Return to Transcripts main page

Inside Politics

Obama And Clinton End Silence On Weinstein; Biden To Speak On Sexual Violence; NFL Chief: "Everyone Should Stand" For Anthem; Can Trump Claim Victory In Anthem Kneeling Debate?; Eminem Unleashes On Trump In Freestyle Rap Video. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired October 11, 2017 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:01] CHAD MYERS, CNN WEATHER METEOROLOGIST: There are no houses left. They are completely gone. That's the areas that have been consumed by the fire, John.

JOHN KING, INSIDE POLITICS HOST: Chad Meyers keeping us posted. That's a sober assessment. We'll keep in touch. Thank you very much, Chad.

Back to politics now, politics of a different sort. One after another, women who've crossed paths with Harvey Weinstein are now telling their horror stories of alleged sexual misconduct by the former Hollywood film mogul. Two top political figures now joining that chorus of outrage, but after waiting five days to speak out. Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama both put out statements late Tuesday. Clinton saying she was quote appalled and Obama saying he and Michelle were disgusted by the recent reports about Weinstein's alleged behavior.

Both Democrats got a lot of financial help from Weinstein while running for office since 1990. He's raised about $1.5 million for the Democratic Party. Just two years ago, the Clintons rented a home in the Hamptons next to Weinstein. Prior to that, he helped bundled donations for Obama's re-election campaign. The former President's daughter, Malia, once interned at Weinstein's company. I don't get it actually, you know, why wait five days.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Especially when you're on the -- I mean, it was not going out on a limb here to criticize the behavior. I mean, it was not that as more reports have come out that explosive New Yorker report that came out yesterday, both Secretary Clinton and the Obamas put their statements out after that as if it wasn't bad enough before that.

So, look, this is something that liberals often are very reluctant to weigh in on this. From the Obamas' perspective, I was talking with some people in their orbit and they're like, look, they don't comment on most things. He's a former President trying to stay out of it. That might wash somewhat although there are special circumstances, although there are so many connections. But the Clinton -- Secretary Clinton has commented on virtually everything since leaving public life. It took, as you said John, five days for this.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes. And, I mean, central to her campaign message in 2016 was criticizing Donald Trump particularly around the access Hollywood tape. So odd that she waited five days.

Yes, I think -- but in some ways, I think if you're a woman who has been in these sort of situations and lots of women have, maybe not in a severe way as some of the allegations against Harvey Weinstein, but, you know, I think the issue is do women feel comfortable enough to say something in the moment, right? I mean, after all of this goes down, you know, sort of dies down and the political part of it and whether or not the Democrats give the money back, the issue is still going to be that women deal with this kind of stuff in the workplace, all the time. And what are people willing to do to sort of reverse this is that women don't feel like they can speak out in realtime.

KING: Would they feel more willing, more capable, more supported in speaking out in realtime if they knew that their political leadership which says this is key to their program would step out in a moment and not wait, and not be hyper cautious and not wait five days to say if you have to add the if or the alleged, that's fine. That's fine. But from what I see, this is reprehensible. And yes, I'm going to call my campaign and make sure every penny, every last penny is redirected to charity.

MICHAEL WARREN, SENIOR WRITER, THE WEEKLY STANDARD: John, if you read these stories, but setting aside what the victims do because I think that is -- that you can read the pain and suffering and the guilt that they have which is I can't even imagine what they're going through, you look at the institutions around these women, the film industry, the sort of money around it. What it is, this kind of rut where everybody is sort of not doing what the right thing is because they're worried about, you know, the job or the career down the line.

I think that's what you're also seeing here from these Democratic politicians. It's just -- I mean, money talks. It becomes increasingly difficult to say anything because I think this rut has -- has gone not just from Hollywood but into our politics, as well. It's reprehensible.

And I think it's something that is actually a political in that way. Because we see this with people who are influential on the right as well who have faced allegations like this and have turned out to be true. There's an inertia that you can see in these stories and I think that's why we're seeing this play out this way.

KING: That's an excellent point as Republicans understandably and some Democrats gave them the opening said why are you waiting so long. Some of the Republicans waited a long time when it came to Roger Ailes as well --

(CROSSTALK)

KING: -- which is why there should be a simple default here. Outrageous conduct no matter who it's committed by should be condemned.

KAROUN DEMIRJIAN, REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Sure, except for not to paint too broadly of philosophical brush. But as a society, we are encouraged or expected often to separate the actions of reprehensible human beings from the great cultural, financial, literary, what have you, artistic contributions that they make historically and in the present day. And you saw that even with Weinstein's first response to New York Times which was to say I'm going to redouble my efforts to think about this and fight the NRA. This has nothing to do with the NRA, right?

[12:35:02] But that is kind of playing along that same thing. So, you know, there's been a lot of discussion and criticism of the whole thing. Well, this is the changing climate that we're actually having a lower bar of where our patience is with this that we -- you know, is one action is one legitimate accusation of this enough? No, there should be responses to that. But it had to build to this critical mass over several decades at this time before people started to say wait a second, the standard of, you know, separate the two of them is no longer OK. And hopefully that continues, but, again, this is a lot of cultural conditioning that we're going to have to get over.

ZELENY: It was an open secret, though, in all these circles his behavior.

DEMIRJIAN: Yes.

ZELENY: And the reality is, California is the biggest and most flush ATM for Democratic politics in this country. He stood at the center of that. Nancy Pelosi out of her name to this list as well. She'd have a very short statement on this.

But the reality is, most of the leaders of the Democratic Party are beholding to him, have been beholding to him and she still is the leader of the House Democrats here. Why not get out and give an interview, give a press conference or something. They have personal relationships with Harvey Weinstein. So this is hypocrisy this week, no doubt. This was not a secret.

KING: And we can show you on the screen. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Democratic National Committee, Senator Chuck Schumer, Senator Pat Leahy. Harvey Weinstein gives a lot of money to Democrats. I don't fault any of them for taking the money, before they knew any of these.

Now, the question is how quickly do you turn it around and condemn it. I will say the DNC says they're going to return $30,000. Guess what people going to scrub (ph). Isn't there a lot more than $30,000 to look for? We'll see if that happens. The CCC is the Congressional Campaign Committee, Senator Schumer, Senator Warren. You'll listen to that.

Here's my question. Still nothing. Six days late from the former vice President of the United States Joe Biden which I find mysterious beyond belief in the sense that if you look at his career in the United State Senate, he was a leader in the Violence Against Women Act. He has been a leader on these issues for many, many years. He's giving a speech at Rutgers University tomorrow about the subject which he spent a lot of time on in several decades on sexual harassment and assault on campuses.

DEMIRJIAN: Yes. Yes.

KING: Why is Joe Biden quiet?

HENDERSON: And he has been vocal on any number of things recent on talking about counties, given all sort of speeches. So it is interesting. We'll see what he says tomorrow, whether or not he mentions it. But you're right, part of his political identity has been someone who's talked about violence against women, a leading sort of efforts in the Senate and from the White House around that. So we'll see.

WARREN: Yes. I think the bottom line here is that we do have a culture where people are sort of expected to respond to every sort of thing, particularly politicians. The difference here I think is the scale and the scope of money that Harvey Weinstein is so critical to the Democratic electoral sort of infrastructure and these close personnel relationships that you were talking about.

If you look at it, there was an e-mail revealed between Hillary Clinton and Harvey Weinstein or between she and his assistant that showed a very close personal relationship here. That I think is the big difference here. And it's why the silence or the long gap between their statements is so damning.

ZELENY: And that's a quest (ph) too. I mean, they associated with him for a long time when it was not a question of yes, give back the money that's one thing. But, you know, I think some soul searching of who your friends are is also warned here.

DEMIRJIAN: Sure. But in the short term -- I mean, this seems like a no-brainer of what the response should be. So, when it's the number one story everywhere, why does it take so long to think about it.

KING: If you call yourself a leader, you should lead. Just a thought.

Up next, touchdown Trump. The President claims a win in the National Anthem fight thanks with some big help from the NFL's big boss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[12:43:03] DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, get that the son of a - off the field right now. Out. He's fired. He's fired.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Remember that off the cuff remark from rally President you might say sparked a national discussion about race, patriotism and free speech. Whatever your view on the National Anthem protest, it sure looks like the President is about to get what he wanted on this one. Commission Roger Goodell penning a letter to all 32 team owners asking him to support a plan to quote move past this controversy and ensure that players stand during the National Anthem, quote to honor our flag and our country.

The President took notice tweeting this morning, "It is about time that Roger Goodell of the NFL is finally demanding that all players stand for our great National Anthem. Respect our country." In response, the NFL clarified there will be discussion about these issues with team owners in the coming days. A discussion, the NFL saying no final decision has been made but it sure seems from the commissioner's letter that he wants to turn the page and get out from under a bit of a tornado created by the President.

HENDERSON: Yes. And we'll see what happens on, you know, their game Thursday night, their games on Sunday night. A lot of these players have been committed to protesting in this way. Way back to last year, people like Eric Reid for the 49ers, he's been doing this for about a year now. So we'll see.

I mean, it sounds like Goodell is essentially in the same place he's always been which is he thinks they should stand. The question is whether or not these owners want to go against their players, and be in the position where they are compelling these players, mandating that they stand. And it seems like they sort of not wanted to do that. And it's not clear if they're going to do that now.

KING: The problem is now if they try to do it.

HENDERSON: Yes.

KING: Will the players say in the sense that the NBA has a policy, the NBA says it will enforce its policy. The NFL did not.

HENDERSON: Right.

KING: The question is can they find some middle ground or will the players say no, not if the president is going to take credit for it.

DEMIRJIAN: Well at this play, it doesn't make much sense for the NFL to try to establish that policy when it's been going on for a long time. As you said, they try to jump in the middle and grandfather in. It doesn't work very well.

[12:45:03] And also then the public backlash would be potentially, you know, swung in the other direction where you would have a lot of pushback against them. I mean, I don't think the players are going to say, OK, the NFL sent a directive down, we're going to stop now. That's not going to happen. So, you're almost getting playing into the President's hands.

WARREN: I mean, if there's actual punishment here -- I mean, you could see that falling. The whole thing that I keep going back with this is that when the President said that in Alabama, there were maybe four or five NFL players who were kneeling Colin Kaepernick.

DEMIRJIAN: Not in the league. WARREN: It is not in the NFL anymore.

DEMIRJIAN: Yes.

WARREN: And for other reasons. But, you know, having to do with the way the game is played now. And the President revived this whole controversy. And yes, he got away, because cultural little this is where the country is. The country wants players to stand for the American flag. I don't think there's any sort of animosity in the broader culture toward them for their protest but they want people to stand for the flag. It was an easy win for the President.

What are we not talking about? We're not talking about wins in Congress, wins where the President could actually, you know, have a actual impact on legislation that affects the country. We're instead having a -- talking about cultural victories.

KING: And that is, it might be cynical at times. But that is the communication strategy that's why he does this.

ZELENY: That's right.

KING: He gets you talking about other things that are good to his base and on this one, it looks like he's going to get a win or partial win. And you're right. We are approaching month number nine. Obamacare is still the law of the land. Infrastructure will not happen this year. Tax reform is on the high wire.

ZELENY: It's a win that shines a light on all the things that he's not doing I think with anything. So it's a sweet sort of sugar high, if you will, win but really at the end of the day, it continues to divide. And I think that's one of those things that we're talking about earlier on the show that Tom Barrack was talking about.

You know, some people wonder, are you better than this. And, yes, a win among what he sees is his base. What he's whispered or, you know, he's told constantly by a few advisers this is your base, again, missing a big opportunity to broaden that base that presidents can do in moments of leadership they can only do in those times. And he's pretty much, you know, missed the ball on all of those.

KING: It's a choice. Try to keep just what you got, try to build, try to grow. He has settled on how to keep what you got.

Next, get ready, lose yourself in the music. A moment. Rapper Eminem ripping on the President.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:51:46] KING: Not sure how many Eminem fans watch Inside Politics, but Eminem is back in the news because after attack on President Trump last night. That song you just heard, one of his early hits, it's about right here, it's about eight mile road, runs right across northern Detroit separating it from the suburbs.

Why does that matter? Well let's turn the map off and look. Detroit goes Democratic on the northern side. Sorry, I turned that off. Come on down, Macomb County, this is the reason Macomb County here why Donald Trump won Michigan. Why he won the presidency of the United States.

In an attack on President last night on a hip-hop award show, Eminem criticizing President Trump, but also criticizing any of his supporters who maybe live on this side of eight mile road who backed the President.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMINEM, RAPPER: This is his form of distraction, plus he gets an enormous reaction when he attacks the NFL, so we focus on that instead of talking Puerto Rico or gun reform for Nevada. All these horrible tragedies and he's bored and would rather cause a Twitter storm with the Packers. Any fan of mine who's a supporter of his, I'm drawing in the sand a line, you're either for or against.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Does it matter?

ZELENY: Look, I don't think it's going to be a hit. It's going to hit. It adds to the cultural discussion here. We can't play all of that, of course, because of the language in that. But --

HENDERSON: Right.

ZELENY: Look, I don't think it's any surprise that he and others aren't a fan of this President. But you never know who is listening. I think it's just one of the culturally divisive things that's out there now about this.

KING: And to the point, the conversation we're having earlier about Harvey Weinstein, Eminem is no saint here. A lot of his rap lyrics talking about (INAUDIBLE), violence against women and the like there. So this is not somebody who's going to get a place in sainthood but he is somebody joining this cultural conversation about the President and he -- I have no idea if he has any influence over people in his home state. But that's a big one.

DEMIRJIAN: There's two questions, right? Does he have any influence over changing somebody's mind in his home state or does he have any influence over people who are not engaged in his home state? Because that was the two sides of the problem, right? You can try to convince people who are maybe not able to be convinced that they should change their politics. That's one approach that you can make when you're addressing voters. The other is just get voters who are not all engaged which was a problem for Democrats who have turned around off the couch and actually playing -- actually going to polls and actually paying attention to this stuff and being invested.

I don't know that Eminem is like the key to unlock anybody's heart on this one. But -- I mean, again, like it adds to the growing number of people that are talking about it and it's somebody that's very, very different than, let's say, a traditional political like Hillary Clinton trying to address people that's going to -- Eminem has reached into a different part of the population.

HENDERSON: Yes. And we have two figures, right, emerging and we talked about this during the break. Two figures emerging from Michigan. One is Kid Rock and apparently he might run for Senate at some point. Very much a Trumpist. In some of his shows, he'll essentially sound like he's riffing on Fox News topics about the LGBT issues. On the flag he's embraced the confederate flag in many ways.

And then you have Eminem doing something very different here and kind of a more urban progressive liberal critique of this President. And we'll see which side wins in that state of Michigan. We know who won last time. But it is sort of that division I think that mirrors where the public is.

[12:55:02] WARREN: Yes. I think this also reflects or the division. It was just a few years ago that Eminem and his songs were in a Chrysler commercial. It's all about, you know, imported from Detroit and there's this whole idea that he was sort of representative of Detroit.

And probably a lot of people who worked or whose parents worked for Chrysler or one of the other big three who vote for Trump, he was sort of seeing, you know, a few years ago, sort of as an ambassador for Detroit. Now, he's an ambassador for a part of Michigan, the part that did vote for Trump. It just, I think, it sort of underscores the way sort of cultural figures now feel like they don't have to sort of be appealing to a general audience. They have to be appealing to a smaller audience that's more of a symptom than a leading indicator.

KING: This President certainly brought that out after Eminem's performance last night, LeBron James who was critical of the President couple weeks ago, back in there in the NFL/NBA when he said Golden State Warriors welcome at the White House. LeBron James tweeting as well, you know, "Racism's the only thing he's fantastic for." Is that how we could -- you can read it right there on the screen (INAUDIBLE). But it is an interesting piece.

Continue the conversation. Thanks for joining us on INSIDE POLITICS. See you back here tomorrow. Wolf Blitzer up after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)