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Donald Trump Accepting Donations, Who Will Offer?; BBC Journalist Detained in North Korea; West Point Cadets Accused Of Political Statement in Graduation Picture; Colorado Tornado Leaves Path of Destruction. Aired 10:30-11a

Aired May 9, 2016 - 10:30   ET

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


[10:30:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Well good morning, happy Monday. I'm Pamela Brown, in for Carol Costello. Thanks so much for being here with us. The Republican Primaries may be over but the fight for Republican donors is certainly not. At least not for Donald Trump. The presumptive nominee has often boasted about how he's spending his own money for his White House bid.

But now he may be changing his tune. So how will the parties mega donors respond? CNN's Sunlen Serfaty has a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm self-funding, so it's a big difference, folks. I don't care. I'm going to do what's right for you.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump could be saying "so long" to self-funding.

TRUMP: So far I'm in for like $40 million or $45 million.

SERFATY (voice-over): Facing an expensive general election battle, the GOP front runner is now opening the door to raising cash for his campaign, and the Republican Party.

TRUMP: I do love self-funding, and I don't want anything for myself. But we do need money for the Party, so I'll be asking money for the Party. And really it's something that we're going to start on right away.

SERFATY (voice-over): This setting off a scramble to secure support from the deep-pocketed donors within the GOP.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Donald Trump will be good person (ph).

SERFATY (voice-over): Trump getting a major nod from the single largest Republican contributor from 2012, casino magnate, Sheldon Adelson. One of the richest men in the world, telling the BBC, Thursday night -- SHELDON ADELSON, AMERICAN BUSINESS MAGNATE: Yes, I'm Republican, he's a Republican. He's our nominee. Whoever the nominee would turn out to be, any one of the 17, if he's one of the 17. He won, fair and square.

SERFATY (voice-over): Throughout the Primary, though, Trump has publicly trashed wealthy donors, even calling out some by name.

TRUMP: A guy named Singer, who the hell ever heard of the -- I'll tell you, I'll tell you a little secret. I saw -- I was surprised because I thought I was friends Koch brothers, I thought I was their friend. But somebody said they're linked to a certain PAC.

SERFATY (voice-over): Decrying their influence over politicians.

TRUMP: When their special interest calls, when their lobbyist calls, when their donors call, and they have a stake in a deal, they're not going to do what's right for you. I didn't take any money.

SERFATY (voice-over): But now the presumptive GOP nominee is hitting some roadblocks with these Republican rain-makers. According to a survey done by CNN, a substantial number of other big money Republican donors are still sitting on the sidelines, withholding their money from Trump. Like the mega-wealthy Koch brothers.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: On some of the Republican candidates, we would -- before we could support them, we'd have to believe their actions will be quite different than the rhetoric we've seen so far.

SERFATY (voice-over): Unhappy with Trump, many donors are now planning to redirect their money elsewhere. Investing in down-ballot candidates to help Republicans in Senate, House, and Gubernatorial races, instead.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: The biggest challenge, in that sense, is going up against a very well-funded opposition. Not only does Hillary Clinton have a ready and able fundraising machine, but so many of the Democrat -- the Democratic outside groups -- the DNC. So you put all those together, and it is a formidable opposition.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SERFATY: And the Clinton campaign is already sensing an opening that there is potentially some real money left on the table. They are reportedly going after four donors to Jeb Bush's campaign, trying to reach out to those moderate Republicans to support, and invest in her over Donald Trump. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, thank you so much Sunlen Serfaty. And joining me now, Foster Friess, founder of Friess Associates. He backed Rick Santorum in both, 2012 and this year. Good morning, thanks for coming on.

FOSTER FRIESS, FOUNDER, FRIESS ASSOCIATES: Pamela, it's a delight to be here with you, thank you for inviting me, I'm grateful for the invitation. BROWN: So after Senator Santorum ended his 2016 bid, you were quoted

as saying, in your words, that you would "enthusiastically support the Republican nominee." So now we know Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee. Have you had any discussions with the Trump campaign? Do you plan to support him?

FRIESS: Well, I think as a Republican, I sure will support him. I like what Sheldon said, that we're Republicans, and there's a certain loyalty -- not so much to Republicans, but to American values. And I think what America stands for and what our founding fathers went through, we just can't give that up to go to a European Socialistic orientation. So I'm certainly going to support our nominee the best I can, both enthusiastically financially, and also with some encouragement.

BROWN: Well the last election, Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton each raised $1 billion. Donald Trump says up until now, he's been using his own money. Do you think that he's going to be able to raise that much money, particularly in light of the fact that he's trashed some of the big GOP donors?

FRIESS: Well the big DOP donors, they're going to sit back and think of the arguments they maybe had with their wives over the years. I've been married for 54 years, and we've had a few cross words. But when push comes to shove, we have a certain amount of loyalty to what our nation stands for. And these donors are going to be there because none of them want to go down in history as the -- as enabling Hillary Clinton to appoint three Supreme Court Justices. There goes the right to preserve our -- to protect our lives, and protect our families. And nobody wants to give that up. As well as all the other things that could imply. So they'll be there ...

BROWN: So you think regardless, they'll come to the table.

FRIESS: I absolutely do, yes. I'm sure -- also keep in mind now, Donald Trump has probably had a technique that was helpful for him in the Primary, which none of us really enjoyed, you know. We -- my mom told me as an eighth grade dropout, and raised by a Baptist culture, that if you can't say something good about someone, don't say something at all. Well I think Donald's strategy seems to work, but I'm convinced he's going to shift.

You remember he gave a speech to the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee.

BROWN: M-hm.

FRIESS: ... and he really knocked it out of the court, I'm told. I didn't see it but it was done with (ph) 18 minutes on a teleprompter, that his Jewish son-in-law wrote. So he has, he has the opportunity to be very presidential if he puts his winds (ph) to, which I think he's going to.

BROWN: Well Hillary Clinton just recently said that Republicans have actually reached out to her, and donors have reached out to her, in the wake of this sort of, civil war in the Republican Party. How much does it concern you that this division within the Party could help Hillary Clinton, given your political views?

FRIESS: Well I see it a little bit differently, Pamela. Because what we could be moving to, Donald Trump could be taking to a post-partisan environment. Because he -- you indeed are correct -- he's annoyed a lot of the Republicans. But he's also brought an incredible amount of people who are traditionally Democrats. The welders, the plumbers, the hospitality workers, the people that make our country work. Seventy percent of the American public have not graduated from college and Donald Trump gave Rick Santorum some real kudos by saying his book, that Rick wrote, "Blue Collar Conservative," every Republican should read.

Because it talks about those people are -- they're a core of our country. And no one's really watching out for them until Donald Trump came along. And as a guy who came out of the Army with $800 of accumulated leave pay, and grew up with the hardest working population, probably on the planet -- the farmers -- I appreciate what he's doing.

BROWN: All right, Foster Friess, thank you so much for coming on.

FRIESS: It's a delight to be, Pamela. Have a good day, and God bless you.

BROWN: Thank you, you too. And still to come, right here in the Newsroom, we have some new pictures just into CNN, of a journalist being detained in North Korea. Why the Regime is kicking him out of the country.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:41:50]

BROWN: Well Kim Jong-un gets a brand new title, as journalist gets kicked out of North Korea. Rupert Wingfield-Hayes is not back in Beijing, and we're hearing from him for the first time since he was detained from inside the North Korean airport. He says he feels relieved. Let's bring in CNN's Will Ripley in Pyongyang, who has more. So what else is he saying, Will?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's about it for now, Pam. Very little in terms of comments from the BBC at this point. Although we expect them to tell their side of the story pretty soon. Jo Floto, the BBC Bureau Chief, is one of the people in the brand new photos that the North Korean government has just released to CNN. And it shows Jo Floto on the right side of your screen, and Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, the Correspondent on the left. Both of them, they say they were made to sign apology letters so that Rupert could leave the country with his team, after a reporting trip here, where the North Korean government said he made very disrespectful comments about the Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-un.

BBC says he was detained at the airport trying to get on a flight. Held for eight hours, questioned very seriously before signing those letters and being allowed to go. It certainly highlights, Pam, just the difficulties that reporters can face. Especially in this country, where they take seriously, more than anything else, insults -- what they perceive to be insults -- against their Supreme Leadership.

BROWN: And on that note, I mean, what have you been through? You've been there several days, and you told me last hour, that you've actually been reprimanded by the Regime. Tell us about that, bring us inside Pyongyang, because so few reporters get the opportunity that you have right now.

RIPLEY: This is my tenth trip here, and there have been many times over the past couple of years, reporting out of North Korea, where I've been seriously reprimanded for stories. Specifically coverage of the Leader, Kim Jong-un. It's something that we, that we deal with. North Korea obviously brings foreign journalists in here for a reason. They want, they want to tell their side of the story, and they want to tell it their way. And we, of course, have to do our jobs and try to report the news as truthfully as possible.

Sometimes, in fact often, those two goals collide. And it's just -- it comes with the territory of reporting here. And I just try to think of the leadership here like I refer to reporting about the Head of State in any other country. Be respectful, use the title, but also be accurate, and ask tough questions, and make critical points, if necessary.

BROWN: And just quickly, you were given this incredible opportunity to go into the secret meeting. Tell us about that and what happened. I imagine it was very rare to be able to go inside there.

RIPLEY: Yes, we were put on a bus and taken, we thought, to a press conference. But then we had a 90-minute security screening, and we were taken right into the room where they were having the seventh Workers' Party Congress, the first in 36 years. A few minutes later, you see the Leader, Kim Jong-un, and his party of leadership, walking onto the stage. And then they announced that he had been given a brand new title, Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea.

It's hard to imagine how someone who already has absolute power here, in North Korea, could gain even more power from this new title. But this is clearly -- they brought us in, they wanted us to take these pictures to show the world, A: Kim Jong-un is in charge in North Korea. B: To show his people the international media was here to cover it. Therefore it gives the whole event much more legitimacy. Certainly it doesn't seem like he's going anywhere anytime soon, Pam. Continue to grow the nuclear arsenal. They just passed a new resolution to add more nukes to their arsenal.

BROWN: All right, Will Ripley. Fascinating report from Pyongyang, North Korea. Thanks so much for that. And still ahead on this Monday, West Point graduates are not allowed to make political statements. Well some say that's exactly what's happening in this photo right here, with this phrase. We're discuss after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:49:10]

BROWN: So is it a victory signal or a political statement? Take a look here, this is the picture that has a group of West Point cadets in hot water. You see those raised fists, often a symbol of unity for African Americans. But some are saying that could be called a partisan political activity, where they're aligning with the "Black Lives Matter" movement. And that type of expression would be a breach of Defense Department policy. West Point says it's looking into it.

Joining me now to discuss this, Mary Tobin, a 2003 West Point graduate, and a mentor to these students. Thank you for coming on, Mary.

MARY TOBIN, WEST POINT GRADUATE: Thank you for having me.

BROWN: So first off, just looking at that picture, you know these students. In fact, you've spoken to them since the controversy. What are they doing in that picture? Are they aligning themselves with the "Black Lives Matter" movement, as some critics say they are doing?

TOBIN: So first, unequivocally, no. they are not aligning themselves with any political movement. They're not making any political statement. We've been trained for four years the rules and regulations around partisan activities. We know the rules. And so I asked the question, why in a moment in which they are celebrating their achievement -- they're getting ready for graduation, they're three weeks away from arguably one of the greatest moments in their lives -- would they threaten graduation, and even their commissioning, by aligning themselves with an activity that they know is against the rules? I think it's incomprehensible.

BROWN: So then what are they doing in this picture, with the raised fists?

TOBIN: Well it's not uncommon within the corps cadets, for us to raise our fists in victory, in achievement, in success. And that's what they're doing. They are 16 of roughly 1,000 cadets -- 1,000 cadets that don't look like them. The majority of them are white men. And to be honest, when you look around and you look across the landscape, and you're three weeks out of graduation, you say to yourself, "me and my sisters did it."

We did it despite the odds. Black and white, male or female, so many didn't make it. And in this moment, I can look to my left and my right, and I can celebrate. And I raise my fist in victory. I always ask, if we look at that picture and we see a negative perception, it is not the burden on these young ladies to prove that they weren't aligned with political activity or partisan activities. It's the burden of the person looking at this picture to determine why. Why can black female cadets, black ladies that are becoming officers in the United States Army, why can't they raise their fist? Why does it have to be a negative perception?

And that burden isn't on them. It's on American people.

BROWN: And you're saying that this expression is a very common expression of unity. It has nothing to do with politics. But we know that West Point is looking into this. Have these women you've spoken with, are they concerned about their careers? What did they tell you? TOBIN: Oh absolutely. That is their focus. We were trained for four

years to become leaders of our nation's sons and daughters. That is their focus. Some of them are going into combat arms. So they're making history in other ways. They have been trained for this moment. But they haven't been trained to defend themselves against falsehoods. And so their main focus right now is, how will I be perceived when I go into my next unit? Will my soldiers trust me, will they look at me as a neutral and a fair leader? And that's what they're focusing on right now.

BROWN: All right, Mary Tobin, thank you so much for coming on.

TOBIN: Thank you so much for hearing me.

BROWN: And still to come on this Monday, the damage left behind by this tornado, and where the storms could hit today.

[10:53:20]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:52:35]

BROWN: Well this looks like a clip from a disaster movie. But this tornado footage you see right here is very real. In fact it hit Colorado this weekend with winds up to 120 miles per hour. The funnel cloud is three-fourths of a mile wide and it left behind a trail of damage nearly nine miles long. And the threat of severe storms continues today. CNN Meteorologist Chad Myers is joining us now to tell us where the worst could hit. Chad?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Pamela, it looks to me like somewhere near Shreveport, the ArkLaTex into Okmulgee County there, in Oklahoma. Maybe into Arkansas. So right through here is where the severe weather will be this afternoon. Let me back you up though, to yesterday, when things got rough and tumble. There was bumps and there was hail the size of baseballs.

Eight tornadoes reported, although I think a few of those reports may have been from the same tornado, looking at it from different directions by different spotters, but they'll figure that out. But 52 reports of hail and 9 reports of wind damage yesterday. And I think that eventually gets over to the ArkLaTex.

Now here's the problem so far today, Pamela. We're still getting rain. Rain from the storms that happened yesterday. There's still that lingering cloud cover and the storms need sunshine. The storms need heat to build, to become those tornadic supercells. So the longer it rains, the better it is, the colder the atmosphere stays, and you don't get as much buoyancy. You don't have that hot air balloon going straight up into the atmosphere.

This is the severe weather for today, let me kind of give you a better focus here. From about almost Oklahoma City and Tulsa, southward to Little Rock and Shreveport, and all the way down here into the ArkLaTex, for mina (ph) Talimena State Park all the way down here across the river. The storms may not even fire today until after dark, when the heat of the day finally gets to its highest point, and those clouds that moved away, the atmosphere cools aloft, and then we start to see that.

So be careful because you know, a lot of times, Pamela, those nighttime tornadoes can be the most dangerous. Not expecting them, you might be asleep, you may not hear the warnings. So keep those apps handy and updated.

BROWN: And this could be just the beginning with tornadoes, right? Given the time of year this is.

MYERS: Oh sure. I mean this is -- it's going to be one day after the next all the way through the middle of May, and maybe even into June.

BROWN: All right, Chad Myers, thank you so much for bringing us the latest there from the CNN Weather Center. And thank you for being here with me today. I'm Pamela Brown. "AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan starts now.

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