Return to Transcripts main page

Inside Politics

DeSantis Campaign Unloads On Trump In Anti-LGBTQ Video; DeSantis Campaign Targets Trump On LGBTQ Issues; Federal Blinken: Christie: "Teenage Food Fight" Between DeSantis And Trump Doesn't Help GOP. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired July 03, 2023 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Today on Inside Politics, Ron DeSantis tests the theory that all publicity is good publicity. A video heavy on anti-woke headlines catches lots of attention. One Republican group says the Florida Governor is dabbling in outright homophobia. Plus, Mike Pence pleads innocent in the court of public opinion. The former Vice President denies he was part of a newly revealed Trump pressure campaign to get Arizona's Governor to overturn the 2020 election. And repairs required, the Treasury Secretary heads to China this week at a tense moment between Washington and Beijing. I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines and Inside Politics.

Up first, is this the conversation the DeSantis campaign really wanted to have? Today, they're stuck trying to explain what his campaign's intent really was when its war room tweeted out a video, a one minute plus collage of headlines, movie clips, and DeSantis glamour shots that begins by slamming Donald Trump for his past support of LGBTQ rights.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, 45TH U.S. PRESIDENT: I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Caitlyn Jenner would walk into Trump Tower and want to use the bathroom, you would be fine with her using any bathroom she chooses?

TRUMP: That is correct.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the future, can transgender women compete in Miss Universe?

TRUMP: Yes. "Make America Great Again".

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Here with me to share their reporting on this holiday week, CNN's Jeff Zeleny, CNN's Eva McKend, and NPR's Tamara Keith. Happy Monday. Happy almost Fourth to all of you. First, let me just show you what the Log Cabin Republicans said about this video. In a statement, they said "Ron DeSantis' extreme rhetoric has just ventured into homophobic territory. DeSantis' rhetoric will lose hard-fought gains in critical races across the nation. His naive policy positions are dangerous and politically stupid." Eva, what are you hearing on the campaign trail?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER: Well, I think that this is mission accomplished for Governor DeSantis. He has all of Washington talking. And he has, I think, what the bass would describe as elites admonishing him. I texted an Iowa pastor earlier this morning, and he said he hadn't even heard about this. But, listen, if you speak to Republican voters, we were recently at the Faith and Freedom Conference here in D.C. They are largely animated by anti-queer hostility. So, by doing this, it's shrewd politics. Governor DeSantis is speaking to the portion of the electorate that he needs to win the primary.

BASH: And then there is another part of this very long video, I want to play it, and then afterwards show what Pete Buttigieg, the Transportation Secretary, told me about it.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

BASH: And now, my conversation with Pete Buttigieg.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: What's your reaction to that video?

PETE BUTTIGIEG, U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: I'm going to choose my words carefully, partly because I'm appearing as Secretary. So, I can't talk about campaigns. And I'm going to leave aside the strangeness of trying to prove your manhood by putting up a video that splices images of view in between oiled up shirtless bodybuilders, and just get to the bigger issue that is on my mind whenever I see this stuff in the policy space, which is, again, who are you trying to help? Who are you trying to make better off?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: The pregnant pause was everything.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Everything. Choosing our words carefully as well here, I guess, look, I mean, by talking about this, we are not talking about the fact that Governor DeSantis has had a bit of a rough couple of months. I mean, the reality is he is struggling in New Hampshire, in large part because of his abortion position, which is at odds with the majority of the party there. He is having a little bit of a hard time sort of catching fire in first State of Iowa. Look, I mean, this is going to be one of those summer things that gets a bit of attention here. But, the underlying fact of it is a real one. And when you look at that statement from the Log Cabin Republicans, it is a short-term prospect at best to try and win over some event evangelicals.

[12:05:00] ZELENY: But, the -- it is a long-term probably political loser, never mind the fact that it is simply --

BASH: Yes.

ZELENY: -- just discriminatory and bigoted. So, this is something that The Times had an interesting story this morning, mentioning that Governor DeSantis did not use to sort of have these views. He has said openly that he is not really that interested in gay issues. Of course, a defining hallmark of his administration has been to push back on some of these things. So, short-term politics, it may be good to try and get some attention from the base, but long term, it's not good for the party.

BASH: Well, I want to -- you make such an important point, one that we were hoping to make. So, thank you for that. Let's look at Gallup polling on this question about Americans' views of the morality of same sex relations, Democrats up at 79 percent, independents 73 percent, Republicans at 41 percent. But, I just also want you to see the end there. Just take a look at the very end, the dip from, I don't know, let's say 2021 down to the end of last year, and where we are now. It's precipitous --

TAMARA KEITH, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, NPR: Yes.

BASH: -- among Republicans as this has become an animating issue, for whatever reason, on the campaign trail.

KEITH: Well, I think that this video really points to an evolution in Republican politics. Of course, back in 2004, anti-same-sex marriage initiatives were on ballots and helped power George W. Bush's re- election in places like Ohio. Then you have a candidate Trump who says I don't care about these issues, who then -- when he is in office, actually takes actions that are anti-trans. And then there is this sort of growing anti-trans movement that is reflected in that dip in the numbers, and that has made this a red meat issue where people are talking about athletes and student athletes, and they're talking about all of these issues, and drag shows and all of this drag brunches and all of this, making it a Republican base issue where it wasn't before where they were scared away by the bathroom bill in North Carolina.

BASH: Right.

KITH: And now, they're fully embracing things that make that look pretty tame.

BASH: And when you have Pete Buttigieg and Chris Christie agreeing on something, it should kind of set up a bit of a light bulb. And the something that they're agreeing on is that this is not what voters care the most about in the big picture. Listen to what Chris Christie told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is a teenage food fight between Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump. And I don't think that's what leaders should be doing. And it certainly doesn't make me feel inspired as an American on the Fourth of July weekend to have this type of back and forth going on at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: That's the general election argument, right, that these issues are just not going to resonate with most Americans. And oh, by the way, an increasing number of Americans are embracive -- embracing LGBTQ folks. So, that is for a wider audience, but that is not the audience that Republicans need to immediately capture in this primary in places like Iowa.

BASH: And the thing that we haven't gotten the answer to yet is what the DeSantis campaign was really sticking. This didn't look like a video that was made by the campaign, may be made in somebody's basement, and somebody in a campaign got a hold of it, and it ended up on the War Room Twitter account. They're not backing down. They're standing by it.

ZELENY: Right, and he doesn't back down. And look, this is something that eventually he'll be asked about, and this has opened the door here. So, maybe it's good for him in the short term. But, I also think that he is a serious figure. I mean, he is a serious policy person. So, this looked like an unserious video --

BASH: Yes.

ZELENY: -- that this campaign now suddenly has to own. This is what happens when you have a campaign that's largely going on online, in the back rooms and the dark rooms of things. It does not look like it was created.

BASH: No.

ZELENY: It is not a slickly produced thing. But, again, he owns it. And some of the video in there, the top Gov that looks like Top Gun, he sort of did use that and embrace it. But, to me, it just looks like a short man trying to be tall, trying to have some bravado here that his aides and people are doing. Again, he didn't do this, but he owns it. So, he'll be asked about it and then it goes on and on and on.

BASH: All right. Everybody standby, because up next, it turns out Georgia may not be the only state where Trump pressured officials to overturn their 2020 election results. What did Trump say to the then Governor of Arizona? We have details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:10:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: New details on the length Donald Trump went to pressure state officials to overturn the 2020 election. Remember this, then Arizona Governor Doug Ducey turning down a call with a "Hail to the Chief" ringtone as he certified his state's election results. He later confirmed that he did speak to Trump around that time in late 2020. CNN is now learning more about exactly what Trump wanted to talk to Ducey about. CNN's Kristen Holmes joins me now with her reporting. Kristen, what are you hearing?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, we did know, as you said, about this phone call, but it was never really clear what exactly the two men talked about. Ducey really kept quiet about it. Now, we are learning from sources close to the situation who are familiar with his private conversations, that behind closed doors the former Governor of Arizona said that Trump was trying to pressure him into finding some sort of voter fraud to help overturn the results of the 2020 election in Arizona. As you'll remember, he lost by about 11,000 votes in that state, and was remarkably surprised by those results.

Now, we also learned that Pence made several calls to then Governor Ducey, talking to him about the election results, although sources tell us that he was not actually pressuring Ducey. He was asking him to see if there was any voter fraud, tell him that he needed to report it appropriately if so.

[12:15:00]

HOLMES: Pence was asked about that this weekend. Here is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I did check in with not only Governor Ducey but other governors and states that were going through the legal process of reviewing their election results, but there was no pressure involved. I passed along that information to the President, and it was no more no less than that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMASE: Were you being pressured by Mr. Trump to get those -- to influence Doug Ducey? And did you talk about this with the Special Counsel?

PENCE: No. I don't remember any pressure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: So, the other thing to point out here, we obviously have already known about this now infamous call with Brad Raffensperger, the Secretary of State in Georgia, that has been the subject of the special counsel's investigation. We have learned that this Call of Duty was not recorded as that Raffensperger one was. Also, the special counsel has not reached out to Ducey about this interaction. But, I do want to read you a statement from his press secretary. This is what he said. He said "The Governor stands by his action to certify the election and considers the issue to be in the rearview mirror. It's time to move on." Well, this is significant for a number of reasons, Dana. One is that Donald Trump is running for President again. And one of his core tenants of his campaign is that the 2020 election was rigged.

So, while it might be in the rearview mirror for Doug Ducey, who is now no longer the Governor, it's not really in the rearview mirror for the rest of the American people when it comes to hearing this argument, hearing this pushing time and time again from the former President.

BASH: Yes. Despite -- and you know this because you've reported this, despite the pleas from inside his own campaign to move on and stop talking about the past. Kristen, thank you so much for that reporting.

My panel is back now. And Tamara, this extra data point about Arizona, how is that going to play? Is it just part of a cake that's baked politically?

KEITH: Yes. I don't know how it plays in terms of an investigation. But, in terms of that cake, yes, it's pretty well baked. People know that the former President was calling around all over the place searching for some way to win an election that he lost. And his supporters and even Republicans who had said that they were open to other people are consolidating behind him as he has faced indictment, because he has found this way to make himself a proxy for everyone's grievance, or if he is in trouble, then they're in trouble. And so, they are coming to his defense.

BASH: And this is a candidate who was a candidate back in 2016, won that race. But, while he was campaigning, our KFILE has unearthed something that he said November 5, 2016. At the time, he was referring to Hillary Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We could very well have a sitting President under felony indictment and ultimately a criminal trial. It would grind government to a halt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Shoe meet other foot.

MCKEND: Well, this is a former President that has long been contradictory, and sometimes he even jokes openly about his own contradictions. I think, though, that Governor Ducey's response to this is very telling word to the Governor, if you wanted to keep this secret, maybe not tell our Republican donor. The donor class is pretty gossipy. So, that's why we all know about this now. But, he doesn't really seem to want to engage in this anymore. Through a spokesperson, he said, listen, that let's move on as a party. And that's the --

BASH: he didn't deny it.

MCKEND: He didn't deny it. But, that's a tightrope that they -- that they're walking here. This kind of conspiratorial politics in Arizona we saw was a real liability where Republicans suffered some losses, but at the same time, he doesn't want to ding Trump.

BASH: OK. So, Jeff, before you jump in, I want to play what happened on Saturday in Pickens, South Carolina. Lindsey Graham, who was one of Donald Trump's most ardent supporters, invited the former President, the candidate, to his home state, and he was booed. Listen to this. Graham was booed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Thank you. Thank you. I come to like President Trump, and he likes himself, and we got that in common.

TRUMP: We love Senator Graham. We're going to love him. We're going to love him. I know it's half and half. So, when I need some of those liberal votes, he is always there to help me get them. OK?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: I'm not sure that was the most helpful thing for Trump to say. But, as you comment on this and bring in your reporting, I just want to show, this is Pickens County, South Carolina, Trump got 74.5 percent of the vote in 2020.

[12:20:00]

BASH: Lindsey Graham was right there with him. I mean, just about the same. So, this is a place where Lindsey Graham is very popular. So, it opens the question of what you were talking about Eva, which is that the people who are at the core of the support for Donald Trump, they want to hear his conspiracies. And Lindsey Graham, he supports a lot of things for Donald Trump. He does not support the notion that 2020 was wrongly called.

ZELENY: He doesn't, but he has also been all over the board on everything from Trump. If you think back to the timeline of Lindsey Graham and Trump, as you know well, when he was running initially in South Carolina, look, he -- it's one of the reasons that Lindsey Graham has embraced President Trump so often because he needs his support there. I think a couple different things, boos in audiences at Trump rallies certainly are interesting, but that is a corner of South Carolina that's very close to Georgia. We do not know how many South Carolina voters were booing necessarily. It's beside the point. The reality here is that it reminded me of going to Kentucky sometimes and hearing Republican voters boo Mitch McConnell at Trump rallies. They like Donald Trump. They don't necessarily like other Republicans.

BASH: OK, fair point. But, Mitch McConnell has very much separated himself from Lindsey Graham. And my question is, if you're in South Carolina and you have somebody who has embraced almost everything and actually endorsed Donald Trump, and the only thing that he doesn't support Trump on is the 2020 election, what does that say about the electorate and about Trump supporters?

KEITH: Well, Lindsey Graham has been crosswise with Trump as many times as he has hugged him closely. And so, I think he is sort of a complicated figure on the right. And I think if you spend a lot of time consuming conservative media, they're very negative on Lindsey Graham. He is mocked. He is a bogeyman. He is not a beloved figure on the right. And interestingly, he is also not a beloved figure on the left, because he has been booed, as President Biden mentioned him in a speech. He is sort of this universal figure who, for whatever reason, is -- gets people upset. BASH: One of the -- and we're going to take a quick break. But, I will just say that one of the areas where they don't agree is on Ukraine.

KEITH: Yes.

BASH: And Graham is still in the McCain, the old McCain camp, which is that you got to get in there and you got to stay and you got to defend democracy, and Trump is now saying no, America First.

ZELENY: He is a hawk.

BASH: He is a hawk.

ZELENY: (inaudible) a thing in the Republican Party.

BASH: Yes. That used to be a thing. All right, everybody, standby. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen makes her first trip to China as part of an effort to ease escalating tensions with Beijing. Can she navigate the high stakes balancing act? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: This week, Janet Yellen goes to China. The Treasury Secretary will be the second cabinet official to visit this summer, as the Biden Administration works to deepen communication with Beijing. CNN's are Arlette Saenz is at the White House. Arlette, what are the administration's goals for this trip?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Dana, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's trip to China is just another effort by the administration to try to stabilize what have been very tense relations with another global economic superpower. The Treasury Secretary will be traveling there a bit later this week for roughly three days, and it follows a trip just a few weeks ago from Secretary of State Antony Blinken, one that he had described as making some progress in the U.S.-Chinese relationship. Now, officials say that they're not expecting any major breakthroughs during this visit. But, they do describe what they expect to be constructive and frank conversations between Yellen and other officials in China.

She is not slated to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to an official here, but she is going to meet with other economic leaders in China. Now, this also comes at a very fraught and tenuous time in the relations between the U.S. and the Chinese government. Just recently, President Biden likened Chinese President Xi Jinping to a dictator, a comment that really drew a strong rebuke from China, and one that the White House administration have not really walked back from. The President has still said he hopes to meet with Xi in the coming months, and visits by officials like Yellen and Blinken are largely viewed as an opportunity to potentially lay the groundwork for a possible meeting. But, simply put, this visit by Janet Yellen is just another effort to try to lower the temperature in these very fraught and tense relations with China.

BASH: Lower the temperature, but constructive and frank translating from diplo-speak means it's going to be a tough conversation.

SAENZ: Yes.

BASH: Definitely. Arlette, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

And the panel is back here. Let's listen to what Janet Yellen said last month about the notion of the U.S. and China, and where they stand on economic issues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANET YELLEN, U.S. TREASUTY SECRETARY: We gain and China gain from trade and investment that is as open as possible. And it would be disastrous for us to attempt to decouple from China. De-risk, yes, decouple, absolutely not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So, this is obviously a big, big policy issue, maybe among the biggest that she and the Biden Administration is dealing with, but it's also an issue on the campaign trail.

ZELENY: It absolutely is, but for all the anti-China rhetoric out there, I thought the four words there.

[12:30:00]