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Trump Willing To Meet With North Korea's Leader; Clinton And Sanders Split Primary Wins; Tensions Within Democratic Party Boil Over; Sanders Campaign Says DNC Chair Throwing Shade; Trump Meets With Kissinger Today; Trump Says He's Worth More Than $10 Billion; Feinstein Criticizes Sanders' Response To Chaos; America's Quiet War On ISIS; Interview with DNC Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired May 18, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in New York, 6:00 p.m. in Lagos, Nigeria, 7:00 p.m. in Tripoli. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un talking nuclear weapons? That's the proposal from the presumptive Republican nominee who now says he'd be willing to sit down with the erratic leader of North Korea. It would be a major change in U.S. foreign policy if that were to happen.

Trump's comments come as he moves closer and closer to securing the Republican with a win in the Oregon primary last night. He's now just 62 delegates away from officially clinching. He is the presumptive nominee.

The Democrats are having their own unsettling issues right now. Bernie Sanders says he won't give in to calls for him to drop out. He's also criticizing the Democratic leadership for not backing him, with California looming ahead in the race as the expected deciding factor.

Sanders scored a victory in the Oregon primary by a very healthy margin, but he couldn't knock off Hillary Clinton in Kentucky. For her, it was another southern win, though with a very, very narrow margin of victory. She is now less than 90 delegates away from clinching the nomination, if you add the super delegates and the pledge delegates.

While Clinton inches towards winning the Democratic nomination, simmering tensions within the party are boiling over. A rather chaotic state party convention in Nevada this past weekend highlights the anger between some Bernie Sanders supporters and the so-called Democratic Party establishment.

The Nevada state chair has been bombarded with threats. She blames the Sanders' campaign for inciting supporters at rally days before the convention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTA LANGE, CHAIRWOMAN, NEVADA STATE DEMOCRATIC PARTY: One of their high-level campaign staff people was ginning the crowd up and talking about let's get rid of the party. Let's stop the convention. Let's, you know, take everything over. And so, you know, people were already in that mode before they got to the convention.

And then, when they got to the convention, you know, we -- one of the first things we did was the rules. And they didn't like the outcome and they stormed the stage, basically. And it was pretty much downhill from there.

BLITZER: Our Senior Political Reporter Manu Raju is joining us from Capitol Hill right now. Manu, how is the convention chaos in Nevada and this rift within the Democratic Party playing out among lawmakers in Washington where you are?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, I can tell you, Wolf, I've spent a lot of time talking to Democratic senators, and they want Bernie Sanders to do more to condemn what's happening -- what happened in Nevada. And warn his own supporters not to do something similar, whether it's at the Philadelphia convention in July or in other states as well.

They're saying that, you know, Bernie Sanders hasn't done enough. Last night, when he addressed about 11,000 supporters in southern California, he sort of didn't -- he skirted the issue altogether. And, in fact, he called on the Democratic Party to invite more of his supporters into the fold.

And in his statement yesterday, Bernie Sanders actually did say that he does not condone this violence. But he went into a lengthy rebuke of how Democrats are handling these state-by-state contests, particularly in Nevada.

Now, yesterday, when I talked to Harry Reid, the Senate Minority Leader, about Bernie Sanders' statement, he was very, very critical. This is what he had to say when I asked him, what did you think about what Bernie Sanders had to say? He said, well, Bernie should say something, not have some silly statement, he said. Bernie is better than that. I'm surprised by his statement. I thought he was going to do something different.

Now, I've had a chance to spend -- talk to other Democrats, they're voicing similar concerns, including some who are potentially on Hillary Clinton's V.P. list.

Tim Cain, of Virginia, I talked to him earlier today. And he said what he did yesterday was sort of say it's the party's fault. This is Cain talking about Bernie Sanders. That deflection of responsibility is not leadership. Bernie is a leader and he needs to condemn it without equivocation and without trying to deflect attention or blame to somebody else.

And I just spoke with Dianne Feinstein, too, a senior Democratic senator who actually wants Bernie Sanders to leave this race in June, warning that this could create bedlam if a July convention, because of what they're seeing on Saturday.

So, clearly, an opening, of sorts, for Hillary Clinton supporters to sort of go after Bernie Sanders and his campaigns as they see this primary season wind down -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And Tim Cain often seen as a potential vice presidential running mate for Hillary Clinton, the senator from Virginia.

[13:05:06] Manu, thanks very much.

Bernie Sanders' campaign manager had some rather tough words for the chair of the Democratic National Committee, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, accusing her of, quote, "throwing shade." In just a few minutes, I'll speak with the DNC chair. We'll talk about those comments and the rift inside the Democratic Party right now.

Also today, Donald Trump meets with one of the most respected elder statesmen when it comes to foreign policy. We're talking about the former secretary of state, Henry Kissinger.

Take a look at this. It's a live picture outside Henry Kissinger's office in New York City. The meeting comes on the heels of some controversial comments from Donald Trump about potentially meeting with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un. Here's some of what Trump had to say in an interview with Reuters.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I would -- I would speak to him. I would have no problem speaking to him. At the same time, I would put a lot of pressure on China, because, economically, we have tremendous power over China. People don't realize that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you say you would talk to Kim?

TRUMP: The one -- I would -- I would speak to him. I have no problem with speaking to him.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, here with us is CNN Global Affairs Analyst Bobby Ghosh. Bobby, it would be a pretty dramatic departure from standard U.S. policy is not to speak to Kim Jong-Un, unless there's a dramatic change in North Korea's policies on nuclear issues and social issues, domestic issues.

BOBBY GHOSH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Indeed. I mean, presidents across the political divide, whether Republican or Democratic, have made it very clear that a one-on-one conversation with Kim Jong-Un or whoever the dictator running nuclear arms (INAUDIBLE.)

BLITZER: As it's one thing, at a presidential level, to speak with Kim Jong-Un -- although there is a dialogue, at lower levels, between North Korean diplomats and U.S. officials.

GHOSH: There's -- there are a lot of small conversations that go on. There's the indirect conversations with the Chinese being involved because China is the only country that realistically has any pressure -- any ability to put pressure on North Korea.

But I would love to be a fly in the -- in the wall on the -- during this meeting with Henry Kissinger when the subject of North Korea comes up because I think if Henry Kissinger has anything to say about it, it'll probably be, don't go around saying you're going to have a one-on-one conversation with Kim Jong-Un.

BLITZER: Well, remember, Henry Kissinger started that dialogue with China that led to a breakthrough in the early 1970s. The only American, I think, who has met with Kim Jong-Un is the former NBA basketball player, Dennis Rodman. Has any other American met with Kim Jong-Un?

GHOSH: Not at -- not at any official -- not at any official capacity. Not yet.

BLITZER: And Trump seems to suggest China, if it wanted to, it could ease that crisis with North Korea immediately. It's got that much influence over North Korea. Is he right?

GHOSH: China has more influence than any other country. That is certainly true. But China has to -- the only reason it has that influence is that it plays this very, very careful balancing act where it keeps North Korea penned in without putting too much pressure.

So, Beijing has come under a -- over the years, every time North Korea goes off and does something, shoots from the hip, the word goes to Beijing. But Beijing has pushed back, saying let us deal with North Korea the way we know how. We won't respond to international pressures. We'll deal with North Korea the way we've always done which is quiet conversation rather than over pressure.

BLITZER: I'm also curious to get your reaction to this little exchange of words between Donald Trump and David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, who thinks that Trump's proposal for a temporary ban on Muslims coming to the United States is stupid and wrong.

And Trump, in an interview, said, well, maybe he wouldn't necessarily have a good relationship with David Cameron. Potentially, these guys -- assuming -- if Trump is elected president of the United States, they would develop a relationship, I assume.

GHOSH: They would have to. This is the most important relationship the United States has in any country in the world. And it's a cliche, this special relationship. But it's a cliche because it happens to be true. This has been true for decades.

The idea that an American president and a British president wouldn't be on talking terms is unthinkable, especially at this moment when the world face so many crises. NATO is facing crises across the world, dealing with Putin in the Ukraine, dealing with ISIS and dealing with Assad in Syria.

Then you have the problems with the European Union and the prospect of Britain leaving the Europe -- the E.U. and the crisis that would result in economic terms for the United States.

The idea that the U.S. president and the British prime minister can't speak to each other, can't pick up the phone and have a quick conversation, can't be friendly towards each other, there are implications of that for the whole world.

BLITZER: Yes, that -- I suspect they would patch that up if it were to happen --

GHOSH: Yes, they would have to.

BLITZER: -- and very quickly. All right, Bobby Ghosh, thanks very much.

GHOSH: (INAUDIBLE.)

BLITZER: Donald Trump is, again, touting his personal wealth while taking a shot at Bernie Sanders. He also got a new deal to pay him back for some self-funding of his campaign.

[13:10:03] All right, joining us now is CNN Politics Executive Editor Mark Preston and CNN Correspondent Phil Mattingly. First of all, I want to talk about the statement from Donald Trump, saying he'd be willing to meet with Kim Jong-Un. Mark, how is this going to play with members of his own Republican Party?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Well, Wolf, we're already hearing, right now from those on the hawk side of the -- of the Republican Party that are critical of Donald Trump. Not only that he is willing to meet with the North Korean leader, but this comes just as you were just discussing there, that he is in a war of words with the United States greatest ally in Great Britain.

So, a lot of people are wondering, does Donald Trump really have a firm grasp on foreign policy? And, quite frankly, making this overture to the North Korea leader, is he somehow softening the U.S. stance on how we address that nation and how we address their nuclear program?

BLITZER: Phil, Trump released this personal financial disclosure statement, as required to the Federal Election Commission. And in a statement, the Trump campaign said this. Mr. Trump's income in excess of $557 million. Mr. Trump's net worth has increased since the last statement was filed in July of 2015. As of this date, Mr. Trump's net worth is in excess of $10 billion. Obviously, very impressive numbers.

But he's still not dealing with releasing his own income tax returns. He says he's not going to do so until the routine audit by the IRS is complete. We have no idea when that will be completed.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Wolf. And I think the interesting thing here is, look, releasing the disclosure forms, first of all, it was required. So, while he did that, he met his requirement. But what those forms show is not a full picture. They certainly lay out, in detail, a lot of Donald Trump's investments, a lot of the money he's made. But they are primarily in broad ranges.

So, for example, the real estate portfolio that in that same statement, Wolf, Donald Trump called one of the greatest in the world is only valued at over $50 million. Now, we know it's far more than that, but that's the type of broad range that these documents actually lay out here. So, there's a lot of leeway that candidates have here.

What the tax returns would show is a very -- is a much more specific range, a much more kind of targeted approach to the numbers of where Donald Trump sits, both in his wealth, also in his investments, also in his charitable givings. So, I think that's why this is an issue on the tax returns that isn't going to go away.

And also worth noting, Wolf, Hillary Clinton's campaign definitely not going to let it go away. They were hitting him on this again last night. She continues to hit him on it in the campaign trail. So, while the disclosures were filed, as they were supposed to be, as you noted, until the routine audit is over, Donald Trump will not or at least he's saying he will not release his tax returns, then he's going to continue to face criticism for that.

BLITZER: Yes, he's going to continue to hit her for not releasing transcripts of her paid speeches before Wall Street firms.

All right, guys, stand by for a moment. Manu Raju just spoke to Democratic senator, Dianne Feinstein, of California about this battle between Bernie Sanders and Democratic Party leaders who say he should speak to his supporters about the chaos that erupted at that Nevada Democratic Party convention. Listen to what Dianne Feinstein just said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Were you concerned by Bernie Sanders' statement yesterday on Nevada?

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: I was because I think that was a time to assent a full throated message to his followers that we don't do this kind of thing. And this kind of thing is antithetical to the process that set out before us. If we don't like the process, we should work to change it.

RAJU: How much does it worry you that he wants to take this to the convention in July?

FEINSTEIN: Well, it worries me a great deal. You know, I don't want to go back to the 68 convention, because I worry about what it does to the electorate as a whole. And he should too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: In the 68 convention, there was a lot of rioting going on in Chicago at that Democratic convention.

Coming up, Bernie Sanders' campaign manager now making this comment about the Democratic National Committee's chair, Debbie Wasserman- Schultz, and how she, he says, is treated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF WEAVER, CAMPAIGN MANAGER, SANDERS' CAMPAIGN: Debbie Wasserman- Schultz, we could have a long conversation just about Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and how she's been throwing shade on the Sanders' campaign since the very beginning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: I'll ask the chair, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, about those issues. She's standing by to join me live.

Plus, America's quiet war on ISIS. Our first look at the U.S. spy plane sent out to survey a rather dangerous stronghold pretty close to Europe.

[13:14:42]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:18:30] BLITZER: The chair of the Nevada Democratic Party wants an apology from Senator Bernie Sanders. She's blaming him for the chaos at the party convention in Nevada. Roberta Lange says the Sanders campaign has not come out strong enough against those actions. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTA LANGE, CHAIRWOMAN, NEVADA DEMOCRATIC PARTY: I think he should acknowledge that there were death threats to me, that there was death threats to my husband, that there was death threats to my five-year- old grandson. That they called my work and tried to ruin -- you know, this is -- like I said, this is my volunteer job being chair. I have a full-time job where single mothers and people trying to pay off their school loans work. And it hurt our business. People were calling our business so much that they had to unplug the phone. I think they owe an apology to me and then I can give it to my -- the owner of the business. I mean I think those kinds of apologies need to happen and I think they need to recognize that this is not laughable. These are threats to people's lives that are very serious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer of California was there. She was actually booed at that convention by the crowd in Nevada. This is what she said earlier on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D), CALIFORNIA: There was no way to control what was happening. And I did fear for my safety. I did call Bernie a couple of times and he did phone me back last night. And he was -- he was very distressed about it. And it was a very warm conversation. And I told him -- he expressed shock that his people would do it. I did tell him, the vast majority of those Bernie supporters were sitting in their chairs. They were fine. But there was this group of 50 to 100 people. They were not young people. They were older people. And that he ought to check out to see who these people are. And he said he would.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[13:20:24] BLITZER: The convention chaos highlights some infighting within the Democratic Party. The Bernie Sanders campaign condemned the violence at the Nevada convention on Saturday, but his staff accused the state party leaders of shutting out his supporters.

So how does all of this affect efforts to try to unite the Democratic Party and take on Donald Trump in a general election? Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz is the chair of the Democratic National Committee. She's joining us from Capitol Hill right now.

Congresswoman, a lot of people expected the Republican Party to be in a sort of disarray headed toward a contested convention that could potentially have erupted in some violence, but it now looks like there's some serious fear that could happen, there could be some violence at the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia. Does that worry you?

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL), CHAIRWOMAN, DNC: No. No. And, really, everybody needs to take a step back and a deep breath. This was absolutely a serious concern, which is why I said what needed to be said yesterday and others have also said that there was real concern. But it is important and I'm confident that the candidates take the messages to heart about making sure that we respond and conduct ourselves in a civil and orderly way. I'm confident that they will.

And we have a job to do. At the DNC, we continue to manage the -- what remains of this primary nominating contest and we're preparing for the general election. And I -- I actually am really confident and have been, even despite the concerns from this weekend, that we are going to go into this general election united because there is a very clear consensus, agreement between our candidates, one, on the issues that matter so we can build on the success that we've had under President Obama, and, two, as importantly, if not more importantly, that we defeat Donald Trump and don't let he and the extremist Republican Party drag us backwards. And we're going to be united on that and we're going to have a process that we'll go through whenever we have a presumptive nominee to work together as we always do and we will come together, lock arms, and make sure that everybody feels included and that we can get this done.

BLITZER: Bernie Sanders' campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, today, this morning, he took direct aim at you. He defended Senator Sanders' response to the chaos in Nevada. I want you to listen to what he said earlier today on CNN's "New Day."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF WEAVER, BERNIE SANDERS' CAMPAIGN MANAGER: After a conversation with Senator Reid, he put out a statement after the convention happened. He categorically condemns any kind of threats that went on. Absolutely unacceptable. You know, Debbie Wasserman Schultz -- we could have a long conversation just about Debbie Wasserman Schultz and how she's been throwing shade on the Sanders campaign since the very beginning, whether it was the debate schedule that were very few and far between and scheduled on weekends when no one was going to be watching, whether it was the -- when they shut off the Sanders access to his own data and we had to sue them in federal court to get it back, or whether it was these joint fundraising agreements with the Hillary Clinton campaign, which are taking money away from state parties and sending it to the DNC. Now, look, it's not -- I've got to say, it's not the DNC. You know, by and large, people at the DNC have been very good to us. Debbie Wasserman Schultz really is the exception.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, so, what's your response to that? He accuses you of throwing shade at the Bernie Sanders campaign. You're the exception, he says.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Yes. My response to that is #smh, if we're going to talk about throwing -- that comment about throwing shade. We need to focus on one thing, get through this primary and work to prepare for the general election and make sure that we can continue to draw the contrast between either one of our really fine candidates who are focused on helping people reach the middle class and make sure that we get equal pay for equal work and create jobs and not let the Republicans take health care away from 20 million Americans. Do everything we can to make sure Donald Trump never becomes president of the United States. That's what I'm singularly focused on. It's why President Obama asked me to take on a full four year term after we reelected him in 2012. And I am singularly focused on that and not going to let any of this stuff distract -- any of this other malarkeys distract me from that.

And, you know what, as I've told you before, Wolf, being the national party chair is a bumpy ride. You know, you're going to get bumped and bruised. If I have to absorb some of these body blows in order for the candidates to stay above the fray and for my colleagues on the ground in the state parties across the country to be able to keep their head down and get the job done, then so be it.

BLITZER: You did say that Bernie Sanders did not go far enough in condemning the violence at that Nevada Democratic Party convention, but you have -- also have not directly spoken to him about that. I understand you haven't spoken to him in months. Is that right?

[13:25:08] SCHULTZ: No. I spoke to Senator Sanders about ten days ago. So that is completely not right.

BLITZER: How did that conversation go?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: The conversation went, you know, just fine. We talked about the platform committee and the process that we were going through. But I'm not going to characterize conversations that I have between each of the candidates. We have to stay focused and I'm going to stay focused on preparing for the general election and getting us through this primary. And, you know, I understand that there are people that would like to fan the flames and, you know, distract from our task at hand. That plays right into the Republican's hands. We're going to be united and we're going to come together and I'm very confident about that. And this stuff is a whole lot of noise that we cannot allow to distract us. What happened, occurred. I said what needed to be said, as did many others, and now we need to move forward.

BLITZER: Is it time for another phone conversation with Senator Sanders at this sensitive moment?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: You know, I don't think that I need to have another conversation with Senator Sanders at this moment. I think we -- I need to focus on moving us forward, on making sure we can prepare for the general election, on making sure that I can manage this primary effectively. There are numerous members -- you know, Senator Sanders colleagues, Barbara Boxer, Leader Reid both spoke with him. You know, there's no reason for me to pile on. We've all made the point. I think the senator and his campaign will take these points to heart and I -- I expect and am confident that going forward that these are -- these are issues that we put behind us.

BLITZER: We just got a statement from Michael Briggs, he's the Bernie Sanders campaign spokesman, referring to Hillary Clinton's very narrow victory in Kentucky in the Democratic presidential primary last night. He says the Sanders campaign has not, repeat not made a decision about whether to ask for a recount in Kentucky. The statement says they're still looking into it. Do you have any reason to believe there should be a recount given how close that race was?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Not to my knowledge, but that's a conversation and a question of the secretary of state, Alison Lundergan Grimes in Kentucky. Those decisions are made by state election officials and certainly the decisions to pursue a recount or not would be made by the individual campaign and their candidate.

BLITZER: You can see there the numbers, how close it was. Out of more than 420,000 votes cast, she's ahead by 1,923 votes.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Right.

BLITZER: A very, very close margin.

Let's talk a little bit about a road ahead in the primaries. Listen to what Senator Sanders told his supporters at a rally in California, which holds its contest June 7th, after his win last night in Oregon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Many of the pundits and politicians, they say, Bernie Sanders should drop out. The people of California should not have the right to determine who the next president will be. Well, let me be as clear as I can be. I agree with you. We are in till the last ballot is cast.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: How do you see this situation playing out?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Oh, I see it playing out the way it has continued to play out. I agree, Bernie Sanders should stay in this race. It's what I've said all along. Until the last vote is counted. His opponent, Hillary Clinton, has also said that. And it's important that everybody has an opportunity to cast a ballot.

This primary you've seen through exit polls in a number of the recent primaries, Wolf, has actually energized our supporters. They're coming out and talking about how both candidates have made them more excited. And looking forward to getting involved in the campaign and supporting whoever our nominee is in the general election. So I think this has been absolutely positive for our party. And it's been something that's allowed us to organize and mobilize around the issues that are important to Americans who are going to decide who the next president of the United States will be. And they're going to decide who the next president of the United States will be based on who they believe has their back. Who they believe is going to stand up for them, that is going to make sure that they have the corner stones of a middle class life, not drag them backwards to policies, like Donald Trump would, who -- that plunged us into the worst economic crisis that we've had since the Great Depression, that doesn't understand foreign policy whatsoever, that is now, you know, picking a fight with David Cameron, who is the leader of one of our most significant allies in the world. I mean this man has no judgment. And there's a reason he proves every single day why he is the most unpopular presidential candidate in history and why he has no business running for president and certainly should never be elected, not only to president, but to anything.

[13:30:02] BLITZER: Debbie Wasserman Schultz, thanks very much for joining us.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: My pleasure.

BLITZER: A quick programming note for our viewers. Tomorrow Chris Cuomo will interview Hillary Clinton live from Chicago. You can look for that interview tomorrow right here around --