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CNN NEWSROOM

Report: Trump Clarifies Immigration Stance Again; Kaepernick Berated, Applauded for Anthem Sit-Down; Fox News Settles, Apologizes to Ex-Host; Coming-of-Age After 9/11 Attacks. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired September 6, 2016 - 15:30   ET

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


[15:30:00] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: My question to you is, I keep repeating myself, but there is this murkiness over immigration and what to do. Do you think that is a smart strategy?

EVAN MCMULLIN, (I) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Look, it is hard to pin him down on any particular issue whether it is national security or immigration or any other. He doesn't understand anything about policy really. The details of any of our challenges here in this country. He harps a lot on trade --

BALDWIN: He's got some pretty smart people around him though.

MCMULLIN: Oh, I don't know about that. You saw him today being interviewed -- I put that in quotation marks -- by General Flynn who's his advisor. Ridiculous. Donald Trump can't even have a regular interview on national security now because he knows he can't actually answer any of the questions. So he sits there in front of a bunch of his supporters being questioned -- being given questions that he knew about in advance from an advisor of his.

Then he rambles and it basically sounds like you are listening to his stream of conscience. That's not what we need in a leader. We need a leader who understands issues and who puts forward ideas to resolve challenges.

BALDWIN: You have these 88 retired military officials who have now in a letter that the Trump campaign has spread out there today, they are endorsing Mr. Trump. Of course there were the 50 from last month who don't like him. Then you also wonder about the bigger players, the Condi Rices, the Colin Powells, the Bob Gates who have been mum. You are a former national security guy. How do you weigh all these mixed messages?

MCMULLIN: Well, I would just say this. We got to put this in context. Our last Republican nominee, Governor Romney, had a letter of 500 military leaders supporting him. They had even more than that but they cut it off at 500 just because the number got too unwieldy. Look, plenty of national security advisors -- there was a letter of 500 and another letter of 100. And plenty of others have spoken out against Trump.

Yes, he's got a list of 88 leaders in the military, but that's nothing compared to what a Republican nominee should have from our national security establishment. Donald Trump has no credibility when it comes to national security and he demonstrated that once again today.

BALDWIN: Evan McMullen running for president, Evan, good luck. Thank you so much for coming on CNN today. I really appreciate the chat.

Coming up next, former NFL star joins me. We'll talk Colin Kaepernick and his protest against the national anthem. This is something folks are talking about and talking about the backlash against President Obama for standing up in the last 24 hours and defending him. We'll talk to Amani.

[15:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:40:00] BALDWIN: Welcome back. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Back to this story. So many of you are on this. 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick is still taking his stand -- or a knee, or a seat, depending on your perspective -- vowing not to stand up for a national anthem for a flag in a country that he says oppresses people of color and does nothing to combat police brutality.

Since speaking out, Kaepernick has been berated by critics who accused him of being anti-military, anti-cop and just anti-American. But he has just as many supporters who applaud him for keeping the conversation on police reform alive. President Obama also weighed in all the way from China on this. And he is defending Kaepernick's right to protest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My understanding at least is that he's exercising his constitutional right to make a statement. I think there is a long history of sports figures doing so. But I don't doubt hl sincerity based on what I've heard. I think he cares about some real legitimate issues that have to be talked about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let me bring in Super Bowl winner and former wide receiver for the New York Giants, Amani Toomer. You support him.

AMANI TOOMER, FORMER WIDE RECEIVER FOR THE NEW YORK GIANTS: I do. I do.

BALDWIN: Why?

TOOMER: Because all the draw-backs that you could possibly have. A lot of guys -- I remember a player for -- played basketball in the NBA. He did a similar stand --

BALDWIN: Denver Nuggets.

TOOMER: It was a religious thing. It ended up shattering his career. I think that for a guy who has a contract that's not very -- that's not very secure for him to do this, I have to stand up and applaud him because I don't think I would have done it because of the fact that there is so much drawback on athletes nowadays. BALDWIN: I'll come back to that note in a minute. But I want to just

show everyone -- the most recent time when he took a knee, he wore these pig socks. Pig socks in reference obviously to police and critics were saying that really took it too far. Do you think that did?

TOOMER: I just think the pig socks are a little childish. That was in practice. I think he's been wearing these pig socks for a while but ever since he's made his stance public, I think that's where most people are starting to notice all the things he's been doing. You follow him on twitter, this is how he's been --

BALDWIN: That's somewhat Rick Riley was saying. Especially in the last year. When you were playing and there were stories that were making national news -- you told me during the break you played during the Michael Jordan era where you just didn't say something.

TOOMER: There wasn't much political stuff that went on in the locker room. I just remember after 9/11 everybody wanted us to say stuff supporting the police, supporting the workers who were in 9/11 down in the World Trade Center, and I didn't have a problem with that because I thought they were doing the right thing. But this is an issue that Colin Kaepernick brought up that needs to be brought to the public. The fact that there is this discrepancy in treatment by the police towards people of color.

BALDWIN: Want to read something Benjamin Watson who was with the Saints, now with Ravens, may be watching right now. He pointed this out to me because he disagrees respectfully. Blew his achilles so he said if he could stand, he would.

He wrote this, "I stand to those who are forced to give their lives building the country that confined them to the tobacco fields and indigo plantations. I stand because as a child I saw my father stand, a man who lived in a tumultuous time when angry people who held signs at his new school viciously screamed "n-word" go home. I stand because this mixed bag of good and evil is my own."

He hopes we pay more attention to the problem and not the protester.

TOOMER: I definitely agree with that. If nobody stood -- I mean if everybody just went along lock-step with things that were going on in society when his father -- when Ben Watson's father had all those signs said about him, then would have stayed the same. I think the fact that their conversation has started because of Colin Kaepernick, I applaud him for that because I know and understand the risk that athletes, by standing up, and plus being a quarterback, all the endorsement deals that he could possibly get.

He's saying, look, I'm doing the right thing regardless of if it is going to come back on me. I think that that's something that I would definitely get behind because I know the fact that there is a lot of money that he's probably going to lose from this.

BALDWIN: You have been there, you have played. I am sure there was pressure then, and especially even now with everything. Amani, thank you. Good to see you.

Coming up next here, breaking developments in the drama over at Fox News. The network is apologizing.

[15:45:00] They are giving a former host $20 million over sexual harassment claims. My guest explains why she wanted Gretchen Carlson to turn the settlement down, fight the fight. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Breaking news in the sexual misconduct case against comedian Bill Crosby. We have just learned his trial date has been set for next June. Cosby is charged with three counts of felony aggravated indecent assault from a 2004 case involving Andrea Constand. A former colleague at his alma mater, Temple University.

She says Crosby gave her a mix of pills and wine at her Philadelphia area home and it left her incapacitated and unable to consent to sex. The now-79-year-old Crosby has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The opening chapter in what has become a series of harassment claims plaguing Fox News has just reached a stunning conclusion. 21st Century Fox now paying $20 million with former Fox anchor Gretchen Carlson. And we're just learning Roger Ailes will not be paying any portion of that settlement.

Carlson sued the former network chief back in July accusing Ailes of sexual harassment and retaliation. Fox issued an apology. "we sincerely regret and apologize for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect that she and all our colleagues deserve."

Joining me now, media columnist for "The Washington Post", Margaret Sullivan. Margaret Sullivan, you wanted her not to settle. How do you feel about the news today? $20 million. Settled.

MARGARET SULLIVAN, MEDIA COLUMNIST, THE WASHINGTON POST: Brooke, thanks for having me on. Think that it makes a lot of sense from Gretchen Carlson's point of view. Perfect sense that she would settle and take this money and I don't blame her in any way for that. But I thought it would have been useful for women and for our culture if this information had been aired more fully as it would have been in a trial. I'm a little bit sorry to see that.

BALDWIN: When you say, "this information," you're referring to testimony, any recordings, that kind of thing.

SULLIVAN: Witnesses, recordings, Gretchen Carlson was said to have tape recorded with her cell phone a lot of conversations she Roger Ailes. I think that would have been instructive. I think that all the discovery was something that would have really brought a lot of the disinfectant of sunlight in this situation that's been in the dark for so long.

[15:50:00] BALDWIN: I'm just curious, Margaret, because you have been writing about this, just how this has been affecting conversations around the country in the wake of what Gretchen stood up and did as far as women in the workplace and, quite frankly, not putting up with it.

SULLIVAN: I think it's made a big difference already. I give her a lot of credit for being brave enough to file suit. She had no reason to think or no way of knowing that so many other women would quickly come forward or that fox, 20th century fox, would do an internal investigation and that Roger Ailes would be gone from his post in two weeks after she filed suit. I mean it really has made a huge difference.

BALDWIN: What about the fact that the $20 million isn't coming from Roger, it is coming from Fox?

SULLIVAN: That's very notable. He walked out with it is said to have been $40 million, the rest of his contract being paid out. If he hasn't paid anything here, of course it affects his reputation and his position. But he hasn't had to really pay financially apparently.

BALDWIN: Greta Van Sustern, Margaret, has announced she is leaving the network. She has been there 14 years. She said, I am quoting her here, "The network has not felt like home for years." What do you make of that?

SULLIVAN: Well, Greta was quick to defend Roger Ailes after Gretchen Carlson's suit. Her contract had come up. I think there's a combination of things here. I also saw just now a tweet that said that -- suggested that she might go to HLN, the cable offshoot. So she apparently has some other options going. Think that Fox no longer really no longer really was the place for her to be, whether it was on her side or more on their side, not entirely clear.

BALDWIN: Don't know about the HLN news. I realize that's our sister station here. But best of luck to her. Bottom line. Margaret Sullivan with the "Washington Post," thank you so much for covering this. An important conversation we should shall having.

Next here on CNN, the children, really now young adults here, who were 15 years ago left behind after the deadliest terror attack on American soil. I have the honor and privilege of sitting down with ten young people who lost a parent on September 11th, 2001. This is the first part of our three-part series airing this week. We talk about that day, that Tuesday.

How they consider ground zero their parents' graves and the last time one girl heard her father's voice as he called in to the local news from the top of one of the towers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FATHER OF 9/11 CHILD, JULIETTE SCAUSO: I want to tell anybody that has a family member that may be in the building that the situation is under control for the moment and the danger has not increased. Members, take it easy.

BALDWIN: How often do you go back and listen to his voice?

JULIETTE SCAUSO: I like to listen to it a lot because it is the last thing that I have of him I was so young when I lost him and that's the last thing I remember of him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[15:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: National security is a major theme on the campaign trail, one devastating reminder of what is at stake is upon us, this Sunday marks 15 years after hijacked planes slammed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in rural Pennsylvania.

And now in the footprints of where the World Trade Towers once stood lie two deep memorial pools that serve as a reminder of the nearly 3,000 lives lost. Names of the victims etched in stone on the fountain rims. It is above that memorial where I was honored to hold a long conversation with a group of young adults. I spoke to ten members of Tuesday's Children, an organization formed after 9/11 to serve the youth and families impacted by terrorism.

Here is the first part of our discussion.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: I know you all lost parents on 9/11, how many of you lost a dad? All of you. How many of you were so young you don't have a real memory of your dad? And how many of you will never forget? We're looking at these fountains and where the towers once were, what does it feel like to come down here at ground zero?

PATRICK HANNAFORD, 9/11 CHILD: It feels go, like we rebuilt and we're getting through it.

BALDWIN: How many of you looked for your dad's names? All of you. What was it like finding your dad's name?

NICOLE PILA, 9/11CHILD: Most people have a grave to go to, but for us, this is our parent's grave, it brings us closer and makes us feel more connected to that parent.

BALDWIN: Do you agree it feels like a grave?

CAROLINE TUMULTY-OLLEMAR. 9/11 CHILD: A lot of our parent's bodies were not found after 9/11. That could be literally where our father's bodies lay to this day, and that's our -- it is a memorial and our grave and we can go there and communicate with the people we lost. That is our safe spot with them?

BALDWIN: Is that what you do?

TUMULTY-OLLEMAR: Yes, I talk to him, I put my hand on his name and talk to him.

BALDWIN: Juliette, you were four. Your dad was a fire fighter in Queens.

JULIETTE SCAUSO: I was with my grandfather that day. My other siblings were in school. He had the news on. And another fireman who was retired from my dad's house called my mother at work and said, was my dad working, and she said, yes, sir, so they picked up the other siblings. And my grandfather just had a gut feeling and in front of all of us said, in front of us, I lost my son today.

And my mom was furious at him that he had already had no hope. He already had that feeling that he was gone. But at the time, wasn't comprehending what that meant. It took a few months to realize he was not coming home.

BALDWIN: Do you remember the images of the screen?

SCAUSO: Yes, vividly, the smoke, the planes, it's very traumatizing for a child to see later. To comprehend what that meant at the time. I don't think any child has the mind capacity to comprehend such a mass atrocity.

BALDWIN: Nor should they. Jessica, tell me about the waiting that day.

JESSICA WARING: I was starting high school. My second day at a new school, and they announced a plane hit the trade center, and they had televisions in some of the rooms it. I was surrounded by strangers and new people, and I had to tell them my dad was in there. And I also had the gut feeling.

BALDWIN: What did it feel like?

WARING: I really had trouble speaking to people, it was a numb feeling. I tried calling my mom and I couldn't reach her the line was busy. I knew something wasn't right. My aunt was with my mom already. And I have three younger sisters, we went through all the schools in the neighborhood and picked each of them up. They each heard bits and pieces of it, so it was just telling them that dad's building was hit, a plane went into the World Trade Center, and we don't know where he is.

BALDWIN: When did you know?

I heard it on the loud speaker and I knew. I had learned about the World Trade Center bombing. And asking questions like a 13 and 14- year-old should. I knew what it was, I knew what it took him to get down 100 flights of stairs in 1993 and it didn't look like he was getting down.

BALDWIN: You two, the brothers, your mom was pregnant with you the day of and she was, what, on the subway?

She was under the buildings when they were hit.

She workd across the street.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know I was in preschool that day. She tells us she went outside, and she was waiting for our dad, and she had a pillow from -- she works for an aviation insurance company, so she had a special pillow that filchered air when you went to a plane crash. So she was hiding around taxi cab. BALDWIN: You never got to meet your dad?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

BALDWIN: How tough is that for you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I will never really know, my big brother has stepped up to be like a father to me. My mom quit her job to be home with us and she has done everything.

BALDWIN: Nicole, your dad was in one of the towers, and he picked up the phone and called what? a local tv station?

PILA: Yes, he wanted to reach out to families in the area.

(BEGIN AUDIO)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stuck on the 85th floor, a fire door trapped us, debris fell around us, and part of the core of the building is blown out.

UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: How many people are with you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm on the 85th floor on the East side of the building. I want to tell anyone that has a family member that may be in the building the situation is under control for the moment, and the increased. Please all family members take it easy.

(END AUDIO)

BALDWIN: How often do you go back and listen to his voice?

PILA: It is what I remember of his voice. That's the last thing I remember of him.

BALDWIN: When you listen to it, when what is his voice, what does his message mean for you?

PILA: It's really meaningful for me, that in his last moments, he was thinking of other people, and putting them before himself.

BALDWIN: More from them tomorrow, and also this documentary airing Sunday night at 8:00 here on CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. THE LEAD starts now.

TAPPER: Thanks, Brooke.

It's after Labor Day, so put away the white, break out the red and the blue. THE LEAD starts right now.