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Trump States McCain A War Hero Because Captured; At Least 28 Dead in Suicide Attack in Turkey; Investigation Continue in Chattanooga Shootings. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired July 20, 2015 - 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 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 6:00 p.m. in London, 8:00 p.m. in Jerusalem. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

The words of the Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, have created yet another firestorm. And he's offering no apologies for his comments about Senator John McCain's war service. He's even lashing out at the news media claiming his remarks are being misreported.

Here is exactly what Donald Trump said about McCain at a conservative summit in Iowa over the weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's not a war hero.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a war hero.

TRUMP: He is a war hero --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five and a half years in a (INAUDIBLE) camp.

TRUMP: -- he's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured, OK? I hate to tell you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)?

TRUMP: He's a war hero -- he's a war hero because he was captured. OK? And I believe perhaps he's a war hero --

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: After receiving a lot of backlash for those words, Trump came out swinging in an opinion piece he wrote in "USA Today" saying, and I'm quoting him now, "McCain has abandoned our veterans. I will fight for them. The reality is John McCain the politician has made America less safe, sent our brave soldiers into wrong-headed foreign adventures, covered up for President Obama with the V.A. scandal and has spent most of his time in the Senate pushing amnesty. Trump continued, referring to McCain, "He would rather protect the Iraqi border than Arizona's." This morning, the Republican presidential candidate was interviewed on NBC's "TODAY" show. He vehemently criticized the news media for their characterization of his comments.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT LAUER, HOST, NBC "TODAY" SHOW: Let me ask you this, Donald, would you say to John McCain's face what you said in that one comment, and I'm using the one string of sentences together, he's not a war hero. He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured. Would you say that to John McCain's face?

TRUMP: No, and then if you'd go on, Matt -- see, that's what you don't do.

LAUER: No, no, I said I'm using one exchange.

TRUMP: And excuse me -- excuse me, Matt, because you're the media and you do the same thing. The next sentence was, he is a war hero. I said that, but they never want to play it and you don't want to play it. But you started it off --

LAUER: Well, why would you say the first thing?

TRUMP: Excuse me.

LAUER: Why would you say the first thing?

TRUMP: Hey, Matt, Savannah (ph) started it off by saying I said that he wasn't a war hero. I didn't say that. And if you would've let it run just another three seconds, you would have said that I saw -- I said, very clearly, he is a war hero. I have absolutely no problem with that. What I do have problems with is that he called 15,000 people that showed up for me to speak in Phoenix. He called them crazies because they want to stop illegal immigration.

LAUER: Let me just --

TRUMP: And they were insulted.

LAUER: -- let me say it for the record.

TRUMP: And they were Americans.

LAUER: The one portion where you said at the end of one comment, I like people who weren't captured. OK, let me just highlight that moment for a second. If you're elected president, you'll be commander in chief of this country, and they've got about 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, about 3,500 serving in Iraq. They face danger on a daily basis, Donald. It -- and they face capture on a daily basis.

TRUMP: I agree.

LAUER: Do you think you have sent the wrong message to those people that if they're captured, somehow Donald Trump, the commander-in- chief, is not in favor of them? TRUMP: I don't think so. I think this. I do also respect greatly

people that aren't captured. Nobody talks about them. We talk about John McCain, and I think it's great and he is a very brave man and all of that. But we don't talk about the people that weren't captured and that's what I was trying to refer to.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Senator McCain later addressed the comments. Here's what he said when he was specifically asked if Donald Trump owed him an apology.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: No, I don't think so. But I think he may owe an apology to the families of those who have sacrificed in conflict and the -- and those who have undergone the prison experience in serving their country. Mr. Trump said that he prefers to be with people who are -- who are not captured. Well, the great honor of my life was to serve in the company of heroes. I'm not a hero. But those who are my senior ranking officers, people like Colonel Bud Day, Congressional Medal of Honor winner, those who have inspired us to do things that we otherwise wouldn't have been capable of doing. Those are the people that I think he owes an apology to.

Well, I'd be interested to see, one, how that number is after this -- these comments of his. But I can assure you, if you talk to our veterans, and I've had a flood of calls from our veterans, they are not happy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, let's discuss all of this. Joining me, our Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger and our Political Director David Chalian. All right, Gloria, what do you make of it?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Look, I think that the entire Republican establishment was waiting for a moment when Donald Trump would implode. I think a lot of people believe that they have found it, that this is one step too far. And you saw candidate after candidate -- not all of them, candidate after candidate now coming out and criticizing him.

[13:05:17] I think the big question we all have to see is whether this actually affects those voters and the very conservative part of the base of the Republican Party who are attracted to Donald Trump, whether this alienates them from him. I'm not so sure that it -- that it will, Wolf.

BLITZER: If you take a look at the polls, at least before this most recent incident, the words about John McCain, he was atop the national polls and atop some of the key states, whether Iowa, New Hampshire or some of the other states.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: No doubt. We've seen him surging to the top of the field nationally and into those key states. And there was a new poll out from Monmouth University today of Iowa voters, Wolf, and we saw, granted, these are small samples at this point, but they looked at their Thursday and Friday interviews before the comments versus their Saturday and Sunday interviews after the comments. No change in Donald Trump's support.

BLITZER: Really?

CHALIAN: Still at second place at 13 percent. We'll see if that bears out. That may be too early to capture the full reaction of this. But I think Gloria has nailed it. I think we have to look at this in -- on two different tracks. I think there is the, what does this mean for Donald Trump and his supporters? Because one of the things they find very appealing is the brashness, is the ability to not sound like a politician, taking on the news media. That's right out of his play book. I mean, that plays right into Donald Trump's strength because he doesn't sound like the other guys.

Then there's the Republican Party establishment who are just trying to figure out how they solve this problem of Trump's candidacy because they don't think it's good for the brand. I mean, watching -- it's one thing for all his fellow candidates to come out and try to position around this.

BORGER: Right.

CHALIAN: The Republican National Committee is supposed to be sort of the neutral arbiter inside a nomination fight and they put their thumbs on the scale, too, this weekend and said, you know, we should --

BORGER: I know.

CHALIAN: -- not comment like this.

BORGER: But -- and they've been waiting if this, though. Because, you know, they had a little --

CHALIAN: You could tell.

BORGER: -- you could tell. They had a little bit of a problem here because they didn't want to light a match underneath Donald Trump and give him any more oxygen than he's already had. Well, this did it for them. It gave them an opportunity to say, publicly, everything that they've been talking to us about privately.

But if you look at all the candidates, not all have been the same about Donald Trump. You know, Rick Perry came out, criticized him even before the John McCain comments because Rick Perry needs to get some traction. He's got nothing to lose. He's at single digits in the polls. Ted Cruz who would like to get Trump supporters, should Trump leave the race at some point, has been very, very reluctant to directly criticize Donald Trump. So, where you stand depends on where you sit in this race.

BLITZER: Well, You make -- you raise a good point, David, that the Republican Party issued this unusual statement. Reince Priebus, the Chairman of the party authorized -- I assume he authorized that statement. But they have to be really careful right now because if, for some reason, Trump were to drop out as a Republican candidate and run as a Ross Perot like third party candidate, that could take a lot of Republican votes away from the Republican nominee and, essentially, help that Democratic nominee as was the case back in 1992 when Ross Perot took votes away from George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton was elected.

CHALIAN: I mean, that would be the nightmare scenario for the Republicans, because he would, clearly, siphon off more votes from the Republicans than he would from the Democrats. No doubt about it. So, you -- that's why Gloria is saying they didn't want to sort of light a fire under him but they were waiting and ready to pounce.

I do think, though, Donald Trump shows no sign of putting his tail between his legs and walking away. I mean, he's not going to -- he mentioned the op-ed. He's not apologizing. He's not walking away from this. And I think it's why we see Ted Cruz embracing it, too. Clearly, he wants the supporters if Trump does eventually leave.

BORGER. Right.

CHALIAN: But it also plays into Cruz's whole strategy in the wing of the party that Cruz --

BORGER: Well, Cruz --

CHALIAN: -- because if he says, oh, you guys in the media just want to do this, that plays play to Cruz's benefit, too.

BORGER: Turn it into the -- turn it into sort of the media versus Donald Trump. I mean, Ted Cruz who's saying it says, you'd like to see Republicans fight with Republicans. Ted Cruz has just written a book about Republicans fighting with Republicans, I might add.

But if you want to turn it into an issue against the media, that does play with a certain segment of the -- of the Republican base. It's going to be interesting to see when there is finally a debate. And when you start talking about the V.A., and Donald Trump gets asked, what would you do for the V.A., or a serious debate is on stage about solutions, where are Donald Trump's solutions?

CHALIAN: But right now, make no mistake about it, Donald Trump is dictating the state of play inside the --

BORGER: Right.

CHALIAN: -- Republican nomination race right now. Every candidate is being asked to respond. Jeb Bush giving a big speech today, mentions how V.A. -- veterans' issues will be a priority for him. The -- Donald Trump is dictating the playing field right now. That is not where the Republican Party wanted to be.

[13:10:03] BORGER: No, he's controlling the conversation. Republicans are attacking each other. Hillary Clinton, by the way, is getting off scot-free here. At this point in the race, the Republican National Committee wanted all the Republicans to be attacking one person and that would be Hillary Rodham Clinton. Well, that is not happening right now because they're too busy positioning themselves vis-a-vis Donald Trump who's controlling the entire conversation.

BLITZER: What would've been so bad -- I know he doesn't like to say he's wrong or apologize. But what would have been so bad if Donald Trump had simply said, you know what? I misspoke. I apologized to John McCain. Obviously, I have serious disagreements with him on a whole host of issues, but I certainly appreciate the service he gave the United States.

CHALIAN: Nothing would be so bad if he said that, I don't think, but it would be against his brand. That's not -- that is not the kind of approach that Donald Trump has been selling and meeting success with, leading in the polls right now. So, that would be sort of anti his brand to do that.

BLITZER: To just simply say, you know what? I misspoke. I apologize.

BORGER: Well, --

CHALIAN: He doesn't -- he claims if you look at the words, he doesn't feel that he necessarily misspoke. He -- you know, and he points to some back checkers who have backed him up on this. But to his point -- that's what I'm saying. If we go word by word and parse the words, we miss the point here. He, obviously, called into question John McCain's hero status and that is what got him in this hot water. But he is now taking this and embracing it to continue to fuel his fire.

BORGER: And --

CHALIAN: So, that wouldn't serve his purpose (INAUDIBLE.)

BORGER: And turning it against John McCain saying, look, he started it. I mean, this is a sandbox. He started it, after all, because he called those 15,000 people who came out to see me crazies. And I'm insulted for them. They are not crazies, which somehow, in his mind, seems to justify not calling McCain a hero. But, you know, it's not in Donald Trump's brand to walk away from any fight. He's going to embrace it. He's not going to apologize for it and he's going to -- he's going to continue on and then there will be something else.

BLITZER: Donald Trump always likes to point out, as you guys know, he went to Wharton at Penn, at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a very good student and John McCain finished last in his class at the U.S. Naval Academy. He likes to point that out as well.

BORGER: He does like to point that out.

BLITZER: All right, guys, thanks very much. Trump's controversial comments have been getting a lot of attention since day one of his campaign. Is being provocative part of his political strategy? Much more on this part of the story, that's coming up later. Also, we're getting new details about writings authored by the man who shot and killed five U.S. military personnel in Tennessee. What they're revealing able a possible motive.

[13:12:37]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [13:16:40] BLITZER: At least 28 people are dead, many, many more wounded in what's believed to be the first major ISIS terror attack against Turkey. A suicide bombing ripped through a rally in the Turkish border town of Suruc, where people were calling for help to rebuild the Syrian city recently taken back from ISIS. This attack comes right on the heels of one of ISIS' deadliest attacks so far. More than 120 people lost their lives Friday in Iraq when they were lured to a truck advertising discounted ice. It was instead rigged with explosives.

Joining us now from Turkey is CNN's Arwa Damon. She's joining us on the phone. Also joining us, our terrorism analyst, Paul Cruickshank.

Arwa, you're there on the scene for us in Turkey right now. So far ISIS pretty much has refrained from attacking targets in Turkey. What's going on based on your analysis?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, Wolf, we actually just arrived to the scene of what took place today, this horrifying attack where the blast captured on camera ripped through a sizable crowd of Kurdish activists. There are forensic experts on scene right now where the bodies used to lie, being buried. Different numbers that they have put into place. Quite a somber move here right now, fairly heavy security.

The Turkish government is blaming this attack with ISIS. They are saying it's in retaliation for Turkey's ongoing war on terror. And the timing of this attack, too, of course, being at the end of Eid, the celebration that comes at the end of the holy month of Ramadan, as well as the target, the Kurdish population. This perhaps in retaliation for the battle that took place in Kobani (ph), is the city, the town that is just across the border here in Syria, the Kurdish town that was the scene of fierce fighting between ISIS and predominantly Kurdish fighters backed by coalition air strikes, eventually driving ISIS out.

And this meeting, this gathering that was taking place here today, was meant to be part of the reconstruction effort for Kobani. So perhaps ISIS, if, in fact, it is responsible, if it does claim responsibility for this, sending a message to the Turkish government, but also to the Kurdish population as well, Wolf.

BLITZER: Well, what are the ramifications, Paul, of this? If, in fact, this is an ISIS attack on Turkey, what's the Turkish government going to do about it?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, they're possibly very big ramifications indeed because as you pointed out, ISIS have not gone off to Turkey in any kind of big way before. They've seen Turkey as a crucial recruit, logistical supply hub for their efforts and they haven't wanted to jeopardize this by launching major attacks inside Turkey. But if that is changing, that's going to be a big problem potentially for the Turkish authorities. More than a thousand Turks have joined ISIS. There are ISIS operating who are right now operating right across Turkey, including places like Istanbul, recruiting people, bringing them over to Syria to join the ISIS terrorist organization. So if ISIS decides to pull the trigger, Turkey could have very, very big problems indeed. And I think there's got to be a lot of concern as well about western tourists inside Turkey, as well as western diplomatic facilities in Ankara and Istanbul.

[13:20:06] BLITZER: And, Arwa, you've spent a lot of time in Baghdad, in Iraq, over the years. This horrible suicide bombing in Iraq over the weekend, the death toll now up to 120. Some guy trying - pretending to sell ice at the end of Ramadan, luring all these people there, causing this huge explosion. There seems to be an uptick in these attacks specifically against Shiite elements inside Iraq.

DAMON: And this was most certainly targeting one of the very delicate potential fissure points inside Iraq by going after the predominantly Shia population in a town in Diyala province. And, of course, you have the horrifying tactics playing out once again where you mentioned the suicide bomber, the bomber posing as a man who was selling ice, luring customers in, including children.

I think what we're seeing both with that attack in Iraq and also what's taking place in Turkey is ISIS going after targets that it knows are potentially going to have ramifications for each nation. In Iraq, trying to deepen the growing divide between the Shia and Sunni population. Perhaps here in Turkey, trying to exploit the pre-existing tensions between the Kurdish and the Turkish population, which is perhaps part of the reason why the country's prime minister is saying that the nation, the Turkish nation, needs to stand together at this very critical juncture. Fingers of blame should not be pointed and that this attack was an attack on the entire nation, not an attack on a particular segment of the population and that the country needs to come together at this very crucial stage, Wolf.

BLITZER: Certainly does. What a story. Horrible terror attacks in both Turkey and Syria. Paul Cruickshank, Arwa Damon, thanks very much.

Still ahead, we're getting new details about what might have motivated last week's killings of five U.S. service members in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The family of the deceased gunman, that family say he was depressed. They say he was bipolar, that he abused drugs. We're going to talk about it. Congressman Peter King of the House Intelligence Homeland Security Committee, he's standing by live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:26:29] BLITZER: CNN has learned the Chattanooga killer, Mohammad Abdulazeez, expressed anti-American sentiments in writings going back about a year. Sources familiar with the investigation tell us the writings are consistent with someone also with suicidal thoughts. His family tells investigators the 24-year-old was bipolar and had, in fact, abused drugs. Friends and relatives say they noticed a change in Abdulazeez's behavior after he returned from Jordan last year.

So does it all add up to a motive for last Thursday's attack that killed four U.S. Marines and a U.S. sailor? Before the shootings, Abdulazeez texted this Islamic quote to a friend, "whosoever shows enmity to a friend of mine, then I have declared war against him." Republican Congressman Mike McCaul, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, has drown his own conclusion about the motive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL (R), CHAIRMAN, HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE: We've seen too much of this traffic. There are too many warnings signs. The targets are identical to the targets called by ISIS to attack. So my judgment, in my experience, is that this was an ISIS-inspired attack.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Joining us now from West Babylon in New York, on Long Island, Republican Congressman Peter King. He serves on the House Homeland Security Committee, as well as the Intelligence Committee.

So, Congressman, you agree with the chairman, Mike McCaul?

REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: I agree basically that actions like this I think are being inspired by ISIS or by al Qaeda. Whether or not there's a direct connection, I don't think there's enough evidence in yet to say that. But there's no doubt in my mind that if there was not an ISIS, there was not an al Qaeda, that he would not have carried out this attack. So whether it's a direct inspiration or what it's just from what he sees out there in the media, what he sees on the Internet and that that sort of put him over the edge, you know, we don't know yet.

But, again, this is what ISIS has mastered, is that they don't have to directly control someone, even have direct contact with someone. The way they articulate, the way they express their vision of an Islamist world appears not just to - appeals not just to hardcore Islamists, but also people on the fringes, people on the edges of society. We saw that in New York where a deranged Muslim attacked two police officers with a hatchet. Now, he had no - you know, ISIS not directly contacting him, but he was inspired. So it's really a question of definition. And there's no doubt in the world in which we live that this assailant would not have carried out these actions if it were not for the Islamist movement.

BLITZER: Do you know, Congressman - we know he visited - he traveled to Kuwait. That's where he was born. And he went to Jordan recently last year, spending several months there. Do you know if he also visited any other countries in the Middle East?

KING: I've not heard that yet. I know that this is being looked at exhaustively by the FBI and certainly it could well be that when he got to Jordan, you know, there are porous borders in that part of the world that he could have gone to another country, that he could have met with other people within Jordan. I think, you know, what - one thing going for us right now is that the Jordan's intelligence agencies are first rate. They will cooperate with us completely. And whatever information they have, we will get. It's really seamless, the cooperation between the United States and Jordan. So that's one advantage we have going for us here. They are top rate professionals and a strong, strong ally.

BLITZER: And the U.S. has very good cooperation with Kuwait as well.

A quick, unrelated matter about Donald Trump, his most recently comments. Your reaction.

[13:30:00] KING: Yes. Totally wrong. And I'm not one of those people who would generally attack Donald Trump. He's from New York. He's sort of, you know, a loud mouth New Yorker, which I can understand. But what happened with John McCain, that is just so wrong.