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Former Clinton Aide; Questions About Hillary's Use Of Private Server; New Poll Out Today; What The Polls Currently Say; Joe Biden Running For President; Gloves Off In Trump-Bush Battle; Jimmy Carter Says His Future Is In God's Hands; Jimmy Carter Beings Treatment of Melanoma; Dueling Town Halls in New Hampshire. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired August 20, 2015 - 13:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 9:30 p.m. in Tehran, 1:30 a.m. Friday in Pyongyang, North Korea. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

Right now, a federal judge is hearing arguments about State Department e-mails involving a top aide to then secretary of state, Hillary Clinton. The case could shed some new light on the controversy surrounding Hillary Clinton's e-mails.

CNN's Evan Perez has been following the story for us. He's here with me in our studio right now. What is the very latest? What are you hearing about what's going on?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Wolf, this is a controversy that speaks to a lot of federal workers who are wondering what -- you know, how this relates to them. And this is a lawsuit over records related to Huma Abedin who is a special adviser to Hillary Clinton back when she was at the State Department and now in the campaign.

There is a bunch of different issues at play. But one of them has to do with whether or not she was double dipping, this is the accusation being made. She was a special government employee in which she was able to work outside of the State Department and collect money both as a special government employee and whatever consulting contract she may or may not have had at the time.

And so, this is a lawsuit about getting records of that work that she was doing. At the time when this was filed, the State Department said, well, we don't really have that many records. It turns out the reason for that was because Hillary Clinton had a private e-mail server that contained a lot of the messages, the e-mails, that are at issue in this case.

BLITZER: And these e-mails, the controversy continues. And Huma Abedin has been a longtime aide --

PEREZ: Right.

BLITZER: -- to then-secretary of state, even before when she was first lady. She's still an aide to the current candidate, Hillary Clinton. PEREZ: Right.

BLITZER: So, she's very, very close to the former secretary of state. The e-mail at question was dated back on April 10, 2011. Huma Abedin forwarded an e-mail about the then-U.S. Ambassador, Chris Stevens, in Libya about dangers he was confronting whether they should him --

PEREZ: Right.

BLITZER: -- move out. And, subsequently, some U.S. intelligence officials thought that e-mail should have been classified.

PEREZ: Right. And this is an e-mail in a -- on a separate matter, we should be clear. But this is one of the -- a couple of e-mails that the intelligence community saw when the State Department was trying to release it in May earlier this year, and said, wait a minute. There's some classified information here.

And so, they asked for -- to take a deeper look. And so, we now know that this is one of the e-mails, this 2011 e-mail that was forwarded by Huma Abedin to the secretary of state to her private e-mail server. This is one of the ones that raised a lot of concerns in the intelligence community and now has got us -- has gotten us to this controversy.

The campaign has said, look, this is an example of how the intelligence community is really aggressive in misclassifying, overclassifying information, things that really shouldn't be classified. But let's take a closer look at this e-mail, the 2011 e- mail in particular. It describes, in one portion, how they're making plans for checking out of hotels and they're going to check, in the next two or three hours, whether or not they should evacuate Benghazi. This is 2011.

BLITZER: This is a year before the Benghazi terror attack.

PEREZ: This is a -- this is a year before Chris Stevens and three other were killed in the Benghazi attacks. Later in the e-mail, it also describes that there -- one of the plans is possibly returning to Greece.

Again, this is part of very sensitive piece of information. When it was sent, it's very sensitive because it describes, basically, evacuation plans for Chris Stevens and the Americans there in Benghazi. That's what is at issue here. That's why the intelligence community decided that they felt this stuff should have never been sent to a private e-mail server and that's why this controversy will continue to dog this campaign -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. We'll stay on top of it. Evan, thanks, --

PEREZ: Thank you.

BLITZER: -- very, very much.

The Clinton campaign certainly has been dogged for some time now over Hillary Clinton's decision to use a personal e-mail server while she was secretary of state over four years.

Joining us now from New York is the communications director for Hillary for America, the Hillary Clinton campaign. Jennifer Palmieri is joining us. She's also a former White House director of communications for President Obama. Jen, thanks very much for joining us. So, give us your perspective on what's going on, this -- I guess this decision to question, at least in court, Huma Abedin, whom you -- who you know well, has been very close to the secretary for a long time. What's going on here from your perspective?

JENNIFER PALMIERI, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, HILLARY FOR AMERICA: Well, I think -- I mean, there's a couple of things that in the report that Evan just did about that particular e-mail that I think is worth highlighting because what we think that that shows that sort of illustrates for people how somewhat arcane the process on classification, once an e-mail is going to be made public, can become. The -- that e-mail that Evan was talking about, was sent -- it wasn't sent by -- it wasn't sent by Huma Abedin. It was sent by a career foreign service officer. And the e-mail was actually marked sensitive but unclassified.

[13:05:06] So, this is a case where not only did the State Department say that they thought it was not classified at the time, it was actually marked -- specifically marked as unclassified. And, like I said, the --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Well, let me -- let me interrupt for a moment. Let me just for one second. She -- you're absolutely right. The inner -- the original e-mail was sent from Timmy Davis to Jake Sullivan, Huma Abedin, some others --

PALMIERI: Right.

BLITZER: -- some other assistants to the then secretary of state. But what Huma Abedin did, she forwarded this e-mail from her state.gov e-mail account to the secretary of state's private e-mail account. That's what Huma Abedin did, right?

PALMIERI: Yes, that's right. It was eventually forwarded onto the secretary. But my point is that it was marked sensitive but unclassified. The State Department has deemed it -- has always believe it to not be classified material. It has been made -- it has been sent to the Hill on at least one occasion. It has been put on the State Department Web site as public information because they didn't think that it was classified. Later, other agencies have come in.

Now that the e-mails are going -- are all going to be made public, other departments, outside of the State Department, are getting involved to determine if they think that they have some equities here about why something should be classified. But our point is -- you know, what I think -- you know, there's a lot of questions about this. There's a lot of -- I think that some of the reporting around is particularly confusing. And so, why we are trying to educate voters more on this is just to understand a couple of key core concepts here. A, that using a personal e-mail account, that's not unprecedented. Other secretaries of state have done it. It was permitted at the State Department guidelines at the time. It wasn't until 2014, after Hillary Clinton left the State Department, that they said people should always default to a dot-gov address. And she has said she would do it differently in the -- if she had -- you know, if she could have it to do over again.

But moreover, I think it's really important for everybody to understand, she never sent or received e-mail that was classified at the time. And now that -- and the State Department agrees with that. And now, it is only because other departments are getting involved because the e-mails are being made public.

And that is why we're going through this process that we're going through now. We want to explain this to everyone and have them understand what that process is. But, you know, we see -- and we -- it's not as if we didn't expect this to happen in this campaign. It's Republicans taking, in this case it's this issue, on the campaign trail on Capitol Hill and making it -- trying to make it a partisan issue.

BLITZER: Why did she decide to delete all -- you know, half of the e- mails that she effectively engaged in during her four years as secretary of state?

PALMIERI: She had her -- she had -- what happened was the State Department came to all the former secretaries of state last fall to ask for -- to ask whatever records they may have because they realized that they didn't -- because -- you know, because not just Hillary Clinton but other secretaries of state had used personal e-mail, they may not have captured everything.

So, she had -- she asked her lawyers to look at this, so that she had some legal minds on the case, to see which e-mails were State Department and which were personal and turned over the State Department ones. Anything that was business related. And didn't -- and then, chose not to retain the ones that she -- that were considered personal.

BLITZER: Well, let me ask -- well, on that point, why wouldn't she at least want to keep her own personal e-mail records? Maybe there were some fun, cute e-mails that she would want to keep -- why would she need to wipe all of that clean?

PALMIERI: She decided -- because she didn't -- I mean, these are -- these are personal e-mails and I think everyone understands that even Hillary Clinton gets a zone of privacy. And she decided that she retains a couple months' worth of e-mails so you can -- you know, so she can find personal e-mails that she needs to.

But after that, she doesn't need them anymore. So, you know, she made this decision. I think is -- obviously, you know, she was former secretary of state so we want to make sure that people understand how she handled classified information when she was secretary of state. That she was careful with it. She didn't deal with it online. She dealt with it hard copy, in meetings, not on -- not on the computer.

But, you know, at some level, this is not different than the situation with Governor Bush. When he was governor of Florida, he had a personal e-mail account. He had his own server as well. He decided which e-mails were business related that he was going to make public and which ones were personal that he wasn't.

So, at some point, with e-mail, everyone makes these determinations. And we just want people to understand what these facts are but then look at this in a broader political context. Because, you know, you see Republicans on Capitol Hill, Republicans on the campaign trail trying to divert attention, I think probably from -- you know, from issues that aren't going so well for them, whether it's on the economy or immigration or women's health, and trying to hurt Hillary Clinton this way. She -- you know, but she's -- as your own poll shows, she continues to beat each Republican candidate. She's quite durable.

[13:10:01] BLITZER: But there's some disturbing -- a new poll -- a new poll, a Quinnipiac University poll out today. It shows that only 32 percent of respondents in Florida and Pennsylvania, key battleground states, said Hillary Clinton was honest and trustworthy. Only 34 percent of respondents in Ohio, a key battleground state, thought she was honest and trustworthy. Those are pretty disturbing numbers.

PALMIERI: So, I'm not sure why Quinnipiac continues to do this, but they have -- their sample is they consider, particularly in Florida, that they imagine that there are going to be nine percentage points more Republicans turning out than the electorate in 2012. And I think with Ohio they had eight percentage points more. So, yes, if the Republican -- if people who vote on Election Day are 10 percent higher in the Republican category, Democrats probably aren't going to do very well.

But, you know, your own poll, Wolf, I mean, this is something I have to say over and over again because it's remarkable how the coverage doesn't reflect this. But your own poll shows that she beats every Republican candidate, and she has the higher favorability rating than every Republican candidate.

She has come under a lot of attacks. She gets attacked by 19 candidates every day. She continues to go out and put forward her own message on, you know, how she would help middle-class families on the economy. I think she continues to do really well because it's clear that she's the most qualified to be president. That she understands what people's lives are like. That she's going to fight for them. That's what people see in her. So, she continues --

BLITZER: All right.

PALMIERI: -- to do well. But the truth is, you know, the polls -- the polls back up that she's quite durable and continues to be people's leading choice to be the next president of the United States.

BLITZER: Our current poll, by the way, I'm sure you've gone through the numbers, shows that Republicans are now more enthusiastic about voting than Democrats are. That, potentially, could bode ill if, in fact, she gets the Democratic presidential nomination.

One final question before I let you go. This new Quinnipiac University poll shows that Joe Biden, the Vice President, would be at least as equally competitive against Republican candidates in Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, as the secretary of state -- the former secretary of state would be. Here's the question. How worried are you about Joe Biden jumping into the race?

PALMIERI: As you know, we have -- I mean, I do -- Hillary and everyone in the campaign have a lot of affection, respect, love for the vice president and will let him make his decision. But he's the sitting vice president. He, obviously, would be somebody that we think would have a lot of -- a lot of support, would be a very serious candidate. But we're going to -- you know, I know that he's going through the process to make a decision and we'll see what that is and everyone will respect it. But he's the sitting vice president. He would be strong.

BLITZER: He certainly would be. Let's see what he decides in the coming weeks. Jen Palmieri, thank you for joining us.

PALMIERI: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Still ahead, the gloves come off in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Donald Trump and Jeb Bush, they trade blows in dulling town hall meetings.

Also coming up, former president, Jimmy Carter, now saying his future is in God's hands. What he revealed today about his cancer diagnosis and now he plans to tackle the disease.

[13:13:11]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:17:15] BLITZER: President -- former President Jimmy Carter is beginning targeted radiation treatments today after announcing that melanoma found on his liver has now spread to four spots on his brain. Here's how the former president described the moment he first got that news.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: At first I -- I felt that it was confined to my liver and that they had -- the operation had completely removed it. So i felt quite relieved. And then that same afternoon, we had an MRI of my head and neck and it showed up that it was already in four places in my brain. So I would say that night and the next day until I came back up to Emory, I just thought I had a few weeks left. But I was surprisingly at ease. You know, I've had a wonderful life, I've had thousands of friends and I've had an exciting and adventurous, and gratifying existence. So I was surprisingly at ease, much more so than my wife was. But now I feel, you know, this is in the hands of God and my (INAUDIBLE) and I'll be prepared for anything that comes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: For more on President Carter's diagnosis, let's bring in CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who's joining us now live from the Carter Center in Atlanta.

Sanjay, obviously very sad development. Jimmy Carter says doctors still don't know where the melanoma originated. He says that they expect more cancer to appear in other parts of the body. He's 90 years old. So what are his options for treatment? What's his prognosis?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, his options for treatment are a couple of things. One, he's going to get a type of chemotherapy drug, and these options were laid out for him. He said he listened to the advice of his doctors. But this chemotherapy drug is sort of a drug that empowers your immune system, makes it stronger, better able to fight the cancer. And he's also going to start this afternoon, Wolf, radiation therapy to his brain. You just heard him say about these four areas in his brain that do now have evidence of melanoma. Radiation is a good option there. It's something that he's going to have to do every -- every couple of weeks for some time. But that's sort of the plan. And this is -- this is a -- this has sort of been evolving, Wolf, just over the last week, I think, between conversations between the former president and his doctors.

BLITZER: He was asked about his family's history of cancer, Sanjay. As you know, his father, three siblings, they all had pancreatic cancer. His mother had breast cancer. Here is what Jimmy Carter had to say about that. Listen to this.

[13:20:00] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARTER: I don't think there's any doubt that my descendants have some genetic challenge from the pancreatic cancer and my melanoma. So whatever the doctor's recommend for, you know, for blood tests or things like that as a precautionary measure for the other family members, I think that will probably be put into effect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So what about this -- this family history? How does that play out presumably as far as his cancer is concerned, especially given his advanced age, he's now 90, he's almost 91 years old?

GUPTA: Well, you know, it is an extraordinary family history. I mean every one of his relatives had pancreatic cancer, his parents, his siblings. And they all died of cancer as well. So that's always been a concern for him. And you may remember, Wolf, that for a long time, former President Carter was getting regular screenings because of the potential concern that he would develop pancreatic cancer as well.

What is interesting is that if you're going to develop pancreatic cancer because of some sort of genetic mutation, hereditary problem, it's likely he would have developed that much earlier in life. Instead at age 90, he has developed this melanoma. He doesn't have, at least that we know of, evidence of pancreatic cancer. So all that to say that they're probably unrelated, remarkably. He's gotten this different sort of cancer, probably more reflective of, you know, just his age and some sort of damage that he had to his skin perhaps at some point. That may be unrelated to his pancreatic cancer.

For his children, his grandchildren, and now great-grandchildren, this is a family that obviously has a very strong history of cancer, so they'll probably need to get genetic testing to find out if they have some of these mutations as well.

BLITZER: Good advice, Sanjay, thanks very much.

We just got a tweet from President Obama and he said this. He says, "President Carter is as good a man as they come. Michelle and I are praying for him and Rosalynn. We're all pulling for you, Jimmy." That from the president of the United States. We're pulling for the former president, Jimmy Carter, as well.

Up next, Donald Trump says Jeb Bush is unelectable. Bush says Trump is not a true conservative. We're going to give you a ringside seat as they battle it out in dueling town hall meetings.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:26:25] BLITZER: Presidential politics now. The gloves coming off in the fight for the Republican presidential nomination. Donald Trump and Jeb Bush trading punches at dueling town hall meetings. Their battle is symbolic of the fight underway for the White House and the future of the Republican Party. CNN political reporter Sara Murray gives us a ringside seat.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA MURRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Step aside Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you. Thank you.

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you. Thanks.

MURRAY: Donald Trump and Jeb Bush are taking over the ring. In a night of dueling town halls in New Hampshire, just 15 miles apart and within an hour of each other, both Republican presidential candidates threw jabs.

TRUMP: I don't see how he's electable. Jeb Bush is a low energy person. For him to get things done is hard. He's very low energy.

BUSH: Mr. Trump doesn't have a proven conservative record. He was a Democrat longer in the last decade than he was a Republican.

MURRAY: Though Bush set the date for his town hall first, his crowd of about 200 got walloped by Trump's 1,200.

TRUMP: You know we have a lot of people outside, hundreds and hundreds of people standing outside.

MURRAY: Some even spilling in an overflow room to see the candidate in his first official town hall.

TRUMP: You know what's happening to Jeb's crowd, as you know, right down the street? They're sleeping.

He was supposed to do well in New Hampshire. He's, you know, gone down like a rock.

MURRAY: Though he's dubbed himself the joyful tortoise, it seems Wednesday was the night Bush came out of his shell, throwing this punch at Trump's immigration policy.

BUSH: Hundreds of billions of dollars of cost to implement his plans is not a conservative plan.

MURRAY: A blow the GOP front-runner blocked, telling reporters --

TRUMP: The only thing constant is Trump. All of them change on the bottom. They're going up and down like yo-yos. I'm not going anywhere, folks. I'm not doing this for my health. I'm doing this to make America great again.

MURRAY: Florida's former governor doesn't think that's enough to win the fight.

BUSH: People are going to want someone sitting behind the big desk that they know their compass points north, that they have the integrity to act on what they say they'll do and they have the leadership skills to make it so. That's it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: That was Sara Murray reporting for us.

So where do they stand toe to toe? A new poll shows Donald Trump beating both Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, get this, on their home turf in Florida. The Quinnipiac University poll shows that Trump would get 21 percent of the vote in Florida among Republicans if the election were held today. Bush comes in second with 17 percent, followed by Rubio and Ben Carson at 11 percent each, 8 percent undecided. On the Democratic side, in Florida once again, Hillary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders 48 percent to 15 percent. The vice president, Joe Biden, who's an undeclared, unannounced, still undecided candidate, is at 11 percent. Seventeen percent of Democrats in Florida, undecided.

Still ahead, he's trailing in the polls, but a former New York governor, George Pataki, is promising a long haul fight for the Republican presidential nomination. He's standing by live. We'll speak with him about his strategy to take on Donald Trump and the other Republicans, why he thinks he's the party's best hope in the general election.

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