THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT FOR 'THIS WEEK' ON July 17, 2016 and it will be updated.
STEPHANOPOULOS: OK, Jon, thanks. Let’s get more on this now from the chair of the convention.htm" id="ramplink_RNC_" target="_blank">RNC, Reince Priebus. Thank you for joining us, Mr. Chairman.
Let’s start out with a reality check. July 2014, you and your committee pick Cleveland, pick the Quicken Loans Arena. Did you have any idea that Donald Trump would be the nominee?
REINCE PRIEBUS, CHAIRMAN, RNC: No, I didn’t, but actually I think he gives us a great opportunity to win. And I think this place looks incredible. The stage is fantastic and people are really excited to be here and the city is beautiful, and I’m excited about the week to come.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You say he gives you a great opportunity to win. And our new poll out this morning does show that he’s closed the gap somewhat with Hillary Clinton. We show a four point race now among registered voters, but you still have those 60 percent of Americans who don’t think he’s qualified to president. That’s a killer number.
PRIEBUS: Well, Reagan had the same problem in 1979 going into 1980, and I think what it does show in reality is that he has a lot of space to grow. And again he pivots to the general election, picking Mike Pence, I think he’s much more precise in his rhetoric, in his tone, in his attack, I think he’s got a lot of room to grow and --
STEPHANOPOULOS: You think that 28 minute riff yesterday before introducing Mike Pence was precise?
PRIEBUS: Well, look, I think he -- listen, I think he’s spent a few days and there were things going on, he didn’t have a chance to respond to, and this is Donald Trump. He wants to respond. You know how he is. But I think that he also knows, and I know how he is in private, I know what we talk about and what we have meetings about, and he’s there. He knows the pivot is important. He has been better and I think he’s going to be great moving forward.
I think Thursday night’s a critical night for him, delivering a great speech, the balloon drop, the people in this country saying, "I can see Donald Trump being in the White House. I think he’s presidential." And it’s the same thing that happened in 1980 when the bottom fell out of Carter, when people said, "Ronald Reagan can be president, I can trust him, and I see him in the White House."
STEPHANOPOULOS: So that’s the bar. You think if he can bring that qualified number, he wins.
PRIEBUS: He wins easily. I mean, if people -- number one, who do you want to have a beer with is a great question on the ballot. He can win that. He’s likeable. And people that don’t know, they want to like him, he’s interesting to people, he’s intriguing, but they want to see that Donald Trump in the White House. And he’s getting there and he’s going to pivot there. Mike Pence is a -- is a mature pick. I think it’s going to help. And I also think he gets it totally.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Clearly, Mike Pence is going to help you here in the convention hall this week, but Democrats are already taking him and him, saying he’s going to hurt, especially with women. Let’s take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you willing to hold up this entire budget over defunding Planned Parenthood?
GOV. MIKE PENCE (R), INDIANA: Well, of course I am.
I long for the day that Roe versus Wade is sent to the (INAUDIBLE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHANOPOULOS: You concerned at all that Mike Pence is going to hold you back with the voters you need to attract in the general election?
PRIEBUS: No, I don’t think so, because I think -- in many cases, they look at the top of the ticket. But I also think that when you lay it out to the American people in regard to Planned Parenthood and later-term abortion and a lot of the craziness that went on with selling fetal parts and all those sort of disgusting things, people get --
STEPHANOPOULOS: There was never any proof of selling fetal parts.
PRIEBUS: OK. We want -- I’m not going to go down that road with you, but the point is, is that even if we don’t discuss that part, most Americans agree that federal money, their tax money, shouldn’t be used to help pay for abortions. And so that piece alone is something the American people are with us on.
As far as whether Planned Parenthood, you know, provides, you know, contraceptives or things like that, that’s something that gets in the middle. But I think you focus in on that, I think most Americans are with us. But they also look to the top of the ticket (INAUDIBLE).
STEPHANOPOULOS: You still got some Never Trump delegates agitating in this convention. Shut them down pretty effectively in the committees on Friday, but many are saying they’re going to look for ways to spring a surprise on the convention floor. Maybe force a roll call that will delay the whole proceedings.
How worried are you about that?
PRIEBUS: Well, I mean, if you want to delay the proceedings, you know, we’ll -- all they’re doing is delaying the evening and helping Hillary Clinton. I mean, there -- there is no candidate. There -- to those people, who is your VP? What money are you raising? What is your goal other than to distract and cause problems? Look --
STEPHANOPOULOS: You sound pretty irritated by that.
PRIEBUS: No. Because -- we offered -- we worked together to get a really good deal together, and at the last second it just didn’t -- didn’t happen. And so they didn’t have the votes and I’m sorry but, you know, if they don’t like the idea that 14 million people in grassroots picked someone that they didn’t want to support. Well, it’s either -- it’s a binary choice. It’s Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, and Hillary Clinton’s going to give us two more Sonia Sotomayors. She’s not going to sign a Paul Ryan budget. This -- we’re here to help save our country, and we have a binary choice, and Donald Trump’s the person that’s going to do it.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But you think they might be able to disrupt the proceedings?
PRIEBUS: I don’t know if -- I don’t think so, but listen, I’m not going to just shut people down. But I’m also going to make sure that our rules our followed. And I don’t think they’re going to be successful. I don’t think there’s the support there. We demonstrated that last week. We were prepared -- prepared for this week. And we’ll be ready to go.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Compare the conventions. When you look ahead to the Democrats, they’re going to have two presidents speak, they’re going to have the sitting First Lady, the sitting Vice President, and your convention, the two last Republican presidents are not appearing. The two last nominees are appearing. How much does that concern you?
PRIEBUS: It really doesn’t because, you know, I’ve been through -- I’ve been chairman at the last convention. We didn’t have the last two -- you know, our presidents there, which is their choice and we love them dearly. Not -- the same thing happened in St. Paul. You know, I think that the reality is, is that there’s a shift in the mood in this country that’s very anti-Washington. The movement on both parties was Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. We ended up picking the movement candidate. They didn’t pick the movement candidate. And I just have a feeling like surrounding Hillary Clinton with all of these sort of politicians and political fixtures, I don’t know what that gets here. I think that, you know, there’s a real choice here. And a play that’s being made in both conventions. And we’ll find out who made the right choice. I think we will.
STEPHANOPOULOS: This is Donald Trump’s convention. You expecting more surprises this week?
PRIEBUS: You know, there will be a few surprises and I think it’s going to be a little bit different. I don’t think it’s going to be as much to back to back to back, you know, four minutes, four minutes from every politician in America. But there’s going to be some that, and there will be some fun as well.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And I’m going to go out on a limb right now, how much of a bounce do you get?
PRIEBUS: I don’t -- I just want a bounce. I don’t want to predict how big. But I think -- I think Thursday night, Donald Trump on the stage delivering a great speech is going to go a long way for Donald Trump in pivoting to the general.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Mr. Chairman, thanks for joining us.
PRIEBUS: Thank you.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Good luck this week.
PRIEBUS: You bet.
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