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Trump Visits Dayton After Shooting; County Commissioner Talks About Dayton; Trump to Visit El Paso After Shooting; Latinos Express Fear. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired August 07, 2019 - 12:00   ET

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

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[12:00:11] KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us for a second hour. I'm Kate Bolduan.

Joining me from Dayton, Ohio, my colleague, Jim Sciutto.

Hey, Jim.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks so much, Kate.

Here we are again, telling the story of a mass shooting in America. The question is, will the follow-up to this shooting be different. Burning question for the people here in Dayton, I know, and for, I'm sure, Americans watching at home.

President Trump, he's now arrived here in Dayton in the wake of this shooting that left nine people dead, dozens more wounded. The president has been meeting with local officials, first responders all victim's families. All this at a nearby Miami Valley Hospital.

Many residents here grieving the loss of a friend or a loved one, someone they knew, someone they worked with. And many are asking their politicians, what are they going to do now to curb gun violence? "Do something," that is a chant that we have heard here at the scene of the crime repeatedly. Will their leaders do something?

CNN's Kate Collins -- Kaitlan Collins joins me now.

And, Kaitlan, it's your reporting that White House officials have met with NRA officials and leaders in the last several days. What can we expect that the NRA has told this White House?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: They haven't met with them yet, but they've been in conversation with them, which is a question that a lot of people have, because you saw the president come out this morning, express such an openness to potentially expanding background checks, which would be a move for the president. But, of course, the question is, whether or not that's something he maintains his support for because in the past we've seen him back off of it after he sat down with NRA leadership.

Now, we've been told the president has not met with NRA leadership yet. It's unclear whether or not he's spoken with them over the phone. But we do know that his top aides are having conversations with them. So that's going to be the question. But also whether or not they still have the political power to be able to get the president to change his mind on a stance like that because often with this president you've seen him, in places like where he is today, he's coming here to the scene of this mass shooting, visiting with those first responders, victims at the hospital right now, and then later going on to El Paso.

He tries to match his tone with where he is, whether he's meeting with victims, maybe then he's talking about explaining background checks. But when he's sitting down with NRA leadership or some Republicans who are not open to more restrictive gun measures, what does the president say then?

SCIUTTO: Right, what happens next?

Kaitlan Collins, thanks very much.

And it may be hard for you to see there, but as we've been here this last hour, this street has filled up, mostly protesters here, protesters of the president's visit, people demanding action. We're seeing a similar scene down at the hospital, the Miami Valley Hospital, where the president will be meeting shortly with victims' families.

The clapping you're hearing here now, that's for firefighters that arrived here in a fire truck.

Listen, the community's out. They care.

I want to get right now to my next guest. She is Judy Dodge. She's a commissioner for Montgomery County, the county in Dayton, of course, is the county seat of. She joins me now live.

Commissioner Dodge, I was in El Paso. Now I'm here in Dayton, two communities who went through tragedies that no American community should go through. It strikes me that what is different now in these places is impatience for action. And I've been hearing that in the chants here.

JUDY DODGE (D), MONTGOMERY COUNTY COMMISSIONER: Yes, a little bit.

SCIUTTO: What are folks telling you today about what they want to see happen next?

DODGE: OK. Do something. Do something for heaven sakes. How long does it take? How many years do we have to go through this, time and again, back from Columbine, from Sandy Hook and now here in Dayton, Ohio. For gosh sakes, do something, legislators, do something.

And I think when Governor DeWine was here at our rally Sunday evening, he heard it loud and clear.

SCIUTTO: And that may have sparked him to action because he went back to the statehouse.

DODGE: Yes, exactly.

SCIUTTO: And he came out with a list of proposals.

DODGE: Exactly. Exactly.

SCIUTTO: The president is hearing that same chant because at the hospital where he's meeting with first responders and victims, there are protesters just like this. They have signs that say "do something" as well.

DODGE: Do something.

SCIUTTO: Do you have confidence in this president to do something?

DODGE: Well, we'll see. I just -- I'm not sure. I'm not sure. You know, other things have happened and he doesn't respond. Hopefully, hopefully he sees the sadness that's going on here in our community. We are coping with this. We're still numb from it. We're just starting to bury the individuals that were killed. This is just an awful, awful time right now. And, hopefully, hopefully, he sees this and he'll go back to Washington, call the Republican senators and say, get back here now and do something.

SCIUTTO: You know, we're standing on ground -- I just talked to two witnesses who lost their friend in the shooting right about here.

DODGE: Oh. Yes.

SCIUTTO: She was hit in the head. And you can feel that.

DODGE: Oh, yes.

SCIUTTO: I mean you can you feel that around us.

If you had a moment with the president to say, I, we want this done now, what would it be? I mean just for the context. A guy walks out of the bar there with a high-powered weapon with 75 rounds and in 40 seconds or less can kill nine people. What would you want to see changed first?

[12:05:09] DODGE: Oh, first thing, put the red flags -- put immediately, people with mental health issues, and then for heaven's sakes, get some background checks across the whole country. You know, they -- we have them here, but when you go to Pennsylvania maybe they don't have them.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

DODGE: I don't know. For heaven's sakes, it's just common sense. How many lives have to be killed and how many victims and families that will never, ever get over any of this does there have to be?

SCIUTTO: I mean you make the point there about the difference between just state and federal regulation. You look at the Gilroy, California, shooting, for instance.

DODGE: Yes. Yes.

SCIUTTO: He bought a weapon in Nevada.

DODGE: Yes.

SCIUTTO: A weapon banned in California.

DODGE: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Drove across the border, which is easy to do.

DODGE: OK. Yes.

SCIUTTO: We do it all the time. And killed people -- three people there.

DODGE: Exactly. Exactly.

SCIUTTO: The difference between state and federal action.

DODGE: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Tell me, if you can, about the president's words. Not just in recent days, but in recent months and the years that he's been president. Have they helped or hurt?

DODGE: Oh, they've hurt beyond words. I mean he's so divisive and so nasty. And he's just got to quit the tweets, quit all that and look at all of us here and realize, we don't want this. We don't want this. This is not something our children need to hear on TV. You know, stop it. Just stop it. Stop it. And be the president for all the people.

I'm a Democrat. I'm a Montgomery County commissioner. I'm the commissioner for the entire region of Montgomery County. And I think of everyone, not just the Democrats. And so I don't talk like that. None of my colleagues do. And it's time to stop.

SCIUTTO: Yes, I --

DODGE: It's time to become a kind nation again.

SCIUTTO: I often think about that. I mean language that we would all counsel our children never to use, you often hear in the public context.

DODGE: No. No.

SCIUTTO: And you shake your head. You shake your head sometimes.

DODGE: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Do you -- you're a Democrat. This is a state that's got a majority in both houses, Republicans.

DODGE: Yes. SCIUTTO: And the former governor, John Kasich, told me, you know, that he couldn't even get some of these things heard. I mean he -- and the red flag law, couldn't get it through, too.

Do you speak to your Republican colleagues in the wake of this and do they say, well, you know what, maybe this time, maybe now we can talk?

DODGE: I hope so. And I have spoken off and on to some of them because they've been here and they understand. They see it. And I'm hoping that now when they go back and go back to work here in another week or so, that they're going to remember this and do something. Do something now.

SCIUTTO: I hear you.

So the governor, Republican governor, as well, sitting governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine --

DODGE: Mike DeWine.

SCIUTTO: Has come out with a list of proposals.

DODGE: Yes. Yes.

SCIUTTO: What's top of your list?

DODGE: I think the red flag and just the common sense background checks.

You know, we don't have to go crazy on this. I'm not against someone can -- that can own a gun if they go through the background check and you're a law-abiding citizen. I have no problem with that. I believe in the Second Amendment. Let's just not go crazy. God, just go common sense, for heaven's sakes.

SCIUTTO: Yes, common sense.

I sense something of a tense moment here in the last hour where you had the anti-Trump protesters --

DODGE: Yes.

SCIUTTO: And you have just a handful, a smaller handful of Trump supporters here, where they went nose to nose. And, of course, I've seen that before. And God knows you've seen it in our public discourse these last couple of years.

How are those divisions in the community? Do people talk to each other across that divide?

DODGE: Oh, I think so. I think so, yes. I think, you know, our community, you know, we have gone through so much recently. The KKK rally, downtown Dayton. Right after that we had the horrible, horrible tornadoes, 13 or 14 (INAUDIBLE) here and homes were demolished and everything. It didn't matter if you were a Democrat or a Republican, you went and you helped those people. SCIUTTO: Yes.

DODGE: And that's what makes our community so strong. And that is that we understand. We help each other.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

DODGE: We may disagree. I have family members that I disagree with, but yet we love each other. And so you have to get through this. We just have to get through this.

SCIUTTO: Listen, Commissioner Dodge, we wish you, we wish your constituents the best. I can see and feel what they've been going through here.

DODGE: Yes, I'm sure you can.

SCIUTTO: And we know that, you know, some of the toughest days are ahead. So we wish you the best.

DODGE: Thank you. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

SCIUTTO: Please, stay with us. We're following President Trump's visit to here in Dayton, Ohio. He's visiting now with victims, families of this shooting, law enforcement members at a hospital nearby. Please stay with us. We'll be right back.

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[12:14:17] BOLDUAN: Welcome back, everyone.

We are following President Trump as he visits the sites of the two mass shootings that happen this weekend. He's visiting both sites today that, you know, the country's been rocked by this. And you see the passion, the sadness, the anger spilling over on the streets of Dayton right now.

Right now the president and the first lady are in Dayton, Ohio, where they are being met by protesters, and what has become a familiar refrain in Dayton since the shootings took place, chants of "do something."

The president is -- that shot you see right there is at a local hospital in Dayton, meeting with officials, hospital staff, first responders and victims, according to the White House. He's then scheduled to leave Dayton for El Paso, Texas. And the White House says there the president will be meeting with victims' families and first responders, but he is also expected to be met by protests there as well.

[12:15:07] CNN's Nick Valencia, he's in El Paso. He's joining me right now.

Nick, what are you hearing there?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, Kate, I think a lot of the people in this community feel as though that the attention on this shooting has been misplaced. A lot of the conversation has focused on President Trump and, according to people I've spoken to, not on what it was, which they feel is a blatant attack on Latinos in this community. They say that people that were gunned down by this alleged gunman were gunned down because of the color of their skin, because of who their parents were, because of who their kids are, just because of their last names.

You know, look, I think a lot of you know that I've spent a lot of time here in El Paso. I've lived here Monday through Friday five of the last seven weeks. I've had a lot of time to talk to people here locally and President Trump does often come up. In talking earlier to people here in this community, they do feel as though his rhetoric the last two years has been partly to blame, mischaracterizing El Paso as one of the most dangerous cities in the country. It's not. In fact, it's one of the safest cities for its size.

This is also, let's not forget, Kate, where the president -- President Trump and administration decided to roll out family separation policies. It's the same city where migrants were held outside under a bridge by Customs and Border Protection. Yes, some people here believe that President Trump has partly to blame for his rhetoric that he's used here in singling out Mexicans as rapists when he made his announcement that he was running for the presidency and a lot of the conversation today is focused around his visit.

No one who I've spoken to here say they want them here -- they want him here. No one who I've spoken to says that they believe that now is the time for him to come or that he'll heal the wounds that are so raw and still very open here in this community.

President Trump held a rally here. It was not too long ago, in February. I want to play you what he had to say while he was here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Two hundred and sixty-six thousand arrests of criminal aliens, including those charged or convicted of approximately 100,000 assaults, 40,000 -- 40 -- 40,000 larcenies, 30,000 sex crimes, 25,000 burglaries, 12,000 vehicle thefts, 11 robberies, 4,000 kidnappings and 4,000 murders, murders, murders, killings, murders.

(INAUDIBLE).

We will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: In many ways, El Pasoans here who I've spoken to feel as though President Trump is in some ways obsessed with El Paso. And earlier I spoke to four local El Pasoans who believe that this was spoken into existence. That this mass shooting, because of the rhetoric coming from the White House, coming from one person in particular, was spoken into existence. They fear what kind of environment will be created when President Trump and, of course, I'm assuming some of his supporters will show up. They're fearful what kind of environment that will create.

And a lot of people here, Kate, are pissed off. They're angry that he's coming here. They feel as though that the only thing that is keeping them from crying, keeping them from breaking down is their anger. But as I found out earlier, in some cases even that is not enough to hold back the tears.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Nick, thanks so much for being there. Thanks for bringing us the stories. Thanks for bringing us all of that.

I'm going to bring in two more people now, thank you, Nick, for the -- with close ties with El Paso and strong opinions about what's happening today.

Stephanie Valencia, she's a former Obama White House official, and Raul Reyes, an immigration analyst and attorney.

Thank you guys for being here.

Stephanie, you were the lead by-line on a really striking opinion piece in "The Washington Post." I do want to read part of it for our viewers and what you said, and your message about what Nick is talking about.

Many will not want to hear or believe this. Hispanics in this country are under attack. Black and brown people in this country are under attack. Immigrants in this country are under attack. And President Trump is fanning the flames of hate, division and bigotry directed at all of us, immigrants and U.S. citizens alike.

Why did you want to speak out and in such strong terms now?

STEPHANIE VALENCIA, CO-FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, EQUISLABS: Well, thanks for having me on.

I'm right now -- from right down the road from El Paso, Texas, a small town called Las Cruces. I've spent a lot of time in El Paso. In fact, I was just blocks away from Cielo Vista Mall a couple of weeks ago. And on Saturday morning, we're trying to track down where our family was on Friday -- on Saturday. My aunt was at Costco, fortunately, and not at Walmart but for the grace of God.

I think it's really important that we speak out now because what Saturday really exposed was that Hispanics and black and brown people in this country are under attack and that Donald Trump is fanning the flames of hatred and bigotry. These were U.S. citizens. Some were immigrants, but many were U.S. citizens. You know, I'm a tenth generation New Mexican. My family has been here for generations and generations. But I feel like I have a target on my back and I know that many black and brown people in this country today and immigrants feel like they have the same target on their back as well.

[12:20:08] BOLDUAN: And, Raul, you've written about this as well. You have family in El Paso. You were just there this weekend. And you've said something -- you've said something very -- you said similar things, what I'm hearing from -- what we're hearing from Stephanie.

RAUL REYES, ATTORNEY: Right. Right.

BOLDUAN: What are you hearing from your friends, colleagues, strangers now about this?

REYES: Well, one of the things that is so upsetting, I think, to so many people in the Latino community is that Latino community leaders and different advocacy groups, they have been sounding the alarm about this president and his rhetoric for more than two years and --

BOLDUAN: Right, this is not new from this weekend.

REYES: Absolutely not.

VALENCIA: Right.

REYES: And they have been saying like this is dangerous, this -- these words will have consequences, hate does not emerge from a vacuum. And a lot of these -- a lot of -- a lot of this went -- was dismissed or ignored and now, you know, we see the horrific violence that's being visited upon El Paso.

And I think it truly hits home for many -- not only people who are from El Paso, but certainly for many Mexican Americans because going back generations -- you know, El Paso's original name was Paso del Norte. It -- El Paso was sort of a -- if you want to think of it like the Ellis Island of the southwest. Going back to the Mexican Revolution, so many people came -- Mexican-Americans came through El Paso. It's part of our family's origins, stories, where we began in this country.

And now to have that associated with this president's brand of racism and bigotry and this epidemic of gun violence is -- is truly shattering to people. It's -- it -- I feel that it's really challenging among many Latinos, our ideals of what we believe this nation to be.

BOLDUAN: Stephanie, what is -- what Raul said is important that -- he's saying words have consequences. Words mean something. And -- but I do also often hear the flip side of, what is your response when you hear people say that what President Trump is doing is, you know, ignore the Twitter feed, look at his actions, not what he -- not at his words. What Trump is doing, it's just words.

VALENCIA: We cannot pretend that words and actions do not have consequences. There was clear and direct linkages in the shooter's manifesto linking back to words that Donald Trump has said about Hispanic invasions, when you talk about Muslim bans, when we're talking about locking kids in cages. You know, we cannot pretend that words don't have consequences and actions don't have consequences. And, you know, at the end of the day, this is a toxic combination of white supremacy and of outdated gun laws that have allowed this kind of stuff to happen.

And so we have to address both, you know, challenges around updating our gun laws and also looking at the root causes of what is causing this, including the person who sits in the Oval Office, who has the greatest platform in the world and how he uses that bully pulpit to demonize immigrants and Latinos and brown and black people in this country.

BOLDUAN: And if -- if the goal is to improve, elevate the conversation, stop the targeting of Latinos, stop the demonizing or diminishing or dehumanizing of black and brown people, I wonder what you think will be the change, Raul, because it -- what I heard this morning from the president -- well, let me just read what the president said when asked if his speech -- if his words are contributing to a divisive climate. His quote directly is, no, I don't think my rhetoric has at all. My rhetoric brings people together.

I mean what do you do with that?

REYES: Ah, well, you -- actually I think with this you -- we know who this president is. There's nothing to do with that. At this point I don't -- I don't see the president having any credibility in terms of uniting the country and --

BOLDUAN: You think he's not part of this conversation anymore?

REYES: No, the part of this conversation that needs to emerge is from congressional Republicans who represent people across the southwest, obviously all over the country, they need to speak up and stay -- and say what is their position. And many of them are hesitant to do so.

But think about this. Last year, when President Trump was putting out all this ugly rhetoric about the threat of the caravans, the Pew Center found that 54 percent of Latinos felt uneasy and felt that it was more difficult just to exist as a Latino in the United States. That's more than half of the largest minority in the country. When you have that many people saying they don't even feel at home in this country, that's a very -- that's a very potentially dangerous construct, whether you're talking in terms of civic engagement, or social instability, or just future generations. When you have a large segment of the population increasingly feeling alienated.

BOLDUAN: Right.

REYES: And this was before. That was almost a year before this shooting.

BOLDUAN: Yes, it -- I fear what -- I fear what the Pew Center would find at this point.

REYES: Exactly.

BOLDUAN: Stephanie, I do want -- I do want to ask you this. I mean Democrats, we are seeing, in the aftermath of the shooting, at least to many of us, Democrats who are running for president have come out against the president harder on this issue than I think we've seen on anything else. I mean going right on the day of the shooting, right after the shootings, calling Donald Trump a white supremacist. [12:25:00] I want to read you what Joe Biden is expected -- he's

giving a big speech today. And this is expected -- this is what he is expected to say in part. He's going to say this. How far is it from Trump's saying that it is an invasion to the shooter in El Paso declaring his attack is in response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas? Not far at all. He goes -- he's expected to go on to say, in both clear -- in both clear language and in code, this president has fanned the flames of white supremacy in this nation.

With that and with this goal of elevating the conversation, is anyone in politics right now talking about this problem in a way that's helpful, Stephanie?

VALENCIA: Look, I think it's really critically important that people like Joe Biden, Cory Booker, today in South Carolina, both Democrats and Republicans alike, use their platforms to talk about this issue, to talk about race in this country and to talk about this issue of white nationalism that exists and that they need to use their platform to be able to education all Americans that there are certain people in this country who feel under attack and call it for what it is.

And so I applaud Joe Biden for going directly at and calling it out. I applaud Cory Booker, who used his platform today in South Carolina, to do the same. We really, as Americans, have to understand and grapple the history, the long history of racism and white supremacy that has existed for centuries in our country and understand what that means to who we want to be as a country moving forward.

REYES: And, Kate, to me, you know, we're talking about these presidential candidates. To me this so transcends politics.

VALENCIA: It has to.

REYES: It's not even about what Democratic leaders say or where -- how Republicans weigh in.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

REYES: It's about our fundamental values of how we treat our fellow Americans, fellow human beings, people who are existing --

BOLDUAN: How you talk about someone in your community. How you treat someone in your community, your neighbor.

REYES: The lives of men and women and children.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

REYES: That's the questions Americans need to ask. This is not an illegal immigration issue or political issues, it's just a question of basic human dignity and rights.

BOLDUAN: Thank you. Raul, thank you so much for being here.

REYES: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Stephanie, thank you very much. I really appreciate it.

Coming up for us, protesters met President Trump in Dayton today with a chant that has become a familiar refrain in Dayton, Ohio, "do something."

Up next, a local lawmaker who says the president shouldn't be in Dayton at all unless he is serious about gun reform, joins us.

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