Transcripts For CNNW Wolf 20170502

Well have live coverage of that as well. Two live events coming up this hour. First Vice President mike pence is back occuup on capitol hill trying to whip up support for the new republican effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care act, obamacare. This was one of the key Campaign Promises of course by President Trump. The first attempt in march it failed to advance even to a vote on the house floor. This one seems to be a very close call as well with thursday a possible deadline for a vote. Our Congressional Correspondent Sunlen Serfaty is on capitol hill. The republican congressional conference, they met today. Do we have a better idea right now on how the vote looks as far as this effort is concerned . Right now, wolf, the outlook is pretty grim for Republican Leaders up here on capitol hill. Put simply, they do not have the votes they need just yet. And this is a message that was communicated to the full House Republican conference this morning when they huddled here updating members on where this process is and indicating how this could be Going Forward. They are teetering very close to that tipping point, the point wherein essence the bill cannot move forward according to cnns latest web count, 22 House Republicans say theyre opposed to this bill. That means the republicans, if one more House Republican comes out against this bill, and moves to the no column, that would stop this from Going Forward and stand in the way of the republican getting the 216 votes they need if it even went to a floor vote. That said, house Republican Leadership is trying to project confidence as they try to woo members and they show last minute support, trying to educate members who have many questions specifically over preexisting conditions. Heres what speaker ryan said earlier this morning. So the purpose of our bill is to get more choices while preserving the protections for preexisting conditions. That is a very important thing. Were sbipited about this polic. Im outside now a meeting of the tuesday group. This is a group of moderate members up here on capitol hill. Many moderates in this room that are huddling at this moment are still undecided about the bill. Many of them have certains over preexisting conditions. Not only what theyre hearing from the president but what the mcarthur amendment actually does about preexisting conditions. They could go on to kill this bill so we will know a lot more about the fate of this bill, wolf, after this huddle today. Sunlen, Vice President mike pence is meeting with republican members of the senate. Lindsey graham, one of those senators, just told kate baldwin he has no idea, his words, no idea whats in this Republican Health care bill that could be coming up for a vote in the house of representatives. So what is going on . Is there actual legislation that members in the house and senate can read . Well, its interesting, wolf, we have heard that certainly from many members. This expression that they want to make sure that theyre reading actual legislation and certainly coming from the senate side thats something were hearing a lot. They are the next step in this whole process. But when and if the house bill is voted on, they would potentially take over. But there is the expectation that when the senate gets the legislative text from the house if it is passed and thats a big if, theyre going to make significant changes to that legislation, then it will go on to conference committee. Likely what were seeing from Vice President pence up here on capitol hill today meeting with Senate Republicans so s to get in front of that, get in advance of that. But a lot of ifs and maybes if that step even happens anytime soon. Well see what happens. As you say, 22 republicans now clearly publicly have said they will vote no. All the democrats in the house of representatives will vote no. If one more republican goes ahead and says he or she will vote no, that could be curtains for this second effort to repeal and replace obamacare. Sunlen, thanks very much. President trump was pushing for a vote on health care last week, but the extra few days certainly doesnt seem to have helped republican efforts. Lets deal with. That joining us our political analyst grade gregory, nia maliekia henderson and dana bash. What does it say if the republicans fail for a second time to guarantee enough votes and there wont be a vote if they delay it one more time. Its obviously a huge failure to go back and fail. It shows you how big the disconnect is between the white house and the president and congressional leadership when theyre all in the third party. The former House Speaker said there will never be a replacement of obamacare because republicans have never been able to agree on health care reform. The issue here is fundamental. Once a big entitlement has been given, its difficult to take it away. Huge disagreement between a more moderate republican review of Big Government protections for the vulnerable and a totally free market view which takes government out of it and leaves people who are vulnerable less protected. Thats what theyre trying to bridge here. The fact is right now, dana, the first time it failed because conservatives were not on board. This time it might fail because more moderate republicans are not on board. Its the legislative wacamole that you always have to deal with. Generally its not in your own party. Generally on something this big and important it is across party lines. Democrats dont want to have any part of anything that repeals obamacare so theyre not even players. The idea that republicans still are having this much trouble getting votes amongst themselves even though this is a promise, top of the list promise in campaign after campaign for the past, un, three election cycles, im told this morning by a Senior Administration official that by the end of the day theyll know whether they have the votes for what they hope will be a thursday vote. If they dont, then they wont schedule the vote on thursday and its lights out for health care. Pretty embarrassing if they cant even have a roll call a second time. It would be very embarrassing. The specktatiexpectation and th that there are about a handful of republicans who dont want to vote yes, would feel more comfortable politically back home voting no, but have told the leadership if you need me ill be there. The question is as this is out there more and more, as we have very influential congressmen like the former chair of the energy and Commerce Committee fred upton who said today im not going to vote for this because i dont believe that people with preexisting conditions will be mandated to be covered. Thats a big deal and it may make some of those on the fence who are quietly talking to the administration think twice. They need 216 votes right now. Given a few v if 22 member republicans already are saying theyre publicly saying theyre going to vote no and one more does that its over. Speaker ryan in sort of his absence of saying that they have the votes and in privately saying the House Republicans indicating that they dont, there is some way to go. I think to spell out how difficult this is to do. When we covered, dana and i were up on the hill covering congress when they passed health care reform, Speaker Pelosi convinced some democrats to end their careers by voting for this. This is an issue that is so personal, that affects people, the compromise at this point can be felt by some people as being penalized by having a preexisting condition. This is the kind of thing that if the republicans are serious about whipping they will have to convince some of their members to maybe sacrifice their political futures to do this. And a lot of members dont want to do that obviously. Theyre nwill they do it for the question. They want to be reelected. They wont have time between now and thursday if there is a vote for the Congressional Budget Office to give a report to all the members of the house of representatives what the actual impact of this legislation will be. Thats right. And that was a big speed bump for the last piece of legislation because the cbo essentially said it would raise premiums from 10 to 15 over the next couple years and then lower them. And then 24 million or so people would be uninsured over the next couple of years. So i think if you are a member of the house and you are wavering on whether or not to vote for this, do you really want to vote for something that hasnt been scored yet and might come back showing a premium increase. So thats something certainly at play here. Folks in the senate some n some ways are saying if the house cant get it done, maybe they can get it done. This is a tricky thing. And it hasnt helped that you have had white house Officials Say this is going to happen this week. And it just might not happen. And if they cant get it done this time, does it actually come up again or as dana said, it seems like gary cohen one of the top economic advisers. If they want to take on tax reform, theres also this has been a rather rushed process. The president is all over the place generally. Take hospitals. They want more coverage. Theyve gotten more revenue because of obamacare. Its taken a few years for it to actually settle in. These are constituent groups who are talking to these members who are just now learning about the certainty of what obamacare means. Warts and all. Thats an issue that i think gives a lot of members pause. Everybody stick around. Theres a lot more coming up. Hillary clinton, she will be interviewed any moment now at the women for Women Charity luncheon in new york city. Youre looking at live pictures coming in. Well have live coverage of that as soon as it begins. The White House Press briefing also by the way set to begin later this hour. Health care, north korea, the president s tweet this morning calling for a Good Government shutdown are just several topics likely to be discussed. Much more coming up. Lots going on this hour. Turkey has no added nitrates, me nitrites or artificial preservatives. Now its good for us all. Like introverts. Extroverts. cheering and even bert. Man you gotta try this sandwich. Whos just overt. Oscar mayer deli fresh. 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While we wait for the white house to release details of the call, i want to bring in our Senior International correspondent Matthew Chance whos joining us from moscow. Matthew, this is the first time theyve spoken since russia denounced the u. S. Military strike in syria last month. Do we expect there will be more tension on the call because of that . Well, certainly there will be if that issue is raised by President Trump or by president putin. Certainly there were scathing criticism after those u. S. Missile strikes last month against that syrian air base, Syrian Government of course of bashar al assad, strong ally of Vladimir Putin. The kremlin at the time called it a violation of International Law and an attack against the sovereign t soverei sof sovereignty of syria. Hes met with his russian counter parts and they both expressed the intention, lavrov and tillerson to build better relations. This telephone conversation is only the third time theyve spoken on the phone but its going to be krut niscrutinized can get an idea of what the policy will be. The russians say theyve had mixed messages over syria and ukraine and the russians are going to be listening closely as are we to get any sign of what the policy of the Trump Administration is towards russia moving forward. It will be fascinating to get details. Amidst this as you know, matthew, the german chancellor angela merkel, shes in russia today for talks with putin. Its her first time there since 2015. What do we know . What has come out of those talks . The talks have already happened. They gave a joint news conference. It wasnt great in terms of if youre looking for signs that the relationship between russia and germany was improving t wasnt great. Of course, germany has been leading the charge if you like towards tightening sanctions against russia over its involvement in the conflict in eastern ukraine. The two of them publicly disagreed about the situation in ukraine. Angela merkel criticized Vladimir Putin for the treatment of guy rights, the treatment of guy men in russia where there have been lots of report of guy men being persecuted and killed because of their sexuality in that part of southern russia. A pretty tense joint press conference and no sign the relationship was improving. All part of the diplomatic flurry with putin at the center of that. Tomorrow hes going to be meeting president erdogan of turkey. I think it underlines how important putin has become in global diplomacy. Matthew, thank you. Reporting live from moscow. Were waiting for todays White House Press briefing to begin. Take a look at live pictures coming in from the White House Briefing room. Were expecting sean spicer to take questions on the fate of the repeal and replace obamacare legislation. The president s phone conversation with Vladimir Putin. Thats ongoing as we speak. And the north Korean Nuclear threat. Well go there live as soon as that White House Briefing begins. In the meantime lets go to our senior White House Correspondent jim acosta. Jim, the president spoke last hour during an awards ceremony for the u. S. Air force Academy Football team and as he was talking about victories he mentioned the budget deal. Thats right. He is framing the spending bill that is expected to get through congress and get signed to fun the government through the rest of the fiscal year. They are portraying this as a victory and you heard that from the president earlier this afternoon. He was describing the uptick in military spending over at the pentagon, pretty significant increase in spending over at the pentagon as well as Border Security. As you know, he did not get funding for that wall on the u. S. Mexico border. Theyre hoping to fight that battle in the next fiscal year budget, but heres more of what he had to say about what theyre describing as a victory at the white house. After years of partisan bickering, and gridlock thr, th bill is a clear win for the american people. We brought lawmakers together from both sides of the aisle to deliver a budget that funds the rebuilding of the United States military, makes historic investments in Border Security and provides health care for our minors and School Choice for our disadvantaged children. Very importantly, there is no long term bailout for the Insurance Companies that the democrats desperately wanted to subsidize, donors, the badly failing obamacare. Do you know what a donor is, fellows . Youll learn when you get a little older. Youll learn about donors. I used to be a donor. Used to get everything i wanted. This is what winning looks like. There you hear the president saying this is what winning looks like and made a remark there at the very end of those comments saying that he used to get what he wants. Obviously didnt get everything he wanted out of this budget. Did not get money for the wall on the u. S. mexico border. In the tweet about wanting a Government Shutdown in september to extract some of the things that he does want in the next fiscal year budget fight, but no question theyve got a lot of tough battles to wage this week, particularly the one on health care on capitol hill. I talked to a source this morning, even though theres enthusiasm at the white house, they believe they might have the votes by thursday sotohave some kind of bill go to the house floor and get passed to repeal and replace obamacare. I talked to a key republican source close to the process who said they are nowhere near that kind of certainty up on capitol hill. Theres actually a lot of nervousness. Once again here we are another week where theres nervousness up on capitol hill among Republican Leaders because theyre just not sure they have the votes to repeal and replace obamacare. Well get back to you. The White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer will most likely address the president s tweets earlier today blasting the procedures, the rules in the United States senate. Among other things the president tweeted this. The reason for the plan negotiated between the republicans and democrats is that we need 60 votes in the senate which are not there. We either elect more republican senators in 2018 or change the rules now to 51 . Our country needs a good shutdown in september to fix the mess. President s tweets come ahead of the key vote on a bipartisan funding bill to avert a Government Shutdown this week to keep the government running at least until the end of the september, the end of the current fiscal year. Lets bring back our panel. David gregory, this tweet where he says our country needs a good shutdown to fix the mess, i see you smiling. The guy is great copy. President trump just keeps saying things that are so far out there that shakes up the whole system. I do believe thats the point. I think hes doing some of that on north korea. I think hes doing it here with congress. Hes saying exactly whats on his mind which is lets go to the brink to shake up how things get agreed to. Whats interesting is that he is practical enough as you see in the short term spending bill to give up on some of the things that you would think would be important to him like the border wall. So it shows that democrats when they hang together have enough leverage and that republicans are not hanging together as we see in health care sufficient to give him fits. Im a little surprised at how he has lacked better skill with republicans in congress thus far. Its interesting because if there is lets say at the end of the september a Government Shutdown with the republicans in control of the white house, the presidency, the house, and the senate, the assessment is that the republicans will be blamed for the government shutting down. No question. Its hard to imagine anything else. But i think if you kind of take a step back, no question good copy. But my sense is that he got an earful or two or three or more from House Republicans not knowing a lot about what was in this deal that they cut with democrats to keep the government running. And watching the democrats be very, very successful and very deliberate about taking victory lap after victory lap about what they want. You see the former democratic president ial nominee Hillary Clinton now sitting down. Christiana will sit down and she will ask questions to the former secretary of state. Shes at this women for Women International forum, this event in new york city. Nonprofit that works with women in war torn countries. Warm welcome for Hillary Clinton. I know that everybody always wants to hear from her. Were here at women for Women International which both of us in our different ways have worked with and on behalf of for many, many years. They actually founded it and i say that because i think its men and women together who empower women in the sense that youve been working for all our life. So given the structure of this conference and this conversation is about women at the peace table, women being part of the solutions, and women being the change makers to bring peace rather than war. Give me a little bit of your vision about how that could work, particular lie in some of the most intractable places that dont attract women, iraq, syria, afghanistan. Thanks for being here and thanks to everyone who supports women for Women International. I look out at this audience and i see some longtime friends who have been in the trenches on behalf of womens issues, womens rights and opportunities around the world. And your questions especially important for this organization because historically women for Women International has worked in some of the most difficult places in the world. Conflict zones, post convict zones, places where violence, particularly violence against women and children is a threat for everyone. And they have gone year after year into these places to support women, to give women a voice, to give women job training, to give women access to markets, to try to ensure that women are represented when there are conversations about peace or trying to end the violence that afflicts their community or their nation. During the course of my years of working on behalf of these issues, this organization has been one thats really produced results. And i want everybody here who is supporting it to know you really make a difference. Your contributions, your Front Line Work help to change lives. Hundreds of thousands of women have been helped through women for women efforts. Your being here today keeps that process going. Let me just quickly say, you know, if you look at the progress that women have made, certainly since the beijing conference in 95 that i was privileged to represent our country at, that conference adopted a platform for action. And it called for a quality in education, a quality in health care, equality in inheritance, things that were denied women in much of the world at that time. And it also was a platform for action that nations were really called upon to try to implement themselves. And in the United States we made Real Progress in those years, both under two democratic president s and one republican president. And i want to give a shout out to laura bush who was very active on behalf of afghan women. She and i cochaired that effort. So when i did a project that was looking at whether we had gone far enough, i learned that wed made a lot of progress except in the areas that christian highlighted, peace and security. Where women were the primary victims of conflict and yet were not really given the opportunity to be at those peace tables, to make their views known, to speak up. Now, there were a couple of really remarkable examples of difference. Like women ended in many ways the civil war in liberia. If you havent seen the movie pray the devil back to health, you should because it talks about what women did. And out of that came a woman president. The first on the continent of africa. And so there are other places where women being involved has made a difference. And what we have to do is to raise up organizations like women for Women International that are really on the front lines and do everything we can to institutionalize that. I am going to publicly request that this administration not end our efforts making womens rights and opportunities central to american, Foreign Policy and national security. [ cheers and applause ] so then i dont need to ask you. I was going to ask you what you made of the severe proposed cuts to the state department, to the womens issues and platforms that you started, and what you make of the distinct lack of any women, most women, at the security and defense and peace table of this Current Administration . Well, im hoping that voices like many of yours in this room and i would say bipartisan, nonpartisan voices will speak up for the work of diplomacy and development. I know that secretary of defense mattis understands that. He has spoken out and said you cut the state department and the u. S. A. I. D. Budget and youll have to buy me more ammunition, because you cannot talk about pursuing diplomacy and development that will be to the benefit of the United States, to our security, to our values and interests without understanding, then, that were left with just wo one tool in the tool box, mainly the military tool. That is a necessary tool but it should be only one of three. Diplomacy and development should be the first efforts. And im hoping that because of voices like jim mattis and others that that will begin to influence the administration. I am sure that everybody in this room, everybody in this country, frankly everybody in the world is really afraid of the crisis with north korea. So given that that affects everybody, including women, what do you make of President Trump saying that hed be honored to meet kim jongun . And i ask you that seriously, because the dirty little secret is that it will take, wont it, negotiations with the north korean regime to actually come to i want your view on negotiations as a way to forge peace and not as a sign of weakness and appeasement . What do you think . President bill clinton was the last person to actually negotiate and cause an arms control agreement that worked with north korea. Boy, how much time do we have . This is one of those Wicked Problems that people who get the hop honor of holding a position like i did really spend a lot of time on. As briefly as i can, let me say this. First of all, there has to be a regional effort to basically incentivize the north korean regime, to understand that it will pay a much bigger price regionally, primarily from china if it pursues this reckless policy of Nuclear Weapons development and very dangerously for us the missiles that can deliver those nuclear packages to places like hawaii and eventually the west coast of the United States. So i take this threat very seriously. But i dont believe that we alone are able to really put the pressure on this north korean regime that needs to be placed. Now, the North Koreans are always interested. Not just kim jongun, but his father before him were always interested in trying to get americans to come to negotiate to elevate their status and their position. We should be very careful about giving that away. You should not offer that in the absence of a broader strategic framework to try to get china, japan, russia, south korea to put the kind of pressure on the regime that will finally bring them to the negotiating table with some kind of realistic prospect for change. There was a negotiation in the 90s that put an end to one aspect of their nuclear program. Two ways to make it. Plutonium, uranium and then a few years later there was evidence that they were cheating. I think that there was, and i said this publicly, i think the Bush Administration erred in saying theyre cheaters, were not going to do anything. They should have said youre cheating, back to the table and were going to shut down the u rainium program they have to be part of a broader strategy, not just thrown out on a tweet that hey, lets get together and see if we cant get along. And maybe we can [ cheers and applause ] come up with some sort of a deal. That doesnt work. Did the syria strike work . I think its too soon to really tell. Did you support it . Yes, i did support it. I didnt publicly support it because there was, you know, that wasnt my role, but i did support it. But i am not convinced that it really made much of a difference. I dont know what kind of potentially, you know, back room deals were made with the russians. I mean, we later learned that the rugs and tssians and the sy moved jets off the runway, that the russians may have been given a heads up before our own congress was. I think theres a lot we really dont fully know about what was part of that strike. If all it was was a one off effort, its not going to have much of a lasting effect. Syria is another one of those Wicked Problems which everybody is, you know, desperately trying to figure out how to stop a civil war, how to prevent iran from increasing its influence, how to prevent russia from having a real foot hold in the middle east which is something that they are desperately seeking. Now turkey and what its going to do is a big question mark as well. Theres lots this strike really had nothing to do with that are Critical Issues that still have to be addressed. Im going to come back to russia in a moment because its obviously vital. I want to ask you as a woman and were dealing obviously with issues that affect women all over the world. What do you imagine your election as the first female president of the United States might have said to the world and to the women of the world who were looking for validation, for somebody to shatter that high skpe est and hardest ceiling . I think it would have been a really big deal. [ cheers and applause ] i think that and you know, i am writing a book and its a painful process reliving the campaign as you might guess. But i think that partly here at home there were important messages that that could have sent to our own daughters, granddaughters, grandsons and sons. But i think especially internationally, you know, ive had the great privilege of traveling around the world, visiting in many different settings far from the formal palaces or offices where leaders are, but into villages, down dusty roads, meeting with people, many of whom are the kind of women that women for Women International are helping. There is still to much inequity, so much unfairness, disrespect toward women and girls. Have we made progress . Yes we have. Have we made enough . No, we havent. Its not a minor issue that you goet to after Everything Else that is resolved. It is central to the maintenance, stability, sustain ability of democracy, of human rights. It is critical to our national security. You look at places where womens rights are being stripped away. They are the places most likely to either cat lies or protect terrorism or create ideologies that are critical to womens lives and futures. Its not an accident. Part of what i really believe is that womens rights is the Unfinished Business of the 21st century. There is no more important larger issue that has to be addressed. Given that, then, i wonder if you could address, youve just spoken about the sexism and enequity around the world, but do you believe it exists here still . { laughter } were you a victim of and why do you think you lost the majority of the white female vote . The security moms, the people who want to be protected from the kinds of challenges youre talking about right now. The books coming out in the fall. { laughter } just to give you a typy little preview, yes, i do think it played a role. I think other things did as well. Every day that goes by we learn more about some of the unprecedented interference, including from a foreign power whose leader is not a member of my fan club. And so i think it is real. It is very much a part of the landscape politically and socially and economically. An example that has nothing to do with me personally is this whole question of equal pay. We just had equal payday in april which is how long women have to work past the first of the year to make the equivalent of what men make the prior year in comparable professions. And we know its a problem in our country. Its not something that exists somewhere far away. It kpeexists right here. Its really troubling to me that we are still grappling with how to deal in an economy to ensure that people who do the work that is expected of them get paid fairly. And equally. So yes, there are many, many representations of that, many kinds of examples of that, and yes, it was a role in this election and i will have a lot to say about it. I think that it is something that whatever your political party, whatever your particular ideological bent, you have a stake as a woman and a man to go back to your very first comment, in ensuring that the promise of equality that we hold out and the efforts that so many women and men have made over the decades to secure it dont go backwards. I think were not just at a stalled point. I think we are potentially going backwards. For example, real quickly, on equal pay, a number of cities and states have said, you know, one of the problems about equal pay is when you hire people, you say what was your last pay. So if youre a young woman and youve been underpaid before and you say what your pay is, then a slight bump looks fair. But its not because youve got built in inequity. So what is happening in current times in some places i think is quite troubling because theres a great effort to make sure that loc localitys dont pass law to prevent employ are from asking about past play. Somebody who has employed a lot of people over the course of my professional life, its always the case when you offer a job to a young person that is a bump up in pay and respect and responsibility, young women almost always say to me do you think i can do it . Do you think im ready . Young men basically say what took you so long. So this is something we have to clear out the cob webs and say you know what . There shouldnt be differences. Weve seen a lot of evidence in the last months that the tech industry, the forefront of our economy, is still mired in pay inequities. So how do we get out of it if we dont set some standards, some metrics. And one is dont ask what the jobs supposed to pay and if the person has the qualifications, pay that person, man or woman, what the job requires, right . [ cheers and applause ] just to bripg yng you back te leader of the foreign country that was not a member of the fan club, what do you make of a journalist who basically said that in fact president putin hated you so much that it was personal . That he was determined to thwart your ambitions. Do you buy that . Well, he certainly interfered in our election and it was clear he hurt me and helped my opponent. If you chart my opponent and his campaigns statements, they quite coordinated with the goals that that leader who shall remain nameless had. So yeah, look, i i think russia is a great country and i think the russian people are extraordinarily talented and i think they are badly governed and i think they have been denied their opportunities to really join the modern world in a way that will lift them all up. I also think that when their president came back after having taken a time out to be prime minister, he rigged the elections for the parliament and i was your secretary of state. We do speak out about rigged elections. That kind of goes with the territory. At least it did prior to this administration. I did say it was an illegitimate election and had been rigged. And people you know, i wasnt telling hundreds of thousands, even millions of russians something they didnt know. So they go out in the street in moscow and demonstrate and putin blames me, that im the one who got all those people in the streets. It kind of went downhill from there. It did. Before i ask you whether you would invite president duterte to washington or the white house, can i just ask you something . Because again, i think many people in the room, whenever anybody says theyre going to speak to secretary clinton, your supporters are sad, theyre devastated, theyre disappointed, and some are angry. Some say, you know, could it have been different . Could the campaign have been better . Could you have had a better rational . He had one message, your opponent, and it was a successful message. Make America Great again. And where was your message . Do you take any personal responsibility . Of course. I take absolutely personal responsibility. I was the candidate. I was the person who was on the ballot. I am very aware of, you know, the challenges, the problems, the shortfalls that we had. Again, i will write all this out for you. But i will say this. Ive been in a lot of campaigns. Im very proud of the campaign we ran. Im very proud of the staff and the volunteers and the people who are out there day after day. [ cheers and applause ] it wasnt a perfect campaign. There is no such thing. But i was on the way to winning until a combination of jim comeys letter on october 28th and russian wikileaks raised doubts in the minds of people who were inclined to vote for me but got scared off. And the evidence for that intervening event is i think compelling, persuasive, and so we overcame a lot in the campaign. We overcame an enormous barrage of negativity, of false equivalency, and so much else. But as nate silver who doesnt work for me, hes an independent analyst, but one considered to be very reliable, has concluded if the election had been on october 27th id be your president. It wasnt. It was on october 28th and there was a lot of funny business going on around that. Ask yourself this. Within an hour or two of the hollywood access tape being made public, the russian theft of emails hit wikileaks. What a coincidence. You just cant make this stuff up. So did we make mistakes . Of course we did. Did i make mistakes . Oh my gosh, yes. Youll read my confession and my request for absolution. But the reason why i believe we lost were the intervening events in the last ten days. I think you can see i was leading in the early vote. I had a very strong and not just our polling and data analysis, but a very strong assessment going on across the country about where i was in terms of, you know, the necessary votes and electoral votes. I did win more than 3 million votes than my opponent. [ cheers and applause ] so its, like, really . I see a tweet coming. Well, fine. You know, better that than interfering in Foreign Affairs if he wants to tweet about me. Im happy to be the, you know, the diversion. Because weve got lots of other things to worry about. And he should worry less about the election and my winning the popular vote than doing some other things that would be important to the country. Just briefly, were going to finish on some other stuff, but once the result was known, did you call president obama . What did you say to him . Yeah, i called president obama. And i called yeah. Did you have any message for president obama . You know, look, i was very proud to serve in his administration, and i said ad nauseaum during the campaign, president obama didnt get the credit he deserved for saving our economy and passing the Affordable Care act. I just dont think he got that credit. So, look, again, you can read all about this excruciating analysis that im engaged in right now when im not in the woods walking my dog. Is it therapy . I would say it is cathartic. You know, its very difficult to succeed a twoterm president of your own party. That is a historical fact. And democrats havent done it since, lord knows, since the 1820s or 30s. The republicans did it once with george bush succeeding reagan. So it was others may not have realized it. I always knew it was going to be a hard election. But i thought that, at the end of the day, we had made it clear we were you know, i wasnt going to appeal to peoples emotions in the same way that my opponent did, which i think is frankly is getting into all kinds of difficulties now in trying to fulfill these promises that he made because health care is complicated. I wanted to be what i thought we could do and i believed that we could build on the progress that we had made. Under president obama. Its how you make change in america that is lasting change that is going to actually improve peoples lives. I kept waiting for the moment. Ive watched a million president ial debates in my life and one of the people would have said, so exactly how are you going to create more jobs . Right . I mean, i thought that, you know, at some moment that would happen. And i was ready for that moment. And some of you who are maybe debate junkies, remember, in that first debate, my opponent actually made fun of me for preparing so i said i prepared for the debate and i prepared for being president. And i think you know, its not exactly headline grabbing. I understand that. But, you know, i cant be anything other than who i am and i spent decades learning about what it would take to move our country forward, including people who didnt vote for me, to try to make sure we dealt with the hard issues right around the corner, like robotics and Artificial Intelligence and things that are really going to be upending the economy for the vast majority of the americans. Im now back to being an active citizen and part of the resistance. [ applause ] i could end it there, because thats a good ending, but im sure ladies and gentlemen would want to know one more thing. This is about jobs, about poverty, alleviating the worst of the worst that many women have to endure. You mentioned robotics and technology. Were in this mass tive politic upside down wave right now. People think that jobs will come back by looking inwards. What would you say to women here, men here, everywhere, about actually the reality of the labor market . Id say a couple of things. We have to make investments and we have to invest in certain sectors of the economy where we think we can stay ahead of the technological wave and were not going to be able to do that if you have massive tax cuts that benefit people like us. Its not going to happen. We will end up in a terrible deficit. The deficit will shrink dramatically. So you need another strategy. Another boring word, which i think was what you saw happening in the obama administration, a lot of pieces of it. And you need to recognize that trying to provide opportunities to people everywhere requires investments everywhere but that doesnt mean that good jobs will be everywhere. So, for example, if you dont have access to highspeed affordable broadband, which large parts of america dont, and not just rural but suburban and urban but predominantly rural, you will not keep the jobs of the 21st century. Thats just a fact. And so why would a private company go into those areas where there are not many people and theres not a big profit margin . So youve got to do what we did back in the day in this country and help to electrify. Utilities are going into places where theres a market and youre going to have to provide some sort of subsidy and froor floor. You cannot get a cell coverage for miles and even in towns, you harrisburg. Resident was just in i was in harrisburg during the campaign and after it was over i meant with a bunch of people and one of the things that they said was that there are a lot of places in central pennsylvania where we dont have access to highspeed affordable internet. We have dialup. And we dont have kids in a lot of places who have the technical capacity to do the homework assignments that they are given. Were talking about places that are not in alaska. They are within an easy drive of urban areas. Youve got to have a Strategic Plan about what youre trying to deliver so that people can have choices and people working in solar and coal, now, if we dont continue to promote solar and wind, we not only hurt the environment, we give up jobs. China will eat our lunch in the solar market because they are investing and they are creating jobs for people that are jobs of the future. Health care, big job opportunity, the republicans repeal the Affordable Care act, jobs drop. They dont increase, because theres no revenue stream to pay for those jobs. Everything is connected and if you do a oneoff kind of political approach, you dont understand the connectivity. And so i think theres a lot we can do and one of the hopes that i had is that we would have a really Serious National Conversation about robotics and about Artificial Intelligence. Both their promise and their peril and what could be done about it and what kind of floor of income would people need to be able to be anywhere near selfsufficient. So these problems arent going to go away just because theyre not addressed. Theyre just going to hammer people over and over again and create more anxiety and insecurity and anger, which then undermines our democracy and puts at risk our freedoms so this is part of what im thinking about and im hoping the private sector will help us lead the way on this and eventually people within this administration and the congress will understand this is not some kind of subject that people like i talk about but this is imperative to the fup of our economy and the opportunities that people have for themselves and their kids Going Forward. Hillary clinton, thank you very much indeed. [ applause ] there you have it. Hillary clinton, the former president ial democratic nominee opening up about losing the president ial election. She says shes in the painful process, her words, of writing a book about it right now. Lets bring back our panel. Dana, she was very blunt in blaming james comey, the fbi director, blaming wikileaks and putin and the russians for her loss. That was an incredible interview for so many reasons. I think the most telling line was her saying i cant be anything other than what i am. And for Hillary Clinton so she