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Trump Meets with Evangelical Christian Leaders; How Brexit Could Affect U.S., World Economies; Terror Attack in Jordan Along Syrian Border; Republican Susan Collins to Unveil New Gun Legislation. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired June 21, 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] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And as I said, an eight-point lead in Florida. That's disturbing. Can you win the presidency without Florida?

ED BROOKOVER, SENIOR ADVISOR, DONALD TRUMP PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: I think a lot of paths to presidency. We'll compete in Florida. We'll fight for Florida. I think eventually, Mr. Trump will do very well down there. People literally are hurting out there. Retirement community getting hurt. I think we'll do well once we take Mr. Trump's message to that state.

BLITZER: Ed Brookover, with the Trump campaign. Ed, thank you very much for joining us.

BROOKOVER: Thank you for having me, Wolf.

BLITZER: Donald Trump right now looking to shore up the evangelical vote. The presumptive nominee meeting with nearly a thousand of the most Christian conservative leaders in New York right now. Expected to field questions and engage in conversation with these Christian leaders in an effort to get to know them better and gain their support.

Let's bring in senior White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, from outside Trump tower.

What do these evangelical leaders want to hear right now from Donald Trump?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, I think they want to hear and this is based on what we've seen during the primary process is assurances from Donald Trump that he cares about their issues. He'll fight for their issues. And Eric Trump, one of Donald Trump's sons, came out of this meeting earlier this morning and said that's exactly what his father is going to do.

We do understand, Wolf, that the presumptive GOP nominee wrapped up his participation in that meeting and left the Marriott that was taking place but this was a meeting that was attended by some pretty big influential Christian conservative leaders like Ralph Reid, Tony Perkins, Michelle Bachmann, the former presidential candidate. Donald Trump was essentially talking to really all of the most important leaders of that movement. But, Wolf, just to go back to the primary in Wisconsin. And Donald

Trump going back and forth on the question of abortion rights, when he had that stumble on how he thought women should be punished if they undergo abortions and backtracked. Those are the kind of questions that Christian conservative leaders want to press him on. And I did talk to somebody who was in the room earlier this morning who said part of this process was taking place in this meeting involved questions and answers, back and forth with Donald Trump. And according to participant in the room, tweeted out a video just a little while ago, Wolf, that Donald Trump was saying something we've heard him say on the stump a lot of times, and that's doing well with evangelical voters. Won a lot of them. The vast majority of them, as he likes to put it, during the primary process. This is something Donald Trump has to count on.

We've been talking over the last 24 hours about these fund raising numbers, sliding in the polls. This is no time for Donald Trump to be dissing the evangelical community or losing their support. He needs them probably now more than ever heading into this general election campaign.

As you know, Wolf, over the last couple of presidential cycles, it seems firing up the base of each individual party is almost as important as reaching out to the moderate Independent voters.

BLITZER: He's going to need that conservative base. Others show up and vote if he has a chance to be elected president of the United States.

Jim Acosta, thank you very much.

Important programming note. Tomorrow, CNN hosts a presidential town hall with the Libertarian ticket, Gary Johnson and vice presidential pick, William Weld. That's tomorrow, 9:00 p.m. eastern only here on CNN.

Coming up, the U.K. preparing a vote on whether or not to leave the European Union. How will this decision impact the United States, the U.S. economy, the global economy, for that matter? We have details when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:37:56] BLITZER: It's one of the reasons the Federal Reserve here in the United States didn't raise rates. President Obama has warned it could affect trade. And we already see evidence it's impacting U.S. markets. It's Britain's decision whether or not to remain in the European Union, otherwise known as Brexit.

With the referendum two days away, Prime Minister David Cameron made an impassioned plea for a stay vote.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Brits don't quit. We get involved. We take a lead. We make a difference. We get things done. If we left, if we left, meetings and decisions that profoundly affect us, affect our country, affect our jobs, but we wouldn't be there. They would be making decisions about us but without us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: CNN International's correspondent, Richard Quest, joining us live from London.

Richard, this vote is really the only thing people over there are talking about. Tell us why.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Because it's going to the future of this country. A general election is held once every four or five years but everybody agrees this vote is more important. The last time we voted on E.U. membership was 40 odd years ago. And as the prime minister said it, this is irreversible. There's no saying Friday morning, oops, we got it wrong, can we please stay in. A process will have begun. And, Wolf, it is absolutely -- the Leave side had the small gain last week before Jo Cox was murdered. Now they're literally neck and neck with about an 8 to 10 percent undecided. And nobody has any doubt. This is the single most important vote that most of us will cast in our lifetime.

BLITZER: Very significant. As you know, David Beckham is weighing in. In a statement, the soccer star said this, "For our children and their children, we should be facing the problems of the world together and not alone. For these reasons, I am voting to remain."

What's your gut? What's your hunch tell you? What's going to be the outcome?

[13:40:18] QUEST: What a question. I would have said Leave was likely to win, and now I'm starting to believe the Remain is going to eke out a small victory. But, Wolf, in 24 hours of campaigning left and no campaigning on Thursday itself. It is way -- look, I'm on the knife's edge. I can't answer the question, Wolf. I can't answer it.

BLITZER: It's going to be exciting to see the result is.

QUEST: Absolutely.

BLITZER: As you correctly point out, the stakes not just for Britain but so much of the rest of the world are enormous right now. We'll watch it closely with you.

Thank you very much for that.

Coming up, a deadly terror attack on the border of Syria and Jordan. We're going to tell you who's claiming responsibility and how Jordan is responding.

Plus, live pictures from Orlando right now where the U.S. attorney general, Loretta Lynch, will address the news media any moment. Press conference coming after spending the day with victims, law enforcement officials and investigating the terror attack. We'll bring you that live, coming up, as well. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:45:22] BLITZER: Key U.S. ally in the Middle East is reeling after another terror attack along its border with Syria. The suicide bomber drove his car out of the Syrian refugee camp early this morning at high speed before detonating at the Jordanian border killing at least six members of Jordan's security forces. Jordan's military closed parts of its border with Syria and is calling this, I'm quoting now, "a cowardly terrorist attack." And King Abdullah released a statement condemning the attack and vowing to, quote, "strike with an iron fist any who attacks or attempts to harm security and borders."

Jordan's deputy prime minister, the foreign minister, Nasser Judeh, is joining us live.

And, Minister, thank you for joining us.

Your government is calling this terror attack. Who was responsible? Which terror organization?

NASSER JUDEH, JORDANIAN DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Well, when you have a suicide car bombing from the direction of Syria and an area accumulated over the last few months. About 100,000 people coming from the north and northeastern part of Syria where terrorists are operating, doesn't take much imagination to figure out where this is coming from. Regardless what name they go by, who attacked the border today and in any way shake or affect our result to continue leading the fight against terrorism and extremism.

BLITZER: Daesh, or ISIS, as we call it, was responsible. Did this come from an order from the ISIS or Daesh headquarters in Raqqa and will Jordan retaliate?

JUDEH: I'm not saying something conclusive seen on the website. Some people claiming responsibility for this heinous act and saying, we assume that it is that because like I said, they're aware of the suicide car bombing came from is an area that has a lot of people infiltrated by that. So we are being very vigilant. We're not reeling. You mentioned, we're not reeling. We're not reeling. And leads when it comes to terrorism and extremism and doesn't shake our resolve. We remain steadfast but have to remain prudent and vigilant.

BLITZER: There was concern about the border area. This is the second deadly terror attack against Jordanian forces in the last few days and three intelligence officers were killed earlier this month after an assault on a Jordanian intelligence agency office so what's your biggest concern right now. Is Daesh or ISIS infiltrating the refugees who are pouring into Jordan?

JUDEH: The two incidents as yet are not related, Wolf, but the fact, you're talking about it a few days ago was a lone Wolf inside. This is the first attack of its kind on our borders. This is the first time we have a car, a suicide car bombing. As you know, the world will vouch for the proficiency of our border guards and our security services. But this is a war, like I said. And these people, in fact the border post and we lost six brave young men. We have 14 injured. Hopefully a speedy recovery for said, this is a dangerous area. They came from the direction like I said, not from inside the refugee camp but within Jordan. They came from what we have seen over the last few months is a people that are coming from the north and northeastern part of Syria. And many have been infiltrated by that. Not saying that all of them are bad but they're right on the border and we'd be under a lot of pressure by the national community to allow people in blindly without screening and vetting them carefully and we don't need an ugly incident, a heinous attack to have people understand that we have security needs and accommodated 1.3 million Syrians with its meager resources I think done much more than many, much more powerful in the countries.

BLITZER: Nasser, the deputy minister and foreign minister of Jordan.

Good luck to you. Good luck to everyone in Jordan, I know as we speak, the U.S. Congress is considering an increase in U.S. military assistance to Jordan.

Nasser Judeh, thanks very much for joining us. We appreciate it.

JUDEH: Well, thank you very much.

BLITZER: Thank you.

[13:50:03] An important programming note. Chris Cuomo will take you inside the Paris terror attacks. A CNN special will air tonight, "Terror in Paris," at 9:00 p.m. eastern and 6:00 p.m. Pacific.

Loretta Lynch, the attorney general, will speak in Orlando about the attack on the Pulse nightclub.

And on Capitol Hill, Republican Senator Susan Collins, of Maine, is about to unveil a new gun proposal in the wake of that attack. What it entails. Is there hope this proposed legislation could pass? The details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:54:50] BLITZER: Spurred by the mass shootings, the killings in Orlando, four Senators from both parties attempted to enact tighter curbs on firearms, but they failed. Last night, the U.S. Senate rejected measures that would have expanded background checks on mental health records and terror watch list alerts, upped the requirements for background checks for gun shows and Internet sales, and allow a judge to block anyone in the federal terrorist screening database to be denied. All those legislative proposals failed.

I'm joined now by Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer, of California, is the author of a brand new book, "The Art of Tough, Fearlessly Facing Politics and Life."

Senator, thank you for joining us.

Thanks very much for joining us, thanks for writing this book.

SEN. BARBARA BOXER, (D), CALIFORNIA: Thank you. Thank you. BLITZER: Let me put up a tweet from the president of the United States. "Gun violence requires more than moments of silence. It requires action. In failing that test, the Senate failed the American people."

Why did it fail, according to the president, the American people?

BOXER: The Senate failed big-time. We had two measures out of the four that would have done something to stop terrorists from getting their hands on a weapon, to make sure that if you buy a gun through the Internet or from a private party, you're subjected to a background check, those were the two.

BLITZER: Those were the Democratic proposals?

BOXER: Those were the two --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: What about the Republican proposals --

(CROSSTALK)

BOXER: Let me finish.

(CROSSTALK)

BOXER: Let me finish.

BLITZER: Yeah. Go ahead.

BOXER: It didn't. If you look at both bills, they brought us back, not forward. I don't have time to go into it. But one of them, the Grassley bill would have said, the minute you get out of a mental hospital, you can get a gun.

Here's the point. Instead of looking back at yesterday, which was a dark day. And I want to say why. 10-year period, 300,000 Americans, over a 10-year period. In the Vietnam War, you remember the Vietnam War, it brought our country -- we were so divided. We were so heart sick. We lost 60,000 of our beautiful fighting men and women. 60,000. We lost 300,000 and we did nothing. I'm encouraging Susan Collins to work across the party aisle, which she is now doing, to come up with a provision that will do something.

BLITZER: Susan Collins, the Republican Senator from Maine.

BOXER: Yes.

BLITZER: You're working with her to come up with a compromise, if you will?

BOXER: I'm supporting her efforts. She's working with people on both sides of the aisle. It won't be, in my mind, as good as the Feinstein bill because it's much narrower but it's something.

And by the way, the NRA hates it. They are already out there robo calling against Sue. She's courageous.

BLITZER: It will need 60 votes to pass, will it?

BOXER: It will.

BLITZER: There 60 votes that will be there?

BOXER: I believe I could predict we would get all of the 46 Democrats. I'm guessing. I'm reaching, but I think so. And all she needs are 14 Republicans. And I told her yesterday, Sue, you need to get those Republicans. She said she was really working on it, Wolf.

BLITZER: Chris -- Senator Chris Murphy, as you know, told reporters at "The Washington Post," he led the filibuster the other day in the Senate. He said, "We've got to make this clear that Republicans have decided to sell weapons to ISIS." Those are strong words.

BOXER: What he means is, since 2011, we've seen the terrorists go out on YouTube and say to their, quote/unquote, "followers" in America, America is awash in guns, go get one and commit a terror act. That we know. That's what he means. That by doing nothing, we're enabling this to happen.

Look, we saw it in Orlando and in my great state in San Bernardino. What are we going to wait for? A third time? A fourth time? We need to move. I'm really hopeful that Susan will be able to put it together. I'm giving her all of my strength in the background.

BLITZER: You are retiring from the U.S. Senate. Not going to seek re-election. You've written this important new book. You say stick to your basic principles. What's the most basic principle you stuck to?

BOXER: Doing what is right, Wolf, even in the face of people deriding you. You have to be true to that self. There's nine rules in "The Art of Tough," but the first one is don't be afraid. Step up and do the right thing.

BLITZER: "The Art of Tough" is the name of the book.

And you're going to go out there and, what, sell a few copies?

BOXER: I'm doing some speeches about it. People want to hear about it and see if they can use these rules in their own lives.

BLITZER: You still have a day job so you've got to do that, too.

BOXER: If you think I'm not doing that, I am.

BLITZER: We'll see what happens with the Susan Collins legislation.

Thank you very much, Senator Boxer, for coming here.

BOXER: Thank you so much, Wolf.

BLITZER: Appreciate it. BOXER: All right.

BLITZER: BLITZER: I'll be back at 5:00 p.m. in "The Situation Room."

For international viewers, "Amanpour" is coming up next.

And for our North American viewers, NEWSROOM with Brooke Baldwin starts right now.