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Clinton: Comey Said My Answers Were Truthful; Trump Facing Backlash in Feud with Gold Star Family; Trump: Putin "Not Going into Ukraine" Despite Crimea; Obama Speaks to Veterans about Gold Star Families, Sacrifice. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired August 1, 2016 - 13:30   ET

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


[13:30:00] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And he felt that she had lied to the FBI. But he said that she was truthful to the FBI, but he left the impression that she was less than honest to the American public in some of the statements that she made. And I want you to respond to that?

BRIAN FALLON, PRESS SECRETARY, HILLARY FOR AMERICA CAMPAIGN: I think that is an unfair thing to conclude. I think the director was speaking about that which he had directly overseen, which is the interview that she gave to the Justice Department, and he was sticking to what was his matter of expertise. But in the answers that he gave at the hearing, it went a long way to explaining why despite the answers that are from the clip that you played Secretary Clinton was answering forthrightly in all of the answers over the last several months. And to take another example, the director in his press conference said that there were 110 e-mails that were classified at the time sent or received. As she has said all along, Hillary Clinton did not believe they were classified, and why would she, considering they were not marked and were sent to her by serious career professionals, and not just within the State Department, but throughout the government, and people who have worked for Republican and Democratic administration, who know the difference of what is classify and what is not. So there was ample reason for her not the judge the e-mails as containing classified information. And she acted in good faith. Had she received something she believed was classified, she would have flagged it, and spoken up right then and there. But that didn't happen, because she believed they were unclassified. That is why she has given these answers for these many months. And in that hearing you played a clip from, later on, the director backed her up and said that he had no basis to conclude that she every thought those e-mails were classified.

BLITZER: Brian Fallon is the press secretary for the Hillary Clinton campaign. Brian, thank you so much for joining us.

FALLON: Thank you, again, Wolf.

BLITZER: Coming up, top Republicans continue to distance themselves from Donald Trump after an attack on a Gold Star family. Now a top advisor to Jeb Bush tells CNN says she is leaving the Republican Party. In the event of a close race, will vote for Hillary Clinton. We have details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:35:48] BLITZER: Has Donald Trump gone too far this time? It is a question we have heard before. But this time, Trump is facing serious backlash over the feud with the parents of Muslim-American soldier killed in Iraq.

Let's talk about it with the panel, our CNN chief political correspondent, Dana Bash; CNN political analyst, David Gregory, and host of "The David Gregory Show" podcast; and Jackie Kucinich, a CNN political analyst, Washington bureau chief for "The Daily Beast.

Dana, it has happened before, and people say he has gone too far this time, and it is going to hurt him. Did not hurt him going into the general election, and won it decisively and impressively, and beating 16 serious candidates, governors and Senators with a lot of money.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Sure, absolutely. Donald Trump repeated it many times over the weekend. He is right. The general electorate is different. The open question that we won't know until November is whether or not this kind of strategy is going to work with a broader electorate. Based on the way that Republicans across the board have reacted, the answer is probably no, but we will see.

BLITZER: And you saw the interview with General Flynn, the former head of the foreign intelligence agency, a Trump supporter, and he basically said that he agrees with Senator McCain on that very strong statement that Senator McCain put out this morning. Among other things, "It is time for Donald Trump to set the example of our country and the future of the Republican Party. While our party has given him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us."

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST & HOST, THE DAVID GREGORY SHOW PODCAST: Yes. And Senator McCain has not given his support for Donald Trump. That was like General Flynn, men of the military, men of honor struggle to call Senator McCain a hero. It is astonishing.

Here's where I think we are in terms of the general election. People are paying attention to the news so maybe this has more resonance than before. I still think there is a Trump effect on some of the supporters where they don't believe the bad stuff, and don't judge him for that. A lot of people don't belief the good thinks politician say or promises they make.

But the other thing is that you have a lot of -- look at the white collar voters breaking out for Hillary Clinton, normally break for a Republican. These are voters who tend to follow the news cycle more closely, and more susceptible to make a decision based on these kinds of explosions on the campaign trail. That is what has a potential to go differently than before.

BLITZER: And, Jackie, has he gone too far this time? Is this going to hurt him? Because the other controversial comments in the primary didn't? JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it is hard to say. If

the VFW came out and condemn the candidate last cycle, that would have been the end, and we would have been talking about it over and over. And with Donald Trump, we don't know if it is going to resonate. And that said, it is a different voter pool that we are looking at. And as you said, they are more susceptible to things like this. But it is shocking, going after -- it has this feeling of nothing is sacred at this point. And what is more sacred than the Gold Star families?

BASH: And one more thing that I think is interesting, and that is John McCain, when he was personally attacked or at least criticized by Donald Trump way back in the beginning of the Republican primary process, questioning whether McCain was a war hero, McCain stayed pretty quiet. He didn't go after him. The fact that he had this -- two-page long statement, 1.5 page-long statement, and in it he talked about the fact that the McCains have served for over 100 years, and specifically saying that my son served in the war that claimed Captain Khan's life in Afghanistan, and others. I want to be proud of me, I want to do right by them, and their comrades. It's that kind of statement that makes John McCain, and that was the John McCain that we covered in 2008 -- more resonant, despite that he has not disavowed his statement.

BLITZER: You anticipate Donald Trump is going to -- I don't know if he'll apologize, but come out with some kind of statement trying to fix this and move on?

GREGORY: Well, he has tried to back away from it. This is the other amazing thing. We talked about this last week. Then there's Governor Pence with some kind of statement to try to distance himself from what the top of the ticket is saying.

There's another aspect of this, Wolf, which is the missed opportunity. You have bad GDP numbers, the Clinton e-mails, and so many things to seize upon, and he tends to sabotage upon himself.

[13:40:07] BLITZER: You don't think he's going to apologize?

KUCINICH: Well, Donald Trump doesn't apologize, if history is any clue.

BLITZER: Guys, thank you very much.

Coming up, Donald Trump says that Russia will invade not Ukraine, even though Russia has invaded Ukraine, and now he is clarifying those comments. And what is he saying now? Much more on this when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: While Donald Trump's open battled with the parents of a fallen American soldier has captured headlines, there more comments that bear more scrutiny, like this one about Russia and Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: He's not gong into Ukraine. Just so you understand. He's not going into Ukraine. And you can mark it down and you can put it down and you can take it anyway you want."

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS ANCHOR: Well, he's already there, isn't he?

TRUMP: Well, he is there in a certain way. But I'm not there yet. Obama is there. And frankly, that whole part of the world is a mess under Obama.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:45:06] BLITZER: Joining us now from New York is Fareed Zakaria, host of CNN's "Fareed Zakaria, GPS."

Fareed, Donald Trump tweeted this clarification, "When I said in an interview that Putin is not going into Ukraine, you can mark it down, and I am saying if I am president. Already in Crimea." And he says that the people of Crimea would rather be with Russia anyway. What message does it send when a presidential nominee of a party needs to come back, clarify his remarks on such a sensitive and volatile issue?

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, FAREED ZAKARIA, GPS: Well, Wolf, every time it is demonstrated that Donald Trump is plainly ignorant about some basic public policy issues and well known facts, he comes back with the certain bravado and tries to explain it away with a tweet or statement. And he did it on the Brexit, and the nuclear Triad, and also he thought that Tim Kaine was the governor of New Jersey. And this -- and so now it is amusing to watch how he is going to be pulling it off this time, and what is he going to be arguing, and he adds that the press hates him, and there sis a term for this kind of thing, and this is the mode of a bullshit artist, entertaining, and if the guy is trying to sell you a condo or a car, but for the president of the United States, it is deeply worrying.

BLITZER: Evidence to suggest that he is right when most of the people who are live in Crimea, annexed by Russia, would prefer to be part of Russia than Ukraine?

ZAKARIA: There is evidence for that, but it has never been the way in which we changed the borders since the end of World War II. It is important to understand that the argument that Donald Trump is putting forward about Crimea is the same argument that Adolf Hitler made about the Czechoslovakia and also, the argument of the Austrians, that these people want to be part of Germany, so I will go in and invade the country anyway. You don't change borders without some process that is, you know, legal, that is Democratic and that does not involve force. And the fact that maybe, and we are not sure, but maybe if you are from Poland and Crimea, maybe more people want to be part of Russia than Ukraine does not tell us much. The Germans in Slovakia probably wanted to be part of Germany, but it did not justify Adolf Hitler's move.

BLITZER: Is he right about NATO, saying that most of the 28 NATO allies do not pay up their responsibility, they don't meet the financial obligation of being a NATO ally?

ZAKARIA: Well, he is right. They don't pay enough, and they should pay more, and it is no an obligation that is written into the charter of NATO, and agreed upon NATO policy to spend 2 percent of the GDP on defense. But this is crucial. NATO is an automatic treaty in which an attack on one is an attack on all. That automatic guarantee is what has kept the peace in Europe since 1945 in a land where years before you had wars and devastation, and you is had peace, because the United States has said automatically and no matter what, we will come to your defense, and that is what works. And to change it, to say, well, if you are invaded, I will take a look at the books and decide how much you spent on defense last year, and on the basis of that, maybe I will and won't, is a very different kind of foreign policy.

BLITZER: Fareed, thank you for joining us.

ZAKARIA: Pleasure.

BLITZER: And coming up, the U.S. has now launched new air strikes against ISIS targets in Libya. We'll bring you the latest developments in the grueling battle to defeat the terrorist group. New information coming in. We'll be right back.

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[13:50:] BLITZER: President Obama is speaking to the National Convention of Disabled Veterans in Atlanta. And he just spoke about Gold Star families. Listen to this.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No one has given more for our freedom and our security than our Gold Star families.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Michelle and I have spent countless hours with them. We have grieved with them. There's a reason why last week in Philadelphia I was humbled to be introduced by Sharon, from Ohio, a Gold Star mom whose son, Tom, a lieutenant colonel in the Army, gave his life in Afghanistan. I requested Sharon to introduce me because I understood that our Gold Star families have made a sacrifice that most of us cannot even begin to imagine. They represent the very best of our country. They continue to inspire us everyday, every moment. They serve as a powerful reminder of the true strength of America. And we have to do everything we can for those families and honor them. And be humbled by them.

You know, I know that your service has also been defined by another battle. This is a group that understands sacrifice. You've been defined by a battle here at home. You've been defined by the battle here at home to persevere through wounds and disabilities. I think of a veteran from Iraq who lost her arm but who said she decided to focus, "not on what I had lost but on what I still have."

[13:55:12] I see that same spirit in you. Maybe it was there in the hospital bed, fighting for your life, your learned what it really means to have faith. Maybe it was during rehab you learned how to live without a leg or both. You learned what it really means to persevere.

About a month ago, I went to Walter Reed. I do this periodically. And was in the rehab unit watching these work outs and -- you might have seen this. I was doing push ups with them.

(LAUGHTER)

Trying to keep up with them because I was sweating and getting all tired.

(LAUGHTER)

They took it easy on me.

(LAUGHTER)

But it gave me a sense of -- just a small sense of what perseverance really means.

Maybe it was during the night when the memories came rushing back and you summoned the courage to reach out and get help and stay strong. And I was proud to help recognize your patriotism and resilience in the heart of our nation's capital when we dedicated the American Veteran's Disabled for Life Memorial.

(APPLAUSE)

BLITZER: The president of the United States addressing disabled American veterans in Atlanta and speaking poignantly about Gold Star families, families who have lost a son or daughter, a loved one in war, in the battles that are going on in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere. Also speaking about sacrifice, pointed words from the president of the United States.

Our chief political correspondent, Dana Bash, is with us.

He didn't mention Donald Trump by name, didn't mention the Khan family by name but everyone who was listening fully understood what he meant.

BASH: Absolutely. There's no question about it. Look, if you're the commander-in-chief, especially if you are a commander-in-chief who really dove into the politics of the convention last week the way he did, of course, you'll talk about that, especially given the forum where he just was, talking to veteran of America. So, yes, first of all, it would be malpractice for any commander-in-chief not to talk about that, but especially someone involved in politics.

Having said that, I think, politically speaking, the much more powerful comments come from Donald Trump's fellow Republicans. People who are already politically upset with Barack Obama are going to hear that and say, OK, what do we expect him to say?

BLITZER: Very strong words today from John McCain, specifically.

BASH: Yes.

BLITZER: All right, Dana, thank you very much.

Much more coming up throughout the day on all of this.

I'll be back at 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room."

The news continues right after this quick break.

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