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Co-workers Describe Virginia Killer as "Difficult"; Trump Speaking in Greenville, South Carolina; Trump Poll Numbers Surge Higher. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired August 27, 2015 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:30:32] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Past co-workers of the man who gunned down Alison Parker and Adam Ward described him as having a temper, being very difficult to work with.
Joining us on the phone is sports reporter, Dave Lavalle, of KTVA TV in Anchorage, Alaska.
Dave, thanks for joining us.
In 1999, I'm told, you were the weekend morning anchor at WTWC in Tallahassee, Florida, when a new weekend anchor/reporter, named Vester Flanagan, was hired. What was your experience with this guy? What was his personality like?
DAVE LAVALLE, SPORTS REPORTER, KTVA TV (voice-over): Initially, Wolf, really didn't have too much of an interaction with him. Nothing stood out. However, one thing I did notice is that shortly after he started after I got done with the morning newscast, I would go out and report and Vester also happened to be a day side reporter, and at first it seemed like a joke but the photographers would say, do you have a story lined up because I don't want to go out and work with Vester.
And at first it just seemed like a joke, but then I would ask the photographer, what's going on? They just said that he happened to be difficult to work with, did not seem prepared. And so it was like, OK. And then I witnessed some stuff on my own that he would do on air, and it's like, wow. He would ask me a question about a story that I did that he's reading the introduction to or the tag to a story, and just simply he would botch it and he would try to ad-lib, and make the situation even worse after that.
BLITZER: So what you're saying is he wasn't a very good journalist, he wasn't a very good reporter or anchor, but what about as a human being? Did you get a sense that he was frustrated, that he was angry, that he had issues there, that he was behaving at all bizarre?
LAVALLE: Two incidents. They happened on nights that I did not work there, which is really what soured a lot of feelings towards Vester. He verbally assaulted two female co-workers and brought them to tears. And it got so bad that the husband of one of the women threatened to come in and literally do him harm if he ever -- if he, being Vester, ever talked to his wife like that again. BLITZER: That was a pretty scary moment, I'm sure. I'm sure you've
been reflecting on what has gone on. But, still, I assume you were shocked when you heard that this individual was responsible for murdering those two young journalists.
LAVALLE: Beyond shocked, Wolf. I woke up early yesterday morning here in Anchorage -- we're four hours behind you folks -- to hear about the shootings first, it's like, wow. This was around 6:00. Then around 7:00, we hear the name, and I literally just woke back up like, are you kidding? And then all of us that worked in Tallahassee just exchanged phone calls and notes online, and it became, for a couple of the people, especially the female employees that had dealings with him, tears, a lot of anger.
And, I'll be honest, I felt extreme anger yesterday because of the fact that it turns out that nothing changed in 15 years with him. He acted the same way to co-workers. And what got me upset in terms of being angry is that he could have done this to us, not necessarily me, but to my friends, and many of them are still close today.
BLITZER: Dave Lavalle, of KTVA, in Anchorage, Alaska.
Dave, thank you for sharing some thoughts. What a sad story this has been for all of us.
Up next, we'll move to politics here in the United States. Donald Trump on center stage right now is opening his South Carolina speech. A little hair talk, describing his own hair, among other things. But we'll get to some substance of what he's talking about and a lot more.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:38:52] BLITZER: Let's get to politics here in the United States right now. The Republican front-runner, Donald Trump, speaking to a loud crowd in South Carolina, one of the key early primary states. He started off having fun, defending his hair against allegations that it's a toupee.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: I don't wear a toupee. It's my hair. I swear.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Come here. Come here. Come here. I'm going to -- we're going to settle this -- you know, Barbara Walters did it. Barbara Walters named me the most whatever of the year.
Come on up here. They're going to let you. You have to do an inspection. This is getting crazy. Crazy. Real quick. We don't want to mess it up too much. I do use hairspray.
Please.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I believe it is. (LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: Thank you.
And have I ever met you before?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
[13:39:50] TRUMP: No.
Someone said it was a great compliment, a great business guy, the most unpredictable guy ever. That's what we need, some unpredictability. We really do.
And this business guy who is a tough cookie said it as a compliment. We need unpredictable. We're so predictable. We're like bad checker players and we're playing against Putin, who I would get along with great. I would get along with Putin.
When I look at Jeb raising hundreds of millions of dollars, which is the only thing he has -- which is all he really has. Without that he has nothing, zero. But he'll do attack adds on me. Get ready. Just like the crummy newspaper, it will be false stuff. I've done a great job. Maybe a little controversial but that's OK. I've done a great job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Trump has been buoyed by new strong poll numbers in a poll in South Carolina that was released earlier this week on Monday. Here is where he stands in a brand-new Quinnipiac poll. He's on top with 28 percent. Dr. Ben Carson, second, with 12 percent. Three candidates there with 7 percent, including Jeb Bush.
Let's discuss what's going on with out CNN political commentators, S.E. Cupp and Jeffrey Lord.
And I want to show our viewers the microphone. Donald Trump wrapped up his speech. He's getting ready to walk over to the microphone. You see reporters standing by. He's going to take some questions from reporters. Once he starts that, we'll hear what he has to say. Always interesting to hear this Q&A with Donald Trump and these reporters once he shows up there. We'll go there in a moment.
But let me get -- there he is right now. So let's listen in. Donald Trump will be answering some reporters' questions in Greenville, South Carolina, wrapping up that speech.
(BEGIN LIVE COVERAGE OF Q&A)
TRUMP: How are you?
Questions?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION) -- What about gun violence? TRUMP: Well, I believe very strongly in the second amendment. We
have people with mental disabilities, mental problems. It's too bad someone can't figure that out but we have a serious mental problem. We'd better start figuring it out fast.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Yes, go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION)
TRUMP: I don't know. I just did so well with the evangelicals in the polls. I love them. They love me. I am Protestant, Presbyterian. I love the evangelicals. It really shows in the polls. Why do they love me? You'll have to ask them, but they do. They do love me. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION)
TRUMP: I like Ben Carson very much. He's a friend of mine. I like Ben Carson. A good man.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION)
TRUMP: I'm not thinking about that right now. I have too many other things.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How would you do that?
TRUMP: Well, if you look at Jeb Bush, he said he wouldn't fund women's health care issues, OK, and women's health issues. Nobody will take care of women. I cherish women and I say it all the time. I cherish women. I will take care of women. And I won't be going around saying I'm not going to fund a certain program. Women under my administration will be taken care of. Not like Jeb Bush. What he said was a disgrace
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION)
TRUMP: Well, all I do is some meet and greets. People ask me when I come in, when I say hello. I do meet and greets. Other than the little donations where people send in $7 and $20 and even, you know, in some cases hundreds of dollars, all I do -- I will do on occasion a meet and greet.
Yes, sir?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: There's a requirement to sign a pledge of the eventual nominee. Will you sign that pledge?
TRUMP: We have plenty of time to think about it. I think that's September 30th. There's a lot of time. We'll be making announcements on different things over the next couple of weeks.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A lot of growing support -- (INAUDIBLE). Does that concern you?
TRUMP: That I don't know about. Someone else mentioned that, also. I don't know about that.
Question? Yes, go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION)
TRUMP: About what?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION)
TRUMP: Oh, I haven't heard about it but, you know, he was on the other side so he's saying things. He's a wonderful guy. Sam's Club, you're talking about? He's a wonderful guy, a terrific guy. And I'm way ahead in Iowa. I'm leading the polls by a lot even before Sam joined, and we love to have Sam. I mean, obviously the fact that he joined, I think, says so much. We love having Sam's Club.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION)
[13:45:59] TRUMP: Well, you're going to have to do something because you can't allow this to happen, and what happened in Virginia is absolutely terrible. So sad to see this magnificent, these magnificent -- and the woman that was hurt, but these magnificent two people, so sad. Something has to happen. At the same time, it's not about the guns. It's about mental instability. You have people with great mental instability, and it's a shame because, if you look at this man that did this horrible act, people knew that he was mentally unstable for years. And it's a shame that he couldn't have been in a hospital or something.
Yes, go ahead?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION) -- women's health issues --
TRUMP: I tell you what, she can maybe speak to Jeb Bush on that issue because he was negative on women's health issues, but I've been very positive. My daughter, Ivanka, and my wife, Melania, know how I feel about women and women's health issues. They said you really should talk about it more. But for me it has to be a very major thing. I know Jeb Bush said some bad things and he said bad on Asian. He's talking about anchor babies and steered it over to the Asians and now the Asians are upset with Jeb Bush. So you're going to have to ask him about those, but I will take care of women's health and women's health issues better than anybody and far better than Hillary Clinton, who doesn't have a clue. And I don't think maybe she won't even be in the race. We'll see. But maybe she won't.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The African-American community?
TRUMP: Well, I've had great friendships in the African-American community. As you know, they're suffering. They've never had bad job numbers like they do right now, especially African-American youth. It's terrible what's happening. As you see, I have great relationships, because you're seeing the poll numbers. One of the things that was so nice in South Carolina, and other places, where they do the polls and they break the polls down, I do great in the African-American community. And, you know, one of the reasons is because they know I'm going to create jobs. But I've had a great relationship with the African-American community. I appreciate the question.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) -- the south is full of jobs. (INAUDIBLE)?
TRUMP: Many, many jobs are taken from the United States because our trade negotiators are the worst. We don't have people who know anything about negotiation. By the way, you can go back to the Iran deal, go back to trade deals. We don't have anybody in this country who knows what they're doing in terms of negotiation. We have a president who doesn't have a clue. And that will all change. Our country will be great again, that I can tell you.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION)
TRUMP: Well, I mean, I got a poll that was much higher. I'm at 30 percent. He's at 4 percent. I think he's lucky to be at 4 percent, to be honest. I would not want to be him running for office in South Carolina. I think he's been a terrible representative for South Carolina. And all he does is attack me. His whole line is to attack Donald Trump, and the beauty is he went down to zero. He got zero. That means out of thousands of people, he got nobody. I don't know how you get zero. So I think it's really, you know, got to be a point it's almost laughable. But his primary mode of getting elected is to attack Trump. He went from 4 percent to 2 percent to zero. He's zero right now. He made a big mistake when he ran because the people of South Carolina are watching this farce and I think they're very upset by it. He has not been a good representative for South Carolina.
With that being said, I lead the poll in South Carolina, and I lead with almost -- with every group, including, as we said, the African- American groups. They came out and I have tremendous support. I will be coming down here soon and making a speech in front of small business, African-Americans small business, and I look forward to that.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. Trump?
Yes, sir, go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The race relation talks -- (INAUDIBLE)?
TRUMP: It's a great question. Race relation problems are almost at an all-time worst. And two things. We need jobs and we need spirit. And, you know, President Obama, I really thought that he would be a unifier. He's not experienced. I don't know how he's going to do. He won the election. But I thought one thing he'd be a unifier, certainly between African-American and white. And I will tell you, that's turned out not to be so. He has not been a unifier. He's been a divider.
We need spirit in the country. We need cohesiveness. And we need jobs. We'll get it fixed. We'll get it fixed.
I mean, they're great people. They want jobs so badly. You look at African-American youth, 50 percent, 60 percent, 70 percent unemployment. We'll get it fixed. We'll take them back from China. We'll take them back from Japan. We'll take them back from Mexico. We'll take jobs back. We're going to have jobs in this country. OK.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: There's report out. Have you heard anything about that? And what is -- (INAUDIBLE)?
[13:50:19] TRUMP: I am Presbyterian, Protestant. I go to Marlboro Collegiate Church. The church I was originally with was the First Presbyterian Church of Jamaica, which is out in Queens, New York. I've had great experience with it, whether it's Sunday school or whatever it may be. But now I go to Marlboro Collegiate Church.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How often do you go?
TRUMP: As often as I can. A lot. And I do because I travel so much. I got around the country.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION)
TRUMP: At some point, I'll meet with ministers and pastors.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: I mean, one of the very sad things is with the Iran deal. We have a pastor over there in Iran right now as a prisoner because he's a pastor, because he's a Christian. We have four other people. You tell me, why aren't these negotiators who made this horrible deal with Iran 24 days, they do their own inspections, they get $150 billion or more, why aren't they releasing the prisoners? You have a journalist, you have four great people. One of them is there because he's a Christian. Why didn't they say release our prisoners? And that should have happened two years ago. We are talking to Ted Cruz, a good guy and friend of mine. It will be announced and it's essentially a protest against the totally incompetent deal that we're making with Iran. By the way, they are going to get hundreds of billions of dollars even if you break it up. You know what I would do? I wouldn't give them the money. I don't care what the deal. I would not give them the money. That deal will be announced over -- that location will be announced over the (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You mentioned -- (INAUDIBLE). Could you expand what you mean by that?
TRUMP: You have a silent majority in this country that feels abused, that feels forgotten, that feels mistreated. It's a term that hasn't been brought up in years, as you know. People haven't heard that term in many years. It's interesting as to why. There are all different reasons. I think it's a very descriptive term. Every time I speak, I have sold-out crowds. Every time I speak, I have standing ovations. Every single time. It's the silent majority. They want to see wins. They want to see us have victory. We're not having victory anymore in this country, whether it's military, whether it's even the building of our military. You see what's going on? Every day I get listings of bases that are for sale. Our military is virtually for sale. I'm in the real estate business. I'm always getting listings and they are for an Army base, for a military base, for a naval base.
And I'll tell you, the other thing is our vets are being treated horribly. We have vets that are the best people. Our wounded warriors are being treated terribly. And these are the best people we have in this country. And if I win, believe me, they are not going to be fourth-class citizens. They are going to be number one. Our vets, our wounded warriors, we are going to treat them the way they should have been treated. But they are being treated horrible. OK?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are you worried about the history of that term?
TRUMP: I'm not worried about it because it's a very descriptive term. I'm bringing it to moderate day. There is no better expression for what is happening because this is a movement. There's no better expression for what's happening than the expression, silent majority. Because that's what is happening. People are coming out. In Alabama, we had more than 30,000 people on a very, very warm day with rain getting ready to pour down. And in a stadium. It was unbelievable. You saw 4,000 people the other night in Iowa. You saw what happened in New Hampshire. You saw what happened today for a luncheon where it broke every record. We have a silent majority that wants this country to have victories again, and we're going to do it.
Thank you all very much. Thank you.
BLITZER: All right. So there he is in Greenville, South Carolina. The Republican presidential front-runner answering reporters' questions as he likes to do following his big speeches.
Let's get some analysis of what we just heard. Once again, joining us, our political commentators, S.E. Cupp and Jeffrey Lord; also our senior political analyst, Ron Brownstein; and our senior political reporter, Nia-Malika Henderson.
S.E., what did you think?
[13:54:53] S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Asking for analysis of either the speech or those questions is a heavy lift, Wolf. It's hard to analyze when someone answers questions with total non-sequeters. When asked about women issues, he said Jeb Bush would not fund women's issues, which is not true. He said ask my daughter, Ivanka, and my wife if I'm good on women's issues. What would you do about mass shootings? Something has to be done, he says. Again, there's not a lot of substance when it comes to Trump. So the shtick he has where he distracts, diverts, says something funny -- touch my toupee, touch my hair -- I don't know. There's not a lot for me to sort of weigh in on because he's not very meaty with actual solutions to problems that a lot of voters want addressed.
BLITZER: Having said that, you know, Jeffery, look at this new poll out today. Nationwide, Republican voters, 28 percent for Trump, 12 percent for Dr. Ben Carson, Cruz, Rubio, 10 percent. Everybody else, a lot, lot lower. What was your analysis? What did you think?
JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, what I noted, aside from the polls, he referred to Ben Carson as his friend and good friend. And then he also apparently pulled back the curtain he intends to do with Ted Cruz. All three of those people are what we call in the trade the outsiders in this. If you add up Dr. Carson's numbers in this poll with Donald Trump's, you're getting to about 40 percent. And you bring in Ted Cruz and whenever this rally is going to be, what this says to me is this rebellion within the Republican Party towards the establishment is really gaining steam and backed up by the numbers.
BLITZER: Ron Brownstein, you study the numbers all the time. If you bring in Carly Fiorina, another 5 percent, you're getting close to a majority of outsiders, nonprofessional politicians who are doing well.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: It's a very interesting point. It's a very valid point. What we're seeing is a lot of rebellion in the Republican Party against the establishment is choices and the way the party has been happening. Ted Cruz has to get past that. I would point out, in the Quinnipiac poll, only one-third says he has the temperament to handle international aspects. He's low on everything except leadership. So while it shows the strength and real nerve that he's touching, it also shows his limits.
BLITZER: Nia, go ahead.
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: I think that's right. But I also think it's right, the anti-establishment point. In Jeb Bush's numbers, he's at 7 percent. The argument for him has been that he's going to be a joyful tortoise. He's going to have to speed it up because you see Donald Trump going after him. He's trying to be more aggressive. I don't think he's --
(CROSSTALK)
BROWNSTEIN: Trump trails Bush among Republicans on all of them except leadership. There's still a lot of respect for Bush. He has not touched the nerve. There's a well that he can draw on if he finds a way to connect more viscerally.
(CROSSTALK)
HENDERSON: Bush has the last name. When you ask people, they say it's the last name.
BLITZER: Let me ask, because Trump likes to make fun of Jeb Bush. Nice guy. I like him personally but he's got low energy, not very dynamic. We don't know what he says. He sort of makes fun of him like that. That seems to be resonating a bit if you take a look at how Jeb Bush has gone down in this Quinnipiac University poll. Trump has gone up.
CUPP: I don't think Bush has gone down in the poll because Trump has called him boring. And I think the other thing you have to remember in this poll is that Trump is also the person more Republicans say they would never vote for than anyone else. And the anti- establishment coalition is important to keep in mind but in the ends we don't vote for four people. We vote for one people. So as Ron points out, they are either going to cannibalize each other, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina and Ben Carson, or they have to start making their own way. It's very early. Trump still has a long way to go before he convinces people that he's the majority nominee.
BLITZER: He's doing well in the polls, not only nationally among the Republicans, but state by state, Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina. Take a look at Florida and some of the other states, he's clearly in the lead, at least for now.
CUPP: But not a majority, Wolf, not a majority.
BLITZER: No, not a majority, but he's doing a lot better than the other Republican candidates.
CUPP: Yep.
BLITZER: All right. We'll see what happens.
Guys, thanks very much.
That's it for me. Thanks very much for watching. I'll be back at 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room."
For our international viewers, "Amanpour" is up next.
For our viewers in North America, "Newsroom" with Brooke Baldwin starts right now.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf Blitzer, thank you so much.
