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Jay Carson Warns Fellow Democrats Trump Could Win Easily; Woman: I'm Responsible Trump Rise, No Longer Support Him; TSA under Fire for Long Security Lines; Young Man Featured on CNN's "Chicagoland" Killed in Chicago. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired May 13, 2016 - 14:30   ET

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


[14:30:00] CARL BERNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: There's a long way to go. But a kind of spiral that they can't quite get hold of to get her and the campaign righted. And part of the problem is they know that their candidate is not a good candidate in terms of the distrust factors and playing into the distrust factor by her own actions and she's clumsy, and they're very concerned about how she is conducting the campaign. Not just the way it's being perceived, but her own actions, and particularly upcoming things that will go to the distrust factor that they see Trump exploiting.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: So, do you think it's more about her and the issues and the distrust factor or more about Trump and the way he's been able to galvanize people to come out and vote for him or a combination of both?

BERNSTEIN: Both, but also, do not discount the media who the Hillary Clinton people are furious at the media. Perhaps a little bit with some justification. Perhaps because of free air time for Donald Trump and perhaps because he hasn't been always questioned as toughly as he might have been and haven't been the number of investigative pieces on him that there should have been but he is commanding a media terrain that Hillary Clinton is unfamiliar and not good at. And that is to say, social media. The "National Enquirer" is very much involved in this campaign. TMZ, all kinds of media outlets and cable news that are overriding the traditional news media and Trump is dominating the new media and the landscape and put her totally on the defensive in an unfamiliar territory where she is very, very weak at defending herself. And going to substance which is what she wants to do and is best at and is very qualified to do is not working. What is happening instead is that real things that she has done, the server, other matters that she has not been totally truthful on, have been exploited and it's undermining her campaign in the view of her own advisers.

BROWN: So, in your book, "A Woman In Charge," you make it clear that this is a person who's complex, that she is admired by many. She has also garnered the disdain from many. Some people who may not support her views kind of grudgingly admire her in some ways. I mean, this is a complex human being. What do you think is missing in the political conversation right now about her as a person? Do you think people really know that the real Hillary Clinton?

BERNSTEIN: No. I don't think they do. I think you have to go back to the fundaments, to the pillars of her life which is to say religious faith, belief in public service, and family to really understand her and those are the best aspects of her in many regards. She is a very, very capable person, knowledgeable at home as a -- someone who can effectively for the things she believes in. But I also say in that book since her Arkansas years, Hillary Clinton has had a difficult relationship with the truth. Perhaps not more than conventional politicians but there now is 30 years of baggage as one of her advisers said to me today.

And that 30-year baggage is catching up with her and making it very difficult for her to stay stable in this race and meanwhile her numbers are going down in a way that has the campaign really horrified. In fact, I have heard that word horrified in the last few days. That a long campaign at this time will focus attention on Trump, the fact that he began his campaign with a neo-fascist message, he is a nativist, a strong man who is not at all comfortable talking substance in a coherent way, he doest know economics and that he's run his businesses in a way that is antithetical if not sometimes to the law, certainly to a moral compass that the business community might be very uncomfortable with.

BROWN: Banking on him self-destructing over the next couple months.

Carl Bernstein --

(CROSSTALK)

BERNSTEIN: Well, incidentally, I don't think they believe he will self-destruct.

BROWN: That's what they want.

BERNSTEIN: They have to fight back, they have to fight back, and find the playing field that they can fight back effectively on, and so far they've been unable to find it. And Trump is commanding that playing field, particularly, through, as I say, media.

BROWN: Carl Bernstein, thank you so much.

BERNSTEIN: And her own record.

[14:34:46] BROWN: Really interesting to hear your perspective on this very interesting race so far.

We do appreciate it.

Up next, on this Friday, she used to run a Trump super PAC. Now she's written an open letter explaining why she's taking responsibility for the rise of Trump. She joins me next.

Plus, going nowhere fast. Are air travelers reaching a breaking point? And are checked bag fees to blame?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:39:44] BROWN: Well, there's no shortage of Trump opponents but you're about to meet one unlike the others because she was once on the inside. Stephanie Cegielski said she was the communications director of the Make America Great super PAC and she has now authored an online piece of why she can no longer support him. Also back with me, radio and television host, Gina Loudon, also a Trump supporter.

Thank you both for coming on.

Stephanie, first off, just tell me your story. You started off inspired by Donald Trump, and then wrote a piece saying, quote, "Trump never intended to be the candidate but the pride is too out of control to stop him now."

What happened? Why did you change your mind about Donald Trump?

STEPHANIE CEGIELSKI, NO LONGER SUPPORT TRUMP: It happened after we left the super PAC. We shut it down in October of last year, and I was a major support after that. But as the debates continued, as his rallies continued, as the things he said lacked substance, lacked any sort of strong policy, I just felt like I couldn't support him any longer. I constantly felt like he needed to be in the spotlight, as opposed to what was going to be the best for the country if he became president of the United States.

BROWN: That was something you didn't see earlier when you were part of his inside team?

CEGIELSKI: I didn't. But if you think back to last summer, you know, we didn't have all the media coverage on him that we have had over the last eight months. He was very much the outsider protest candidate who wanted to bring something different to the race. And I was one of those people that was disenchanted with the GOP and wanted something that wasn't the career politician just looking to keep their seat. I wanted someone who could actually maybe make a difference.

BROWN: And we should say that members of the Trump campaign told "Salon" that Stephanie was never part of the team and just wanted her 15 minutes of fame. That's been the response from the Trump side.

Gina, what is your response to Stephanie as a Trump supporter?

GINA LOUDON, RADIO & TV HOST & TRUMP SUPPORTER: Well, I think that, you know, everybody's entitled to their own opinion and I consider myself somebody when's watched the selection carefully and my evolution to being somebody that can vote for a president Trump it was sort of exactly opposite hers. And I have never been part of the official campaign at all. Like Stephanie, I have never been part of the official campaign, but just seeing how he has responded -- by the way, the policy is listed on the website.

It is much of his policy that brought me to him at first. I spent a year writing a book and learned that for me and many women that I spoke to, what we really wanted were simple things, economic security, national security, and constitutional adherence. And when I hear Mr. Trump speak about the things he's going to do, especially for national and economic security, I feel like the future for my children will be better. My background's in psychology. My doctoral work is in human behavior.

And I think the people not going to like Mr. Trump will continue to put information in a file saying, no, bad, dangerous, all these things, but for people that see him as a true outsider, who has a chance to topple the establishment that they fought for decades, they're in, and they're excited for the first time in a long, long time. And I don't think that changes because of some of the more minutia details coming out these days.

BROWN: Stephanie, is there anything at this point that Donald Trump could do or say to change your mind?

CEGIELSKI: I don't think so. Donald Trump is Donald Trump. And he is this bigger than life personality who is going to continue along this path that he's going down. And I don't really think that there is anything that he could say or do right now to change my mine. Yes, he does have policies up on -- policy proposals up on the website. You know, I wrote many of the -- I wrote all of the super PAC pieces of that based on what he had published on his website. But it's all kind of fluff and theory. There is no "there" there with him.

BROWN: All right.

LOUDON: That's not true. She didn't write the policy on Mr. Trump's website. I've spoken with his campaign personally and I --

(CROSSTALK)

CEGIELSKI: For the super PAC site, yes, I did.

LOUDON: But a super PAC is not related to the campaign. That's a totally different organism there.

BROWN: Stephanie and Gina, thank you very much.

LOUDON: Thank you.

CEGIELSKI: Thank you.

[14:44:22] BROWN: Coming up, right here in the NEWSROOM, the Clinton Foundation facing tough questions of allegations that it steered millions of dollars to a company owned by friends of the family. Were laws broken? The former president responds.

And up next, drawing the line. Passengers fed up by long waits at airport security. The fed is responding. What they'll do to keep the lines moving.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Long lines, lost luggage and missed flights may be the new normal this summer. We're used to that, those of us that fly. Take a look. This is the scene in Phoenix. 3,000 of pieces of luggage, some piled up in a parking lot. Why? Because a computer glitch shut down TSA screening machines. It is so bad that more than 20 airports are turning to private firms to speed up screening. And some Senators airlines to drop checked baggage fees to cut time.

Fed-up passengers are posting pictures with the #Ihatethewait.

Moments ago, the Homeland Security director saying more TSA officers will be hired, overtime expanded, but also issued this warning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEH JOHNSON, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: My other message to the American public is that there will be wait times. There will be wait times this summer as they move through aviation security check points. We encourage people to have the appropriate expectations when they arrive at airports.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: All right. Let's bring in aviation analyst, Mary Schiavo.

Mary, you heard him say there will be wait times, but would airlines cut the fees for bags, and would that help with the situation of lines?

[14:50:03] MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: It would help a lot. There are study that is show when airlines put in bag fees or substantially raise bag fees almost immediately the amount of carryon on bags go up by 20 percent and airlines raised the baggage fees 67 percent in the last five years. And so, here's the comparison, checked bags account for about half a billion bags the TSA has to screen. Carry-on bags account for four times that amount. And so, obviously, we are just stuffing the check points full of bags, largely because, not entirely, but largely because of the bag fees.

BROWN: And I have to say, even when you're on the plane and you wait forever as people put their bags up in the compartments, it happened to me last weekend and I didn't have a place to put my bag, but it's clearly something that TSA wants airlines to consider. Would they -- I mean, would this sway them any way to get rid of the baggage fees? How important are the baggage fees to the bottom line? There are still airlines that don't charge for bags, Southwest, for one.

SCHIAVO: Right. The airlines will say that their huge surge in profitability in large part due to the extra add-on fees and the selection pricing as they call it, where you can select what items you want to buy, and baggage is one of them. And the airlines will say that has helped, in addition to record low -- recent history, record low fuel fares. But that has pushed them into profitability. And they say they can't take away the fees. But they could flip the fees and charge less for checked bags and more for carry-on. Some airlines charge that. It's a big hassle. But the other thing that no one is saying is that by having these long lines snake around the airport, remember, in Brussels they attacked the waiting people in the airport. So this poses a huge security risk for people standing in the lines. So it's not just people are going to get irate, and, indeed, they are, but also they have to be concerned about their security, and that comes squarely within the job of the TSA to protect them, not just on planes but waiting in line. BROWN: Good point.

Mary Schiavo, thank you.

SCHIAVO: Thank you.

BROWN: We'll see what happens.

A tragic end to the life of a young man fighting to escape the violence of Chicago. The former prom king in a CNN series is found dead. Hear from the principal who mentored him, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:56:40] BROWN: Ruthless violence on the streets of Chicago once again claimed the life of a young person. The victim was a young man in the CNN 2014 documentary "Chicagoland." Authorities say 22-year- old Lee McCullum shot in the back of the head. He was on a path to escape the deadly gang culture infiltrating the city's south side. He graduated with honors and was crowned prom king, all while the family battled homelessness.

McCullum's former principal, Liz Dozier, worked to keep him focused on staying alive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIZ DOZIER, MENTOR & FORMER PRINCIPAL: I think we all have to think of the long-term plan for your life. Who you want to be as a man?

LEE MCCULLUM; KILLED IN CHICAGO: Actually, I don't have a plan.

DOZIER: What do you think about me being January, what do you think about going away to college or to a trade school?

MCCULLUM: I wouldn't mind going away.

DOZIER: Give me your word and we'll meet up next week. You know me. I keep it 100 percent real. You know how I am. I don't want to hear nothing bad happened to you. I don't want to be going to your funeral.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So heartbreaking.

I want to bring in Ryan Young in Chicago.

What more do we know here, Ryan? Is there any word on a suspect or possible suspect? Did he go back to the gangs? What happened?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, that is a tough question to answer right now, Pamela. As far as we know right now, police have few leads in this case. What we do believe is this young man headed to work when he was shot and killed. And he, of course, left there in the street to die. And of course, so many people have gone back over this, trying to figure out what happened. Not sure if police have any suspects, whether there was an ongoing beef.

As we talk to some people in Chicago, they say, look, he could have been killed for any reason. No one wants to connect him with gang violence just yet. In the first 24 to 48 hours, so many people are hoping for some sort of answers to come forward.

But this young man dealt with so much in his life. Three weeks ago, his girlfriend was shot and killed, pretty much in front of him, when a gunman opened fire into a crowd, and he witnessed her killing. And then three weeks later, he's shot and killed.

And you look at the young man's life and see how much he tried to overcome. When you talk to the principal and see the love that she had for this young man and the hope she had, you understand why so many people feel a little hopeless about what happen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOZIER: You see it -- he was on my last nerve. A lot of trouble an issues, but grabbed supports and resources around him and he joined the basketball team. We could see kind of slowly shift until when he graduated, prom king. He was on the honor roll. And he changed his life. And it was -- it was positive and it was inspiring because we know that all of our kids have that potential. I think they're up against incredible odds.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: All kids have that potential and the fact that he was up against incredible odds and seemed to beat some of that back, you can understand why right now so many people set. The idea of this kid not making it and trying so hard to get out of the way, what will happen next. When you think about the violence in Chicago, over 1,200 shootings, the city on pace for 500 murders. Summer months coming this direction. People wonder what's going to happen next.

Pamela, really no answers right now for what to do, especially when you see all the resources spent to help this kid, and in the end, it didn't help.

BROWN: Just awful. Really drives home his death and the epidemic that's playing out in Chicago and other major cities across the country where homicides are on the rise.

Ryan Young, thank you.

YOUNG: You bet.