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Trump Gets Military Advice from Generals on TV; GOP Candidates Take to Iowa Soap Box; Polls: Hillary Clinton Losing Support; Crashed Indonesian Airlines Has Bad Safety Record. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired August 17, 2015 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00] WOLF BLITZER CNN ANCHOR: You called Donald Trump's earlier comment about bombing oil fields in Iraq that ISIS now controlled, you said it was troubling. He repeated that position on "Meet the Press." Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I said you take away their wealth, knock the hell out of the oil, take back the oil, we take over the oil which we should have done in the first place.

(CROSSTALK)

CHUCK TODD, NBC ANCHOR, MEET THE PRESS: What you're talking about, that's going to take ground troops.

TRUMP: That's OK.

COOPER: Maybe 25,000.

TRUMP: We can circle it. We can circle it. We'll have so much money and what I would do with the money that we make, which would be tremendous, I would take care of the soldiers that were killed the, families of the soldiers that were killed, the soldiers, the wounded warriors that are -- see, I love them. They're walking all over the streets of New York, without arms, legs and worse that that. And I would take care of them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: In response to your criticism, Trump told Anderson Cooper, he said, "I'm a better" -- in his words -- "I'm a better general than the general you're talking about? OK? I'm a better general."

Does that suggest to you he understands the complexities this that this kind of military action, launching air strikes to destroy potentially ISIS controlled oil fields in Iraq, could complicate, could cause, if you will.

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, Wolf, he is a very good entrepreneur, a great businessman. He's made billions of dollars, which he repeatedly tells all of us. But from the standpoint of national security strategy or military campaigning or campaign strategy, he's sophomoric in his approach. This is very simple stuff. If you were to ask a guy on the street and they gave you answers Mr. Trump has given you, you would think they were crazy, but because he has money, this suddenly generates interest. The suggestion he's go in and bomb things -- a violation of international law in some cases -- take the wealth away, and then feed that wealth to veterans is just -- it's more than troubling, it's almost laughable, his lack of understanding.

And the president of the United States has to have a lot of understanding of a wide degree of issues. It repeatedly tells me some of the things he's saying that he does not have that depth of knowledge and he's not willing to listen to other people.

BLITZER: What would he need to do to show you, general, that he's capable of being the commander-in-chief?

HERTLING: Well, I think one of the things he needs to do is show me a little bit of empathy that he is, in fact, listening to people more than just sound bites on TV. He has to show me that he actually does have a strategy which he hasn't shown yes yet. He issued one of his policies yesterday on immigration and that seemed to be significantly flawed from the standpoint of violating the Constitution. All soldiers raise their hand and vow to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. That's one of the things that we have to be very careful of when you're asked to defend the country. We're also very concerned about how we're seen around the world. It's troubling to me -- I was just in Europe last week at a conference and heard from some of our European partners, they are very troubled by what they're hearing from Mr. Trump. This is an international situation that, you know, we have to remember, we can pander somewhat to the people in the United States during campaigns but there are people around the world listening and they are troubled by some of the things they're hearing.

BLITZER: General Hertling, thanks very much for joining us.

HERTLING: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Coming up, we'll go live to Iowa and talk about the significance of the state fair going on over there, whether that state's caucus is really still mattering. The chairman of the Iowa Republican party is standing by live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:37:47] BLITZER: It's the heartland of American politics right now, the Iowa State Fair. Every four years, the fair mixes cotton candy with candidates as the politicians with pork chops in hand line up to prove they are regular, regular people. For some, it may seem like a dog and pony show, but the state fair speeches are very serious business when it comes to a candidate trying to get his or her message out in Iowa.

Joining us from Des Moines is Jeff Kaufman, the chairman of the Iowa Republican party.

Jeff, thanks very much for joining us. The importance of the fair, obviously, very significant to potential

Republican caucus goers. The soap box is very important. But Donald Trump decided not to do the soap box. Is that a big deal or a little deal?

JEFF KAUFMAN, CHAIRMAN, IOWA REPUBLICAN PARTY: It depends on whether he's getting his message out in other ways. The soap box for a lot of our candidates is the main way you get your message out during our state fair season. Donald Trump doesn't seem to have a problem getting his message out in other ways so I don't think it's a make or break but the soap box is one of the many iconic events that we have here that people have come to I think not just educate themselves politically but I think they cherish this time of the year.

BLITZER: Are you surprised he's doing so well in Iowa?

KAUFMAN: You know, I think -- yes, at first, then when you look at the national attention he's getting and the pure amount of airtime, I think that explains a lot. Also I think the fact that he is as blunt as he is. The real question is not where Donald Trump is in the polls right now. I think in august a lot of these polls are going to be very fluid and have very little predictable value. But is he capped at where he's at right now can he move beyond that? I know political activists in the area are asking that question right now.

BLITZER: The last two Iowa caucuses -- and those of us who covered them, 2008, 2012 -- 2012, Rick Santorum won by a tiny margin over the eventual nominee, Mitt Romney. In 2008, John McCain finished fourth but got the nomination. Mike Huckabee won in 2008. How important are these Iowa caucuses in the big scheme of things, the eventual effort to capture the Republican presidential nomination?

[13:40:07] KAUFMAN: I think they're important along -- along -- for two reasons. One, there's still a place in this country where a person they that may not have the name recognition or necessarily have the fund canning run for president and actually move to a position of leadership and leading the pack at least for a time. I think Iowa is very relevant. Mitt Romney lost by just a few votes. Is and last year's results show you a relative unknown was able to work hard, go to 99 counties and become a nationally known leader. On the other hand, we were good at predicting who the nominee would be. We're relevant but we're important the overall dream most Americans have and that is almost anyone, if they have a lot of hard work, can run for president. Without an Iowa and a New Hampshire, we don't that dream.

BLITZER: You can have your cake and eat it, too. You can have your corn dog at the Iowa State Fair and eat it as well. I know you have been doing that.

Jeff Kaufman, thanks very much.

KAUFMAN: Thanks for having me, Wolf. Any time.

BLITZER: Coming up, we'll turn our attention to the Democrats. Bernie Sanders is continuing to gain on Hillary Clinton in the polls. We'll ask two Clinton supporters why their candidate is losing ground. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:45:58] BLITZER: The Democratic presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, has doubled his support since June while Hillary Clinton continues to lose some ground, that according to a new FOX poll. Clinton dropped below 50 percent for the first time. She leads among Democratic primary voters by 19 points but, two weeks ago, she was up by 29 points. Vice President Joe Biden, who is undeclared, he receives the backing of 10 percent right now.

Let's bring in CNN political commentator, Democratic strategist, Paul Begala; and CNN political commentator, Democratic strategist, Donna Brazile.

You're a huge Hillary Clinton supporter, Paul. You can't formally endorse any candidate because of the role of in the DNC, right?

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That's correct. I cannot endorse until after the nomination is over.

BLITZER: But you love her?

BEGALA: I love her. And that's with a big "L." And I love all of other candidates. And I give to candidates on the Democratic side. If I gave to all the Republicans, I would be dead broke for sure.

BLITZER: There's 17 of those.

Why is Bernie Sanders moving up and up and up? She's moving down, down, down.

DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Bernie is taking his campaign directly to the people. He's campaigning not just in the early states but he's campaigning across the country. He's reviving what I believe some of the Democrats who probably have not paid attention in the last two years. I'm not surprised there's a rise in the poll. But at the end of the day it comes down to your ground game, retail politics and we're going to have a very competitive primary.

BLITZER: I want you to listen to what Hillary Clinton said in Iowa Friday night and we'll discuss.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Now, they'll try to tell you this is about Benghazi, but it's not. Benghazi was a tragedy. Four dedicated public servants lost their lives. And we have to be focused on how to prevent future tragedies.

And you know what? It's not about e-mails or servers, either. It's about politics. I've just provided my server to the Justice Department. But here's what I won't do. I won't get down in the mud with them. I won't play politics with the national security or dishonor the memory of those who we lost. (CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: She was very well received at that speech Friday night.

BEGALA: She was.

BLITZER: But her strategy is basically to say this has nothing do with an FBI investigation, it's all about Republicans trying to smear her.

BEGALA: It's not strategy, that's reality, right? I'm old enough to have lived through this for many years. This is what Republicans do. What I don't understand is why they keep doing it, because it fails. Years ago Hillary said this to me when we needed to change strategy for her husband and I didn't want to. She said, "Insanity is defined by doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result." Republicans keep practicing the politics of personal destruction and they keep losing to Clintons. They'll lose this time. The investigation began about Benghazi, which is important and should have been investigated and looked into in an independent and fair- minded way. It was. Under Hillary Clinton, she had an independent board come in and had a severely tough and honest report. Now the politics in the Republican Party have taken over and it turns out they have spend more time and money investigating Hillary's e-mails and Benghazi than they did Katrina, Pearl Harbor, the Warren Commission or Iran-Contra.

BLITZER: But the FBI is now investigating.

BEGALA: They're investigating, sure, because they want to make sure there was no classified information that got out. But this is a Republican committee in the Congress that now has spent more time and money investigating this than Pearl Harbor or Katrina or the Kennedy assassination.

BLITZER: Her decision to have her own private server was a blunder.

BEGALA: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: She said.

BEGALA: I said at the beginning, I love Hillary Clinton. Our viewers should know, I not only love her, I work for a super PAC. I advise a super PAC supporting Hillary, so I have a vested interest.

But despite that, of course it's a mistake. I said this the day this broke. Every government employee should use government e-mail. I worked in the White House. I used government e-mail. Guess what? When George W. Bush was in the White House, his aides used a Republican Party e-mail and we didn't have congressional committees in the middle of that. They couldn't even turn over e-mails to the prosecutor in the Valerie Plame case where the identity of the CIA agent was leaked. So this is totally politics.

[13:50:00] BLITZER: Let me read to you from Michael Mukasey. He was the attorney general for the United States during the Bush administration. He writes, in the "Wall Street Journal" this past weekend, "It is inconceivable that the foreign affairs official was unaware of the risk of the relationships with foreign governments would be of particular interest to those governments and to others. It's no answer to say if Mrs. Clinton did it at one time that e-mails were not marked "classified" when marked or received. Of course, they were not. There is no little creature sitting on the shoulders of public officials classifying words as they were uttered and sent. But the laws are concerned with the sensitivity of the information, not the sensitivity of the markings or whatever may contain the information."

He's potentially saying that she could potentially face not just misdemeanor charges but felony charges for what she did.

BRAZILE: But what did she do? Did these e-mail that were marked classified, did she give them to someone who was not supposed to handle classified information as General Petraeus did? Look, I know we can get into the legality of this, but the big picture is, Paul is absolutely right. The Republicans have decided that this is the way to take down Hillary Clinton is to have a taxpayer-funded committee. We're not trying to figure out what went wrong, what happened in Libya. They are trying to figure out how to demean and, I think, demonize Hillary Clinton.

BLITZER: Paul, you've been around Washington.

Donna, you have been as well, and I have.

The Benghazi committee -- which is the Republican-led committee -- Trey Gowdy is conducting the investigation. You don't know where the attorney general investigation will end up. You remember the White Water example where there was a special prosecutor, Ken Starr, and he wound up on the floor of the House of Representatives --

(CROSSTALK)

BEGALA: What happened is Bill Clinton left office as the highest- rated president in American history. And Ken Starr went to a lame university in Texas. I'm joking. That's a great school. But that did not work out well for the Republicans then either. If they were smart, they would be talking about ideas and initiatives. All they are running on now is hate. Bernie Sanders, he's talking about issues and ideas. He's not trading insults with anybody. Neither is Martin O'Malley or Jim Webb or Hillary Clinton.

BRAZILE: That's right.

BEGALA: So even the ones I do not support, they are worried about ideas and issues. It's just an easy, cheap thing to try to practice politics. Believe me, it never works.

BLITZER: Donna, you just assume Joe Biden is going to throw his hat in the ring?

BRAZILE: I think Joe Biden will continue to talk to his family and supporters out there. There's a groundswell of support for him but, at the end of the day, it's a personal decision. I don't think he will run. But that's Joe Biden's decision.

BEGALA: I think he's a beloved figure. I love him. Across the country, both parties. He's a beloved figure. He needs to take the time and space to make the best decision for himself and his family.

BLITZER: We'll see what he does.

BRAZILE: Both of us love Joe Biden.

Guys, thanks very much.

Michael Mukasey, by the way, the former attorney general of the United States, will join me live in "The Situation Room," later today at 5:00 p.m. eastern.

Still ahead, a plane apparently crashing into a mountain in Indonesia. The airline is run by an airline with a safety record that is very, very poor and is banned in Europe. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:57:45] BLITZER: Searchers think they've spotted debris of the airliner that crashed yesterday in Indonesia. 54 people were on board. The bad weather is forcing the suspension of the search and rescue operation.

Let's bring in David Soucie, a CNN safety analyst and a former inspector for the FAA.

David, the Trigana air flight lost contact with air traffic control on Sunday. Just looking at those pictures, you can see how dense and mountainous that area is. How tough is this search really going to be?

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Well, it's horribly difficult right now, Wolf, because of the fact that they don't know if they are survivors there or not. There are no open areas at all, dense forest and jungle. So although they are only five or six miles away from where the aircraft is right now, they have to be equipped for everything from triage.

BLITZER: There was a crash in December. Killed 162 people. In June, a military plane went down. 135 people on board. Indonesia is on the FAA list of countries and they are banned from operating in the United States and that includes Ukraine, Zimbabwe, Honduras, the Philippines. What does it take to get a country on this do not fly list?

SOUCIE: Well, it takes a couple of things, Wolf. One is that there was surveillance in which they gave the country a very low rating. That doesn't mean they don't have good people trying to do good things here. It means that the air traffic has increased so substantially. Their economy is changing and their middle class has become more aware of flying and able to afford it. Every flight is packed. They are continually buying new aircraft. This increases the monitoring. It's the possibility of safety issues as much of the actual occurrences. So it's under very close scrutiny. Each country itself has their own standards that they use on top of what ICAO recommends.

[13:59:59] BLITZER: What a story. We'll stay on top of it.

David, thanks very much.

That's it for me. I'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room."

The news continues next on CNN.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.