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Should Trump Apologize for Birtherism?; Clinton, Trump to Speak at Commander in Chief Forum. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired September 7, 2016 - 15:00   ET

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


[15:00:15]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And we continue along. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being with me.

Let's get to it.

Donald Trump, he just detailed what he would do if he is elected commander in chief. It's a huge first run-up to his first official event with Hillary Clinton tonight, a commander in chief sort of forum.

And unlike the upcoming debates, the first one in less than three weeks, the two will not be on the same stage, but they will face the same crowd. No doubt, the presidential contenders know that absentee voting begins in one week.

And many people will be sending in ballots early. Many of those folks are active-duty military. In his speech, speaking of, Donald Trump said he would boost defense spending, that he would pump up troop numbers, battalions, ships, jets, and he was there in Philadelphia. He laid out his plan for the rebuilding of the nation's military and in doing so, he ripped into Hillary Clinton, into her foreign policy, her e-mails and, oh, so much more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In a Trump administration, our actions in the Middle East will be tempered by realism. The current strategy of toppling regimes with no plan for what to do the day after only produces power vacuums that are filled simply by terrorists.

Gradual reform, not sudden and radical change, should be our guiding objective in that region. Sometimes, it seemed like there wasn't a country in the Middle East that Hillary Clinton didn't want to invade, intervene in, or topple. She's trigger-happy and very unstable, whether we like it or not, and she said she didn't know the letter C means confidential or at least classified.

If she can't remember such crucial events, and information, honestly, she's totally unfit to be our commander in chief. Totally unfit.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let me bring in retired Rear Admiral Charles Kubic, who is national security policy adviser to Donald Trump.

So, Admiral, welcome back. Nice to see you.

REAR ADM. CHARLES KUBIC (RET.), TRUMP MILITARY ADVISER: Great. Good afternoon, Brooke.

BALDWIN: So, the follow-up, so now we hear Trump's plans. He says once he's elected president, he will give his generals 30 days to essentially come up with a plan to defeat and destroy ISIS. But he has said for the last 16 months, Admiral, that he has a plan all along. And he's called it a secret plan to defeat ISIS. Which is it?

KUBIC: Well, I think folks are really not getting the point.

What Mr. Trump has done today once again is articulated his strategic intent, his commander's intent. And now he is starting to roll out the operational planning details. It's all the same plan, and elements of it will still be classified and secret.

But what he's saying is as a part of his plan he is not going to rely on his White House staff to direct the military. He's going to go to the admirals, to the generals and ask them to develop an operational plan to support his strategic intent. And as a part of that, there will be various courses of action and these courses of action will be both overt and covert

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: So, he hasn't had a secret plan, Admiral, just so we're all on the same page?

(CROSSTALK)

KUBIC: Well, it's the same plan, you know, Brooke. He's just now articulating the details.

But parts of it are still going to be secret. He's still going to be unpredictable. We aren't going to tell the enemy what or how we're going to do it. But he's also articulating it's not going to be kinetic action. He's talked about the fact that we have got to fight the ideology now, we have got to look at economic operations, cyber- warfare, and also our political alliances.

So, he's given a lot of detail at the strategic level. Now we are talking at the operational level, he's going to go to the military professionals, not to White House staff.

[15:05:05]

BALDWIN: Right. No, we will give him credit for the detail today. He's been slammed over and over for being vague, and so he provided a lot of detail today, and so much so, when he talked about Libya and Iraq that it was in direct contrast to what he actually said in 2011. Just to remind everyone, roll the tape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I can't believe what our country is doing. Gadhafi in Libya is killing thousands of people. Nobody knows how bad it is and we're sitting around. We have soldiers all over the Middle East and we're not bringing them in to stop this horrible carnage.

And that's what it is. It is a carnage. We should do on a humanitarian basis immediately go into Libya, knock this guy out very quickly, very surgically, very effectively, and save the lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, which is it, Admiral?

KUBIC: Well, let's remember I think Mr. Trump has clarified that when he made those comments, he was a private citizen. He was acting on the information that he was receiving primarily from open media. And he was reacting to the potential humanitarian crisis in Libya.

He's learned since then, and he's clarified, that had he known that there was no humanitarian crisis, that Hillary Clinton was going to far exceed the mandate of the U.N. resolution, and that in fact she was going to press an attack against a country in violation of the law of war and then lead to a disaster when there's no plan...

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Admiral, forgive me. But whether it's Libya or it's Iraq or guns or some other major issue, I mean, for months, folks have pointed out, critics have pointed out, at one stage, he said X, and at another stage he said Y.

If we're talking about being elected to the top office of the land, shouldn't there be consistency?

KUBIC: I think what I was trying to say was, he clarified when he said X, he was operating with limited information. Once he got more information, he began to reshape his opinions and he began to realize that the real issues were how these conflicts were prosecuted and the fact that there was no plan for the day after.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: So, you're clarifying that, but when did he clarify that?

KUBIC: No, he has. He has in even conversations with me, and I have heard it on TV, that he's basically said, hey, originally, I didn't have the full story. And now I understand what happened.

BALDWIN: What about just quickly on -- what about his desire -- he mentioned today he wants to eliminate the defense sequester, right, all of those cuts. You a Navy man. We have been chatting about my weekend in Annapolis.

I have a lot of sailor friends and a lot of people's ears perk when you hear Donald Trump talk about upping the number of ships. Not to get too into the weeds, but I was on a cruiser a couple months ago in the Persian Gulf. I know there are 22 cruisers.

And the Navy wanted to totally have an all new -- all brand-new and Congress said, heck no, we're not paying for that. So instead they agreed to sort of have a compromise and modernize some of these cruisers.

I'm just giving this as an example because Congress even really didn't even want to do that. How is he going to get Congress to do everything he just laid out today?

KUBIC: Sure.

Well, first of all, I think he pointed out today that the sequester was applied unevenly. The defense budget is one-sixth of the budget. But it is over 50 percent of the sequester. So he's saying it is time to lift that from defense.

He said it is also time to begin to look at a longer-term plan to recapitalize the Navy. I know the Navy, for example, has a 30-year plan And it is would be nice to bite it off in five-year chunks. But it is going to take additional funding, but that funding is going to have to come from savings elsewhere and also from an increased economy.

It is not going to happen overnight. But he's pointed out clearly that the number of ships has dropped to 206. The Navy is fighting to retain 308. And he is saying, looking in the out years, we ought to be thinking as a goal of 350. When I was working as a young officer supporting John Lehman's 600-ship Navy, we almost got there.

And I think he is just using that to show that, yes, there is a need to recapitalize our military. Don't get too hung up on the numbers because they are so big and it is going to take a lot of money and it is going to have to be phased over time.

BALDWIN: Admiral Kubic, thank you so much. Love having your voice on the show. Appreciate it.

KUBIC: Thank you very much, Brooke. Go, Navy.

BALDWIN: Thank you. Thank you. Go, Navy.

I mentioned that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will take part in what is being billed is a commander of chief forum. Secretary Clinton will go first, winning the coin toss, answering the crowd's questions. And then it is Donald Trump's turn. The audience will be mostly active-duty and former military members, including my next guest who we have had many times on this show under very different circumstances.

Happens to be the author of a pretty phenomenal book called "Columbine," which chronicles mass school shootings. It is a tough read, but it's an important one.

Dave Cullen is a gay veteran who was an Army infantry private and 2nd lieutenant.

So, Dave Cullen, finally, I get to see you. You came to New York, not for me, but for this. But I appreciate it nonetheless.

[15:10:05]

You call yourself -- I heard you call yourself a reluctant Hillary Clinton supporter. Is that yes?

DAVE CULLEN, AUTHOR, "COLUMBINE": Yes, that's fair.

BALDWIN: OK. So, you don't know -- the deal is you don't know which question you get to ask to which candidate. Right?

CULLEN: Exactly.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Or even if you do. But if you had -- I know you are prepared with questions. A question for Hillary Clinton would be what?

CULLEN: Well, I'm still narrowing it down to a couple between transgender service members and probably Army veteran suicide and then traumatic brain injuries. But I'm leaning towards suicides with her.

BALDWIN: What's the question on suicides?

CULLEN: Well, it's astounding. The Veterans Administration put out a report saying 22 veterans die at their own hands per day, which is just astonishing.

And right now, I'm taking part in the 22 PushUp Challenge.

BALDWIN: The 22 PushUps.

CULLEN: Yes. And I'm actually going to ask her if she would perhaps commit to doing it, which I think would actually be fantastic and would be a way of really making everyone aware of that.

But really I would like to know what she will do about that, because I'm sure she is going to say that, I'm very concerned about it and we're going to do everything in our power and so forth. But just like your interview just now, the idea, pinning people down, it is like, all right, I don't want to just hear how like you're going to do wonderful things, what specifically she might do to address that.

BALDWIN: We will talk pushups later. What do you ask Donald Trump?

CULLEN: Well, with him, actually, I'm sort of reevaluating a little after I saw his speech today.

But what I had been thinking of is talking about transgender service members, because we had the ban lifted in July -- in June, but not quite. Ash Carter announced a lifting, but with a one-year implementation phase. That means the new commander in chief is going to take office midway through that.

He or she can easily end that process. It won't be in place yet and reverse course and completely end it. So, I want a commitment out of him, are you planning -- will you commit to going forward, or are you planning to reverse it? What are you going to do?

BALDWIN: He did mention he would take care of the LGBTQ community during the RNC, I remember. I can see your eye roll. You're like, well, you know, talking and walking are two different things.

(CROSSTALK)

CULLEN: Yes, yes, yes.

BALDWIN: Quickly on Walter Reed, so you -- did you break your back?

(CROSSTALK)

CULLEN: I did, yes.

BALDWIN: And so you were in Walter Reed.

CULLEN: Yes. I lived there for five months. Yes.

BALDWIN: You were in P.T. with these amputees, these veterans.

CULLEN: Yes, every day.

BALDWIN: What was that experience like?

CULLEN: Twice a day.

BALDWIN: Wow.

CULLEN: Yes, it was kind of amazing.

I was the only broke back. Everybody else was double or triple amputees, because they only send the worst cases. And quads are really rare.

I never talked to any shrinks about this, but it was my impression that kind of the kind of worse case, the better their attitude. Those guys and the women had amazing attitudes, with kind of two exceptions. But they were really amazing about it. But it was always different things that you would think.

The biggest complaint all the time -- I hope this has improved -- but is -- was their prosthetics. And your stump atrophies considerably, especially over the first several months, when they're there. And when you're sort of between sizes, it's hell. When it's too loose, it moves around and does terrible chafing.

And they would show me. They would be all red and sore. And then you are sort of like waiting to get to the right size and you're too tight. There's a spot in between. I'm hoping -- this was quite a while ago -- I'm hoping by now that they have more, they have more sizes.

But it was -- in a million years, that's not what I would have guessed was their problem. But their concerns and going about it is completely different. What I didn't learn that I always -- thinking about it, they had such amazing attitudes.

But I saw them in P.T. and like my few sort of crying bouts were in my room with the door closed. So, I never saw that with them. And I don't know what was -- I talked to them every day. We were on the same schedule like 10:00 and 2:00, so I saw the same people every day, but, yes, I never I never still -- and I never asked about that.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Quite a place. I was there a couple years ago. Montel Williams comes on the show all time. He's like, Brooke, you're coming with me to Walter Reed.

CULLEN: Fantastic.

BALDWIN: I would love to come.

Dave Cullen, we will be watching for you tonight. Good luck with your question-asking. Good to see you as well.

CULLEN: Thanks. Under these circumstances.

BALDWIN: Yes.

Just in here, another reminder, it is indeed 2016. We are getting word of an arrest warrant for presidential candidate Jill Stein. But why, you ask? Good question.

Also ahead, Donald Trump's running mate now answering the questions Donald Trump will not. Was President Obama born in the U.S.? Hear what Mike Pence has just said today.

And it has everyone talking, the new iPhone just revealed without a key feature. What could it be and how are you feeling about this? Let's discuss coming up next.

[15:15:05]

You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Just in to CNN here, Jill Stein, as in the Green Party's candidate for president, she is expected to face charges now for alleged vandalism and/or trespassing at a North Dakota construction site.

Officers are working on a warrant right now. We have some video that shows her allegedly spray-painting the words -- and I quote -- "I approve this message" on construction equipment.

Jill Stein attended a protest yesterday with about 200 people at the pipeline work site. Morton County Sheriff's Department couldn't confirm the exact charges or whether they will be felonies or misdemeanors. Officials say this is an open investigation.

Dr. Ben Carson, who is trying to woo black voters in to Donald Trump's camp, says Trump needs to apologize.

[15:20:04]

He told Jake Tapper his candidate should say he is sorry for forcing the nation's first black president to produce his birth certificate to prove he was in fact born in the U.S., but hours later in an interview with FOX, Donald Trump came on TV and offered no such apology.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Do you think it is time for Donald Trump to acknowledge that all that birther nonsense was a mistake and to apologize?

DR. BEN CARSON, CONSERVATIVE ACTIVIST: I think that would be a good idea, absolutely.

I suggest that, on all sides, let's get all of the hate and rancor out of the way.

BILL O'REILLY, HOST, "THE O'REILLY FACTOR": Do you think your birther position has hurt you among African-Americans?

TRUMP: I don't know. I have no idea. I don't even talk about it anymore, Bill.

O'REILLY. No, I know.

(CROSSTALK)

O'REILLY. But it's there. It's on the record, you know?

TRUMP: I don't know. I guess -- I guess with maybe some. I don't know why. I really don't know why.

But I don't think -- very few people -- you are the first one that's brought that up in a while.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: He says he doesn't talk about it anymore.

But it is important to remember Trump was one of the loudest voices on this issue. This was back in 2011. Here's a look back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Why -- look, she's smiling. Why doesn't he show his birth certificate? And you know what? I wish he would, because I think it is a terrible pall that's hanging over him.

Barack Obama should end this and he should provide the public with a birth certificate. And if he doesn't do it, he's doing a tremendous disservice to the public.

Love to see what -- you know, perhaps it is going to say Hawaii. Perhaps it is going to say Kenya.

You know who questioned his birth certificate? One of the first? Hillary Clinton.

There's something going on. Look, there's something going on. And the words are not often...

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: What does that mean, there's something going on?

TRUMP: There's just bad feeling, and a lot of bad feeling about him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Well, here's a twist today. Donald Trump's own running mate, Mike Pence, told reporters that he believes Barack Obama was born in the U.S.

Joining me now, Barry Bennett. He's a former campaign manager for Dr. Ben Carson. He's now a Trump supporter. And also with us, CNN political commentator Angela Rye, also the former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus.

So, good to see both of you.

And, Barry, let's just begin with, why doesn't Trump follow in the steps of Mike Pence and say, all right, you're right, he was born in the U.S., done, over with, stop asking me?

BARRY BENNETT, TRUMP SUPPORTER: He probably should, right?

The truth is, no one's really talked about this issue much for years, and it was a silly issue in the beginning. It obviously wasn't true. And it was a mistake to talk about it years ago. But it would probably be a mistake to keep talking about it as well.

BALDWIN: But then what about, looking at you, I'm also thinking of Dr. Carson and the fact that he told Tapper, yes, he should, he should apologize, and perhaps even that would help him with the black vote in this country. What do you make of Dr. Carson weighing in?

BENNETT: You know, Ben is a very strong, moral person, so he has the right to do so.

But if I could give both candidates some unsolicited and value-priced advice, stop talking about each other. Start talking about America. It is hurting. There are real problems. If you want to get elected, convince America you can solve these problems, not that your opponent is an awful person.

BALDWIN: Angela Rye, what say you?

ANGELA RYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I agree with Barry, first and foremost, that this is a silly issue. It has always been a silly issue, but if only it was funny. It really is no laughing matter.

The fact that Donald Trump would work so diligently to discredit this country's first black president is not just unfortunate. It's very disrespectful. Not only did he start and end with the birther issue, he also questioned Barack Obama's transcripts and whether or not he ever graduated from Harvard University.

He questioned whether or not Barack Obama was an affirmative action -- love affirmative action, by the way -- of Harvard University. But that is highly problematic when you are talking about someone and questioning someone's competency because they don't look like you.

That is the real problem here. And Donald Trump, I think, has a lot of work to do in this space because he's got to demonstrate to people that he's not a bigot, that he's not a racist and that he's not using racist rhetoric to pander to his very angry base right now.

And that is why this apology is so important. And, Barry, that is why I agree with you and Dr. Carson.

BALDWIN: Go ahead, Barry, quickly, yes.

BENNETT: Something you just said which has kind of evolved in this political cycle which I hope we can all bury back when this is over, but you don't have to prove that you are not a racist. Right? You have to prove that you are a racist.

RYE: No.

BENNETT: No, no, no. In this country, we're innocent until proven guilty.

RYE: Unless -- unless you're on the Trump campaign.

BENNETT: You are demeaning the entire issue.

(CROSSTALK)

RYE: No, Barry, but here's the thing.

(CROSSTALK)

BENNETT: It's got to stop.

[15:25:00]

RYE: Barry, let me prove to you why he has demonstrated that he is either racist and/or using race rhetoric.

So, I'm going to do this quickly, because this is Brooke's show and she's got things to cover.

BALDWIN: Go, girl.

(CROSSTALK)

RYE: So, quickly, he said that he was going to cover the North Carolina participant in a rally who punched a black man in the face.

He talked about a Black Lives Matter protester who got beat up and kicked at his rally. He said that he got what he deserved. He took out a full-page ad of the Central Park 5.

BENNETT: It doesn't have anything to do with their race.

(CROSSTALK)

RYE: Barry, I'm not finished. It has everything to do with race. He took out a full-page ad of this...

(CROSSTALK)

BENNETT: That's the problem.

REID: No, you know what the problem is? The fact that you all will be racism deniers and instead call us race baiters.

BENNETT: Don't go there. Do not go there.

(CROSSTALK)

RYE: I went there. I went there.

(CROSSTALK)

BENNETT: You have no idea what my family looks like. You have no idea what my family looks like. You cannot go there. You owe me an apology. You owe me an apology.

(CROSSTALK)

RYE: How do I owe you an apology?

BENNETT: I'm not a racism defender. That is ridiculous.

RYE: I didn't call you...

BENNETT: Yes, you did. You just did.

RYE: What I'm telling you is, you saying that I have the burden of proof is on me to say Donald Trump is not a racist is false. Donald Trump has demonstrated that he is a racist or uses racist rhetoric.

(CROSSTALK)

BENNETT: You have to prove someone is a racist.

(CROSSTALK)

RYE: He's proven it himself, Barry.

BENNETT: No, he hasn't. Come on. That's ridiculous.

(CROSSTALK)

RYE: Yes, he has, Barry. I tried to give you examples.

BENNETT: You're hurting your candidate. You're hurting your cause.

RYE: No. She is not my candidate.

What I'm telling you is, we have to start owning that racism exists in this country and it's real.

BENNETT: Amen. Amen.

(CROSSTALK)

RYE: And he pandered -- he pandered to racists throughout this election. You're denying it.

(CROSSTALK)

BENNETT: But you can't go around calling everybody a racist.

(CROSSTALK)

RYE: I didn't call you a racist. I said that you're not owning the fact that racism exists and that your candidate...

(CROSSTALK)

BENNETT: Yes, I am. I'm telling you that racism exists. I have seen it.

RYE: OK. Good. And your candidate has used race -- racist rhetoric to pander to his base, true or false?

BENNETT: No.

(CROSSTALK)

RYE: And that is where we disagree. And that is where we disagree.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: What are we -- can I just -- ay yi yi. I really love and respect both of you. And I know we have 62 days to go. And we just all need to be respectful. We just do.

RYE: Yes.

BALDWIN: Here we are. We have to talk about the issues. I was about to talk about taxes. I understand race is a piece of this

discussion. I'm just -- I just -- I just -- I don't even have the words.

I think I'm going to leave it.

BENNETT: Can we move the election up and get this over?

BALDWIN: Let's fast-forward. Let's fast-forward.

Barry Bennett, Angela Rye, thank you very much.

RYE: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up next here, more than 500 murders. The city of Chicago passes a grim milestone. Gun violence there is raging. I will be joined by the pastor who's actually just held this memorial service for a young man murdered one day before his 17th birthday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't want anyone else to get hurt. No mother should ever feel the way that I feel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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