Trump Predicts Paul will Drop Out of Race.
SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'll tell you this. I think we'll be around just as long as Trump or longer. How could anyone in my party think that this clown is fit to be president? So I think really, ultimately, we're going to get to the truth. Ultimately, we're going to get to substance. It just takes a while. But by -- by no means am I finished. I'm just getting started.</s>CAMEROTA: All right. Well, just a day after the 2016 hopeful Senator Rand Paul there said that on NEW DAY about Donald Trump, the real- estate mogul returned fire tweeting, quote, "Prediction: Rand Paul has been driven out of the race by my statements about him. He will announce soon." So is there any truth to Trump's prediction or even Rand Paul saying, "I'm not going anywhere"? Let's talk with our CNN political commentator Van Jones and CNN political commentator and Republican consultant Margaret Hoover. Great to have both of you here.</s>MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you guys. Good to see you.</s>CAMEROTA: All right. Margaret, let me start with you. So Rand Paul was on NEW DAY, and he said it's absurd to think that he's dropping out of the race. That locally he's doing much better than he is in national polls. He said he's not going anywhere. And then what happened within the next 24 hours is that his super PAC said that they are basically -- one of his super PACs says that they're basically giving up. They're not going to fundraise any more for them. Let me read for you what the heed of that super PAC -- it's called PurplePAC -- says. "I have stopped raising money for him until I see the campaign correct its problems. I wasn't going to raise money to spend on a futile crusade. I don't see the point in it right now."</s>HOOVER: Right. So you're right, it's one of three super PACs. The founder of that super PAC is also very involved, helped found the Cato Institute. The Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank. There are libertarians who are disappointed that Rand Paul has not channeled sort of those -- the philosophies that define libertarianism, specifically the privacy policies and the -- their lack of wanting to engage internationally in foreign policy.</s>CAMEROTA: Hasn't he done that?</s>HOOVER: They feel that he could have done it more, and so they feel like they can't go raise money. But we know all dollars are not equal in this contest. Super PAC money can't be used to pay campaign staffers to travel to events. The money that is going to be most important to look at with Rand Paul is the money that is reported at the end of the day today, September 30, which is the end of the fundraising quarter. He raised $7 million last quarter. Will he raise a commensurate amount this quarter? That's what's most important for Rand Paul.</s>CUOMO: Do you think people are getting psyched out by Trump on that side? I mean, if it's true...</s>HOOVER: Here's the other thing.</s>CUOMO: I didn't even ask the question yet.</s>HOOVER: I checked. The only way to keep a candidate in the race is to have another candidate say he's about to drop out. Do you think anyone is going to step out because Donald Trump says they're going to?</s>CUOMO: Maybe he knows something we don't. What I'm saying is it seems that, you know, you've had people leave the race, somewhat early. Why don't -- if the conventional wisdom is true in your party, which is that Trump won't make it, Carson won't make it, why not hold on? Because the race changes fundamentally if he drops out.</s>HOOVER: And the reason Trump is on the offensive is because that's the only thing that got him in the front in the first place; and his numbers are falling. That's why he's going after Rand.</s>CUOMO: I'm saying, why wouldn't he hold on?</s>CAMEROTA: OK, Van, what do you make of all this?</s>CUOMO: He's loving it.</s>VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Exactly. From a Democratic point of view, it is amusing. But let's kind of call the balls and strikes fairly here. Let's not forget, Rand Paul's father stayed in when he ran for president, when he had not a penny to his name, because he was fueled by the power of his ideas. The reason you have such an intense conflict between these two guys, Rand Paul sees himself as a serious intellectual. He has serious ideas. He's willing to go against his party sometimes when he thinks his party is wrong, based on principle. As best we can tell, Donald Trump has no principle except being Donald Trump. And so, it's a perfect clash between these two very different types of leaders. But the idea that Rand Paul or anyone named Paul is going to do anything based on what some super PAC says or what some donor says. This is not that kind of family. They believe what they believe. They say what they say. But they are serious. And they hate, they hate the fact that Donald Trump is so unserious and is doing so well.</s>CAMEROTA: Rand Paul has also gone after some other members in his party, namely Ted Cruz. Let me play for you what he has just said about Ted Cruz's, basically, kamikaze tactics.</s>PAUL (via phone): Ted has chosen to make this really personal and call people dishonest in leadership and call them names, which really goes against the decorum and also against the rules of the Senate. And as a consequence, he can't get anything done legislatively. He's pretty much done for and stifled. And it's really because of personal relationships or lack of personal relationships. And it is a problem.</s>CAMEROTA: Has Ted Cruz been stifled?</s>HOOVER: Ted Cruz -- Rand Paul is not wrong there. I mean, if you talk to any number of -- just go talk to anyone on the Hill or who works on the Hill or knows anything about the Senate. I've not heard many positive things said about Ted Cruz by staff or other senators. He -- the Senate is, for all of the chumminess that is mocked by the outside, a collegial body where people do have to work together. And if you do go against that decorum, you do limit your possibilities for getting legislation through. Ted, in his own way, lit himself on fire first when he came to the Senate and has limited the possibilities of being able to really adequately represent the people in Texas.</s>CUOMO: You campaign in poetry; you govern in prose. And what sounds good during the campaign often does not help get you anywhere on the inside, once you're there. Van, here's your challenge. Bill Clinton is so eloquent, he is so good at making the case. And yet, he's probably the person you want making the case for Hillary the least, so what do you do with this incredibly effective political animal that you really kind of don't want to overshadowing your candidate? What do you do here?</s>JONES: I'm going to tell you what to do. Let the big dog bark. I completely...</s>HOOVER: Bring it on.</s>JONES: Let the big dog bark. Listen, Bill Clinton is not only going to overshadow Hillary Clinton. Bill Clinton would overshadow Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, the Beatles, Jay-Z and Bono all together. He's a star's star. You can't do anything about that. It's baked into the cake. He makes news when he exhales. Let him get out there and make the case.</s>CAMEROTA: Oh, yes?</s>HOOVER: Bring it on, baby.</s>JONES: The reason -- the reason that President Obama -- the reason that President Obama calls him...</s>CUOMO: You have a thing for Bill Clinton, I think.</s>JONES: ... the secretary of explaining stuff is because he does it so well. Let's let him get out there.</s>CAMEROTA: OK. Why do you say bring it on?</s>HOOVER: I say bring it on...</s>CUOMO: Because she loves Bill Clinton.</s>HOOVER: ... for all the reasons -- for all the reasons that Van knows. I mean, for -- for all of the positives that Donald Trump -- or that -- so sorry.</s>CUOMO: No. You meant to say that.</s>HOOVER: Bill Clinton.</s>CUOMO: You meant to try to conflate, President Trump.</s>HOOVER: What we know is that Bill Clinton saved the day in the Democratic convention in 2012. He became the explainer in chief. We also know that the Obama campaign had the hook to pull him off the stage as quickly as possible. Because for all of the goods that Bill Clinton brings, he brings in equal, if not more number of negatives, especially in the context of a Hillary presidency. He got her in trouble so many times in 2008. Remember South Carolina?</s>CAMEROTA: But that's not what Democrats see.</s>HOOVER: That's not. But...</s>CAMEROTA: For the primary.</s>HOOVER: That's also how you know that the Clinton campaign knows that they're in trouble. Their numbers are slipping. And they're -- they have kept him totally off of center stage. And they're worried about her numbers if they're resorting to Bill Clinton this early.</s>CAMEROTA: Margaret, Van.</s>JONES: Listen -- look, she's -- she's right. This is the time to bring out the big guns. Why? Because the big guns have been pointed at Hillary Clinton, you know, for months now; and there needs to be a full-force response from her surrogates. She just happens to have one of the best surrogates in the history of American politics.</s>CAMEROTA: OK. Now we're officially done. Van, Margaret, thanks so much, guys. Meanwhile, Donald Trump will talk to CNN's Don Lemon on CNN tonight. Tune in at 10 p.m. Eastern. Also, mark your calendar, everyone. CNN and Facebook will host the first Democratic debate on October 13, 9 p.m. Eastern -- Michaela.</s>PEREIRA: A Tuesday in Vegas, I love it. All right. A showdown, quite a showdown in fact, over Planned Parenthood on Capitol Hill. The group's president getting grilled by Republican critics out to defund Planned Parenthood. We're going to speak to the woman in Congress that is leading that charge next.