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CNN Republican National Convention; Turkish President Wants Cleric Extradited from U.S.; Republican Women For Hillary Group Forms; Ohio Women Voters Weigh in Ahead of GOP Convention; Women Voters Respond to How Candidates Handle Terror. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired July 16, 2016 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:14] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Hello from Cleveland. I'm Poppy Harlow. Joining you tonight. You're watching CNN's special live coverage of the Republican National Convention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created.

We're going to win on trade. We're going to win at the border. We're going to win so much, you're going to get so sick and tired of winning.

We won the evangelicals. We won with young. We won with old. We won with highly educated. We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated.

This election will decide whether we are ruled by the people or by the politicians. Crooked Hillary Clinton. She's crooked.

Lyin' Ted. I call him little Marco. Very low energy Jeb Bush.

In the history of the Republican Party, I've gotten more votes than anybody has ever gotten. More than Ronald Reagan, who we love. More than Richard Nixon. More than the Bushes.

I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK? We're doing something special. This is a movement. We're going to make our country great again, believe me. We will make our country great again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: You are looking at the beautiful city of Cleveland from high above the convention, beginning in just two days. But Donald Trump's newly minted vice presidential pick is back tonight in his home state after a whirlwind introduction to the nation this morning.

And while he has only been his running mate for about 24 hours, Governor Mike Pence arrived in Indiana in a very Trump-esque way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. MIKE PENCE (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let me say from my heart, having spent some time with the next president of the United States, Donald Trump is a good man and he will make a great president of this nation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Those glowing words for Trump came after what can only be anything but routine appearance that the two made together in New York this morning.

Take a look, this is the moment Donald Trump introduced his running mate to the nation for the very first time. This was the Pence announcement. But where is Mike Pence?

Trump bought him on the stage 28 minutes later after Trump talked about himself, one of his hotels in Washington, D.C., and pounced all over Hillary Clinton. Then he brought out Mike Pence.

With me now to discuss it all, CNN political commentator, host of "SMERCONISH" here on CNN, Michael Smerconish. And Donald Trump biographer, author of "The Truth About Trump," Michael D'Antonio, who has interviewed the entire Trump family, including his past wives extensively.

Let's begin with Michael Smerconish.

Good to be with you, my friend.

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Great to be with you.

HARLOW: What a beautiful night in Cleveland.

SMERCONISH: I love this view.

HARLOW: I love this view, I love this city. What a week it's going to be. I said, what did you make of this morning? You said nothing surprises me anymore. Nothing.

SMERCONISH: It's wild, right? The whole thing has been wild. There's an airplane circling above that says Hillary for prison on it. This is insanity out there.

I wondered as I was watching, what is Governor Pence thinking backstage?

HARLOW: Waiting literally in the wings.

SMERCONISH: And say, hey, man, get to it already and stop talking about yourself. I had the same reaction when Dana brought that news that Donald Trump had buyers' remorse. What w Governor Pence thinking as he was flying in on the plane, what have I gotten myself into?

HARLOW: Don't you know when you say yes to being Donald Trump's number two that you are really going to be number two? SMERCONISH: You would think so. I mean, look, because the last year

has been plenty of warning of how chaotic, how unconventional this entire price has been.

But let me give the man his just due. He's running neck and in the case in the polls with her. Quinnipiac says the three states, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida, are right now at a stand still. He's getting it done and he's not spending any money and he doesn't have the traditional organization.

HARLOW: And I think bringing in the Pence pick, he can sure up arguably, his supporters would say, a lot of folks who were on the fence about how right-leaning he was on social issues, Mike Pence covers that.

Mike D'Antonio, to you, you know the mind of the man. So, let's talk about the mind of the man. Dana Bash is reporting on Thursday night Donald Trump went to his team and said, even though I've already offered him the job, I don't know, can I go back on it now?

But he didn't. He didn't follow his gut. He didn't go with Christie.

[19:05:00] Perhaps for the first time in this election, he didn't follow his gut.

Get us into the mindset here as Donald Trump, you believe, was choosing his number two.

MICHAEL D'ANTONIO, DONALD TRUMP BIOGRAPHER: Well, I think he's obviously listening to his family. The three eldest children, I'm sure, came together on this decision and presented a strong argument. They are known to be of one mind on certain serious issues when they go to him.

And I think Donald, for all of his tendencies to swerve and jump, will listen and occasionally stay steady in a moment like this. He also I think is finally really understanding, he's one step away from becoming president of the United States. And he's going to have to show people some stability.

HARLOW: Who do you believe, since you've interviewed all the children of Donald Trump and his former wife, who do you think had the most say in this decision to pick Pence? Who is he link to most closely in his family?

D'ANTONIO: My sense of it would be Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, would have come first, although Donald Jr. I think is very sensitive to image. He's aware of certain parts of the electorate, probably sportsmen, conservative Christians, that are important to the Republican base. And so, I see those three, Jared Kushner and Ivanka and Donald Jr., as being essential to the decision.

Eric is a less forceful person. I think he's less inclined to get involved politically, but very loyal to his siblings. And they all really do have their father's best interests at heart. And they're aware of how he comes across. It's funny, I once said to each of them, does your dad know that there

are a lot of people who view him as a rather extreme character and are turned off by his behavior? And they said, absolutely, he understands it, but it doesn't change him.

I think there are times when they would like to change him, and that might be happening right now.

HARLOW: It may be happening right now. That's an interesting point.

Michael Smerconish, to you, we are if Cleveland together, we are kicking off what is going to be an extraordinary week by any measure. No matter what your affiliation, you'll be watching.

SMERCONISH: How could you not? Oh my God.

HARLOW: How could you not?

When you look at who' not here, no living Republican president here, you don't have the governor of Ohio here. Have you ever seen anything like that?

SMERCONISH: No. You're right, Bush 41, Bush 43 not here. Jeb Bush at this hour, there's an opinion post he's published at "the Washington Post" critical of Donald Trump. The last two standard bearers, '08, John McCain, 2012, Mitt Romney won't be here.

HARLOW: In that piece, Jeb Bush said he would vote for the libertarian or a write-in?

SMERCONISH: Right, absolutely --

HARLOW: Talk about a party divided.

SMERCONISH: So, to your point, so here we stand with the backdrop of Cleveland at our back side, and in front of us, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, where on Tuesday afternoon, Governor Kasich is having an event. So, he's this close to the convention. It's his state. He played a role in landing it here. He's not going to the Q Arena. I mean, bizarre.

Marco Rubio will be here by videotape only. It's very strange. Each night you'll see a different member of the Trump family. By the way, thought the crowning moment for Donald Trump and the campaign was the CNN town hall where he brought the whole familiar, a subject that Michael knows well.

Ivanka is stunning, a tremendous spokesperson for him, probably none better. So he's going to surround himself with family. But remember, when Governor Romney was the standard bearer in 2012, they limited the number of Romney sons, all those telegenic --

(CROSSTALK)

SMERCONISH: Right. So, in this case, you're going to get the multiple Trump, you're going to get the whole family, the extended family.

HARLOW: Yes. And you know that they're very influential for his father. So, you'll hear from all of them. Michael Smerconish, thank you. Mike D'Antonio, thank you very much. We'll all be watching.

And we were just talking and saying, is it really possible that we're not going to hear from Donald Trump until Thursday night, he won't take the stage until Thursday night? We'll see if that's the case or if it's anything but traditional this time around.

We have a lot ahead this hour, fast moving developments in Turkey after a military coup there, an attempted coup sent that country into chaos. The man the Turkish president is pointing the finger at is living in the United States. We will explain who that is.

Also ahead, this. We will introduce you to women from Cleveland, some Trump supporters, some Clinton supporters, some undecided. I sat down with them last night to find out what issues are at the top of mind for them. That's straight ahead. You're live in the CNN newsroom. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:12:38] HARLOW: Welcome back to our continuing live coverage from the Republican national convention in Cleveland.

I do want to take you to Turkey, because Turkey, a key NATO partner for the United States, descending this weekend into absolute chaos.

It has been only a matter of hours since a Turkish military element tried to stage a coup and tried to overtake the Erdogan government. They declared martial law. There was gunfire.

Police were shooting at helicopters. Civilians dove for cover under bridges, and on the sides of streets. Official sources are giving conflicting death tolls at the moment.

We're hearing somewhere between 181 up to 265 people reported dead at this hour. That includes some of those who planned and carried out this attempted coup.

The Turkish president back in control of his country now and he is pointing the finger squarely at a man who is living here in the United States for setting that power grab in motion. He wants that man arrested. The man he's talking about is this man. He's a 75-year-old cleric who exiled himself to Pennsylvania in the late '90s. We don't know that much about him. He's declined several interview requests from CNN.

But our Ivan Watson has much more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: One of the world's most powerful Muslim preachers lives behind these gates in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania. The reclusive cleric's name is Fethullah Gulen.

(on camera): If you believe the government of Turkey, supporters of the cleric in Pennsylvania are spearheading a coup attempt in Turkey that's destabilizing one of America's most important allies in the Middle East.

(voice-over): Turkish prime minister recently compared Gulen and his supporters to a virus and a medieval consult of assassins. While a top official from the prime minister's political party told me, Gulen and his supporters have infiltrated the police force and judiciary.

MAHIR UNAL, DEPUTY CHMN., JUSTICE AND DEVELOPMENT PARTY (through translator): We are confronted by a structure that doesn't take orders from within the chain of command of the state but rather takes orders from outside the state.

WATSON: So who is the mysterious man in Pennsylvania?

MUSTAFA AKYOL, AUTHOR, "ISLAM WITHOUT EXTREMES": Fethullah Gulen leads the largest Islam community in Turkey.

[19:15:02] His holdovers are estimated to be millions in number. This is also the best organized Islamic community in terms of NGOs, the media, schools, charities, dormitories.

WATSON: Every year, students from Gulen schools operating in more than a hundred countries around the world, including one of the largest charter school networks in the U.S., gather in Istanbul for a lavish event called the Turkish Olympics.

IHSAN YILMAZ, GULEN SUPPORTER: Gulen movement is a civil society movement with a civic approach. It is not Islamist. It doesn't have any kind of strict political ideology. It is against using religion and politics.

WATSON: Throughout modified last decade, the Gulen movement was also a strong supporter of Turkey's religious conservative Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. And in recent years, it became increasingly dangerous to criticize the Gulen movement. Police arrested and imprisoned a writer for more than a year and a court banned his book criticizing the movement before it was even published.

Now, out of prison but still facing charges, Sik argues that the forced political marriage between the government and the Gulen movement has turned into a nasty divorce.

AHMET SIK, JOURNALIST (through translator): On the one side, there is the Gulen community, a dark, opaque power that can damage the most powerful government in to your kick history. On the other side, you have a government that under the guys of fighting this community can and has suspended all democratic principles.

WATSON: On December 17th, police launched a series of raids, detaining dozens of people close to the Turkish government on charges of corruption. The government immediately claimed the corruption probe was politically motivated and began demoting thousands of police officers and prosecutors believed to be linked to the Gulen movement. Gulen has since denounced the government in a fiery online sermon, but also denying he gives orders to anyone in the Turkish judiciary.

With his supporters embroiled in a power struggle with the Turkish government, it's highly unlikely that this enigmatic man in Pennsylvania will return to Turkey any time soon.

Ivan Watson, Istanbul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: All right. Let's bring in Kimberly Dozier, our global affairs analyst.

And, Kim, when you look at what happens now, that's the big question, it's a failed coup, Erdogan is still in power, he's rounded up military officers who turned against him and arrested them. In these next few weeks, critical 2009 U.S. fight against is, what do the next few weeks look like in Turkey?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Likely a continued witch hunt among his own ranks, further arrests. He has gotten a spike of support from his own people.

But it is the conservative side of his country, those who feel threatened by ISIS, threatened by rising violence from the Kurdish separatist movement inside Turkey. And they want a strong man. But he will likely use this coup as an excuse to go after not just the coup plotters but anyone he sees as an opponent. And because the U.S. needs Turkish support, they won't have much of a leg to stand on when they complain to him about what is likely to come.

HARLOW: So, here's the thing: if you are President Obama who met with his cabinet members this morning at the White House, you're in a difficult position, Turkey, which is one of the only Muslim majority democracies in the world that is a NATO ally, you need them in the fight against is. But increasingly you have this leader who has become so much more autocratic, moved away from the secular, and at the same, time he has a ton of support people, he's been Democratically elected three times. You don't like what he's doing but you need him in the face against ISIS.

What does the U.S. do in this situation?

DOZIER: Well, he has a ton of support from about half his people. But this spells a likely crackdown on those more secular, less religious, those who value freedom of expression.

So, what we probably are going to see is Erdogan telling the United States, telling the west, you need to let me get my house in order and I don't want to hear your complaints about how I do it. And you're also going to see some pretty fierce demands, I think, that the U.S. turn over Gulen. Now, Secretary of State John Kerry has said we will turn him over if you provide us credible evidence that he was somehow involved in this plot. [19:20:03] I can see a standoff ahead where the U.S. says this

evidence isn't good enough and Turkey says, OK, why should we cooperate on counterterrorism, why should we let you keep flying planes out of Incirlik to bomb ISIS and Syria? There could be some real trouble ahead.

HARLOW: Absolutely. You mentioned Incirlik and all the basis along the southern border with Syria and how critical those are for the West and the coalition fight against ISIS there. Incredibly complex. And last night made it even more so.

Kimberly Dozier, thank you so much.

We have a lot ahead this hour, live in the CNN NEWSROOM. We'll take a look at the announcement, the rollout of the official Trump-Pence ticket this morning. There have been a few remarks about their new logo choice. We'll show it to you and discuss it. I'll examine both and the unusual way this all played out this morning with our very own senior media correspondent, host of "RELIABLE SOURCES," Brian Stelter, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Welcome back. We are live in Cleveland tonight, ahead of the Republican national convention here, which kicks off in just about 48 hours.

Right now, you can probably hear in the background this plane that's been hovering over us all evening. And it's this one. It has a banner trailing behind that reads "Hillary for prison 2016." Anything can happen at the convention.

Well, that logo is overhead, the newly-forged GOP Trump-pence ticket got pushback on its choice of a campaign logo. The logo on the left was released yesterday and it raised quite a few eyebrows. The Trump campaign propped out the America flag inspired image with the interlocking T and P and released the one on the right.

[19:25:06] Not before Bloomberg Politics writer took a stab and by tweeting a pixelated version that he called, quote, "safe for television".

CNN senior media correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES", Brian Stelter is with me.

No, we're not going to spend this entire segment talking about this logo, but we'll have fun with it for 30 seconds. Your take.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: You never want to be a punch line. A campaign never wants to be a punch line the tweet today does suggest they didn't feel it was worth holding on to. There's plenty of this already for sale, lots of options for people to buy.

HARLOW: Let's hold it up so our viewers can see. And, of course, these will become member memorabilia. It matters only a little bit. I think it matters a little bit though is there's been storylines for

months about the Trump campaign not being as organized as the Hillary Clinton campaign. Do Trump voters care? No.

If you're on the fence, as Clinton and Trump do care? Probably not. But it has people like us talking about it, it has insiders making fun of the campaign and increases this sense that the campaign isn't as well-staffed and well-managed as the Clinton campaign, and could matter down the line.

HARLOW: I will say, to the campaign's credit, and Paul Manafort and the team's credit, look, they were handily defeat the never Trump movement, the vote 87-12, overwhelmingly. That's the stuff that really matters to them at the convention.

STELTER: For sure.

HARLOW: We were supposed to not hear from Donald Trump here until Thursday night. Something tells me that might not happen.

STELTER: Yes, I mean, that's the script, that's how the convention works, you hear from the nominee on Thursday night, live in prime time. It's going to Trump will be bigger than any episode of "The Apprentice," in terms of ratings.

But you have to wonder, as Michael Smerconish was saying, we don't have former presidents here, you don't have John McCain here. Will see Donald Trump earlier in the week? We know we're going to see his family members, but I've got to wonder if Donald Trump, the reality show producer, will want to come out earlier in the week.

HARLOW: Will he live tweeting, all of it?

STELTER: Yesterday, with Pence, the first candidate, the first nominee to announce his running mate on Twitter. Once again, we see Donald Trump using Twitter in new ways. Maybe he'll be live tweeting behind the scenes during other speeches.

HARLOW: So, what is incredibly important to this democracy is freedom of the press and the press's access. And it has come under obviously a lot of criticism in this current administration. And when you look at the Hillary Clinton camp, she has not held a press conference since December.

STELTER: A staggering statistic.

HARLOW: Her team will say, yes, but she's given 300 interviews. That's true, but not a press conference since December 4th. As people look to Trump and criticize him and say, lack of specifics, where are your questions, at least he's taking more questions.

STELTER: Each of these candidates is troubling for journalists in different ways. The Trump campaign doesn't give credentials to news outlets, "The Washington Post", "BuzzFeed", "Huffington Post", they're not able to attend Trump's rallies as press, members of the press because they're not giving credentials. Here at the convention, everybody gets credentials, there's tens of

thousands of journalists hovering around Cleveland.

Clinton campaign, different problem, not giving press conferences, this has become a talking point now especially among Trump supporters, why won't she come out and face the press? Yes, she does do interviews, but she's not doing that grand setting --

HARLOW: You've pressed her campaign about that.

STELTER: Yes. They say they prefer the smaller forums, the smaller formats, but that they will have press conferences on the future. I don't want to make an equivalence between the two, I think Donald Trump denying press credentials altogether is probably a more severe problem, but there are issues on both sides. We've seen the head of the White House correspondents association say both candidates are bad for press freedom. These are White House reporters who are worried about what happened if Trump or Clinton get to the White House --

HARLOW: Brian Stelter, thank you so much. Your show, "RELIABLE SOURCES", live from here tomorrow morning.

STELTER: Yes, tomorrow morning, 11:00 a.m.

HARLOW: All right. Thank you, Brian. Appreciate it as always.

STELTER: Thanks.

HARLOW: Still to come live in the CNN NEWSROOM, remember when Donald Trump made this claim about Hillary Clinton?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Well, I think the only card she has is the woman's card. She's got nothing else going. And, frankly, if Hillary Clinton were a man, I don't think she would get 5 percent of the vote. The only thing she's got going is the woman's card, and the beautiful thing is women don't like her, OK? And look how well I did with women tonight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: All right. Trump and women. One thing we know is he needs to get more women on board in this election if he wants to win. What did we do? We sat down with a group of women here in Cleveland last night. Trump supporters, Clinton supporters, and those key undecided voters. We wanted to know their thoughts directly from them. You'll hear from the critical women voters, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:32:48] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: So a new group of women is coalescing in the nation's capital, determined to get Hillary Clinton elected. Their motivation is to stop Donald Trump. And you've heard that before, but here is what's different about this group of women. They are Republican women. Five lifelong GOP members have created the group Republican Women for Hillary. Joining me now with their founding member, Jennifer Lim. Thank you so

much for being with us. Let's delve right into this. Look, I know you were a fan of Carly Fiorina, Jeb Bush disappointed, neither of them were able to get this far here to the convention. Is this a matter of you wanting to do anything to defeat Donald Trump or believing that Hillary Clinton is better on, quote-unquote, women's issues, which I always sort of take issue with that, but the women's issues that are most important to you, what is it?

JENNIFER LIM, REPUBLICAN WOMAN FOR HILLARY FOUNDER: No, and that's a great question. And we get that feedback a lot, of course, about our group. Our main purpose in our group was to stand out among the Never Trump movements and groups in that, you know, we have one last chance to defeat Donald Trump and that's in the general election with Hillary Clinton. But again, Hillary Clinton brings a lot to the table. It's not just the woman card that she has. But she has an extensive history of, you know, working at places from the Children's Defense Fund, all the way through the Senate and being the Secretary of State. And she's not just all sizzle like Donald Trump is. She has a lot of steak to bring to the table as well.

HARLOW: We just pulled up that poll which shows the big divide, right, of all registered voters, you've got 70 percent for Clinton, and I believe 23 percent for Trump. So there's no question he has to shore up the women's vote. I mean, does his selection of Mike Pence as VP help sway you in any way? Is there anything he could do in your mind that would do that at this point?

LIM: There's really no vice presidential pick that would have swayed our mind, because it doesn't take away Trump's history on women, minorities, the comments he's made about handicapped reporters, for example. You know, Mike Pence, of course, is a well-respected legislator. But really does nothing to help the women who are really looking at two tough decisions this election.

HARLOW: All right. Take me into your mind. Because I can imagine that this was tough, this was something you wrestled with as a lifelong Republican, to back someone like Carly Fiorina who you loved really came out swinging against, I mean, how hard was this internally for you, the decision?

LIM: It was a really tough decision, Poppy. And all of us in the group, we've all been lifelong Republicans. And I think like most of America, we thought Donald Trump wouldn't still be in the race at this point. So I think it became real in May, when GOP leaders started endorsing Trump, and it was clear to us that we had to put the Republican women's voice out there and say, this is not our party, these are not our values, Donald Trump doesn't represent us.

HARLOW: Jennifer Lim, thank you so much. We're out of time. But please come back. A lot more to dissect and unpack here. We appreciate your time tonight.

LIM: Thank you.

HARLOW: All right. Coming up live here from Cleveland, ahead of the Republican National Convention, as we just talked about, Donald Trump is hoping to woo social conservatives with the addition of Mike Pence to his ticket.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Pence has said in the past he would like to see Roe versus Wade overturned. Does that move the needle for you one way or the other, Holly?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it definitely makes me rethink his positions of what I want to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: I sat down with a group of women voters here in Ohio. And I talked to them about what they would need to see, especially the undecided, to move the needle for them and to get on the Trump train. We had the undecideds here the case from the Clinton supporters and the Trump supporters, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:40:02] HARLOW: Welcome back live to the CNN NEWSROOM. We are here in Cleveland. And it is finally time for Donald Trump's convention. The RNC here, and as the convention kicks off, one group that Trump needs in women. He lags behind Clinton significantly in the latest polls among women. She is taking full advantage of that fact, hitting him with ads like this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Nobody respects women more than Donald Trump.

She came to my wedding. She ate like a pig. And seriously, the wedding cake, it was like missing in action.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

TRUMP: Does she have a good body? No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course.

TRUMP: Does she have a fat ass? Absolutely. Well, I just don't respect her as a journalist. I have no respect. I think she's a very good. I think she's highly overrated. But when I came out and, you know, you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: All right. So there is that. And then there is Trump's selection of Governor Mike Pence. And a lot of people are saying, it could help him with women or it could hurt him. So, we sat down with six women here in Ohio, where the state history says a Republican must win here to win the White House. These women are a group of Trump supporters, Clinton supporters, and women who have yet to make up their mind. So what does the selection of Mike Pence mean to that critical voting bloc?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: We're in Ohio. The state that you pretty much have got to take if you want to be president of this country. No one has been elected to the White House since the 1960s without taking this great state. Let's begin with the news. Donald Trump choosing Mike Pence as his vice president. What does that say to you?

KATHLEEN MAHALL, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: It says a lot of good things. He's a very good conservative. And we believe -- we have very high Christian values, and I think that's exactly what America needs.

HARLOW: So, do you think Trump needed this social conservative lift in Pence?

MAHALL: I think he -- I think he needed an equalizer, sure. You know, he wasn't looking at it politically as much as he was looking at the things that he needs to balance him.

HARLOW: Donna, what does the Pence pick say to you?

DONNA BROWN, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: Well, it says to me that he wanted someone that he wasn't looking at the everyday person as far as a politician, he wanted someone to have more conservative values. And I just think -- I'm just happy that it's over.

HARLOW: You are an undecided voter, Kira. Does Donald Trump choosing Mike Pence as a vice presidential running mate change the equation for you at all?

KIRA FOSTER, UNDECIDED VOTER: A little bit, because of the controversial things that Mike Pence has done in the past, like his -- the bill he made for the LGBT.

HARLOW: Yes. OK.

FOSTER: That was a little weird for me, like I didn't agree with that, when he did it, I didn't like the way he responded to it.

HARLOW: You're referring to the so-called religions liberty bill in Indiana that Pence supported.

FOSTER: Right. I mean, he was in favor of it. And then kind of backtracked.

HARLOW: Many people saw it as very discriminatory against the LGBT community.

FOSTER: Right. And I feel exactly the same way. So, I'm not really very familiar with him, to be quite frank. I just know of his controversial moments. And that's one of them. So I think when Trump picks him, he's going more towards the Christian base. But I think the Christian base is already following Trump. So, I'm not really sure of what the angle was there.

HARLOW: Holly, to you, does Donald Trump tapping Pence as the running mate move the needle for you either way?

HOLLY JACKSON, UNDECIDED VOTER: One of the big things for me is, I want to see where women stand. And the kind of decisions that are going to affect women. I mean, everyone is important, everyone matters. But women, I think, and minorities also are just so separate from what is going on.

HARLOW: So, what are those issues? What are those, quote-unquote, women's issues for you?

JACKSON: Well, abortion is definitely a big one.

HARLOW: So Pence has said in the past he would like to see Roe versus Wade overturned. Does that move the needle for you one way or the other, Holly?

JACKSON: I think it definitely makes me rethink his positions of what I want to do, also with the LGBT thing.

HARLOW: Which way? The pro side or the con-side for you?

JACKSON: Yes. I think his decision is definitely, that is more a con for me. I'm very supportive of that, because I think love is love.

HARLOW: Juliana, what do you think as a Hillary Clinton supporter, what do you think the Mike Pence pick does, and how do you think that the Clinton camp can best attack that?

JULIANA KOSIK, HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: Well, not a lot of people would know Governor Pence, you know, just off the bat. But now it's going to bring a lot of attention to him, it's going to make people really think and really look at the decisions he's made in the past. And I think it's going to push voters to see exactly where Pence stands on everything. And whether on separate issues, like for the LGBT community, or on women's rights.

KIM THOMAS, HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: It will be a huge bonus four Clinton, that Trump selected his VP. They share the same core values.

[19:45:33] HARLOW: Kathleen, we know that your guy, Donald Trump, has to do better with women. All the polling shows it. What does this Pence pick, when it comes to certain issues like abortion, what does that do to the Trump ticket chances with women?

MAHALL: Well, I'm old enough to have voted for Richard Nixon. And I'm a staunch republican. And we never looked at an issue for voting, whether a person was a female or a male or if women had to have abortions or didn't have abortions. So there's a lot of women out there who do not assess the President as leadership -- and I do not believe in abortion in any instance, none, not for any reason. I don't even know why it's a female issue.

I don't even know why it's a political issue. So I believe there's a lot of women in America that live in the farmland, live in the middle of the country, that would never want to have anybody support Planned Parenthood or things like that. So I think you're going to see a different alignment for people who haven't spoken up yet, especially women, that are going to go for Trump.

HARLOW: Donna, Kathleen brings up Planned Parenthood. Mike Pence moved to defund Planned Parenthood as governor of Indiana. Is that something that you think will help or hurt the Trump ticket with female voters?

BROWN: Being a Republican, you know we're never for Planned Parenthood. We've always been against funding it. So I think right now, as Republicans, we have to get back to our core principles and we have to start standing behind them. And sometimes we can't -- what we want to say, be popular. We have to go and stand with God. And I believe that Mike Pence, I believe that it's a good choice, it's a good pick, and who's ever going to vote for Trump, they're going to vote for him, and Mike is just something extra, kind of like a cherry.

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HARLOW: It was fascinating to sit down with all those women, my thanks to them for taking the time. You're going to hear more from them straight ahead, including this.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's hard for me to pinpoint one over the other as being the best at fighting this unknown force to me that is just horrific.

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[19:51:08] HARLOW: Well, what a month it has been. So many terrorist attacks around the world and terrorism is very much on the minds of voters right now here in the United States. The question is, could it be issue number one? Could it be the one thing that makes people choose Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump when they cast their ballot on November 8th? I asked my panel, women here in Cleveland about that and why they think their candidate is the best one to keep this country safe?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Let's talk about terror. What the polling shows us is that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are in a dead heat when Americans are asked who would be best to deal with terrorism. But when you ask Americans who would be best to combat ISIS, Donald Trump leaps pretty far ahead of Hillary Clinton by more than ten points. So Kim, as a Clinton supporter, why is that in your mind?

THOMAS: Honestly, Donald Trump has the attitude -- and I think he's a bully, so he has that attitude that we can take on the world and sol all the problems, but in reality Hillary has been in office and she has more experience to handle ISIS. So I think she's the best candidate for the job and handling any terror.

HARLOW: So let me push back on that because Hillary Clinton is also part and parcel of the Obama administration being his secretary of state. And many folks that don't support Hillary Clinton will point to that and say that is part of leading us to the world as it stands today. What's your response to that?

THOMAS: Again, I think Hillary has a plan. She's been in the White House before, and she's experienced enough to come up with a plan, if she doesn't already have it, but I think she has a plan for it.

HARLOW: Donna, Clinton supporters say she has vast experience fighting the war on terror, and her critics say but look where we are right now in the war on terror. And you say what as a Trump supporter?

BROWN: I say I'm going with Trump because right now Hillary and President Obama -- America isn't safe. And you know, they've had their time. And now it's time for us to try Donald Trump because I feel as though we need a leader who is strong and we need a leader some people are afraid of their reputation. You don't know what he might do. So, when he --

HARLOW: Does that worry you, no experience on this front of fighting terror?

BROWN: President Obama, he had no job experience, so why can't we give it to Donald Trump?

HARLOW: As an undecided voter, who do you think would be a more fit president to deal with terror?

FOSTER: That is a really good question. I don't have an answer. I don't feel like either candidate is really a great answer to that question.

HARLOW: Why?

FOSTER: I think that from a liberal standpoint we're a little too soft. From a Republican standpoint, they're a little too brash.

KOSIK: I think we're just beginning to understand the issues that we have abroad. I think it's coming to light a lot more with terrorist attacks, and you know, I think people -- it's not that I'm afraid that Hillary was part of this administration. I would say that I think it's given her more experience, especially acting as secretary of state. And I think that she will understand again the issues. And we're still diving deep into what ISIS is really is and why ISIS is there. So I guess it doesn't frighten me that Hillary was part of this administration. It actually gives me some comfort just because she again, you know, has some experience with it.

HARLOW: So Kathleen, to you as a Trump supporter, these Clinton supporters point to experience, experience, experience. And they say, our woman, Hillary Clinton, has that experience. And they look at you and say your guy Donald Trump doesn't have any of that experience, especially when it comes to fighting terror. What do you say?

MAHALL: She's part of a failed attempt. Her whole plan has been put in action since she's been involved in it. He is a corporate leader that wants to help Americans. His whole thinking is to help Americans. He's not apologizing for being an American. He wants us to be Americans and be proud of it.

HARLOW: To the undecided voters, has anything that's been said so far on the war on terror and the candidates swayed you one way or the other, Holly?

JACKSON: As far as what's going on currently, Donald Trump, he doesn't have a background in running the country. Can you get that background being hands on? Well, sometimes that's the only choice that you have.

HARLOW: That's who Donna is saying.

JACKSON: In this case. However, at the same time, on the Hillary Clinton side, she's not the one running the country. She doesn't have the ultimate and final decision of what goes on. She can maybe have input.

[19:56:18] HARLOW: They point to her time as secretary of state.

JACKSON: But she still doesn't have the ultimate decision of all decisions being made. It's funneled. It's funneled through multiple people, and then the President is making decisions.

FOSTER: It's hard for me to pinpoint one over the other at being the best at fighting this unknown force to me that is just horrific.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: All right. Much more from those ladies tomorrow on the show. My thanks to our panel. Kim, Kira, Donna, Kathleen, Juliana and Holly.

Coming up next tonight on CNN, a "Race For The White House" marathon. See how previous elections played out with plenty of drama and dirty tricks. I'm Poppy Harlow live in Cleveland at the Republican National Convention. We'll see you back here tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. Eastern. Have a great night.

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