Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Carly Fiorina Shines In Happy Hour Debate; Donald Trump Disappoints Women Voters. Aired 3:30-4p ET
Aired August 07, 2015 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:30:00] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Tell us what you said. What was most important for you to convey?
SANDY PHILLIPS, MOTHER OF SHOOTING VICTIM JESSICA GHAWI: You know, when you're up on the stand, you don't remember what you say. George is such a good prosecutor that I told him, I said, I'm a pretty good dancer. If you lead, I'll follow. So he just led me into talking about my daughter and reliving some of the special memories.
I do remember talking about Christmas and how we had always given the kids ornaments for each year of their lives and I was really glad that that year I went ahead and put up a tree because I wasn't going to and she begged me to please you put up the tree. And after Christmas I took the ornaments down and for some reason I actually separated them and put them in two separate boxes, one for my son and one for Jesse. So who knew that she would never get them?
But I do remember talking about that and that's one of the things that has changed so much in our lives that we don't celebrate Christmases, we don't celebrate thanksgiving, you know, we really don't have the kind of future that other families have at this point in our life.
HARLOW: Lonnie, today in the deliberations, the jury asked to watch again a 45-minute video of the crime scene. And to you, you've told me before, look, this decision of whether or not the gunman gets life in prison or the death sentence is not significant. Tell me why that is and also what you remember most about Jessica at this point.
LONNIE PHILLIPS, STEPFATHER OF SHOOTING VICTIM JESSICA GHAWI: Well, let me start with Jessica. What I remember most about Jessica is our immediate connection. I have a picture of her asleep on my lap when she was six years old. I carry that picture on my phone all the time.
HARLOW: I remember that picture.
L. PHILLIPS: So it's very dear to me. Sandy took it, black and white, and it's black and white, about how we felt about each other. She was so comfortable with me that she could fall asleep in my lap at that age and she had only known me for maybe a few months. And the last picture I have of her is when she was saying good-bye to me as she was leaving for Denver and we were embraced in a very warm, loving embrace. And I have that picture.
As far as what happens to the person that killed her, it's not going to make a lot of difference in our lives because he's dead to us already. We've hopefully seen the last of him. That's not going to be the case if he gets the death penalty. He'll be in appeals until the time we die and I'm sure that we'll never, ever see the sentence carried out if he gets death. So, if he gets life in imprisonment, we may see less of him. So, it's a (INAUDIBLE). To us, we just going to try to live our lives with him out of it, as much as possible.
L. PHILLIPS: And Sandy, finally to you, what do you want to see after this? Once the verdict is handed down in terms of the penalty, I know that for you and Lonnie, you've told me it will finally be a chance for you to try to move forward with your life, always with Jessica in your mind. What change could happen that would honor Jessica's life the most?
S. PHILLIPS: We have started Jesse's message. I believe you and I talked about that another time. But Jesse's message will help us to focus on working with other victims and survivors, telling our journey, the story of our journey and the things we didn't know in this process and helping other victims and survivors to find their voice because it's very important that you heal the best you can in the way that works best for you. So whatever that is for those victims and survivors that we'll meet in the future, that's our focus and that will be Jesse's legacy.
HARLOW: Lonnie and Sandy Phillips, thank you very much.
S. PHILLIPS: Thank you, Poppy.
L. PHILLIPS: Thank you, Poppy.
HARLOW: We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:38:37] HARLOW: Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina just took the stage at the red state gathering. It is an annual meeting of conservatives in Atlanta. And many have said that she emerges as a breakout star from last night's so-called happy hour debate earlier in the evening taking on her opponents, both Democrat and Republican. Here's what she said moments ago about Hillary Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: One of my very first speeches was at CPAC. I know many of you were there. And I asked this question of Hillary Clinton. Mrs. Clinton, flying is an activity, not an accomplishment. Please name an accomplishment. And you know, we don't have an answer yet. We don't have an answer yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Joining me to discuss is Abby Huntsman, Sirus XM radio host, political commentator and daughter of 2012 Republican presidential candidate John Huntsman.
You recently sent out Carly Fiorina. You were very impressed. ABBY HUNTSMAN, SIRUS XM HOST/POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I did. I sat
down with her in New York about a month ago and I walked away thinking, this is someone who is going to have a lasting impact on this election and someone that the Republican party would be smart to take a serious look at. I mean, she's got a business record. But as we saw last night, she's articulate, she's compassionate. You can tell she cares deeply about what she's talking about. And if you remember, at this point four years ago, Michele Bachmann was at the center of that debate stage. She won the Iowa straw poll.
This is a marathon. This is not a sprint. And what she told me, Carly Fiorina said, I don't want to be a shooting star. I want a slow and steady rise. I want to continue to earn the respect of the voters and that's exactly what I think she's doing.
[15:40:16] HARLOW: I think we saw that from, you know, you saw Marco Rubio sort of coming front and center again right after a bit of a lull. John Kasich getting a lot of applause. You saw Carly Fiorina. Here's what she's going to have to battle on the business front. Her record at Hewlett-Packard, right? I mean, she was absent from the company in a very public way. She oversaw 30,000 layoffs. A few months ago I sat down with Meg Whitman who is the current CEO of Hewlett-Packard. He is overseeing 55,000 layoffs. And I asked her about Carly Fiorina as a candidate. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: She's come under a lot of criticism because of the 30,000 layoffs that she oversaw at HP. You've overseen more than that. Is that criticism warranted in a run for the White House?
MEG WHITMAN, CEO, HEWLETT-PACKARD: Listen, what I learned in politics, everything is fair game. When you run, they can ask you any question on any subject. I would argue that when Carly made those reductions, it was probably the right -- I wasn't here, but I suspect she was trying to do and in some ways what I try to do is make the company more competitive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: So she's saying, yes, fair game but she was doing what she had to do.
HUNTSMAN: Right.
HARLOW: Trump's bankruptcies were honed in on last night.
HUNTSMAN: They were.
HARLOW: Is this a big challenge for Carly Fiorina?
HUNTSMAN: And I thought of anyone on the debate stage Trump was the least impressive. And you would think that he would prepare for that question about bankruptcy. And you could tell, he was kind of out of his element. I'm sure quite how to handle that. You know, whenever you ask Carly Fiorina about her record there, she
does handled that well. And she will say, in that role, you do have to make difficult decisions. You have to fire people at times and you don't become the CEO of a company the size of HP without being impressive and I think that's what we saw with Carly Fiorina. And there were so many moments where I though I wished that we had a woman on the main debate stage. There were so many times when they talked about women issues, for example, or when Megyn Kelly asked Donald Trump about calling women pigs. How powerful would it have been if you had Carly up there saying, excuse, that sort of language is tolerable.
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: Let's roll that sound so people are going to hear that exchange that Abby just mentioned.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: You call women you don't like fat pigs, dogs, slabs, and disgusting animals. Your twitter account --
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Only Rosie O'Donnell.
I think the big problem this country has is being politically correct. I've been challenged by so many people and I don't, frankly, have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn't have time either. And honestly, Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry. I've been very nice to you although I could probably maybe not be based on the way you have treated me but I wouldn't do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: He then attacked her on twitter. Unbelievable.
HUNTSMAN: There is no one like Trump. I mean, I saw it last time around when my dad was running that we would never see this many people running, let alone someone like Donald trump. I will say this, a name that is too strong of the statement. But I think this could be the beginning of the end for Donald Trump.
HARLOW: You do?
HUNTSMAN: Because of the opening. When she asked all of the candidates up there, can you pledge that you will not support the Republican Party or run as a third-party candidate, he couldn't do that? I think that is a clear message to the folks --
HARLOW: We heard loud boos.
HUNTSMAN: Yes. You're not committed to us, why should we be committed to you? I thought that was a big mistake on his part and something that the party should be worried about. And I would be surprised if they let him on the next debate stage given what he said because if he runs as a third-party candidate, which he very well could, what does that mean? The Republicans lose.
HARLOW: The next debate here on CNN, September 16th. I want to ask you, bring up your dad and your dad running. And some say he lost traction because of how sort of moderate he played on stage. What lessons do you think were learned then that can be applied here. Jeb Bush, for example, getting some criticism for not wowing people.
HUNTSMAN: Well, you know, the person that reminds me the most of my dad is probably John Kasich. He has a similar team around him that were helping my dad out. So, it is similar strategy as well in trying to win New Hampshire.
I do think the party might have shifted a little bit in the past four years. You heard Kasich talk about gay marriage last night, for example, and a very passionate and compassionate way about loving his daughter if she were to be gay. That people can think differently but that doesn't mean that you can't respect them and love them at the same time. That's the same way my dad will talk about it.
You need someone like that to win a general election. So Kasich would be the most similar to my dad. The question is, can he make it through the primary.
HARLOW: Excite the party.
HUNTSMAN: Excite the party enough. And Jeb, same question. Can he excite people or is he too boring for people? We'll see how that plays out.
[15:44:59] HARLOW: And they have another chance coming up, September 16th.
Abby, thank you. Nice to meet you in person, finally.
HUNTSMAN: You as well.
HARLOW: Thank you, Abby.
All right. So what do the voters think about Donald Trump? It really depends on who you ask. His poll numbers have been very high. Last night, CNN was on the ground with voters in Iowa. You're going to hear what they said in that critical state about trump's comments on women, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Because our leaders are stupid, our politicians are stupid, and the Mexican government is much smarter, much sharper, much more cunning, and they send the bad ones over, because they don't want to pay for them, they don't want to take care of them. Why should they when the stupid leaders of the United States will do it for them? That's what's happening, whether you like it or not.
(END VIDEO CLIP) [15:50:11] HARLOW: That was Donald Trump last night. Agree with him or disagree, you cannot ignore his tone. And a lot of people were listening in Iowa. A state historically has had tremendous influence over who gets ultimately elected president. Some women have plenty to say about what Trump said last night.
CNN's Joe Johns has been speaking with voters in Iowa in Des Moines.
Joe, what has the consensus been?
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Eleven undecided voters in a room we watched the entire debate. And there were a lot of concerns about electability, concern about values, about getting a Republican who can actually win the White House. On the up side, I think you can sigh they're very interested in
hearing more from Dr. Ben Carson, as well as Marco Rubio, and to a lesser extent governor John Kasich of Ohio.
On the negative side, a very, very strong reaction to the beginning of the debate where Donald Trump said he would not foreswear a third party run. Also, the women in the room reacted viscerally when they heard that exchange that you have already talked about with Megyn Kelly where trump essentially talked about women and the way he's described them on social media. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAREN CONVERSE, IOWA VOTER: I didn't like his comments about women, and women make up half of the population, and he's called them names like dogs and things. And he didn't really even take that back. And he even made, you know, a negative comment to Megan Kelly in the process. So I mean, if he's not going to get the women's votes and women's issues are a hot topic according to the Democrats, even though it's kind of an old subject. But still, I just don't think he respects women.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: So 11 undecided Republican voters in a room. They all agree that they are still undecided. However, virtually all of them said they would not give Donald Trump a second look, Poppy.
HARLOW: All right, Joe Johns reporting for us in Iowa. Thank you, Joe.
Coming up next, the highlights from Jon Stewart's final broadcast, his "Daily Show" host after 16 remarkable years. What made him tear up? That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:56:52] HARLOW: Today's CNN hero found her passion when she was searching for a lost dog and rescued in the orphan loft. Meet (INAUDIBLE).
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ten years ago, we started doing soft rescues, when sloths are in trouble, all the telephone calls come to us.
My biggest rescue out there was a plot of land that was supposed to be cleared. We rescued in total 200 animals, mostly sloths. There were sloths all over in my living room, in cages. I was sloth-tified.
I still have a lot of softs (ph). He came in with his nails cut. That's why he has to stay with us. There's a lot of work, but wherever I go in my house, I may see a sloth. What does it do all day? It sleeps, it grooms, it eats, and it sleeps at bit more.
It's ridiculous the way he's lying. It's my life with a sloth. The best part of the rescue is when we release the animal. Sloths are not pets. Wild animals belong in the wild.
You found yourself a safe spot?
My work is about the environment. We should value it and protect it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: You can nominate a CNN hero at CNNheroes.com.
After 16 very memorable years, Jon Stewart left "the Daily Show" anchor chair last night. His emotional send-off did not disappoint.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Got nothing else, the nightly show got bumped.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you want to leave the show, man?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're like the brother I never have.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm Nate Cordrium (ph). I'm your brother.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could you give me like 20 more minutes?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Of course, I did. It's your 70th birthday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, John. I have come to take you out here, buddy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it's wonderful to see you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Then of course there were some serious moments like this one between Stewart and his longtime friend Stephen Colbert.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN COLBERT, COMEDIAN: We learned from you by example how to do the show with intention, how to work with clarity, how to treat people with respect. You were infuriatingly good at your job, OK? We were lucky enough to work with you, and you can edit this out later. All of us who are lucky enough to work with you for 16 years are better at our jobs, because we got to watch you do yours, and we are better people for having known you. You are a great artist and a good man. I know you are not asking for this, but on behlaf of so many people whose lives you changed over the past 16 years, thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Jon Stewart has not said what is next for him, but the "Daily Show" will go on with new host, Trevor Nolan.
That's it for me. Thanks so much for joining me. Have a great weekend. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper is next.
