CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript Interview with Asa Hutchinson

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

I'm joined now by Arkansas' Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson.

Governor Hutchinson, as usual thanks so much for joining us. As you know, the never Trump faction proved rather ineffective in 2016. The president was elected. Do you think they're becoming a bigger factor four years later, this time around?

GOV. ASA HUTCHINSON (R), ARKANSAS: No, it's really the same bloc of individuals. I mean, their voice is heard now, the same way it was heard four years ago. So I don't see that shifting everything. They're expressing themselves. I think it's very, very important that President Trump in this next week sets out his agenda for the future in a very optimistic way. He can't dwell upon some of those side events like that.

He can't worry about a few of the defections there. He's got to speak and energize his base, but more importantly, to really shift to the future with optimism, with hope, talking about where he wants to take America. That's what everybody is really sitting on the edge of their seat wanting to hear in what they didn't hear last week.

BLITZER: Your fellow Republican, Vermont's Republican Governor Phil Scott on Friday said he won't be voting for President Trump. Do you expect any more of your fellow GOP governors to break ranks?

HUTCHINSON: I don't know the answer to that. I think it's solid. There's a lot of support and part of the reason is the governors have really had a very good working relationship with President Trump and the vice president through this coronavirus where they've had to support us, they've had regular communications, not just from the White House but throughout his administration, and so that good relationship both actually on the Democrat and Republican side pays dividends.

I think they appreciate that, but we'll see whether there's any defections there. That could be simply reflecting the politics of their individual state.

BLITZER: What about you?

HUTCHINSON: Oh, I'm solid. You know, I look at what we saw last week and Joe Biden had a good convention. It was a straight-forward convention. They had their attacks on this administration. They've set up some of the differences and they got to know Joe Biden so that was good.

[19:20:04]

But what they really didn't focus on that much that I heard was specific plans for the future. Generally the Democrat nominee shifts more to the middle. But their platform continues to shift to the left being dominated by Senator Sanders and Senator Warren, and the left wing of the party. And I think that contrast is worrying America. And you got to capitalize that on this week's convention.

There's a big opportunity for the president, if he handles this in the right way, that he'll come out of there with an actual bump. It will be the first real bump that we've seen through virtual conventions. But he's got to be able to maneuver and show the distinctions in a positive way, which is going to be tough. That's not his style. But he needs to do that to show the hope and optimism for the future. That's the opportunity that's presented this week.

BLITZER: You know, it's interesting, we watched the Democratic convention all four nights, four former Democratic presidents, Carter, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, they all spoke in support of Biden, of course. And I noticed that former president George W. Bush is not going to be appearing at the Republican convention. I don't think former vice president Dick Cheney will either. What does that say to you, if anything?

HUTCHINSON: Well, it says that we're not as united as we would like to be. That's disappointing for me. Somebody that served in the Bush administration. Obviously, there's a lot of personal history there. But, you know, this is Trump's show. We want to show a unity among the party, which with those defectors is a little bit hard to do. But at the same time the key thing and Trump cannot spend time dwelling upon that, he's got a really an all-star cast of speakers this week, from senators to state legislators, attorney generals.

And I think it's going to be a more than exciting show than what we saw last week. I think you'll have more energy there. And I think -- you know, you've got to be able to capture the audience, but then you've got to deliver the message. And with the speakers that are there talking about the foreign policy successes of this president, the fact that we have a new NAFTA, one of his big promises, that there were skeptics like me that did not think he was going to be able to pull it off and he did. And now we have the new USMCA, that's the North American trade that

everyone says is a positive step in the right direction. He pulled that off. He's got a lot to talk about, what he did, but also he's got to fill in the blank as to what he wants to do in the next four years.

BLITZER: And the White House says we will be hearing directly from the president every night, these four nights, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from the president himself.

Governor Hutchinson, thanks so much for joining us.

HUTCHINSON: Great to be with you, Wolf, thank you.

BLITZER: Thank you.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source