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Sanders Spokesman Comments on Sanders, Obama Meeting; Awaiting White House Press Briefing on Obama, Sanders Meeting; Trump Disappointed at Republican Criticism; Trump Wraps Up Meeting with Donors, Gingrich Comments; Obama Announces Official Endorsement of Clinton;. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired June 9, 2016 - 13:30   ET

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


[13:30:00] JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: I did ask how he plans to alert supporters and followers to the fact that he is no longer keeping pledge to fight to the convention. He said he will be in touch with them and will talk to supporters, Wolf.

That is the key question going after this. Bernie Sanders leaves with winning 22 states and 10 million votes. What his supporters do here is key. We are watching what Senator Sanders does in that regard. As of yet, he hasn't alerted them. He is still in this race. He says he is fighting for the District of Columbia, which votes next week. That is the central question here.

Senator Sanders will be meeting really in about 30 minutes or so with Harry Reid, the Senate Democratic leader. It will be a private meeting. He will be meeting with Chuck Schumer. That is important. Senator Sanders still is a full and active member of the United States Senate. And if Democrats win control of the Senate, he could have chairmanship of a committee. He is on the Veterans Affairs Committee. It is one of the reasons that Senator Sanders is not creating a stir here like some supporters wanted. "Bernie or bust" has been the battle cry for some supporters. He is going back to Senator Sanders, his day job, I guess, if you will.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Got a very important day job on Capitol Hill.

Jeff, stand by.

I want to show viewers live pictures from the White House briefing room. We are expecting to get reaction from the White House to the meeting that the president had with Senator Sanders in the Oval Office. We will have live coverage of that and a whole lot more.

And Donald Trump says he is disappointed and surprised by the criticism from some within his own Republican party. But will critics get on board with Hillary Clinton the focus of the Trump campaign. I will speak strategy with a prominent Republican lawmaker. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:36:11] BLITZER: Looking at live pictures of the White House right now. A press briefing in the White House press briefing room expected to get started momentarily. Look at the official White House reaction to the very important meeting that President Obama had with Senator Bernie Sanders earlier in the Oval Office. It lasted for more than an hour.

Also, Senator Sanders is back up Capitol Hill right now in his Senate office building. Just got news he will be meeting with Senator Chuck Schumer and will be meeting with Vice President Joe Biden later today. Harry Reid, the Senate Democratic leader is on his agenda as well.

You are looking at live pictures from Capitol Hill. We will update you on all of this. We are standing by for this White House briefing, very important briefing coming up. We have full coverage.

In the meantime, Donald Trump says he is disappointed, he is surprised, he says, by the recent criticism from fellow Republicans. He also says he understands that they feel compelled to speak out about his controversial comments about a federal judge he criticized, in part of his Mexican heritage.

New York Republican Congressman Peter King is joining us now.

REP. PETER KING, (R), NEW YORK: Congressman, thanks for joining us.

Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: Trump says members of his own party, your party, Republican Party who have a problem with comments about heritage of this federal judge should just, in his words, quote, "Get over it." Do his comments bother you?

KING: They do. I have endorsed Donald Trump. I'm not one who says I'm not endorsing him now. The fact is he needs to realize that was a terrible mistake. It was wrong. It was racist remark to talk about a judge's ethnic background. And also it was wrong politically because there is no reason why he should be talking about private litigation. He is running for president of the United States. He has to realize that everything he says has impact.

I was at a diplomatic reception last night. There were ambassadors there from all over the world. He is no longer Donald Trump, the guy from New York. He is running for president of the United States. For him to be upset that Republicans are mad at him, he has to realize he has to clean up his act and has to get this together.

All of last week should have been a victory for Donald Trump. The inspector general reported Hillary Clinton, we got a very poor jobs reports coming out of the Obama administration. That is what he should have been driving home, not talking about the ancestry of a judge in an unrelated civil case.

BLITZER: As you know, Congressman, some fellow Republicans, fellow conservatives think maybe it's not too late. They would like the rules committee going into the Republican convention to revise the rules, have a contested convention, and maybe take the nomination away from Donald Trump. Is that at all realistic, doable from your perspective?

KING: Wolf, I don't see how that is realistic at all. Not at this state, not after delegates have been committed and going through all those primaries. What it would do is, even if it succeeded, it would hopelessly divide the part and it would hand election to Hillary Clinton. Whether we like it or not, Donald Trump is going to be the nominee, and to be talking about trying convention, unless something else happens the fact is he is going to be the nominee. To me, it almost plays into the hand for those who say the game is fixed. I don't see how it can be done right now. Again, if they had so much to say they should have done it during primary season. We had our shot and lost. I supported Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio. I didn't have a lot invested in Donald Trump. He did win. I have spoken with him. Again, he has to straighten out. He can't do the same he did last week. He has to get a better organization behind him.

Having said that, the alternative is Hillary Clinton. Personally, I get along very well with Secretary Clinton but her views on the Supreme Court, a failed foreign policy over the last several years. We have an opportunity to advance the Republican agenda and I think make victories in foreign policy. Again, Donald Trump needs to straight out and, secondly, it is also important for people to stop talking about an uprising at the convention.

[13:40:32] BLITZER: Congressman King, thank you for joining us.

KING: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Peter King of New York.

Take a look at live pictures from the White House. We are standing by for that. The press briefing any minute now. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:45:06] BLITZER: You are looking at live pictures from the White House. A press briefing expected to start fairly soon. A meeting -- getting official White House reaction to the meeting that the president had with Senator Bernie Sanders, a very important meeting that lasted more than an hour earlier today.

We're monitoring Capitol Hill where Senator Bernie Sanders will be meeting with the Senator Minority Leader Harry Reid. The two are said to have a close trusting relationship. They have been friends for years. Later this afternoon, Sanders will meet with Senator Chuck Schumer of New York and Vice President Joe Biden. Meetings continue. We will have a lot more on that. Very big day for Senator Bernie Sanders. He is saying he will compete in next Tuesday's final contest in Washington, D.C.

Donald Trump, meanwhile, has been meeting with Republican political fundraisers. They have wrapped up a meeting in New York.

Let's bring in our CNN political director, David Chalian; and CNN senior political reporter, Nia-Malika Henderson. David, let me play some clips. This is a clip of Paul Ryan, speaker

of the House; and Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the House, speaking about Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN, (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE (voice-over): Do I think these antics are distracting and give us a campaign that we cannot be part of? Yeah. I think and hope and believe that he can fix this to the point where he can run a campaign where we can be proud of.

NEWT GINGRICH, (R), FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: The first time you have to be a presidential candidate, it's a different league, not just running for the nomination but to actually be the nominee. It is a much tougher league. And you have to be more careful and you have to think through what you are trying to say. I think he will do fine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Is the Republican establishment, the leadership moving on beyond the very controversial comments that Donald Trump made about the federal judge in California, David?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: There is no real moving beyond. This is the conundrum that Republican leaders find themselves in all the time. We know that Donald Trump has proven to be unconventional and you can't really expect that any one day is how he will repeat behavior the next day. In fact, he is priding himself on being unpredictable. That is one thing that he touts as a key characteristic of his. What you have here is that creates Paul Ryan who one day gets out publically to slam Donald Trump for comments he says are racist and have no place belonging in the presidential election campaign going before Republican members behind closed doors in the House and saying we have to unite as a party and do everything we can to defeat Hillary Clinton. That is how they are going to have to live through the next five months because they want to keep Donald Trump on a course all about defeating Hillary Clinton. We know that Donald Trump veers off course sometimes and then they have to deal with ramifications as leadership of the party. I think that pattern is likely to be the pattern of the next five months.

BLITZER: Nia, you also heard Donald Trump telling Republican critics get over it. That's not necessarily what the establishment wants to hear from him.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: That's right. I agree with David. There's no getting over it. Because everything that Donald Trump has said is on video. It was here on the interview in California. Already just in my in box, Priorities USA has cut part of that interview into an ad. This is a $35 million ad by part of a digital ad buy. Two ads out about Donald Trump and comments about this judge. It really is, in some ways, reminiscent of Mitt Romney, the 47 percent remark that ended up being a gaff that cut into very effective ads for Democrats. I think that makes so many Republicans so nervous in some of these ads that this super PAC is releasing. They are using Republicans' own words against Donald Trump. It features Paul Ryan calling those remarks racist. So it is a very hard situation that Republicans are in.

If you talk to advisers who are around Donald Trump in his inner circle, they can't really predict what Donald Trump will do from minute to minute and they are worried about that. They wish the campaign was much more professional going after Hillary Clinton much more than it is instead of always on clean up duty when Donald Trump says something. Trump doesn't always want to go on cleanup duty himself, offers half apologies. This is a real concern for not only Trump advisers but Republicans who are just worried. You heard Peter King there saying, whether we like it or not, Donald Trump is our nominee. That is not exactly the kind of ringing endorsement that you would expect to hear about a nominee, the presumptive nominee.

[13:50:21] BLITZER: Nia, David, stand by.

We are standing by, ourselves. We are getting more information from Capitol Hill right now. Senator Bernie Sanders is meeting with some Senate colleagues, including Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer.

Also, we are standing by for the White House briefing, the official White House reaction to the meeting the president had with Senator Bernie Sanders in the Oval Office. A live picture of the briefing room.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: We are getting very important breaking news coming in to CNN right now. This from a Democrat, from a Democrat close to the White House. President Obama will endorse Hillary Clinton later today. And I'm quoting now from the source -- "With the Sanders meeting out of the way, he's going to endorse." The president of the United States will formally endorse. In fact, presumably to come into the White House briefing room momentarily to make it official that the president of the United States will endorse Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States.

Let's bring in David Chalian. Nia-Malika Henderson is with us, as well.

David, the timing of this is surprising. I guess the president was waiting to have the formal meeting with Senator Sanders to let him know of his intention to endorse Hillary Clinton not a surprise. The question was the timing. Right?

CHALIAN: That's right. In fact, I'm watching this video that Hillary Clinton's campaign just posted with President Obama on it, actually giving his remarks that he wants to add his name to the list of names who are supporting her and joining the effort.

So, yes. As we were saying earlier in this show, Wolf, this is carefully sequenced and choreographed giving Bernie Sanders his moment, walking in the White House with him, having that picture out there and having Bernie Sanders restate the causes of his campaign on the White House driveway. Bernie Sanders now goes on to meet with the big Democratic leadership in the Senate, Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer, and then the vice president. He gets a victory lap through Washington today and the Democratic establishment.

But it was as soon as that sort of box was checked, President Obama's made no bones about the fact how eager he is to get into the campaign, how he wants to join the fight again Donald Trump. He's been doing it more and more lately. Now that the presumptive nominee has been declared, and that is Hillary Clinton, he's now getting on board with that. They wanted the waste no time.

BLITZER: They're not wasting any time at all. The president, we anticipate, it's possible, he'll actually himself go into the White House briefing room and make the announcement.

Jeff Zeleny, I take it you're getting immediate reaction from the Clinton campaign?

[13:55:--] JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: We are, indeed, Wolf. Hillary Clinton sent out a tweet moments ago saying this, "President Obama endorses Hillary. I don't think there's ever been someone so qualified to hold this office."

Also, in this video that was sent out by the Clinton campaign, five important words boiled down, Wolf, "President Obama is in. Are you?"

So, Wolf, the Clinton campaign, this is moving so fast here this afternoon, and the president offering his formal endorsement here, sent out in a video message that will blasted across the Clinton campaign's Facebook streams and other types of social media. The president fully engaged in the campaign, partially because the meeting with Senator Sanders in the Oval office went very well, I'm told.

Senator Sanders just left his office here in the Senate office building and is on the way over to the U.S. capitol to meet with Harry Reid, the Democratic leader, following that, meeting with Chuck Schumer, the incoming Democratic leader of the Senate. Wolf, he will be meeting with Vice President Biden this afternoon. This is an example of how quickly campaigns can change and close and move on. Sanders didn't talk to reporters as he left here a few moments ago here. But he'll be seen momentarily with Senator Reid and then we'll hear from him later on -- Wolf?

With the president giving a strong endorsement, this race now changes in a major way -- Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. We have some video now. Here's the president of the United States on video endorsing Hillary Clinton. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For more than a year now, across thousands of miles and all 50 states, tens of million of Americans have made their voices heard. Today, I just want to add mine. I want to congratulate Hillary Clinton on making history as the presumptive Democratic nominee for president of the United States.

Look, I know how hard this job can be. That's why I know Hillary will be so good at it. In fact, I don't think there's ever been someone so qualified to hold this office. She's got the courage, the compassion and the heart to get the job done. And I say that as somebody who had to debate her more than 20 times. Even after our own hard-fought campaign, in a testament to her character, she agreed to serve our country as secretary of state. And from the decision we made in the situation room to get bin Laden, to our pursuit of diplomacy and capitals around the world, I have seen her judgment, I have seen her toughness, I have seen her commitment to our values up close. I've seen her determination to give every American a fair shot tough the fight was. That's what's always driven her and it still does.

So I want those of you who have been with me from the beginning of this incredible journey to be the first to know that I'm with her. I am fired up and I cannot wait to get out there and campaign for Hillary.

I also want to thank everybody who turned out to vote and worked so hard for our candidates. This has been a hard-fought race. I know some say the primaries left the Democratic Party somehow divided. They said that eight years ago, as well. Just like eight years ago, there are millions of Americans, not just Democrats, who cast their ballots for the very first time. And a lot of that is thanks to Senator Bernie Sanders who has run an incredible campaign.

I had a great meeting with him this week and I thanked him for shining a spotlight on issues like income inequality and the outsized influence of money in our politics and bringing young people into the process. Embracing that message is going to help us win in November. But more importantly, it will make the Democratic Party stronger, and it will make America strong.

Senator Sanders may have been rivals during this primary, but they're both patriots who love this country, and they share a vision for the America that we all believe in, an America that's hopeful, an America that's big hearted, an America that's strong and fair and gives every child the same chance that we had. Those are the values that unite us as Democrats. Those are the values that make America great. Those are the values that are going to be tested in this election.

And if we all come together in common effort, I'm convinced we won't just win in November, we'll build on the progress we have made and win a brighter future for this country that we love.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Very strong statement from the president of the United States, formally, publicly endorsing Hillary Clinton for president of the United States. This is a video released by the Hillary Clinton campaign, only a little while after that important meeting that the president had in the Oval Office with Senator Bernie Sanders. So you have now heard officially from the president.

There had been some anticipation maybe he would come into the White House briefing room to make the announcement. We're told he will not do that. This is the announcement from the president of the United States. The president making the official announcement on video that you just heard.

Senator Ben Cardin is joining us, Democrat of Maryland.