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Dems Unite Behind Clinton, GOP Divided on Trump. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired June 10, 2016 - 07:00   ET

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

JOE BIDEN (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To intimidate and undermine an independent judiciary would be blatantly unconstitutional abuse of power.

[07:00:11] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: A final good-bye for Muhammad Ali.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was a giant. You know, he was a king, and he laid down a foundation that we should all try to follow.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's very rare, a figure captures the imagination of the entire world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Hmm. Beautiful day. And I've got to tell you, one of the beautiful things about watching the memorial of Ali is that people aren't losing his greatness in only his moments in the ring. It's amazing as they were, the greatest of all-time, the goat. That's the beautiful part. His resonance, well beyond whether you care about the sweet science or not.

CAMEROTA: We're going to talk to his daughter Laila. She'll be here. We looking forward to hearing just what she will say about him today.

CUOMO: Up first, big political news. Hillary Clinton scoring a trifecta of endorsements. President Obama, Vice President Biden and Senator Elizabeth Warren, remember how important she is to the Berners, they all say, you know, with Clinton in a major show of force.

Now, what about Sanders? He had a big meeting with the president and others down there on Capitol Hill. He is promising to work with Clinton. What will that mean?

CAMEROTA: So Democrats appear to be united. Republicans, not so much. Donald Trump struggling to bring together a still very divided party.

We have the 2016 race covered the way only CNN can. Let's begin with Suzanne Malveaux. She's live in Washington. Good morning, Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Alisyn. Well, this is an extraordinary coordinated effort by the White House

and the Hillary Clinton camp. Quite amazing when you think about it. You can't keep a secret in Washington for an hour, much less two days, but that is exactly what the president did in producing this well- produced video Tuesday prior to releasing it on Facebook. This was just after his Oval Office meeting with Bernie Sanders.

Now, Clinton had gotten a heads as early as Sunday the president's endorsement was forthcoming.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX (voice-over): An incredible show of force. Top Democrats lining up behind Hillary Clinton.

OBAMA: I'm with her. I am fired up, and I cannot wait to get out there and campaign for Hillary.

MALVEAUX: President Obama endorsing Clinton, just hours after meeting with Senator Bernie Sanders at the White House. The president and Clinton set to hit the campaign trail together in Wisconsin next week. Vice President Joe Biden following suit, making it clear who he thinks the next president should be.

BIDEN: God willing, in my view it will be Secretary Clinton.

MALVEAUX: And progressive Senator Elizabeth Warren backing Clinton, too.

WARREN: I am ready to get in this fight and work my heart out for Hillary Clinton to become the next president of the United States.

MALVEAUX: Warren, a liberal favorite, could be crucial in bridging the gap between Clinton and Sanders supporters. The coordinated endorsements, stealing the thunder of Sanders's trip to D.C., as his campaign winds down.

SANDERS: Needless to say, I am going to do everything in my power, and I will work as hard as I can, to make sure that Donald Trump does not become president of the United States.

MALVEAUX: Sanders also helping to project unity by meeting with the vice president and Senate congressional leaders.

SANDERS: Here we are in mid-June, and we're still standing!

MALVEAUX: The question now is when will Sanders fully support Clinton as the nominee?

OBAMA: My hope is, is that over the next couple of weeks, we're able to pull things together. The main role I'm going to be playing in this process is to remind the American people that this is a serious job. This is not reality TV.

(END VIDEOTAPE) MALVEAUX: I talked to several in the White House telling me the president has been eager to get out and campaign for Clinton. He'll do that next week. He enjoys an unusually high approval rating for an outgoing president. That, of course, will benefit her. He also has a legacy to preserve in future Supreme Court nominations that are critical to the Democratic Party -- Chris.

CUOMO: Well-analyzed. Thank you very much, Suzanne.

So what do we see after this? Fresh off her Clinton endorsement, Senator Elizabeth Warren went full throttle after Donald Trump. She became the attack dog for the Clinton campaign. She went after him about his comments about the federal judge. That was just the tip of the iceberg. Here's a taste.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Judge Curiel has survived far worse than Donald Trump. He has survived actual assassination attempts. He will have no trouble surviving Donald Trump's nasty temper tantrums. Trump is picking on someone, who is ethically bound not to defend himself. Exactly what you would expect from a thin- skinned, racist bully.

Now, Judge Curiel can't respond, but we can. After his years of service as a prosecutor, Judge Curiel was appointed to the California state courts by a Republican governor who calls him an American hero. He was nominated to the federal bench by a Democratic president, and he was confirmed by a voice vote in the Senate. That's what kind of a man Judge Curiel is.

What kind of a man is Donald Trump? Donald Trump says Judge Curiel should be ashamed of himself.

No, Donald. You should be ashamed of yourself. Ashamed for using the megaphone of a presidential campaign to attack a judge's character and integrity, simply because you think you have some God-given right to steal people's money and get away with it. You shame yourself and you shame this great country. Race-baiting a judge who spent years defending America from the terror of murderers and drug traffickers, simply because long ago his family came to America from somewhere else? You, Donald Trump, are a total disgrace.

Donald Trump is a loud, nasty, thin-skinned fraud who has never risked anything for anyone and who serves no one but himself. And that is just one of the many reasons he will never be president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: All right. We have a lot of material there to talk about. So what is Bernie Sanders' next move now? Senator Jeff Merkley is a Democrat from Oregon. He's the only sitting senator to endorse Bernie Sanders.

Good morning, Senator. SEN. JEFF MERKLEY (D), OREGON: Good morning.

Well, Elizabeth really hit it out of the park on that, and I should add that what we have seen as a record of Donald Trump failing to pay his workers, failing to pay his contractors and even failing to pay his own lawyers who have had to sue him to go after fair payment for services rendered. I mean, it is just an extraordinary record of shortchanging workers at every possible opportunity to enrich himself.

CAMEROTA: It does seem as though the Democrats are now relishing this moment and coming out in sort of a full-throated offense against Donald Trump, and we saw that from Senator Elizabeth Warren.

We also saw something from her yesterday. She endorsed Hillary Clinton. I don't have to tell you that Elizabeth Warren is a darling of the progressive left, just as Bernie Sanders is. Should Senator Warren have waited until Bernie Sanders was out of the race?

MERKLEY: Well, I think many of us feel, certainly I feel, that once we have a candidate who has earned the majority of pledged delegates and the majority of the votes we have a nominee. Those goal posts have been met. So this is a time when we're consolidating, working to bring the two wings of the party together.

And so I certainly feel Elizabeth Warren has every right to jump in and offer an endorsement, because we really do have our nominee.

CAMEROTA: So, Senator...

MERKLEY: But I want to add...

CAMEROTA: Senator, does that mean you're ready to endorse Hillary Clinton?

MERKLEY: No, but the question is -- the question isn't for whether I'm ready to endorse. The question is how do we bring the two wings of the party together.

CAMEROTA: Before we get to that, Senator, why not? I mean, if we do have the nominee, why aren't you ready to endorse her today?

MERKLEY: Well, I think it's so important over the weeks to come that we have this conversation between the two wings of the party that bring them together in an effective fashion.

And that's the dialogue that has to occur just as it occurred eight years ago. And if we don't succeed in bringing those two wings together, then we're going to have a lot of trouble in November, even -- even with a candidate like Trump on the other side of the aisle. We have to take him seriously.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

MERKLEY: So here is what -- here is a sense of what most of the Bernie wing is looking for. They're looking for the big ideas that he advocated for in his campaign to be fully embraced, to be woven into the conversation at the convention, and to...

CAMEROTA: Such as...

MERKLEY: Well, such as the fact that we need to pivot quickly off fossil fuels in order to save our planet. That we need to dramatically reduce of cost of college to save opportunity for our children. We have to greatly expand living wage jobs in order to save the middle class, and we have to get cash out of politics to save our republic.

These are -- these are the core pieces of the puzzle that we hope can be fully articulated, and that will be both great policy and great politics.

CAMEROTA: So is Bernie Sanders waiting until the party or the platform embraces those tenets and promises that, at the convention, those will be the tenets of the party before he officially gets out?

MERKLEY: I think he'll be working to make sure these key ideas get woven in. Exactly how, what he will ask for in terms of the platform, in terms of the rules, in terms of the type of presentations that our nominee makes in terms of embracing these ideas is a conversation. It's a dialogue, between Secretary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders.

And it's a really important dialogue, just as it was eight years ago between Senator Obama and then-Senator Clinton.

[07:10:04] CAMEROTA: Yes. So then what is Sanders' timing? What is Senator Sanders waiting for? The convention?

MERKLEY: I think he's engaged -- pivoting to turn to this dialogue. He said he had a very productive conversation with Secretary Clinton. Plans to speak to her again soon. He's bringing a group together this coming Sunday to discuss kind of the path forward.

So, you know, he's -- he's back. He's resting after California and the six states from last Tuesday. He did say he would take his campaign officially through this coming Tuesday, when D.C. votes. He wanted to honor, certainly wants to honor the premise that he put forward that he would stay in the race until everyone in America has had a chance to vote, but the dialogue is -- is under way.

CAMEROTA: Senator Merkley, I want to ask you about the timing of everything that happened yesterday. Yesterday was billed at Bernie Sanders's big day. He was going to the White House. He was having a sit-down with President Obama. He was walking along the White House colonnade.

And then right after he left, in sort of rapid-fire succession, these endorsement from President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren came out for Hillary Clinton. Did you consider that as a little bit of a dis to Bernie Sanders?

MERKLEY: I didn't personally take it that way. I was -- the president had already telegraphed that he was preparing to make an endorsement. He wanted to touch base. I think it was a gracious gesture with Bernie Sanders first, so they could have a dialogue. Again that is part of the conversation about bringing the wings together.

The president saying, "I'm going to endorse our nominee." Our nominee is in place, I'm going to back her, and -- but also holding the conversation with Bernie Sanders about -- about the ideas he presented, congratulating him on the incredible campaign he ran, and acknowledging the power of the ideas he presented. That's what moved millions of Americans in the grass roots, these profound and solid recommendations about how we change course to put America back on track.

Those have to be part of the campaign going into the fall, because they're right in terms of how we're off track. And they're incredibly important in terms of mobilizing Americans to feel like this election really matters.

CAMEROTA: There are reports that Senator Elizabeth Warren and Hillary Clinton are meeting this morning. Do you think that that is a possible ticket we're seeing?

MERKLEY: Well, I would love to see that. That would be enormously powerful. Certainly in this dialogue about bringing the two wings of the party together, it would be enormously powerful.

But I have so much respect for Elizabeth Warren. She is brilliant. She is articulate. She is passionate. She talks about the values that we care about. She really knows how to communicate that to American audiences. It would be a terrific partnership between the -- between the two of them to be a ticket together.

CAMEROTA: And so you weren't troubled by the fact that she didn't wait until Tuesday? You know, Bernie Sanders has promised that he's going to stay in through the D.C. primary on Tuesday.

Should Elizabeth Warren, as coming from your camp in the party, should she, you know -- she could have made as big a splash next week?

MERKLEY: No. No, I wasn't -- I wasn't troubled. There are two different things going on here.

One is Bernie is fulfilling his promise to stay in the race until everyone votes, and I respect him a great deal for doing that. But we know within the party that the goal posts have been met, that we have our nominee. And so the conversation begins about how to take that nominee forward, and that was the decision that Elizabeth made. And I don't think there's any reason to second-guess her on it.

CAMEROTA: Senator Jeff Merkley, thanks so much for being on NEW DAY. Great to talk to you.

MERKLEY: Great to talk with you.

CAMEROTA: Let's get to Chris.

CUOMO: All right. So it seems pretty clear that Trump's comments about a federal judge really sent some Republicans just running for the hills, but other Republicans are staying in his corner. So how do they justify this situation? Now and going forward? We have a supporter on. Listen to her case. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Donald Trump still taking fire from all sides over the attack on the federal judge of Mexican heritage. His refusal to publicly walk back the statements has a lot of Republicans wondering about his temperament and whether or not he can unite the party.

CNN's Chris Frates is live in Washington with more. Hi, Chris.

CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Alisyn.

You're right. Donald Trump's bad week doesn't appear to be ending any better than it began. Fellow Republicans continuing to call his attacks on a federal judge hearing a lawsuit against him racist, and Democrats, well, they're having a field day hammering Trump over his comments, and they're enjoying the national spotlight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Trump is picking on someone who is ethically bound not to defend himself. Exactly what you would expect from a thin-skinned, racist bully.

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is racist.

FRATES (voice-over): Elizabeth Warren and Vice President Joe Biden are intensifying their attacks on Donald Trump.

BIDEN: To use the office of the presidency, were he to acquire it, to intimidate and undermine an independent judiciary, would be blatantly unconstitutional abuse of power.

FRATES: Democrats and many Republicans continue to blast Trump's verbal assault on Judge Gonzalo Curiel.

TRUMP: He's a Mexican. We're building a wall between here and Mexico.

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's trending the wrong way with me.

REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: The fact is, he has to realize that that would be a terrible mistake. First of all, he's wrong. It was a racist remark.

FRATES: House Speaker Paul Ryan forced to continue condemning Trump's attacks.

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: That comment is beyond the pale. That's not political correctness. Suggesting that a person can't do their job because of race or ethnicity, that's not -- that's not a politically incorrect thing to do. That's just a wrong thing to say.

FRATES: But not all Republicans agree.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most of us realize that last week was a distraction.

FRATES: Party leaders are hoping to coalesce a divided party, as Trump showed a more measured side after the firestorm of criticism this week.

TRUMP: He has to continue what he did Tuesday night with specific speeches aimed at big topics, drawing a clear distinction between where he is and where Hillary is.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[07:20:02] FRATES: The controversy consuming Trump's campaign comes as the billionaire tries to convince wealthy donors to open their wallets and help fund his campaign.

Now, some donors are worrying that he'll have hundreds of millions of dollars less than Hillary Clinton, but Trump believes that his unique ability to command free media and get TV will help make up that difference after a meeting between Trump and TOP donors yesterday. A senior campaign aide said they would raise enough money to win -- Chris.

CUOMO: Is Trump down? Yes. Is he out? Nope. He is the GOP presumptive nominee. So people are with him.

The question is, how do they negotiate this period and how do they move forward together? Let's discuss with CNN political commentator and Trump supporter, Kayleigh McEnany. Good to have you. Tough spot. Tough spot, as a Trump supporter right now.

What is your essential pushback to the argument against him right now about the metaphor effect on his temperament of what we're seeing right now, about the judge, the system, and his response to it?

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: People want someone on the outside. There's a reason that Donald Trump got more votes than any nominee in presidential history. People are in the mood for someone who says it like it is.

Sometimes does he go too far? Yes, but it's his greatest attribute and also his Achilles' heel. He has to learn to rein it in at times. That being said, people want a straight shooter. They're tired of the florist rhetoric and the teleprompter speeches and that can take him very far if he learns how to rein it in at those times.

CUOMO: Big if. Have we seen any proof that Donald Trump -- I know the word "presidential" bothers some. Right? It seems to be some kind of retreat to the arcane, this retreat to political correctness, but have you ever seen him in this process change and say, "You know what? That was wrong. I shouldn't have done it. I'm sorry. Here's what I've learned. Now I'll do it differently"? MCENANY: I think the Heidi Cruz retweet. He said, you know, "I

shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't retweet." And he really hasn't. Last night he did retweet, he did, but...

CUOMO: That's the point, though, right?

MCENANY: Largely, he stopped that. Here's one thing that he does so well, and I think that this is where sometimes he falters. When he does conduct interviews, or rather answers interview questions, he answers the question that's asked of him, which is a great attribute. People ask questions, he answers them. He doesn't deflect, unlike Hillary Clinton. She's a master deflector. She will not answer the question. Saw that twice in her interview with an alternate network.

She was asked about the I.G. report. She deflected twice.

CUOMO: All officials dance.

MCENANY: Donald Trump does not.

CUOMO: Harvard law school has served you well, McEnany. To say that Trump doesn't deflect is one of the least substantiated comments I've ever heard. That man can dance like he's on Broadway, and that's an asset also.

I don't think candor is what's getting -- what is getting him in this. I think it's what you just heard from his supporter, Ben Carson. He thought -- he spoke -- but he didn't think before he spoke, you know, right timing in this situation. That he just said it instead of thinking first and then saying it. That's not a good attribute if you're going to be in this game. You have to learn to do it differently. Can he?

MCENANY: I think he can. But here's the thing. I don't think he is a deflector, because he was asked about this judge. He said he walks into an interview. Wants to talk about the economy, wants to talk about terrorism. Everyone asks about the judge comments, and he answers them. We're asked, unlike Hillary Clinton.

CUOMO: He could answer lots of different ways. "I'll take care of this case. It's irrelevant. Let me talk about this." Instead, he took a shot at the judge that was not only unsubstantiated but totally denied by his own lawyer. And now has the GOP leadership against him.

And again, it's important for people to know. This isn't my take or this isn't the media's take. This is your own. It is their take. Listen to the GOP leaders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCONNELL: He needs to quit these gratuitous attacks on various Americans.

WALKER: It's at odds not just as a party. It's at odds with who we are as Americans. REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R), ILLINOIS: I feel like a broken record. I

say this all the time. I continually am disappointed.

SEN. JEFF FLAKE (R), ARIZONA: It's kind of a moot point whether you have a Trump presidency, because he won't be in the White House if he continues to make these kind of statements.

BILL HEMMER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Are you saying it's possible you can walk into that arena in Cleveland, Ohio, and not endorse?

KASICH: Absolutely. Of course.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Said on FOX News, no less. It is a tricky proposition for someone like Kayleigh McEnany. This man said bigoted things. They call it racist, your GOP leadership. And yet, he's somehow your racist, your bigot, and you have to put your arms around him and go against the other side? I mean, is that the proposition?

MCENANY: I think that was the premise. I don't think he said anything bigoted. I don't think he said anything racist. I would disagree with Paul Ryan on that front.

CUOMO: And McConnell and all those other guys, standing up against their own interests?

MCENANY: Well, McConnell -- McConnell didn't call him on this. And I would take what Chris Christie said, what Chris Christie backed up and said: "Let's look at the big picture here. This is someone I've known for 14 years. This is someone..."

CUOMO: Trump's not a racist?

MCENANY: He's not a racist. I mean, to truly believe Donald Trump is a racist, you have to believe that he thinks another race is inferior. That's hard to believe. He's employed people of all colors. He's friends with people of all colors. He's negotiated a deal with people of all colors, races and nationalities.

CUOMO: But he consistently and insistently brings up people's differences as reasons for action. This guy's Mexican, which -- forget about the fact that he isn't. His heritage is what it is. He chose to bring it up. He chose to make it about the religion and not terror within Islam. He chose to make it about what Mexicans are like.

[07:25:26] You don't have to define the immigration this way. He makes these choices. Isn't that curious to you?

MCENANY: No. Because I think he's a realist. Look at, for instance, the Muslim ban or the temporary ban on Muslims until we figure out what's going on.

CUOMO: All Muslims. MCENANY: The president will not marry radical Islam with terrorism.

That is a problem when someone will not acknowledge that these terrorist attacks have an undergirding ideology. Aare all radicals Muslim? Absolutely not.

CUOMO: But that's where you take people when you say what Trump does. He has people in this country. You know this, Kayleigh, because you're becoming a growing asset to the party, right? People will say, "Those Muslims." Where did they get that from? They got it from Trump, in part. A lot of other people think that, as well, but he's made it part of the presidential campaign. So that's tricky also, right?

MCENANY: He's a realist. He realizes that terrorism stops at the border. Four hundred ISIS fighters got in. How did they get there? They went through a border.

CUOMO: Bad system.

MCENANY: And how we can figure how someone isolates terrorists, until we can figure out how someone got in our country on a K-1 fiance visa and killed, you know, 14, 15 Americans. Until we figure that out, we have to stop it. And he's a realist when he said, until we figure it out, this is what has to happen.

CUOMO: What's the difference -- we both know there is a difference between being a realist and being bigoted in terms of how you define reality? Right? And I think that's kind of the space that he's wound up crossing over for a lot of people.

That diversity is America's greatest strength, and yet now it seems that, for Donald Trump, diversity keeps coming up as something he sees as a problem, with the judge, with the Muslims, with people coming across the border illegally. Does he have to stop that to be president?

MCENANY: I think he shouldn't have mentioned the judge's heritage. That's something he shouldn't have done. But what he was trying to do...

CUOMO: Should he apologize?

MCENANY: No, I don't think so, because I look at his intent. And his intent was to bring up the judge's association with La Raza, San Diego.

CUOMO: Is you said it, would you apologize?

MCENANY: For that?

CUOMO: The big problem is you would have never said it? Right?

MCENANY: No, if my intent was not a racist intent, which it never would be, then no. You don't apologize. Because what he was trying to say was something bigger than what the media made it seem. They isolated that one statement. They cut out the parts where he brought up the judge's actions that he thought were biased, and they focused in on that one statement. I don't think he should apologize. He never had a racist intent.

CUOMO: Kayleigh McEnany, thank you for making the case.

MCENANY: No problem.

CUOMO: Appreciate it, as always.

Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Chris. Legendary boxer Muhammad Ali will be laid to rest today. Next, his daughter Laila Ali joins us live to give us a very personal reflection of the life and legacy of the man they all called "the greatest."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)