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OSU Authorities Hold News Conference; Trump Makes More Cabinet Picks. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired November 29, 2016 - 15:00   ET

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


[15:00:02]

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

Let's begin with two member of Donald Trump's official inner circle who are longtime inside-the-Beltway kinds of folks. The president- elect has just chosen Georgia Congressman Tom Price to be his health and human services secretary. Congressman Price is an ardent Obamacare critic and is quite tight with the House speaker, according to the House speaker himself.

Here's Paul Ryan on the radio.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: What I'm excited about is Tom Price, who is a very close friend mine. Tom Price is one of the architects of replacing Obamacare, of fixing health care.

He's a surgeon. He knows how the law works. And he's been the most passionate advocate for patient-centered health care reforms that I have seen in Congress. And I'm really excited that he is now going to be the quarterback, the point person in the new administration on reforming health care.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BALDWIN: We will come back to Tom Price in a second, but you are now looking at pictures of Trump's selection for transportation secretary. She is Elaine Chao, married to Mitch McConnell. That was that picture. Used to serve as labor secretary under George W. Bush.

So, let's go straight to Trump Tower to Sunlen Serfaty, who is standing there, blest your heart, in the rain.

Sunlen, let's begin with actually a third face we have just seen surface from within Trump Tower, former Vice President Dan Quayle. What was that about?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Brooke, a lot of comings and going here at Trump Tower, today no exception.

We did just spot former Vice President Dan Quayle walk into Trump Tower. And before we toss to some sound where he spoke with reporters very briefly a few minutes ago, we do know that he did, indeed, have breakfast, a private breakfast meeting with vice president-elect Mike Pence.

And aides say this is someone that he leans on for advice and has been leaning on for advice in the last few weeks and certainly potentially going forward. But it certainly was eyebrow-raising what he is doing exactly here at Trump Tower. Here's what he said a few minutes ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CROSSTALK)

DAN QUAYLE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I was in the area, and I stopped by to see the president-elect to offer personal congratulations to him. I had talked to him recently on the phone. Things are in good hand. He's moving forward and is going to make America great again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: So some interesting comments right there. That just happened in the last few minutes, Brooke, and again it's certainly interesting, the seemingly endless round of meetings that Donald Trump and his transition team are having here today at Trump Tower.

BALDWIN: All right, Sunlen, thank you.

We also know, of course, as we mentioned, Tom Price and Elaine Chao. Sunlen Serfaty for us outside of Trump Tower.

Let's have a bigger conversation on all of this, shall we?

CNN senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny is with us. Senior chief political analyst Gloria Borger is here and CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash.

OK, Gloria, let me just begin with you. I think it's so totally fascinating to sit and watch these faces pass through that golden lobby over on Fifth Avenue, because just when you thought you saw somebody that made you think what, here's Dan Quayle. Is the connection Indiana and Mike Pence? What are you reading into this?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. I think Mike Pence is kind of the go-between. He's the matchmaker. I called him the yenta earlier, to use a Yiddish phrase.

BALDWIN: Well done.

BORGER: He's now running the transition. And I think he's bringing in people into the sort of Trump circle that might not have been there before. And I think that may go along with Dan Quayle. It may go along with the new HHS secretary, Price.

I think this is his role because, don't forget, he's somebody who is a governor, had been in Washington for a dozen years, and so he can reach out to people that perhaps the Trump team would not have naturally thought of.

BALDWIN: All right, yes, go ahead, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Can I just add one quick thing we saw in the pictures there of Dan Quayle arriving at Trump Tower with Kellyanne Conway? The two of them go back many, many years. She's done work for him for many, many, years.

It's hard to imagine that relationship not being a part of why Dan Quayle is there today.

BALDWIN: Right. Got it.

What about Tom Price? Dana, let me just stay with you. Six-term congressman from Georgia, orthopedic surgeon, he's a doctor, he knows money because he's the chair of the House Budget Committee but he's also someone who if you're going to repeal and replace Obamacare, this is the guy who actually has specifics to do that.

[15:05:03]

BASH: No question. He is the guy to put meat on the bone because he has been trying in vain as President Obama has been in the White House to lead the charge , to be one of those to lead the charge, not just to repeal Obamacare, but, as you said, replace it, come up with the Republican alternative.

You played the sound bite of the House speaker, Paul Ryan, talking about that because not only Tom Price is well respected within the Republican Caucus in the House and also the Senate, because he is an M.D., but also because he understands budgetary issues.

So this is -- I think as nominations and appointees go, Tom Price is about as mainstream for the Republicans as it gets. Democrats would certainly not call him mainstream, but he is the guy that Republicans across the board will and are applauding to head the HHS department.

BALDWIN: Jeff, what are critics saying? I'm already hearing from Planned Parenthood president and others. But what's the biggest criticism?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Sure.

Democrats are definitely going to have a lot of criticism because they want to protect the Affordable Care Act, they want to protect Obamacare and they want to leave things as they go. But we're going to be saying this a lot, some Democrats don't want to hear it, but are coming around to it, elections have consequences.

And they are three words that are oversaid, but they have important meaning. And this is chief among them. The health care law is going to change. The House controlled by Republicans, the Senate controlled by Republicans, the White House controlled by a Republican is going to change this.

So Tom Price, as Dana said, will going to usher this in and he already has ideas for this. This is not something sort of starting from scratch. Now, interestingly, he does not necessarily agree with everything Donald Trump has called for, so that will be interesting to watch here.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Jeff, forgive me. I want to hit pause on this conversation. We have to go to Columbus, Ohio, an update on some of these victims who have been in the hospital from the incident on campus yesterday.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

WILLIAM CLARK, PROFESSOR, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY: Housed in Watts Haul and (INAUDIBLE) complex, where the incident took place.

I actually had taught a class a little down the road in Evans Lab from 8:00 to 9:00 and gone back to my office in Watts Hall, and as one does at that time of day, made coffee, and had just started it when our building fire alarm went off.

So, everybody exited the building. Turned out it was a gas leak in some equipment in one of the research laboratories. So, everybody was standing outside. Columbus Fire Department turned up. The Columbus Police Department I think came with them as well.

And firemen in full gear and breathing apparatus went in to check on this leak. After about, oh, probably, 15, 20 minutes, the firemen came out. That's usually a sign they have cleared the building and it's about time to go in.

I began to walk back a little bit east on West 19th towards the back entrance of Watts Hall there, which affronts onto that street. And as I was walking, I suddenly hear a shout and then this tremendous crash, and it was a silver car, the perpetrator's car, that had mounted the curb and hit a large -- you saw them, probably -- one of those large concrete planters on the curb and bounced off.

And that did enough damage to stop the car. And as it was stopping, I assume, because I didn't really see it, as it was stopping, it clipped the back of my right leg and basically flipped me up in the air. And I landed on concrete, which at my age is not what you want to do.

And so I was there and a little bit dazed and thinking how to get up. And, meanwhile, the perpetrator had exited the vehicle on the other side, the roadside, which was the driver's side, and had begun to attack the students. There was a lot of noise and a lot of shouting.

However, I got up and with a number of students and some others, made -- started to make progress towards the building to get in the building and hide. And even as I was doing that, before I could get to the back end of the building, which was probably only 20 yards away, I heard the three shots that presumably were the ones that officer Horujko fired that took down the assailant.

That was it. I went down into the basement of the building, which was -- I know very well, OK, which I know very well and sat there and one of the students with me said, oh, you're bleeding. And I said, yes, I got a little blood. He said, no, there were footprints of blood all the way down the hall.

[15:10:01]

So, at that point, they called one of the emergency -- I think it was the fire department emergency technicians that came down. They were, fortunately, already on the scene. I was taken from there and transported to OSU Medical Center, where I was extremely well looked after.

So, I have just been discharged this afternoon. So, and that's why I have yellow socks on and walking a little slowly. That's more than I usually do.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CLARK: No, I never heard the assailant say anything.

First of all, my injuries, I say I have got two severe -- had two deep lacerations down here just above the right ankle towards the back. And those were closed in the operating theater in the trauma center.

And I also have some severe confusions down the left-hand side of the left leg, which they were concerned might possibly be a fracture in the tibia or fibia. And because of the amount of swelling, they couldn't really determine and see the fracture until sometime today.

So, they, fortunately, determined there is no fracture there. But it's sort of swollen and bruising. I am extremely stiff. Apart from the leg trauma, obviously, you don't do all these rib muscles and everything else much good when you get shot up into the air like that. So, actually more inconvenient. I'm really sore and stiff in the ribs and back.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CLARK: Well, when the car -- you know, when the car hit and hit me, I didn't really know what to think. I thought, well, maybe this is a traffic accident.

But then people started shouting immediately. And I couldn't hear what they said, but it was like panicked shouting. So, obviously, at that point I figured out it was more than just a car accident.

Yes.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CLARK: I think -- I'm not entirely sure. I think the two cuts in the leg were actually from the vehicle.

I think the vehicle hit the planter, which basically destroyed much of the front end. And my impression is, it left a lot of open, jagged metalwork there, and it was that that sliced the back of my leg. There are two parallel cuts about four or five inches long. QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CLARK: I wasn't. You know, it happened so fast. I wasn't -- I turned to go back in the building and all of a sudden this bang and this car is there and I get flipped in the air. And, you know, it all happened so fast.

I mean, so, literally, at least it seemed to me, maybe the time frame is a little compressed, but it seemed to me literally within 15 to 30 seconds I heard the shots and it was over. And I didn't look around. I saw, I think, one other student that was hit by the car and flipped up in the air. He was lying on the ground.

And -- but I didn't see any of the people who were stabbed because they were off to my side.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CLARK: Well, I think, you know, at this stage, until we really know all the facts, I would prefer to hold judgment, you know?

He was an OSU student. He was from -- yes, he was from Somalia. But he was an OSU student. And having been a faculty member for 35 years, I'm only too aware of the things that drive students sometimes to do things that they wouldn't ordinarily do. And so before I pass judgment on this young man, I would like to see exactly what the circumstances are and exactly why he took the course of action that he chose to.

And in the end of the day, as I said earlier, I mean, I'm sore, but I'm going home this afternoon, and he's dead. So, my sense is out of respect just for the living and the dead that we should wait until we know exactly what the truth is.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CLARK: I'm sorry?

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CLARK: Oh, I'm happy to go in there.

In fact, we just -- my wife drove me there. I parked outside today. My colleagues were in a faculty meeting. No, I don't feel -- Watts Hall itself wasn't threatened. This was a street accident and a street incident. And it was just unfortunate that because of this completely unrelated fire alarm, there were a lot of people there.

It was also, in my view, very fortunate that he hit this big, concrete planter, because that had not been there and he had ridden up on the curb, he would have plowed into 40 or 50 people. So...

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CLARK: I think it's very sad. I think it's very tragic when something like this happens at any university, you know? [15:15:00]

You know, I decided on a career in universities because, you know, I think there's some sort of calling there. You know, taking young people at 17, 18, you're trying to turn them into functional adults. And that doesn't just mean you train them in the classroom. You're also trying to show them how to live life.

And so whenever anything like this happens, I think it's absolutely tragic. It's tragic for the people who are hurt. It's tragic for the young man's family and relatives, you know, if they weren't implicated in anything sinister.

So, I think it's just it's very, very sad, especially on university campuses, of all places, because those are the one places where, you know, you feel that young people should be safe.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CLARK: I think he got out of the car after he crashed. So, yes, I heard the crash and then I was on the ground, just trying to get up.

And there was a little chaos here. And I was on the driver's side of the car, facing towards the rear. And he got out on the passenger -- the driver's side -- on the passenger's side. He got out on the driver's side, on the other side, and that's where he started attacking people out towards the street.

So, all I heard was the shouting and screaming from the people standing there. I didn't hear him say anything at all.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CLARK: No, I didn't. I might have done, but I wasn't aware of separating him from -- there were a lot of people around on the street, and I say by the time the gunshots, I heard the gunshots, I think he had taken off well down 19th Avenue.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CLARK: No, I think he was a business manager. I'm an engineering major. It just so happened that whether he was even in that building at all, because he drove along College and turned down there.

So, he need not have had any business or any affiliation or anything that went on in there, even though some of the classrooms are what we call pooled classrooms, which are shared by all kinds of disciplines across the university. So, no, I never had seen him before.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CLARK: You know, to be honest, I mean, that was a kind of screaming but I couldn't but my finger on any specific sentence that anybody said. But, sure, yes, it sounded like people screaming because they felt threatened by somebody who was armed in some way, yes.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CLARK: Well, sure.

I mean, you know, I like I said before, I think I would like to see what all the circumstances are that led to him doing this and all the history that led up to it, and then what -- whether there's an implication with stresses at school or with colleagues because, you know, he graduated from Columbus State I think in the summer, the spring. And the pictures of graduation show this jubilant young man.

And so to do this -- this to happen four, five months later, yes, I would be very interested to know what all the circumstances were.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CLARK: Yes, I'm a professor. I'm a research professor, so I like to make my guesses based on data, I'm afraid.

So, no, I don't know. I mean, I'm not going to speculate on whether he did or whether he didn't. There are all kinds of ways that something like that could happen, if it did, but, until we find out, I think, you know, the FBI and the Columbus police and so on a much better place to do that than me.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CLARK: Well, I mean, anybody can take responsibility for anything if they want, if they see it as a feather in their cap. I think so.

I don't think that -- to me, that doesn't necessarily imply that they were behind the planning or whatever.

CLARK: No, because I don't -- until I know whether it was, in fact, behind it, until I know that this was something to do with a radical group and whether that's the entire story, or whether there's some other personal family issues and social issues behind it, you know, I withhold judgment and not make -- yes.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CLARK: I went down -- we went into the building in Watts down into the basement, a lot of rooms in the basement that I know very well, so probably 20 yards or so.

And, you know, my legs were sore, but I didn't have any particular pain. I was surprised to see the cut. I was even more surprised to see the footprints. But it bled a lot.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CLARK: Yes, yes, yes.

He just kind of took the -- it was like somebody taking your legs out from under you, yes.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) [15:20:15]

CLARK: Yes.

Well, you know, I have a group of students. The class I'm teaching is a group of our students. And many of them were standing there when this took place. And so, you know, I'm supposed to meet with them tomorrow. I will probably get in trouble for this, but I have canceled that class.

I think we meet on Friday -- just to give them a little time to adjust to it, because some of them -- I saw some of them were extremely distraught. And, so, I think we may talk a little about it on Friday in class to open it up.

But I just hope people realize that, as horrible as this is, this is one of these isolated incidents. We're an enormous community at Ohio State, 50,000, 60,000, and it's terrible when something like this happens on a university campus.

And university campuses are vulnerable to that kind of thing because we are an open society, so that young people can grow up and learn and make a certain amount of mistakes as part of growing up under controlled conditions.

So, I will tell them, we're still a great university, we still beat Michigan, and working for the national championship. We're still in the top 20 in university rankings in the country. And this isn't going to change it.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CLARK: You know, I have thought about that. It turns out, my daughter knows him. They're friends, similar age. To me, if he was here, I would put my arm around him and tell him he has a lot to cope with in the days to come. He has got to live with this for the rest of his life.

But he did -- he did the right thing. It's what he was trained to do and that's what he did. And who knows. This was a lot of people walking around between classes. Who knows what other damage this young man would have done.

And my understanding is that he was challenged three times to put the knife down and advanced towards the officer, and I don't think he had much choice.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CLARK: Yes. Well...

ANDREW THOMAS, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, OSU WEXNER MEDICAL CENTER: I think that's a great question. I know we discussed this a little bit at some of the events yesterday.

The event that Chris mentioned this evening is I think a part of that healing of trying to bring the community together with student leaders, faculty leaders, administrators and staff leaders to make those next steps towards healing.

Sometimes, this is something that time helps with, but then obviously there are other times when people need additional help, whether that's counseling, time off, whatever it may be. So, actually, a large part of what I have spent doing in my day today is working with our folks in the Office of Student Life, doing outreach to the students that were involved in the incident, making sure that they understand the counseling services that are available.

We have been working -- for the students that were injured, working with their professors, getting them out of exams, getting them out of classes, those sorts of things and making sure that notification goes out. It is something that time will help, but I think probably in some ways the entire university has -- will be changed by this in some ways.

But I think, over time, much like any of these crisis that occur, it gets better over time. But it really gets better because we work together. We are a city within a city, I like to call it. We have over 50,000 students and tens of thousands of faculty and staff embedded in a city of well over a million people.

And we are used to coming together. We have had other tragedies on campus in the past, whether it was students or faculty or staff. And I think this is certainly a very different one, but this is something I'm quite confident that we will be resilient and be fine down the road.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

THOMAS: Well, I think I will probably leave it to the law enforcement folks to talk about that. All I'm aware of is what's been discussed in the press.

I think certainly, thankfully, the individual didn't have a gun, I think, is probably the one thing that's a blessing and allowed the officer to act before he was able to injure anyone more severely than he did. Also, I think thinking about other venues and things on campus where we have large groups of people, I think this was obviously something that was a unique opportunity with students standing on the sidewalk.

I do have a statement actually to read. One of the students who was injured has given us a written statement that she asked to have read at this press conference.

[15:25:02]

This is from an undergraduate student by the name of Katie Schultz. It's spelled S-C-H-U-L-T-Z, first name Katie, K-A-T-I-E.

Quote: "My family and I appreciate everyone's concern about my well- being. Right now, I'm focused on my recovery and my family is providing me with the support and love that I need during this difficult time. We're thankful that I was not seriously injured and we thank -- and we thank emergency responders for ending the situation as quickly as possible. We request privacy and are declining all media requests for interviews."

And that's the end of the statement.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

THOMAS: I don't have that information.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

THOMAS: The student I read the statement for?

Oh, Professor.

CLARK: Clark, C-L-A-R-K.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

BALDWIN: OK, so we just wanted to make sure we heard that professor in full, professor emeritus by the name of William Clark, because that's the first time we have heard firsthand perspective of what happened yesterday morning at Ohio State on campus there at Columbus.

And you heard him. He was one of the victims who actually was hit by the suspect's car. He talked about how he felt like his legs were just taken out from under him and that the rampage only felt like it went on for 15, maybe 30 seconds before the hero cop swooped in and neutralized that suspect.

As we were listening to that news conference, we did just get some information from our justice folks at CNN in Washington from Shimon Prokupecz. And this is what we have learned about this 18-year-old who did this yesterday, that investigators believe he was inspired by terrorist propaganda from both ISIS and also Anwar al-Awlaki, the deceased Yemeni-American cleric, leader of al Qaeda in Yemen, AQAP.

This is according to law enforcement sources. Sources point to this young man's Facebook postings from as recent as Monday which reference all al-Awlaki, as well as the style of the attack encouraged by ISIS, right, using a car as a weapon in its recent online magazine.

The investigators tell CNN there's no indication so far he communicated with any terror group and evidence points to a lone wolf attack. Instigators are inspecting his commuter, they're looking at his cell phone, talking to family and talking to associates as they try to figure out why, why he did this at Ohio State.

We're going to move away from that and we will pick up our conversation with our panel here on the other side of the break, including the fact that we have just now seen at Trump Tower Senator Bob Corker, who, by the way, was on that short list for Trump's vice president. He's being considered for secretary of state. We will talk about him. We will talk about him the Governor Romney dinner tonight and we will talk about Jeff Zeleny, who started his day yesterday probably didn't know Trump would be tweeting about him. Let's talk about all that coming up.

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