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Protesters Disrupt Trump Rally; Internal GOP War. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired February 29, 2016 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:29] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, I'm Brooke Baldwin. Top of the hour. You are watching CNN. Great to be here with you.

Listen, we are hours before Super Tuesday. The Republican Party is at war over Donald Trump and the rising likelihood that he will become the party's nominee. Tomorrow, check the map with me, 11 states here hold Republican primaries or caucuses and Trump already has wins in three states under his belt. When you look at the recent polling, this new CNN poll shows Trump has the support of 49 percent of Republicans nationwide. That dwarfs his competitors whose combined percentages still fall short of Trump's lead.

But will this latest controversy, when he failed to fully disavow a former KKK leader Sunday on CNN, perhaps cut into his support? It might have played a part in this major disruption at his rally. This is just moments ago. Watch this for yourself. Some of these protesters here, they were there obviously holding hands and chanting "black lives matter." They interrupted his speech, refusing to leave the venue there. This is Radford University in Virginia.

Let's go to our senior White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, who was at that event.

And, Jim Acosta, can you tell me what exactly happened?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Yes, this is the rowdiest Donald Trump rally that I've covered since I've been covering his campaign for the last month or so. Basically what happened, about halfway to three quarters of the way through this rally - and keep in mind there were a few other protests that broke out before this happened.

We saw about 20 to 30 protesters, largely African-American, but there were folks of all races I believe in the mix there, who started chanting. And at first they did not want to leave and then security eventually - there was a large enough security presence there that they started walking out. And at that point, some of them, perhaps all of them, not really sure about that, were chanting "black lives matter." Let's show you a little piece of that video and then Donald Trump's reaction to that just after that.

BALDWIN: OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: All right, folks, you're going to hear it once, all lives matter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: So there you have Donald Trump's reaction to it, all lives matter. And that was, Brooke, after about 10 or 15 seconds of the crowd chanting "all lives matter." And keep in mind, part of this got started because just before that group of protesters started chanting "black lives matter," and other protests, there was another protester on the other side of this auditorium here who got up and was being escort the out by security and Trump at that point said to her, are you from Mexico? She appeared to be of Hispanic descent.

Now, there was a photographer - we should point out, there was sort of a media scrum and a photographer who was in the press pen with us got into an altercation with Secret Service officers. We witnessed it firsthand. There is some video of it out there on social media right now. This "Time" magazine photographer named Chris Morris. He tried to leave the media pen to go cover the protest. He was grabbed and taken down by Secret Service agents. We personally saw this on video that was taken of the incident.

I just had a chance to talk to Chris Morris after this was over. He said he did not throw a punch, did not get physical at all and that it was about 18 inches, he put it, after he left the pen, he was grabbed by Secret Service agents and thrown to the ground. He says he's not pressing charges, but it just gives you that sense as to how this was a very volatile mix here at this Donald Trump rally, not to mention some of the red hot rhetoric that was being used by the candidate on stage.

BALDWIN: Yes.

ACOSTA: This was the rowdiest protest I've seen so far of this campaign, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Wow. My goodness. All happening there at Radford University, all at the same rally. Jim Acosta, volatility indeed, thank you for that.

Let's broaden this out and let me bring in my panel. I have Pastor Darrell Scott, founder and senior pastor at New Spirit Revival Center in Ohio, a Trump supporter. And also with me, John "Mac" Stipanovich, chairman of the Florida State Government Relations and a Marco Rubio supporter.

Gentlemen, welcome to both of you.

JOHN "MAC" STIPANOVICH, SUPPORTER OF SEN. MARCO RUBIO: Good to see you again, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Good to see you.

Pastor, let me just begin with you. And just going back to some of the video and, Allen (ph), if we have it, let's play it again, of these protesters. I'm just curious, to you, as a Trump supporter, as an African-American pastor, when you see these young folks together, holding hands, you know, disrupting this rally, chanting "black lives matter," what is happening here? What's your - what's your response?

DARRELL SCOTT, SUPPORTER OF DONALD TRUMP: Well, as one who is used to speaking in front of crowds, I think that anyone that comes to someone's event with the intent to disrupt, I mean, they're wrong right from the very beginning. Peaceful protest is one thing. Disruption is another. And they're seeking to disrupt Donald Trump because of the momentum that he's gained in this presidential election.

[14:05:12] You got to realize, Brooke, when the election began, everyone looked at Trump with a sense of amusement. Tis clown, this buffoon, this carnival barker. But, you know, it has escalated from amusement, and went to concern, from concern it went to worry, from worry it went to fear, now it's all-out panic. Everyone is like, it seems as if Trump is going to become the Republican nominee and people are afraid. People are scared. And it - there's just - it seem to me a - to be a concerted effort on the part of the liberal left and the powers that be on the right to - it's not so much now as winning or gaining the presidency as it is stopping Donald Trump. And I don't understand what the - what the fear is. I really don't.

BALDWIN: Now, let me - you know, as you pointed out, they have a right to be there. I hear you on an intention to disrupt. I can't crawl into their minds and hearts and know exactly what they were thinking. But race, pastor, race has become such a part of this race, specifically with regard to Donald Trump talking to my colleague, Jake Taper, on TV just yesterday, supporting a man who in this interview, you know, did not disavow the KKK. I have to stay with you and just ask you about your response to that, that he did not do that.

SCOTT: Well, I looked at it and the bottom line, Jake Tapper continued to ask him a question and Jake Tapper wasn't satisfied with the answer. Jake Tapper asked him, do you -

BALDWIN: Did - did he get an answer? I mean I think it's fair to continue asking your interviewee the same question until you get an appropriate response.

SCOTT: If he had just asked him, are you in agreement with an endorsement from the Ku Klux Klan, the answer would have been an unequivocal no. I mean we all know - everyone knows, Trump absolutely does not endorse nor see the endorsement or accept the endorsement of any hate groups, any supremacist groups. But when he kept throwing out the name David Duke, Mr. Trump kept replying that, I don't know this guy. Off the top of my head, I don't know this guy.

BALDWIN: Be he had just referenced him the Friday before. I think Jake entirely was - was in the right to ask him the question.

But, pastor, let me come back to you.

Mac, I just want to hear your voice, please, sir. STIPANOVICH: Yes.

BALDWIN: Please weigh in on the validity - I mean not actually, I think the question was entirely valid, but the exchange, you know, Tapper had with Trump and also, you know, your part of this - at least I was looking at your Twitter, you tweeting #nevertrump. Explain that to me.

STIPANOVICH: Right. Well, Donald Trump is a neofascist and the pastor's correct, he scares the hell out of me. He's a xenophobe. He's a racist. He's a misogynist. He's a nativist. He's a hyper nationalist. The acrid smell of violence that you're seeing on your video right now is always just in the background. Every time he speaks, the dog whistles are deafening. And what you're seeing there is the fruit that Donald Trump has been sowing for a year that may destroy the Republican Party and certainly, I believe, is a danger to the country.

BALDWIN: Pastor, do you want to respond?

STIPANOVICH: And other than that, I have no strong feelings, however.

BALDWIN: Other - other than that. I'm glad you held back there. No, Mac, I appreciate it and I think your strong views represent a huge chunk of - of not just the Republican Party but some Americans.

But at the same time, you know, you look at the numbers, you look at how well Donald Trump has done. You know, the people are speaking, pastor.

SCOTT: Well, Donald Trump is not a xenophobe. Donald Trump is not a misogynist. I know him personally. Trump - the Trump Organization employs women in high capacities. It has a tremendous amount of respect for women. He's not a xenophobe. He's not a misogynist. He's not a racist. The only time race enters into the equation with Trump is when others bring it up.

And I find it also amusing that whenever Trump does make a proposal that people tend to attribute to racism, a week or two later, three weeks later, the other candidates come in and weigh in on the same issue and they have the same opinions that Trump does. As a matter of fact, Brooke, and most people don't know because we haven't made the announcement yet, but we have an organization, myself, Bruce Labell (ph) out of Atlanta and others, have an organization that is called the National Association of Minorities for Trump, and it's made up of Asian-Americans, Indian-Americans, African-Americans and Hispanics, whatever, and, you know, Mr. Trump has expressed to us that he wants us to present to him minority initiatives. Initiatives that can help all the different minority communities.

I mean it's not just - but he's not doing this to pander for votes. This is a genuine concern that he has. And so we're going to present these initiatives to him. We have at risk minority youth between the ages of 10 and 17 that we're trying to help stay off drugs to be educated. We have a urban revitalization program that's trying to revitalize 10 cities at a time. We have a prison re-entry program that re-acclimates minorities into American system. These things don't get the publicity. People simply seek for the negative to use against Trump and never any of the positives.

[14:10:02] BALDWIN: I'm not seeking - I'm not seeking positive or negative. Just trying to tell the story.

STIPANOVICH: Well, let me - let me add some of those negatives.

BALDWIN: Go ahead, Mac, please - I'm seeing you shaking your head.

STIPANOVICH: Well, I'm going to repeat again, and, you know, I respect the pastor, certainly. I respect his passion. I believe the organization he's been asked to help form is a beard. It's a smoke screen to disguise the reality of Donald Trump. And I will repeat again, the man is a racist and he's a xenophobe. And if he's not, Ann Coulter and Jean-Marie Le Pen and the KKK and David Duke are going to be shocked because they've gone to some effort to endorse his candidacy and support what they really understand to be his views when they read between the lines.

BALDWIN: If I may jump in -

SCOTT: (INAUDIBLE) -

BALDWIN: I want you to respond. I want you to respond because being called a beard and a smoke screen is nothing - it's nothing to, you know, laugh about. But let me just add this, Mitt Romney just responding to the not disavowing the KKK. Let me just share this with both of you. Quote, "a disqualifying and disgusting response by Donald Trump to the KKK. His coddling of repugnant bigotry is not the character of America."

Pastor.

SCOTT: Who is Mitt Romney? What - Mitt Romney, why don't you just go away? You lost the election. You got beat.

BALDWIN: Who is Mitt Romney?

SCOTT: Go away, Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney just seems as if, you know, it's a party that he hasn't been invited to and he wants - he wants to put a lamp shade on his head and dance at the New Year's Eve party.

First of all, this is not a smoke screen, this organization. Mr. Trump did not ask us to build it. We built the organization and we told Mr. Trump we have some several minority platforms, several minority agendas that we want to advance. And he welcomed them. He didn't ask us to do this. We're not puppets or shells (ph) for Trump. We have our own minds. We're - we're people in our rights (ph).

STIPANOVICH: Well - well make sure you - make sure you get some of those nasty Mexicans on your panel, pastor.

SCOTT: Listen, you're being sarcastic, but that's all right. You guys are scared. Trump is winning and it's -

STIPANOVICH: I am scared. I'm terrified, pastor.

SCOTT: You need to be scared because if this - what you're saying about Trump, when you have all of these Americans that are endorsing Trump, what does it say about the climate that has been created in America over the past eight years? It wasn't like this when Bush was president. Now all of a sudden over the last eight years this divisiveness, this climate, this political and this social climate in America has digressed to the point that we have this, this is the result of eight years of Democratic presidential administrations? I mean this is - you're - you're trying to blame Trump for something that's not Trump's fault.

BALDWIN: Mac, you get the last word. Let me - Mac - Mac, jump in. We got to go.

STIPANOVICH: Significant portions - yes.

BALDWIN: Go ahead, Mac.

STIPANOVICH: A significant portions of the American electorate is obviously anxious, it's obviously angry and it's striking out, but that doesn't make them right, pastor. I mean they can be - they can be angry and they can be Americans and they can be wrong. And they're wrong. This guy is bad news for this country.

SCOTT: Well, if America is a democracy -

BALDWIN: We have to leave it.

SCOTT: Democracy is from the Greek word demosquatos (ph).

BALDWIN: Which it is indeed. It is indeed.

SCOTT: Then the people are speaking. The people are speaking.

BALDWIN: Welcome to the race for president.

Mac Stipanovich, thank you so much. Pastor Darrell Scott, I appreciate both of you.

SCOTT: I'm glad to be back, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Varying perspectives on this race. Thank you both.

STIPANOVICH: See you.

BALDWIN: Please also tune in tomorrow for CNN's special Super Tuesday live coverage. We will be here all day and into the evening right here on CNN.

Coming up next, we'll talk about the war, as was just alluded to there, the war erupting inside the Republican Party. The refusal of some Republicans to accept Donald Trump as the nominee.

Plus, something just happened inside the U.S. Supreme Court that hasn't happened in ten years. Justice Clarence Thomas speaking out. Hear what he said.

And it has everyone in America talking. Chris Rock taking on Hollywood, racism, directly to their faces. The reaction is pouring in today. We'll discuss.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. You're watching CNN. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:17:37] BALDWIN: Welcome back. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

If you are just joining us, Trump tops a new CNN poll in the most dominate way seen yet. Check the top of your screen here. Forty-nine percent of the vote. That number crushes the theory that as this race is thinning out, Trump could face stiffer competition from the remaining contenders. So how is or should the Republican establishment hailing the fact that Trump is very likely to become the Republican nominee for president? Let's discuss.

Let me bring in A.B. Stoddard, associate editor at "The Hill," Genevieve Wood, a formerly spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee and now a senior contributor to "The Daily Signal," and Alex Burns, here with me, who is national political correspondent at "The New York Times."

So, welcome, welcome to - to all of you.

GENEVIEVE WOOD, FORMER SPOKESWOMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Thank you.

BALDWIN: And, A.B., kicking it off with you, as far as, you know, certain Republicans, you know, refusing to, you know, wrap heads around that Trump could be the nominee, Ben Sasse, the first Republican senator to say, you know, unequivocally he will not be supporting Trump if he is the nominee. You have tomorrow is Super Tuesday. The voters are speaking. Who is it for the Republican leadership to decide who should represent the party?

A.B. STODDARD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, "THE HILL": It's not the decision of the Republican Party to decide who the nominee is. It's voters' decision. But Donald Trump is someone that Republicans and movement conservatives, many Republicans, not all, but movement conservatives believe is - is not a real conservative and that his nomination or presidency would represent the end of the Republican Party and they are not going to stand up and back him at the convention and on the ticket in the fall.

Many of them are not saying that now because they don't want to fuel his supporters even more, but there is a never Trump movement as you know. It has been quite for a long time. It's getting louder now in the last week as Marco Rubio has tried to take him on. It's probably a little too - too little too late, but you're going to see more people who are willing to come out publicly and say, actually we're not going to endorse the nominee of our party because we don't believe that he's a real Republican and believe he'll flip and flop right back to old liberal Democrat positions once he's the nominee and running against Hillary Clinton. That is the fear that's been talked about privately for a long time and it's just coming out - coming out into the fore and the public discussion now.

[14:19:58] BALDWIN: All right, Genevieve, Meg Whitman, former Chris Christie campaign chair, has ripped Governor Christie for - for obviously for endorsing Trump. You're, you know, formerly with the RNC. The establishment, as A.B. was saying, you know, behind closed doors, and now sort of we're hearing more drips and drabs publicly of taking him down, what are their options?

WOOD: Well, I mean, look, I think the only people that can take down a candidate at the end of the day are voters. I mean the reality is we're going to go to the polls tomorrow. You're going to have a lot of - the highest number of delegates at stake tomorrow. And I think right now it is Donald Trump's election to lose in terms of the nomination. And just by the fact that he's ahead.

But, look, a lot's happened over the last few days. And people can make a different decision tomorrow. They can go for Cruz. They can go for Rubio. They can go for Kasich. I mean this thing isn't over yet and I think there is a lot of hand ringing in Washington.

But the reality is, much of Washington brought this on. People are very mad at the leadership. I think in both parties, frankly. But Trump has had the benefit of having such a crowded field, it's dispersed a lot - a lot of the - I think the angriest, loudest voices have gone towards him and the others have disbursed across the field. But as long as his field stays as large as it is, that's a benefit to Donald Trump.

BALDWIN: Yes. Yes, I've been reading some of the establishment Washington is a little irked some people aren't dropping to perhaps coalesce behind one.

WOOD: Yes.

BALDWIN: Alex, to you, sir. Great piece with Maggie (ph) and Jonathan (ph) in "The Times." And so in your reporting, you mention Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell laying out the plan that would have lawmakers break with Trump explicitly in a general election?

ALEX BURNS, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Yes, I mean what -

BALDWIN: Tell me about that.

BURNS: What they're envisioning now is a scenario where they're struck with Trump and it becomes very, very clear, maybe even before the convention in July, that he's simply a nonstarter as a general election candidate and that he's going to lose - he's going to lose badly. And so what that means is you have a number of vulnerable Republican senators up for re-election who suddenly have to choose, do you stick with him, do you stand with Trump and Trumpism, or do you explicitly distance yourself from him? And the model that Republicans look to is the 1996 election, last time you had a Republican nominee who was very clear from the beginning was, you know, almost certainly not going to win, and you had senators run ads just presuming that Bill Clinton was going to get a second term and say, you need a Republican Senate to check President Clinton. They could use the exact same words this time around.

BALDWIN: OK, so that's a possibility and that's what you're hearing from Mitch McConnell.

Back to Marco Rubio, because I think this is an important piece of this conversation. Listen, looking at the language he's been using, he has sort of stooped to the - to the low in terms of words that Donald Trump has been using for a while. And today he even admitted he's been insulting Trump more. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will go anywhere to speak to anyone before I let a con artist get ahead of the Republican Party and the conservative movement. And I suppose I could sit here today and hurl insults, personal insults against him because he's done that the whole campaign. OK, I've done it like a couple times lately, but I'm not - I'm not - I'm not, no. They want me to read his tweets. Not today, guys, I lost my voice. It's too crazy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So - OK, so the question, A.B., would be, are the insults working? Let me just share with everyone some of these numbers from the CNN/ORC poll. This was taken, keep in mind, this is after Rubio went on the attack at the debate in Houston last week and it doesn't appear, if we have it, that he, you know, it made any kind of impact. The question being, does he continue forth on this, you know, insult hurling campaign?

STODDARD: Well, that's hard, I mean, for Marco Rubio. He - he didn't want to run this kind of a campaign. He wanted to take the high road. He's now on the low road. But he's realized that's how you beat Donald Trump at his game. Donald Trump has trash talked his way through the entire campaign. Now that you find Rubio making jokes about his spray tan, he's getting more news coverage. So he figured out that was going to be the only way to stay in the game.

Now, Ted Cruz, who gets (ph) Texas tomorrow, end up with more delegates than Marco Rubio, Marco Rubio could have not one win in one state tomorrow and have a tough time, you know, proclaiming his relevance in this race. But Marco Rubio is hoping, between that debate and the days since, that he, who has done the best of the candidates with late breakers, people who decide at the last minute, can penetrate enough in the contest tomorrow and then, of course, in his home state in Florida on the 15th, to stay in the race and try to be the person who's in a one on one race against Trump eventually.

BALDWIN: Tomorrow is huge, huge, huge. Genevieve, final word to you.

WOOD: Yes, well, I mean, look, as a conservative, as a Republican, I would say I wish this issue was more - or this campaign was more about issues, less about these kind of personal stakes. But, again, I think it goes back to, people are so mad at Washington, frankly, that it's - it's been a - Donald Trump has been able to hide his past record or people just don't care. It's almost like it's a vote against the establishment, against Washington. And I think that's what's drowning out almost everything else in this race.

[14:25:11] BALDWIN: People are speaking. A.B. Stoddard, Genevieve Wood, Alex Burns, thank you all so much.

Coming up next, he has not said a word from the bench in 10 years. But just a short time ago, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas spoke out. Hear what he said and why.

Plus, did you watch, did you watch? Chris Rock, this huge night at the Oscars, tackling that racial controversy head on, definitely did not hold back. We will play for you exactly what he said and ask the question, did he go far enough and what really can change, how will it change?

Stay with in me.

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[14:30:11] BALDWIN: Something pretty rare happened at the United States Supreme Court this morning.