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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Ted Cruz Announces Carly Fiorina As His Vice Presidential Pick; Fiorina Speaks to the Crowd. Aired 4:30-5p ET
Aired April 27, 2016 - 16:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If I endorse, I want to be all in. I want to be campaigning. I want to be working. I want to be doing everything I can to make the case to the American people.
[16:30:12]
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: That's the kind of condition you like to hear. Her condition was, my endorsement is not just an empty rubber stamp, a one little momentary fluff in the wind. It is, rather, a full commitment, because Carly looked at me and said, our country is in crisis and we have got to do this together.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: And since that time, I have seen her day in, day out, on the campaign bus going from stop to stop to stop that she is careful, she is measured, she is serious. She doesn't get overly excited. She doesn't rattled by whatever is getting thrown at her.
And, you know, we all saw that when, in one of the earliest debates, Carly confronted Donald Trump.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: A man, who in his characteristic understatement said of her, look at that face.
(BOOING)
CRUZ: And every one of us remembers the grace, the class, the elan with which Carly responded.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: Responded to Donald that she knew exactly what he was saying and that every woman in America knew exactly what Donald Trump was saying.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: You know, one of the great principles of bullies, they feed off of fear. They feed off of people who will cower in the corner when they yell and scream and insult and holler and curse.
And they don't know what to do when a strong, powerful woman stands up and says, I am not afraid.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: The third characteristic that is oh so important for a president is character. At the end of the day, it's all about character. If the president is a no-good scoundrel, if the president is a narcissist, if the president is abusive and angry, they will not and cannot be a good president.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: And for anyone who doubts that, we need only look at the president seven years to see what happens.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: And a good president must have known struggle, must be able to understand those who are struggling. If you have always lived a life of privilege, if you have always been told you are the chosen one, that has real impacts on the job you can do as president.
When Carly started as a secretary in a small firm in an environment in the business world that was not always welcoming to women, she knew and knows what it's like to struggle in the workplace each and every day. But she's also faced personal struggle, including being diagnosed with breast cancer, battling cancer, and surviving cancer.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: As a son who was by my mother's side when she battled breast cancer, I know firsthand how devastating that disease can be, and I know what a testament it is to her strength and grit and fortitude that she came roaring back, ready to conquer the world.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
[16:35:02]
CRUZ: And Carly has known tragedy, including the loss of her stepdaughter to a drug overdose.
There is no pain on the face of the planet commensurate with the pain of a parent losing a child. And Carly has struggled through that, and going through those personal struggles, all of us, everyone here has faced personal struggles, but it is when you are facing the void, when you are facing the abyss that you find your character, you find who you are, you find your faith, you find your grounding.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: Maybe that's why Carly isn't intimidated by bullies, because she's faced challenges a lot worse than someone bellowing and yelling and insulting her face. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: And let me tell you, at a personal level, Heidi and I have become friends with Carly. We have spent time with her on the campaign trail. We have laughed. We have watched basketball games together. We have marveled at this crazy, wild journey, and I will tell you, our girls, Caroline and Catherine, have come to adore Carly.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: On the bus on the campaign trail, Carly makes up songs and sings them to Caroline and Catherine. And our girls, mind you, they're 8 and 5, both regularly text Carly.
(LAUGHTER)
CRUZ: And let me tell you, Carly may become the first vice president in history to have a very impressive fluency with heart and smiley- faced emoticons.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: And when you're texting with a 5-year-old girl or an 8-year-old girl, those are highly valuable.
Now, listen, some might ask, why now? It's tradition that a vice presidential nominee is announced at the convention. It's unusual to make the announcement as early as we're doing so now. Well, I think all would acknowledge this race, if anything, it is unusual.
Where we are now, the mainstream media, the New York media executives and the Washington lobbyists are all trying to tell the American people the race is over. But let me tell you where we are right now. Where we are right now, nobody is getting to 1,237 delegates.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: I'm not getting to 1,237 delegates, and Donald J. Trump is not getting to 1,237 delegates.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: And the Hoosier State is going to have a powerful voice in making that clear.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: So, why make this announcement now?
Well, for one thing, if we are to win, number one, win the nomination, but, number two, even more importantly, win the general election, we must unite.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: And Carly is a vice presidential nominee who I believe is superbly skilled, superbly gifted at helping unite this party, bring us together, so we stand united as one.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: Secondly, I make this announcement today so that you, the voters, the voters in Indiana, the voters in Nebraska, the voters in South Dakota and Washington state and California and across the country, so that you will know what you will get.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
[16:40:02]
CRUZ: The voters deserve to know. You deserve to have a candidate who doesn't change as the wind blows in any given moment. You deserve to know exactly where a candidate stands.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: And the final reason for making the decision now is to give the American people a clear choice. Elections are about choices.
Across this country, millions of Americans are struggling with an economy that isn't working, with the Obama-Clinton economy that is stagnant, are seeing the Bill of Rights under assault, religious liberty, the Second Amendment violated by the federal government, a Supreme Court hanging in the balance, a president who abandons our friends and allies, whether it is Great Britain or whether it is Israel, and a president who is unwilling to stand up and confront radical Islamic terrorism and defeat ISIS.
(BOOING)
CRUZ: Some in the media will say, wouldn't it be easier just to throw up your hands and say surrender? Donald Trump has won some of the races, so we should step back and let him win them all.
AUDIENCE: No!
CRUZ: If we nominate a candidate who is a big government New York liberal, who is a Washington insider, who agrees with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on issue after issue after issue, and whose lobbyist campaign manager has told us he's only playing a part, this is only a role, he's lying to us, then we as the Republican Party will have failed profoundly for this country, because the men and women of Indiana know, if we give people a clear choice between freedom and tyranny, between prosperity and poverty, between vulnerability and weakness and peace through strength, that the American people will choose the Constitution and jobs and freedom and security over and over again.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: The difference between Carly and me on the one side and Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on the other side could not be starker. If you want someone that will stand and fight for the working men and women of this country, fight for the men and women with callouses on your hand, fight for the single moms, fight for the young people, fight for those who are struggling and want to achieve the American dream, then do not go with the Washington insiders who have sold us down the river.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: This ticket is about the future. It is about our children. It is about our grandchildren. The stakes of this election, we are not simply wagering on a sporting contest.
We are involved in a fight that every one of us is privileged to be here, to be fighting to save the greatest country in the history of the world, to make sure that the next generation has every bit as much freedom and opportunity as each of us was blessed to have.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: And with that, I am pleased to introduce to you...
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: ... an extraordinary leader, my friend, and the next vice president of the United States, Carly Fiorina!
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(MUSIC)
[16:45:20] CARLY FIORINA, TED CRUZ'S VICE PRESIDENTIAL PICK: Hello, Indiana! Thank you. Today, I am very proud and very humbled and honored to announce that I have accepted Senator Ted Cruz's offer to be his vice president for the Republican nomination.
You know, Ted Cruz could not be more right in what he said. There is a lot at stake and, in fact, this is a fight, this is a fight for the soul of our party and the future of our nation.
Now there are some who would say a lot of people in the media would say, why have the fight? Just lay down and let's let it be over here. You know what? I've had tough fights all my life. Tough fights don't worry me a bit.
What matters is, is the fight worth having and this is a fight worth having and this is a fight worth winning and with your help, we will win this fight! This fight is about far more than a ticket.
This fight is about far more than Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina. This is a fight for all of us, for our party, for our future, for our children's future.
You know, last night, it was pretty clear. Everybody in the media, the establishment elites said, well, it's over. I mean, it's over. Donald trump won.
But it isn't over because you and people all across the great Hoosier state, people all across this nation know that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton both will be disastrous for this nation!
You see, what we have, you know, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, they are two side of the same coin. They are both liberal. But, you know, Hillary Clinton, like so many politicians, Hillary Clinton has made her millions selling excess and influence from inside the system.
And Donald Trump has made his billions buying people like Hillary Clinton. They are not going to challenge the system that has sold us all down the river. They are not going to challenge the elites.
They are not going to challenge the crony capitalist. They are not challenge the Washington insiders. They are not going to challenge the lobbyists. My gosh, their campaign is $, filled with them. No. They are not going to challenge the system. They are the system.
You know, Ted mentioned that it's been seven weeks since I endorsed him. I voted for him before I ever had a conversation with him about endorsing him. And, of course, that's what you all have to do on Tuesday, vote for him.
But we -- good for you. Now you can get a few more to vote. But we have been traveling around the country and I've come to know Ted and Heidi and Caroline and Catherine.
I know two girls that I just adore. I'm so happy I can see them more because we travel on the bus all day we get to play we get to play.
I won't bore you with any more of the song, but the two girls have four verses. Love you, girls! Here's what I have come to know about this man who must be the next president of the United States.
[16:50:10]He's a fighter too. He's been in lots of fights. He has fought for our religious liberty. He has fought for our right to bear arms. He has fought over and over in front of the Supreme Court so many times that he's won all of those fights.
You know, there are people who say, well, you know he has made some enemies. Listen, as someone who has challenged the status quo all of my life, that's what I've done. That's how you get from secretary to CEO.
You challenge the status quo. It's actually the only way you solve festering problems and, lord knows we have festering problems in Washington, D.C. The only way you solve festering problems is you actually have to challenge the status quo.
And I'll tell you something about challenging the system and the status quo. You do more than ruffle feathers. You do more than rock the boat. You make enemies.
So I am reassured and I am proud of some of the enemies that Ted Cruz has made. It means he's going to fight and this is our fight, but let me tell you something else about this man.
Those two girls that I adore, Caroline and Catherine, let me tell you how much they adore their dad. I have watch Ted and Heidi. They are partners.
They are a couple that rely on one another, just as my husband Frank of over 30 years and I rely on each other through good times and in bad. Ted is a lot of fun. Yes, let's face it.
He is really brilliant. He is constitutional attorney, for heaven's fun but he is a lot of fun. He mentioned watching a basketball game. We were on the bus and with we were watching the final four.
We were watching the very last game, Villanova and North Carolina. Here we are in the final. If you remember that name, that gamed you're a basketball state, right? Right. You remember that game. So here we are, Hoosiers, anyway.
It's 4.38 seconds to go in the game. And without knowing what the exciting finish would be, here is Ted Cruz putting money on the game. Everybody has got the money falling on the table!
He's a heck of a lot of fun, but more than that he actually is what he says he is. He is who he says he is. You know, Ted mentioned that that second debate and one of the things that I got asked in that debate was -- and I've been asked almost every day since.
Will you support Donald Trump if he is the nominee? I said then what I said the week he announced his candidacy. He doesn't represent me and he does not represent my party.
But here is something else I said in that second debate. I said, you know, there's an old saying, tough times build character. That's not true. Tough times reveal character.
Character is revealed over time and under pressure. Character is revealed in the pattern of someone's life not in what they choose to say behind a podium.
And I can tell you that the character of Ted Cruz has been revealed over time and under pressure and in the pattern of his life. He is a principled fighter.
He is a man of character and conviction and he understands the importance of the constitution to the future of this nation. I have to take a moment and explain why the constitution even matters.
Because, you know, there are some people would say, well, it's a dusty relic, it was written so long ago. Let me tell you why it matters but to tell you why it matters, I need to go back and tell you a little bit about myself.
When I was a little girl, just 8 years old, I was in Sunday school one morning. My mother was my Sunday school teacher that year. And she looked at me and the rest of her class and she said what you are is God's gift of you.
What you make of yourself is your gift to God. I have traveled and lived and worked all over the world for decades. I have seen people in every possible corner of the globe and in every conceivable circumstance.
[16:55:10]And I can tell you that, indeed, each of us, all of us are gifted by God. Each of us, each of us and all of us have the capacity and the desire to live lives of dignity and purpose and meaning.
And we know and it has always been true that work done well brings us dignity, and family brings us purpose, and faith gives meaning to our lives.
And that is true all over the world, and when people do not have the opportunity to work, they lose dignity and when families are frayed, purpose becomes uncertain, and when people are disconnected from their faith, then they lose meaning in their lives.
And so if everyone is gifted by God, if everyone has the desire and the capacity to live a life of dignity and purpose and meaning, we must ask ourselves now, as Americans, when we face so much in this fight.
We must ask ourselves, why is it that more things have been more possible for more people from more places here than anywhere else on earth?
Because knowing the answer to that question is what will save the future of this nation. I am keenly aware. I am keenly aware that it is only in this nation that a young woman can start out the way I did, typing, filing, answering the phones for a nine-person real estate firm.
One day, go on and become the chief executive of what we turned into the largest technology company in the world, run for the president of the United States, and run now for the vice presidency of the United States.
That is only possible in this great nation! And the reason it's possible, the reason it's possible here and only here is because our founders knew what my mother taught me.
Our founders knew that everyone is gifted by God, that all of us are equal in the eyes of God, that everyone has potential, usually far more than we realize.
And so they said, we are going to found a nation on a radical visionary idea that here nation, everyone has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
That was their way of saying, everyone has the right to find and use their God-given gifts to fulfill their potential and they said -- and this was the radical part -- that that right comes from God and cannot be taken away by man or government!
And so this became a nation where entrepreneurship and innovation flourished and more things became more possible for more people from more places. The constitution rightly enshrines our rights and liberties that gives us the chance to fulfill our potential. But our founders knew something else. Our founders knew that it has always been true all throughout history -- I used to study history -- our founders knew that all throughout history, this also is true -- power concentrated is power abused.
And so the constitution is rightly understood not just as a document to enshrine our rights and liberties, but also a document to prevent, to restrain, the concentration and the abuse of power and we have flowed and gone way too far from the constitution!
The reality is for the last decades under Republicans and Democrats alike, too much power and too much money are concentrated in the hands of too few.
We must restore power, liberty where it belongs, in the citizens, in the hands of citizens of this nation, small business, communities and states.
That is why having a constitutional conservative in the White House matters, because a president, in order to fix what ails us, must restore our constitutional balance of power.
Our entrenched political system, our system of crony capitalism, now it works if you're a big company, but it doesn't work if you're a small company.
