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Ex-Employees Call Trump University a "Lie" and "Scheme"; Obama Speaks at Elkhart, Indiana; Brooke Talks with Clinton's Campaign Manager; Parents: No Plans to Sue Zoo over Gorilla Incident. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired June 1, 2016 - 15:30   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[15:30:15] HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is just more evidence that Donald Trump himself is a fraud.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: So you've heard from Trump there. You have heard from Hillary Clinton.

Let me bring in Felicisimo Limon, a Navy veteran who attended Trump University and is also part of a large class action lawsuit.

Felicisimo, thank you so much for joining me.

Thank you, too.

BALDWIN: So tell me about your experience with Trump University. I understand you felt like you were ripped off.

LIMON: I felt like I was ripped off because when I was working for the law firm at the time I was making good money and somebody approached me to spend money for the Trump University because within three years, four years, five years, I'll become halfway millionaire and ending up that I lost all my money.

And when I was attending the very last -- very last class and one of the staff asked me if I believed that kind of business about Trump, I told him no because I had been a real estate agent in the state of Virginia when I was in the military. And so he told me, apparently, he said go back to the classroom.

And then I told my wife, let's go, babe, let's go home because this is a scam. And, therefore, I spent my money for nothing. And then I called the Trump University in Florida and the connection was, the teller was no longer in service.

So that man I won't believe anymore to a multi-billionaire, whatever, until you show me something positive. BALDWIN: And I understand, I hear you, you wanted to -- you know, you grabbed your wife, of course. You know you wanted to become a millionaire which is what was advertised.

Did you really look up to Donald Trump as someone who was so successful and you just wanted -- you wanted to follow in his footsteps?

LIMON: That's what my idea from the beginning, because I figured if he can do that, I can do that, too, because I'm very smart guy, too, because I attained the highest rank in the military, the U.S. Navy.

I was even -- I was even appointed by the U.S. Navy authority to sign multi-billion dollars check of the U.S. government Treasury.

BALDWIN: How much, Felicisimo -- how much money did you spend on all this Trump University, these classes?

LIMON: All in all I spent $35,000, but right now I'm still looking for the rest of my receipt because I gave it to my lawyer, the class action lawyer in Los Angeles.

BALDWIN: Final question to you, to be fair to the Trump side, you know, they say, listen, there are many, many positive stories that, you know, people just aren't highlighting, positive experiences, people who did take these courses and became successful.

You know, do you feel like you had any kind of positive experience? Did you learn anything you were able to use?

LIMON: I never learned anything because, as I told you, I went to real estate school in the State of Virginia. Everything that they were talking about I knew already. So that's why at the end, at almost the end of the seminar, I told them that this isn't true because I cannot rip off anybody's money and treat my family that way.

I'm an honest person because I have multi-billion dollars by the U.S. government, that even pennies, I never fed my family with stolen money. And I don't like his idea.

BALDWIN: Felicisimo Limon, thank you so much for your story here on Trump University. We're going to continue to follow this, investigate it and watch the status of these lawsuits.

Thank you, sir, so much.

Let me take you now to Indiana --

(CROSSTALK)

LIMON: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

President Obama speaking now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Not just better than it was eight years ago, it is the strongest, most --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One more term.

OBAMA: No, I can't do that.

(LAUGHTER)

The constitution prohibits it, but more importantly Michelle prohibits it.

(LAUGHTER)

Now one of the reasons we're told this has been an unusual election year is because people are anxious and uncertain about the economy. And our politics are a natural place to channel that frustration. So I wanted to come to the heartland, to the Midwest, back to close to my hometown to talk about that anxiety, that economic anxiety and what I think it means.

And what I've got to say really boils down to two points, although, I'm going to take a long time making these two points.

(LAUGHTER)

Number one: America's economy is not just better than it was eight years ago -- it is the strongest, most durable economy in the world.

(APPLAUSE)

[15:35:00] That's point number one.

Point number two: We can make it even stronger, and expand opportunity for even more people. But to do that, we have to be honest about what our real challenges are, and we've got to make some smart decisions going forward.

Now, Elkhart is a good place to have this conversation, because some of you remember this was the first city I visited as President.

(APPLAUSE)

I had been in office just three weeks when I came here. We were just a few months into what turned out to be the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes.

Our businesses were losing 800,000 jobs a month. Our auto industry was about to go under. Our families were losing their savings and their health insurance, and, as Kelly pointed out, they were in danger of losing their homes. And Elkhart was hit harder than most.

Unemployment here would peak at 19.6 percent. That means nearly one in five people here were out of work. And I told you then that I was going to have your back, and we were going to work hard to bring this economy back.

(APPLAUSE)

So what's happened since then? Unemployment in Elkhart has fallen to around 4 percent.

(APPLAUSE)

At the peak of the crisis, nearly one in 10 homeowners in the state of Indiana were either behind on their mortgages or in foreclosure; today, it's one in 30.

Back then, only 75 percent of your kids graduated from high school; tomorrow, 90 percent of them will.

(APPLAUSE)

The auto industry just had its best year ever. And the "RV Capital of the World" is doing its part -- the industry is set to ship nearly 400,000 RVs this year, which will be an all-time record.

(APPLAUSE)

So that's progress. And it's thanks to you -- to the hard work you put in and the sacrifices you made for your families, and the way that you looked out for each other.

But we also wouldn't have come this far -- Elkhart would not have come this far -- if we hadn't made a series of smart decisions, my administration, a cooperative Congress -- decisions we made together early on in my administration.

We decided to help the auto industry, to restructure, and we helped families refinance their homes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, you did!

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: We decided to invest in job training so that folks who lost their jobs could retool. We decided to invest in things like high- tech manufacturing and clean energy and infrastructure, so that entrepreneurs wouldn't just bring back the jobs that we had lost, but create new and better jobs, and folks who --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: President Obama speaking there in Elkhart, Indiana. As he said, he was three weeks into his presidency, and that was his first stop as president of the United States, talking about the economy in this country. And we're also just keeping an ear on the president because we want to see if he'll wade into the political waters and speak at all about the upcoming fall election and what he might say there.

On politics, I took a trip this morning, took a little field trip to Brooklyn, walked around Hillary Clinton's campaign headquarters, got ten minutes with Secretary Clinton's campaign manager, Robby Mook, and we -- we talked about the California primary battle with Bernie Sanders.

We talked about party unity, and we also talked about a potential presidential endorsement.

Here's Robby.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN (on-camera): If she is the self-proclaimed nominee, why are you guys cancelling events like the one in New Jersey and adding on events in California?

ROBBY MOOK, CLINTON CAMPAIGN MANAGER: There are about 60 percent of the electorate in California votes by mail so there are literally millions of people with ballots sitting on their kitchen table right now, and we wanted to make sure to get out and remind people to turn those ballots in and get as many people as possible participating in the California contest.

BALDWIN: If Bernie Sanders loses, do you all expect him to wave the white flag.

MOOK: I think Bernie Sanders needs to make that decision. And he has every right to run in this primary right up until the end.

Hillary is winning the popular vote. She's winning the delegates, so we feel really good about where we are.

BALDWIN: When is the last time you had a conversation with a rep from the Sanders camp?

[15:40:00] MOOK: We've been talking with them all the time.

BALDWIN: When was the last time?

MOOK: Well, I appeared jointly with Mark Longabaugh at a party meeting in Philadelphia.

Another member of our staff appeared with a member of their staff at the Wyoming convention, so we're talking all the time and we're going to continue to do that.

BALDWIN: Beyond appearing, tell me about your last conversation.

MOOK: We'll keep those to ourselves, but I can tell you, we are fully committed, both camps, to making sure that we rally around the nominee.

BALDWIN: Have you had the conversation with a Sanders campaign person about party unity? Have you had that chat yet?

MOOK: I am very confident that both campaigns are 100 percent committed to making sure the Democratic nominee wins the White House. BALDWIN: In 2008, it was Dianne Feinstein who sort of brokered that Obama-Clinton summit.

Who do you see the peace broker this go round?

MOOK: You know, I actually -- I don't think this is going to be very complicated, I really don't.

BALDWIN: How is it not going to be complicated? He's fighting. He says he could win California. He's going to go all the way through Philadelphia.

You may need a peace broker, Robby.

MOOK: If there's one thing I'm very confident about is that both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are fully committed to making sure the Democratic nominee wins. And so I don't think this is going to be a complex process.

They are going to come together. They are going to work hard together and make sure the Democrats turn out in the fall.

BALDWIN: When we talk about if and when Hillary Clinton, you know, clinches, you know, she needs those Sanders supporters. She continues to say I will play my role. He needs to play his role. Play his part.

What does his part look like in terms of getting the folks who feel the burn on your side?

MOOK: Well, Senator Sanders and his supporters are an incredibly important part of winning the general election. Their support is essential, both because of their numbers, but when you think about what Senator Sanders' campaign has achieved in terms of online organizing, organizing on the ground, registering new voters, bringing new people into the process, the nominee is going to need that. So we are going to reach out and make sure to bring those people into the campaign.

BALDWIN: What does that reach look like? What does that mean?

MOOK: Well, I think you're going to hear Secretary Clinton asking for their support, reaching out directly to them. You've already heard her doing that. That is going to only increase. Their support is absolutely essential. And I think you're going to see Senator Sanders also reaching out to his supporters and bringing them into the process to support the nominee as well.

BALDWIN: President Obama is giving a big speech this afternoon where he's going to be talking about the choices that Americans face in this upcoming fall election.

At what point do you all expect he will endorse Hillary Clinton?

MOOK: I think the president is going to back the nominee very quickly. BALDWIN: Do you think it will be right after California?

MOOK: I leave it to him to -- to come up to that.

BALDWIN: Would you like it to be right after California, or the convention in Philadelphia?

MOOK: I'm not -- I'm honestly not worried about this. The president has already done a fantastic job laying out the stakes in this election, explaining why Donald Trump is such a threat.

I think he'll get behind the nominee very quickly, and he'll be out there campaigning vigorously.

BALDWIN: Will he be your most important, most active surrogate?

MOOK: I think the president is one of the most important surrogates. He has made tremendous progress over the last eight years. No one is better qualified to talk about what it takes to be our commander-in- chief, the steadiness that that requires.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: That is just the first piece of our conversation with Robby Mook. The Hillary Clinton campaign manager talking to me today just outside of their Brooklyn headquarters.

Again, let me reiterate, that piece of the headline as we're listening to President Obama speaking in Elkhart, Indiana.

Again, the Clinton campaign anticipating a presidential endorsement and that will happen very quickly nominee.

Let's take a quick break. When we come back, I asked him essentially if the demographics are, you know, in your favor.

And Secretary Clinton thinks Donald Trump is so totally unqualified, why is this not a blow out. His answer coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:48:20] BALDWIN: All right. And we're back again.

I spent my morning in beautiful Brooklyn, New York. I had a chat with Hillary Clinton's campaign manager Robbie Mook. And here is more of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN (on-camera): Trump has pounced on her for not holding, you know, formal news conference. It's been sort of six months since something like that has really happened.

Will that happen before California?

MOOK: I -- the schedule... (CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: I know --

MOOK: ...will continue to evolve until California. But I'm glad you brought up Trump's press conference. Because I think what really matters here is what we saw yesterday.

A California judge released the documents pertaining to the civil suit against Trump that he committed fraud, that he was selling these phony degrees. We saw that his own employees were saying that they were taught to manipulate, to get people to put the tuition for these degrees on their credit card, to go into their retirement savings.

I think the American people need to look at this very closely.

We've seen again and again, Donald Trump will go out there. And just like he did with these phony degrees, he'll say he's going to make people's lives better. He'll say he's going to improve the economy. But what always has mattered to Donald Trump is his own bottom line.

And he told people they could make their lives better by, you know, getting into real estate.

BALDWIN: When he also perhaps stirred the pot in a way that galvanizes even more of his supporters. You bring up the economy. You look at poll numbers. And I know there are a lot of polls. He fares better than her on that.

I wanted to ask about national security because she is reportedly giving a big speech on national security. What about this speech? What about that will be different from when we saw her, I believe it was Palo Alto when she gave her last big address on national security?

MOOK: Well, I'll leave it to her to explain the details, but she's going to be laying out her vision on foreign policy, but also talking about how Donald Trump is fundamentally unfit to be our commander-in- chief.

[15:50:05] The reckless way he talks about nuclear weapons. The irresponsible way that he insults our allies and our friends and foreign leaders.

Americans need to think very carefully. The same way that he's going to be a danger for their economic future, he's a real danger to our national security.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: But when you look at the most recent "Washington Post" polls, something like 47 percent, you know, believe Hillary Clinton has the props to lead in terms of national security. He had 44 percent. That is within the margin of error.

So the majority of America is not convinced your candidate is the one when it comes to protecting us. MOOK: We have five months left in this campaign. We're finishing up the primary. We're going to have a long time to talk about the general election. She's going to have a long time to make the case about her strength and her steadiness to be commander-in-chief and also the danger that Donald Trump does present.

The same way she's going to be talking about how he defrauded people with his diploma mill. And I would argue, he's going to defraud the American people on the economy.

At every step, Donald Trump has done whatever it takes to make himself wealthier and more famous, and he has done it at the expense of regular people. That's what we're going to talk about the next time.

BALDWIN: More, quickly, if Donald Trump is as unqualified as Secretary Clinton has laid out repeatedly, and the demographics are shifting in your direction, why is this not a blow out for you all?

MOOK: This is going to be a competitive contest. Presidential campaigns are always close. We still have time to consolidate our base after the primary. Donald Trump has already had the opportunity to do that. So we think that these numbers are still very dynamic.

But look, let's look at the numbers we do have and the votes we do have. Hillary is leading in her primary by 3 million votes. She's got more votes in the Democratic primary than Donald Trump has gotten in the Republican primary, and they've had historically high turnout on their side.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Robby, thank you so much.

David Chalian is with me now, our political guru, our political director here at CNN.

You listen to that nearly 10-minute conversation.

What jumped out at you?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Two things jump out at me.

One, in terms of the Democratic fight, Brooke.

You know, Robby was rather dismissive of the notion that it may take some work to bring the Democratic Party back together after this nomination season. He sort of assumed that it will just happen easily and naturally.

I do think that there is a natural consolidation of the party. We saw it happen on the Republican side once Ted Cruz and John Kasich got out. And that will happen to a large extent on the Democratic side, but I think he's underestimating, or at least publicly underselling the notion that they are going to have real work to do to bring on some of those reluctant Sanders supporters.

And they're going to have to start coming up with a plan with the Sanders campaign to make that happen after these primaries wrap up.

BALDWIN: I said no peace broker. You know you heard my question on the Dianne Feinstein 2008. I said, how about Elizabeth Warren?

He said, you know, Elizabeth Warren is great, but you know, I don't necessarily know if we need that. So to be continued on that front in California and beyond.

And also, you know, he also jump on -- I wasn't even talking about the Trump press, and he pivoted to Trump press there, do you like that?

CHALIAN: Yes. That was an artful dodge. Yes.

BALDWIN: It was. And I just, you know, I wanted to hear him talk about that, and so he did, and then he brought it up again. And then we saw the slew of tweets from Hillary Clinton today on this, you know, on this class action lawsuits, this Trump University, you know, issue.

What do you make of that?

CHALIAN: You know, it's interesting, because Republican sources throughout the nomination season have indicated to me and to others here at CNN that the Trump University stuff was sort of the best Apple research they thought they had on Trump in terms of his rivals.

Focus groups polling indicated that the Trump University discussion and the fact that he benefited perhaps from people who were sort of paying for these courses without any real expectation of being able to recoup that in the business place, but they thought that was a rich target.

Now you saw the Republicans, all but vanquish, and they weren't able to execute that. I don't know if Hillary Clinton is going to be able to execute it any better. But you heard Robby. You hear Secretary Clinton today.

They clearly are going to try to make this an issue. It's seems, not unlike what the Obama team in 2012 tried to frame around Mitt Romney. Again, a rich guy that they tried to paint as not concerned with middle class concerns. I just don't know if that conventional argument is going to work against this very unconventional candidate in Donald Trump, but they certainly going to try.

And, listen, Trump campaign, I have to say today, was ready to push back. They put out a video with three Trump University students that were fully on Trump's side of this argument, attesting to what they believed was a very successful program at Trump University.

I think it was like the first campaign video that the Trump campaign put out in its four weeks as presumptive nominee.

So they clearly now also have been gearing up for this battle over Trump University, not just in the courtroom where the battle is taking place, but also in the political arena.

BALDWIN: Yes. David Chalian, thank you so much, as always.

CHALIAN: Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: And let me also point out, yes, I spent my morning in Brooklyn. I would love to spend my morning in Trump Tower as well.

Corey Lewandowski, Paul Manafort, just say yes. The request is in.

Thank you. Thank you, David.

[15:55:15] Coming up next, breaking news involving the gorilla that was shot and killed at the Cincinnati Zoo. The parents of the toddler who fell into the gorilla enclosure revealing whether they plan to sue the zoo.

This as we now have the first 911 calls from that chilling scene -- next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Push back to the story out of Cincinnati, Ohio, because we are now hearing the family of that little boy, that 3-year-old who fell into that gorilla enclosure, the family will not sue the zoo.

They say they will cooperate with police in this ongoing criminal investigation but they are actually evaluating whether or not they still need legal representation. These as authorities have now released the audio. The phone call when this mother dialed 911.

Here she was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MOM: I need you to call -- I need you to call --

UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCHER: Cincinnati 911. What is the address?

UNIDENTIFIED MOM: Hi. My son fell in the zoo at the gorillas. The Cincinnati zoo, my son fell in with the gorilla. There's a male gorilla standing over him. I need someone to contact the zoo, please.

UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCHER: OK. We do already have we do already have started there, OK.

How old is your son?

UNIDENTIFIED MOM: OK. Be calm. Be calm. Be calm.

UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCHER: How old is your son?

UNIDENTIFIED MOM: He's grabbing my son. I can't watch this. I can't watch.

UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCHER: Hello?

UNIDENTIFIED MOM: Yes. UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCHER: How old is he?

UNIDENTIFIED MOM: I need to call his dad.

UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCHER: Hello?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Ooh. Danny Cevallos is with us, legal analyst.

And you just -- your heart goes out still to the mom saying, be calm, be calm. I'm sure that's a little like telling herself to be calm, too, as you're looking at your 3-year-old down in this gorilla enclosure. The question to you is, from a legal perspective is so she says they will not sue the zoo, but they are looking into legal representation.

What does that tell you?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: There are so many potential legal liabilities here. There is the zoo. There are the parents. There are -- many different entities that could be responsible.

And in the mother's case, people have talked about potential criminal responsibility and they've talk about any other sort of responsibility she might have.

For example, we've all heard of family court, dependency court. Sometimes those courts take children away from unsafe environments. I'm not saying that's the case here at all. But that's one thing that could be, could happen to the parents. They could be investigated, or they could be investigated for criminal liability.

And in Ohio, if you violate a duty of care and create a risk to a child that you're responsible for, you may be guilty of a crime as well. So there are many legal potential issues here.

BALDWIN: So what would your advice be, with all this potential issues -- you have 30 seconds. What would your advice be to this mother as a lawyer?

CEVALLOS: As a lawyer, get a lawyer. Because, I think, in a normal case, without all this attention, the police might not look as closely as what you do as a parent. Because a lot of people have expressed the idea, hey, you let your kid get away from you sometimes. It happens. No one ever envisioned this happening. But in a case with this much attention, the police are going to take a close look and really any civilian would be well advised to get counsel.

CEVALLOS: OK, Danny Cevallos, thank you very much.

And thank you very much for staying with me here on this Wednesday. I'm Brooke Baldwin in New York.

"The Lead" starts now.