DALEY: He's very big on using the word disgraceful -- disaster, disgraceful, dishonest. Those are the three big Trump words. In this case, it was disgraceful he was there.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: But this is tradition. If he's the nominee, why shouldn't he be there? This is tradition.
DALEY: It is tradition, but there are times nominees haven't been invited. What makes it different is he is not just another candidate. He is somebody that goes against the very spirit of this country, the very spirit of the Constitution, who goes against what it is to be an American, who has engaged in -- Al Smith, who the dinner is named after, was the first Catholic candidate for president of the United States. He once talked about -- when he was campaigning, he talked about people who injected hatred, bigotry and un-American divisiveness in an election that should be an intelligent discussion of the important issues. He said that that behavior runs contrary to the Constitution of the United States and Declaration of Independence. That was his position.
BALDWIN: OK.
Michael --
(CROSSTALK)
DALEY: And that's the man who the dinner is named after.
BALDWIN: Michael, I want you to respond.
CORTES: Michael, you use a lot of "D" words here. What's a disgrace is that you brought up the fact, unsubstantiated -- I shouldn't say fact, allegation, that his father was arrested in a Klan rally 90 years ago. Even if that's true -- and I don't know that it is -- does it have any relevance at all to 2016? I would argue no.
Secondly, in your article today, you called him a demon. A demon. I mean, are you telling me that that -- is that the Catholic philosophy that we call other people demons?
And lastly, I would say this, and I think this is most important, let's get to the president day. If we want to talk about bigotry, let's talk about Hillary Clinton and her top, top campaign aides, the head of her campaign, the head of her communication, Palmieri and Podesta, and their e-mail chain about Catholics, because they told us, quite frankly, what they think of us. They said that we subscribe to a Middle Ages dictatorship and that we are, quote, "backwards." So if we want to talk bigotry against Catholics, that's not something put away in our parents' generation, which is what I would have hoped. It's something alive and well today within the Clinton campaign.
BALDWIN: I --
CORTES: And if she wants to have the high ground to talk down to us, by the way, about equality, she better disavow those comments and she should fire Podesta and Palmieri.
(CROSSTALK)
[14:45:23] DALEY: You're pretty good. Too bad you're not running.
But I think the first thing I said in the article is that scripture teaches us the sins of the father should not be visited upon the son. But the difference is that --
CORTES: Then why bring it up?
DALEY: Wait a minute. And as I say in the article, the difference is Donald has embraced the sins of the father. And he's engaged in bigotry. He's engaged in hatred. He's engaged in -- going -- (CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Hold on. Let me go in.
DALEY: I'll stop. I'll stop.
But the other thing I'll point out is the others were Catholics, the people who were sending those e-mails.
BALDWIN: This is supposed to be -- this is supposed to be the one night where they can put their differences aside, crack jokes and move along. And Cardinal Dolan talked this morning. I want to play some sound because, despite the sniping back and forth as we saw on the stage the other night in Vegas, Trump had something pretty nice to say about Hillary Clinton. Here's Cardinal Dolan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIMOTHY DOLAN, NEW YORK CITY CATHOLIC DIOCESE: After the little prayer, Mr. Trump turned to Secretary Clinton and said, "You know, you are one tough and talented woman." And he said, "This has been a good experience. This whole campaign, as tough as it's been." And she said to him, "And Donald, whatever happens, we need to work together afterwards." Now I thought, this is the evening at its best.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Steve, why do you think we don't see more of that publicly?
CORTES: Listen, partisanship aside, isn't that wonderful to hear. As an American, as a Catholic I'm proud that Cardinal Dolan was able to facilitate that. Absolutely.
Listen, I think we're going to win this election, I think we'll fight heart, we're the underdogs, but I do believe we'll lose in November.
But win or lose, we're all Americans. And, of course, I embrace and love -- and, listen, Donald Trump said this in the debate when they asked him to say something positive -- I guess it was the second debate in St. Louis. He talked about her tenacity. She's absolutely tough and determined. And that is something clearly to be respected.
Now, I think she's tenacious about the wrong things but still it's something to be respected and we -- a lot has been made about supposedly that Donald Trump won't accept the mandate of the people. He absolutely will. Again, I think we'll win. But if we lose and it's clear that we lose, we have to move on as a country and work on our prosperity and security because neither is OK right now.
BALDWIN: All right. Gracious of you to make compliments.
To you, sir.
DALEY: Yeah, I --
BALDWIN: Final note, did you like anything? DALEY: Of what?
BALDWIN: From the dinner.
DALEY: Did I like anything of the dinner? I just plain didn't like he was there. That was it. I was offended he was there.
BALDWIN: Michael Daley, Steve Cortes, thank you. Thank you both so much.
CORTES: Thank you, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Coming up next, the summer ambush on police in Baton Rouge came to an end, in part, thanks to one officer still fighting to survive. We have this story. We're going "Beyond the Call of Duty," next.
Ahead, new e-mails released in the WikiLeaks hack give insight into what Hillary Clinton's campaign was thinking about former Vice President Al Gore.
Back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:52:19] BALDWIN: A Louisiana sheriff's deputy Nick Tullier was shot three times when he responded to a call of a lone gun man targeting police officers. Three of his colleagues were killed. Four months later, Nick Tullier is still in a coma. He's fighting for his life.
Our Ed Lavandera has a story of how this officer went "Beyond the Call of Duty."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The vicious ambush pierced through the heart of Baton Rouge. Three officers killed by a lone gunman on a quiet Sunday morning.
But as the story has faded from the headlines, one officer who answered the call to take down an active shooter targeting cops is still fighting for his life.
JAMES TULLIER, FATHER OF NICK TULLIER: Nick's a fighter, you know? We believe in him, he believes in his self and nick's not ready to go.
LAVANDERA: East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Deputy Nick Tullier is in a coma. He survived more than a dozen surgeries after he was shot three times, once in the head and twice in the abdomen.
TULLIER: His heart stopped four times in the E.R., so they brought him back four times.
LAVANDERA: Tullier's father, James, says doctors told him his son wouldn't survive a day, then it was two day, then five. Now it's been more than 95 days and Nick Tullier is still breathing. He's defied every odd.
TULLIER: Everybody claims this is the place that miracles happen and we hope so. He's passed everything they've thrown at him already and he's still here.
LAVANDERA: The night before the ambush, Nick Tullier was driving home when he noticed Tyla Carter and her daughter stranded on the road with a flat tire. Tullier stopped, put his patrol car's spare tire on their car, and followed them home to make sure they arrived safely.
His friends say that's the kind of Officer Tullier is.
UNIDENTIFIED FRIEND: I think it goes back to his moral compass and it's always pointing due north.
LAVANDERA: Tullier's mother, father and fiance have not left his side. They're waiting for him to wake from this long coma.
But Tullier's son struggles with the questions that have no answers.
TRENT TULLIER, SON OF NICK TULLIER: What's going to happen in the future? Like am I still going to have a father that's going to be able to, you know, have conversations with me? Are we going to be able to hang out anymore, just chat? I have no clue.
LAVANDERA: If he survives, Nick Tullier will likely never patrol the Baton Rouge streets again. But for his family, Tullier's refusal to give up, to keep breathing, is a miracle.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[14:55:08] BALDWIN: We wish him well. We wish him well.
Ed, thank you so much for his story.
Coming up next, on politics, a new batch of hacked e-mails released by WikiLeaks. What it reveals about the Clintons' relationship with Al Gore.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Hi there. I'm Brooke Baldwin. This is CNN.
Soon, Hillary Clinton will hit the stump for the first time since the final presidential debate in Vegas, the only faceoff left with Donald Trump in the finish line to the election. 18 days to goes. The Trump and Clinton campaigns are blitzing the battleground states to get out their vote. Their respective surrogates are hitting Pennsylvania, Florida, New Hampshire. Clinton is going to speak from Cleveland, where Trump is headed to Pennsylvania. He did speak earlier today to a crowd in North Carolina. He did not mention the wave of polls showing his --
