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AT THIS HOUR WITH BERMAN AND MICHAELA

Supreme Court Strikes Down Texas Abortion Law; Supreme Court Throws Out Conviction of Ex-Virginia Governor; Hillary Clinton Addresses Supports, Slams Trump Along Side Elizabeth Warren; U.K. Brexit Triggers Financial Turmoil in Markets. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired June 27, 2016 - 11:30   ET

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


[11:30:00] JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: It's been such a jam-packed, news-filled morning. Let's recap one of the other big events from just a few minutes ago, and that is the U.S. Supreme Court striking down, in a 5-3 ruling, striking down Texas' laws, which would have imposed further restrictions on abortion clinics.

And Jeff Toobin and Jonathan Turley are with me here in studio as well.

Jeff, this really shows how much Justice Anthony Kennedy is really the story of the Supreme Court in the session.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Anthony Kennedy has been the swing justice, the pivot on which this court turns for two decades. It is really a remarkable story. We saw it earlier this week -- last week, when he wrote the opinion upholding Texas -- the University of Texas' affirmative action program. And here in an even bigger landmark decision, the most important abortion rights case, abortion rights victory since 1992. They struck down these restrictions in Texas that made it virtually impossible for many clinics to operate, which will almost certainly lead to the striking down of restrictions in other states as well. So it's a very important victory for abortion rights supporters.

TAPPER: And if that ruling and that rally were not enough, there's been another Supreme Court ruling that we want to bring you the news about. This one involving the criminal conviction of former Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell.

Pamela Brown is standing by at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Tell us about that decision.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Today, Jake, the Supreme Court threw out Governor McDonnell's convictions under the public -- federal public corruption laws. In the unanimous opinion, authored by Chief Justice Roberts, it talks about what an official act constitutes. And it says, "Setting up a meeting or talking to another official or organizing an event or agreeing to do so without more does not fit that definition of an official act. Now in this case, this is revolved around Governor McDonnell. He received $175,000 from a businessman in Virginia in loans and gifts. The argument argued this was quid pro quo because after receiving those gifts, he set up meetings with official in the government. But McDonnell's lawyer argued that he never put his thumb on the scale, that he never influenced any government decisions. And today, the high count said that "while this may seem unseemly, it doesn't necessary constitute a criminal act". It says, "There is no doubt that this case is distasteful. It may be worse than that. But our concern is not with the tawdry tales of Ferraris, Rolexes and ball gowns. It is, instead, with the broader and legal implications of the governments' boundless interpretation of the federal bribery statute."

Now, important to note, the high court left open the possibility that this could be retried. It said the jury would have to have more narrow instructions. It threw out the conviction because it says the jury's instructions were too broad. So it could go back to a retrial, Jake, with more narrow instructions for the jury.

Back to you.

TAPPER: Distasteful but not necessarily bribery. Welcome to American politics, 2016.

We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, much more from all this breaking news. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:37:12] KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Kate Bolduan. John Berman is off today.

Hillary, meet Elizabeth. Elizabeth, meet Hillary. Clinton and Warren in their first joint appearance on the campaign trail. Is it a match made in heaven or a marriage made of convenience? This show of force by the presumptive Democratic nominee and the Senator rumored to be on the top of Clinton's V.P. short list is happening in the state of Ohio. Warren, when she took the stage, came out swinging against Donald Trump. Here's a little taste.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN, (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Donald Trump says he'll make America great again. It's right there. No, it's stamped on the front of goofy hate.

(LAUGHTER)

Look at him in that hat.

(LAUGHTER)

You want to see goofy? Look at him in that hate.

(LAUGHTER)

But when Donald Trump says great, I ask, great for who exactly? Yeah.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining me now to discus, Joseph Borelli, New York City councilman and the co=chair of Donald Trump's New York campaign; Doug Heye, CNN political commentator and former communications director at the RNC; and Errol Louis, CNN political commentator and political anchor at Time/Warner Cable News.

Guys, thank you for sitting with me watching that all play out.

What did you see there, Errol, in that first appearance? At one point, she says, I could do this all day. She loved this role.

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: She was having a good time. You might not want to say it, and the women in the audience might be made at me for saying it, but they were wearing the same color clothes and they had the same color hair and they looked alike, and it emphasized what I think is the message, which is they're part of the same argument, they're part of the same campaign. If you like Elizabeth Warren -- although on a number issues, she's noticeably to the left of Hillary Clinton. She is endorsing Hillary Clinton. So she took her time about doing this, as we just heard. She was the last of the Democratic women in the Senate to endorse Hillary Clinton. But when she comes over, she comes over with everything. She comes over full-steam ahead.

Let's also make note that she politically would benefit greatly if the Democrats were to win the Senate majority. She gets to chair a powerful committee. She gets to be friends with the president. Perhaps she's on the short list, not only for V.P. but a job like attorney general. So she had everything to gain. I think that's why you saw her putting so much of her heart into it today.

BOLDUAN: Unity down to their Democratic blue, Joseph Borelli. Is this the kind of unity you can pray for with Donald Trump and what's going on with the Republicans right now?

JOSEPH BORELLI, NEW YORK CITY COUNCILMAN & CO-CHAIR, DONALD TRUMP NEW YORK CAMPAIGN: It was kind of funny. It looked like Hillary Clinton and Kate MacKinnon spoofing Hillary Clinton, standing next to each other on stage.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: Come on.

BORELLI: It did. It did.

But the problem and the fundamental flow of Hillary's speech is the premise was we're going to right the ship for the people of Ohio. You left out the part where you're in the White House, you were in the Senate, you were in the upper echelons of our administration. If you're saying we're going to right the ship that presumes the ship has been going in the wrong direction for a long time.

[11:40:11] BOLDUAN: That's going into the stump speech she gave after Elizabeth Warren warmed up the crowd. Does Elizabeth Warren make you nervous?

BORELLI: No, Elizabeth Warren probably unites the part of the Democratic Party, the activists, the young people, but doesn't go after the blue collar voters in Ohio that Trump is trying to win over. They're not really the Elizabeth Warren types. They're probably more of the Tim Kaines types. I would prefer if we saw more of this and less of other things.

BOLDUAN: Really? That's interesting.

Now you tell me, when you saw what was a very -- Jeff Zeleny was in the crowd and he said he hasn't seen this crowd enthusiastic, out of their seats in a long time. When you see that, we're three weeks until the Democrats and Republicans will announce who their running mate is, can Hillary Clinton pick anyone else?

DOUG HEYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Absolutely. She can pick Tim Kaine, the former governor of Virginia, which is a swing state. Elizabeth Warren brings a big populist message, a lot of enthusiasm to those base voters. She doesn't necessarily help win over a state, where Tim Kaine would. What Elizabeth Warren did that was important for Hillary was to really start to galvanize the far left base that hasn't been with her. There were sort of two audiences there, those far left voters who call themselves progressives, and I call them liberals, because that's what they've traditionally been, who have been hesitant to rally around Hillary, and also the one person who was really missing from that stage, Bernie Sanders. There was a message for him as much as there was for Democratic voters who haven't gone to Hillary yet.

BOLDUAN: It was fascinating.

Also fascinating, maybe a little confusing, some of the new poll numbers. Two new polls that came out earlier, you've got Hillary up five, nationally, or up 12. That's about where the similarities are, which is that Hillary is ahead.

BORELLI: She's in Ohio today because polls indicate she's tied there. The message for Ohio is wrong. The message we're going to create jobs. Then she listed a litany of things she would like to do that are probably job-killing measures, like raising taxes on corporations, like the environmental regulations that probably paralyzed a state like Ohio in the first place.

HEYE: I agree with every word of that. One thing I would change, it's better to campaign in Ohio or Virginia or Pennsylvania or any other swing state than Scotland. Donald Trump gave the speech he gave against Clinton, everyday since he gave that speech, in Pennsylvania, in North Carolina, as a road show, in Cincinnati or Cleveland, he'd go a long way to reassure a lot of Republicans.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: He's giving a speech on economic policy tomorrow. We'll see. We'll all be there for that as you well know.

Guys, great to see you. Thank you very much.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: I really appreciate it.

If you take a look at how Wall Street is doing right now in this post- Brexit world, this is where it stands today, down 245 points. The Dow spent the last two hours struggling to recover from Friday's beating. It was the eighth biggest point loss ever.

Meantime, in the U.K., where the political earthquake that triggered these financial aftershocks began, the pound is getting pounded. We could not avoid saying that pun. Political leaders there resigning, back pedaling and scrambling to figure out the next steps after the shocking vote to leave the European Union. It appears to have caught the country and the continent a bit off-guard.

CNN's business correspondent, Richard Quest, the host of "Quest Means Business," on CNN International, is in London at 10 Downing Street.

The prime minister, Richard, addressed parliament a short time ago. What was his message?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT & CNN HOST, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: His message was very firm, that the will of the people had to be maintained and to be followed through, and that he would want to basically that the United Kingdom would leave the European Union. When asked about the chance of a second referendum, he basically said that was not going to happen. The people had voted, and that vote had to be respected.

As for when he is going to fire the starting gun, the so-called Article 50, and begin the formal negotiations, he was blunt on that question. He said it was up to Britain and Britain alone to decide when to give notice that they're about to start the time, the two-year clock running. He said he's going to go tomorrow to Brussels to basically tell the other Europeans, this is what's happened, this is my plan, and it's up to us to set the timetable for when we want to begin the leaving process.

The most important thing, the most important message that came from Downing Street to the houses of parliament today was that the economy is strong, that Britain will survive, if not thrive outside the European union, and that it's a done deal, the country's going to leave.

BOLDUAN: With that in mind, with that message in mind, can you give me your reaction, kind of your gut take on all of this being made just after this vote happened. The leaders, some of the leaders of the leave movement really seem to be dialing back very quickly some of the promises made throughout the campaign to leave the European Union. What is going on?

QUEST: They made promises that they could limit immigration. They made promises on the economy wouldn't be badly hit. And the big one that they would spend half a billion dollars a week saved from the European on the National Health Service. Now they are saying, well, we expect to spend that money on the socialized medicine, the National Health Service. As the critics have pointed out, firstly, they've spent that money five or six times. They promised it to transport. They promised it to nurses. They promised it to the health service. They promised it to education. They promised it to the pensioners. They promised it to the farmers. The promised it to regional aid. So what they're basically saying is, well, yes, there will be money to be spent, we're not denying that, but we're not saying that it can all go to the health service. That's a very big roll back from what they said during the campaign. People are going to be angry about that.

But once again, the P.M. was clear, Britain is on its way out. It's a matter of negotiating the best deal possible, bearing in mind that the European partners are spitting feathers with fury in many cases over the way we've behaved.

[11:46:19] BOLDUAN: Never top that when you sum it up like that, Richard.

Great to see you. Thank you very much.

A huge moment and a very strong message, as Richard just summed, up from the prime minister.

Breaking news. We've got much more coming up. The Supreme Court strikes down the Texas abortion law, the dramatic decision and what the fallout is, that's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:51:04] BOLDUAN: Breaking news, the Supreme Court makes a major move on abortion, this morning, striking down a Texas law that places restriction on the state's abortion clinics. The court reversed the law in a 5-3 decision. At issue were two conference requirements for the Texas facilities that require abortion. The law would have required the clinics to upgrade the facilities to hospital-like standards and require doctors to have admitting privileges at local hospitals. In the majority opinion, the court wrote this in part, "We agree with the district court that the surgical-center requirement, like the admitting privileges requirements, provides few, if any, health benefits and poses a substantial obstacle to women seeking abortion and constitutes an undue burden on their constitutional right to do so."

Joining me now to discuss is constitutional law professor, Gloria Browne-Marshall.

Gloria, thank you very much for coming here.

GLORIA BROWNE-MARSHALL, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW PROFESSOR, JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: This was not only a decision but a decisive win for opponents of this law. Did it surprise you in what you have read, how the majority wrote this opinion? BROWNE-MARSHALL: Well, it didn't surprise me. I was in the court

during the oral arguments. I could see that Justices Kagan and Justice Sotomayor and, of course, Justice Ginsburg, who has always a staunch supporter of women's rights, but I also saw that Justice Kennedy was coming alongside, because it's this issue of whether or not these were medically necessary requirements, and they weren't medically necessary for a place, for example, that performs colonoscopies. And they have a higher rate of danger to the patient. So why, outside of being an undue burden, would the state require this for abortion clinics?

BOLDUAN: It seems the majority of the court thought pretty much exactly along that line.

It was an interesting, new kind of tactic legislatively. These were not restriction that were necessarily restrictions on women but was restrictions on the clinics. Now that the court has decided this way, do you think that will stop any other state from going this path is the future?

BROWNE-MARSHALL: No, I think they're still -- just like with the voting rights cases and with other cases, they are chiseling away at this right and, little by little, putting the seed of doubt in the minds of people, especially the legislators, that there is a health concern here with the stand-alone clinics. It might be they come up with something else later. This is something chipping away at the rights before it was a woman's actual right, the time period in which she could have the abortion, and now looking at the qualifications for the doctors and the facilities that are able to perform these abortions.

BOLDUAN: It was a 5-3 decision. In this decision, was Scalia's absence felt? Is this one of those that's going to go down as this case may be remembers as a good-bye to a 4-4 court. This was a majority decision. It doesn't seem like it --

(CROSSTALK)

BROWNE-MARSHALL: Well, it wasn't really felt, but it would have been felt in the oral arguments, as with the affirmative action decision. When you have these decisions where you know that Justice Scalia had a staunch position, he was known as a conservative, glad to be a conservative, and his voice was there during those oral arguments, and you know he would have the type of road map that he would even write in a dissent that would lead the opposition of this law to the next step if they wanted to keep chipping away at this particular right.

BOLDUAN: A decisive moment coming from the court, one of many in the final days that these decisions are coming down.

Gloria, thank you very much. Appreciate your time.

BROWNE-MARSHALL: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Thank you. Let's get back to politics. If you live in Pennsylvania, get ready. Donald Trump is going to be in Pennsylvania tomorrow for an economic policy speech, just announced today.

And next week, on your television screen, you will see a $10 million ad blitz launching from a political action committee supporting Hillary Clinton, one of the benefits of living in a crucial battleground state during an election year. Some ads like this one are already online.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I was a 1-year-old, I was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer on my spinal cord. I spent my whole life fighting back. You can imagine what I thought when I saw Donald Trump say --

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: I don't know what I said. I don't remember.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't want a president who makes fun of me. I want a president who inspires me. That's not Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:55:] BOLDUAN: That ad coming from Priorities USA Action. Let's talk to Guy Cecil, the co-chair and chief strategist for Priorities USA, a super PAC.

Guy, so much for joining me. Good to see you.

GUY CECIL, CO-CHAIR & CHIEF STRATEGIST, PRIORITIES USA ACTION SUPER PAC: Thanks for having me.

BOLDUAN: Real quick, I do want to talk about the ad blitz, but since it's just happening throughout the hour, I wanted to get your take, Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren on stage together for the first time. If this was an audition, a V.P. audition, how do you think it went, Guy?

CECIL: I don't know whether it was a V.P. audition. I thought it went great. Another sign that unlike the Democrats are coming together, that we understand what is at stake in this election. There is nobody better to lay out the economic stakes in this election that Elizabeth Warren. I thought she and Hillary did a terrific job.

BOLDUAN: I've heard a couple people who said, if this was a good moment for them, this was a moment missed for Bernie Sanders. This could have been his unifying moment? Do you agree?

CECIL: I have said all along that I expect that Bernie will ultimately endorse Hillary. He has said is that he will be voting for her. I think it is up to him to make the decisions around when he wants to do that and how he wants to engage in the election. At the end of the day, I'm pretty confident he will come on board and fully endorsing her. BOLDUAN: We just saw that ad called "Dante," one ad you guys have

online. This ad is out. This is one ad that is out. It is also an ad, particularly, the message, the critique is one that we saw Republicans try to prosecute against Donald Trump ding the primary, Jeb Bush specifically. It clearly didn't work then, Guy. What's going to be different this time?

CECIL: First of all, the electorate in the general election is a lot different than in a Republican primary. It is younger, more diverse. We are talking about a much broader group of Americans that weren't aware Donald Trump made these comments. Tax reform and foreign policy, all of these important issues will be important in November. But at the heart of it, this is about the temperament and the character of our president. Somebody that makes fun of the disabled and alienates Hispanics and calls out Muslims and insults African- American should never be our president. This message is at the core of the argument that will be important for every American to hear. That's why you see the polls changing in the way that they are.

BOLDUAN: It is not just this ad, but are launching a $10.5 million blitz in just Pennsylvania. That's a whole lot of cash, Guy? Does that mean you guys are nervous about Pennsylvania?

CECIL: No. It means we are going to do everything we can to make sure Donald Trump is not our president. In 2012, the president's campaign spent money in Pennsylvania. It's been competitive in Senate race and governor's races before. I don't think this is anything particularly new. Democrats are more enthusiastic and more focused to make sure we don't elect Donald Trump. We are in places like Pennsylvania that the president won in 2012 and places like North Carolina where the president was narrowly defeated. We see this map broadly and we're going to make sure we're investing in all the places that we need to in order to win.

BOLDUAN: Clearly, a big focus on Pennsylvania. In the polls, Quinnipiac, it is a virtual tie right now. Obama won it twice. In Trump is so bad, why is that state so tight?

CECIL: First, I don't put that much credence in public polls. We had two polls, one showing the race at five and the other showing the race at 12. They both probably can't be true at the same time.

BOLDUAN: Probably, yes.

CECIL: We are pretty confident that Hillary has a stable lead in Pennsylvania. We want to make sure we win there. Frankly, we want to make sure we are helping Democrats up and down the ticket. We have a terrific Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, Katy McGinty, who is taking on Senator Toomey. We want to make sure, just like Hillary, that Democrats up and down the ticket are successful in this election.

BOLDUAN: To your point, you are spending a whole lot of cash in Pennsylvania. Clinton campaign has a ground game there. They are not spending money in Pennsylvania. Why is that?

CECIL: Investigating in a ground game in Pennsylvania is spending money. I think it is still early. We are not even to the conventions yet. At end of the day, it is certainly possible there will be investigations there. But our responsibility is to make sure that people know the truth about Donald Trump. Whether it is Pennsylvania or North Carolina, other states coming on the map that have been traditional Republican, we intend to tell that story.

BOLDUAN: Guy Cecil, great to see you. Guy, thanks very much.

CECIL: Thanks for having me.

BOLDUAN: Of course.

Thank you all for joining us AT THIS HOUR.

"Legal View" with Ashleigh Banfield will start right now. Have a good day.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[12:00:12] ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. And welcome to "LEGAL VIEW."