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Democratic Electors Push to Block Trump; College and University Leaders Defend "Dreamer" Program; Witnesses Trump's Unprecedented Political Rise; Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired November 23, 2016 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:30:01] MICHAEL BACA, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION DELEGATION: Well, thank you, Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: First of all, explain to people like how this works, because, you know, this is like very confusing for people to understand. So the electors get together on December 19th. What does that look like?
BACA: Well, I have never been an elector before. I believe that we go to our courthouses. They swear us in. We -- it's a public ceremony and I encourage everyone in all 50 states to actually do that this year, and to go out and to see what we're doing and to shed light on this process of the electoral college.
COSTELLO: So normally, the electors would just say, you know, put the check near Donald Trump because he won the electoral college.
BACA: Well, I don't think this year is a normal year. It's been a very divisive campaign. And you know, I'm reaching out to Republican electors, to Democratic electors, and we're searching for a unity Hamilton candidate to really unite this country. And I think that's --
COSTELLO: What do you mean by a unity Hamilton candidate? What does that mean?
BACA: A candidate who reflects the values of our founding fathers, who reflects the values I believe that Americans have, and who reflects the values of what I believe -- what I learned in the United States Marine Corps. Honor, courage and commitment are critical, and I think that our -- you know, our next president needs to have, you know, certain set of values and I don't believe Donald Trump has that.
Mayor Michael Signer wrote an excellent piece in the "Times" speaking of the demagogue and I believe that Donald Trump matches that.
COSTELLO: So in order to achieve your wish that Donald Trump not become president of the United States in January, you have to persuade 37 Republican electors to reject Trump. Is that really possible?
BACA: It can be. It's within the rules. It's within the law. We are reaching out, I mean, I'm on CNN here from a standing start trying to reach out to the American public, trying to reach out to Republican electors, to Democratic electors. If we unite, you know, we can avoid a Donald Trump presidency.
COSTELLO: But here's the thing, Michael. It seems that Republicans of all stripes are coalescing around Donald Trump. It's not the other way around. They are not running from him. It seems they're kind of on board at this moment.
BACA: You know, I think the general election polls, the exit polls showed 58 percent of Republican voters wished they had a different candidate, and I do believe, I have some reason to believe there will be some Republicans soon. And once that first Republican elector jumps on board, who knows what happens. That will change the landscape. But I believe that there will be a wave.
COSTELLO: I think that --
BACA: We are just waiting for that first person to --
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: I think, though, that a lot of Democrats -- Democratic voters and independent voters weren't so happy with Hillary Clinton's candidacy either.
BACA: I mean, right now, that's not -- you know, that's not what our message is. Our message is to unite around a Hamilton candidate, to potentially vote for, you know, another Republican and we believe that that's what is critical at this point in time, as you know, we can avoid Donald Trump because I really -- I'm excited to see what Republicans do with full control because if their ideas succeed, then America starts to succeed. And if their ideas do not, then I think we're going to finally be able to move on and to progress to new ideas.
COSTELLO: Look, even Donald Trump says he wishes that candidates won by popular vote. That's just not the way it works in this country right now. And he ran his campaign to win the electoral college. He says Hillary Clinton did not. So why are you continuing down this pathway?
BACA: You know, I believe it is our role right now to deliberate using the federalist papers as a guide, using the Twelfth Amendment. And I believe that, you know, we're faithful electors. We're doing our job and we're making sure that the next president is best able to do his job. What I don't want to see is that Donald Trump be a Zachary Taylor and the death of the wood party. We are trying to give Republicans the best chance to succeed because I believe that's what's important for America.
COSTELLO: Well, is it possible, even a tiny possibility, that you could give Donald Trump a chance because we don't know what kind of president he will be at this moment?
BACA: We have seen the rhetoric that he's had over the primary season, over the general election, and he also has -- I believe 26 more days until we next -- until we vote again, because I hope that on January 20th, and I know on January 20th I will be in full support of the next president and the office that they hold, but I don't believe what we have seen so far from Mr. Trump that he is that man who is fit for office. I believe there are more palatable Republicans that can better unite this country.
COSTELLO: All right. Michael Baca, thanks for being with me this morning.
BACA: Thank you so much, Carol.
COSTELLO: You're welcome.
Coming up in the NEWSROOM, thousands of undocumented students scared of deportation may have new allies. College presidents. I will talk to a college president who wants to protect undocumented students on his campus next.
[10:35:03]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: The feds could use local police officers to crack down on undocumented immigrants. That's one idea being floated to President- elect Donald Trump. That pitch seen on a paper carried by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach when he met with the president-elect over the weekend. And it's just one reason undocumented immigrants are nervous about being deported.
Another reason, Trump's campaign promise to roll back part of President Obama's Dreamer program. It's technically called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA and it's why 750,00 undocumented immigrants can get driver's licenses, legally work and attend college.
[10:40:02] Now many college presidents want to protect those undocumented students so let's talk about that. With me now is president of the University of San Francisco, Father Paul Fitzgerald.
Welcome, Father.
FR. PAUL FITZGERALD, PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO: Welcome, Miss Costello. Thank you very much for having me.
COSTELLO: Thanks for being with me this morning. Tell me what your undocumented students on campus are saying to you.
FITZGERALD: At the University of San Francisco we have about 80 students, undergraduate and graduate students, who have participated in the DACA program. They have given the federal government their names, their birth dates, their home addresses in exchange for this promise that they would be allowed to continue to finish their education, get work permits and then upon graduation, enter the work force and contribute to the economy of the United States.
COSTELLO: So what is their fear?
FITZGERALD: They are very afraid that in exchange for that voluntary surrender of information about themselves, that they've now put themselves and especially they put their families in danger of deportation.
COSTELLO: So there have been mass protests at universities across the country. What do those students protesting want university presidents to do?
FITZGERALD: They want us to do what I and over 250 university presidents have already done, which is to pledge publicly that we will use every legal means to protect these, our students, that we will provide them with a quality education, give them every chance to participate in life on campus, provide them with legal advice, best legal advice for their particular situation, help them to seek other immigration status, if it's possible. About 15 percent of DACA students do have other immigration avenues open to them. So we are doing these kinds of things. Also we are offering a lot of personal support.
COSTELLO: So can you actively keep federal agents off campuses or local police off campuses if they do come for these undocumented students?
FITZGERALD: Well, I happen to be blessed to live in the city of St. Francis and Mayor Lee here in San Francisco, for 23 years, he has continued this pledge 23 years old that San Francisco is a sanctuary city which means that the sheriff's department and the police department do not actively give information to immigration authorities if they stop someone for a traffic violation who doesn't have documentation.
COSTELLO: But as far as federal agents coming on to your campus, is there any legal way that universities can prevent them from coming on campus?
FITZGERALD: 20 percent of my students, so about 2,000 students are documented international students. We cooperate very closely with immigration to maintain the visas of our international students, our documented international students. We have a balance here of obeying the law, supporting all of our students, but offering the most vulnerable of our students every legal protection that we can as well as psychological and emotional support.
COSTELLO: There is a chapel on your university grounds, correct? Could undocumented students go into those chapels and be protected in any way?
FITZGERALD: My understanding is at least in the Obama administration, where there have been many, many legal deportations of undocumented people, that immigration authorities don't like going into people's homes. They certainly don't like the visuals of going into a church or synagogue or mosque and dragging people out. So I would hope that our university as a whole, including St. Ignatius Church would be a refuge but the real refuge has to be the hearts of all of our citizens who make this choice that we be a nation of immigrants and that we be hospitable.
COSTELLO: President-elect Trump says he wants to deport those undocumented immigrants who've committed crimes, and then he said you know, we'll think about the other stuff later. So will you give him the benefit of the doubt that he will figure out a good solutions for these -- a good solution for these undocumented students?
FITZGERALD: That's my ardent hope. And I think that's the hope of every decent person in this country that the new president succeed, that he govern well, that he uphold the values of the nation.
There's a practical side to this, too. The United States does not produce enough college graduates economy to fill the needs of our economy. To deport 700,000 college students would be shooting ourselves in the foot. And to do anything that would stop the inflow of international students who come here to study, $32 billion a year are brought into the United States by international students coming to study with us. So I think, you know, it's the moral thing to do but it's also the smart thing to do to let the United States be this great magnet of talent and intelligence and hard workers.
[10:45:13] COSTELLO: Father Paul Fitzgerald from the University of San Francisco, thank you for joining me this morning.
FITZGERALD: Thank you, Miss Costello.
COSTELLO: Coming up in the NEWSROOM, Donald Trump's unprecedented political rise from the escalators at Trump Tower to the steps of the White House. Up next, the behind-the-scenes stories from one CNN reporter who watched it all along the way.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: From unlikely candidate to president-elect, in the course of 17 months Donald Trump toppled political convention all the way to the steps of the White House.
CNN's team of reporters were there all along the way to watch his unprecedented rise. The stories are in CNN Politics' first ever book, it's called "Unprecedented: The Election That Changed Everything." It was written and reported while it happened.
[10:50:06] I want to bring in CNN Politics reporter Jeremy Diamond for more because you spent a lot of time on the campaign trail. How does it feel being off the campaign trail?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Too long, too long. It's strange. It's strange, I'll tell you that. It's weird to wake up in the same place every morning and to not think about where you have to move and fly to.
COSTELLO: Do you feel like you sort of have nothing to do now?
DIAMOND: I wouldn't go that far. There's plenty, plenty of work to do.
COSTELLO: That is very true. So let's talk about this book because, you know, a lot of people would give their eye teeth to be on the campaign trail and to follow a candidate all the way through. So tell us what that's like. DIAMOND: Well, it's fascinating. You know, I covered Donald Trump
from the very beginning of his presidential campaign. And I actually interviewed him once before he started running at CPAC in 2015 and to watch the kind of evolution and the questions of whether this would last and seeing it on the ground, the real enthusiasm in the, you know, summer into the fall when people were wondering if this was just a temporary thing. You know, the reporters, those of us who were on the ground then knew that this was something real and that he would go at least into the early primary states. Who knew that he would actually become president of the United States.
COSTELLO: So did it start off as sort of a happy campaign, where Donald Trump's supporters kind of like welcomed the media and said hi, and then it turned into something much different down the line? So for example, like this?
DIAMOND: Well --
COSTELLO: Let's watch.
DIAMOND: Yes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Traitors.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So you experienced a lot of that.
DIAMOND: Memories.
COSTELLO: So was there an evolution? Did it get progressively more --
DIAMOND: It did get nastier but let's remember that, you know, from the very beginning of this campaign, you know, in the first weeks, certainly in the first month, Donald Trump did begin his antagonistic relationship with the media, mostly stoked by his controversial comments which we would call him out for every day, pretty much. And also, you know, that played out with relationships with reporters individually.
You know, I think back to a moment that's in this book which is in October of 2015, I was covering a Donald Trump rally that had a lot of protesters that day and so I was covering obviously the fact that there were, you know, dozen -- a dozen or so protesters and who had interrupted his rally, and no sooner had Donald Trump left the rally, my story was already up on CNN.com, and I get a call and it's Donald Trump's campaign manager at the time, Corey Lewandowski who starts chewing me out for the story. And he goes, hold on. And then all of a sudden, I hear, Jeremy, you're a very dishonest guy.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: It was Donald Trump? DIAMOND: And that was Donald Trump on the phone chewing me out for a
story about protesters and about the crowd size at his rally. I had seen the protesters myself and the number of them and I had also checked with the fire marshal for the crowd count at the rally but it didn't matter. And that was just an interesting peek into the mind of Donald Trump. You know, the -- what matters to him, the crowds that matter to him, and the way in which he tried to gain favorable coverage by sometimes bullying the reporters who covered him.
COSTELLO: I think that will continue, Jeremy.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Jeremy Diamond, thanks so much. I can't wait to read the book. Thank you so much.
DIAMOND: Thanks, Carol.
COSTELLO: "Unprecedented: The Election That Changed Everything" will be in stores on December 6th. You can pre-order your copy today at CNN.com/book.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott is talking trash but in a totally earth-friendly way.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:57:42] COSTELLO: It was a star-studded event at the White House on Tuesday as President Obama handed out the Medal of Freedom to a number of influential people. Andy Scholes has this morning's "Bleacher Report." Hi, Andy.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol. Yes, the Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian honor given to those who make a significant impact on culture or other endeavors here in the United States. President Obama says that all 21 of the people honored yesterday touched him in a powerful way and he had some fun while presenting Michael Jordan with his medal. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's more than just a logo. More than just an Internet me. There is a reason you call somebody the Michael Jordan of. Michael Jordan of neurosurgery or the Michael Jordan of rabbis or the Michael Jordan of outrigger canoeing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Other sports figures receiving the Medal of Freedom were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Dodgers legendary broadcast Vin Scully.
New details are emerging of the treacherous path that many Cuban players take to get to the Major Leagues. According to the U.S. federal prosecutors, a smuggling ring held Cuban baseball stars at gunpoint in Mexico, and threatening to kill them if they tried to escape before signing lucrative contracts. Now two of the players who allegedly endured kidnapping and extortion were White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu and Marlin short stop Adeiny Hechavarria.
Now court documents laid out yesterday accused sports agent Bartolo Hernandez of partnering with a smuggling ring in order to force exclusive deals as the agent for 17 Cuban baseball players. The trial is set to begin in January.
All right. Finally Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott earning high praise for simply picking up his own trash on Sunday. Dak was caught on camera picking up an empty cup after missing a trash can along the sidelines. Well, yesterday the rookie QB like talked about his heroics.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAK PRESCOTT, COWBOYS QUARTERBACK: More people need to pick up their trash, if it was that big of a deal. But yes, I just simply missed the garbage can. And didn't think much of it. I don't shoot behind my back too much. I think the garbage can was kind of behind me. It was a little flip-back. Stare at the (INAUDIBLE), threw up the rotation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Yes. Most players wouldn't have got up to go get it. So props to Dak Prescott for being a standup guy.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: I love that. His mom taught him well. OK. Lions/Vikings. You got to give us a preview for us tomorrow, Andy. I'll be expecting it.
SCHOLES: Will do. All right.
COSTELLO: OK. Thank you for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello. "AT THIS HOUR WITH BERMAN AND BOLDUAN" starts now.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm John Berman. Kate Bolduan is off this morning. The breaking news --
(END)
