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Trump Won't Accept Blame if GOP Loses Midterms; Trump Threatens to Cut Off Aid to Guatemla and Ecuador for Migrants. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired October 17, 2018 - 08:30   ET

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


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BERMAN: In a new interview with "The Associated Press" President Trump is raising eyebrows with this statement about the upcoming midterm elections. This is what the AP wrote. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he won't accept the blame if his party loses control of the House in November, arguing his campaigning and endorsements have helped Republican candidates.

He dismissed suggestions that he might take reasonability, as his predecessor did, for midterm losses or view the outcome as a referendum on his presidency. "No, I think I'm helping people" Trump said. "I don't believe anybody has ever had this kind of impact."

So let's get the bottom line with David Axelrod, former Obama Senior Advisor and CNN Senior Political Commentator. The president this morning this taking issue with how the AP quoted him directly there. Saying - I guess he's saying that maybe he would take blame for Republicans. Because the bottom line is, is that when you're a president in your first term the first midterm election it is a lot about you. It just is.

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, well the reality John is when in the last, really four years since he started campaigning or three and a half years, have we heard the president say "Yeah, that ones on me. This is my fault, this is my responsibility."

He treats it in the words of Senator Kennedy who you just spoke with like gas station sushi. He doesn't get near taking reasonability or blame. That's just not in his lexicon. But the reality is that as you point out every midterm election is a referendum on the person in the White House, to some degree. And in this case even more so because the president insists he's been campaigning and making himself be issued and try and rally his base.

And I think what you'll find if the republicans lose the house is that those seats that they lost are going to be closely tied to his approval rating. And where he isn't popular they will lose. And where he is popular they will win. And that may help him in the senate races where many of the battle grounds are in red states that he carried by some margin. But it's going to hurt him in a lot of these - particularly these suburban districts where his approval rating is quite low. CAMEROTA: David, he also is not taking responsibility for the

ballooning federal deficit. And I just have to tell you it is astonishing to me to hear how republicans are on board with the deficit. I mean I remember at Fox that was a daily drum beat with President Obama was in the oval office. How dare he be running up the countries credit card? This is going to be on our grandchildren. They're ruing the country. These democrats are ruining the country with their propagate spending. And now there's, you know, crickets.

AXELROD: Yes. No, I mean I think the - when the tax bill was debated at $1.5 trillion tax cut critics across the board said "Look this is going to balloon the deficits." And the president the propionates of the bill, public and propionates of the bill said "No, we will grow at such a rate that that won't happen."

Well the fact is the math is the math. And now we see the aftermath which is a balloon deficit. And it was - but it was kind of interesting to hear Senator McConnell say yesterday, "No, this is about entitlement programs. So we're going to have to cut those." Well there are issues with those programs. But there's no doubt that the ballooning deficit is related to the fact that tax revenues have dropped up exponentially because of $1.5 trillion tax cut. There's no real debate about that. That's a fact.

BERMAN: Look there are political commentators who think that part of the idea, the grand plan of republicans with the tax cut was to create a deficit situation where they could say we have to cut entitlements. Create the situation where cutting them is essential. We'll see what happens there. The president doesn't seem to be on board completely with Mitch McConnell on that, but time will tell.

We're about three weeks from the midterm...

AXELROD: I'll tell you - let me just say one thing. Let me say one thing about that John, and the midterms. When I saw what McConnell said yesterday my first thought was every democrats in the country is going to be cutting an ad with McConnell's comments promising cuts in Social Security and Medicare as a result of these deficits.

That this tax bill that he pushed through the senate helped - not helped but largely created. So it's going to be - it's going to be interesting to see how that issue plays out in these midterms. Sorry to interrupt you.

BERMAN: No, no, no problem. We'll see if the democrats size on that over the next few days. You know we're three weeks from the midterms, which seems like a perfect time to talk about the 2020 Presidential Election.

BERMAN: No, no problem. We'll see the Democrats seize on that over the next few days. You know, we're three weeks from the midterms which seems like a perfect time to talk about the 2020 president election --

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CAMEROTA: Definitely.

BERMAN: Definitely, right?

CAMEROTA: Let me set my clock. It's almost there.

BERMAN: Vice President - former Vice President -

AXELROD: Can't wait.

BERMAN: - Joe Biden weighed in on his candidacy and, frankly, his age. And I think he admitted the obvious here. He says, "I think age is a totally legitimate thing to raise. I think it's totally appropriate for people to look at me and say if I were to run for office again, well God darn, you're old." "Well, chronically, I'm old," he says. "Every voter is entitled to know exactly what kind of shape you're in. You owe it to them. It's a legitimate question, so I think age is relevant." Your assessment of that?

AXELROD: Yes. Well, he's absolutely right. I think that is going to be the big question that he's going to have to confront and people won't raise it overtly, but there'll be this implicit issue is can someone who's going to be 78-years-old at the time that he takes the oath of office deal with the rigors of the presidency? And for the vice president, the campaign itself is going to be a proving ground there. Campaigns are incredibly exacting and straining, and how he endures that gauntlet will, in effect, be an answer to that question.

But you know, it's interesting. It's not just him, but Bernie Sanders will be - is about the same age. Mike Bloomberg's talking about running. He's about the same age. Elizabeth Warren will be 70. So, you know, you have this whole cohort of candidates, many of whom are at the top of the polls right now who are up in years. And the question is will there be a generational push for a younger candidate, and that's what some of the other candidates are counting on.

BERMAN: The old Clinton line against Bob Dole. Not the age. It's the age of the ideas. Expect we'll here something along those lines.

AXELROD: Exactly.

BERMAN: David Axelrod, you sure are eternally 29. Be sure to watch the Axe Files Saturday, 7 p.m. -

AXELROD: Thank you, my friend.

BERMAN: - right here on CNN.

CAMEROTA: All right, President Trump threatening Central American countries over a caravan of immigrants heading to the U.S. border. We have a live report on the facts next.

BERMAN: Plus, what President Trump calls his biggest threat. Stick around for that.

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CAMEROTA: Time now for CNN Business. President Trump reveals his biggest threat. What is it? Chief Business Correspondent, Christine Romans joins us now with the answer.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi there Alisyn. President Trump going after the Fed once again.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My biggest threat is the Fed because the Fed is raising rates too fast and it is independent, so I don't speak to him, but I'm not happy with what he's doing.

(END VIDEO)

He, of course, is Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell who Trump appointed last year. Trump has been critical of Powell and the Fed for gradually raising interest rates. Here's why the Fed is raising rates. The economy is hot. Companies are making fat profits. There are a record seven million job openings and unemployment is the lowest in a generation. Wages are starting to rise so the Fed is raising interest rates to keep the economy from overheating.

Overt White House criticism of the Federal Reserve, an independent agency, it's rare, but this president sees the stock market as his personal score card. When stocks last week suffered their worst in months, Trump blamed the Fed. Again, rare to undermine the Fed and it makes investors nervous because the bank is essentially the nonpolitical shock absorber for the financial system. But almost as dramatically as stocks fell last week guys, they rose yesterday. More evidence the companies are making huge profits thanks to the president's tax cuts and this strong economy. The Dow alone soared 548 points or 2.2 percent yesterday; it's best day since March, John.

BERMAN: I can almost hear you cheering and getting excited when the Fed was brought up by the president. A Fed discussion, yes! Finally!

ROMANS: An "f" word I love.

BERMAN: All right. President Trump threatening to cut off aid to Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador if they don't stop the caravan of migrants making its way to the U.S. border. CNN's Leyla Santiago joins us now with the latest on that. Layla.

LAYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well John this is a caravan made up of mothers and children, family, all saying they are escaping violence and poverty. When I talk about violence, I was just on the border last week. I spoke to one woman who fled Honduras saying that the gangs threatened her ten-year-old son, said if they did not leave, if they did not pay up, they would kill her child. That's the level of violence we're talking about here and President Trump yesterday started off sort of saying to Honduras, if you don't turn this caravan around, I will pull U.S. aid. We're talking about for Honduras anyway, $127 million. That's what it was in 2016, the latest numbers available.

And then last night added Guatemala and El Salvador into the mix. So the big question will be, are these Central American governments actually going to cooperate with President Trump and try to do something about this caravan? This caravan has started in San Pedro Sula, one of the most violent areas of Honduras. They made their way into Guatemala. That's where they are right now traveling on foot and then they will continue on, if their plan goes accordingly, into the Mexico and to the U.S. to seek asylum.

But the big question again will be will Mexico stop them?

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Will Guatemala stop them? And what will that mean for those families who say it's the poverty and the violence that makes them, that forces them to flee and seek a better life?

Remember last year - excuse me, in April we followed a similar caravan, so this is just a matter of months later, another one, and again, President Trump is tweeting. Alisyn -

CAMEROTA: OK Leyla, thank you very much for that report. So Vice President Mike Pence's daughter, Charlotte, is going to join us next to talk about life in the national spotlight and the lessons that she has learned from her father that we all can take something away from. We'll see Charlotte in a minute.

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Nearly two years after the 2016 election, ups at that (ph) made her father the Vice President of the United States, Charlotte Pence is sharing what she learned from her time on the campaign trail and growing up in a political family. Her new book is "Where You Go: Life Lessons from My Father". Charlotte Pence joins us now. Great to have you here.

CHARLOTTE PENCE: Thanks so much for having me, Alisyn.

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CAMEROTA: OK, so tell us about the lessons you learned from your father that you think can apply to everybody.

PENCE: Yes, you know, I do think they can apply to everybody. I kind of wrote this book for everyone. I hope everybody can get something out of it. My dad has always taught us to follow our dreams, but then to bring our family with us and not forget our faith along the way and that's kind of the over arching theme of the book.

CAMEROTA: You talk about how being on the campaign trail, I mean it's an intrusive experience. You know, the press is everywhere and I was really touched by the anecdote that you shared about how you got the news that your family dog, you know your beloved dog had died and your mom was crying and you were crying and you had to get out and sort of confront the press and they were mystified and didn't know why you were crying and you sort of had to live your life that way for those years. What was it like?

PENCE: Yes, you know when you're in public life, you share a lot of those moments with a lot of people and, so, it was hard at the time. We were crying on the plane and the press saw us and then they were really awesome, though they wrote us a sympathy card, the press pool that was traveling with us and so once they figured out what was going on. It is strange to share that with people sometimes, but it can be really special.

CAMEROTA: So it sounds like you've had a better experience with the press than we sometimes hear President Trump depicting it.

PENCE: I have and you know, I think that's all part of it. It's part of public life is knowing that you're opening yourself up to criticism and my dad has always kind of told us that's what freedom looks like, you know, is being open to protesters or the press commenting on things they don't like about you.

CAMEROTA: You go to Harvard Divinity School.

PENCE: Yes.

CAMEROTA: You are a deeply religious person and family and so how do you reconcile the things that the president says that may be insulting or considered un-Christian or unkind?

PENCE: You know my dad has always shown me how to treat people with grace. I try to do that in my own life. It is something that it can be difficult to do, especially in this day and age. I mean, having a religious faith, but I talk about in the book that I doesn't always have such a strong religious faith. I was kind of interested in atheism for a little while and my parents always encouraged us to have our own opinions and so when I came back to that faith is what I tried to live that out.

CAMEROTA: But I mean help our viewers understand because we hear this a lot, that they are confused when deeply religious people support President Trump because, I mean, every day we seem to have a different example. I have one today where he brought up in a tweet Stormy Daniels with whom he's accused of having an extramarital affair and he went after her looks and called her a name and none of these things are things that most people associate with someone of deep faith. So how do you square that?

PENCE: You know, for me it's been a lot about a personal relationship with people. I know there is a lot of things said in the press a lot of time, but I write about in the book when I first met the president, he was just really kind to me and getting to know him and his family has just been a really special experience, just seeing the support they have for one another is just really inspiring. I have talked about that in the book a little bit. He really took time with me when we first met and was interested in me so I kind of go with personal relationships more than what else he talks about in the press.

CAMEROTA: I think that's interesting. I think a lot of people feel that way, which is we know our neighbors and when we have a relationship with our neighbors that that's a very different experience that when you are hurling insults against them, it's unclear. Do you think that it has helped the national dialogue for the president to go after people?

PENCE: You know, I think he has his own style. I think that everybody does. I think that's part of public life, you know. I think that when you are in politics you decide what style works for you. In the book I talk about how my dad is self-deprecating and joking about how the president was very charismatic, so he chose my dad to balance the ticket out.

CAMEROTA: How does your dad feel about that backward compliment.

PENCE: No, my dad said that about himself. He was saying that he was not charismatic. And so he's got that self-deprecating mid-west humor a little bit. It's part of politics. You decide what your style is.

CAMEROTA: You've talked about your mom as well and you said she doesn't allow herself or those who work with her to be treated poorly or spoken down to.

PENCE: Yes.

CAMEROTA: How has this whole experience been for your mom, because obviously we have believed she has been uncomfortable at times with some of the news surrounding the president and the president's approach to insulting people?

PENCE: You know my mom is just awesome. I have learned so much from her and when I was on the campaign trail I kind of worked-ish for her. It wasn't paid, but I was kind of her assistant in a way and I got to see, as I write about in the book, that she treats her staff with such respect.

[08:55:00]

And she's just really an amazing boss. I mean she really, really brings people along and doesn't really - she stands up for people. And doesn't let people get pushed around in her office. And it's something that I would love to emulate one day in my own life.

CAMEROTA: You've also - as you know it's gotten a lot of attention when you're father said that he won't dine alone with any woman. You've written in the book I'm proud to say I am one of few woman with whom Mike Pence dines alone.

PENCE: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Can you just give us the back story? Why doesn't your father feel it's appropriate to dine with a woman?

PENCE: Yes, I know that was just something I think my parents kind of came up with in their own marriage, that works for them specifically. My dad has always put my mom first and never questioned that his relationship with her comes above his relationship with anybody else. And so that's just been really inspiring for me to watch as a daughter. Yes, and I'm very proud of him for always choosing to put her first.

CAMEROTA: The book again is "Where You Go: Life Lessons from My Father". Charlotte Pence, thanks so much for being here.

PENCE: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Great to talk to you. All right we're following a lot of new developments in the apparent death of and murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. CNN Newsroom with Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto, just up after this quick break.

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