Return to Transcripts main page

CNN NEWSROOM

Hillary Clinton Launches 2016 Presidential Bid; Inside the Clinton White House. Marco Rubio Plans Big Announcement Monday; Turkey Pulls Vatican Envoy After Pope's Comments; Aired 5:00-6p ET

Aired April 12, 2015 - 17:00   ET

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


[17:00:00] WHITFIELD: Guess what, it's a double episode of the "WONDER LIST." That's tonight 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

Hey, thanks so much for joining me this afternoon. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Much more in the NEWSROOM straight ahead with Poppy Harlow.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: 5:00 this Sunday evening, you're in the NEWSROOM. I'm Poppy Harlow, joining you from New York.

You know what that music means. We're talking politics. It is official. Hillary Clinton is running for president. The former first lady, U.S. senator, and secretary of state has just announced her 2016 plans in this video released on social media.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm running for president. Americans have fought their way back from tough economic times, but the deck is still stacked in favor of those at the top.

Everyday Americans need a champion. And I want to be that champion, so you can do more than just get by. You can get ahead and stay ahead, because when families are strong, America is strong.

So I'm hitting the road to earn your vote. Because it's your time, and I hope you'll join me on this journey.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: That is part of about a two-minute video just released a few hours ago. And even though she is the first Democrat to officially announce Hillary Clinton joins a lengthy list of possible 2016 contenders.

Here is who has already officially in the race. Republicans Ted Cruz and Rand Paul have announced their running, eight other Republicans are also vying for the White House. Senator Marco Rubio planning what he calls a big announcement in Florida tomorrow, and a handful of Democrats are also waiting in the wings.

The question now, who will be the first to challenge Hillary Clinton?

Let me turn to our CNN senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny. Jeff, you're not going to get much sleep for the next more than a

year.

(LAUGHTER)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's right.

HARLOW: As everything kicks off here. Let's talk first about this video. Interesting to me that Hillary Clinton's voice and face do not appear really until the end of the video. It's all about very, sort of main street Americans.

ZELENY: Poppy, it was, and of course that was by design. It was to send a message that, look, this is about you, it's not about me. It's not about my political ambitions, my aspirations for the White House, running again. It's about your dreams, your hopes, so this video is very much by design to send what her campaign hopes is a tone for this campaign, that it's different than her first bid for the White House, that it's not about this long-held wish for her, it's about lifting up the middle class.

It is a tapestry of American diversity there, and that, of course, at the end she finally comes up, but this is the easy part, Poppy. I mean, what comes now is the harder point, where she goes to Iowa this week in New Hampshire, starts taking questions from voters and answering a different question -- why do you want to be president?

HARLOW: Right.

ZELENY: Much harder than just jumping in.

HARLOW: One thing that it doesn't touch on, on this video, not one mention of foreign policy or her record as secretary of state. Why do you think that is?

ZELENY: Because this is very much an introductory phase. It's supposed to be an optimistic uplifting video about people's lives. But you're right, foreign policy is going to be at the center of this 2016 campaign. It already is, and it certainly is going to be at the center of her record. But it's hard to mix a foreign policy debate over ISIS and other things with this sort of middle class message.

HARLOW: Sure.

ZELENY: So of course she's going to have to talk on both things. But very much different than her first bid for the White House. She was trying to project an -- an aura of strength, that she's strong enough to be the commander-in-chief. Most of her advisers believe now that she is already -- people know she's strong enough. It's what would she do for you? So this is just the first of many things like this. We'll see.

HARLOW: Take a look at this poll, coming to us from Bloomberg Politics. Right? It says Democrats and independent voters overwhelmingly say, they think it would be good if Hillary Clinton faces serious competition, a serious contender in the primary. Do you agree? Is that better for her in the long run?

ZELENY: Sure. In the long run, I think it probably would be better for her. It would probably make her a better presidential candidate in her own right, but it would also be easier to run against some specific person with a specific record rather than the idea of someone else, the idea of a populist, a liberal, an Elizabeth Warren, if you will, is much harder to run against than some concrete person.

Of course Elizabeth Warren has said again and again she's not running, so a lot of advisers and perhaps even Secretary Clinton herself wish they were running against someone because then she could go head to head with them rather than this idea, you know, that she's kind of running against one, but first of all she's running against herself. She has her own record that she's running against, and there will be a few Democrats in the race, no question. Martin O'Malley, the former governor of Maryland, he said he is still looking at this very aggressively.

[17:05:10] HARLOW: Yes. Jeff, thanks so much. Appreciate it. We'll be talking a lot more about this.

ZELENY: Thanks, Poppy.

HARLOW: Let's turn to David Gergen now, CNN political analyst, also an adviser to four presidents, President Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton.

David, just off the bat, you saw the video, what do you make of it?

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Certainly unorthodox. I can guarantee it was heavily poll tested. So they know they're going to get something over bounds.

I do think, Poppy, it appealed to the groups that were so important to the Obama constituency and helping him win the presidency, mainly the young, the people of color and women. I think she's going to do well with that -- with those groups as a result of this. Where I think it probably does not appeal, in fact I think some -- the more cynical, somewhat older people are going to see this highly scripted, she's almost -- it's almost like a CEO of a corporation more than a candidate.

And I think she's got to avoid the idea that this is sort of Hillary Clinton, Inc. And she has to be authentic. And I think that's one of the dangers. But a soft, very soft landing for the opening. I don't think we've seen anything like this before. And I think it eases her into the race in a way with her constituencies, the ones she's after, probably help her.

HARLOW: What about a fellow Democrat that may jump in this race against her? I mean, the polling data shows that people believe that would be ultimately good even if they are Clinton for her to have that challenge at the forefront. I mean, David Remnick wrote in the "New Yorker" this week, you know, if she doesn't have that, she will have gained too easy a path to power at the cost of being less prepared to exercise it. When you talk about serious competitors in her own party, who are

they?

GERGEN: Well, if Vice President Biden were to run, of course, that would give her some competition more than O'Malley, although O'Malley is coming on a little stronger than he was a few weeks ago. But after that, there are not many, and the pressures are enormous against Joe Biden, you know, trying to just take it away from the party's favorite. So I think she's not going to have much opposition at this point unless she stumbles badly or something comes to light we haven't heard, some scandal of some sort. I think she's not.

Do I think she'd be better with an opponent? Yes. For a couple of reasons. I did think it takes the rust off before you get into this. You sort of -- you know, it's a real warm-up practice and she's not going to have that now.

The second thing is, she's going to have a hard time staying fresh without an opponent. How do you maintain --

HARLOW: Yes.

GERGEN: Already there's talk, a lot of chattering classes about Clinton fatigue. How do you stay fresh out there?

HARLOW: Right. That's a great point.

GERGEN: If you sort of just waltz through.

HARLOW: That's a great point. I want your response to this. Bill Curry, the White House counsel to President Clinton, wrote in this article for Salon.com, quote, "A presidential candidate gets just two or three chances to make her case to a big audience. Her announcement is often her best shot. That Hillary passed on hers is unsettling."

Does he have a point there?

GERGEN: Well, you know, I'm of an age where I would have preferred a more substantive announcement. This was basically content free. But what she has promised us in about three weeks or so, she is going to have a big rally. And I assume that's where we'll start getting substance.

What we do know about Hillary Clinton is she's plenty substantive. The issues revolve around her authenticity, her style, and how she wears with people, but she knows the issues pretty well. So I don't think she'll have trouble. What I do think is lacking is a rationale for the candidacy that didn't come through today about why is this different?

Everybody is for the middle class, everybody wants to be a champion for the people. What's new and different about this? What is going to distinguish this from other campaigns of the past?

HARLOW: Well, and how do you do that and walk that line without criticizing President Obama? GERGEN: You've got that.

HARLOW: At the same time.

GERGEN: You've got that. Yes.

HARLOW: David Gergen, stay with me. Quick break. On the other side, we're going to talk about Hillary Clinton, it's a name everyone knows. That is both a blessing and a curse. We're going to talk about the challenges of reintroducing her to a nation where everyone knows her simply as Hillary.

[17:09:17]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Virtually everyone knows who Hillary Clinton is, but what does she stand for? How much do Americans really know about the type of person she is?

The Clinton camp believes Americans don't know her full story at all. And this time around, they want voters to get to know her as someone who is warm, personable and fun. "Saturday Night Live" took that premise and ran with it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now since we're announcing your candidates via social media, we thought it would be fun if you actually filmed the video yourself on your own phone. That way it seems more personal and intimate --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. Personal and intimate, yes. I better take off this jacket then.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's much better. Now want to do some vocal warm-ups and then we'll get started?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, OK, love to.

Hillary is a granny with a twinkle in her eye. Hillary is a granny and she makes an apple pie. First female president. First female president. Me, me, me, me, me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Great, Mrs. Clinton. OK. Now hold up your phone and you can just look natural. OK. Maybe you want to soften a little. OK. A little more. OK. Maybe a lot more. Great. Great. OK. And action.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Citizens, you will elect me. I will be your leader.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: That was pretty fantastic. Let's bring in former presidential adviser David Gergen.

When you look at seriously reintroducing her. Right? She just wrote this new introduction to her memoir, talking about how being a grandmother has changed her in terms of how she looks in the future, for example.

How do you effectively reintroduce Hillary Clinton to people who think they already know her?

GERGEN: Well, I think there's a -- look, I think the voters are not into sort of reintroductions as much as they once were. It was possibly 50 years ago to introduce the new Nixon and then the new (INAUDIBLE), and that somehow seemed to work. People don't -- voters don't put up with that much anymore. They just want to know, you know, tell me who you are really and just cut out the B.S., and let's sit and have a conversation.

I think -- being surrounded by that warm ad today, the warm fuzzy ad, I think, you know, it does soften her some. But at some point she's just going to have to have serious conversations with the country. The kind she proposed the last time when she ran. She said let's -- you know, she said in her opening video at that time, she wanted to have a real conversation. I think that's what she's going to need now.

[17:15:14] But, you know, here's one of the issues, Poppy. At the same time they're saying this is the new authentic Hillary Clinton. The front page of the "New York Times" today has a story about how calculating the campaign has been.

HARLOW: Right.

GERGEN: That within a millimeter trying to measure how much they should -- close they should be from Obama, how far away they should be from Obama, not because that's what she believes, but that's how it would play with the voters. That's what's going to introduce a theme of inauthenticity, that this is scripted.

HARLOW: Yes.

GERGEN: It's choreographed. And she's got to deal with that. She just has to be herself. She's a much better candidate. If you get really afraid with your candidate, the candidate doesn't perform well.

HARLOW: That's a good point. So listen to this. A little bit of sound from Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, who knows her as well as anyone. And I want to get your reaction to it.

GERGEN: Sure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TERRY MCAULIFFE (D), VIRGINIA: A lot of fun. Tremendous amount of fun. She's got a great belly laugh. She and I will sit out, you know, on vacation, talking policy, might have a cocktail or two. You know, I mean, she's a load of fun to be with. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: That's the Hillary Clinton you're saying we need to see and see early on.

GERGEN: Yes. I do believe that and I've seen that Hillary Clinton. You know, I worked in the Clinton White House for about a year, and I did see that Hillary Clinton. She can be a lot of fun. She could be -- she could throw back a drink, we all know that from John McCain and Lindsey Graham. And, you know, she can -- she can -- the warm side of Hillary Clinton got lost in all this e-mail controversy.

And there is that there, but you can't have it forced. It's got to be allowed to come out naturally. Yes, the moment in the New Hampshire campaign last time around, when she showed her vulnerability, she teared up, was one of the most telling and most positive moments in the campaign.

HARLOW: Yes.

GERGEN: It wasn't scripted. It was something that she just -- she was sort of challenged how hard is this, and she said it's tough.

HARLOW: Right. What -- quickly, David, what about voting for the Iraq war back in 2002? How is that going to impact her now? Especially given what we've seen happen in Iraq recently.

GERGEN: I don't think she's being blamed for that. She's going to have more trouble about -- you know, talking about her State Department years and what did she really accomplish as secretary of state or as first lady. Those are going to be the kinds of questions. I think the Iraq war is pretty far back. Except Elizabeth Warren challenging her on that, and you know, we've heard a little bit from a couple of people off on the side, but I don't think that's going to be central on this campaign.

HARLOW: David Gergen, thanks so much. Good to have you on as always.

GERGEN: OK, Poppy. It's good to talk to you again. Good.

HARLOW: And coming up next, the big question mark for Hillary Clinton is how is she going to approach the economy. This election is largely going to be about the U.S. economy. And let's face it. She is not a typical American with a typical American bank account. Will that turn off the middle class or will she resonate with the middle class? We'll address it when we come back.

But first here's this weekend's "Ones to Watch."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For over 20 yore, the French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand has been constructing a portrait of the earth with his aerial photographs. His book, "Earth From Above," sold over four million copies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:22:44] HARLOW: Health care, conservation, women's rights. We pretty much know where Hillary Clinton stands on a lot of these issues, as she jumps into the race for the White House, but one big question is, how she will position herself on the economy.

Clinton is a strong advocate for the middle class. She says, you saw it in the video release, but while she tries to connect with the typical American on main street, she has some pretty big ties to billionaires and Wall Street executives, including these two heavy hitters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW (on camera): You've been a staunch supporter of Hillary Clinton.

WARREN BUFFETT, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY: I still am.

HARLOW: You still are. You told me multiple times you want her to be the next president.

BUFFETT: I hope so. What I care about is what she believes in and her ability to get what she believes in and turn into law.

HARLOW: You think she's going to be the next president?

BUFFETT: I think so.

LLOYD BLANKFEIN, GOLDMAN SACHS, CEO: I have supported Hillary in all her other ventures in government.

HARLOW: Are you a creature of habit?

BLANKFEIN: I find I don't foolishly follow precedent, but I don't foolishly deviate from precedent without cause.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: America's economy was tumbling during Hillary Clinton's presidential run in 2008. She heavily criticized President Bush for the decline that would later send the unemployment rate in this country up to almost 10 percent.

Unemployment has fallen dramatically at 5.5 percent now, but all is not well with the U.S. economy. Wage growth is stagnant, income, the income gap has widened significantly since 2008, both have happened on President Obama's watch.

Let's talk about it with CNN.com political reporter MJ Lee.

Thanks for being here. Good to have you.

MJ LEE, CNN DIGITAL REPORTER: Thanks. HARLOW: And this is really important because this election is going

to be largely about the economy. This entire video was about middle class.

LEE: Right.

HARLOW: Main street America. How does Hillary Clinton convince main street she is their candidate, and she's going to make a difference when it comes to things like wage growth and like income inequality?

LEE: Right. I mean, because Hillary Clinton has not been a candidate since 2008, there are a lot of policy areas where we don't actually know and haven't really heard from Secretary Clinton on where she stands on certain issues. And that includes areas of the economy, right? What is her proposal for making sure that, you know, wage growth continues, that, you know, the middle class and the lower middle class are not left behind.

And I think the video really just spoke to that, the fact that she had everyday Americans featured in the video, I think she said Americans have fought their way back from tough economic times, but the deck is still stacked in favor of those at the top. I mean, the message there is so very clear. She's saying to voters and American people, I know that the recovery has been uneven.

[17:25:17] HARLOW: Right. But this is someone who, when you, you know, compare her to an Elizabeth Warren, she didn't go after the big banks and ensuring consumer protection nearly with the ferocity and in the way that Elizabeth Warren did. So when you talk about a liberal base that loves that about Elizabeth Warren, how does she get them on board with her while also, by the way, getting the big donors to stick with her as well, because a lot on Wall Street, a lot of these executives do like her? But how do you walk that line?

LEE: Right. In the last couple of weeks, I've spoken to a lot of the donors in the finance world especially in New York. Remember she was a senator in New York for many years.

HARLOW: Right.

LEE: She does have enjoyed a lot of enthusiasm on Wall Street right now. They are very excited for her to -- now that she has launched this campaign to hold fundraisers, to make sure that her campaign is well funded. Will that be a problem for her? Absolutely. It is an issue she will have to address. I mean, it's an optics thing, right? We do have someone like Elizabeth Warren being very vocal about the problems of Wall Street, the big bank, and Hillary Clinton has not spoken about those issues in the past. Will she do that to such a degree? I don't know.

HARLOW: Yes.

LEE: But the fact that she has gone out and talked about the middle class like this is an attempt to address that.

HARLOW: I think it's interesting in 2008 she pointed to President Bush, and said to "USA Today," to quote, "moneyed class had reaped all the benefits of this economy." She is now the moneyed class.

LEE: She is absolutely the moneyed class.

HARLOW: She is a multi, multimillionaire. How does she say to the average folks, yes, I have all this money, but I understand what it's like to struggle the way you're struggling right now.

LEE: Look. I think she is starting to do that and we saw that with the video today, right? We know that her strategists are, you know, hoping that she can talk about her Midwestern roots and the fact that she herself actually grew up in a middle-class family. We all know the Hillary Clinton of the last several years. We know that her family is wealthy now, but that's not exactly the path that she is comes from. And she wants to communicate that to voters in one-on-one meetings and smaller gatherings.

HARLOW: We saw an astounding number coming from Senator Ted Cruz's super PAC raising $31 million right out of the gate. How do you think Hillary Clinton and her PACs will contend with that?

LEE: Right. The fundraising world has changed so much since 2008. Now very wealthy donors can give unlimited amounts of money to these super PACs and that's in part why we saw Ted Cruz raise so much money and I think as little time as a week.

HARLOW: Yes.

LEE: That's incredible. And you can bet that the donors that are excited for her are going to be pouring in millions of dollars to --

HARLOW: Right away.

LEE: Right. And that will be very, very beneficial.

HARLOW: So next weekend we'll sit here and talk about how her super PAC raised in the first week.

LEE: Exactly.

HARLOW: MJ, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Still ahead, secrets of the Clinton White House revealed. The new book describing what it was like during her time as first lady as the Lewinsky scandal unfolded.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:31:14] HARLOW: Well, for Hillary Clinton it is the scandal that will not go away. More than 15 years after her husband admitted to an affair with Monica Lewinsky, a new tell-all book pulls the curtains back on those days inside the White House. Former butlers, maids, and chief chef, detailing everything from the couple's shouting matches to Hillary Clinton's private escapes, trying to just be by the pool, be by herself. And one incident in particular that left the former president in need of stitches.

CNN's Brianna Keilar has more on the stories emerging as Hillary Clinton jumps into the race for the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As Bill and Hillary Clinton prepare to fight their way back into the White House, a new book reveals details about the explosive arguments they had inside its halls.

(On camera): There was blood all over the president and first lady's bed. The blood was Bill Clinton's. What did they think had happened?

KATE ANDERSEN BROWER, AUTHOR, "THE RESIDENCE": Well, everyone on the staff, you know, said that they were convinced that she clocked him with a book.

KEILAR (voice-over): In an ABC interview at the time, Clinton dismissed similar rumors that she'd thrown a lamp at the president.

CLINTON: You know, I have a pretty good arm. If I'd thrown a lamp at somebody, I think you would have known about it.

KEILAR: But insiders say the Monica Lewinsky scandal left her reeling. One summer day Hillary Clinton enlisted an usher to help her get to the swimming pool unspotted and without a Secret Service detail.

BROWER: He escorted her and made sure that no -- she wouldn't have to see any Secret Service agents, wouldn't have to see anybody on a tour, no staffers. She didn't want to see anyone. And she specifically said that. And so he was so proud that he was able to make this happen.

KEILAR: Just a few of the juicy tidbits in a new largely on-the- record account of life behind the scenes in the White House. Kate Andersen Brower interviewed dozens of former maids, chefs, florists, butlers and doormen who have worked at the White House dating back to the Kennedy years for "The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House".

Their accounts of everyday life at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue seemingly ripped from the script of the PBS series "Downton Abbey." And just like in the popular show, the lack of privacy in the White House is a constant theme in the book. Former employees described Bill and Hillary as the most private first couple they worked for.

BROWER: I've had staffers say that the Clintons were the most definitely paranoid first family that they ever had to work with. And they didn't ever really fully trust the staff. It took them a whole year to really carry on a conversation while the staff was in the room.

KEILAR: And the Clintons had the White House phone system rewired so they can make their own calls instead of going through an operator.

BROWER: They were worried about people listening in on their phone calls. (END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Brianna Keilar reporting. Joining me now to talk about it the author of "The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House," Kate Andersen Brower.

Thanks for being with me, Kate. Congrats on the book.

BROWER: Thank you.

HARLOW: A lot of fascinating, you know, tidbits and stories in here. Look, not all of them flattering, but I just wonder if you think that this helps humanize Hillary Clinton, stories like this?

BROWER: I think it does. I mean, the storeroom manager, Bill Hamilton, he told me that look, Hillary Clinton knew this happened with Lewinsky, and she knew that everyone was staring at her. And it felt -- they all felt badly for her. She was short-tempered at the time and understandably so.

There's a scene where she asks for -- she would call down in the late afternoons on very hard days and call the pastry chef, and the pastry chef told me that he always knew when to expect that phone call, when it was a particularly tough day. And she'd ask for a slice of her favorite mocha cake.

And I think that really does humanize her. I mean, she also had the president sleeping on the sofa in the sitting room attached to their bedroom and the maid on the staff were cheering her on, you know, thought that, you know, he deserved it.

HARLOW: Talking about how private they were, how guarded, this goes into the narrative that some hold about the Clintons, that they're incredibly secretive, that they -- you know, look, you talked about them switching the phone system inside the White House. What was the overall sense you got from the people you talked to about whether they just didn't trust certain people in the White House or if this was an overrunning theme?

BROWER: It was really a theme during their entire eight years. One of the florists told me, and again a lot of these interviews or most of them were on the record. And he told me that, you know, when you're someone's domestic, you know what's going on. And he heard a loud fight that they had in the west sitting hall and heavy objects landing after Hillary Clinton shouted at the president.

I mean, this was during -- they were really under siege. This is during -- on the heels of Trooper-gate and then you had travel-gate, and Whitewater. It was a tumultuous time in the White House and during the Lewinsky travel, another staffer told me that Hillary Clinton was very hard to track down when they were meeting to talk about things that are kind of the typical first lady's jobs, to discuss floral arrangements, and things like that.

And I know that Hillary Clinton told Laura Bush that she regretted having an office in the West Wing, and so I think it's really interesting that -- to look back on that time and see how it's going to play out in the future.

HARLOW: So this book is not just all the about the Clinton White House, it's about a number of different White Houses. Obviously the Clinton portion getting a lot of attention right now, but let's talk about a few other ones. JFK's pool parties?

BROWER: Right. That's right. When Jackie Kennedy would go out of town, President Kennedy would swim nude with some of the secretaries in the pool, the resident staffers always knew not to go to the second and third floors when Mrs. Kennedy was out of town.

There are also stories about President Nixon bowling with one of staffers late into the evening. And then another story when I think is really interesting is the Temptations and James Brown, when they would visit the White House, they would hang out with the African- American butlers in the pantry connected to the state dining room before state dinners. And they would all hang out together, so there's a little bit of entertainment in there, too.

HARLOW: Before I let you go, LBJ, and meetings in the bathroom?

BROWER: Yes. Well, he was obsessed with the shower, and he wanted it to be a fire hose strength intensity. He drove the plumbing crew so crazy that one of them even had a nervous breakdown just trying to make the showers forceful. He want it to go from hot to cold immediately, and yes, he did call this plumber into the bathroom as he was using the bathroom to thank him for all the work that he did on the shower.

And the plumber, you know, it meant the world to him that the president was finally happy with it, but when President Nixon came in, he took one look at this elaborate shower set-up and said, rip it all out.

HARLOW: Poor plumbers in all this.

BROWER: Right.

(LAUGHTER)

HARLOW: Thank you so much, Kate. Congrats again on the book. Appreciate it.

BROWER: Thank you.

HARLOW: Coming up next, we're going to talk about another big name making a big announcement expected tomorrow. Republican Senator Marco Rubio expected to announce his run for the White House tomorrow. He may face an uphill battle since the recent poll shows that a number of voters don't know him well at all. We'll discuss that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:41:48] HARLOW: Hillary Clinton, the first Democrat to make it official, but tomorrow the list of Republican presidential hopefuls grows by one. Florida GOP Senator Marco Rubio is expected to throw his hat officially into the ring during a rally in Miami tomorrow. He released a video ahead of the announcement, framing himself as the voice of the next generation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: For me America isn't just a country. It's the place that literally changed the history of my family. It's a nation of equal opportunity, it's the most powerful force for good that the world has ever known. This is the America that welcomed my parents. And so now I know --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Well, the recent CNN-ORC poll did find that 48 percent of voters were unsure or hadn't heard of Rubio. So what does he need to do moving forward?

Let's bring in our CNN political commentators Ben Ferguson, host of "The Ben Ferguson Show" and Marc Lamont Hill, a professor at Morehouse College.

Thanks for being with me, guys. Let me begin -- let me begin with you, Marc. When you look at numbers like that, I know it's early going, but what kind of uphill battle do you think he faces here or is this a real opportunity in a clean slate in the eyes of about half the people polled?

MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think that this is not a big deal at all. Rubio is honestly the Democratic Party's worst nightmare. If he makes it to the general election, Hillary Clinton has every reason to be concerned. He's young, he's smart, he's a good speaker. He is a -- the identity politics of it are significant. He can win Florida, obviously, and attract Latino voters.

I think the challenge is going to be getting through a Republican primary and the advantage he has in the Republican primary, though, is he can speak to the Tea Party folks and he can speak to the mainland Republicans. The fact that he's a fresh face will play to his advantage. And people will get to know who he is over the next six months. I have no worry about that. And plenty of people who know Ted Cruz is, I'm not sure that's a good thing.

HARLOW: Ben?

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I can't believe I actually agree this early on with Marc today, but I do. And I think Rubio has -- is to Jeb Bush. Jeb Bush thought he was going to have a real corner on marketplace for the Latino votes. Marco Rubio is going to give him a serious run for his money in places like Florida and Ted Cruz in Texas, so him not being so well known, I also don't think is a bad thing.

Look how well governors have done in past presidential elections when they were virtually unknown outside of their states. And so I think being underexposed and then having a big announcement can actually work to his advantage, whereas you have other people that may be overexposed. I mean, look at Joe Biden. He's overexposed and look at where he would be in the polls, you know? It doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to be a good campaign just because a bunch of people know you.

HARLOW: Right.

FERGUSON: Look at -- look at a guy named Donald Trump. I mean, everyone knows who he is, but how many people hate him? A lot.

HARLOW: I want you guys to respond to this. I'm going to play it in full. This literally just was posted online. It is a response to Hillary Clinton's candidacy from former HP CEO Carly Fiorina who very well may make her own run for the White House. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLY FIORINA, FORMER HEWLETT-PACKARD CEO: I think our nation is at a pivotal time, so anyone who wants to be president or commander-in- chief needs a track record of leadership and accomplishment and trust worthiness.

Hillary Clinton, a highly intelligent woman, hardworking, she's dedicated her life to public service but unfortunately she does not have a track record of accomplishment or transparency. After the famous reset with Russia, Russia is now a more powerful adversary than it was when she was secretary of state. Our relationship with Israel has deteriorated dramatically. The Middle East is in flames.

And of course she has not been transparent. She told us for weeks after the purposeful terrorist attack in Benghazi that this was the result of an American video and a demonstration gone bad and now we learned that she has used a private e-mail server and a private e-mail system for the most sensitive of communications while she was secretary of state.

She doesn't have a track record of leadership or trustworthiness. She's not the woman for the White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Marc, your response?

HILL: Shame on Miss Fiorina. First, I remember in 2002 -- was it 2012? Or even 2008 when she was defending Sarah Palin. She was saying Sarah Palin is qualified to be vice president, to be one heartbeat away from the presidency. I would love to know how she thinks Sarah Palin was qualified and Hillary Clinton is not, in terms of accomplishment and leadership.

This is part of a Republican narrative that has been prefigured prior to Hillary Clinton even announcing that she was going to be president. Hillary Clinton is incredibly accomplished. She's demonstrated extraordinary leadership.

I'm not a Hillary Clinton fan, I might disagree with half the stuff Hillary Clinton does. But it would be dishonest to say that she hasn't accomplished anything as first lady, as a senator, as secretary of state.

FERGUSON: She's got a lot of baggage.

HILL: We could list the --

HARLOW: Ben?

(CROSSTALK)

FERGUSON: Well, look, she's accomplished some things. I mean, getting rid of all the e-mails on a server and deciding which ones are public and private --

HILL: Thank you.

FERGUSON: -- is a big accomplishment. I'll give her full credit for pulling that off. But I think what you see here is you see a woman that's saying, hey, I'm going to run. The last thing she said, she's not the woman for the White House. Implying I am the woman for the White House. I think this is a smart move by her to put this out there. I think she's got to be on anyone's short list of vice presidential candidates. I think that she realizes that she can attack Hillary Clinton and not have to worry about the sex card being played, that, you know, you're a man and you're going too hard after a woman.

HILL: I'm playing that card right now.

FERGUSON: She's ready to play this game.

HILL: I'm playing that card right now, Ben.

FERGUSON: And I think it's going to be a fun one.

HILL: How so?

HARLOW: Gentlemen, stay with me.

HILL: I'm playing that card right now.

HARLOW: We're going to talk a lot more about this the next hour.

HILL: If Hillary Clinton were a man, you wouldn't be saying this.

HARLOW: All right. I got to -- well, let's talk about that next hour. I got to get in some other news. Thanks, guys.

Stay with me. We're going to get much more from Marc and Ben at 6:00 Eastern.

Coming up next, the Turkish government accusing Pope Francis of stirring up hate after he spoke today about the Armenian massacre. Now Turkey is doing something about it. But first, this. Time for this week's "CNN Hero."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MAGGIE DOYNE, CNN HERO: Most 28-year-old girls my age have a very different reality. A lot of engagements and, you know, first babies. I mean I took a very different path.

After high school, I decided to travel around the world with my backpack. In Nepal, for the first time, I really saw the effects of civil war and children and women suffering. And it changed me. There was one little girl, she was standing in a heap of garbage. And she said, "Namaste, Didi." That means hello, sister. That was the beginning. I called up my parents and I asked them to wire me over my $5,000 of babysitting money.

Time to get up. Morning.

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: Good morning.

DOYNE: We started with the home. And then we built a school. We select children who without us would not be able to go to school. A lot of them are begging on the streets.

You've got it.

We have created one of the top performing schools in the entire region for 350 children. And 50 of those kids live in our home.

Our first priority is to keep a child with their family. And then in the severe case of a child who really has nobody, they come in to live in our home.

When you walk in the front gates of Kopila Valley, you don't see suffering. You see healthy, laughing, thriving kids.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILDREN: Welcome to Kopila Valley.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:53:30] HARLOW: Pope Francis today used the word genocide during mass to describe the killings of Armenians more than a century ago and officials in Turkey are furious. The service marked 100 years since the Armenian massacres under the Ottoman empire. Turkey has always denied it was genocide blaming World War I for deaths on both sides.

Almost immediately Turkey's foreign minister took to Twitter accusing the Pope of inciting hatred and the country has pulled its ambassador from the Vatican.

CNN religion commentator Father Edward Beck joins me now to discuss it.

What's your initial reaction to this, Father?

FR. EDWARD BECK, CNN RELIGION COMMENTATOR: My initial reaction is that Pope Francis really didn't say anything that previous Popes including John Paul II didn't say. 22 countries have classified this terrible, brutal time as genocide. Here in the United States the House of Representatives has considered a resolution to call it a genocide. So that part is not new. The blowback is expected but really it was a genocide.

HARLOW: Pope John Paul used the word genocide, you're right, but he used it in a joint, written statement. It wasn't explicitly said and then discussed at length as it was in the mass this morning. Do you think that makes a difference in terms of how we're seeing Turkey react so quickly?

BECK: Well, perhaps, but the mass was a mass for St. Gregory to name him a doctor. He's from Armenia. Now there are only 35 doctors of the church so it was a big deal. Supposedly Pope Francis said, I just don't want to talk about St. Gregory, though. We're marking the 100th anniversary of this genocide.

[17:55:06] I want to call attention to the fact that Christians are still being persecuted some hundred years later, and so he brought this into the conversation because it's important to Armenians to acknowledge it, and it was important in the context of this service about an Armenian saint.

HARLOW: So let me ask you this, when you -- when you look at what is happening in the region, in the Middle East right now, how do you think that this will impact the Vatican's future relations with moderate Muslim states and the importance?

BECK: Well, I think moderate Muslims get it. Remember, Pope Francis visited Turkey in November and he was very well received by the Turkish people. He had inter-faith meetings, he met with Muslim leaders. He said we're going to pray for the Muslim community and all of the Turkish people. He was very well received.

Something like this, I think, stirs the flame again but I think moderate Muslims have to acknowledge what the historical facts are.

HARLOW: Father Edward Beck, good to have you on the program. Thank you, sir.

BECK: Thanks, Poppy.

HARLOW: All right. Coming up at 6:00 Eastern we're going to talk about the GOP already in full force fighting against Hillary, tweets, videos, you name it. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:00:09] HARLOW: 6:00 Eastern this Sunday evening, you are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Poppy Harlow joining you from New York.