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Meredith McIver Wrote Melania's Speech; McIver Says Trump Rejected Her Resignation; McIver Didn't Check Mrs. Obama's Speeches; Trump Camp Reached Out To Kasich About V.P. Job; Interview With Eric Trump. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired July 20, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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


[13:00:02] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much for joining us.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: We have breaking news this hour. We are learning new details right now about the speech writer responsible for Melania Trump's convention speech Monday night which appears to have lines directly lifted from Michelle Obama's 2008 speech. This as we are just moments away from Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's arrival here in Cleveland. We're looking at live pictures right now. He'll be with his running mate, Governor Mike Pence, of Indiana and his family. We're going to bring that to you live. Stand by for that.

Also this hour, Senator Ted Cruz, well, he's set to speak here in Cleveland as well any minute now, looking at live pictures of that. We're going to monitor that. We'll hear what he has to say. Will he actually go ahead and endorse Donald Trump?

Here to talk about all of that, the controversy, what today's reaction means, our CNN National Political Reporter Maeve Reston. Maeve, new developments on the Melania Trump speech. All of a sudden, someone, a speech writer from the Trump organization, has come forward, offered her resignation which Donald Trump has declined to accept. Tell us the background.

MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLICIAL REPORTER: So, this, obviously, has been a huge source of confusion over the last couple of days. How did these passages from Michelle Obama's 2008 speech show up in Melania's speech? And the campaign was not offering details. They said they were trying to track it down.

Today, just a few minutes ago, someone who has worked with Donald Trump in the past on some of his books, "Think Like a Billionaire", came forward and she said -- took responsibility saying it was an innocent mistake. And I just want to read you some of that statement from Meredith McIver who helped Melania with this speech.

She says, in working with Melania Trump on her first lady speech, we discussed many people who inspired her and messages she wanted to share with the American people. A person she has always liked is Michelle Obama. Over the phone, she read me some passages from Mrs. Obama's speech as examples. I wrote them down and later included some of them -- as some of the phrasing in the draft that ultimately became the final speech.

I did not check Mrs. Obama's speeches. This was my mistake and I feel terrible for the chaos I have caused Melania and the Trumps. No harm was meant. She offered the resignation. Trump reject -- Trump rejected it. And she says, Mr. Trump told me that people make innocent mistakes and that we learn and grow from these experiences. And she apologizes for the confusion.

So, really a remarkable statement. This is someone who has worked for the Trump organization. The campaign clearly hopes that by putting this statement out, they can move past this controversy and get the people to focus on the message they want them to focus on this week here at the convention in Cleveland.

BLITZER: So, basically, what Meredith McIver was saying, when Melania Trump, over the phone, were reading some excerpts from the speech that Michelle Obama gave back in 2008, she was taking notes. And then, later, subsequently when she looked at the notes, she didn't recall that those were quotes from the current first lady's speech back in 2008. That's why they showed up in this speech Monday night.

RESTON: Right. And -- but, I mean, what's so remarkable about this is that, you know, in most campaigns, and yes, Trump has an unconventional operation, you would have enough people vetting the speech that they would run the speech through, you know, various programs making sure that there were no phrases in common with past speeches.

And that's what's really interesting about this controversy is that it shows us that there are still kind of gaping holes in the Trump organization. They are understaffed and they clearly need more people helping to avoid these kinds of embarrassments.

BLITZER: David Gregory is with us. Ryan Lizza is with us as well. It sounds like it could have just been an innocent mistake. She forgot to mention that these quotes, these actual thoughts, came from Michelle Obama's speech.

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, Wolf, there's two egregious problems there. One, real sloppiness with the candidate's spouse who is your first big hitter, your big speaker on the first night of your convention in prime time. And whoever was working on the speech should have been enough of a pro to make sure that Melania Trump was not in this position. That was not done. It's evidenced that the fact that this campaign got real big before it was ready and didn't do the basic campaigning as well as it should have.

Two, hypocrisy is a really tough thing in politics. Every night of his campaign convention is attacking Hillary Clinton because she lies. Well, for the past two days on CNN, Paul Manafort, who is the campaign strategist, has lied to Chris Cuomo on the air saying there was no plagiarism. It is absurd to suggest that that's true. Won't even acknowledge what is plain to see which is that these words were lifted from Michelle Obama's speech in 2008. That's a credibility gap from a team that says you can't trust Hillary Clinton because you can't believe her. BLITZER: But, Ryan, do you accept that it just simply was

inadvertent? That it wasn't deliberate They weren't trying to steal, plagiarize, --

RYAN LIZZA, CNN: Right.

BLITZER: -- those words. And in the communication, the phone call, she wrote it down and --

[13:05:03] LIZZA: Yes.

BLITZER: -- subsequently she forgot that these quotes were coming from Michelle Obama's speech.

LIZZA: Hey, absolutely. Her resignation letter, which wasn't accepted, is accurate. I totally agree with that.

I would say there are three -- look, this isn't Watergate. That's the first thing to say. Right. Look, since we're talking about it, I think there are three significant issues. One is the one that David raised is that Paul Manafort and, by the way, Sean Spicer, the Communications Director for the RNC, have been out there saying that this was not plagiarism. That these words were similar to Michelle Obama's speech in 2008 but they had no -- but they did not originate with that speech. That has proven to be untrue and it would be interesting to know if Sean and Manafort knew that when they were saying that or if they were sort of just sent out there to not tell the truth.

GREGORY: But Manafort said yesterday to Chris Cuomo, he said that she, meaning Melania, does not believe that what she did was plagiarism. They had a conversation. He was involved.

LIZZA: Yes.

GREGORY: Right at the outset. Sorry to interrupt.

LIZZA: No, that's a good point. That's a very important question for Manafort and undermines his credibility.

The second thing is --

BLITZER: I'm sure what Melania believes it was an inadvertent mistake. It was just a -- it was a fumble,

LIZZA: Yes.

BLITZER: -- if you will.

LIZZA: Well, --

BLITZER: And this woman has come forward and said, you know, --

LIZZA: Yes.

BLITZER: -- I really feel awful. I'm sorry. She's worked for the Trump organization for a long time. Donald Trump says, you know, people make mistakes. I'm not going to accept --

RESTON: Yes, but --

BLITZER: -- your resignation.

RESTON: -- people get flunked out of college courses for stuff like this. I mean, --

LIZZA: I'm a professor -- (INAUDIBLE) professor at Georgetown University. Anytime a student hands in a paper, we have software that that paper goes through to find out if there's plagiarism. If there is, that student would be expelled.

Look, she's not a student. She is -- her history is not giving speech, speech writing, I think you can show some forgiveness to Melania Trump.

The final thing that I would say, though, is the -- give the Trump campaign some credit for the transparency in releasing this letter and explaining what happened. But at the same time, it has now put Melania, herself, at the center of this. They are now telling us that Melania is the one that read the speech, gave the excerpts to the speech writer and, in effect, should have known, once the final draft came back, that that language was in there.

BLITZER: All right, guys, stand by because we're also learning right now about a rather unusual vice presidential offer from the Trump camp. That was made to the former rival, the Ohio governor, John Kasich.

I want to go to CNN Political Reporter Sara Murray who's got the details. Sara, what have you just learned?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, Wolf, what (INAUDIUBLE) said, the word is from several sources close to John Kasich is that there was actually a phone conversation between Donald Trump Jr and John Weaver a while back after Kasich dropped out of the race in which Don Jr. said they were interested in having John Kasich on board for V.P. That this would be a prominent role. Kasich could be in charge of domestic policy. Kasich could be in charge of foreign policy.

Now, this set off a number of conversations between the two camps and ended up with Donald Trump on the phone actually with John Kasich. We're told that they did not directly discuss the V.P. slot there but it was more of a discussion about how they have different approaches to things. We saw Kasich elaborate that in two past speeches he gave while he was running for president. And that was actually sent to Paul Manafort afterwards.

At that point, it became very clear that John Kasich was not interested in this position. That it was, essentially, going to be a non-starter. We know Kasich, of course, has been very critical of Donald Trump, of his campaign. He is not appearing at the convention. And this is all coming out at a time where there is a very nasty feud playing out between the Trump camp as well as the Kasich camp. We saw Paul Manafort earlier this week, saying John Kasich is embarrassing his state by not appearing here at the RNC. That, obviously, has not sat well with Kasich and his allies. And I think that's why you're continuing to see the spat play out very publicly. But it is a very unusual V.P. offer and very unusual to hear it all coming out now -- Wolf.

BLITZER: It certainly is. All right, Sara Murray, thanks very much. I want to bring back our panel, David Gregory and Ryan Lizza. David Chalian is with us as well, our CNN Political Director. A pretty extraordinary bit of information we just learned.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Totally Extraordinary. You know, David and I were sitting in these seats this morning and talking about how much this incident has sort of informed us about how the Trump campaign responds to these kinds of things. And we saw that they were trying to just steam roll through it. That's sort of been their approach to other controversies. No more. What is clear about releasing this and getting this letter our there, they came to the understanding that this was consuming their convention --

BLITZER: Now, --

CHALIAN: -- and they want today lance that boil.

BLITZER: -- you mean the allegations of plagiarism.

CHALIAN: Yes.

BLITZER: But what I'm talking about, this other issue about John Kasich, presumably being offered this opportunity to be the vice presidential running mate?

CHALIAN: Oh, well, I'm sorry. I thought we were talking about the other thing, Wolf. But this, to me, is bad blood between the Trump and the Kasich campaigns spilling over into public on the eve of his acceptance speech because they still -- both sides still feel really burned by the other and they want to let this stuff out in public.

BLITZER: What's your reaction to this information about John Kasich?

GREGORY: Well, I think it's --

BLITZER: Who is not coming here, at least not yet, to this convention. And he's the host governor in -- here in Ohio.

[13:10:03] GREGORY: And yet, you have Trump, when he accepted the nomination, saying to this gathered crowd here, that we're going to win Ohio. Trump has got to win Ohio if he's got a chance of winning the presidency. And he has made an enemy of the governor of the state who's -- who won -- by the way, who won the primary here and whose political apparatus could be essential to helping Trump if he wanted to use it to those ends.

LIZZA: Absolutely. I mean, one, it does seem like slightly strategic leaking on the part of the Kasich world in sort of stepping on Mike Pence's big night. John Kasich is -- was in Cleveland yesterday. He had an event at the rock and roll hall of fame. He just didn't go into Trump's convention.

And I agree with David, this is the critical state for Trump. It's where Trump's issues actually have some resonance He needs this state. And, look, just politically, if Donald Trump can't figure out a way to make friends with the governor of the state he needs to beat Hillary Clinton, then you just have to question his political sense. I mean, in politics, you know, you make up with people who can politically benefit you and put the bad blood behind.

BLITZER: Because as we know, David, no problem, we say this all the time, has won the presidency without carrying this state of Ohio.

CHALIAN: That is true.

BLITZER: It's critically important.

CHALIAN: It's critically important. And it's even more important to Donald Trump because it is this region of the country that is his path. So, yes, you are right. No Republican has done it without Ohio. I don't think Donald Trump really has a shot at all at the White House. Because if he's not converting Ohio, he's likely not converting Pennsylvania or Michigan or Wisconsin. Because -- so this is really critical for him.

BLITZER: Because the polls show it's relatively close to in all these so-called rust belt states.

CHALIAN: Without them (ph), I think that is his best path to 270.

GREGORY: If he can't do it here, how can you believe he can do it in Pennsylvania which is such a Democratic state. Wolf, if I can make this other point. The point about if, ultimately, you take away from the Trump business about the plagiarism and the like or other incidents where he is denied the truth of something as a response to some of these controversies, well, maybe you say a lot of these politicians lie.

Well, Hillary Clinton lies or she shades the truth. That's what a lot of voters believe. That's what the polling shows us. But his calling card is to be different, is to be a truth teller, is to level with the American people. And on a small matter here about a couple paragraphs in a speech, voters who are not here -- it's the voters on television paying attention are getting an insight to how he might actually govern, how he might handle this kind of scrutiny if he were president of the United States. I think that's instructive.

BLITZER: All right, guys, stand by because there's a lot more happening here in Cleveland at this Republican National Convention.

Also coming up, Donald Trump's family steels the spotlight at the Republican convention last night. Tonight, his other son, Eric, will take the stage. So, what will Eric Trump say? My one-on-one conversation with Eric Trump. That's coming up next.

[13:12:49]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:16:41] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Right now we're waiting for the arrival of the Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump. He's getting ready to arrive here in Cleveland. You're looking at live pictures.

At the same time, the former primary rival, Senator Ted Cruz, he's holding an event here in Cleveland as well to thank delegates for their support. He's going to be speaking later this hour. We'll see if he actually endorses Donald Trump. We'll stand by for that.

Martin Savidge is over at the Cleveland Science Center where Trump is expected to arrive momentarily. Sunlen Serfaty is at the Ted Cruz event that's here in Cleveland starting right now.

Martin, first of all, tell us about today's events there. Who will be there with the new nominee? Donald Trump no longer presumptive, he is the nominee?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. And it's going to be a grand entrance. In fact, Donald Trump is going to z make not one but two landings in Cleveland in the space of just a matter of a few minutes' time. Essentially, his big airplane is going to set down at Berkeley Front Airport. It's not Cleveland's main airports. It's the small one on the lakefront. But it gives you a fabulous view of the city and him a fabulous backdrop.

Then he boards a helicopter, even though he's only about 800 yards away from where we are here, and that helicopter will touch down amidst a real visual fanfare. Expected to greet him, his running mate, Mike Pence, also family members, we're told, and a small gathering of friends here.

We can show you what it looks like. There was a practice run that the Trump helicopter made earlier today. Now, again, the candidate not on board. This is the practice run. But there is the very famous now Trump helicopter touching down. Clearly the pilot there nailed it. But, again, the candidate not on board. That is a practice run.

But we should point out, since that time, it appears the winds may have shifted somewhat and so the landing zone may be changing here, too, just slightly. But it just shows you that you have to be fluid, even with Donald Trump. The cameras are gathered. His supporters are gathered. We're simply watching and waiting.

Wolf.

BLITZER: We'll watch and wait together with you. Martin, thank you.

Sunlen, what are we expecting to hear from Senator Cruz? That's coming up fairly soon. Will it be a preview of his speech before the convention tonight? How far will he go in actually saying, I endorse, I support Donald Trump? SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, that certainly is a big

question. But I have to tell you, quite frankly, this event here today, right now, feels much more like a Ted Cruz campaign event. I want to show you here. They have his former presidential logo spread out on all these signs across the room and on table settings. This is the logo he used during the presidential campaign. This event here today, right now, is to thank delegates across the country that supported his campaign. So I think we'll see Senator Cruz come out and thank them for their support.

But certainly tonight this is a big moment for Ted Cruz. The big question, will he endorse Donald Trump. He has not done that thus far. Aides for the last day have been telling us that he would not endorse Donald Trump. But I just spoke to his former campaign manager, Jeff Rowe (ph), asked him if that would happen and he said, stay tuned. So it seems that they are going out of their way either to hype the attention of the speech tonight or to not come down definitively one way or the other.

[13:20:04] But Rowe also telling me that he believes that the Trump campaign will be very pleased by the speech that Ted Cruz delivers tonight. Senator Cruz worked on the speech himself. He wrote it himself with the aid of about four or five advisors. And the theme of the speech that Senator Cruz will address tonight will be on forward thinking, positive. Rowe mentioning to me that this is the first speech that he will be unshackled as a candidate and he could really lay out his vision of the world.

Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Sunlen, thanks very much. We will certainly stay tuned and hear - anxious to hear what he winds up saying. Appreciate it.

Donald Trump's children, as you know, have been front and center at this Republican Convention. Last night, Tiffany Trump took her turn in the spotlight. Only 22 years old. A recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. She spoke about the personal side of her father that most people she said don't see. And Donald Trump Jr. delivered a rousing speech that brought the crowd to its feet.

Tonight, another Trump takes to the podium. We're talking about Eric Trump. I sat down with Eric Trump earlier today for a one-on-one interview. We spoke this morning and I asked him about the moment last night when his father officially became the Republican nominee for president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S SON: An incredibly special day for the family. I mean, listen, we've never done anything like this. This isn't what we do. We build hotels and everything else. And to walk into this room, to feel that love and passion and excitement in those crowds and to stand up there and, you know, kind of bring this thing over the top on behalf of our father, it's incredible. We've worked so hard for this moment for the last 12, 13 months and it's just - it's amazing to be here.

BLITZER: Did you really think 12, 13 months ago when he went down that escalator you were going to be here accepting the Republican presidential nominee?

TRUMP: I think if anybody said yes they'd probably be lying. I mean I always thought he was going to do well, right? I mean you look at the people up on stage and they're amazingly talented people. But I just - I know that gift that my father has and he has an amazing gift. And so do I always think he was going to make it to the top three, top two maybe, sure. I mean I always felt pretty comfortable. But the Republican nomination for a man who's never been in politics, I mean that's incredible. I mean he's one of two people who could win the presidency of the United States. He's going to win it, but I mean he's one of two people in the driver's seat to win it. And that's a - it's an incredible - I think it's an incredible story. I think this is going to be studied for years and years and years in college. I mean just the story of this campaign and the twists and turns have been amazing.

BLITZER: Because, look, I've covered politics for a long time, no one really anticipated it. Maybe he did. Maybe a few others. But when he said to you at that time, you know, I'm going to run for the Republican presidential nomination, did you - did you think that was crazy? Did you think it was realistic?

TRUMP: Well, you're taking a little bit of my speech tonight -

BLITZER: Yes.

TRUMP: So I'm not going to dive too - but, you know, listen, I - you know, he's been passionate, all right? I mean you as a son or me as a son can look into your father's eyes and you can see a frustration build. And I've - I've seen this for months and months and months. You look at the $19 trillion. He spends a lot of time talking about it. How could our country have $19 trillion worth of debt, right? It's gone up by $10 trillion dollars over the Obama administration. How could that possibly happen?

I mean you look what's happening to our army. You look what's happening to our education system. We're ranked 30th in the world. I mean we're America. We should be number one in the world.

You look at manufacturing and we've lost one-third of all manufacturing since - since 2000. America no longer makes anything. We no longer produce anything. All we do is we buy. You see these trade deals. And the list goes on and on and on. But, you know, he's a man who doesn't need to be running for this position. He could live a beautiful life in Florida. You know some of the properties so well. He could be taking it easy. He doesn't need this stress. But, I mean, he's sitting here watching a country that has given him so much go down the tubes that he simply couldn't sit by and let that happen.

BLITZER: Because he often, over the years, and I've known him for a long time, he's speculated, yes, maybe I'll run for president of the United States. I never took him all that seriously. You heard your dad speculate about that, I'm sure, for a long time.

TRUMP: Yes.

BLITZER: Did you ever really think that was a serious consideration?

TRUMP: But I think we as family played into that, right? I mean he has an amazing empire. He has an amazing business. And what was he going to do, take, you know, the tens and tens of thousands of employees that he has around the country and say, you know what, guys, I'm going to take off. I'm going to go run for the presidency. Good luck. No, I mean, he had a fiduciary duty to his business and to his organization.

You know, when he contemplated it four years ago, I don't think he could have run at that time because we probably weren't prepared. And Don, Ivanka and I have all been in the business for over 10 years at this point. We know it better than anybody. We do all the assets. We run all the assets. It really gives him a very clean break to say, listen, I'm going to dedicate my entire life to politics, to winning this race and fixing a country. And, you know what, kids, you take care of the business. I know it will be in great hands because you've never let me down and you've always done a great job.

So, you know, I think this was actually almost the timing of where we were as a family, really kind of reinforced, you know, his decision to hop into this race.

BLITZER: Because he says if he's president, he will leave the company in effect and hand over all the responsibility to you, your sister, your brother.

TRUMP: He has immense trust in us. I think that's why we're - you know, that's why I'm speaking tonight. That's why I speak right before the VP. That's why Don spoke last night. And he has immense trust in our family. Ivanka's obviously introducing him. And we love the man. And, you know, I've sat, you know, across the table from him for the last 10 years negotiating incredible deals all over the world and there is no better person to lead this country. I mean there's no better person that can negotiate for this country. There's no person that has more back bone. He would do such an amazing job for this nation.

[13:25:07] BLITZER: So your - Tiffany spoke last night.

TRUMP: Yes.

BLITZER: She was very effective.

TRUMP: She did amazingly well.

BLITZER: A very different speech from your brother, Donald Trump Jr.

TRUMP: Yes.

BLITZER: You've got a tough act to follow.

TRUMP: Sure. BLITZER: He was - his speech was very well-delivered. And it was a very powerful address. What are you going to do tonight?

TRUMP: Yes, listen, I'm going to - I think very much do the same thing. I mean I really wrote my speech from the heart. I spent a lot of time on it. I care about the subject matter. I care about him. Certainly something I wasn't going to outsource. I mean you just can't - it's - you know, it's just too important, you know, to me. And I'm going to speak from the heart tonight. And I think I have an amazing speech and I think it will be great.

And I really - I focus on the question of why. Why he's doing this. You know, why the country needs a person like him. And I think I answer that question, you know, very, very well. And I think I kind of give a good inside look into what his life was, what his life is going to be, you know, what are the questions facing the nation, why this whole mission matters to him. I mean here's a man who put $50 million, $60 million of his own money. He funded his entire primary race for presidency. I mean you see how many hours he works a day. You see the scrutiny that he takes from all fronts. And he's really sacrificed a lot to do what he's doing for this nation. It's because he believes in the cause.

BLITZER: So when you see all the criticism that he gets -

TRUMP: Yes.

BLITZER: And you're his son. You love your dad. And you know your dad. But when you see some of the TV commercials, for example, from the Hillary Clinton campaign, and others, what goes through your mind, especially the negative, the negative accusations?

TRUMP: Yes, listen, we're all big boy and girls. You have to be. If you're going to step into, you know, possibly being a candidate for the president of the United States you better have thick skin, right, otherwise just don't run. I mean you're going to be out there. You're going to be on the firing line. We're on the firing line because we stand next to him every single day. I mean that's the nature of the beast.

You know, at the same time, when I see a man who has a track record of what he has, right, who's built one of the great real estate empires of the world, has so many of the best assets and people are taking cheap shots at him. I mean people who have never done anything in their lives. They've never accomplished anything. They haven't accomplished one-one hundredth of what he's accomplished in his life. You know, I kind of roll my eyes, and, you know, it - it is disheartening. I mean a guy like that would be a great leader for this country because he knows how to cut the red tape, you know, he doesn't get bogged down in nonsense. He wouldn't make silly deals for the nation. He can't be bought or sold or bribed.

You know, and you look at what's happening in Washington. I mean you look at the Clinton Foundation, right? I mean here's somebody who made $141 million between 2007 and 2014 all while being secretary of state or the vast majority of that while being secretary of state and you're sitting there saying, how can this happen to our nation? I mean how can that happen? You see people using private e-mail servers for, you know, our national -

BLITZER: Are you going to get into that tonight?

TRUMP: No, not really. I don't think it's my point to get into that in my speech. I touch on charity, because charity is something that's immensely personal to my heart and I have a big charity and, you know, I do a lot for, you know, the children at St. Jude. I believe in that cause with all of my heart. So I do talk about charity tonight.

But you just look at some of the leaders that we have and you look at some of the decisions and you look at some of the wars that we've gotten into. When you look at what's happening in Iran and Syria, and Libya, and I could go down the list, when you're sitting there saying, you know, what are we doing as a country? All, by the way, Wolf, while having an education system that's ranked 30th in the world, as I mentioned before.

BLITZER: Is it true that the children, Ivanka, you, Don, that you guys are increasingly playing a significant role behind the scenes as his senior advisors? And I refer to the issue of Mike Pence being selected as his vice presidential running mate.

TRUMP: Listen, I hate the word advisor, right. We're his kids and we're the people he cares about most in the world. And so do we always have a voice at the table? Yes, 100 percent. I - you know, we speak to the man five times a day and so does Ivanka and so does Don. And so naturally we have that back and forth.

I'm not a politician. I know very little about politics on a relative basis, right? I mean there's many better people to advise on certain things. But, you know, I certainly think we kind of understand the world. I think we can give him a unique perspective. And I think we can say things to him that other people, you know, wouldn't necessarily say, you know, because of kind of the (INAUDIBLE) family has.

BLITZER: Are the three of you on the same page usually or is there disagreements?

TRUMP: I think the four of us are usually on the same page. I mean I -

BLITZER: I'm talking about you and your brother and sister.

TRUMP: Yes, no, no, we are. And I think - I think he is as well. I mean I think we see things the same way and I think we react to things, for the most part, the same way. And, yes, Ivanka, Don and I, I mean, Don's one of my best friends in the world. Ivanka, I'm so immensely close with her. I mean we have an amazing, amazing family.

BLITZER: And - but the Mike Pence decision, did you guys push him to go with Mike Pence?

TRUMP: Mike is an amazing guy. And obviously Newt is an amazing guy and he's been a friend for a long time and Chris is an incredible guy. We've known Chris for 15 years. He's an amazing guy.

BLITZER: So why did you pick Mike Pence because he's going to be speaking tonight, as you know?

TRUMP: Yes, you know, I had - I had dinner with Mike last week, in fact, right before, you know -

BLITZER: Just the two of you?

TRUMP: We announced it with my father and, obviously, Karen, his wife. And we had an amazing dinner. He's an amazingly thoughtful person. He is kind. He is tough. He believes -- which is really nice.

[13:29:39] And beyond that, I think my father picked him because the economic record of Indiana is flawless. I mean here they have it. Here's a state that has a $2 billion surplus. They have that reserve (ph) fund sitting on the side. I mean a $2 billion surplus. Every single year that he was governor they cut taxes by a lot. I mean they have one of the lowest tax rates. They have more corporation going into Indiana than any other state in the country. I mean you go down the list. You know, what he did with K-12 education. Now they have extra funding. What they've done for vets. They've got the second highest employment of veterans of any state in the country. I mean all the things that my father has been talking about for the last 13 months, I mean this man has done and he's