Return to Transcripts main page

Wolf

Sanders Stumps for Clinton; Interview with Rep. Raul Grijalva. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired November 03, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 8:00 p.m. in Mosul, Iraq, 9:30 p.m. in Kabul, Afghanistan. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

We're down to five days and counting in the U.S. presidential election. Combined, there are at least 36 scheduled campaign stops today from the candidates, their supporters and surrogates. And that includes Melania Trump making a rare speech. That's coming up soon.

But here's where the candidates are, their running mates, where they're stopping today. Donald Trump in Florida and North Carolina. Mike Pence in Iowa, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Hillary Clinton has several stops in North Carolina today. While Tim Kaine focuses in on Arizona.

But the Clinton camp also had President Obama continuing his campaign tour through the south. He's in Jacksonville, Florida this afternoon and was in Miami this morning. Here's part of that message to young voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you disrespect the Constitution before you're president and threaten to shut down the press when it says something you don't like or threaten to throw your opponent in jail in a live presidential debate, without any regard for due process.

If you discriminate against people of different faiths before you are president, then that is what you will do in office, except you will have more power to carry out the twisted notions that you had before you were in office.

So, you can't make excuses for this stuff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Donald Trump just wrapping up his own Florida stop. His fourth in the past two days. He spoke today about the FBI, trade and President Obama. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I just left, by the way, Miami. And in leaving, I see Air Force One. So, I said to myself, I wonder who that could be? And it's our president, and he's down here campaigning for crooked Hillary.

Now, why isn't he back in the office? Sometimes referred to as the Oval Office. Why isn't he back in the White House bringing our jobs back and helping our veterans?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: CNN National Correspondent Jason Carroll is in Jacksonville following the Trump campaign for us. Our White House Correspondent Michelle Kosinski is in Miami. They're both in Florida.

Michelle, has the president's tone in these recent events been changing as we get closer and closer to Election Day?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Wolf, and you've heard that too. I think every time we hear the president speak, especially now getting down to the wire, there's a headline that comes out of it that says, you know, he's done this differently or this is the most energized we've seen him.

Of course, there's a cap to that. You can't see him, you know, go crazy by the end of this or get to be much more energetic than he's been before it starts getting a little strange.

Well, yesterday in North Carolina -- and keep in mind, we're in Florida right now. These are both crucial battleground states. And this is where we expect to hear the president's best arguments.

But, yesterday, it was kind of bordering on a scary warning to voters. Not just urging them but also begging them to vote. Saying things like, the fate of the world is teetering. The fate of republic lies on your shoulders.

Today, it was much more of a celebration in here. The president was back to his slightly comedic routine with his common refrain of, come on, man, as he's mocking Donald Trump. So, that's kind of a return to what we saw earlier on.

But, as the White House puts it, he wants to get everything in there as much as possible. He wants to criticize Donald Trump. He wants to criticize Republicans. He wants to focus on local races and down- ballot races as well.

Again, we saw him turn Marco Rubio's words back on him. Things that he said in the past about Donald Trump. And the president also wants to hit on his legacy and talk about how Hillary Clinton will continue that legacy.

So, what we're seeing is the president wanting to keep up that energy. And what he needs to do for Hillary Clinton are get in those voters that she needs, the young people, African-Americans. And, by the way, we're at Florida International University right now. But they do a lot of national polling. And I think what's been really fascinating here, and nationwide too, is the Latino vote. The Latino vote is 18 percent of the Florida electorate.

[13:05:05] And what FIU just did, they put out some recent numbers that show Latino support for Hillary Clinton has ranged from in the low 60 percent up to 84 percent. Well, this week, it's down. It's around 73 percent.

For Donald Trump, though, his Latino support has ranged from a low of about eight percent to 17 percent and that's what it is right now. It is at a high -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Michelle, stand by.

Jason, Donald Trump's campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, says her candidate is focusing on the positive in these final days. Is that actually playing out in his campaign speeches?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, let me just tell you this, I mean, as he just wrapped up his speech here today, just a few moments ago. You know, he talked about doing great with African- American voters, even though there's no evidence of that.

He did say that this is a campaign that's doing great in the polls, doing great in the state Florida. He said, we're going to win Florida. So, in that way, it was a positive message.

But the bulk of what we heard here is what we've heard many, many times before. And in terms of whether it's positive or not, that's what voters are going to have to decide.

But this was the message, he says, look, we're doing terrible with our military so that's not very positive. He says we're doing terrible with trade. He went on to say that crime was on the rise across the country.

He talked about Hillary Clinton, once again calling her crooked Hillary. And when the crowd shouted, lock her up, lock her up, there was no rebuttal from the candidate. It was more shouts of that.

You know, yesterday, we heard Donald Trump say, I've got to stay on message. My advisers want me to basically stay on message. I've got to stay cool and stay on point. And he did that.

I mean, these are some of the points and the messages we've heard repeatedly throughout this campaign. We heard it again here today. So, Donald Trump did do something. He did stay on message.

But to your question, was it positive or not? You know, to someone sitting at home on the sideliners, I think that remains to be seen. But for supporters here, they certainly liked what he had to say here in Jacksonville -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Jason Carroll and Michelle Kosinski reporting from Florida for us. Guys, thanks very much.

I want to talk a little bit more now about the two states the candidates are really focusing in on today. We're talking about Florida and North Carolina. Here with us, "The Washington Post" reporter David Nakamura, Carol Lee, she's the White House reporter for "The Wallstreet Journal" and CNN Political Director David Chalian.

CNN's poll of polls right now has Hillary Clinton with a four-point lead in North Carolina, 46 to 42 percent. And Florida, our poll of polls, that's an average of the most important recent polls, shows a dead heat, 45 to 45 percent.

There's still room to move over the next few days and, obviously, that's why those states are getting so much special attention from both campaigns right now.

So, David Chalian, here's the question. Are those -- are the races in those two states, Florida and North Carolina, as close as they really seem to be?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: I believe that they are. And, quite frankly, both campaigns, they are the states that have seen the most advertising money in this campaign. This is where the biggest part of the ground game has been focused on both sides.

These two states probably hold the key to the election in two ways. One, for Donald Trump, he simply can't get to 270 electoral votes without both of these states in his column. It's nearly impossible.

BLITZER: So, if he loses either one, it's over?

CHALIAN: Basically, if Hillary Clinton can win either one of those states, she can throw up such a massive roadblock to Donald Trump's path to 270, that it would be all but over.

BLITZER: Interesting.

Carol, President Obama and Donald Trump, they're both hitting Jacksonville, Florida, the northern part of the state, today. How much can the president, first of all, move the needle for Hillary Clinton?

CAROL LEE, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": Well, he can -- he certainly is popular among Democrats, and that's why you saw him in south Florida. And in Jacksonville, what he can do there is narrow the margins, meaning that it's a predominantly Republican area.

But, as you saw the president do in 2012 and 2008, he goes into these types of areas and tries to really get black voter turnout. Higher than it has been in the past. And so, that's why he's there. And he's also there eight years to the day when he held his last rally in Florida 2008. So, --

BLITZER: November third. And the next -- the election was November fourth, exactly eight years ago tomorrow. We'll have more on that coming up later. David, this morning, the trim -- the Trump campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, suggested, sort of bragged, that they were getting into Hillary Clinton's head, forcing her to go to traditionally blue states like Wisconsin, Michigan right now, spend time there. Does she have a point?

DAVID NAKAMURA, REPORTER, "THE WASHINGTON POST": It might not be necessarily the Trump campaign getting into her head, but some of the public polling and some of -- obviously, the problems related to the e-mails. And you saw President Obama react in frustration yesterday, a little bit, with the FBI's activities over the past week.

But I think that Hillary Clinton campaign recognizes that given the state of the narrowing of the polls already, even before FBI director Comey came out Friday with his announcement that the investigation would be re-examined with these e-mails, there's a sense now, I think, that you can't take anything for granted.

[13:10:10] She has a big war chest. Much bigger than Donald Trump's. (INAUDIBLE) now you see in Wisconsin and other key states. So, I think they don't want to take it for granted. But you do see her biggest surrogates like President Obama focusing on the states you talk about. He's going again to two stops in North Carolina tomorrow, then Florida again on the weekend. So, you know, she's sending others out there as well.

BLITZER: I think it's fair to say North Carolina, Florida, that could be the key right there.

Interestingly, David, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a former Republican presidential candidate, he was out campaigning today but not with Donald Trump, with Mike Pence, his vice presidential running mate. We heard this from Cruz today. I'll play pay clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: The stakes in this election have never been higher for our country. I believe this election comes down to three critical issues. Jobs, freedom and security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: It's -- I think it's significant, though, that Cruz is even campaigning with Mike Pence, not necessarily with Donald Trump. There was a lot of bad blood, as we all remember from that Republican primary.

CHALIAN: That's right, no love lost there. Did you see where he was campaigning there? In the state of Iowa. A state where Ted Cruz won the caucuses, where he may want to go visit again after this election, depending how it comes out.

So, it probably serves Ted Cruz's political interest. He has a lot of work to do and rehabilitation to do after the way he handled Donald Trump at the convention and beyond. And so, --

BLITZER: When he showed up at the convention and didn't actually endorse --

CHALIAN: Exactly.

BLITZER: -- Republican nominee.

CHALIAN: Which didn't make the delegates all that thrilled, if you recall. Including his own Texas delegation was not that thrilled with his behavior there. So. he's got some rehabilitation to do with the Republican Party. And, clearly, helping out Mike Pence is part of that process.

BLITZER: In terms of the base, that could certainly help.

LEE: He -- yes, he needs those -- he needs Donald. It's very interesting that he's coming in now. He hitting the road. He getting some air time. And he needs those voters. If he's going -- this feels all about 2020. And if he's going to run then, he needs Donald Trump's support -- Donald Trump's base.

NAKAMURA: And it's also interesting, of course, if Trump were to win, what role Cruz would play, you know, in the Senate and the Trump administration. You can see, very clearly, what kind of role he would play with a Clinton administration, antagonistic and kind of, you know, grandstanding in the way he did a little bit with President Obama. But what would he do with a Trump administration? Maybe he wants to make sure that he's not completely sidelined.

BLITZER: Yes, if Cruz is thinking, David, of running in 2020 for the Republican nomination again. First, he's got to get himself re- elected in Texas. Mike McCall, the Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, I spoke to him earlier this week. He's a Republican from Texas. He didn't necessarily rule out the possibility of challenging Ted Cruz.

CHALIAN: He just didn't want to go there yet with him.

BLITZER: He didn't want to go there yet. He wants to focus in on the current election. But he certainly didn't rule it out.

CHALIAN: No. And to David's point about sort of how Ted Cruz deals with a potential Trump administration. John McCain was sort of antagonistic to the Bush administration for quite some time. Until he got very close to starting to run for the nomination again, and then started to repair that relationship. You might see something similar from Cruz. It's hard to imagine he won't be a little bit of a thorn in the side of a Trump administration from the Senate as well.

BLITZER: He probably will be. All right, guys, don't go too far away.

By the way, you can catch all-day coverage of the election this coming Tuesday right here on CNN.

Coming up, Melania Trump, she's set to give her first speech since the Republican National Convention in July. You're looking at live pictures there outside of Philadelphia. Will she help her husband win back the women vote in that crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania?

Plus, Iraqi forces pushing into the heart of ISIS-held -- the ISIS- held city of Mosul. The terror group that still controls that city, they are now using human shields and booby traps as they desperately fight to keep control of Mosul. We're going there live. We'll take you to the front lines. That and a lot more coming up.

[13:13:55]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:17:47] BLITZER: Welcome back.

Both campaigns, they're focusing in on immigration in the key battleground states. Hillary Clinton's running mate, Tim Kaine, is set to give a speech -- deliver a speech entirely in Spanish later today in Arizona.

And in less than an hour, take a look at these live pictures. Donald Trump's wife Melania will give her first major speech of the general election since the convention. She'll be talking about her experiences as an immigrant to the United States. That speech happening in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania.

While we wait, I want to take a closer look right now at where each candidate stands on the issue of immigration. Here's what Hillary Clinton said about her immigration plan yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: And if you care about immigration reform, you know what he thinks. I am going to be introducing comprehensive immigration reform within the first 100 days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: As you just heard, Hillary Clinton calling for comprehensive immigration reform. Her plan would create a pathway to citizenship and she says she'll protect families from deportation so children and parents are not separated. That includes ending family detention and shutting down private detention centers.

Instead, Hillary Clinton wants to focus on deporting undocumented immigrants who pose a threat to public safety. One of the more controversial parts of her plan would allow immigrants to buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act exchanges, Obamacare.

Donald Trump, meanwhile, says his plan would put Americans first. Here's what he said yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: A Trump administration will also secure and defend the borders of the United States. And, yes, we will build, what? We're going to build the wall. I want people to come in. I want tremendous numbers of people to come

in. And we're going to have that big, beautiful door in the wall. But, you know what, they have to come in through a process. They have to come in legally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: That border wall, of course, has been the foundation of Trump's plan. Trump says Mexico will pay for that wall. However, Mexico's president insists his country will not pay for any such wall. Trump also wants to deport anyone caught entering the country illegally and he's proposing mandatory prison time for those caught re-entering after

being deported from the United States.

[13:20:07] He also wants to triple the number of border agents, end sanctuary cities, terminate two of President Obama's executive orders on immigration. The most controversial and muddy part of Trump's plan deals with mass deportations. Recently, he said he'd focus on deporting undocumented immigrants who have been criminally charged, but he previously has called for a deportation force, saying every undocumented immigrant must first leave the country and only then apply for re-entry.

Clinton does have an advantage over Trump when it comes to getting her message out and that's because of her surrogates. Along with the president and the first lady, Clinton also has Senator Bernie Sanders, her former Democratic primary rival, on her side. He's been out on the campaign trail campaigning for her for months now and he's rallying with her together in the critical battleground state of North Carolina later tonight.

I want to talk more about all of this, the impact Sanders could have. And joining us now is Representative Raul Grijalva of Arizona. He was the first member of Congress to endorse Bernie Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination. Like Bernie Sanders, he now supports Hillary Clinton.

Thanks very much, congressman, for joining us.

REP. RAUL GRIJALVA (D), ARIZONA: Thank you, Wolf. I appreciate it.

BLITZER: So, Donald Trump says he doesn't understand why Bernie Sanders is supporting Hillary Clinton after -- especially after some of the revelations from those WikiLeaks e-mails that were revealed. Why should Sanders supporters vote for Hillary Clinton from your perspective?

GRIJALVA: It's the contrast. It's the choice. And the choice I think to Bernie and to all of us that not only supported Bernie, but support the platform that the party came up with, one of the most progressive in our times that the Democratic Party has. Simply this, I think if you -- as Bernie has said, this is about ideas, policy positions. We have to look at that and, you know, do away with the personalities and just look at what -- what ideas each candidate represents. Another choice is so clear. And I think Bernie has done a wonderful job and a very classy job in unifying behind Hillary, supporting her strongly, and urging his supporters, as he's done throughout the last three or four months, to vote for her, to go out and work for her, not to throw our votes away.

BLITZER: So, quickly --

GRIJALVA: Yes.

BLITZER: Congressman, were you offended by any of those e-mails that were revealed through WikiLeaks, for example, in which some negative words were expressed about Bernie Sanders and his supporters from Hillary Clinton's campaign?

GRIJALVA: I think that after -- after the primaries and leading up to the primaries, it was a contentious race and a tough race. After it was over, I think that the healing process occurred before and during the convention. I think that healing process has stuck. And whether or not there was offense intended or there was people underneath Hillary making those comments, to a great extent it's irrelevant now. We're in a unified front to defeat Donald Trump and to elect Hillary Clinton and that, to me, is preeminent. Whatever offense was directed, whatever offense was taken, quite honestly, Wolf, is irrelevant now.

BLITZER: Your district is in Arizona, of course. Thirty percent of the residents in Arizona identify as Hispanic. Your senator, John McCain, has not had the best relationship with Trump after Trump implied he was not a war hero because he was POW. However, Clinton is polling right now, according to the latest polls, five points behind Trump in your state of Arizona. Do you think Trump is going to carry Arizona, or do you think Hillary Clinton has a shot?

GRIJALVA: I think Hillary Clinton has a real shot at Arizona. I think if you look at those projections as of right now, four to five points, I -- I think you have to factor in first-time voters. Latinos voting early has surged. I think it will continue to surge all the way to Election Day. That's a factor that is not considered. It is -- much is based on what has happened in previous elections. This election has turned that book upside down.

So I think the strong expected vote from Latinos, which I think will be a reality, plus young people, plus the experience of Arizona and this whole immigration issue. The whole punitive attitude that Arizona took toward immigration has backfired. And I think you're hearing the same thing. Everything is punitive with regards to Trump and immigration. They're looking for something else. They're looking for something real. Something realistic. And on immigration reform, that's Hillary Clinton. And that's going to help her tremendously in Arizona because we live the experience.

[13:25:05] BLITZER: Because Arizona, as you -- as you well know --

GRIJALVA: Yes.

BLITZER: Arizona is a border state and immigration policy is obviously very important. You heard me explain just a few minutes ago the differences and the approach from Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump when it comes to immigration here in the United States. So in your state, which policy would appeal more to voters in a state like Arizona.

GRIJALVA: I think the rationale policy. The policy that encapsulates something comprehensive, something compassionate, something that deals with the real issues around immigration and undocumented families in this state and across this country. Something -- a process that is legitimate, real and realistic and that is what Hillary's proposing. That's what the platform proposes.

What Donald is proposing is nothing but the same, and that is punitive, a fantasy wall that he keeps talking about, mass deportation. Those are all -- I think the American people and the voters in Arizona have seen this scenario before played out in its own state and don't want to repeat that misery and that division that it caused.

BLITZER: Congressman Grijalva, thanks very much for joining us.

GRIJALVA: Thank you.

BLITZER: Coming up, Melania Trump, she's set to deliver a speech in Pennsylvania. This is her first speech since she spoke at the Republican National Convention in July. You're looking at live pictures coming in from Berwyn, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia. We're going to have live coverage of Melania Trump speaking. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)