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Wolf

Barbara Lee Talks, California, Clinton, Democratic Party; Lindsey Graham Slams Trump on Judge; Aboard Carrier "USS Harry Truman" Conducting ISIS Bombing Missions. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired June 07, 2016 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00] STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In fact, take a look behind me, Wolf. We're at one of the 4500 polling places here in Los Angeles County, and despite the fact it's middle of the day, people are still coming in here. We're in mid city Los Angeles where there's a densely populated area here and people vote.

What's interesting about here, in California, according to the secretary of state, there are 17.9 million registered voters in California. That's 72 percent of the eligible population in the state that's also registered and we know there are 400,000 mail-in ballots. They sent out 407 and here in California, it's open on the Democratic side. Meaning, if you're not a registered Democrat, you can still come in and vote for who you would like to be president. But on the Republican side, it is closed. You have to be registered already here. So we are seeing people who are turning up here today, as you can see, folks taking care of their civic duties here -- Wolf?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: That's what they do on an election day here in the United States. They go out and vote.

Thank you very much, Stephanie, for that.

Up next, Hillary Clinton and history. I'll speak with one California congresswoman about what it means to her, what the results in her home state could mean to the Democratic Party. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:35:23] BLITZER: Right now, six states across the United States are voting in the last Super Tuesday contest. 694 Democratic delegates are at stake today. The majority are clearly in California. Live pictures from polling stations in San Francisco. Polls close tonight at 11:00 p.m. in California, 8:00 p.m. on the West coast.

Let's talk a little bit more about what's going on in the California primary, the role it plays both in history being made by Hillary Clinton, and the narrative of the Democratic Party.

Joining us from Berkeley, California, Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Lee.

Congresswoman, thank you for joining us.

REP. BARBARA LEE, (D), CALIFORNIA: Happy to be with you today. Exciting day in California.

BLITZER: I can only imagine.

You've stayed, correct me if I'm wrong, largely neutral in this contest between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. I assume you voted today. Can you tell us who you voted for?

LEE: Wolf, it's not important who I voted for. What's important, I think, is to make sure that we have party unity. I'm a member of the drafting committee for the platform, and what I want to do and what I have maintained all along is that myself, as a member of Congress, I want to help unify the party, bring the party together to defeat Donald Trump because we know who he is, what he stands for, and how these views will be translated into the policies and programs and funding priorities of our country. That can't happen. Very scary.

I want to also say we want input from the public into our platform. We have a web site. It's dem.convention/platform, and it's going to be very important that the 15 of us writing that platform hear from the public because I am so excited about the momentum and the numbers of people that have voted and we want to come out of that platform committee with a unified platform.

BLITZER: As you know, the Democratic leader in the House, your fellow Californian, Nancy Pelosi, endorsed Hillary Clinton for the first time. She had stayed neutral. Are you ready to do the same thing today, to say you're with Hillary Clinton right now?

LEE: Wolf, as I stated earlier, I am going to make sure that I am part of the team that's going to try to bring unity to the party and I really appreciate all the endorsements on both sides. But myself, as Congresswoman Barbara Lee, I intend to make no endorsement and continue to work to help unify my party. I have to have some credibility. I understand the issues on both sides. I know how we need to move the party forward, and so proud of the young people, the progressives, people of color, all of our Democrats who have voted, all our Independents who voted. It's so important that we move out of this convention, unified and as I say, a member of the drafting committee of the platform, so it would not be appropriate for me to make an endorsement.

BLITZER: Have you accepted the fact that she is now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee?

LEE: Wolf, I think the facts speak for themselves. We know how to count. We know what the numbers are. But once again, my position and what I wanted to do personally is make sure we defeat Donald Trump, and that means making sure that everyone comes together, regardless of which side one is on, to have a unified platform that's progressive and everyone can endorse and rally around.

BLITZER: You've got a big job, you and 14 colleagues on the platform committee.

Congresswoman, thank you very much for joining us.

LEE: My pleasure.

BLITZER: Still ahead, it's Super Tuesday. Even before the ballots have been counted, Hillary Clinton has made history.

Donald Trump, in the meantime, he's under fire, lots of fire from the Republican establishment, lots of Republican leaders over his very controversial comments about a federal judge.

Stay with us. We're watching people vote out in California right now. Much more coming up right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:43:10] BLITZER: Donald Trump increasingly coming under fire from within his own party. The speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, calling Donald Trump's comments on a federal judge and his Mexican heritage, quote, "textbook racism." Senator Lindsey Graham also slamming Donald Trump.

Here's what Lindsey Graham just said to our own Manu Raju.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: I want Mr. Trump to be treated fairly in court. But the fact that the lawyers had not asked for the judge to recuse himself speaks volumes. And if they did ask him to step down, simply because his parents were born in Mexico, they would be subject to be sanctioned or disbarred, else there's not a valid reason for the judge to recuse himself. The lawyers are probably good at what they do. And I think what Mr. Trump is doing is not consistent with a rule-of-law nation, his demagoguery gets worst, and through the political process, he's trying to ruin this man's life, and I'll have no part of that.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Do you think it's a racist comment?

GRAHAM: Clearly. But it's funny. I don't believe Donald Trump, with the way he's lived his life, is a racist person. I believe he'd hire somebody based on merit. But he's playing the race card. He's done that a lot. In the political process, he's throwing the race card on the table to try to undercut the Trump University lawsuit effect on his campaign.

RAJU: But it's un-American, in your view?

GRAHAM: I think it's very un-American for a political leader to do this, to question whether or not a person can be a judge based on their heritage.

RAJU: You think your colleagues should consider disavowing Trump altogether and abandoning supporting him?

[11:45:06] GRAHAM: I can understand why people can't support Hillary Clinton. I can understand wanting to support the nominee of the party. I just can't personally go there. But I would say that there's, I've been pleased to hear, widespread condemnation by Republicans that if Mr. Trump continues this, which is clearly over the top -- you may not think it's un-American, I do. You may not think it's un-American, I do. But if he continues this, I think they need to reconsider the future of the party, whether they should support him. I'll leave that up to the individuals.

BLITZER: You think Paul Ryan should, too?

GRAHAM: Paul's a great guy. He's a stand-up guy. And he's going to have to -- you know, if Mr. Trump continues to do this, then he's putting the future of the Republican party in play. He's stepping on some pretty sacrosanct concepts in terms of separation of powers and continues to put people in a bad spot.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Lindsey Graham speaking with Manu Raju up on Capitol Hill.

Let's talk more about this with our CNN political analyst, David Gregory, the host of the "David Gregory Show" podcast; and the Washington bureau chief of "The Daily Beast," Jackie Kucinich.

Jackie, are you surprised how this has taken off in the last few days when you have not just Lindsey Graham but the speaker of the House, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, all these major Republican leaders really condemning Donald Trump's words about this federal judge?

JACKIE KUCINICH, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE DAILY BEAST: It's surprising it's taken off just because this is what they bought. This was the package that they bought. Donald Trump has a long history and using gender and religion to malign people, and the fact he's doing this again with this judge shouldn't be a surprise to any of these Republicans who endorsed him.

BLITZER: You think he's going to back off at all, Donald Trump, and do what some are asking him to do, formally apologize to this federal judge?

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: There's no reason to believe that he will, based on his prior behavior, Wolf, but I think it is striking. Not just a racist comment, an attack on the rule of law and the judiciary in this country, but it is striking that Dan Petrocelli, who is his lawyer, and one of the leading lawyers in the country, has said that the judge is just doing his job. They have not tried to recuse the judge, which means they don't believe there's a basis to do that. If that is the case, then Donald Trump is not listening to his very accomplished lawyers. Again, voters looking at all of this, Republican elders looking at all of this, saying, is this a president, President Trump, who would discount or not listen to top advisors, including a White House counsel, if given legal advice important for the country? That's why this is a clarifying moment. Not just on the politics, but what does it say about what kind of president he would be?

BLITZER: How awkward is it for the speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, to say this is a textbook definition of racism but then still say he's going to vote for him.

KUCINICH: Paul Ryan, he only has himself to blame on this. He really had sort of struck a cord, saying, until Donald Trump proves to me he's someone I can vote for, I'm not going to vote for him. He did this last week, and it seems like every day, Donald Trump does something else to make Paul Ryan regret that. But he came out so forceful this afternoon against Donald Trump. Really.

GREGORY: What's striking is that Republican leaders are in a very awkward position where they have to hedge because they don't know whether Trump is the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end. He could crash and burn and be done and they can rebuild the Republican party or he is the Republican party, in which case if Speaker Ryan wants to remain the speaker and wants Republicans in control, he needs for Trump supporters to support his candidates out there. That's the pretzel he's in. Maybe his credibility is going to take a huge blow, but he's making a decision based on the future of the party and certainly Congress.

BLITZER: Is it too late, Jackie, for a serious Republican with name recognition, with money out there, with credibility to emerge as a third-party candidate right now?

KUCINICH: It certainly seems like it at this point because not just put themselves out there, as you said, they would be defying the will of the Republican voters. Marco Rubio said this just the other day. This is who the voters sent us. So they've spoken. He blew away a competition of 17 people and this is what they're left with. And the Republicans are grappling day by day to live with this.

BLITZER: You agree?

GREGORY: I agree it's too late, but it's not too late for the Republicans to take a longer view and for conservatism to take a longer view about what they want. They could certainly spoil his chances of getting the nomination, and I think they are people who are so opposed to Trump who feel that's a worthwhile goal, even if it means Hillary Clinton being president --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Hillary Clinton is clearly now the presumptive Democratic nominee. She's got the delegates, the pledged delegates, the super delegates. It's going to be a nasty contest these next few months going towards early November.

[13:50:13] KUCINICH: Yeah, we are going to need a hazmat suit, it will be so toxic, because you have already sort of seen them start to go at each other and you can only imagine it's going to get worse.

GREGORY: I just think there's such sharp differences here. Trump is wasting an opportunity to expose her weaknesses as a candidate, even as she's consolidating Democratic support. I think in the realm of political malpractice, that's what so many Republicans are concerned about with the now-almost two weeks he's had.

BLITZER: He may be vulnerable on several issues but she is pretty vulnerable, too.

KUCINICH: Oh, yeah. This is a big target on both sides, which I think, to David's point, is confounding Republicans because they want to be -- their primary is over. They have been wanting to just start training their fire on Hillary Clinton but Donald Trump has been fighting an odd two-fronts party against the party that elected him as well the Democrats and, right now, the focus is solely on him again. That's got to be frustrating.

BLITZER: Thanks so much, Jackie Kucinich.

KUCINICH: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: David Gregory, thanks to you, as well.

A U.S. aircraft carrier pounding ISIS from the Mediterranean Sea. Up next, we'll take you on board the "USS Harry Truman" to speak with the troops carrying out those long, intensive bombing runs inside Iraq and Syria.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:55:36] BLITZER: U.S. aircraft carrier moved to the Mediterranean to be closer to ISIS targets in Syria and Iraq, and already it's been able to ramp up U.S.-led air strikes.

Our senior international correspondent, Fred Pleitgen, is aboard the carrier. He shows us the operation in action.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(EXPLOSION)

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: High-intensity operations on the "USS Harry Truman." Jets taking off every few minutes to hit ISIS, now from a better position than before.

The "Truman" just moved from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea, much closer to Syria.

We spoke to an F-18 pilots flying one of the first strike missions.

UNIDENTIFIED F-18 PILOT: There was a close air support mission so we don't know targets prior to taking off. There did happen to be a few targets. We struck those targets.

PLEITGEN: The U.S. says its air strikes are having a major effect as allied forces on the ground continue to win back territory from the extremists in places like Fallujah and Iraq and in northern Syria. American jets not only hitting ISIS positions on the front lines but also supply lines and cash warehouses.

(on camera): The U.S. has drastically stepped up its bombings on ISIS targets both in Iraq and Syria and the "Harry Truman" plays an important role in that stepped-up campaign. Now that it's here in the Mediterranean, its jets are even closer to many of the targets it needs to hit.

(voice-over): The increased operational tempo and the move from the gulf to the Mediterranean put a strain on the "Truman's" crew. The carrier's tour extended by a full month. But the admiral tells me his men and women are still going strong.

REAR ADM. BRET BATCHELDER, COMMANDER, CARRIER STRIKE GROUP B: It's a graphic illustration of the flexibility that is inherent with naval forces. We can operate anywhere we want to in the world as it happens on this deployment our priority has been the support of Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria.

PLEITGEN: U.S. commanders believe the coming weeks will be critical in the fight against ISIS now that the group seems to be losing its grip on some major strong holds, gains the "Truman" pilots helped paved the way for.

UNIDENTIFIED F-18 PILOT: We have definitely degraded them and we have destroyed them in many different places throughout Iraq and Syria. So I feel we've made a large impact.

PLEITGEN: ISIS may be weakened but some of the most intense fighting against the group probably still lies ahead. And so do many more combat missions for the carrier's jets.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And Fred Pleitgen joining from Greece.

You are back on the ground, Fred. You had a chance to speak with some of the pilots. Do they have a sense of how long the whole operation might continue, might last?

PLEITGEN: Well, I think a lot of it depends on the ground forces but they say they believe that this is something that could take a little while longer. And one of the reasons they say that is because, Wolf, trying to be careful with targets they hit and especially places like Fallujah but also some of the places in northern Syria where the combat is really moving into an urban environment. That's where ISIS hides behind the civilian population, use them as human shields in some places.

So what the pilots are trying to do and the commanders are trying to do is hit ISIS but at the same time try to make sure they don't have civilian casualties, so that means they'll hold back every once in a while but it also means to use smaller munitions. They told us, in many cases, they'll use 500-pound bombs instead of 1,000-pound bombs to try to limit the target area, and that means they can't hit ISIS as forcefully as maybe they want but, at the same time, of course, their main priority is also protecting the civilian population, especially in places like Fallujah where they've already suffered so much -- Wolf?

BLITZER: So they're going after ISIS in Fallujah, also in Raqqa, the ISIS capitol in Syria, is that right? PLEITGEN: Yep. Absolutely. The "USS Harry Truman" has 75 jets that

can go into combat and missions in northern Syria right now where anti-ISIS forces are trying to cut off ISIS from Turkey, Raqqa, Mosul and Fallujah, as well. They're on the entire battlefield. Some of these missions, Wolf, last up to seven hours.

BLITZER: Fred Pleitgen, in Crete for us, after an excellent report on the "USS Harry Truman." All right. Thanks very much, Fred, for that report.

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

The news continues right now here on CNN.