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Erin Burnett Outfront
Mitt Romney Refuses to Vote For Donald Trump; Clinton Donor Without Experience Put On Intel Board; Clinton and Warren Meet, Fueling VP Speculation; New Details About Trump's Meeting with Donors. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired June 10, 2016 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:10] ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: OUTFRONT next, breaking news. Mitt Romney in a rare and exclusive interview accusing Trump of racism and bigotry. He says he'll never vote for Trump. This is calls for a convention coup go louder. Could it happen?
And Hillary Clinton meeting with Elizabeth Warren fueling the VP buzz. Is America ready for two women on a ticket?
And how did a Clinton donor end up on a State Department nuclear advisory board. No experience whatsoever in national security. Our investigation, let's go OUTFRONT.
Good evening. I'm Erin Burnett, OUTFRONT tonight. Breaking news. Racism, misogyny bigotry. All words Mitt Romney says describe Donald Trump's behavior. In a rare interview with CNN, Romney also calling Trump vulgar. Romney says there is nothing Trump could do to win his support.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), 2012 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Presidents have an impact on the nature of our nation. And trickle down racism, trickle down bigotry, trickle misogyny, all of these things are extraordinarily dangerous to the heart and character of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: Romney's words coming as Trump Coming and Clinton took to the stump today, each continuing to attack the other in harsh and extremely personal terms.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Hillary Clinton or as I call her crooked Hillary Clinton --
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Crooked as they come refuses to even say the words, radical Islam. Refuses to say the words. This alone makes her unfit to be president.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Anyone who wants to defund Planned Parenthood and wipe out safe, legal abortion has no idea what's best
for women. And after all, this is a man who has call women pigs, dogs and disgusting animals.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Well, we are standing by right now for Donald Trump about to rally a crowd of supporters in Richmond, Virginia in about an hour from now. First though, Manu Raju is OUTFRONT tonight.
Manu, are the attacks within the GOP having an effect on Trump himself?
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Erin. As you know, Donald Trump is not like to apologize or say he's done anything wrong. But clearly he recognizes just how much damage his comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel had done to his standing. Especially as he tries to unite a very divided Republican Party. So when we saw today, Erin, was a cautious Donald Trump, and that's a sign that he just may be listening to party elders.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAJU (voice-over): Tonight, Donald Trump sticking to the script.
TRUMP: Together, friends, we will charge a new optimistic course for America. We will put America first.
RAJU: After a brutal week, spawned by his own remarks, about a Mexican-American judge, Trump trying to show more discipline.
TRUMP: We will respect and defend Christian Americans.
RAJU: And he trained his fire on a common GOP enemy. Hillary Clinton.
TRUMP: Hillary Clinton's Wall Street agenda will crush working families.
RAJU: But the shift in tactics that Republican leaders have been clamoring for, reading from a teleprompter and staying on message.
And after refusing to apologize for his inflammatory remarks, saying that Judge Gonzalo Curiel could not rule fairly because of his Mexican heritage, Trump now making this appeal.
TRUMP: Freedom of any kind means no one should be judged by their race, or their color, and the color of their skin should not be judged that way.
RAJU: The speech capped a week dominated by GOP outrage over Trump's controversial remarks on Judge Curiel, undermining his effort to unite and already divided Republican Party.
The Senate Majority Leader questioning Trump's knowledge while talking about his running mate. SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: You need somebody
highly experienced and very knowledgeable. Because it's pretty obvious he doesn't know a lot about the issues.
RAJU: And in speaking to CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Trump critic Mitt Romney ruled out running as a third party candidate but saying he won't vote for Trump.
ROMNEY: I just can't bring myself to vote for Hillary Clinton, and Mr. Trump I think is too great a departure from the values of our country for me to sign up as a voter for him either. So, I'll be writing in someone else's name and it will be probably another Republican.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: What would he have to do to win your support?
ROMNEY: Well, I don't think there's anything I'm looking for from Mr. Trump to give him my support. He's demonstrated who he is.
RAJU: And on Capitol Hill, the Trump skepticism persists.
REP. CHARLIE DENT (R), PENNYSLVANIA: I have not endorsed the presumptive nominee, and those kinds of comments make it even less likely --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[19:05:03] RAJU: Now, Congressman Charlie Dent also is very critical of the so-called Never Trump movement. criticizing them and party leaders for not doing more to stop Trump in the primary. He said they should have done more and united the other candidate like his own John Kasich and tried to stop Trump more forcefully. So, Erin, in a lot of ways, we're already seeing this blame already began.
BURNETT: All right. Manu, thank you. So what can the GOP do about this, this anger at Trump in the party?
Tom Foreman is OUTFRONT. And Tom, could the party really deny Trump the nomination at this point? That is the bottom-line question tonight.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Erin, Republicans could still deny the nomination to Donald Trump in several ways. For example, rule 38 which was forcefully argued all the way back in 1880, by James Garfield. Some analysts think this section of the convention rules refutes the idea that delegates are bound to candidates. Here's part of it. No delegate or alternate delegate shall be bound by any attempt to impose the unit rule. Supporters of this notion say that means delegates cannot be forced to vote as a unit.
As a winner take all block, just because some candidate won the popular vote in their state. Instead they say each delegate is free from the get go to vote his or her conscience. So the rule 38 folks say, if you think Trump is a bad candidate, a bad guy, bad for the party, you don't have to back him, Erin. BURNETT: All right. So, then that would be -- that would be one way.
Now, that is not though the only way. That this game could completely change at the convention, is it?
FOREMAN: No, no, because it is their game. And just before every convention, a committee decides on the rules keeping some from the past tweaking others, maybe adding some new ones. They could say every vote cast for anyone since the start of this nominating process must be considered. Effectively, bringing back into the race every candidate who dropped out or at least a lot of them, that could deny Trump a majority on the floor vote, and set up a floor fight where someone else could win.
Now, a Hail Mary play like this would be very perilous in July. It could alienate a lot of voters but remember, this is not the general election. The nominating process is a function of private political groups. And legally they can ignore the public vote all altogether if they really want to dump Trump -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Tom Foreman.
OUTFRONT tonight, the man courted by the Never Trump movement to launch an independent bid for president. Attorney and National Review writer David French joins me. Also with me, Trump supporter Jason Osborne.
So, Jason, let me just make the bottom-line point to you. When you look at raw votes, you know, the truth of the matter is that Trump did not get as many votes as other Republicans combined, OK? When you look at Rubio and Carson and Cruz and Kasich, Bush together, they got more votes, they got about 16 million votes to his 14 million votes. So, if you look it at that way, if the delegates were to vote their conscience and that is not voting for Donald Trump, they are actually supporting the will of the GOP electorate, no-Trump.
JASON OSBORNE, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: No, but I think what you have to do is you have to look at the guy at the end of the day has the most delegates and that's what matters. So, 1500 delegates plus is what matters at the end of the day. And when we have all of these people talking about we can go into the convention and the delegates aren't bound, technically, I guess they're right right now. Because the rules haven't been set. But secondly, you also have the secretary of the convention that then has to say, wait a minute, you have 100 delegates pledged to Donald Trump, because there's a winner take all or whatever the proportional system was. But you only cast 50, we're counting 100 towards Donald Trump, if the old system was in place.
BURNETT: All right. But obviously, there's now -- there are questions on what the -- the rules committee and we know Ted Cruz successfully got a lot of his supporters on the rules committee. So, I mean, there are a lot of questions.
David Gergen is also with me. David, there are a lot of people, you hear Mitt Romney so passionately making the case against Donald Trump. There are plenty of people who feel like him but he did as an individual, of course, get more votes than any other individual running on the Republican side. Even though as a group, they got more than he did. Do you think people could really get on board with trying to deny him the nomination?
DAVID GERGEN, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR: I have to say, Erin, if the convention were held next week, I think Donald Trump would be safe. I think the convention would rally behind him to get these 15 million votes. But I do think he's probably one or two gaffes away from losing control. And that is if he steps in it again with -- especially anything of the magnitude of what he got to do with the judge, that could be terribly, terribly damaging to him and I think the party would, a lot of -- there will be a big Republican Party whether he would succeed or not, I'm not sure. But I think there would be a revolt. And so one or two gaffes away.
BURNETT: You know, the voters obviously when you look at what people voted for individually and more for Trump than others as a whole they got more. But you have senior Republican leaders who are still -- well, very, very cautious or saying absolutely they won't back Trump under any circumstances. Who are still saying, well, the will of the people means he should be the nominee. Here's Mitt Romney moments ago and of course the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on this program earlier this week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[19:10:19] ROMNEY: I wish every Republican who supported Mr. Trump said I made a mistake, let's go a different direction. But that's not going to happen. The people have spoken. And we're going to have Donald Trump as the Republican nominee.
MCCONNELL: Well, look. He's been chosen by the Republican primary voters all across America. He wants it the old fashioned way. He got more votes than anybody else. So he's going to be the nominee.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: David French is joining me now, as well. This conversation on the phone, the National Review writer. Attorney had been -- they tried to draft you, David French, to be the Independent candidate for president. Let me ask you this question. You hear Mitch McConnell, Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney, detests Donald Trump. He just called him in that interview vulgar, racist, bigot, xenophobe, a lot of other things. But he is still saying the will of the people, he's going to be the nominee. Do you think Donald Trump will be the nominee, or do you think it's possible that this could change in the convention floor?
DAVID FRENCH, WAS DRAFTED FOR THIRD PARTY RUN (on the phone): Well, you know, if there is anything we have learned in this election season, that anything is possible. We know that a majority of Republican voters did not vote for Donald Trump by the millions. And we also know this. That every delegate that comes to that convention is going to be free to choose to not vote for him. The state laws that purport to bind these delegates, they don't apply. They're unconstitutional. So these delegates are going to go to this convention, and they're going to have a choice to make. And if they choose to support Donald Trump, or they're doing it, they're choosing to support him and all he stands for. A majority of Republican voters did not choose Donald Trump.
BURNETT: And so do you think enough people will listen to what you're saying, hey, it's unconstitutional, vote with your conscience, go against what frankly most people think that they should do to do that? You think that there will be people who get on board with that, David?
FRENCH: You know, I think that what you will find is people's principles will tend to follow the poll. If Donald Trump starts diving in the polls between now and the convention, you may very well see a ground swell. If he's hanging around really close to Hillary Clinton, then there is going to be a quote-unquote, principled argument to follow the will of the people. But I am predicting you're going to see some separation between Clinton and Trump, between now and the convention. And if that's the case, this conversation could get more serious very quickly because nobody wants to follow Donald Trump into oblivion here. And that's what the delegates would do if they choose him. And, again, I emphasize, the delegates make that choice.
BURNETT: So Jason, what about that point? People want to be with the winner. Nobody knows that more than Donald Trump.
OSBORNE: Right.
BURNETT: He's down 11 points in the poll today. Obviously, that could change. But David French points out, if the polls don't look good, delegates will lead very quickly.
OSBORNE: All this talk about the convention and the delegates aren't bound, I think we have a better chance of finding Hillary's 33,000 e- mails than we do in electing somebody else besides Donald Trump at the convention. It's a pipe dream. There's no way that 56 or 57 people on the rules committee are going to stand behind and change the rules of and the will of 14, 15 million voters. Additionally, without somebody coming in that is kind of the messiah, if you will, or the person that's going to rescue the party, you're alienating another seven million voters who voted for Ted Cruz.
So you're talking 22 million votes that are going to be completely shredded and out of the window, that 57 people and then 1,247 people are then going to make that decision. It would be an -- I can't even use -- I don't even know the word to describe what Cleveland would be like at that point. Let alone the rest of the country.
BURNETT: So David Gergen, you mentioned you thought, you know, Trump is one or two gaffes away from this scenario possibly playing out at the convention. I wanted to play what Donald Trump said today, and then what he said recently about race and just give you a chance. Today's obviously was off the teleprompter. The one before not off the teleprompter. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Freedom of any kind means no one should be judged by their race or their color and the color of their skin. Should not be judged that way.
We're building a wall. He's a Mexican. We're building a wall between here and Mexico. The answer is, he is giving us very unfair rulings.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: David French, do you believe him? Now using a teleprompter, no one should be judged by their race or by their color. But that's what he truly believes or do you believe what he said originally is what he truly believes?
FRENCH: Well, you know, I think when a person is repeating and reaffirming again and again, and in that Jake Tapper interview, he's demonstrating what he actually believes. I mean, to call a judge born in Indiana, who had to hide out from the drug cartel, he was such an effective prosecutor, to just refer to him as Mexican and to talk about because he's quote-unquote, "Mexican," he's going to be opposing Donald Trump because Trump says, he's going to build a wall.
[19:15:18] You know, Speaker Ryan was right. This is the textbook definition of racism here. It's absolutely absurd. And then he's not apologized. He said his remarks were misconstrued. How do you misconstrue those remarks? He was so clear, he reaffirmed them again and again. And an awful lot of Republican (INAUDIBLE) and now in this terrible position of saying, yes, what he said was racist but vote for him anyway. How is that an argument for the American people? That's why the delegates need to preserve their rights of conscience in this convention. Because the GOP is on the verge of nominating a man like that.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you all very much. We will be back in a moment. Donald Trump on Hillary Clinton is next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: She even appointed to the National Security board someone with no National Security experience. Instead, he was a donor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Is Trump right? Well, our investigation is next.
Plus, Elizabeth Warren and Hillary Clinton meeting behind closed doors today. Is America really ready for two women on a two-person ticket?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:19:46] BURNETT: Tonight, CNN confirming that a major Clinton Foundation donor was appointed to a sensitive intelligence board while she was Secretary of State. Its focus was arms control disarmament and non-proliferation. That donor though happens to be a trader, a market trader with no national security experience.
Drew Griffin has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RAJ FERNANDO, FOUNDER, CHOPPER TRADING: Hi. I'm Raj Fernando, founder and CEO Chopper Trading.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Raj Fernando is a Chicago-based stock trader. And for a very short period of time, he was an appointee to the U.S. State Department's International Security Advisory Board. What qualifications did he have for that? Apparently, none. What he does have is big money ties to Bill and Hillary Clinton. He has donated between 1 and $5 million to the Clinton Foundation. He has donated to Mrs. Clinton's 2008 primary campaign, and even served as a so-called bundler of large campaign donations for Democrats. On the campaign trail today, Donald Trump called his appointment just another example of his crooked Hillary campaign theme.
TRUMP: She even adopted to the National Security Board someone with no national security experience. Instead, he was a donor. A recent donor to Hillary Clinton's campaign.
GRIFFIN: It is clear, Raj Fernando had no diplomatic experience and no background in International Security Affairs, which could explain why just one month after taking this photo during his very first meeting with the board, Raj Fernando was writing a letter to Secretary Clinton, resigning, and e-mails just released show behind the scenes political panic was setting in as a State Department official struggled to explain what this big donor to the Clinton Foundation was doing with top security clearance inside the State Department.
On August 15th, 2011, an e-mail from an ABC News producer asks for Fernando's qualifications. The follow up e-mail shows State Department officials scrambling to come up with an explanation. They discussed how the appointment came directly from Hillary Clinton's long-time aide and State Department chief-of-staff Cheryl Mills. The true answer is simply that Cheryl Mills added him, the State Department official writes in an e-mail. He was added at their insistence. Someone else writes, can we dig up a short paragraph about his distinguished career and a sentence about our selection and approval process.
The next day, a senior adviser e-mails, we must protect the secretary's name, as well as the integrity of the board. And through a colleague, Cheryl Mills chimes into the e-mail chain, asking the State Department to stall in its response to ABC News for 24 hours. No real qualifications for Fernando were ever sent. Instead, the next day, August 17th, Raj Fernando suddenly resigns.
MARK TONER, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: Happy Friday.
GRIFFIN: At the State Department today, answers on why were hard to come by.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If he was at all qualified, why did he resign so suddenly after ABC News started asking questions?
TONER: I mean, you have to ask him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: And Drew -- was there any explanation at any point ever given as to why this market trader was placed on this board at the State Department ever?
GRIFFIN: You know, a former administration official told CNN today that there was a push to bring more diverse backgrounds to this board, not just people with diplomatic and international security experience, but the same official admits when ABC started asking those questions, Erin. The State Department was probably embarrassed that this guy was on the board. And asks for Raj Fernando, he didn't call us back today, but we expect to see him at the Democratic convention where he is a super delegate, and according to Chicago Media Erin, he's going to be supporting Hillary Clinton.
BURNETT: Super delegate. All right, thank you very much, Drew Griffin.
OUTFRONT now, the former Mayor of Philadelphia Michael Nutter, Hillary Clinton supporter. Our political commentator Marc Lamont Hill, former presidential advisor to four presidents including Reagan and Clinton. David Gergen and Jason Osborne, also back with me.
Mayor Nutter, let me start with you as a Hillary Clinton supporter. This is pretty damning. Guy gives between one and $5 million, ends up on a board. State Department, never comes up with an explanation. Now saying they're probably pretty embarrassed about it, it seems to come at the insistence directly of Secretary Clinton. How could this happen?
[19:24:15] MAYOR NUTTER, HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: Well, this is obviously a brand-new story. I don't know that in that story that it was said that it was at the insistence of Secretary Clinton. But those are all details that we'll have to obviously sort out. Doesn't sound like a particularly great situation, I mean, there is no question about it. But let's get more of the details.
BURNETT: Marc, what do you say?
MARC LAMONT HILL, BET NEWS HOST: I agree with the mayor. We certainly need as much information as possible before we make any definitive judgment. But this smells bad. This looks bad. The sudden resignation, the lack of any sort of plausible resume. I mean, let's stop arguing that --
BURNETT: Can I just say, guys, what more details do we need?
HILL: I can't imagine anything that would make me arrive at a different conclusion than the one I've arrived at which is this was simply pay to play politics as we've expected. And it does nothing to undermine the narrative that Hillary Clinton plays, in ways that are unethical and dangerous. Well, whether it's true or not, it doesn't even matter. The appearance of impropriety looks bad.
BURNETT: Well, I mean, it's certainly because there's these e-mails. NUTTER: The first person has been either a significant contributor,
someone involved in the party. This gentleman, I don't know who he is, will not be the first or the last person who happens to be a contributor whether politically or something else, who gets appointed to something. I think the issue here is, how did he get there, what were the qualifications, what were they're looking for. And I don't know that we have all of those details. Because we don't have a lot more detail.
BURNETT: Right. But we know that they were asked, we know they weren't able to come up with any. We know they were told to stall. We know that someone said it was at the insistence of the secretary and undersecretary.
I mean, David Gergen, let me just ask you, when you take everything that we know and I'll give both of you -- we don't know everything, but we seem to know a heck of a lot. How can Hillary Clinton explain this away, if not to admit it was pay to play politics?
GERGEN: Well, I do think we need to keep it in context. The last president, the president before that, the president before that, and this president who promised he wouldn't do these kinds of things gave jobs as ambassadors to lots of bundlers. You know, that's how -- more than a couple dozen, I think, probably, in the first term.
BURNETT: Right, that's fair.
GERGEN: On the administration. And they get security clearances, and many of them have no clue. They have no background at all. But that's just the way the game has been played. In this case, I think it is a more sensitive board, since the State Department. So, I don't think there's much that's new here in that sense. What I do think is that it's a test of whether Hillary Clinton and her campaign are now going to try to earn back the trust of the American people, which we see the lack of trust in so many different ways.
I think it's a test of whether they can now come and be straight forward, what happened. Cheryl Mills should just tell us what happened. You know, get the documents out there. And starts begin setting a new standard. I think that's the way she's going to rebuild what she needs to do not only to win, but to govern.
BURNETT: So, Mayor, should she admit it? Should she come out and directly admit it and say yes, I did this. And the case he did, it's like ambassadors -- should she?
NUTTER: I think the one thing that is not in dispute, the gentleman didn't appoint himself. There was a process. And to get on one of these advisory boards, as David Gergen said, you have to go through a security clearance process, you have to fill out a lot of documents and information. I'm on one at Homeland Security. It is not easy. It is not simple. But there are facts, there are documents, there are materials. Tell the story. Just get it out. Whatever it is. Tell the story.
OSBORNE: But when you fill out these documents -- I've done the same thing. Your date of birth, your social security number, they check if you have a criminal record. It doesn't check, you know, when they do the background checks. They don't check your qualifications for those jobs. I think what's troubling here is that this is a pattern. We saw this in the '90s with Clinton -- her husband and herself, and now we're continuing to see it now. Whether or not this happens in every administration, doesn't make it right.
And I think that's one thing that Hillary needs to come out and say, you know, that Bernie Sanders supporters and the Trump supporters, are like Washington is broken. And this is one of the many reasons why it's broken, is because you have this policy. You have it even now with the super delegates. You have stories written out there about super delegates -- people applying to be super delegates because they have given x amount of dollars. That's the way the process works and the Democratic Party, on the Republican side, we don't have those issues. I'm not saying that we haven't appointed ambassadors because --
(CROSSTALK)
NUTTER: You might which you had super delegates.
(LAUGHTER)
I have not made huge contributions or anything. I'm a member of the party. That's how I got to be a super delegate. On this it particular advisory board --
(CROSSTALK)
I'm sorry?
OSBORNE: It's just because you're so good looking.
NUTTER: Thank you so much. On this particular advisory board, I don't know what they check. Beyond, you know, criminal record, et cetera, et cetera. I don't know what the experience, requirements are or anything else like that. All of that material are knowable facts. Put them out there, this is what it is. Move on.
LAMONT: First thing, he didn't have any -- he didn't have any experience.
BURNETT: We should know that.
LAMONT: Right.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: All right. Thank you all very much. And OUTFRONT next, Elizabeth Warren meeting with Hillary Clinton after trying to take down Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Donald Trump is a loud, nasty, thin-skinned fraud who has never risked anything for anyone and who serves no one but himself.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Is that an audition tape for vice president?
And we're standing by. Donald Trump about to take the stage at a major rally in Richmond, Virginia, tonight. John King on Trump's state by state strategy, tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:33:26] ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, speculation growing about a Hillary Clinton/Elizabeth Warren ticket. The meeting less than 24 hours after the senator's endorsement and her blistering attack on Donald Trump.
Is Warren auditioning for V.P.?
Michelle Kosinski is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hillary Clinton, her feet firmly planted as the presumptive Democratic nominee -- now pushing on toward November.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Do we want to put our health, our lives, our futures in Donald Trump's hands?
KOSINSKI: Starting with a speech for Planned Parenthood, a setting to both appeal to women and blast Donald Trump.
CLINTON: When Donald Trump says a distinguished judge born in Indiana can't do his job because of his Mexican heritage or mocks a reporter with disabilities, or denigrates Muslims and is immigrants, it goes against everything we stand for. He does not see all Americans as Americans.
KOSINSKI: Earlier this morning, Senator Elizabeth Warren spotted arriving at Clinton's Washington, D.C., home for a private conversation -- adding fuel to speculation she could be the V.P. pick, only hours after she endorsed Clinton on television.
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: I am ready to get in the fight and work my heart out for Hillary Clinton to become the next president of the United States.
KOSINSKI: On her prospect as running mate, she would only say she is ready for the job. She would be able to draw on the independent, progressive, younger voters that Hillary Clinton needs on board -- although she hasn't exactly been at Clinton's side from the start.
[19:35:02] She is proving more than willing and able to do battle with Trump. WARREN: A loud, nasty, thin-skinned fraud who has never risked
anything for anyone and who serves no one but himself. A thin-skinned racist bully.
KOSINSKI: Trump's tweet back, just as incendiary, torching Warren with the nickname he gave her. "Pocahontas is at it again. Goofy Elizabeth Warren, one of the least productive U.S. senators has a nasty mouth. Hope she is V.P. choice."
She got in the last word, though. "No, seriously, delete your account."
Thursday night, Vice President Biden also called Trump's recent comments racist. So where's Bernie Sanders in this Democratic power coalition?
Thursday night still rallying his supporters in D.C., ahead of Tuesday's primary.
Not a mention there of Hillary Clinton. Nor has he endorsed her yet. It's going to be a quiet weekend at Bernie's in Vermont, a day after pledging to work with Clinton from now on.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSINSKI: Hillary Clinton's campaign isn't commenting on Elizabeth Warren as a possible pick for V.P. But we see Clinton riding this wave of these highest profile endorsements. Now, from the president, vice president, and Warren, just as she faces more questions over her e-mails and donors.
So, what we can expect to see more of are her endorsers, channeling some of that push for party unity into blunt and brutal critiques of Donald Trump -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Michelle.
Back with me now, the former mayor of Philadelphia, Michael Nutter, a Clinton supporter, Kayleigh McEnany, a Donald Trump supporter, Marc Lamont Hill and Maeve Reston, our national political reporter.
OK, let me start with you, Marc.
Look, Elizabeth Warren really popular among progressives, most who get on board or vote for Hillary Clinton or never would get on board. Vote for Donald Trump or not vote at all, whatever it might be. But some people say, look, Elizabeth Warren would bring in Sanders supporters and you have two women on the ticket.
MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. So, there's two things --
(LAUGHTER)
HILL: I know. First the progressive part. She energizes the base. There are people who love Bernie Sanders aren't going to vote for Trump, minus a few Bernie bros. What they will do is stay home or not be as energized.
BURNETT: She might get a few of those.
HILL: It might be helpful. But let's not overstate what V.P.s do in general, right?
BURNETT: Right.
HILL: If I were Hillary Clinton, I want someone who can help me win the state, I want someone who can help me get younger voters, someone who can expand my coalition. I'm thinking Castro, not Warren.
The other thing is, you don't want someone who overshadows you on the ticket. People like Elizabeth Warren a lot more than they like Hillary Clinton. So, I'm not sure you want her getting more cheers from the crowd than you do.
And lastly, if you want a bunch of old sexiest white guys to vote for you, you don't want another woman on board. It's cynical, it's unfortunate, it's sexist --
BURNETT: Still the question, is America ready for one woman on the ticket? And never mind doubling down.
MICHAEL NUTTER, HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: They're very ready for a woman on the ticket, which is why she has more votes and more delegates and superdelegates than anybody else. But I think the other part of this is, the role of vice president has also changed over the past few years. If you look at just most recently what Vice President Biden has done, as vice president. So I think another part of this is --
BURNETT: Yes.
NUTTER: A, is this person ready to be president of the United States? Are they a great negotiator?
So the geographical piece that Marc laid out, while that has been a big factor in the past, I think the experience of doing the job increasingly has become the factor.
BURNETT: One thing about Hillary Clinton, you know, being a woman at the top of the ticket, Maeve, is that a lot of young women, and I talked to them in a lot of states, you talked to them in a lot of states, they didn't like her and they wanted to vote for Bernie Sanders. And they said, look, we're feminists. That's exactly why we're not going to vote for her. We're going to vote for the best person, whatever their gender may be.
You have been reporting on a lot of young women who aren't sold on Clinton. Does Elizabeth Warren change that? Do they say, okay, we'll vote because of her?
MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, I mean, I think that that dynamic has been so interesting on the campaign trail. I was talking to a lot of women at Bernie events over the last week who, you know, went with the whole Bernie or bust thing. Said they will not support Hillary Clinton because of integrity and trust issues.
And so, when I asked them, what is the one thing that could, you know, maybe bring you on board with Hillary Clinton? A number of them said if she put Elizabeth Warren on the ticket, then that would help me, at least consider voting for her as opposed to writing in Bernie Sanders or, you know, voting for Jill Stein in the Green Party in November.
BURNETT: That's pretty interesting. I mean, so Caylee, you also have Elizabeth Warren as an attack dog, sort of as you mentioned, mayor, in the Joe Biden-like style. She is an attack dog. She came out last night like only one other person that's come out this whole campaign, that person being Donald Trump. Here's just a quick bit of how she to go him on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WARREN: You, Donald Trump, are a total disgrace. Loud, nasty, thin- skinned fraud, racist bully.
[19:40:03] Donald, you should be ashamed of yourself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: All right. It went on and on and on, Kayleigh, as you know. Trump, he was so tame. I mean, it was like -- he tweets, "Pocahontas is at it again." That was as bad as tweet got. "Goofy Elizabeth Warren one of the least productive U.S. senators has a nasty mouth. Hope she is V.P. choice."
The word nasty, she used it multiple times to refer to him the night before. It's almost like he didn't know what to say.
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's true, because I think she went further than Donald Trump has gone. I mean, to overtly call someone a racist, that's a very bold claim. And to attack him in that manner, I think she went over the top.
And here's the thing -- if Hillary Clinton is trying to make the argument that Donald Trump doesn't have the temperament to be president, she chooses Elizabeth Warren, someone whose temperament seemed far worse than anything I've seen from Donald, it completely waters down the entire message she's trying to put forward.
Not only that, she's going to isolate independents who are currently pulling for Donald Trump in the latest FOX News poll because independents do not like a far leftist agenda. So, she'd be much better to have someone like a Joe Biden again if he takes it.
BURNETT: Independents do not like Elizabeth Warren.
HILL: They do not.
RESTON: And not just independent.
BURNETT: Go ahead, Maeve. RESTON: Not just independents. I mean, what's so interesting is that
obviously Hillary Clinton has these huge weaknesses in some of the Rust Belt states that we have been talking about. And she -- a lot of people are hoping that if she goes with her more centrist approach, which is really what she has been her entire political career, that she'll be able to bring some of those Republicans into her camp who just can't stomach voting for Trump.
If she puts Warren on the ticket, I think that really would raise a lot of questions for those Republicans who are thinking about it.
HILL: She alienates certain folks. She needs to get someone more middle of the road. I suspect she'll appoint governor, not another person in the Congress. I think that's just a wiser choice.
I don't think she wants to alienate those people. I would disagree with you, Kayleigh. I don't think that Elizabeth Warren has said anything worse than Donald Trump.
(CROSSTALK)
NUTTER: Really got to go a long ways.
BURNETT: That's a whole another topic.
OUTFRONT next, live pictures. Donald Trump is about to rally a big crowd of supporters. He's going to be on that podium in Virginia, big crowd, in Richmond. It's a crucial state on Election Day.
Coming up, John King with the path to victory.
And new details about what meeting between Donald Trump and worried GOP donors. My guest, Trump's top money man.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Looking at live pictures out of Virginia. Donald Trump moments away from standing at a podium, at a campaign rally. Virginia one of eight states Trump will visit in the next few days. Hillary Clinton going to visit three swing states over the week, including Wisconsin, with President Obama.
All of this is part of the do or die fight to hit 270 votes in the Electoral College. That's the big number in the race for the White House.
John King is OUTFRONT.
And, John, when you look at the travel schedules, it tells you so much. What can you tell about the paths that they are each pursuing trying to get to that magic number of 270?
BURNETT: Erin, we are in the testing time for the candidates now. The targeting will come after the conventions testing to see what you just asked. How do I get to 270? Or in the case of Hillary Clinton, do you do I defend this map? This is the Obama/Romney map of 2012.
So, let's take Virginia. Mr. Trump is there tonight. Well, 51-47, a close race between Obama and Romney in 2012. Donald Trump thinks, if I can flip Virginia, I'm on the way to 270. That's why he's there tonight.
Why is Secretary Clinton going to Wisconsin with the president of the United States? A lot of talk that Trump's best hope is across the Rust Belt, right? Well, the Republican governor here right now, Scott Walker says he's not sure if he's going to support Trump.
Even with a guy from Wisconsin, Paul Ryan of Janesville on the ticket in 2012, the Democrats won quite easily.
So, the Democrats are going there first. The president and Secretary Clinton, to say, no, sorry, Mr. Trump, this one is ours and we're going to keep it. That's one way to look at it.
Let me flip maps and do it this way. Where is Donald Trump? He's in Virginia tonight. Where is he going tomorrow? Florida, right? He's going to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And then on Monday, he's going back to New Hampshire. Of one, two, three, four. If Donald Trump can flip those four, he's the next president of the United States, 272 electoral votes.
So, what they're doing now is testing. Hit the road, go to states, see if it moves the polling numbers. Then you get to the convention, then you take another look at the map and plan your fall targeting.
But it's no question, Trump's electoral strategy -- spends a lot of time looking at the Rust Belt, but also think they need to get Florida, his second home as he likes to say, just because of the big electoral prize. If they can flip Florida, then the map gets easier. That's why he's going there and they have a little targeting in Pennsylvania going on. We'll see if that works out, Erin.
BURNETT: So what's interesting to you here is now you have this thing that nobody knows, hockey stick, as some may call it. FOX News poll showing Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson has 12 percent support. That would mess up the whole thing, right? I mean, how does that play into this fight for 270?
KING: Conceivably. Again, this is -- I have gone back to the 2012 map. If you look at this map now, the libertarians, where they are right now, we don't have enough state by state data to see what states they might flip.
So, the first test of the Libertarians to get up to 15 percent. Try to get to the presidential debate. Then if they can do that, then we'll take a look state by state to see if they can swing a state or influence a state. Maybe most people think they draw more from Trump. But there is no guarantee of that. They could draw more from Clinton in some states.
So, the biggest threshold for the Libertarians before we worry about this map: can they get into the debate? If they don't, those numbers are likely to fade.
BURNETT: All right. John King, thank you very much.
And next, new details about a closed door meeting between Donald Trump and big donor meetings. What they were told about his comments on the Latino judge.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:53:03] BURNETT: New details emerging about the top secret closed door meeting between Donald Trump and Republican Party top donors. An investor at yesterday's meeting telling "The New York Times" that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was trying to assure donors Trump made a mistake attacking a judge's Mexican heritage.
It wasn't enough. I spoke to Steven Mnuchin, Trump's national finance chairman and I asked about the meeting.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEVEN MNUCHIN, DONALD TRUMP FINANCE CHAIRMAN: I think it couldn't have gone better, although we have been working on this the last couple weeks, today is really the first kickoff officially of the Trump victory. So, we had the leadership group in, we met today with Donald Trump.
We also met with some other people from the campaign, talked about the campaign and I think everybody was really excited to move forward with it.
BURNETT: So, how much money are we talking about here? I mean, the latest numbers, $13.9 million donated to Donald Trump's campaign, a lot of that is hats and the gear, right, that he's gotten over time. His main super PAC, I have reported $32 million from just a few donors.
Clinton's campaign raised more than $200 million, they have $30 million on hand. You're playing behind. He's been honest about that.
How much money have you brought in since you came on a few weeks ago?
MNUCHIN: Well, you have to understand, we literally just started this since Donald did all of the contributions for the nomination, we have literally just started this in the last four weeks, so although we are gearing up with fund-raising in June and July, I think you'll see the majority of the money that comes in will be in the latter half of the summer, but I think you begin to see it in July.
BURNETT: So, some of the donors who are well known, who have been reluctant to support have been upset about the attack on the judge's Mexican heritage. This is something people have heard about on the donor side, been upset about it. Ken Langone, big Republican businessman, as you know, billionaire, donated to Christie and Kasich, yesterday went on CNBC and said this about Donald Trump's attack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KEN LANGONE, BILLIONAIRE REPUBLICAN BUSINESSMAN: What he did last week in my mind is disgraceful.
[19:55:00] INTERVIEWER: The judge's comments.
LANGONE: Absolutely disgraceful, okay, and I'm very disappointed. A lot of people said give him time, he'll blow up. Well, if he hasn't blown up, he came as close as he can to blowing up without blowing up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: What do you say to donors who are upset about that comment. He is not alone.
MNUCHIN: First of all, I think Donald Trump was very clear in clarifying his remarks over the weekend in his statement and I think he was very clear on Monday night when he gave the he focus is and I think people understand that. This is going to be a campaign that's about creating jobs and about creating national security. Those are the two most important issues and I think it is clear that Donald Trump is the better person in the White House on both of those.
BURNETT: So, he says his comments were misconstrued. Obviously he said what he said, Paul Ryan, speaker of the House said what he said was textbook racism, Mitch McConnell, Senate majority leader demanded apology, I spoke to him last night, he hasn't yet gotten that apology.
Is Donald Trump going to do more? Is he going to apologize, would it help you if he did?
MNUCHIN: This is last week's story. I don't know why we are talking about it anymore, OK?
BURNETT: He called an American judge Mexican.
MNUCHIN: Again, I am talking about the economy and what's going on in campaign financing. I am talking about what we are doing, creating jobs. That's the focus of the campaign.
BURNETT: All right. Steven Mnuchin, thank you very much. Donald Trump's finance boss joining me here in New York. Thank you.
MNUCHIN: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: OUTFRONT next, Donald Trump moments from taking the stage at a large campaign rally in the crucial swing state of Virginia. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Thank you so much for joining us. Hope you have an excellent weekend. See you again Monday night here OUTFRONT.
Don't forget. You can watch OUTFRONT any time, anywhere on CNN Go and, of course, our show on CNN International worldwide this weekend.
"AC360" with Anderson starts now.
