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Trump, Clinton Give Preview of General Election Fight; North Korea Sentences U.S. Man for Espionage; Syrian Cease-fire Hangs by Thread Following Pediatric Hospital Bombing. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired April 29, 2016 - 13:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:30:24] WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: On the heels of very big wins this week, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton go on the offensive. They're preparing for what a lot of people see as a likely November battle between the two of them. And as the attacks ramp up, they're giving voters a preview of what a general election fight could look like.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: If Hillary Clinton were a man, I don't think she'd get 5 percent of the vote. The only thing she's got going is the woman's card.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And the beautiful thing is women don't like her.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: If fighting for women's health care and paid family leave and equal pay is a playing the woman card, then deal me in.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: I call her Crooked Hillary. She's crooked. She will not be good president. She doesn't have the strength or the stamina.

CLINTON: At some point, if you want to be president of the United States, you've got to get familiar with the United States.

(CHEERING)

CLINTON: Don't just fly that big jet in and land it and go make a big speech and insult everybody you can think of.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: We're joined now by CNN political commentators, Kayleigh McEnany, a Trump supporter' and Patti Solis Doyle, former presidential campaign manger for Hillary Clinton.

Guys, thanks very much.

Kayleigh, let's start with you, and this whole issue of Trump's so- called womans card comments because women are taking Donald Trump to task on Twitter at least. One tweet reads -- and I'll put it up on the screen -- "Caught word that I've been carrying around a woman card all this time. Is it too late to turn in for equal pay?"

And another says, "Love to buy some paid maternity leave with my woman card."

Will this hurt Donald Trump with the female vote in a general election?

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, because here's the thing. Hillary Clinton is completely out of touch with an entire generation of women. That is young women. That's why she lost Millennials in 20 of the 22 states. Young women are graduating at higher rates than men and making more money than men out of college. And for her to go out and play the victim card is women everywhere who are strong right now, who are making more than men. By playing the victim in the interview with Jake said she's used to men bullying her, young women don't feel that way. They care about jobs and student loan debt. And she's completely out of touch with my generation of women. And I would argue she's doing a disservice to the first generation of feminists who fought the hard battles for women like me to be equal in my generation.

BLITZER: Patti, go ahead, respond.

PATTI SOLIS DOYLE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I want to say, for Donald Trump to imply by saying that if Hillary were a man, she would get 5 percent of the vote, that she's standing here today as the likely nominee because of her gender and not because of her experience and qualifications is insulting to all women, including Millennial women, Kayleigh. I want to look at this. 40 years ago, she started her career and sexism much more blatant and acceptable and yet, she graduated with honors from law school and the legal services corporation and first woman lawyer at her law firm and reformed the education system in Arkansas and then went on to become a U.S. Senator and secretary of state and the co-chair of a global foundation. So for Donald Trump to say that she's there because she's a woman and not because of her hard work and her qualifications, I would argue that if she were a man, she should have been president a long time ago.

BLITZER: Kayleigh, go ahead.

MCENANY: Here's the thing. She plays the victim card when it's convenient for her. We saw in the 2000 Senate race with Rick Lazio when he walked over to the podium, the next day, her surrogates out on the air waves saying he was menacing, and with Bernie Sanders, when he said excuse me, a pretty conventional thing to say and, in fact, it's been said 27 times in the Republican debate. She took that moment to play the victim card once again. And so instead of engaging him on policy, she is engaging in ad hoc attacks and trying to portray Senator Sanders and Rick Lazio, now trying to do it with Donald Trump, as these big, angry, evil men. She's doing a disservice to women who are not victims, who are strong, by using gender to her advantage when it's opportunistic for her to pursue her political aspirations. It's an insult to women everywhere who are strong.

BLITZER: Patty?

SOLIS DOYLE: Well, OK, first of all, calling women pigs, as Donald Trump has done, picking fights with qualified women journalists, which Donald Trump has done, and rating women on a scale from one to 10, which Donald Trump has done, alienates women of all ages, of all races, of all colors, and of all political affiliation. And the fact that he is, with all women, his unfavorability at near 80 percent is evidence of that. And I, you know, I just beg to differ with Kayleigh, who I greatly respect, I think Hillary Clinton will beat him by wide margins in a general election with women.

[13:35:22] BLITZER: Let me put this up on the screen, Kayleigh and we'll get you and Patti to weigh in.

Donald Trump tweeted the following today, "Crooked Hillary Clinton, perhaps the most dishonest person to have ever run for the presidency, is also one of the all time great enablers."

I mean, he's obviously foreshadowing what he intends to do if, in fact, he becomes the Republican presidential nominee, and if Hillary Clinton is the Democratic presidential nominee, bringing back Bill Clinton's sexual history while he was president. Is that a smart strategy for Trump?

MCENANY: I think it is because here's the thing. Donald Trump does have some words in the 1990s that I think he would be wise to come out and apologize for and I'm a different person today. I agree with Patti there but when Donald Trump was saying these in the 1990s, Hillary Clinton was sitting in her office -- and Linda Tripp has attested to this as have others on sexual assault on the part of Bill Clinton -- said she was sitting in her office defaming these women.

She tweets out now that victims of sexual assault, which my generation cares a lot about -- go on any college campus, this is a big discussion -- instead of allowing them to be heard and allowing them to be believed, which is what she's tweeting now, she was actively defaming them, calling Monica Lewinsky, who made a mistake, but was on the verge of suicide after what happened to her in the way she was defamed, calling her a narcissistic loony tune, and defaming women who were accusing Bill Clinton of rape and sexual assault. This is not what you do to fellow women who are hurting, who are victims. This is what she has done repeatedly. Donald Trump will bring this to her, and it will nullify any criticism of his comments.

BLITZER: How will she deal with that, Patti?

SOLIS DOYLE: First, I want to correct Kayleigh, saying Donald Trump said these things about women as recently as last week, but -- not in the 1990s and throughout the course of the campaign.

But you know, here's how I feel about this. Bill Clinton is not running for the presidency. And to somehow blame Hillary Clinton for the deeds of her husband is really its own form of sexism. If Bill Clinton were on the ballot, yes, I think that would be fair game, but he's not. She's on the ballot.

BLITZER: Go ahead, Kayleigh. Respond to that.

MCENANY: Here's the thing. I'm not talking about Bill Clinton's actions right now. I'm talking about things that Hillary Clinton said. She called Monica Lewinsky a narcissistic loony tune, and she defamed women like Juanita Broderick and women who had viable claims, Paula Jones, against her husband. These are things Hillary Clinton did. Yes, it was her husband's actions, but the way Hillary Clinton responded, the way she actively defamed women, who were claiming that they were victimized and they were victims of an aggressor, these were her actions, not her husband's.

BLITZER: You've got the final word, Patti.

SOLIS DOYLE: Hillary Clinton wrote those words in a letter to her best friend and it was never meant to be made public. That letter was made public years after that friend's death in Arkansas. So, no, she never went out publicly and defamed any of these women. And again, she didn't do anything. Her husband is the one who did what he did. And again, if you want to blame him for it -- I do -- blame him for it. But she's on the ballot, not him.

BLITZER: Patti Solis Doyle, Kayleigh McEnany, a taste of what probably is going to develop if these two candidates become the nominees of the respective parties. Thank you for joining us.

MCENANY: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: An important reminder to our viewers. Donald Trump is addressing the California State Republic Party Convention later this afternoon. Looking at live pictures. Donald Trump's plane just landed there at the airport. You'll be able to see his presentation during the 3:00 p.m. eastern hour, right here on CNN.

And coming up, an American being held in North Korea now sentenced to spend years doing hard labor. We'll tell you what he's charged with and what the U.S. is trying to do to free him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:43:26] BLITZER: An American has been sentenced to four years of hard labor coming from the North Korea media. The South Korean-born American citizen was arrested back in October over spying charges.

CNN's Will Ripley has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the trial of Kim Dong Chul lasted just one day. And that's all it took for prosecutors to make their case and for the judge to hand down the sentence of 10 years hard labor. We met Kim back in January and he told us that he had been arrested in

October of 2015. He had been in custody for several months, yet the world was not aware of his case until he was brought into that room and placed in front of our cameras. And at that time, he admitted to spying, he said, on behalf of interests within South Korea. He wouldn't say whether it was government or private interests, but he did make a compelling case. We don't know if he made it under duress, that he was crossing into North Korea from a Chinese border city into a special economic zone, known as Razon (ph), where Chinese-owned businesses are allowed to operate, and he says while he owned and operated a business in North Korea, he was actively trying to collect sensitive information about the North Korea military and then pass that along with information about alleged human rights abuses down to South Korea.

He explained how he says it all worked.

(on camera): How did it work? How far did you pass on the information that you collected?

KIM DONG CHUL, CONVICTED OF ESPIONAGE IN NORTH KOREA: I bribed a local resident and had him gather materials containing national secrets in this country such as nuclear secrets, nuclear related materials. I got these materials, hid them in my car, and secretly brought them to China where I handed them over, or go I would go to South Korea and deliver them directly.

[13:45:12] RIPLEY (voice-over): Now Kim, at 62-years-old, begins his sentence of 10 years hard labor.

Western prisoners are not kept with the general population of North Korea and often report being the only inmate at their facility and usually work eight hours a day, six days week and get three meals a day and regular medical check-ups as well. That's very different from the conditions described by North Korean defectors who have testified to the United Nations about alleged human rights abuse.

And there are other Westerners imprisoned in North Korea. A University of Virginia student is serving 15 years of hard labor after he confessed to trying to steal a political banner from the hotel in Pyongyang where he was staying as a tourist. And then there's the Canadian pastor, who North Korea says was trying to use religion to overthrow the regime.

We know that the U.S. and Canadian governments are working in all these cases to try to find a solution for an early release from the men. But for now, all their families and loved ones and friends can do is wait and hope that something will allow them to go free -- Wolf?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Will Ripley reporting for us. Thank you.

Coming up, bombs raining down on Syria despite the cease-fire. Can the truce hold after the latest attack on a children's hospital?

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[13:50:25] BLITZER: Secretary of State John Kerry expressing outrage after an air strike on a children's hospital in Aleppo, Syria, killed at least 50 people. Doctors Without Borders runs that facility. It says two bombs initially hit buildings near the hospital. When the wounded and families arrived for treatment, a third struck the hospital's gate. The Syrian government said it has nothing to do with the attack. The bombing comes on the heels of intense fighting around Aleppo with nearly 150 civilians killed in the past six days alone, despite a cease-fire that is technically still in effect.

For more on this and some of the other big international headlines, we are joined by the State Department's spokesman, John Kirby.

John, thank you for joining us.

Who was responsible for this bombing at the children's hospital in Aleppo?

JOHN KIRBY, SPOKESMAN, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT: Well, we are still sorting through the details as best we can. But as we said yesterday, we have no indication it was anybody other than the regime but, again, we're still working through this. The bottom line is that so many innocent people, as you rightly just said, were killed and others injured as a result of an attack that should never have occurred. And yet, it's another example of what we continue to see the regime doing, violating the cessation of hostilities and putting innocent people in harm's way.

BLITZER: Do you think the Syria regime of Bashar al Assad deliberately wanted to kill all those children?

KIRBY: As the secretary indicated in his statement yesterday, it had all the hallmarks of a deliberate attack on a civilian medical facility. And this is a regime, by the way, that has continued to gas and barrel bomb its people, so they have proven time and time again, all too regrettably, that they're willing to kill their own citizens.

BLITZER: The so-called Syrian cease-fire, can it survive the latest attack? It's on life support for all practical purposes.

KIRBY: We hope so, Wolf. The secretary is speaking with Foreign Minister Lavrov today about that issue and we've already talked about the fact that we're trying to get some discrete areas around Latakia and Damascus over the weekend to restore the cessation of hostilities in some of these discrete areas where we continue to ground violations. It's very much is a hot topic for discussion here at the State Department. The secretary is fully engaged on this. We don't want to see the attack on the hospital tear asunder the entire cessation of hostiles. But you're right, it's fragile, and we know it's fragile, and that's why we're putting the extra effort into it over the weekend.

BLITZER: The vice president of the United States, Joe Biden, was in Iraq urging leaders there to keep up the fight against ISIS. He went there unannounced, stayed for a few hours, didn't spend the night in Baghdad, neither did the secretary of state when he was recently there, or the secretary of defense. What does it tell you about the security situation in Iraq right now that top U.S. Officials can't even spend a night there?

KIRBY: I don't think you need to look at, you know, whether top U.S. officials are spending the night there, to be honest, about the fact that the security situation in Iraq and in Baghdad is also dangerous, that it's not where we would like it to be. And that's why it's so important to continue the advise-and-assist mission in Iraq and it's important for Prime Minister Abadi to continue his effort at political reforms and inclusiveness in the security forces and in the government. That's why these steps are so important. But I will tell you that while Baghdad is still under threat, the Iraqi security forces are making gains in Anbar Province and elsewhere throughout the country against Daesh.

BLITZER: When will Mosul, the second-largest city in Iraq, a city of nearly two million people, now controlled for ISIS for some two years, when will it be liberated?

KIRBY: Well, it needs to be liberated. It is an important stronghold for the Islamic State. We understand that. But it's going to be done on an Iraqi timeline. It always had to have been done on an Iraqi timeline. Our job is to support their campaign plan. What I can tell you is they have a plan, that they're working on it, that we are already and have been now for months conducting what we call shaping operations around Mosul to try to prep the ground for ultimately an offensive against it. And it will come. But it has to come on an Iraqi timeline, when they're ready to do it because we want it to be successful, one. Two, we want it to be sustainable.

BLITZER: Let's talk about North Korea for a moment. And an American citizen arrested for espionage, sentenced to 10 years hard labor. When's the State Department doing to try to get the person back?

KIRBY: We certainly have seen these reports. Very troubling, regrettably. This is the kind of behavior we have seen the North do in the past. I'm -- for privacy considerations, I'm not really at liberty to speak much about this particular case. But I can tell you we have seen the reports and we're taking it seriously. And we will continue to do whatever we can to try to help Americans that are detained overseas, particularly in places that we know they're not going to get proper treatment and due process.

[13:55:18] BLITZER: John Kirby, the State Department spokesman.

John, thank you for joining us.

KIRBY: My pleasure. Thanks for having me, Wolf.

BLITZER: The Pentagon says it will discipline 12 U.S. military personnel for a deadly U.S. air strike against the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, last October. The Pentagon, however, maintains the bombing is not a war crime. Defense officials blame unintentional human error and equipment failure. They say the hospital was near an area controlled by the Taliban. The Pentagon's announcement comes one day after a manager with Doctors Without Borders told CNN his group would still push for an independent external instigation. The air strike in Kunduz killed as many as 42 people.

That's it for me. Thanks very much for watching.

The news continues right after a quick break.

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