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Amanpour
Donald Trump Vows to Save America From His Own Apocalyptic Vision of Doom and Gloom; Hillary Clinton's Turn as Democrats Head to Philadelphia for Their Convention. Aired 10-10:30p ET
Aired June 23, 2016 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:00:11] NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: This is "CNN News Now." Hello, I'm Natalie Allen.
Deadly suicide bombings have killed at least 80 people in Afghanistan, the officials say hundreds more are wounded in capital of Kabul. ISIS says
it's responsible.
Two attacks with detonated explosives at a peaceful rally for the Hazara, a Shiite minority group in the Afghan capital.
Neighbors have identified the gunman in Friday's shooting in rampage in Munich, Germany, as 18-year-old Ali Sonboly. Police say he acted alone and
had no apparent links to ISIS. Mourners set up a makeshift memorial outside the shopping mall where nine people were killed, 27 injured, mainly
young people.
U.S. Senator Tim Kaine has joined presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as her running mate. Clinton and Kaine addressed
supporters at a rally together for the first time, Saturday, in Miami. Kaine said he's proud to stand against Republican rival Donald Trump. He
also addressed the Miami crowd from the bench.
Turkish officials say they have detained the top aide to U.S. based cleric Fethullah Gulen. He was captured in a small town in northern Turkey.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blames Gulen for the military coup attack a couple weeks ago. Gulen denied any involvement.
"Amanpour" is next here. You're watching CNN.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, "AMANPOUR" HOST: Tonight, the day after the night before, Donald Trump vows to save America from his own apocalyptic vision
of doom and gloom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Americanism, not globalism, will be our credo.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKERS: USA. USA. USA.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: We'll hear from some of the delegates who loved it and also from two prominent Republicans, a former governor and a big donor. Their
reaction to an acceptance speech that our fact checkers found to be full of truths, half truths and lies.
And, what will the tone be next week? It's Hillary Clinton's turn as Democrats head to Philadelphia for their convention.
Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the program. I'm Christiane Amanpour in New York. Wrapping up a historic and turbulent week in
American politics.
If Donald Trump stuck to the teleprompter for his acceptance speech Thursday night, today he went back off script. The Republican nominee
returned to the long freewheeling press conferences that he's known for, bigging up himself and doing down, this time his opponent Hillary Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Nobody's going to watch this next convention coming. Who is going to -- I'm going to have a hard time watching her final speech. Number one,
I know her too well. Number two, boring.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: Trump's own final speech was roundly described as the longest ever in convention history and also one of the darkest ever, painting a
deeply pessimistic picture of America that only he can cure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We are going to build a great border wall to stop illegal immigration, to stop the gangs and the violence, and to stop the drugs from
pouring into our communities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: I was on the convention floor when he delivered that speech, and I found that the message really resonated with his faithful.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: What are you liking with that you're hearing from Donald Trump tonight?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The truth.
AMANPOUR: About?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything he talked about.
AMANPOUR: Anything specific?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to become a country of law and order. We need to speak the truth and become a country of honest people. And that means
we need to start with the politicians.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If Hillary wins texit is next.
AMANPOUR: Texit is after Brexit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah. Thank for leading the way, you all.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKERS: USA. USA.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Being presidential and we need that. We need the security that he's offering us and the promises to bring back jobs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm hearing that he's putting America first and that he's making America safe and he's working for all Americans, whether they
vote for him or not, whether they're Republican or Democrat, whether they're rich or poor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: So let's get the view now of two major Republicans, the former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman and John Chachas, a major
Republican donor and a big banker. Neither have backed Trump in this campaign and they join me now live here in New York.
[22:05:08] Welcome to the program. Can I turn to you first, Governor Whitman? You are not supporting Trump. What did you make though of the
speech?
CHRISTINE TODD WHITMAN, FORMER NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR: Well, I thought it was effective for those in the hall. I don't know that it reached out to the
people that he needs to get if he's going to win a general election and those are the ones not his base.
It was dark. It was -- I mean he had -- he threw in lines like LGBTQ and that was great. You don't hear Republicans talk about that. But then, if
you look at the platform which his people largely wrote, it has that wonderful phrase in there "freedom of religion," which is a code for
allowing people not to serve those they don't believe in if they see a gay couple. They don't have to serve them.
You can't have it both ways. And that's what he's tried to do so much. Plus, he painted this picture of hordes of immigrants coming across the
border and murdering people left and right. And that's just not reflective of what's happening in the country.
Do we have crime? Yes. Do we have some illegal immigrants who have commits those crimes? Absolutely. Do we need to focus on, understand
that? Yes. But it's not this tidal wave of illegal immigrants.
And what's he's doing is demonizing an entire group of people with very little thought. And that's unleashing emotions that can be very damaging
to our country over time.
AMANPOUR: Well, I'm going to get to some of the fact checking as you point out in a second. But first, I want to ask John Chachas because you are
there to try to fund a Republican candidate so that your party can win in November.
You weren't a Trump backer. Your man, I think, was Jeb Bush. What did you make of the speech, and after this speech? And, you know, after today, do
you think he's turned your ideas around?
JOHN CHACHAS, MAJOR REPUBLICAN DONOR: I don't know. I mean, I think that the Thursday performance and the speech were very effective at galvanizing
everybody who'd bothered to come to Cleveland and who he needs as the core and the foundation of a general election effort.
The question, you know, it come back to today, he went off script again. He spent a lot of time today talking again about Ted Cruz and other people.
It's now time to turn to the big game. The big game is a general, which is a very different process than these primaries which he was very successful
at prosecuting.
So I think overall, while an unconventional convention, I think he got some mileage out of it on Thursday and even probably with some of the people in
our party who'd been quite standoffish for some time. It's going to be interesting to see how that unfolds in the coming days.
AMANPOUR: From what you know, is the Trump campaign getting a lot of donor money? And do you think that's going to change now?
CHACHAS: I think that's really hard to know. And, you know, you're not -- you're going to hear a lot of noise in the system, certainly to date, based
on filing, the traditional core sources of Republican funding haven't been pouring into this campaign. They've been sitting on the sidelines.
But this could very well be like -- it's a little bit like this Kentucky Derby a half an hour before post time. The minute that they get the sense
that the campaign has gotten its footing and is making real progress and is more competitive than people might have imagined, I think you could see
significant money start coming in from those traditional donors. I don't think we've seen it yet.
AMANPOUR: Well, let me put that point to Governor Whitman because again, you said you weren't going to vote for him at one point, that you might
even vote for Hillary Clinton. And the question is really, today, is this a campaign that you actually want to get its footing?
I know you're a Republican, but are you fully comfortable with this particular campaign? I'll ask you, Meghan McCain, for instance, the
daughter of a previous presidential nominee, or rather, yeah, nominee, said that this is, "The party I was part of is dead." Is she right?
Also, we know the former Ku Klux Llan leader David Duke has praised Donald Trump's convention speech in multiple ways saying, "I couldn't have said it
better." And he's announced his plans to run for U.S. Senate from Louisiana.
Is the party going in the way that you want to see it go now under the aegis of Donald Trump?
WHITMAN: No, it's not. And I hold absolutely no track with David Duke or the Ku Klux Klan. And that's the kind of dangerous emotion that I so worry
about when your appeal is about bullying people.
Yes he's saying, "I'm going to taking on these issues," and that's what people want to hear because Congress has been so dysfunctional. They've
been left behind. They don't see that they're making the kind of economic progress they had hope to make. They're worried about security for -- at a
whole host of levels. And he's saying, "I'm going to cure this". He doesn't say how. He seems to think that he can just go in and wave a magic
wand and ignore laws and Congress. But, that's not -- but they don't care right now. They just want to know that he is addressing their issues and
listening to them.
Hillary Clinton's got to get over that hump in order to be able to be truly competitive. But this is not the way I want to see the Republican Party in
which I grew up continue to go. I don't want to see it walk away from, for instance, its traditional values relative to the environment.
[22:10:09] You know, more people die in this country from bad air-related problems than are killed in car accidents every year. That's
extraordinary, and yet we do everything we can to make our cars and roads safer but we don't -- we have a candidate who's talking about doing --
rolling back every environmental protection that we have put in place. I just can't get on board with that.
AMANPOUR: And obviously, as a former EPA administrator that is something you know very well and concerned about.
Let me turn to John Chachas again. Because again, I guess when you come out of the primaries, you have to expand the tent. You have to appeal to a
whole different and much, much bigger electorate.
I know that he didn't appeal at all to women, for instance, last night, despite a long sort of recital from his daughter introducing him about how
great he was going to be for women. And given that you've also said this is one of the opportunities where the Republicans are really galvanized
against the actual person and candidate of Hillary Clinton, again, how is that going to play out if he doesn't pull all elements of society into the
tent?
CHACHAS: Well, I think the big question is how many new voters can he attract with the heat in his narrative? And I completely agree with you
that in a general context, in a general election context, he has got to widen the aperture of how many people of color, gender, and even political
philosophy are willing to get behind this.
There are many people in the Republican Party right now who are desperate for a victory. They cannot believe we had eight years of the current
leadership. They are bereft over it on some level.
And so, they're struggling because on some level Mr. Trump articulates some pretty strong and caustic points of view that they don't share. And yet,
he's now our nominee and they're struggling to find a way and it's this Hobson's choice. We can't possibly support the person on the opposite side
of the ticket, and yet he makes them uncomfortable.
And I think the big question is can he find a way to moderate and to pivot a little bit and to start focusing as you said on the substance, as
Governor Whitman said, the substance of how he's going to do these grand things that he wants to do and everybody wants him to do. We haven't heard
a lot about that yet. We've heard a lot, an awful lot for three days about how bad Mrs. Clinton is. And I think they now have to turn to the
substance of the policy.
AMANPOUR: Governor Whitman, let me ask you and also you, Mr. Chachas. Obviously, everybody did their reality checks, their fact checking after
the speech, CNN did as well, and found that in many of the instances, as I said at the beginning, there were truths, lies and half lies. One of them,
of course, was about unemployment. He said 58 percent of African-American youth are not employed. That is false because the rate is much, much
lower, nearly 15 percent, although underemployment reaches a number similar to 58 percent.
On Syrian refugees he said that Hillary Clinton wanted to increase the Syrian refugees by 550 percent saying that there was no way to screen these
refugees. We found that, yes, she wants to increase the number of refugees but we know that the average case processing time for each is 18 to 24
months.
I mean, there were a lot of those dodgy figures and facts in the speech last night. But people don't seem to care. What is it that he's tapped
into that no matter what the facts and figures are they don't seem to care? And they're looking to him to solve this problem?
WHITMAN: Well, that's one of the scary things about this election, is that truth and fact don't seem to matter anymore. They're out the window,
because if he says it enough and says it loudly enough, people believe. And what they want to hear is someone who says, I hear you. I am for you.
I understand your frustration. I understand your fear. And I'm going to take care of it.
And everybody would love to have someone come in and take care of all their problems. Lord knows I would. It would be great. But that's not the real
world. But that's what people are hungry for.
I believe that Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump devotees are two sides of the same coin. They're the frustrated, the angry, people who think they're
left behind and no government just has not been functioning in the best interest of the people at large, rather they've been only interested in the
political partisanship.
CHACHAS: See your point, though, Christine, that, you know, this concept of people not caring, it's almost as though on each side of the political
aisle at the moment you have this swath of voters who almost regardless of how it's portrayed, in Mrs. Clinton's case she's had a lousy four months of
untruthfulness. And yet, there is a swath of Democratic voters who almost under any circumstance are going to vote for her regardless of the fact
that that data is pretty compelling all the way up to the, you know, head of the FBI.
And the same is true on the Republican side. There's a swath of voters who are going to support Mr. Trump almost regardless of how the facts are
manipulated and shaded a little bit in the process. And so we have these two almost unmoveable pieces of the voting populous.
[22:15:13] (CROSSTALK)
AMANPOUR: To a certain extent, that's always been true. But what I think what you see with Donald Trump is it's widening. He has more of that.
Hillary Clinton has her base, that Democrat base. I mean, we always find it. I found it in New Jersey. There was just a certain percentage that
were hardcore Democrats who would just never vote for a Republican no matter what.
And so that's true on both sides. But what we're seeing is on the Republican side for Donald Trump, at least I believe, is it's broadening
that group that doesn't care what he says. He's Donald Trump. His name's on the buildings. He's on the apprentice. They know him. They know his
name. And so they think they can believe him.
OK, one last very brief question to you, John Chachas. Six, seven months ago you wrote that the math is crystal clear. Trump will lose a general
election. Do you still believe that? And will you be giving money and helping raise money now for the nominee of your party?
CHACHAS: I would say that I was going into this convention quite convinced he would still not succeed and prevail partly because Democrats start with
212 votes to get to 270. We start with about 170 electoral votes we have to get to 100. And my sentiment was you need a broader swath to get there
on the Republican side.
I still believe that. I still think he has a less good chance to win. And I haven't made up my mind about the question about raising money or giving
money to this candidate yet.
AMANPOUR: All right, thank you to you and also to you, Governor Christine Todd Whitman. Thanks both of you for joining me today.
WHITMAN: Pleasure.
CHACHAS: Thank you.
AMANPOUR: Now, the Republican National Convention may be wrapping up as we've been talking about, but it all begins all over again this time for
the Democrats in Philadelphia next week.
And we go to Miami next where Hillary Clinton is campaigning. After this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
AMANPOUR: Welcome back to the program. The Republican National Convention is over. Now, it's the Democrats' turn. And for Hillary Clinton, all the
party grandees are planning to show up in Philadelphia starting Monday.
After the blistering she got from Trump and the Republicans, what will the tone of her convention be as she accepts her party's nomination for
president.
Joining me now is our senior political correspondent Jeff Zeleny who is in Miami. We have -- Hillary Clinton is campaigning this week.
And Jeff, welcome and tell me what the tone is there, what you expect and what we, you know, going to see next week compared to what we've all just
seen in Cleveland.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christiane, I think we're going to see a different tone almost entirely. It's not going to be
as negative and dark. It is going to be more about sort of, you know, keeping things going.
This, of course, is, you know, a room, a hall, thousands and thousands of delegates who like the way the direction of the country is going. It's
almost a tale of two countries here in terms of their assessment of how things are going. But it's going to be a much more diverse message and
certainly a more diverse crowd of delegates.
So, I think you'll hear Hillary Clinton, without a doubt, basically saying that she would in fact be a third term of the Obama Administration. Of
course with some changes around the edges, everything is not perfect without any degree, but I'm told it is not going to be a simply negative
week-long rant against Donald Trump.
[22:20:06] We'll see if they can live up to that. That is the key thing I'm watching here. Because they know that they have to try and potentially
get some of those people, you know, who may have been intrigued by Mr. Trump's message but a little worried about it. They think that they can
get some of those people.
So it will, certainly, negative about Trump but they're saying that they want it to be more optimistic and forward looking as opposed to being
simply a repeat of what this week was against Clinton.
AMANPOUR: Now, what about what the campaign is thinking or what signals it may be sending out to you covering it? Do they worry that Donald Trump
could get enough disaffected Democrats in terms of job losses and that kind of thing that could put her campaign in jeopardy? Is there any sense of
worry or complacency?
CHACHAS: Sure there is a sense of worry. I mean, the thing that the Clinton campaign really from the top on down want to make clear to people
is they actually should take Donald Trump very seriously. They should take this threat very seriously.
And you can just tell how that's changed over the last several months or so. He was a laughing stock for a while. That is not the case in
Democratic audiences now. But there's no doubt there is a sliver of voters, particularly white male voters, particularly these voters who have
been left out of this, you know, this globalization in the economy here and other things, in, you know, the older Rust Belt states like Ohio, like
Michigan, like Pennsylvania.
There is a worry about winning over some of these voters. But the sheer reality is, the mathematics, the demographics in this country here in the
U.S., Christiane, as you know, changing so rapidly.
So the Clinton campaign also is going to not spend a ton of time on those white male voters. They're much more interested in firing up Hispanic
voters, African American voters, younger voters that Obama coalition, that sent him to the White House eight years ago and back again in 2012, that's
who she wants to fire up.
AMANPOUR: And it was an amazing situation as we saw in Cleveland, really with the sort of prosecutorial judge and jury language that was emanating
from the stage, whether from Governor Chris Christie or Donald Trump himself and others, you know, "Lock her up" was the refrain that the
delegates were chanting. Did the Clinton campaign watch that? What was their reaction to what looked to be the criminalization of political
differences?
CHACHAS: Yes, they did watch that very carefully. I'm told Secretary Clinton herself did not watch all of the convention but certainly read the
news coverage. But the -- her staff was watching this very carefully. And they know in some respects that it's simply over-the-top rhetoric by people
who would never vote for her anyway. But they are very aware of the fact that her honest and trustworthy numbers are in really a dire place for
someone who's trying to win an election.
They know a lot of the country simply doesn't believe her. The FBI report into her e-mails and other things has fed into this. So they know that
there is actually some work they need to do on that. But they go back and back again to elections are choices. It's a choice between her or between
Donald Trump.
So they are going to, you know, try and improve her honesty and trustworthy numbers. But more than anything else try and show that she is ready for
the presidency in this global world of challenges here that she's seasoned, she's experienced, of course. That's what she's going to signal when she
makes, perhaps, the most important decision of all so far, and that's picking a running mate, someone who is a seasoned hand here, ready for
these challenges as well.
AMANPOUR: Who would you guess is going to be?
CHACHAS: Well, she's going to announce this on Saturday in Miami here, and that is a big indication that Hispanic voters so important. Tim Kaine, the
governor of or the former governor, current senator of Virginia, fluent Spanish speaker, the only one on the list who is. He campaigns across this
country against Donald Trump for Hillary Clinton in Spanish. So that is the leading indicator.
All Democrats we're talking to say that Tim Kaine certainly has the upper hand here. He learned Spanish in a Jesuit missionary, excuse me, in
Honduras back when he was in his 20s and still speaks constant Spanish. So that is one telling sign.
She's also looking at a few other people in the administration, other senators. But all eyes right now on Tim Kaine. She will introduce him on
Saturday here in Miami.
AMANPOUR: Jeff, thank you so much for bringing us up to date with all of that and all eyes will be on Philadelphia next week. Thanks a lot.
And coming up, imagining the highlights and lowlights from the biggest political circus in the world. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:26:11] AMANPOUR: And finally tonight, we imagined the week that was and we take a quick look back at the chaos, the controversies and the
clashes at this year's Republican convention.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKERS: USA. USA. USA.
MELANIA TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S WIFE: That your word is your bond and you do what you say and keep your promise.
MICHELLE OBAMA, UNITED STATES FIRST LADY: That your word is your bond, that you do what you say you're going to do.
SEN. JONI ERNST, (R) IOWA: ISIS is present in all 50 states.
TRUMP: Who would trust Hillary Clinton to protect them? I wouldn't. Would you?
CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R) NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR: Hillary Clinton lying to the American people about her selfish, awful judgment.
SEN. TED CRUZ, (R) TEXAS: Stand and speak and vote your conscience, vote for candidates up and down the ticket.
TRUMP: I am your voice. God bless you and good night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: Now, it's worth remembering that Donald Trump's mentor was Roy Cohen who was the lawyer for the famous red baiting scaremongering Senator
Joe McCarthy. And Edward R. Murrow, the patron saint of broadcast news once said of McCarthy, "He didn't create this situation of fear, he merely
exploited it, and rather successfully." We ask, is history repeating itself?
And that is it for our program tonight. Remember you can always listen to our podcast, see us online at amanpour.com and follow me on Facebook and
Twitter.
Thanks for watching and goodbye from New York.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:30:11] ALLEN: I'm Natalie Allen of the "CNN News Now." ISIS claims .
END
