Transcripts For WJLA This Week With George Stephanopoulos 20

From abc news, its this week. Here now chief anchor, George Stephanopoulos. Was this week the Tipping Point for donald trump . Imagine any other candidate enduring the week he had. Imagine one dealing with it the way he did. It began with a Battery Charge for Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski after Surveillance Video proved he grabbed reporter Michelle Fields at a trump rally last month. Now, most candidates would discipline the staffer, not trump. He blamed the reporter. She didnt almost fall to the ground. He got in her way. By the way, she was grabbing me. Am i supposed to press charges against her . Then there was trumps trouble with abortion. Do you believe in punishment for abortion, yes or no, as a principle . The answer is that there has to be some form of punishment. For the woman . Yeah, there has to be some form. After the predictable firestorm being prolife is not only about defending the unborn children, its also about defending the mothers. Donald trump is showing us exactly who he is, and we should believe him. Trump forced to backtrack. The laws are set now on abortion, and thats the way theyre going to remain. Another clarification followed. Only the late night comics seemed to be happy with how it ended up. At this point donald trump has to be prochoice because hes made all of the choices. And on Foreign Policy, trump shattered more than half a century of Security Policy by hinting at how he would use nuclear weapons, and suggesting japan and south korea should consider Building Nuclear arsenals of their own. You wonder about his hand or his thumb getting any close to the critical button that president s are in charge of. President obama weighed in too. The person who made the statements doesnt know much about Foreign Policy or Nuclear Policy or the Korean Peninsula or the world generally. And with a crucial vote in wisconsin just two days away, trump appears to be taking a hit. Two polls now show a doubledigit lead for ted cruz, but in eau claire last night trump was in top form defiant and optimistic. I think were going to have a very good day on tuesday. Ill be honest. So lets talk about this now with our roundtable, joined by our political analyst matthew dowd. Let me ask the question i posed at the top of the show, was this week the Tipping Point . I think it was the Tipping Point to showing us that donald trump has great capacity to harm himself. I mean, this is a man of great strengths, very great ability to read the electorate, but unbelievable amount of flaws, and normally in the course of these campaigns, people grow, as you know, george. People grow and grow into it and learn to change the behavior and they learn to adapt to whats going on. Donald trump doesnt seem to have a capacity to do that, and this week i think showed that its going to be very difficult for him to win the majority of the delegates before the convention. Before the convention. But one of the things weve talk show host here for salem network, excuse me, weve seen him come back before. Make mistakes before, still hold on to his voters. And ivanka will be back and that is always caming but i say, ofs taught three had fewer wrong turns and car crashes than this week had for team trump and it was a very bad week when you roll the car that often and you begin to show this way with that clip reel hes going to lose wisconsin, ted cruz is going to win wisconsin. The question is, by the time he comes here to your hometown and his hometown, can he put it back together again. That is the question. Donna brazile, meantime, taking a huge hit, especially with women. Absolutely, george. Look, theres a new poll out, marquette university, 70 of women in wisconsin disapprove of donald trump. But for republican women, 45 . You cannot win without women. Women are the majority of voters, not just a demographic group. If donald trump loses in wisconsin, and there is indications that he might be narrative of his race. Meantime, Juan Williams from fox news, we saw something rare from donald trump this morning in an interview with maureen dowd in the new york times. He actually suggested he shouldnt have done something, retweeted out that photo of heidi cruz. If thats part of 9 problem with women. You stop back and look back and romney was minus 11 with women. Trump looks like hes going to triple that. Hes going the whole way here. The problem is not just the twitter feed but the abortion, the idea of punishing women, this crosses political lines and, of course, its totally anathema to the antiabortion line that were not about punishing women. Were punishing doctors, and we want to save children. So, at this moment, its the Empire Strikes back, george. You have the republican force, establishment forces able to concentrate on wisconsin, theyre far outspending trump in the state. Theyve got the governor in addition to, you know, gosh, you now saying i am opposed to donald trump on the republican side, plus, the planned parenthood people and some of the democrats, you heard from president obama, Hillary Clinton in your reel. Theyre speaking out against donald trump in a way that they havent spoken before. I think the fascinating thing about this bad week, really bad week for donald trump is his support has not dropped at all. Its not dropped in wisconsin, its right at 32 , 34 , its not dropped, been there since last year and his support nationally has not dropped off in the course of this. I dont think its so much as the antiTrump Movement has done this, i think donald trump has capped himself in an ability to win a general election, its made it very difficult and the ability to expand his support but his supporters are still really strong. He has a concrete floor and maybe a concrete ceiling as well or at least thats the question. Stand by. Were going to come back to you guys in a little bit, but we turn to the candidate who is banking his hopes on a contested convention and i spoke to john kasich from wisconsin saturday afternoon, with the topic donald trump front and center this week, abortion. I hope they do repeal roe v. Wade and then it will be up to the states to decide how they want to proceed. Itll be up to them to figure out what they want to do and thats precisely what we would do. But you said there are legitimate and constitutional restrictions that could be put abortion. What are they . Well, george, you know, when you say constitutional restrictions or whatever those are your words. The only thing i would tell you is yeah, i dont know when i said it or why i said that in particular, probably out of context but, look, i mean, i am opposed to abortion except in the case of rape, incest and life of the mother. I hope roe v. Wade will be repealed, and then it will be turned to the states and the states will have to figure out exactly what the restrictions ought to be, period, end of story. So but if you believe that abortion is taking of an innocent life, how would you enforce a ban on that activity . Well, that will be up to the states to figure out what they want to do. And, you know, obviously when we have come out earlier this week, its the first time ive seen the prolife and the prochoice people come together to say, you know, that well have to basically work this out and trying to punish a woman would not be the appropriate way to behave. And i think its going to take people in a reasonable way working through it. But why isnt it appropriate . If you believe that abortion is the taking of innocent life, why shouldnt a woman who makes the choice to take that life face some kind of punishment or sanction . Because i think its difficult on her to begin with. Thats the way i feel about it, george, and thats the end of it. Even if it follows that it is a woman is there making the choice to take a life . Look, ive said what i have to say about the subject, george. You know how i have behaved both as a legislator and as a governor, and i would like to have those exemptions. I would like to leave it to those exceptions and itll be up want to handle this. Do you believe doctors who perform abortions should be punished . Were going to leave this up to the states to work this out the way they want to, george. So youre not going to take any position on doctors facing punishment . Right now this let me just put it to you this way im not, today im not. I just told you how i feel about it. So, if youre still governor of ohio, what would you seek to do . Work with the legislature to figure out what would be a good consensus to do. In ohio we have made sure that we have transfer agreements. These are things that weve done and ive been very careful about making sure that we dont pass something that is going to cause a constitutional conflict, which is i think what you were referring to so that the restrictions that weve put in place are going to be fine. And i think weve behaved there and conducted ourselves appropriately. Let me move on to the situation in wisconsin. Youve been facing some ads run by a super pac supporting senator ted cruz. Amazing. Heres what theyre saying. Polling for a last second shot and blocking out the grassroots, but thats classic john kasich. Millionaires working side by side with george soros are bankrolling his super pac while kasich votes against the Second Amendment and expanded obamacare in ohio costing taxpayers billions. What do you make of that . I think its funny. Look, george, you know, you know politics, youve been in it. Youre a very smart strategist. Its what you put up with in a campaign. And, of course, that distorts virtually everything, and, in fact, the wall street journal in an editorial the other day said it was actually a smear, but, you know, look, ive spoken out, and ive said what i want to say but, frankly, im interested in talking about my record of job growth, of creating security for people in the workplace, Getting Better wages and making sure our kids have a Better Future and a you know, ive had some pretty strong things to say. A couple days ago in regard to trump and some in regard to cruz but i dont live in that lane. I live in a different place because i have a record of accomplishment. You know, interesting in wisconsin, you know that they did a survey the other day, and 38 of the people in wisconsin have no opinion of me. They still have not heard much about me, which shows that we have so much room to grow, and were concentrated in those areas where we think we can do well, and we are very excited about heading to new york where ive learned not to eat pizza with a fork and where were running first or second in virtually all of the Congressional Districts and were virtually tied with donald trump in pennsylvania. Were starting to get to more home turf for me. You still have won only one state, however, and as you know under the current rules of the Republican National committee your only hope is to get to a contested convention but under the current rules you wouldnt even be eligible for 9 nomination, because you havent picked up a majority of delegates in eight states. It doesnt appear that youre going to be able to do that, so how do you intend to get that rule changed . Well, first of all, george, i am not going to spend time on process. I have some of the best process people, you know, whether its john weaver or charlie black or stu spencer. But there are no rules governing the next convention. The rules have not been set and well see what a rules committee decides to do, but i expect that were going to be gaining momentum, picking up delegates and heading into the convention, and, george, look, the strongest theres two strong things i have going for me, number one, i beat Hillary Clinton in virtually every poll. Im the only one that does it on the republican side. And, secondly, when they look at the record, when they look at the record of job growth, the record of international Foreign Policy knowledge and experience, i believe that a convention will look at somebody like me and thats why i think ill be the nominee. We just have to keep going and were going to have an open convention. And, george, youre the guy that gets open conventions, its going to be so much fun. Kids will spend less time focusing on bieber and kardashian and more time focusing on how we elect president s. I thought you liked justin bieber. But you say its going to be fun but we just heard from roger stone, an ally of donald trump who said hell organize what he calls days of rage protests to prevent the convention from stealing the nomination from donald trump. Are you worried about what could be a violent protest or days of great unrest in your home state . Well, george, you know, look, we prepare for all occasions, but let me also tell you, i went to a convention in 1976 as a young man and actually worked directly with governor reagan at the time. And when delegates go to a convention, theyre old hand. Some of them are legislators, some of them have worked in the vineyards helping people to get elected and when they go into the convention, something magical happens to them. They begin to feel the real weight of decisionmaking in regard to who wins in the fall, and, secondly, this one is serious, would could be president because they begin to realize that they are going to be held accountable and they are responsible for making sure we pick somebody who can be commander in chief, leader of the free world and can beat Hillary Clinton in the fall, and im the only one that consistently does it. I think were hearing the pitch youre going to make at the convention if you get there. Governor kasich, thanks for joining us this morning. Im going to get there, george. Well go together and ill be running and youll be reporting. Well be there. And let get more on this now from the chair of the Republican National committee, Reince Priebus. Mr. Priebus, thanks for joining us once again. Thank you. You just heard john kasich saying the contested convention would be magical but i wonder what you make of this call from roger stone, an ally of donald trump, putting out a call for days of rage protests in cleveland. Well, you know, theres nothing can get stolen from anyone. We have rules in place that if a candidate gets to 1,237 delegates, those delegates are bound, and they will vote that way on the floor, and if they dont vote that way on the floor, which they will, but if they dont, the secretary will read the vote as if they were bound regardless. So, we will know where everyone stands on delegates on june 8th after the june 7th primaries. There will be no mystery over who has the majority or if someone doesnt, whether its going to be an open convention. If its an open convention, then were going tos going to have been to be clear, open and transparent on what the rules say and how theyre administered. And it will be very clear and there will be a camera cameras at every step of the way, so there will be no mystery. No mystery, but what about the rules . You just heard me talk to john kasich about that rule 40b, that in the last convention required a candidate to have won the majority of delegates in eight states. Will that be the rule for this convention . Well, i mean, look, even if it is the rule, it wouldnt prevent a nomination later on in the process when delegates are unbound, so i mean, the fact is, theres a lot of people interpreting rules that really dont understand the rules. The eightstate rule was put in place after the 2012 romney delegates changed it, so it is true that the 2016 rules committee will review the rules, and they will decide on what the rules are for the 2016 convention. That all being said, you know, major changes to the rules are very are not very common. So i think you have to look at both the history of the rulemaking and the fact let me interrupt you right there. Sure. Is it fair to say, though, that after a first ballot, there really are no rules, the delegates at the convention decide whatever they want to decide if youve got a majority in the convention, they can create any rule they want to create and nominate anyone they want to nominate . Generally everyone is bound on the first ballot, and some states theyre bound on a couple of votes, but youre right that on the second orhird ballot, more and more delegates are unbound, and they can vote for who they want. Now, you still would have to get a certain amount of states and delegates in place in order to be nominated, and so thats important. You cant just have one person out there nominating a candidate, but generally your premise is correct, but there are rules in place to prevent, you know, 50 people getting nominated. You have to demonstrate a certain amount of support and a certain amount of states in order to get nominated. That all being said, all of this goes away if a candidate gets 1,237 delegates before cleveland and right now ted cruz and donald trump, they have a possibility of getting to that number and all of this is put to bed. If its not put to bed, george, then well have an open convention and its going to be administered properly and well have a vote and well have a multiballot convention. That pledge you got all the candidates to sign to back whoever got the nomination seems to be falling apart. Donald trump said this week hes not bound by it and told Chris Wallace of fox news that hes still is open to running an independent bid. Now that he says hes no longer bound by the pledge, what are the consequences from the Republican National committee . Well, look, i mean, we expect that when candidates make commitments to the principles and values of our party, that they would keep it. You know if they but hes not. I dont listen, i think candidates are also posturing and i think theyre posturing for the possibility of an open convention. I think some candidates think that, you know, theres leverage to be had over making these kinds of statements. Theres no leverage over us. Were going to administer the convention the same way. And if the candidate can get to a majority on their own, then they are going to be the nominee, but no amount of leverage and statements are going