THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT FOR 'THIS WEEK' ON May 15, 2016 and it will be updated.
KARL: Joining us now to discuss Republican Party chairman, Reince Priebus. Chairman Priebus, thanks for joining us this morning.
PREIBUS: Hey, Jon.
KARL: So let me ask you, do you agree with (INAUDIBLE). Basically everybody I spoke to up on Capitol Hill this week says they fully expect that Ryan will come on board and endorse Trump at some point. You agree he’s going to do that?
PRIEBUS: I get the sense that it was a great meeting. I get the sense that it was everything both parties wanted it to be. I don’t speak for Paul Ryan, but I --
KARL: But what do you expect?
PRIEBUS: I got the sense that things are moving in the right direction.
KARL: Yes, you’d be shocked if --
(CROSSTALK)
PRIEBUS: I would -- let me put it this way. I’d be surprised if -- I would be surprised if he doesn’t get there, because he wants to get there and the things that were -- had taken place on Friday seemed to move the ball a long distance down the field. So I’d be surprised if he doesn’t.
KARL: So was it right of Ryan to go to that meeting, come out of that meeting, and still refuse to endorse Trump?
PRIEBUS: No, because I think -- I think most people involved, you know, would agree that, you know, in a 45 minute meeting, you know, if you suddenly had reservations and then come out after 45 minutes and say, OK, here’s the big bear hug, let’s move on. I think everyone gets that the process is better in going through the real details of what everyone brings to the table. What does Donald Trump believe? What does Paul believe? And then only after that process, even if it’s a short process, then I think closure is most appropriate then.
Let me just say this, Jon. Both parties left I think very pleased with how it ended. So I don’t think anyone left surprised or chapped. I think it ended in the right way for everybody involved.
KARL: OK, but let me ask you the big question -- who is the leader of the Republican Party right now? Who speaks for the party?
PRIEBUS: You know what, that’s a -- people ask that question all the time. And I speak for the Republican National Committee. Paul speaks for House Republicans. Donald Trump speaks for the millions and millions of people that have broken records that were voting. I think a lot of people speak for our party because it’s a huge party and there’s only two parties in this country. I mean, this isn’t Italy. We don’t have 12 parties where everyone can fit neatly into a box, and so that’s why I would say in order for us to be successful, we have to be the party of the open door to recognize that, you know, differences among each other doesn’t mean that we ask people to leave. It means that we ask people in and that we keep growing.
And so a lot of people speak for our party.
KARL: But you’ve got major policy differences on fundamental issues. There have been fundamental conservative tenets, Republican Party tenets, for years. Do Republican voters -- do Republican leaders now agree on things like the Muslim ban? On deporting the 11 million undocumented immigrants in this country? On things like leaving entitlements alone, not -- you know, not pushing for changes to Medicare and Social Security? Those are all central tenets of Trump’s campaign that stand, it seems to be, diametrically opposed to what Republicans have stood for.
Is the party changing positions on those issues?
PRIEBUS: Well, look, no. It’s not. I mean, the party’s position on those issues is still very clear and the platform stands and the platform’s going to remain and the party’s here now and it will remain here after this year. But, look, you can have differences of opinion, with differences with other candidates that have become our nominees. They don’t have to fall in line 100 percent with the platform. I don’t think they usually do fall in line 100 percent with the platform, Jon.
So, you know, look, I think there’s a lot of room for everybody. I think these issues are going to be discussed. I think you saw Donald Trump even sort of nuancing some of these positions this past week. And I think that he’s a guy who’s never run for office before in his life, and when it’s a change election, when people want to shake up Washington, when people want a more efficient, effective, accountable government, they’re going to have one big question on the ballot: it’s going to be who’s going to do that? Hillary Clinton, who’s a career politician who’s built her entire life and millions and millions of net worth on politics? Or a guy who’s never run for office, is an outsider but a businessman that’s going to get something done?
All these other stories that you hear about, it’s not breaking through because that’s the fundamental question on the ballot.
KARL: Well, two weeks ago, right before he dropped out, Ted Cruz called Donald Trump a pathological liar. He said, "He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth."
Now you heard of the latest story this week, the one about Trump apparently posing as his own spokesperson, and then you also heard him come out and deny that was him on that tape. Let me just ask you more broadly -- do you have any doubts about Donald Trump’s truthfulness?
PRIEBUS: Well, look, it doesn’t matter as far as what Ted Cruz said or what Lindsey Graham said or what Jeb said or Marco or the whole 17, you know, folks that we had running --
KARL: Yes, I’m asking about you.
PRIEBUS: But what does matter and what we’re dealing with now --
KARL: Do you -- do you think he has an issue with truthfulness?
PRIEBUS: Of course, my interaction with Donald Trump -- I have to -- listen, I have to judge people by -- based on how I have dealt with individuals one on one. I have never had a situation where he’s lied to me. I’ve never had a situation where he was not gracious and -- to me. Now, obviously we had a fight over the elect -- you know, the delegate allocation system, but I didn’t back off of that. I came out and defended the party, and he didn’t have a problem that.
So I judge people one on one --
KARL: Do you trust him? Do you think he’s trustworthy?
PRIEBUS: I also believe that people are entitled to --
(CROSSTALK)
PRIEBUS: Listen -- yes, of course. And -- but I also believe that people are entitled to forgiveness and redemption. And the question I think most people have in this regard is whether or not people are who they say they are. And Hillary Clinton -- I mean, you can talk about this issue of 30 years ago with "The Washington Post", but the question is, and I think bigger questions are, on Hillary Clinton’s watch in regard to exchanging cash for favors in the Clinton Foundation. What -- I mean, that’s an issue. Whether someone impersonated someone to some dumb story in "The Washington Post" -- now that’s interesting, but what about --
KARL: OK, let me ask you --
PRIEBUS: -- four dead American heroes in Benghazi. I mean, these are issues, guys.
KARL: OK. Well, let me ask you. Your nominee, your presidential nominee from four years ago, is calling on Trump to release his taxes, saying, quote, "It is disqualifying for a modern day presidential nominee to refuse to release tax returns to the voters. There is only one logical explanation for Mr. Trump’s refusal to release his returns -- there’s a bombshell in them."
So let me ask you, do you agree with Mitt Romney on this? Or do you agree with Donald Trump who said it is none of our business?
PRIEBUS: Well, look, first of all, I’m not -- I believe that the American people look at someone like Donald Trump and say, OK, here’s a guy on the outside. Here’s a guy that’s never run for office. And I just have to tell you, after a year of dealing with this primary, one on one, and you know it’s been a lot. I don’t think the traditional playbook applies, Jon. We’ve been down this road for a year. And it doesn’t apply. He’s rewritten the playbook.
KARL: So he doesn’t have to return (sic) those taxes?
PRIEBUS: And while interesting to analyze Donald Trump based on the old -- you know what? It’s going to be up to the American people. I mean, they’re -- they’re going to have to decide whether that’s a big issue or not.
I think thought that Donald Trump represents such a massive change to how things are done in Washington that people don’t look at Donald Trump as to whether or not he releases his taxes or what this story was of 30 years ago. People look at Donald Trump and say is this person going to cause an earthquake in Washington, D.C., and make something happen? That is it. That’s how he is being judged by the American people.
So all these things that we’ve been analyzing for a year, and that Mitt Romney’s obsessing over, it hasn’t done a thing. And that I think people are missing about Donald Trump.
KARL: And finally, I’m sure you’ve seen the front page of "The New York Times" today, story about Trump’s relationship with women, saying, talking about unromantic romantic advances, unending commentary on the female form, a shrewd alliance with ambitious women, and unsettling workplace conduct.
Do you have any doubts in your mind about Trump’s relationship with women, about the way he talks about women?
PRIEBUS: Look, I mean, these are things that he is going to have to answer for, but I also think there are things from many years ago and I think that, you know, as Christians, judging each other I think is -- is problematic. I think it’s when people live in glass houses and throw stones is when people get in trouble. And so, you know, is Hillary Clinton -- it’s a classic Clinton operation. Now suddenly these things are coming out.
It’s not necessarily that people make mistakes or have regrets or seek forgiveness; it’s whether or not the person launching the charge is authentic in their own life and can actually be pure enough to make such a charge. That’s what I think most people can -- look at when they evaluate people’s character.
Again, I don’t think Donald Trump is being judged based on his personal life. I think people are judging Donald Trump as to whether or not he’s someone that’s going to go to Washington and shake things up. And that’s why he’s doing so well.
KARL: All right, Chairman Priebus, thanks for joining us here on THIS WEEK.
PRIEBUS: You bet.
KARL: Thanks a lot. Appreciate it. Talk to you soon.
PRIEBUS: OK, Jon. Take care.
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