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Trump Calls For Healing; Trump Speaks Tonight At Convention; Trump Calls out McCain; Trump Omits Many Sides Remark; Charlottesville Covers Statue; Interview with Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA). Aired 1- 1:30p ET

Aired August 23, 2017 - 13:00   ET

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


WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 10:00 a.m. in Reno, Nevada, 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 8:00 p.m. in Moscow. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

In just one hour, Donald Trump will give a speech in Reno, Nevada. But which Donald Trump is anyone's guess. Which one will show up? Will he use a teleprompter, a carefully drafted uplifting script? Or will he devolve into the man we saw in Phoenix last night, delivering this campaign rally type of speech.

It was a 77-minute rant. The president was, at times, divisive, petty and vengeful. He painted himself as the ultimate victim in the Charlottesville, Virginia attack, stoked a culture war over confederate monuments and blamed the news media for a divided country. All while using words like us to describe his base and then to describe the majority of Americans who didn't vote for him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our movement is a movement built on love, but the very dishonest media, those people right up there, with all the cameras, they don't report the facts, just like they don't want to report that I spoke out forcedly against hatred, bigotry and violence. I hit them with neo-Nazi. I hit them with everything. I got the white supremacist, the neo-Nazi. I got them all in there.

They're trying to take away our culture. They're trying to take away our history. Weak, weak, people. Honestly, these are really, really dishonest people. And they're bad people. And I really think they don't like our country. I really believe that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's go to our National Correspondent Jason Carroll. He's n Reno for us right now. So, Jason, where -- any idea, at least so far, which Donald Trump will show up? The carefully scripted teleprompter speech or more of a rant?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I can say this, Wolf. Two teleprompters are set up inside and the president is expected to read from prepared remarks here at the American Legions 99th annual convention.

And this is what's expected. And I say expected because we've seen so many times in the past, including last night, when the president decides to go off script.

But if all goes as planned, here's what's expected to happen. The president expected to speak just about an hour from now. Once again, he will read or is expected to read from prepared remarks, which will say, in part, and let me read you an excerpt from some of these remarks.

He will say, we are here to hold you up as an example of the strength, courage and love that our country will need to overcome every challenge that we face. It's time to heal the wounds that have divided us.

Now, after he then reads from those prepared remarks, Wolf, he is expected assign the Veterans' Appeals Improvement and Moderation Act. That is a bill that is basically expected to streamline the process of having veterans appeal for their benefits, so disability benefits.

So, once again, this is what's expected to happen. But as we've seen so many times in the past, this president has gone off-script. Certainly, there are a number of people in his administration who were hoping today and here he chooses to stick with the script -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Jason, we'll get back to you. Thanks very much. Jason Carroll in Reno for us. We'll, of course, have coverage of the president's speech once he starts.

In the meantime, let's bring in a panel of Republicans to discuss what we'd expect from the president today, as well as saw less than 24 hours ago.

With us, our CNN Political Commentators Matt Lewis, a columnist for "The Daily Beast," Amanda Carpenter, the former communications director for Senator Ted Cruz, and Ana Navarro who served under Senator John McCain, supported former Florida governor Jeb Bush.

So, Matt, I don't know if you're a Republican. I know you're a serious journalist. I know these two ladies here are Republicans. But let's talk a little bit about going from the type of speech the president delivered last night to what is expected to be a very different kind of speech before the American legion.

MATT LEWIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right, it seems like now, he's oscillating between giving prepared remarks on camera, reading from a teleprompter where he sometimes ad libs and that could get him in trouble. To then, giving these rants where he just, sort of, does his shtick for applause. And he oscillates back and forth.

And I think the problem with that is that anytime -- anything that -- if you have a good showing and you stay on message and you, kind of, hit your marks and you say what your strategists want to say.

And the next day, you go out and you just, sort of, ad lib and do your shtick, then it undermines everything you've been trying to do and you don't have a coherent message.

The most important thing is -- to remember is that speeches are tactics. And so, what you should be doing is have a broad strategy of what is it you really want to do?

[13:05:03] Is passing health care reform, is passing tax reform, is that your key goal? If so, all your speeches should, sort of, feed into that goal. I think here it's, sort of, ad hoc. How does -- Donald Trump wakes up. What's happened in the world today? Who's bothering him today? That he's responding, not being proactive.

AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Let me -- judging from that tidbit the preview that we just got from Jason Carroll. I do see a theme running through the last three speeches, starting with Trump's speech in Afghanistan on Monday. What we saw last night and I think what is come later today.

He is starting to talk much more got patriotism, loyalty, history, heritage. I think this gets into dangerous territory, because many times, he gives off that idea that you can only be patriotic to this country by being loyal to him.

But this is somewhat of a guilt trip. He's trying to get Americans behind him. Two veterans' events in one week, in three days. I think it's pretty clear what he's trying to do.

(CROSSTALK)

LEWIS: Is that based on his -- is that based on his -- sort of, what he needs and wants psychologically or is that based on a strategy?

CARPENTER: I think it's a messaging strategy that they are trying deliberately to do to get Republicans behind him to united Republicans behind Trump. Do I think it'll work without legislative success? No. But I think, clearly, from the last three days, that's where he's going.

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I'm not sure he's going to get Republicans behind him. He'll certainly get his base behind him. But last time I checked, John McCain is a Republican. Jeff Flake is a Republican. Mitch McConnell is a Republican majority leader of the Senate.

And he's in a war with all of them. With the two senators from Arizona in their own state. I disagree with you. I don't think this is a shtick.

This is the Donald Trump we have seen consistently before he was candidate. This is the Donald Trump who started the birther movement. This is the Donald Trump who's been divisive, who's invented and lied about things, not been factual over and over again.

To paraphrase, Maya Angelou (ph). When somebody shows you who they are, believe them the first time. This is the Donald Trump we saw in the campaign. The one that's not the real Donald Trump is that guy who reads the teleprompter. So, what we are seeing is not a -- LEWIS: I'm not saying -- I'm not saying with shticket -- I meant that as a connotation that it's fake or phony. No, I think that this is actually who he is but I do think there's a showman's side to him. He likes the applause. He likes to play to the crowds.

NAVARRO: This is way beyond -- way beyond showmanship. What she saw last night is not normal. What he saw last night is not performance. What we saw last night is a person who got backlash from a very deficient response to a tragedy in Charlottesville.

And instead of using the opportunity to be a healer and to be a uniter, he went out there to stoke the flames of division even further.

When he says they're taking away our history? Who's they? Who's our? What history? What he's doing is dog whistles in front of that base. And I said it last night and I will say it again. The only defensible explanation is that he's not well. Because if he is completely sane, then he is the biggest jerk we've seen in the world.

BLITZER: Ana, let me just play a clip because perhaps maybe with the exception of Ana's statement, the strongest condemnation of what we heard from President Trump last night came from the former director of national intelligence, James Clapper. He was on CNN and he said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES CLAPPER, FORMER DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: I really question his ability to -- his fitness to be in this office. And I also am beginning to wonder about his motivation for it. Maybe he is looking for a way out. I worry about, frankly, you know, the access to the nuclear codes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: That was a pretty amazing statement coming from the former director of National Intelligence, someone who served in the military for more than three decades, served under Republican presidents, Democratic presidents. And for him to be concerned about this president having, in his words, access to nuclear codes.

CARPENTER: Yes, I mean, this is very disturbing to hear someone of his stature say that about our president.

But I think that we do have to look at what Donald Trump is trying to do with these events. Last night, he held a campaign re-election rally. A re-election rally, without getting any legislative achievements done.

So, what is the purpose of this? He is not necessarily interested in passing legislative items that help the Republican Party. Otherwise he would be on the phone with Mitch McConnell, not in this stone-cold war. He would be working those senators for votes.

But what he is interested is keeping people behind him. I don't think he cares so much about the presidency as he does the idea of President Trump. I think it's ludicrous to think that he's going to walk away from this ever.

But he wants the attention on him and the way that he's going to do this is by fighting this large culture war against the media, against political correctness, as we saw in the 2016 campaign.

BLITZER: I'm going to play --

NAVARRO: I think -- I think we're overthinking. I think what last night was about was about making himself feel good.

CARPENTER: Sure.

NAVARRO: I think he needs that kind of reaffirmation and that kind of love and people.

[13:10:01] You know, I think when he faced a backlash from his Charlottesville reaction, that just gets under his skin. He can't let go of it. That's why he relitigated it page by page, out of context and doing lies of omission last night because he cannot let go.

BLITZER: Matt, what did you think of what General Clapper said?

LEWIS: Well, I think it's obviously very scary. General Clapper has served in the government and high intelligence positions for 50 years.

And, look, I think a couple things are true, right? One of the things we know is that Donald Trump does seem to lack impulse control. He does seem to sometimes fly off the handle. And, as I said earlier, be reactive. He's also -- seems to be vengeful.

On the other hand, we know it's true that in the modern era, the president has a -- you know, the president could -- not to alarm people out there. But the president could start a nuclear war. Any president could, without congressional approval. Like, this is the way it works in the modern era.

And so, you know, we've seen where, remember, Linden Johnson runs for president in 1964 and scares everybody about Barry Goldwater, you know? And you have the daisy ad, famously. And so, I don't want to stoke fear but this is DNI, you know, Clapper, not me saying this.

BLITZER: Yes, former director of National Intelligence.

NAVARRO: We all know Republicans. And I suspect -- we've seen them when they think the mics aren't on. And we've heard them. There's a lot of Republicans out there who are concerned about his --

LEWIS: Voters don't think about this before they vote.

NAVARRO: They need to start saying it, not in private. Not -- they need to start saying it in public because they have a duty to this country much beyond a duty to a party.

BLITZER: Ana, thank you very much. Amanda, Matt, guys, I appreciate it. The president, he takes on Republicans, but how much lasting damage is he doing to his own party? When we come back, I'll ask Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois. He's standing by live. He's smiling right now. He's a U.S. military veteran. We'll talk about Afghanistan and a whole lot more.

Don't go away.

[13:12:46]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:16:15] BLITZER: Right at the top of the hour, we're going to hear from President Trump once again. He'll be speaking at an event in Reno, Nevada. We'll have, of course, have live coverage of that.

Last night the president was in Phoenix, Arizona, not too far away, throwing a lot of red meat to his most ardent supporters. Predictably the president also lashed out at the news media, including CNN, but he also took on members of his own party, including two from right there in the state of Arizona.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We were just one vote away from victory after seven years of everybody proclaiming repeal and replace. One vote away. One vote away. I will not mention any names. Very presidential, isn't it? Very presidential. And nobody wants me to talk about your other senator, who's weak on borders, weak on crime, so I won't talk about him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The president, of course, was talking about the two Arizona Republican senators, John McCain. That was that one vote he kept referring to that failed to pass repeal and replace of Obamacare, and Senator Jeff Flake, the junior senator from Arizona.

Also today the president did begin to name some names, tweeting, quote, Phoenix crowd last night was amazing. A packed house. I love the great state of Arizona. Not a fan of Jeff Flake. Weak on crime and border.

Let's bring in Illinois Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger. He's a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

I wonder what you thought of the president's attacks on two key members of his own party in their home state of Arizona, especially Senator John McCain, a war hero, someone who has served the country for so many years, who right now is battling brain cancer, going through very extensive medical treatment. Did not even wish Senator McCain a speedy recovery.

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R), ILLINOIS: Yes, it's disappointing is probably the most nice thing I can say about that. John McCain, I've gotten to know him since I've been in Congress and he and I have grown to become friends. And I'll tell you, even if we don't agree on every issue, I have no doubt that this is a man that every vote he takes, he takes because he thinks it's the right thing for his country, even if I disagree with the vote he takes. It's right for his country.

He's been an amazing leader when it comes to foreign policy and America's role in the world and strength and not to mention his heroism in the war. He's told me stories about what he's been through, what he's gone through, and I just look at him and say, man, if I could only have about half the courage you ever had in my life.

And when I went through survival training, they tell stories of people like John McCain and what they endured to train us and how to deal with -- hopefully which never happens, but inevitable capture.

And so in a disagreement with Senator McCain over a vote on the repeal and replace bill, at least say -- wish him a speedy recovery. You can call him out and say I wish you'd have voted yes, but to go after him as he's repeatedly done in the past is surprising.

And then Jeff Flake -- I mean I think Jeff Flake, from what I know, voted for the repeal and replace and, you know, has just been critical of President Trump.

So these attacks within our own party, what we need to do now, we need to unite our party, and then our party needs to focus on uniting a very divided country because on both sides of the aisle, frankly everywhere, passions are being so ignited right now, this doesn't end with one side saying, oh, the other side's right, I guess they got angry enough that we learned. It ends in violence and it ends in a place that this country's been at before that we never want to go to again.

BLITZER: Let's go through some other elements of the president's speech. He really went after the news media. And I'm going to play two clippings, what he said last night in terms of his reaction to the Charlottesville disaster, and what he actually said. Listen to this.

[13:20:06] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Here's what I said on Saturday, we're closely following the terrible events unfolding in Charlottesville, Virginia. This is me speaking. We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence. That's me speaking on Saturday.

We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, he left out the "on many sides, on many sides." And elsewhere he didn't mention what he actually said during that news conference a week ago Tuesday when he said there were very fine people on both sides, among the white supremacists, as well as the counter protesters. What's your reaction to that? KINZINGER: Well, I mean, it's -- my reaction's unfavorable. I

condemned the Charlottesville remarks. I said there's no place for neo-Nazis, KKK, white supremacy of any kind and President Trump should clarify his remarks and make that clear.

I was confused yesterday in the rally, and I didn't watch all of it, but the doubling down on revisiting that. I thought he gave a really good speech on Afghanistan. And then to change the news cycle again and say what he said is confusing to me.

I mean this is a time -- we have to look to a president, whether it's President Obama, President Trump or whoever the next president is going to be. We have to look at a president and say, at a time when there's dissention in the country and there's real division, we need somebody that's going to unify, not unify everybody behind every political ideology. We're always going to have different political ideologies. But at least bring the temperature down. And I get that it felt like a campaign rally, but some of the comments yesterday I think didn't do anything to calm these flames that are just burning right now in the greatest country in the world.

BLITZER: When you get back to Washington after Labor Day, one of the first things you and your colleagues in the House and Senate are going to have to do is raise the nation's debt ceiling so the country doesn't default on its outstanding obligations here in the United States and around the world. But the president said this last night. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Believe me, if we have to close down our government, we're building that wall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: I'll just repeat it. He says, if we have to close down that government, we're building that wall.

What's your reaction, linking, in effect, a government shutdown, defaulting on the nation's debt, avoiding raising the debt ceiling, to a commitment from Congress to pass legislation to build a wall?

KINZINGER: So there's -- there are two separate issues, the actual government shutdown has a big psychological impact, and I think it really hurts our role in the world too because it looks like we're dysfunctional when we're talking to other countries about how they need to govern.

A default is unthinkable. If you remember back when we were close to -- we actually ended up doing this budget control act, but we were getting -- approaching the issue of the debt limit. The stock market actually fell thousands of points. This is a real confidence issue.

This isn't -- the debt limit isn't spending money, it's just paying your credit card bill of money already spent. We need structural reform and spending in this country for sure. But it's a big concern. So, you know, look, I -- shutting down the government over a wall. Any time we talk about shutting the government's wrong. I'll support funding for a border -- for border security. I've worked the border. It needs to be secure. I don't necessarily think it needs to be a wall, but you can do virtual fencing and fencing and walls in areas. But to threaten government shutdown a month before, to even toy with it, I think it's dangerous for the confidence of the markets and it's dangerous for our role in the world as we're talking to nations like Afghanistan to say, here's how you govern yourself.

BLITZER: Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, thanks for joining us.

KINZINGER: Any time.

BLITZER: Just ahead, President Trump's approval numbers, they're at historic lows right now. He's fighting with members of his own party, including leaders. And his agenda, at least for now, is a mess. But what are the Democrats doing to take advantage?

And just who speaks for the Democrats these days anyway? Would it be Hillary Clinton? Former President Barack Obama? Bernie Sanders? Someone else? My next guest, Congressman Brendan Boyle, he's a Democrat from Philadelphia, we will discuss this and more right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:28:30] BLITZER: Got some breaking news coming out of Emancipation Park in Charlottesville, Virginia. Take a look at these pictures -- live pictures. City workers have just placed a black shroud over a statue of Robert E. Lee. This this the same park where white supremacists held what they call their Unite The Right Rally just, what, 11 days ago. That rally, as all of us know, led to violence. Some deadly -- and a deadly clash with counter protesters.

But there you see that black shroud over the Robert E. Lee statue on the campus of the University of Virginia.

I want to bring in Democratic Congressman Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania. He's a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

But let me get your quick reaction. What do you think about that black shroud now placed over that statue?

REP. BRENDAN BOYLE (D), PENNSYLVANIA: Well, thanks, Wolf, for having me.

I haven't had a chance to see it. You know, we're 241 years into now the great American experiment. And I think one of the key questions we face as a country that's borne not out of one race or one ethnicity or one religion, but out of a commitment to a certain set of ideals is how we deal with our history when we, as a people, fail to live up with those ideals. Do we have -- do we keep these statues. Do we instead put plaques right next to them to explain that many of them went up actually during the civil rights era and were put up to protest the federal government's attempt in that era to end segregation? How do we handle these and grapple with these moving forward.

[13:30:02] So I think that this is a tough time in our nation's history. It's a certain amount of growing pains about our checkered past where in the areas of race we haven't lived up to our nation's founding ideals.