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Montel Williams: GOP Must Support LGBT Community; Source: Baton Rouge Cop Killer Said He Had PTSD; Clinton Closes in on Her VP Choice. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired July 20, 2016 - 15:30   ET

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

MONTEL WILLIAMS, FORMER HOST, "THE MONTEL WILLIAMS SHOW": -- including those in the LGBT community.

[15:30:05] CAITLYN JENNER: It was easy to come out as friends. It was harder to come out as Republicans. OK?

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WILLIAMS: I can't remain silent when we direct hate towards an entire race of people, Hispanics, when we direct hate towards an entire religion, Muslims. I can't stand silent when we direct hate towards the LGBT community.

[15:35:06] We're hating our own daughters, our own sons, our own wives. It blows my mind that I put on a uniform to defend this Constitution against all and we have people right here who would actually take away the rights from as many as they could.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Montel Williams speaking at an event held here in Cleveland by the American Unity Fund, calling on Republicans to do more for the LGBT community.

Also speaking at that very event, Caitlyn Jenner, who's quite candidate about the difficulties of being trans and being Republican.

Montel Williams, long time host of "The Montel Williams Show", joins me now.

Good to see you, my friend.

WILLIAMS: Thanks for having me, Brooke.

BALDWIN: My goodness. Talk to you about this morning. What's your message?

WILLIAMS: Well, I looked into a room where I would think that probably ten years ago, you would never have seen that many different cultures of people.

BALDWIN: Yes.

WILLIAMS: All Americans. From black, white, Hispanic, Asian, to people who were clearly straight, people who were clearly conservative, all there understanding that if we truly are the Party of Lincoln, we truly are the Party of Reagan, Reagan himself said in 1984, we are the party that includes all. We are not a party and there's no place for bigots, period.

BALDWIN: You feel like the Republican tent is not big enough?

WILLIAMS: I feel like they've definitely shut the door and don't care. I think it's time to change that rhetoric. Again, I stepped away from the party when the party completely stepped away from me, and made me understand they didn't want me to be a part.

I became an independent but that didn't change my conservative values. It didn't change the way I feel about issues. So I still like to lobby with, I want to be next to, I want to talk to. But why can't we even have a conversation? I was up this morning, I'm glad that there was a group of people there willing to listen.

BALDWIN: It's so interesting, you know, you've come on the show enough. We've talked politics, you are so passionate about the governor of this state. You wanted John Kasich to be the guy. You wanted him to be on the stage. Instead, he's not even in the building.

You know, he is not showing up for Donald Trump. Where are you now? What are you feeling? Are you supporting Donald Trump?

WILLIAMS: What I'm trying to do is get the rest of America to stop drawing lines in the sand and going along with other people --

BALDWIN: Who's drawing the line? Is Donald Trump drawing the line? Is Hillary Clinton drawing the line?

WILLIAMS: You listen to rhetoric and don't study yourself, you draw the line. I would like to see America stop for just a second and start reading the truth. All this garage over Melania.

First of all, I'd say that we all owe that lady herself an apology. I'm going to say, why? It's not her fault! She got thrown into this whole mess and had to read words that someone put in her hands. Who you should be going after is the party for having allowed that to happen.

Yet today, I've not heard one person actually call out the people who led the party in the last two days and lied and lied. Let's talk about lies.

BALDWIN: Twenty minutes ago, where were you with my panelists? They were making that very point.

WILLIAMS: Lie, lie, lie, lie, lie. So, wait a minute. But that's not just to disparage one side. Just

go back to say, I'm going to do my research. If we find that exactly what transpired, transpired is true, that will assuage my bad feelings. Then I'll look at the other politics.

What I want to know is, what are you going to do for veterans? What I want to know is because when you say both sides say I'm going to contain ISIS, that means you need troops. You know how often I've been here talking about the fact that until we fulfill the debt we have with troops, how dare you even think about sending other children off to die.

BALDWIN: Chris Christie on Jake Tapper just a little while ago. He thinks Donald Trump gets some of the security briefings, he will send troops in. You think that's a good thing?

WILLIAMS: Well, let's make sure we understand this and I want the rest of the American public to agree, when I went and joined the military in 1974, 83 percent to 84 percent of our Congress and Senate had served or had a family member that has done the same. Right now today, you have less than 16 percent. Somebody say, let's say it's less than 20 percent that have served or had a family member in the game.

How dare you send the rest of the 85 percent or 80 percent of this country's children off to die when you wouldn't do it yourself? So, I'm just saying, before we commit more lives, let's agree to pay the debt we owe. What you've seen, Brooke, in the last three months, we have two clear cases of people who were soldiers who were suffering from PTSD. We have a ticking time bomb in this country. And I'm not disparaging my fellow soldiers because it is not their fault the debt has not been paid.

BALDWIN: Come back once you have gone off to marinate and figure out, I'm curious to see which way you go.

WILLIAMS: Thank you. Thank you so much.

BALDWIN: Thank you, my friend. I really appreciate it. Montel Williams here in Cleveland.

Coming up next, we do have new details speaking out about the deadly ambush in Baton Rouge. What the attacker there told friends and family about his own mental health and what he says he was doing days before the shootout.

[15:40:06] Stay with us.

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BALDWIN: We are back here live in Cleveland but we have to talk about what happened in Louisiana.

Motive remains unclear as far as why a veteran marine sergeant opened fire on six Baton Rouge police officers killing three of them. A source tells CNN that the gunman told family and friends that he suffered from PTSD. The source also says the 29-year-old shooter had just filled a prescription just weeks ago for an anti-anxiety drug and had prescription from Valium and also a sleep aid. CNN has not been able to confirm he was originally diagnosed, though, with that condition.

[15:45:04] Meantime, new video from the deadly ambush is shedding light on just this absolutely atrocious event here. This is cell phone video showing this tragic scene unfolding around the police officers. A driver trapped inside his car recorded. You can hear those gunshots -- recorded the shoot-out.

CNN's Brian Todd is live in Baton Rouge with new details about the gunman's movement in the days leading up to the shoot-out there.

Brian, what do you know?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, new information this afternoon from the Louisiana State Police about the shooter's movements. This is from Colonel Mike Edmonson. He is the superintendent of the Louisiana State Police there leading this investigation.

Edmonson telling CNN this afternoon that the shooter, Gavin Long, was spending a lot of time riding around this general area in the days leading up to the shooting. Along this corridor on Airline Highway, he was riding around. We know this is the scene of the shooting. And we know he was riding in an area about 11 miles from here.

Now, Superintendent Edmondson has told us that they're interviewing people, everyone who might have come in contact with the shooter, even if it was just in passing. He says the shooter stayed in several locations over the course of several days while he was in this area. They are starting to try to put together some of those pieces, how many days was he here, who he interacted with and where did he stay. Several locations is what we are told.

There is a new video CNN has pulled from the shooter's Twitter feed of him in a car riding around with another man narrating this video the entire time. He's talking to the young man who identifies himself only as a local rapper. They're driving around. The video lasts about ten minutes.

In the video, the shooter appears to be narrating the entire time and lecturing to the young man about just basically giving him life advice, telling him to develop multiple sets of skills for his professional life, telling him essentially if he develops professional relationships, not to trust people of other races. That's some new information from this video that we've pulled from the shooter's Twitter feed, Brooke, that we're putting together some pieces about where he might have been moving around in the days and weeks leading up to the shooting. We're told he stayed in several places over the course of several days here, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Those family members want to know why.

Brian Todd, thank you so much in Baton Rouge. Next, back here in Cleveland, back to politics we go. Republicans

uniting in their, shall we call it hatred, vitriol toward Hillary Clinton. Her name mentioned more times on the convention stage here in Cleveland and that of Donald Trump. We get live reaction from the Clinton campaign.

Also ahead, new reports that Secretary Clinton has narrowed her list of leading vice presidential contenders to two. Who are these guys? We'll talk about it, coming up.

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[15:51:55] BALDWIN: I know we're in Cleveland, but we need to talk about Hillary Clinton. Philadelphia is just around the corner, as is her choice for her running mate. Democrats familiar with the search say she will make an announcement in a message to supporters and stumped with her V.P. choice either Friday or Saturday in Florida. So, potential contenders include Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, his emerging frontrunners. But sources say Secretary Clinton could still surprise us.

Let me bring in Kristina Schake, deputy communications director for Hillary for America and a former special assistant to President Obama.

So, welcome to Cleveland.

KRISTINA SCHAKE, DEPUTY COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, HILLARY FOR AMERICA: Hi. Thank you.

BALDWIN: Good to see you.

SCHAKE: Such a pleasure to be here.

BALDWIN: I know we'll all be in Philadelphia next next week, but, you know, thinking about her V.P. choices. Whether it is a Friday or Saturday. Talk to me about Kaine versus Vilsack.

SCHAKE: Well, you know, she hasn't made her selection.

BALDWIN: I know, I know.

SCHAKE: Hillary, there's been lots and lots of speculation about finalists. But actually, she still listening to a lot of candidates. We're lucky as Democrats because we have such a deep strong bench of talented, strong candidates.

So, she's looking at a lot of candidates and she's taking it very seriously.

BALDWIN: You know, what is interesting though is "The New York Times" reporting and saying she is looking at somebody with national security experience as sort of numero uno priority when you look at her. I mean, talk about experience, former secretary of state, who she is up against, who is this successful businessman, when did she arrive at the point where that is what she is really looking for? SCHAKE: Well, actually, there have been lots of speculation about

what she is looking for, but she herself is trying to make a decision and those closest to her have not said that. So, there's been lots of speculation. I think we know she is the most qualified person ever to run for president of the United States. You even heard President Obama say that.

So, she, herself, is very strong in that area. As I said, as Democrats, we have a lot of strong candidates and she is picking among very strong choices.

I know her name has been uttered apparently more than that of Donald Trump this week and you will talk about Donald Trump, as you know, his supporters have talked about, you know, your nominee. But how do you respond to the chants last night, "lock her up"?

SCHAKE: Well, you know, I have to say, as a voter, it is so disappointing to see that the Republicans really have nothing to offer. We have seen all this week, last night the theme was the economy.

BALDWIN: Right.

SCHAKE: We didn't hear a single speaker talk about how they will create good paying jobs in the country or raise wages. They really have no plans for this. So, we're seeing them just do what they do and attack Hillary.

You know, if I'm a voter sitting in Denver or at a rally, watching this, not seeing what they're going to do for me and my family. I also have to say we're not seeing a lot of enthusiasm for this candidate. So --

BALDWIN: There are some very enthusiastic Trump supporters on the show --

SCHAKE: No, but I would think from the speakers themselves. You saw Speaker Ryan last night only say Donald Trump's name twice. They're really just focusing on Hillary.

[15:55:02] BALDWIN: I mean, you had Rudy Giuliani. You had Pat Smith. You had Marcus Luttrell, all very, very supportive of Mr. Trump.

SCHAKE: But you don't hear a lot of speeches about he'd be the right president for the United States. What they're really talking about is just trying to attack Hillary's character. I think Democrats demand more than that for our president. And we're going to see a stark difference next week with the Democratic convention. We're going to see a very energized, unified party and you're going to see our speakers really enthusiastic about Hillary's candidacy and talking about why she is the right choice to be the next president of the United States.

BALDWIN: We will see you in Philadelphia next.

SCHAKE: Yes.

BALDWIN: Kristina Schake, thank you very much.

SCHAKE: Thank you.

BALDWIN: From the Hillary camp. Back here in Cleveland, of course, talking about this is Donald Trump's week. We have just learned actually that Senator Ted Cruz will be speaking in primetime. He does plan to share his convention speech with the Trump campaign sometime this afternoon. So much more on that, of course, looking ahead to this evening.

Our special live coverage will continue here from Cleveland just after this break.

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