Mike Pence Headlines RNC Night Three; Interview With Former U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: White House officials are defending President Trump's use of the White House, the people's house, as a political backdrop throughout the convention, which breaks, of course, longstanding precedent and a 1939 law called the Hatch Act that bans federal employees, exempting the president and vice president, from using their positions in government for political election purposes, as CNN's Kaitlan Collins now explains.</s>KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight, Vice President Mike Pence will headline night three of the Republican Convention, where he's expected to address the pandemic and racial unrest unfolding in Wisconsin. He will speak to the nation from Fort McHenry the site of the battle the War of 1812 that inspired Francis Scott Key to pen "The Star- Spangled Banner." Pence is expected to wade into the nation's culture wars by urging athletes to stand for the national anthem.</s>MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't think it's too much to ask the players in the National Football League to stand for our national anthem.</s>COLLINS: Kellyanne Conway and second lady Karen Pence will also speak tonight.</s>KAREN PENCE, SECOND LADY: It'll be an exciting night to highlight the heroes in this great country.</s>COLLINS: On night of the convention, Trump all but erased the longstanding line between official government business and politics. He pardoned a Nevada man convicted of bank robbery who has since founded a nonprofit and swore in five new citizens at a naturalization ceremony, despite his restrictive stance on immigration.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You're now fellow citizens of the greatest nation the face of God's Earth. Congratulations.</s>COLLINS: After two Marines appeared in uniform in that video, a Marine Corps spokeswoman dismissed concerns that they were being used for political messaging, saying they were only there in their assigned place of duty. The president's chief of staff dismissed concerns that he and top officials were abusing federal offices and property for political game.</s>MARK MEADOWS, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Nobody outside of the Beltway really cares. They expect that Donald Trump is going to promote Republican values, and they would expect that Barack Obama, when he was -- office, that he would do the same for Democrats.</s>COLLINS: The evening also featured a rare speech from first lady Melania Trump, who broke with her husband's administration by expressing sympathy for those affected by coronavirus.</s>MELANIA TRUMP, FIRST LADY: I know many people are anxious, and some feel helpless. I want you to know, you are not alone.</s>COLLINS: It was a sharp break from the president's top economic adviser, who talked about COVID-19 as if it was in the past.</s>LARRY KUDLOW, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: It was awful. Health and economic impacts were tragic. Hardship and heartbreak were everywhere.</s>COLLINS: Coronavirus tests were not required for most guests in the Rose Garden last night, though an aide says people sitting near the president were tested.</s>COLLINS: Now, Jake, the crowd at tonight's speech is expected to be the biggest one yet of the convention, with well over 100 people. Though it will be outside, it's still not clear if they're going to be testing all of those guests. We were required to be tested before going in tonight. The reporters were, at least. But, of course, the crowd tonight and that size is going to pale in comparison to what we're expecting to be on the South Lawn tomorrow night for President Trump's speech.</s>TAPPER: They're not just talking as if the pandemics in the past. They're acting as if it's in the past. Kaitlan Collins, thanks so much. Joining us now, President Trump's former National Security Adviser John Bolton, who, of course, wrote a blistering insider account of his time at the White House. It's titled "The Room Where It Happened," a bestseller. Mr. Ambassador, thanks for being here. So, let me ask you. This is the third day of the convention. Based on what you have seen so far, do you think it is effective enough to get President Trump reelected?</s>JOHN BOLTON, FORMER U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Well, I think it's put him on the road, that's for sure. We don't really have experience, obviously, with virtual conventions, but conventions typically give some kind of bounce, especially in motivating those who are already supporters. It looks to me like it's well-produced. And I think there's a real advantage to being the incumbent and coming second after the Democratic Convention. So, I think it clearly is going to help him.</s>TAPPER: In terms of being the incumbent, we have seen some unprecedented destruction of norms during this convention, what seem blatant violations of the Hatch Act, which bans federal employees from conducting political purposes, political actions from their government posts. The president, of course, is exempt from that. But White House staff are on hand, as he uses the White House as a backdrop, political prop. He issued a pardon during the convention. He naturalized citizens during the convention. Videos of that ran. You have Secretary of State Pompeo, Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf playing roles in the convention. Does this bother you?</s>BOLTON: Well, I don't think these are violations of the Hatch Act. I mean, I wrote on that back in the day. I think it's unseemly. And I know that's a word you don't normally use about politics in the Trump era. But that's what people should focus on. Both parties are guilty of it over time. But it's a question of what the American people want. And I'm worried that this is just part of this conduct, and the convention is just part of the destruction of standards. To fight over whether it's legal or not, I think, is a mistake. It's just unseemly.</s>TAPPER: I can't help but think that if a Democratic president did this, Republicans would be screaming and rioting from a mountaintop. Should more of your fellow Republicans be speaking out against this? I mean, this is now going to be a norm, theoretically. I mean, if Biden or some Democrat is elected president at some point, whether it's November or in the future, they now can accept their renomination from the White House, when Republicans can't say boo.</s>BOLTON: Look, it's unseemly for both parties. But this is a case of people with short memories. I will give you an example. The left on the Democratic Party very upset about this -- in 1968, I remembered it vividly -- Dean Rusk, secretary of state, testified before the Democratic Platform Committee, and the left of the Democratic Party then was all in favor of it, because they wanted to rip lungs out about the Vietnam War. They didn't get a chance to do it because he got a note saying that the Soviet troops had crossed the Czechoslovak border heading for Prague. But it has happened before. And I just think it was bad in both cases.</s>TAPPER: Sure. I mean, that was a Platform Committee literally a year before I was born, but, OK, I hear the point you're making, that it has happened two degrees.</s>BOLTON: Rub it in. Go ahead.</s>TAPPER: Secretary Pompeo said in his remarks that the president held China accountable on coronavirus, which I think a lot of people who have been covering this found a curious statement, because January, February, March, President Trump was not holding China accountable. In fact, he was listening to President Xi, instead of his own health experts. What did you make of that?</s>BOLTON: Well, it's a false statement, as is most of the administration case on how it's handled coronavirus. They have made a complete mess of it. And it's been a tragedy for Americans, those who have died and their families, the economic consequences. To this day, the administration does not have a coronavirus strategy. Now, they may yet get the benefit of it. Recent polls apparently show concern with the virus diminishing as a political matter. So, they may be able to tough their way through it. But it's been -- it's just been one mistake after another.</s>TAPPER: I want to ask you about the fact that the Defense Department's inspector general has been called -- I don't know if he's going to do it -- to investigate whether or not the White House and specifically your replacement, National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien, retaliated against Alexander Vindman's twin brother, who also served in the White House. He was an ethics official in the National Security Council. He's saying that he was retaliated against. What do you make of it all?</s>BOLTON: Well, I have just seen this in the past hour or so. But my experience with both Alex Vindman and Yev Vindman, his brother, is that they were outstanding staffers at the NSC. And I have read the House Democrats' letter, which, on Yev Vindman's account, quotes two different efficiency reports that his lawyer in the White House -- that his supervisor in the White House Counsel's Office wrote. And in the summer of 2019, Yev was an outstanding staffer at the NSC. And just a few months later, it looks like he needs remedial reading. That strikes me right there as evidence that either the supervisor wasn't doing his job, or that there's retaliation. So I find this a pretty stunning development. And it'll be interesting to see what the DOD inspector general does with it, because it's hot. There's no doubt about it.</s>TAPPER: At the last minute last night, the Republican National Convention had to pull a speaker who had tweeted out a link to a deranged anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that even referenced the Protocol of the Elders of Zion, which was a czarist propaganda tool to drum up anti-Semitism in czarist Russia. This isn't the first time that these conspiracy theories have made their way into the Republican Party. In recent weeks, we have two different Republican congressional nominees, one in Georgia, one in Florida, who are open conspiracy theorists, whether they're supporting QAnon or there are self-proclaimed Islamophobes celebrating the death of migrants. Are you worried about what the Republican Party is becoming under President Trump?</s>BOLTON: Well, I'm worried about Trump. That's what worries me. I think the Republican Party after this election is going to have a very serious conversation about the direction we want to go in. It will be immediate if Trump loses. But it's going to happen even if he wins. I wish we just had a figure in the conservative movement today like William F. Buckley Jr., who used to be able to enter into these debates and say, this is just simply not acceptable for responsible conservatives to believe in. But since there is no philosophy that governs this administration, that's how these extremists creep in. And it is disturbing.</s>TAPPER: Ambassador John Bolton, thank you so much. The book again, "The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir." Thank you so much. Coming up: Vice President Mike Pence is the headliner tonight at the Republican National Convention. CNN's special coverage begins tonight at 7:00 Eastern. And coming up: how themes of fear in this convention have sparked anger after three nights of violence in Wisconsin. Plus: the CDC's decision, suspicious, to suddenly change its guidance for coronavirus testing, how this may impact you if you need to get tested -- plus, a revelation today that pressure on the CDC to make these changes came from the top.