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Trump's Business Councils Disband Post Charlottesville; Emotional Ceremony for Charlottesville Victim; Tim Kaine Comments on Trump, Charlottesville; James Clyburn Comments on Trump, Charlottesville. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired August 16, 2017 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00] JUANA SUMMERS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: It's like on the one hand, he's admitting defeat. You don't see him lashing out and attacking these newly departed CEOs or this new group the way he did the head of Merck that he went after. He's trying to move it along. And I'm sure there will be another tweet of the president to distract attention away from the fact that here he has failed. There's been consequences for his actions.

And I think to Gloria's point, on his ability to fire the Congress, lawmakers are at home in their districts for the August recess. You'll hear these people get these questions. We heard Republican Cory Gardner, of Colorado, get this question from his constituents. I think people want to know whether their lawmakers, Democrat or Republicans, stand with and associate themselves with this president's comments. And they're going to have a lot of questions to answer before they return back here to the capitol.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I quickly want to go back to Cristina Alesci.

Are you getting statements, more reaction from some of these councils that the president has disbanded that he had no choice because they were all leaving?

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We just heard from the parent company of Carrier. This was the company, this was the heating and cooling equipment manufacturer that gave President Trump his first big win with CEOs and the business community, because they kept some jobs here in the U.S. instead of outsourcing them to Mexico and shifting some of the work over in Mexico. And the parent company, United Technologies, has issued a statement. Just now we received it. And it's a long statement, so I'm not going to read it all. But it says, "As the events of the last week have unfolded here in the U.S., it's clear that we need collectively to stand together and denounce the politics of hate, intolerance and racism. The values that are the cornerstones of our culture, tolerance, diversity, and trust, must be reaffirmed by our actions every day. Accordingly, I have tendered my resignation from the council effective today."

That is remarkable. Again, Greg Hayes, the chairman of this company, big supporter of this company, and one of his subsidiaries, Carrier, was the poster child of what Donald Trump was supposed to do for American workers. And now by President Trump sticking by his base and not denouncing as

strongly the events of Charlottesville as some of his critics would have liked him to do and others, not just hiss critics, of course, what he has done is essentially risked the -- he has risked his ability to create jobs here in America by not having these business communities, the business community behind him. And that's the larger picture. It's almost like he has the ability to get more jobs back to the U.S. and potential even strike these one-off deals with companies to keep jobs here. And all of that now seems very much at risk, given the events of the past few hours.

BLITZER: I quickly want to get Chris Cillizza's reaction.

The piece you ran on CNN.com, "Donald Trump presidency is on the brink of total collapse." Well, we don't know if it is on total collapse. We do know these two advisory councils, they have totally collapsed.

CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER & CNN EDITOR-AT-LARGE: I forget who made the point earlier, but this is an important one, is the whole reasoning of Donald Trump was, Barack Obama, Democrats, even a lot of Republicans, they don't know business leaders. He said it a billion times on the campaign trail, I know all the smartest people. He would always say Carl Icahn. I know them, they respect me, they're going to do things for my administration that no one else would do. Now this isn't every business leader. These are two advisory councils. But, again the promise of Donald Trump was I'm a businessman, I make great deals, I will get things done. No matter what you think of Charlottesville, and I think you have to think something, but no matter what you think of it, those two basic promises have simply not been met. Now, it's a four-year term, we're 208 days in. But that is how he will be judged, even by people who voted for him. And right now, it's just -- it's not only he hasn't fulfilled those promises, it's that it's sliding backward rather than even staying neutral.

[13:39:31] BLITZER: And the angry reaction is continuing to come in.

We're going to continue our special breaking news coverage right after this quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Very moving memorial service just wrapped up for Heather Heyer, the 32-year-old woman who was killed while protesting against the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend. Her family described her as "passionate, determine and a strong advocate." And had this to say to a country deeply divided.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK HEYER, FATHER OF HEATHER HEYER: No father should have to do this. But I love my daughter.

And as I listened to her friends, and heard stories of my daughter and the way she was. She loved people. She wanted equality. And on this issue of the day of her passing, she wanted to put down hate. And for my part, we just need to stop all this stuff and just forgive each other. I think that's what the Lord would want us to do. Is to stop and just love one another.

[13:40:11] SUSAN BRO, MOTHER OF HEATHER HEYER: Here's the message, although Heather was a caring and compassionate person, so are a lot of you. A lot of you go that extra mile. And I think the reason that what happened to Heather has struck a chord is because we know that what she did is achievable. We don't all have to die. We don't all have to sacrifice our lives. They tried to kill my child to shut her up. Well, guess what, you just magnified her.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, let's go our correspondent, Brian Todd. He's on the scene for us in Charlottesville.

A very moving memorial service. Brian, tell us a little bit more about this service honoring the memory of Heather Heyer.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, a lot of emotions inside this theater behind me. Heather Heyer's grandfather talked about holding her as a baby and singing to her as a young girl. You heard the father and mother and their emotions.

Well, some top state officials were also very emotional as they came out of this theater right afterwards.

We spoke to Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Arizona. It's been more than 20 hours since President Trump made his controversial remarks that people on both sides of that demonstration on Saturday were violent, and still Senator Kaine was very angry about that. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. TIM KAINE, (D), ARIZONA: There's a complete lack of moral leadership in the Oval Office right now. His unwillingness to call out white supremacy for what it is, to criticize it, to be unequivocal in condemning bigotry, it's shocking. It's not surprising because hiss very campaign was rooted in that. But it's shocking that a president of the United States is going to have moral clarity in a moment like that.

TODD: What do you say to his position that there were people on both sides committing violence, there were people on the left-leaning counter protesters side who committed violence as well?

KAINE: Any violence should be condemned, and it should be condemned unequivocally. Madison and the drafters of the Constitution said that people should have the right to protest, but to peacefully assemble to protest and present their opinions. So you need to be peaceful as you make your points known. That's very, very important. But the president's confusion and attempt to suggest that there's an equivalence. Who were the left running down in automobiles? That he couldn't see to call out. And now we know that his own staff urged him, urged him to call out budgetary and division and white supremacy, and at the mic he wouldn't do it. That tells you that there's a vacuum now. But the vacuum will be filled by well-meaning people in this community and others.

TODD: What do you want to see from the president moving forward? What do you want to see the president say next?

KAINE: I don't have a request of the president. In Virginia, we're not expecting him to lead on this issue because I think he's shown who he is.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: I also asked Senator Kaine about how he thinks this investigation is going, because there's some frustration on the ground in Charlottesville that only five arrests have been made in connection with Saturday's violence. Senator Kaine said he thinks investigators are doing the best they can. But everyone here in Charlottesville, city officials, state officials, they're appealing to the public for more help in making more arrests -- Wolf?

BLITZER: All right, Brian, thanks very much. Brian Todd in Charlottesville for us.

President Trump, once again, tweeting moments ago that he is ending his Manufacturing Council as well as his Strategy and Policy Forum. It comes amidst a growing backlash over his defense of the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The president really had no choice in disbanding those two council because so many of the leaders were bolting.

The torch-bearing men and women who were chanting anti-Jewish slogans, racist slogans, the president insisting not all of those people were necessarily Neo-Nazis. And not all, he says, were white supremacists.

So let's get some reaction from Democratic Congressman James Clyburn, of South Carolina, third ranking Democrat in the House.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

What do you think? I want to get your immediate reaction to these CEOs, these other business leaders bolting from these two councils because of the president's statements or lack of statements.

[13:44:34] REP. JAMES CLYBURN, (D), SOUTH CAROLINA: Thank you so much for having me, Wolf.

I think what these CEOs were doing were demonstrating what this country is all about. I applaud them from stepping away from this charade. Ken Frazier, just a great friend, and I thank him so much for leading the charge on this.

What we're seeing is a tremendous credibility gap, a morality gap that's developing in this country and the business community is stepping up to do its part to fill that gap. Now it's time for the United States Congress to step in. Someone said earlier on your show, that he -- the president cannot fire the Congress. That is correct. And the Congress needs to demonstrate that we are, in fact, co-equal branch of government. And I think it's time for the speaker of the House, the leader of the House, the Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi, and for both Senator Schumer and Senator McConnell to bring together their leadership teams and let's begin to put together an approach to governance that will bring people together, that will pass legislation, that will move this country forward and pass it in a bipartisan way. Get 145 House members on the Republican side, 145 Democrats and let's get the 290 votes that are necessary to have a veto proof-piece of legislation, pass it, send it to the president. If he doesn't sign it, let's override the veto and let's go forward. Same thing in the Senate, 35 Senators on either side will pass legislation.

We have got to bring this country together. And I think when you have a moral crisis in the White House -- and that's what we have got -- it's time for us in the Congress, as a co-equal branch to step into the gap and bring this country together, we can do it. We did it back in 2008. We did bipartisan legislation to bring this country back from the brink of economic disaster. We are now approaching the brink of what I would call a morality disaster, a moral disaster in this country. I think the Congress can serve that same purpose here today. And so I'm calling upon the leadership of the House and the Senate, in a bipartisan way, they're going to do what's necessary to demonstrate who and what we are. And let's move this country forward in a bipartisan and in a multiracial way.

BLITZER: Well, let me ask you, Congressman, because you have been a leader in the civil rights movement in our country for a long time, going way, way back. Give us a little sense of history right now when you saw those marchers with torches screaming out anti-Semitic slurs, and you heard them chanting, "Jews will not replace us," then they started screaming out, "you will not replace us," referring to African-Americans, when they uttered the slogan, "blood and soil, blood and soil," a clear statement that we heard Nazis speak out in the '30s in the Germany. What was your reaction as someone who has worked so hard in this area of civil rights all of these years?

CLYBURN: You know, I've been saying for a long time, and miss colleagues at the Congressional Black Caucus would agree, I was around in the '60s as you said, and I remember some of those slogans and I remember what some of the political leaders had to say. That was a different day and a different time.

We remember in our studies what happened in the 1930s in Germany. I told a business group down in Hilton Head a little bit before the election that what I saw coming was a replay of what we saw happen in Nazi Germany. And what happened, Hitler was elected chancellor of Germany. He didn't become a dictator until people began to be influenced by his foolishness. We just elected a president. And he's got a lot of foolishness going on, and I'm afraid a lot of people are being influenced by that foolishness. So I want Republicans to stand up and say we are not going to misuse the Constitution of this county to turn this country on its head. I think the Congress and the House need to move -- we have got to

raise the debt ceiling so that this fool that's president of the United States cannot reject it. So long as it's bipartisan, let's do what's necessary to reform our tax code. Do that in a bipartisan way. Do the same thing for fixing the Affordable Care Act. There are problems with the Affordable Care Act. And we all -- and then let's do a bipartisan infrastructure bill that will do more than build roads and bridges. Let's have water and sewage going into communities that need them, and let's target resources into communities of need. And let's have broad band deployment so our kids can get the education that they need.

The House of Representatives and the Senate need to step into the gap, and let's do what's necessary to move our country forward. Because this president has marginalized himself in such a way, he is never going to be able to provide any moral leadership, which is what is need from any president in order to move an agenda.

[13:50:43] BLITZER: Very strong words from Congressman James Clyburn, who I pointed out goes way back to the civil rights movement, to the '60s.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

CLYBURN: Thank you so much for having me.

BLITZER: Gloria, let's get some reaction. You heard him. He has lost complete faith in the president of the United States.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Look, I mean, what he is effectively saying, since the president can't fire the Congress, is that the Congress ought to make the president irrelevant. Period. I think that's very difficult to do. There are lots of people whose districts and states have an awful lot of Trump supporters who will remain loyal to this president, and so it's going to take an awful lot of political sort of discussions among leaders to see what they -- how they can lead their troops, and I do believe it's up to the congressional leadership now to get together and say, what is it we can do as members of Congress to try and get this country on the same page on these kinds of important moral issues without which we can't do anything. Because that is the base of the country. Not anybody's political base. It is the base of this country.

CILLIZZA: And to Gloria's point, we had a primary yesterday in Alabama. Three candidates, sitting Senator, Roy Moore, who many people know from his fight with the Ten Commandments and a member of Congress. The battle was not who's the least like Trump. The battle was, who's the most like Trump. Who is the one that Trump really wants. He's endorsed Luther Strange.

So I think Gloria's point is really important. Let's not assume that the Congress, as a whole, thinks, oh, I got to get away from Donald Trump as soon as possible, because, frankly, they've stayed with them as long as they have despite a track record of very controversial things on race and ethnicity, comments he's made about women. I do think, however, the Republican leadership, they have to figure

out, OK, what are we going to do next here. They -- there's not going to be any cooperation with Democrats and Donald Trump. I think a lot of Republicans and Donald Trump are a little iffy in terms of are they going to cooperate. So what does the Republican leadership do? That do they take up tax reform? Do they follow Donald Trump's lead as they did with health care? What do they do about the border wall? How do they handle what Donald Trump wants to do with the debt ceiling? These are the real things that are going to come up. They have to decide how they position himself against --

BLITZER: You heard --

CILLIZZA: -- for, sideways, I don't know, with Donald Trump, given what he has now proven to be, which is, you know --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Cornell, as we heard from Congressman Clyburn, and so many others, this is a critical moment in American history right now. I tweeted before the show, and I'll read it to our viewers, "It's not often when the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force chiefs all find it necessary to speak out against racism and hatred in America." That says a lot right there.

CORNELL WILLIAM BROOKS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It says quite a bit. The military is -- our flag officers, generals, speaking eloquently to the moment. The military has long been a laboratory for equality and justice in this society. It is a green meritocracy. But we need the generals having to lead the president. It's an indictment of the president.

And Congressman Clyburn talked about the co-equal branches of government. We have the judiciary leading with respect to voter suppression, the Muslim ban, Congress notwithstanding. The political trend line should take note of the moral trend line and determine how long do you want to embrace this president while his poll numbers continue to sink, his credibility continues to sink, the stature of the office of the presidency continues to sink. I believe that they will reach a point at which they're going to have to distance themselves, both in terms of getting something done and in terms of remaining politically viable. And let's not forget this. Everybody wants to be remembered, have a legacy in politics and other things, as having stood for something.

[13:54:57] BLITZER: Juana, were you surprised to hear Congressman Clyburn say he doesn't have any faith in this president any longer?

SUMMERS: No. I wasn't. I think to Chris's point, this is a president who we've heard make these, frankly, stunning comments about what happened in Charlottesville and the latest hatred and bigotry we saw there. We've seen him have a history of making degrading comments about women, Mexicans, about Muslims in this country. And I think that he's also shown that he lacks a capacity with one very important part of his job and that is being someone who can console a country and bring it together in a moment of strife, something we've seen from past presidents, Republican and Democrat. You don't see him in Charlottesville attending that memorial service for Heather Heyer. You don't see him speaking out about the need to come together in the way we've seen so many past leaders do. So I think we're seeing a vacuum of leadership there.

BLITZER: This is clearly a critical moment in our country's history. We'll stay on top of it and watch it, oh, so carefully.

That's it for me. Thanks very much for watching. I'll be back 5:00 p.m. Eastern in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

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

For our viewers here in North America, "NEWSROOM" with Brooke Baldwin starts right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:13] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.