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At This Hour
Highlights from Republican Presidential Debate; Trump Lashes Out at Debate Moderators; Schumer Rejects Obama's Iran Nuclear Agreement; Joint Chiefs Server Hacked, Russia Suspected. Aired 11- 11:30a ET
Aired August 07, 2015 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump at Def-Con one. The debate is not over until he says it is. This morning, he is lashing out at debate moderators. Who is nasty on Planet Trump this morning?
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And a bitter blow for the White House. The next Democratic leader in the Senate says no to the Iran nuclear deal. What does this mean for the fate of the agreement? President Obama sits down with CNN.
BOLDUAN: Cyber attack at the Pentagon. The main suspect, Russia. How did they get in and does the U.S. have any way of keeping them outgoing forward?
Hello. I'm John Berman.
BOLDUAN: I'm Kate Bolduan.
The burning question this morning, what is Donald Trump doing, on top of what did he do last night, in addition to what will he do next? Right now, Twitter is full of broadsides from Trump lashing out in very personal terms at the moderators of last night's presidential debate, especially Megyn Kelly.
First, the happy hour debate and then the main event, and now this. Does that make this the hangover? Is Twitter bile really a good hangover cure?
Whatever your view on the debate, there is no debate that it was unforgettable.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS WALLACE, DEBATE MODERATOR: Is there anyone on stage, and can I see hands, who is unwilling tonight to pledge your support for the eventual nominee for the Republican Party and pledge to not run an Independent campaign against that person?
(BOOING)
(CHEERING)
WALLACE: Mr. Trump. (CHEERING)
(BOOING)
MEGYN KELLY, DEBATE MODERATOR: You called women you don't like fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals. Your Twitter account --
(CROSSTALK)
DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: Only Rosie O'Donnell.
(LAUGHTER)
KELLY: No, it wasn't.
JEB BUSH, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: I'll have to earn this. Maybe the barrier -- the bar is even higher for me. That's fine.
JOHN KASICH, (R), OHIO GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Guess what? I just went to a wedding of a friend of mine who happens to be gay. Because somebody doesn't think the way I do --
(APPLAUSE)
KASICH: -- doesn't mean I can't care about them or can't love them.
CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R), NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from other people. How are you supposed to know, Megyn?
SEN. RAND PAUL, (R), KENTUCKY & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Use the Fourth Amendment!
CHRISTIE: How are you suppose --
(CROSSTALK)
PAUL: Use the Fourth Amendment!
CHRISTIE: No, I tell you how --
(CROSSTALK)
PAUL: Get a warrant!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: So how many people watched all this? Tons. The ratings look staggering. Maybe as many as 10 million people, which would double the record for a primary debate.
And this morning, it seems Donald Trump doesn't want this debate to end. He has been on Twitter and television all morning. BOLDUAN: Let's talk about that with political reporter, Nia-
Malika Henderson. She's in Cleveland, the site of last night's debate.
Nia, he made headlines last night, but he feels he needs to keep on the attack this morning.
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: That's right. This was early, early this morning. Donald Trump very much up tweeting or someone tweeting from his account this idea of keeping up the engagement and criticism of Megyn Kelly. We saw the exchange there where she asked him about some not-so-nice comments he made there. This morning, we are talking about 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning, he is retweeting people about Megyn Kelly. Megyn Kelly is out to get you with baited questions. She was angry at you. Hostile. He took to the mic, tweeting, "I really enjoyed the debate, even though the FOX News trio, especially Megyn Kelly, was not very good or professional." He said that Megyn Kelly bombed. And people are going wild on Twitter. There was an echo chamber on Twitter, confirming what he thought about Megyn Kelly. And then he took to the air waves this morning to continue this fight with Megyn Kelly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP (voice-over): I thought the questions were unfair, but I can live with it. Probably, you are number one in the polls and they ask you a tougher question. But I have to tell you, even the other candidates, they got off stage and they said to me, it's amazing that those questions were so unfair. They all felt how unfair those questions were.
I enjoyed the evening. I thought they were unfair. That's OK. It was an amazing evening. I'm sure it was a great success.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENDERSON: So there you have it, continuing this fight.
What's interesting is his immediate response after the debate, his campaign sent out a note saying they felt like he won, that he was presidential on stage. That was a big question going in, whether or not Donald Trump would emerge from the debate seeming like a person who could fill that chair in the Oval Office. Now this morning, he is someone that is coming out and really attacking the referees, attacking Megyn Kelly. Let's see how long this goes on.
He talked about the poll numbers. He was high in the polls before this debate. We will see how he does now.
[11:05:11] BOLDUAN: Nia, thank you so much.
General rule of thumb, if a candidate thinks the questions are unfair, generally they are right on target.
Let's talk about the standout moments last night and their impact going forward. Joining us now is CNN commentator, a man who has often written favorably about Mr. Trump, Mr. Jeffrey Lord; and Ron Christie, former special assistant to George W. Bush. He also served as senior adviser to now-presidential candidate, Governor John Kasich.
It's great to see you guys.
We asked you what your standout moment was from last night. You both agreed on this moment at the very beginning of the debate. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: Is there anyone on stage, can I see hands, who is unwilling tonight to pledge your support to the eventual nominee of the Republican party and pledge to not run an Independent campaign against that person?
(BOOING)
(CHEERING)
WALLACE: Mr. Trump.
(CHEERING)
(BOOING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: There you have it. The shoulder shrug does it all.
Jeffrey Lord, why is this a standout moment?
JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR & CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR: It is a standout moment because it is a separation of the anti-establishment wing of the Republican Party, the Reagan wig, if you will.
(CROSSTALK)
BOLDUAN: In a good way, though? You heard the booing.
LORD: I suspect, in Ohio, there's a lot of establishment Republicans there, like John Kasich, talking this morning on a conservative talk show in Birmingham, Alabama, the "Matt Murphy Show," I asked the question, what's up, what is your reaction? One of the first things was said, they like Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. Marco Rubio was coming in third. They were very unhappy, the callers, were unhappy with FOX and with Megyn Kelly, which I found interesting. Then looking at Breitbart and Drudge here this morning, Trump wins the Drudge poll, with 38 percent, to Cruz's 15 and on down from there, and Breitbart, he's in second place. In other words, outside certain quarters here of the establishment, I don't think this doesn't play as it is playing.
BERMAN: Let me show people again when there are critics saying again that Megyn Kelly was hard on Donald Trump or Donald Trump was angry at Megyn Kelly's question, this is the exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: You call women you don't like fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals. Your Twitter account --
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Only Rosie O'Donnell.
(LAUGHTER)
I think the big problem this country has is being politically correct. I've been --
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: I've been challenged by so many people and I don't, frankly, have time for total political correctness. To be honest with you, this country doesn't have time either. Honestly, Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry. I have been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you treated me, but I won't do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: So, Ron, generally speaking about his own statements and record doesn't qualify as nasty. Generally speaking, if you are a Republican attacking a popular FOX News anchor may not win you many votes, will it?
RON CHRISTIE, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO GEORGE W. BUSH & SENIOR ADVISER TO GOVERNOR JOHN KASICH: I don't think it will. Anytime in politics when you are explaining, you are losing. You need to talk about your positive vision. What is the direction you like to lead the country and how do you differ from the other candidates. I thought that initial exchange with Megyn was a Seminole moment with Mr. Trump because this is a gentleman, up until 2009, was a registered Democrat. He is in favor of the single-payer health system. This is someone who has given an enormous amount of money to the Clintons and the Clinton Foundation. Republicans are saying are you Republican? Are you a conservative? Are you with us? His unwillingness to say I will not rule out a third-party candidacy makes it look as if he is only interested in his only personal ambition than the ambition for his party and putting his country first.
BOLDUAN: A huge missed opportunity, Jeff?
LORD: No. What Ron is challenging or channeling there and he may not realize it, when Ronald Reagan ran against Gerald Ford and ran around the country in the primaries and begin the speeches saying, most of my life, I have been a Democrat, the people in the Republican establishment of the day were enraged at this. He wasn't supposed to be acknowledging Democratic roots. There's all kinds of tapes of him sounding like Barack Obama in 1948, so --
(CROSSTALK)
BOLDUAN: Such a difference in evolving from Democrat to Republican and saying I'm sick of being P.C. --
(CROSSTALK)
BOLDUAN: -- because being P.C. is very different than being crude.
RON CHRISTIE: That's exactly right. Let me jump on that point.
(CROSSTALK)
LORD: If you are outside of Manhattan, I'm not so sure that's true.
BOLDUAN: Oh, come on. You stop it right now.
(LAUGHTER)
Stop it.
No, no.
BERMAN: Jeffrey, is it OK to call women fat pigs?
LORD: Do I what?
[11:10:10] BERMAN: Is it OK to call women fat pigs?
LORD: No, no, no. I'm not saying --
(CROSSTALK)
BERMAN: Do you want a candidate who says that?
LORD: What I'm saying to you, and I'll say something I said earlier this morning. This is our concern, and if we're going to talk about this, Hillary Clinton's husband is accused by Juanita Broderick of rape and sexual harassment charges, and we are talking about words of Donald Trump versus actual actions, with actual women, coming up and saying, yes, I'm accusing this man. I would think there's a little disparity here and we should have balance and judgment.
BOLDUAN: You can absolutely talk about balance, but you don't want Bill Clinton to run in the Republican nomination. We are talking about a Republican nominee. Do you want a Republican nominee?
LORD: What I'm asking is when Hillary Clinton sits down, will she be asked --
(CROSSTALK)
BOLDUAN: Not Hillary Clinton's actions.
LORD: Well, she supported her husband and she's accused specifically by Juanita Broderick of trying to silence her.
(CROSSTALK)
BERMAN: But this is deflecting the issue, which is, is Donald Trump presidential? Did he show it last night?
I do want to talk about some other candidates. I want to skip ahead to another fiery experience with Chris Christie and Rand Paul. They are talking about surveillance. Listen quickly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIE: When you are sitting in the subcommittee just blowing hot air about this, you can say things like that.
PAUL: I don't trust President Obama with our records. I know you gave him a big hug. And if you want to give him a big hug again, go right ahead.
(APPLAUSE)
CHRISTIE: And you know, Senator Paul, you know the hugs I remember are the hugs I gave to the families who lost their people on September 11th.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: So, Ron, I don't think there is any question that each man feels passionately about that. They both got their points in there. In a 10-person debate and two guys go in and land punches, don't they hurt each other and help everyone else?
RON CHRISTIE: I think they do. When you only have seven minutes of air time, you have to figure out how to differentiate yourself from everybody else. If you look at Rand Paul and Chris Christie, they would drop the gloves early, and they did, but it did not advance their cause. You need to talk about, why should you vote for me if you are a Republican voter and paying attention in August. Why am I the one that stands out, as opposed to going negative? I think the candidates who looked good, my old boss, John Kasich, and Senator Marco Rubio. They were cheerful and had a positive energy as opposed to the negative exchanges like we saw with those two gentlemen.
BOLDUAN: The negative and positive and optimistic. Let's see what happens now.
(LAUGHTER)
BERMAN: Ron Christie, Jeffrey Lord, thanks so much.
LORD: Thanks, John.
BERMAN: If you have not seen enough of Donald Trump, oh, there will be more. 9:00 tonight on "CNN Tonight" with Don Lemon. The debate was a big deal. A lot of people think this was a bigger deal. A major blow to
President Obama and his nuclear deal with Iran. A key Senate ally says he will vote no. Is the entire deal in jeopardy in Congress?
BOLDUAN: Also ahead, for us, bracing for protest. The city of Ferguson is on alert as the community there marks one year after the unarmed teenager was shot and killed by a police officer. The new interim police chief is speaking out.
And a raid gone very wrong. Dressed in black and armed with handguns, bounty hunters make a mistake after banging down the wrong door, the city's police chief.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:17:19] BERMAN: All right. New this morning, a political blow to President Obama from a political ally. The deal with Iran and the no vote on the way from the most influential Jewish voice in Congress. Chuck Schumer says after careful thought and considerable soul searching, he must vote against the deal. As we said, this is a vote the White House desperately wanted. Now he is the first in the party to officially come out in the Senate against the president's plan.
BOLDUAN: Right after Schumer's announcement, Congress Member Eliot Engel came out against it. They joined other influential Jewish Democrats, especially, who have now spoken out against the deal.
The White House, though, has downplayed the defections, pointing to some high-profile support among other Democratic lawmakers. This as President Obama continues his very aggressive push for congressional support of the deal. He bluntly frames it as a choice of reaching an agreement with Iran or war.
BERMAN: The case is aggressive, but the question is, too aggressive.
Fareed Zakaria, host of "Fareed Zakaria, GPS," sat down with President Obama for an exclusive interview that will air on Sunday in full.
Fareed joins us now.
Aggressive push. He gave this speech at American University, Fareed. The president all but said if you oppose this deal, it will lead to war. You are voting for war. Not only that, but the Republicans are like the hard liners in Iran.
FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, FAREED ZAKARIA, GPS: You know, that line got a lot of attention. I wanted to see whether there was any pullback, whether he would dial back on that particular analogy. I asked him specifically on that. Listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZAKARIA: In your speech at American University, you made a comparison. You said Iran's hard liners were making common cause with Republicans. It is coming under criticism. Mitch McConnell said Democrats should be insulted.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What I said is absolutely true factually. The people inside Iran, the people most opposed to the deal are the Revolutionary Guard, the Quds force, hardliners who are opposed to any cooperation with the international community. The reason that Mitch McConnell and the rest of the folks in his caucus, who oppose this, jumped out and opposed it before they even read it, before it was posted, is reflective of an ideological commitment not to get a deal done.
(CROSSTALK)
OBAMA: In that sense, they do have a lot in common with hardliners who are much more satisfied with the status quo.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[11:20:10] BOLDUAN: Really amazing, Fareed. What is your sense after speaking with him that he really believes that kind of -- that line of logic, that rhetoric, will actually win over supporters? Is your sense after speaking with him and you touched on a lot more is he has thrown in the towel in trying to win over folks in Congress. They made their decisions.
ZAKARIA: There are two things going on. One, he believes that this is the smartest course. This is the way you will block Iran's pathways. Monitor it, verify it and whether or not it is complying. The most intrusive inspections and verification scheme ever negotiated. It's 10 times or 15 times longer than the one with North Korea. On the substance, he is passionate. On the politics, his feeling is probably. That, look, what you can do is make the best case you can. You have a hard core of Democrats in the Senate and House particularly, the firewall is in the House, that will sustain this veto. Appeal to them, make clear to them what they are doing is important. People like Senator Schumer have very difficult choices because the intensity of preference is asymmetrical. The people opposed to the deal are much more strongly opposed than the people in favor. As you know, that's why the gun lobby wins. In general, Congress responds to intense preferences.
BERMAN: From his standpoint, he better have the vote count right. If he does not have one-third of the House or Senate that he needs, this would be politically catastrophic in the country. Imagine this deal being overturned. Imagine internationally, too.
BOLDUAN: No kidding.
BERMAN: The United States would lose credibility.
ZAKARIA: John, it's important what you said. There was an event that took place on Capitol Hill. The ambassadors from P5+1, the other members of the Security Council, plus Germany, met with Senators to try to explain to them that this was the best deal you could have gotten. If the deal collapses, the sanctions will collapse. They believe this was in the United States' interest and Israel's interest. Extraordinary to have foreign ambassadors on, and it was their feeling, this was an international effort. If it collapses, everyone has egg on their face.
BERMAN: It is on the White House, an ability to get the votes.
BOLDUAN: It's up in the air.
BERMAN: Fareed, thank you so much.
You can see the whole interview with the president this weekend. This is an important interview to watch. Be sure to not miss it, "Fareed Zakaria, GPS," 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. eastern on Sunday, right here on CNN.
Want to worry about something? How about this? A new high-level computer hack, this time, the e-mail of our top military leaders this time. Who did it? The U.S. military now pointing fingers.
BOLDUAN: And a surprise for an Arizona police chief. Bounty hunters burst through his door, guns drawn, as he sat in his home in his underwear. We will tell you how this mistake happened.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:26:46] BERMAN: All right. New this morning, Russian hackers at work. That, according to U.S. military officials. Allegedly hacked into the Pentagon e-mail system used by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Although, they cannot rule out China, they say this seems like Russia's style, using a technique know as "spear fishing."
BOLDUAN: This is not the first time hackers have gotten into government networks. Officials have blamed Russia for another Pentagon attack and one at the White House.
Let's bring in CNN national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem, for more on this, also formerly a top official in the Department of Homeland Security.
Juliette, military officials are pointing, saying they believe this attack comes from Russia. What do you think that means? What are the call signs or the signals or clues that point to Russia, do you think?
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Two things, one is history. Russia's tendency based on the prior investigation to use this kind of attack on unclassified networks. The second reason we suspect Russia is the attack with the phishing expedition. It is not as simple as you open an e-mail and allow something in, but it kind of works like that. It is, my understanding is, it was in multiple number of attempts to get in, of which some of them succeeded. I should tell everyone this was an unclassified network. We don't suspect that anything bad has gotten out. Nonetheless, it is a form of espionage and cyber attack that is disconcerting to those who work at the Joint Chiefs.
BERMAN: It seems to keep on happening, Juliette. The Chinese are breaking into this thing. The Russians are breaking into another thing. How do people look at this and say, look, Facebook was invented in the United States, Microsoft, Apple computers. Don't we have the people to stop this? Is it a lack of will or capability?
KAYYEM: Oh, I think it is not the lack of will. On the capability side, there are so many networks that are so open because you need them to be open that something bad may happen eventually. In this case, this attack could have been stopped by better user practices. In other words, we all have to be taught to be better cyber citizens in the sense of what we let into our computers and networks. Part of it is educating those of us on systems classified or unclassified how to behave better. No system will be completely locked down unless it is not attached to the cloud. Unless you have no access to what's going on in the Internet, then your data will be secure. That's why cyber experts are putting all sorts of different walls and back-up systems to protect the data. There will be attacks. It is unfortunate. This was successful. It was sophisticated. It would not be hard to stop.
BOLDUAN: That is the scariest part about it --
(LAUGHER)
-- Juliette.
KAYYEM: It really does come down to a lot of the things where we talk about the big networks and cyber protections and stuff. A lot of time it comes down to user conduct. Don't open that e-mail. Don't let that virus in. Change your passwords. All sorts of easy stuff like that, which seem so basic. Nonetheless, they can really protest the system.
BERMAN: Chances are Russia@spy.com is not actually writing you. Do not open it.
(LAUGHTER)
Juliette --
