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Donald Trump Denies Recording; Donald Trump Fires Back as Tax Scrutiny Intensifies; Bernie Sanders Fights on Despite Clinton's Advantage. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired May 13, 2016 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[10:00:02] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're really trying our hardest.

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Maple Match is asking, who you'd like to shack up with before the shack is built.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.

And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Donald Trump continues to woo Republicans on Capitol Hill this morning where his advisers are meeting with House lawmakers to shore up support. That meeting taking place as a surprising new report from "The Washington Post" says there is evidence that back in the 1990s Donald Trump posed as his own public relations person when he talked to reporters by phone.

In an audio recording obtained by "The Washington Post," that spokesman -- that spokesman talked with a reporter from "People" magazine about the end of Trump's marriage to his wife Ivana and his new relationship with Marla Maples. Here is the audio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is your position there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I'm sort of handling PR because he gets so much of it. And frankly --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, I could tell you off the record.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Until I get to know you, off the record, I can tell you that he didn't care if he got bad PR until he got his divorce finished.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What kind of comment is this coming from your agency? From Donald?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it just that he really decided that he wasn't, you know, he didn't want to make any commitment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Our senior political reporter Manu Raju has more from Washington. Good morning.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Apparently, Carol, this is actually not news. A number of New York editors and reporters who covered him back in the '70s and the '80s actually, according to this "Washington Post" report, this is fairly common for them when they were calling for comment to the Trump campaign, whether -- Trump office, whether it was about his love life or his business dealings. Sometimes they'd get a call back from a John Barron or a John Miller who actually sounded a lot like Donald Trump, talked about his love life, defended him, called him a great man.

And we have obtained more audio recording from that "Washington Post" article. Take a listen for yourself. Is this Donald Trump?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it's just that he really decided that he wasn't, you know, he didn't want to make a commitment. He really thought it was too soon. He's coming out of a marriage, and he's starting to do tremendously well financially. As you saw, he got his licenses five to nothing the other day and totally unanimous. And he's really been working hard and doing well. And probably, as you know, there's a real estate depression in the United States and he's probably doing as well as anybody there is. And frankly, he wants to keep it that way. And he just thought it was too soon to make any commitment to anybody.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So what is going to happen when -- is she being asked to leave or is she going to be allowed to stay?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, he treats everybody well.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, you don't know him but he's a --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I have met him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you met him?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a good guy and he's not going to hurt anybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP) RAJU: Now actually in the 1980s Trump actually did admit that sometimes he did go by the name of John Barron but today he actually sung a different tune. He was confronted with this audio on NBC's "Today" show and denied that he did anything like this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It was not me on the phone. And it doesn't sound like me on the phone. I will tell you that. And it was not me on the phone. And when was this? 25 years ago?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the early '90s? But -- yes.

TRUMP: Wow. You mean you're going so low as to talk about something that took place 25 years ago about whether or not I made a phone call? I guess you're saying under a presumed name.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, under a presumed name.

TRUMP: OK, well, OK. The answer is no.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now the question is does this have any impact to a campaign that has rewritten all sorts of rules about American politics. So far things like this, embarrassing episodes from his past has not hurt him in the primary election. The question, though, is will it hurt him in the general election? Because as we know, Trump has said all sorts of things over the years and those things will continue to come out, Carol.

COSTELLO: Manu Raju reporting live for us this morning. Thank you.

So let's talk about this. Here now S.E. Cupp, a conservative columnist, Jeffrey Lord is a Trump supporter and Angela Rye is a former executive director for the Congressional Black Caucus.

Welcome to all of you.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: S.E., what do you make of this?

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I got to be honest. I think it's kind of funny and I've always admired Donald Trump's hustle, and I think that this was, you know, perfect Donald Trump, you know, master marketer, master brander. That doesn't bother me. It bothers me that he's lying about it, I think that's pretty deplorable especially since he's admitted it was him in the past. So that bothers. But what bothers me most of all in all of this is that by nominating a truly unserious person, we're not talking about actual issues.

[10:05:04] And that's now -- you know, I'm not throwing shade at the "Washington Post" or at you guys or us, but this is, of course, what you talk about when Donald Trump is the nominee, and instead of talking about Hillary Clinton, who is a truly contemptible person, totally unqualified to become our next president of the United States and all the reasons why, we're talking about the fact that Donald Trump once pretended to be someone else to get some press.

COSTELLO: I would suppose you would agree with that, Jeffrey.

(LAUGHTER)

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Carol, I find this amusing on a couple counts. Number one, earlier in my misspent youth I was both a press secretary to both a congressman and a U.S. senator, and, of course, I worked in the White House. I can't tell you how many times principals, P-A-L-S, principals, give stories to "The Washington Post" and other media on the condition that, well, you don't say who I am.

This kind of thing goes on all over the place in Washington, D.C., all of the time, so, I mean, this was just Donald Trump's version of it. I mean, I find the whole thing hilarious.

The second point is this is exactly the kind of story that "The Washington Post" does on Republican nominees. Four years ago they ran a story that when Mitt Romney was in high school he and a bunch of kids tackled some guy and cut off his kid and the guy later in life turned out to be gay and tried to paint Mitt Romney as a gat basher because of some incident in high school.

I mean, this is typical of what goes on here when you're the Republican nominee for president. So I'm not in the least surprised at this and I think no one is going to care to be perfectly candid.

COSTELLO: So, Angela, do you agree? Is this just a case of Mr. Trump's being slimed by "The Washington Post"?

ANGELA RYE, FORMER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS: Of course I don't agree with that, Carol. And actually I wanted to go back to something that S.E. said, and that is, you know, these are the kinds of stories that you can expect because you have the chief "Apprentice" himself running for president. It's also hilarious to me since we're laughing this morning, Jeffrey, that S.E. said that Hillary Clinton is a contemptible person and unqualified.

It is laughable to me that this is your nominee, but yet Hillary Clinton, who has a record of actually doing things in the government, whether you agree with them or not, actually being a senator elected by the New York people, they spoke, someone who shattered glass ceilings in 2008 as a woman who made it really far as a Democratic -- almost to a Democratic nomination, and then now, of course, having a record as secretary of state under the Obama administration. It's actually laughable that we're talking about someone who has to pose as himself or to not be himself and then deny himself more than three times like Peter did Jesus but he's denying himself. That's the funny thing to me. So this guy, we'll remember, of course, tomorrow that it actually was him but this is your nominee that you're talking about.

(CROSSTALK) CUPP: Well, yes.

COSTELLO: Well, but here's the thing. You know, when you listen to all of these recordings and here is the thing because Mr. Trump does have a woman problem. If it was Mr. Trump posing as John Miller, this PR person, he was bragging an awful lot about actresses who wanted to throw themselves at him sexually. He brings up Kim Bassinger, right? He brings up Carla Bruni. He talks about Madonna coming into the room in a beautiful evening gown and combat boots. And he assures the reporter that nothing untoward occurred. He's got zero interest in that night, quote. So those things, do they matter, S.E.?

CUPP: Trump, as you mentioned, already has a problem with women and I think, you know, stories like this are part of the Trump brand that we've known for years and years and years. I'm not sure that any of these revelations that he was kind of a hound dog, you know, in his past relationships are really going to be bombshells.

Again, what I'm disappointed in is that -- the fact that we're not talking about Hillary Clinton's record, and Angela is right, she has a record. She's got a long one, and whether you think it's a good record or a bad record, I wish that that's what we were talking about and instead because Donald Trump has not been running a serious campaign where he's made -- where he's insisted that the issues are what we need to be talking about and has insisted on giving substantive answers about how he would change the country, instead he's just sort of blurted out opinions and said, you know, attention- grabbing things, that's sort of where we're all going.

It's really just -- it's disappointing. If you care about the future of the country and not so much, you know, Donald Trump's past love life, then this has been a pretty disappointing and uninspiring primary season.

COSTELLO: Well, here is something for you, S.E. Donald Trump did talk about whether he'd release his tax returns, right?

CUPP: Yes.

COSTELLO: He again said on "Good Morning America" that he would release his tax returns when the audit is complete. But then he got very testy with George Stephanopoulos. Listen to this exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS ANCHOR: Do you believe voters have a right to see your tax returns before they make a final decision?

[10:10:05] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't think they do, but I do say this, I will really gladly give them -- not going to learn anything. But it's under routine audit. When the audit ends, I'm going to present them. That should be before the election.

STEPHANOPOULOS: President Nixon, Richard Nixon released his tax returns even though he was under audit and when you were seeking a casino license in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, you released the returns to the state officials even though you were under audit.

TRUMP: I am under audit now, and as soon as the audit ends, I'll release my returns.

STEPHANOPOULOS: If you were willing to release your tax returns to get a casino license, why shouldn't voters see them before they make you commander-in-chief?

TRUMP: Well, because at the time it didn't make any difference to me. Now it does.

STEPHANOPOULOS: What is your tax rate?

TRUMP: It's none of your business. You'll see it when I release but I fight very hard to pay as little tax as possible.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You said you would release your tax returns when Secretary Clinton released her e-mails. She has turned over all the e-mails in her possession --

TRUMP: She didn't turn over all. There are plenty missing. I read yesterday where there are a lot of e-mails missing. Don't -- I know she's a good friend of yours and I know you worked for them and you didn't reveal it, but, you know, she did not turn over her e-mails. There are a lot of e-mails missing.

STEPHANOPOULOS: There were e-mails from her staffers missing. She turned over e-mails she has.

TRUMP: There are e-mails missing all over the place. The whole thing is a scam.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK. So, Jeffrey, I just want you --

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: I'll get to you in a second, Angela. I'm sure you have something to say. But I want to go to Jeffrey first because Mr. Trump says his tax rate is none of our business, and he doesn't think voters have a right to see his taxes before the election. Jeffrey, really?

LORD: Carol, I have to say, I think this whole business of taxes, releasing tax returns, is just crazy at this point.

RYE: Of course you do, Jeffrey.

LORD: Frankly most American presidents did not release their tax returns. I mean, this is something that --

COSTELLO: Come on, Jeffrey. You know that's not true.

LORD: Well, it is true.

COSTELLO: Every person running for president since 1976 has released their tax return.

LORD: Although, Carol, this country has been around since 1787. George Washington --

COSTELLO: OK. In 1787 the president didn't release their tax returns.

LORD: No, Carol, they didn't. They didn't do it.

COSTELLO: Why does that matter? You just said something that happened 25 years ago doesn't matter? Why would something like hundreds of years ago matter?

LORD: Well, because, Carol, all I'm saying is this is not in the Constitution. This is a political game that people play to get the opposing candidate, you know, snoop around in --

CUPP: Carol, if this were -- if this were Hillary Clinton, if this were Barack Obama and they had refused to release their tax information, people like Jeffrey would be calling this an outrage.

LORD: Yes, I just --

CUPP: They'd be calling this an outrage. And after having real serious debates about the opacity of this administration and administrations before it and the refusal of certain political figures to release all of their information and tell the truth, I think it's a huge double standard that Trump defenders are giving him a pass on stuff that they wouldn't give a pass much lesser -- much lesser a refusal for other people.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Here is something else that Mr. Trump said that I just want you all to address. He also said -- you know, Mr. Trump released his taxes to get a casino license, right? He did that. And he said he did it at the time because it didn't make any difference to me and now it does.

LORD: Right.

COSTELLO: So --

(LAUGHTER)

CUPP: There you go.

COSTELLO: So he released his taxes to get a casino license.

RYE: Then Jeffrey says right.

COSTELLO: But to run for president of the United States?

LORD: Look. Guys, I am saying -- what I'm trying to communicate to you politically speaking, what is one of the sorest issues in America today with a lot of people? That is the IRS. They feel the IRS has become --

RYE: Oh, come on, Jeffrey.

LORD: Totally, totally politicized.

RYE: Jeffrey --

LORD: So when you get into the issues of who's going to police --

(CROSSTALK)

RYE: You guys are prying for Hillary Clinton to release the rest of the e-mails but you won't release taxes and you know that every presidential candidate does this. He's saying now --

(CROSSTALK)

LORD: Every presidential candidate has not done this.

RYE: Now he's going to hold his tax returns because Hillary Clinton still has e-mails that he wants to see. That is not in the Constitution either since that's your standard, and it's ridiculous. Do you all have a moving goalpost?

LORD: She is a public -- she was a public official. He is not.

RYE: It moves every minute, every second, every day. We can't meet your standards because we don't know where they are.

CUPP: Angela, Angela, Angela. It's called moral -- it's called moral and political relativism. That's what's happening there. And frankly, if Donald Trump is interested in exposing the corruption of the IRS, as I am, then he should release his tax returns and show everyone what is wrong with the IRS. I mean --

LORD: I'd like to know --

RYE: The audit process, right?

(CROSSTALK)

LORD: I'm wondering why he's under audit in the first place. How about that?

CUPP: So would I -- so would I, Jeffrey. Why don't you call and ask him?

RYE: Exactly.

LORD: I mean, you know, let's get --

COSTELLO: OK. I'm going to leave it there. Thanks for the spirited debate.

RYE: You can't keep up, Carol.

(LAUGHTER)

[10:15:01] COSTELLO: I can't. Thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, some say it's time for Bernie Sanders to back down, but could Hillary Clinton fall with him?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Bernie Sanders is not just pressing on with his campaign, he says he is the one who could beat Donald Trump in November.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am not here to say that Hillary Clinton can't defeat Donald Trump. I absolutely believe that she can. But I believe, quite honestly, that Bernie Sanders is the stronger candidate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: There's just one problem for Sanders, and her name is Hillary Clinton. She has the math on her side. There is a report that some Sanders supporters are pushing for him to go ahead and cede the nomination to Clinton and mount an independent bid for president.

[10:20:01] Senator Sanders knows about being independent already. He's the longest serving independent in congressional history.

One critic says the Sanders campaign is like the "Walking Dead," a zombie that could harm Clinton's chances in November. For his part, Sanders says he's fighting for the soul of the Democratic Party.

So let's talk about this with Steve Elmendorf. He's a Clinton supporter and he was the deputy campaign manager for John Kerry in 2004 and was senior adviser to former Democratic congressman, Dick Gephardt, for many years.

Welcome, sir.

STEVE ELMENDORF, DEPUTY CAMPAIGN MANAGER, JOHN KERRY 2004: Good to see you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Nice to have you here.

David Wade, who also worked on Kerry's 2004 campaign, called Sanders the zombie candidate. In other words, he says that Sanders' campaign is like the "Walking Dead." Do you agree with that?

ELMENDORF: Well, the reality is that Secretary Clinton is winning. She's won more votes, she's won more states, she's won more delegates. And there is mathematically impossible for Senator Sanders to win. So I think as we see this threat from Donald Trump who has begun the general election campaign and is attacking Hillary Clinton on a regular basis, it would be good to get the party unified and get about the business of beating Donald Trump.

COSTELLO: Well, tell us the danger of a so-called zombie campaign.

ELMENDORF: Well, the danger of going on too long once you've lost is that the -- you know, the two most precious assets in any campaign are time and money, and Secretary Clinton, unfortunately, is having to spend time dealing with Senator Sanders' challenge right now and is having to spend money dealing with Senator Sanders' challenge. You know, it would be better to spend that time and money getting ready for what is going to be a very tough general election against Donald Trump.

And I think all Democrats and ultimately I think Senator Sanders and his supporters are going to see that the most important thing we need to do is elect Hillary Clinton and stop Donald Trump, and I think he's got -- you know, time is running out, and there's no way for him to win.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about the Kerry campaign because it was clear at some point in 2004 that John Kerry was going to be the nominee. Yet his Democratic rival stayed on. How did that hurt Kerry in your mind?

ELMENDORF: Well, one, your rivals are bringing up issues that end up becoming the topic of TV commercials from the other side in the general election. They -- you know, we have seen it on our side so far where we have taken commercials where Republicans are talking about Donald Trump -- are taking video where Republicans are talking about Donald Trump and made it in the videos showing what the Republican Party thinks about Donald Trump.

You know, it's unfortunate that we may face the same problem on the Democratic side where people, Republicans, take video of people being critical of Secretary Clinton and use it against her in the general. And, again, you know, we think everybody should get the vote. Senator Sanders has brought great issues to the table, but he can't win. And once you reach that point of not winning, it's time to get together and figure out how we get about winning the general election.

COSTELLO: You know, there are plenty of Democrats, though, who say Senator Sanders has made Hillary Clinton a better candidate. So in that sense why shouldn't he stay in the race?

ELMENDORF: I agree he has made her a better candidate. I think it's good to have a challenge. I think she has stood up to the challenge and done very well. But there comes a point where it's time to pivot so the general election. As Donald Trump is currently pivoting to the general election.

COSTELLO: Do you think that Senator Sanders will run as an independent?

ELMENDORF: I certainly hope not and I don't think so. I don't he -- you know, he's an honorable man who has brought great issues to the table and who I think, you know, as he has said publicly many times, does not want Donald Trump to be president. I don't think he wants to be Ralph Nader. We know what happened in 2000 when we had a third party and what we got out of it was George W. Bush and I don't think that Senator Sanders wants to be responsible for a similar outcome. COSTELLO: Steve Elmendorf, thank you so much for stopping by.

ELMENDORF: Good to be here.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, growing lines and passenger patience wearing very thin. What is with the TSA?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:28:25] COSTELLO: Checking some top stories for you at 28 minutes past. Just this morning the Obama administration issued new guidance to schools amid an intense nationwide debate over public restrooms and transgender rights. The guidelines say a student's preferred gender identity must be respected and if schools don't comply well, they could lose federal funding.

A 9-year-old girl who was missing for more than a week in eastern Tennessee has been found. Volunteers searching private property found Carlie Marie Trent with her 57-year-old uncle in a remote hillside camp. The uncle has been charged with aggravated kidnapping. Carlie appeared to be OK but she was taken to a hospital just so she could be checked over.

The Italian Coast Guard has rescued 1,000 migrants and refugees off the coast of Sicily. One of the rescues involved two fishing boats that came from Egypt. We're told some Syrians and Iraqis were on board. It's believed some of the smaller boats came from Libya. They'll all be taken to southern Italy.

Russia says doping allegations made against several of the country's medal winners at the Sochi Olympics came as a major shock. But the Russian Sports Ministry is questioning the motives of the man making the claims. They say the man was fired from his job as head of the lab for manipulating tests. The International Olympic Committee in the meantime has called for an immediate inquiry.

And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Long security waits, missed flights. If you are a regular traveler, you've probably been there, done that. Take a look at these pictures from Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. These pictures were taken an hour ago. Do you see the lines there? My goodness, I feel for those people.

With summer on the horizon, we could be seeing much, much worse. Much longer lines because the frustrations don't stop there with the lines either.