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Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren to Meet in Washington, D.C.; Trump, Warren Trade Jabs on Twitter; Trump Courts Evangelicals, GOP Tries to Unite. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired June 10, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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


[10:00:56] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. John Berman here in for Carol Costello. Thanks for being here with us.

We are following two major stories unfolding this hour. The world is saying goodbye to boxing legend Muhammad Ali. There is a procession going on in Louisville, Kentucky, this morning.

Also this morning, a meeting between Hillary Clinton, the presumed Democratic nominee, and Elizabeth Warren, the senator from Massachusetts. This now fueling speculation, could Elizabeth Warren end up on the Democratic ticket? And you know what? This meeting is meant to fuel speculation about whether Elizabeth Warren could end up on the ticket.

We begin this morning in Louisville, though, Muhammad Ali's hometown. A funeral procession for Ali getting started shortly. He wanted today -- Muhammad Ali wanted today to be a celebration. He was involved in planning this event years ago and he wanted today to be a celebration, a positive event, a tribute to his life, legacy, faith, and all he stood for. Also a way for fans to come together.

CNN's Pamela Brown, who knew Muhammad Ali personally. Pamela is in Louisville. We will take you live there in just a moment, but first the meeting that all Democrats are watching this morning and meant to be watching. Hillary Clinton is holding a private one-on-one meeting with Massachusetts senator, Elizabeth Warren, and, yes, this has led to all sorts of speculation. Could this mean that Elizabeth Warren would join Hillary Clinton on the ticket? Is that what they will discuss this morning or is this all meant just to make us wonder about whether or not that is what they're discussing this morning?

You're looking at live pictures or pictures from just moments ago from outside Hillary Clinton's Washington, D.C., home. That meeting is expected to take place soon. Elizabeth Warren endorsed Hillary Clinton last night, finally. The last Democratic senator -- the last female Democratic senator to do so.

This comes on the heels of Hillary Clinton picking up really her two other biggest endorsements yet, President Obama and Vice President Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Whoever the next president is, god willing in my view, it will be Secretary Clinton.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Look, I know how hard is job can be. That's why I know Hillary will be so good at it. In fact, I don't think there's ever been someone so qualified to hold this office.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Now Elizabeth Warren, as we said, just endorsed Hillary Clinton officially last night, but she had already been going after Donald Trump extremely, extremely hard on Twitter, out loud in recent weeks and last night she went even further. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Even disqualifying judges based on their professional background isn't enough for Donald Trump. Trump tells everyone who will listen that he is a great businessman, but let's be honest. He is just a guy who inherited a fortune and kept it rolling along by cheating people.

In America we have the rule of law, and that means no matter how rich you are, no matter how loud you are, no matter how famous you are, if you break the law, you can be held accountable even if your name is Donald Trump.

Trump is criticizing Judge Curiel for following the law instead of bending it to suit the financial interests of one wealthy and, oh, so fragile defendant.

Now Trump also whined that he's being treated unfairly because the judge happens to be, we believe, Mexican. And when he got called out, he doubled down by saying, I'm building a wall. It's an inherent conflict of interest.

He has personally, personally directed his army of campaign surrogates to step up their own public attacks on Judge Curiel.

[10:05:02] He's even condemned federal judges who are Muslim on the disgusting theory that Trump's own bigotry compromises the judges' neutrality.

You just can't make this stuff up. We will not allow a small, insecure, thin-skinned, wannabe tyrant or his allies in the Senate to destroy the rule of law in the United States of America. We will not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: That was Elizabeth Warren last night speaking to obviously a liberal audience there, fans of Hillary Clinton, not fans of Donald Trump.

Michelle Kosinski has more from the White House this morning.

Michelle, again, that was Elizabeth Warren last night and this morning it sort of set off a new Twitter exchange between two renowned tweeters, Elizabeth Warren and Donald Trump.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And what would politics today be without a good Twitter back and forth? So this morning Donald Trump tweets his response to all of that with, "Pocahontas is at it again. Goofy Elizabeth Warren, one of the least productive U.S. senators, has a nasty mouth. Hope she is VP choice."

And then Warren responded to that tweet with her tweet, "No, seriously, delete your account," making a reference to Hillary Clinton's response in a tweet to Donald Trump yesterday, which was simply, :"Delete your account."

So Donald Trump pulling out to more controversial name-calling there. Obviously he knows that's going to get headlines and get people talking, but the Twitter back and forth and the bashing Donald Trump continues, because, you know, now you have Democrats really trying to show unity as much as possible. Unity in sporting Hillary Clinton and unity in their opposition to Donald Trump because even in trying now to get Bernie Sanders fully on board, the talk is that there is one unified Democratic goal, of course, and that is to prevent Donald Trump from being president.

So that's been the rallying cry for the last day and we're only going to see much, much more of this to come -- John.

BERMAN: All right, Michelle Kosinski for us at the White House. Thanks so much.

By the way, the Pocahontas reference from Donald Trump refers to an issue that came up in her 2012 campaign in Massachusetts against Scott Brown. Scott Brown and others questioned Elizabeth Warren's Native American roots and whether she was exaggerating them. That's what Donald Trump is doing with that phrase there.

To talk about all this, want to bring in Ron Brownstein. He's CNN's senior political analyst, senior editor for "The Atlantic."

Ron, thanks so much for being with us.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, John.

BERMAN: Obviously all kinds of speculation today about what's going on behind closed doors. What's going to happen in this meeting with Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren. But I think almost as interesting as what is actually said is the fact that it's happening and the fact that the Clinton team wanted this out there is publicly this morning.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

BERMAN: So what is the message being sent specifically, I suppose, to progressive -- progressive voters?

BROWNSTEIN: Right. I think there's no figure in the Democratic Party who is better suited to be a bridge between the Sanders forces and the Clinton forces or between the progressive forces and the kind of the more establishment than Elizabeth Warren who was Bernie Sanders before Bernie Sanders. I mean, she was the original choice I think of many on the left to run against Hillary Clinton. She is a very popular figure there and this conversation is fascinating because, you know, Elizabeth Warren seemed to face the same problem that Cory Booker and Sherrod Brown did as a potential vice president.

She's in a state with a Republican governor. If you named her vice president, you will allow the Republican government to pick the replacement and thus potentially threaten your Senate majority even if you won. No one would really want to do that, but there's a striking story a few days ago in "The Boston Globe," John, as you know, which is that Harry Reid commissioned a legal analysis in Massachusetts on the law about filling her seat, and basically concluded that there would be a very narrow window for Governor Baker, Charlie Baker, to fill it with a Republican. There could be a special election as early as April.

The way that story came out, it certainly gave you the impression that Elizabeth Warren was Harry Reid's favorite for that vice presidential role.

BERMAN: Yes. No shortage of people suggesting that she could help the ticket there to be sure. So that will be interesting to see.

You know, Ron, you're starting to see the Democratic Party, leaders of the Democratic Party, by that I mean, you know, President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden. You don't get anymore leaders than that, and Elizabeth Warren, they're lining up behind Hillary Clinton. So you're seeing it at the top.

Any sense that you're beginning to see it at the bottom? We've had a few national polls come out in the last few days.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

BERMAN: But is there any sign that there is this Democratic unity which Hillary Clinton needs?

BROWNSTEIN: I think you're going to get there, right? I mean, and Bernie Sanders is in a very difficult position right now from an argument point of view. From the beginning he's kind of argued that superdelegates, you know, were essentially illegitimate or countervailing, countermanding the will of the voters. Now he's in a position where if he does want to go forward, he basically has to say superdelegates have to overturn a primary season in which Hillary Clinton beat him by 3.7 million votes in the popular vote, and as well that she beat him in 15 states by more than he beat her in any state.

[10:10:07] So I do think that it's hard for him to make a plausible argument and as he recedes, I do think you'll see more Democratic unity. I mean, the trend of modern politics is that you're getting about 90 percent-plus on each side self identified partisans voting for their party's candidate in presidential elections. And by the way, if you did pick Elizabeth Warren for vice president, it would be an indication that you believe that the key to this election is more mobilization of your team than persuasion necessarily of independents, which is also the directions both parties have been going in since George Bush in 2014.

BERMAN: Want to move from Democratic unity, the issue of Republican unity and really a struggle for Republican unity that Donald Trump is facing right there pretty much at the top of the Republican Party. House Speaker Paul Ryan has been scathing in his criticism of Donald Trump's attacks on Judge Gonzalo Curiel over the last few days. Paul Ryan called it a textbook definition of racism. I believe that was Tuesday or Wednesday, I'm losing track.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

BERMAN: Just this morning to George Stephanopoulos on ABC, he called the comments beyond the pale.

And Ron, we just learned that Donald Trump and Paul Ryan spoke Wednesday night. This is after Paul Ryan made the comments about -- you know, Donald Trump's words being racist. They spoke by phone Wednesday night and the word is, is that Trump initiated the call, reached out to Paul Ryan to talk about this. So that could be a sign, I suppose, that Donald Trump is trying to smooth things over.

BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, the language from Paul Ryan, first of all, this past week is pretty much unprecedented in American history. I mean, it's hard to find another example where the presumptive party nominee is facing this kind of criticism and of course it's not only from Paul Ryan. Maybe even more striking is Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, who is much more kind of an insider player, less with a distinctive ideological vision of what the party should be as compared to Ryan's kind of Jack Kemp legacy.

Mitch McConnell has been virtually as critical as Ryan. I mean, you know, and several Republicans have used the phrase un-American to describe the criticism of Judge Curiel from Donald Trump. There's nothing quite like this. You go back to 1960 there's a great clip on YouTube, you can watch Harry Truman toward the end of the process saying maybe John Kennedy should wait a little longer before he puts himself up at the convention for president.

But, you know, that's what we're talking about as the precedent here. So what we're looking at, at a high level of discontent over the way the nominee is positioning himself, his language, I don't think we've seen anything quite like this, and it does reflect -- I mean, the Republicans are in a very difficult position. They can't really run away from Trump in the sense that there's more -- less split ticket voting and more correlation between the way people vote for president and lower ballot offices but they're also clearly reluctant to let Trump define the party.

In a diversifying country, if Trump brands the Republican Party as a party of racial backlash, the implications could go way beyond whatever happens in November.

BERMAN: All right. Ron Brownstein, thanks so much for being with us. Appreciate it, Ron.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you, John. BERMAN: All right. Still to come, Donald Trump today with a big

speech in front of evangelicals. This is really his first big speech in a few days certainly since the latest round of controversy began. How will he try to heal his fractured party?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:17:24] BERMAN: All right. Live pictures from Washington, D.C. That is Hillary Clinton's home in Washington, D.C. We believe that she is inside. We also believe that Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts is due to arrive for a private meeting with Hillary Clinton. This, of course, has fueled all kinds of speculation about whether or not Elizabeth Warren could end up on some kind of a short list to be on the ticket with Hillary Clinton. No doubt speculation that the Clinton team is eager to fuel today.

Elizabeth Warren endorsed Hillary Clinton last night, the same day that Barack Obama, the president of the United States, and Joe Biden, the vice president of the United States, endorsed Hillary Clinton.

So while you are starting to see Democrats lining up behind the Democratic presumed nominee, Donald Trump, her rival, he is working hard to keep Republicans in line. Today he's got a chance to do it. He is speaking in front of a group of evangelicals wanting to keep those on board with him through the convention, through the general election. He will need all of that support behind him.

Joining me now to discuss at this event, CNN Politics reporter Jeremy Diamond. He is traveling with the Trump campaign. Also joined by CNN correspondent Chris Frates in Washington.

Jeremy, first to you. What is this event we are seeing today and what is Donald Trump expected to try to do?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Hi, John. Yes, well, Donald Trump, you know, of course, is starting to pivot towards the general election. You know, he's looking to woo those independent voters, but today his task is a little bit different. He's focusing on revving up the base that helped him win the Republican primary. And a key component of that base of course was the evangelical voters who helped put him over the top in several of these southern states in particular.

And that's kind of part of the coalition that Donald Trump is hoping to assemble as he goes into the general election. This is one of several overtures that he's making to conservative evangelical voters this month. He's also later this month going to be meeting with about 500 evangelical leaders in New York City. That's organized by Tony Perkins, the head of the very conservative Family Research Council.

So Donald Trump, you know, pivoting to the general election, making sure that he softens his position on certain issues. That's certainly the talk of the town. But also he has to make sure that he can still maintain and especially motivate these conservative voters who have helped him win the primaries -- John.

BERMAN: All right. Jeremy Diamond in Washington.

Jeremy pointed out to me a little while ago there is a teleprompter set up on that stage. We do not know if that teleprompt is for Donald Trump. So much made in the fact that Trump used a teleprompter this week in his remarks on Tuesday and how some Republicans liked the fact that he stayed on message with that. We don't know if he'll do that again today. Jeremy will keep an eye on it for us.

Thanks, Jeremy.

Now to Chris Frates. Chris, we've been dealing with the issue of insurrection.

[10:20:04] A lot of folks -- not a lot of folks, a handful of folks in the Republican Party, the same folks who were part of the never-Trump movement, that last breed of folks there saying, well, now we should try to stop Donald Trump at the convention. Break the rules. Make new rules somehow. Possible?

CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's possible, but it's a long shot, and it comes, you know, as you're seeing these party leaders like Paul Ryan continue to ride this really awkward line of condemning Trump's comments while still urging people to support him anyway. And you know, while he's trying to make this case that despite what even he himself had called Trump's racist comments, you know, the conservative ideas, the conservative policies that he promotes are better served under a President Trump than a President Clinton.

But whether he's talking to us in the national media or he's talking to his local reporters back in Wisconsin, this policy argument he's trying to make is getting drowned out by all the condemnation of him saying that, you know, these are racist comments.

And look, Paul Ryan is not alone here, John. Other Republican leaders have called Trump's remarks racist and many are shaking their head about how far off course Trump's bluster has really pushed his campaign, and a lot of those folks are going to be getting together with one of the party's most influential anti-Trump voices, of course, Mitt Romney. He's holding his annual power conference and both Ryan and Reince Priebus will be in attendance.

Of course both Ryan and Reince Priebus not nearly anti-Trumpers as some of the other folks who are there. But many in the party are anxious to hear from Mitt Romney, hear what he has to say. And this all comes as, you know, some of the anti-Trump Republicans are wondering aloud again whether this newest Trump controversy gives them an opening to overthrow Trump at the convention.

Bill Kristol, an influential conservative, who has tried and failed so far to, you know, field an independent challenger, mused about it on Twitter last night, but, you know, whether or not that's possible, it's a real long shot here for a couple of reasons. Trump has all the delegates locked up in the important positions, John, and, frankly, there's nobody to challenge him. You need a candidate. You need an alternative. So that is at this point a pipe dream -- John. BERMAN: Yes. And the fact that he won by a lot in the primaries.

You know, you mentioned Mitt Romney. A lot of people eager to hear what he has to say right now which is why it is so fortuitous that he's sitting down with Wolf Blitzer in an interview that will air in "THE SITUATION ROOM" today at 5:00.

But before we get to that, want to talk about the situation in the Republican Party right now. Joining us is Jeffrey Lord, a Donald Trump supporter, Maria Cardona, a Hillary Clinton supporter.

Jeffrey, I want to start with you because Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, a Republican, the same party as the presumed Republican nominee, Donald Trump, he just keeps throwing shade on your candidate, Donald Trump.

Listen to what he told Bloomberg on the issue of who Donald Trump should pick as a possible running mate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MAJORITY LEADER: He needs somebody highly experienced and very knowledgeable because it's pretty obvious he doesn't know a lot about the issues. You see that in the debates in which he's participated. It's why I have argued to him publicly and privately that he ought to use a script more often. There's nothing wrong with having prepared text. It indicates a level of seriousness that I think is important to convey to the American people about the job you're seeking. So, you know, I would have somebody deeply experienced in government and who knows how things work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Jeffrey, it's pretty obvious he doesn't know about the issues. That was Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, a Republican, about Donald Trump. Now I know you disagree with Mitch McConnell. My question isn't about that.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: My question, though -- my question, though, Jeffrey, is, this can't help Donald Trump to have the Senate majority leader keep on saying stuff like this?

JEFFREY LORD, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Well, two things. Number one, part of what Mitch McConnell is saying Donald Trump himself has said, that he doesn't want to duplicate of himself on the ticket. He wants somebody who is experienced in government that knows his way around Capitol Hill and all of that. So Donald Trump himself has said that. So I don't think there's anything that Mitch McConnell said in terms of that that's out of line. The rest of it, however, I would just suggest this is the reason Donald Trump is the nominee in the first place. What Mitch McConnell is talking about, he's representing, if you will, the, quote-unquote, "political class of Washington, D.C.," Republican and Democrat alike.

This is exactly what voters in the Republican Party, 13.2 million people strong, have vetoed. They don't want this. They don't want that in their presidential nominee. So to that extent when I hear Mitch McConnell say this, all that does effectively is reinforce the image of Donald Trump that got him nominated in the first place.

BERMAN: Republican voters don't want someone who knows a lot about the issues? That's what Mitch McConnell is saying.

LORD: No. What they don't want is somebody who is, you know, a Washington insider who is playing the game for their own benefit, who's, you know, part of the club and all of that kind of thing, which Mitch McConnell indubitably is.

[10:25:05] And not just Mitch McConnell, Republicans and Democrats alike, a lot of them. I mean, this was -- I mean, we had a primary group of candidates in which we had, you know, very distinguished people, former governors, sitting governors, senators, et cetera. They were all thunderously rejected. So when you hear this from somebody who was a sort of class A representative of the political class, I really do think that just reinforces Donald Trump's image and reinforces why he's the nominee in the first place.

BERMAN: All right. It's an interesting argument, that criticism from within his own party only helps him, but we will let you make that case.

Maria Cardona, on the subject of lingering problems, for Hillary Clinton there's a new story coming out of the "Wall Street Journal" today that says that some of the e-mails on her private server had information about drone strikes or discussion about drone strikes that the CIA was going to engage in, in Pakistan. Again, not clear, certainly not stated anywhere in this article and no official says that they believe this was illegal.

But the idea that these are among the e-mails that were out there on this server, doesn't it raise fair questions once again about what Hillary Clinton was doing?

MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I don't think it raises any new questions. I mean, certainly this is why the FBI is going through their process of looking through what actually happened. I think the bottom line that Hillary Clinton continues to say is that she never sent or received any e-mails that were classified at the moment that she sent them or received them. And so we'll see what happens with that, John, but that is what is being looked at right now.

In terms of this issue that will continue to be used by Republicans, of course it will continue to be used by Republicans. They are in desperation mode because of clearly what is going on on the GOP side, and the debacle that they are seeing, the implosion of their party, at least at the moment, in terms of who their nominee is and the fact that so many in the Republican Party cannot stomach the fact that this is their standard bearer and with reason.

And I don't blame them for not being able to stomach the fact because Jeffrey is right, he won fair and square with the majority of the Republican base that went out to vote during the primaries, but guess what? A general election is very different. A general election electorate is not going to accept hook, line, and sinker the kinds of divisive, degrading rhetoric that Donald Trump has thrown out there as red meat for his base.

He needs to add voters to his group of voters if he wants to get to the White House, and right now he's subtracting, and if he continues to do that, there is no viable pathway for him to the White House.

BERMAN: It will be an interesting summer with questions being faced by both candidates.

Jeffrey Lord and Maria Cardona, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

LORD: Thanks, John. Thanks, Maria.

CARDONA: Thank you, John. Thank you.

BERMAN: Still to come, a super hero friend. That is how CNN's Pamela Brown describes her friendship with Muhammad Ali. What a friend to have. We're going to speak to Pamela next.

Plus, take you live to Louisville. You can see the funeral procession getting under way for Muhammad Ali there. Thousands of fans paying tribute. There's Mike Tyson. There's Will Smith. There's Lennox Lewis. They are all involved in this event today.

To Louisville in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)