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President Obama Supports Hillary Clinton; Donald Trump Slams Hillary Clinton Over Some Newly Released State Department Emails From When She Was Still Secretary Of State; New Developments in the Shooting Death Of Pop Singer Christina Grimmie; Brock Turner, the Stanford Student Convicted Of Sexual Assault. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired June 11, 2016 - 15:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:00:11] PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM on this Saturday. I'm Pamela Brown in Washington. Nice to have you along.

And right now we are keeping an eye on Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that's where a Donald Trump friendly crowd is waiting for the man they are rallying around, the presumptive Republican nominee. It's a venue that Donald Trump really likes, an airplane hangar frequently with his private jet in the background. When Trump arrives and takes the podium, of course, we will bring that to you live.

And if you don't feel it yet this week, something in the presidential race shifted slightly. It was the moment it officially/unofficially became a two-person contest. Hillary Clinton reached her delegate count. And then President Obama came out to her side right after a face-to-face with Senator Bernie Sanders. Sanders by the way will not be campaigning this weekend.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is at that Pittsburgh airport hangar where Donald Trump is set to appear shortly. CNN's Teddy Scheifer is in Park City, Utah, where a former Republican nominee just tore into Donald Trump and not for the first time. Teddy, we are going to come to you in a minute. But first I want to go to Kristen.

Donald Trump was in Pennsylvania this afternoon. He was in Florida this morning. And of course, these states are not chosen at random. They are battlegrounds. Which Donald Trump is speaking today, the scripted statesman or the more free-wheeling, name-calling Donald Trump? What can we expect?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, there are no teleprompters here today. And if his speech is anything like what he said in Florida, we are going to see Trump unscripted. Now, when he was in Tampa, he went after Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren before turning to members of his own party, calling former GOP nominee Mitt Romney a quote "stone cold loser." Now, of course, this is in response to Romney's comments to CNN that the character of America would change under a Trump presidency due to what he called quote trickle down racism. Trump also warned Republicans who weren't coming on board with the

Trump candidacy yet, saying that he -- they should be careful or else risk losing their re-election battle. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I mean, I have had more opposition from the Republican Party than I do from the Democrats. It is crazy. With that being said, I think it's coming together. I think it's coming together. Don't forget, I'm an outsider. They are not used to it. So they sign a pledge. They go into the RNC. They use all of their information because they signed the pledge. They took, I guess you could say, millions of dollars-worth of free information, and then they lose and they don't honor the pledge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, Trump, of course, you know -- excuse me, a GOP operative that I spoke to pushed back against Trump's comments there saying that they just simply want him to unite the Republican party, adding that for every two steps back, there seems to be about one-and-a-half steps back.

So you know, they are pushing back against those claims saying he is not getting more opposition from the GOP than he is from the Democrats. Now I think today in Pennsylvania, this will be his third trip to a battle ground state in the last 24 hours. These are his first visit to the swing state since he became the presumptive nominee. In fact, taking place just as s Hillary Clinton is ramping up her same efforts in these swing states. She will be here in Pittsburgh early in the week - Pamela.

BROWN: All right. And of course, it will be interesting to see if he addresses former Republican nominee Mitt Romney who tore into him today. He is already tweeted at Mitt Romney criticizing him.

So Teddy, what exactly did Romney say?

THEODORE SCHEIFER, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Yes. So Mitt Romney here was speaking to his yearly conference of about 300 fund-raisers, donors, allies, people who have been in the Romney fold for a while. And Romney pretty much not only tore into Donald Trump but also people who he kind of thought enabled his rise. He said of the current Republican Party, seeing this is breaking my heart. At times, it is pretty emotional, he seemed to be beating back tears as he spoke on a stage before people who admire the man. He also had sharp words for fellow Republican candidate, who Mitt Romney said did not adequately challenge Trump during the primary season calling out Ted Cruz and John Kasich in particular. This is a very, very emotional moment for Governor Romney. At times, you know, he seemed to be trying to implore them to change their mind, maybe act a little bit differently.

You know, this conference is not a quote/unquote "never Trump retreat". There are several people here who are prominent fund- raisers, who are prominent supporters of the Trump campaign. But if they were looking for a signal from the man they respect tremendously, Mitt Romney today, he was pretty clear that he is obviously not helping out Trump and he doesn't think that's the right path forward.

[15:05:06] BROWN: All right. And we are just learning that Donald Trump's expected to retaliate against Hillary Clinton with a speech of his own. That's going to be on Monday in Manchester, New Hampshire at 2:30 p.m. as of now. Very interesting. We will be waiting for that anxiously.

Kristen Holmes, Teddy Scheifer, thanks for bringing us that reporting.

So you are about to see this pattern in whether White House hopefuls appear this weekend and the coming days. Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Florida, Ohio, that's no accident. They are fierce battleground states. And we are waiting for Donald Trump to take that stage there in Pittsburgh in a state that's not supported a Republican for president in the past seven election cycles.

Trump strategists certainly know that. And Jeffrey Lord is one of them. He is here now with Bernard Whitman, a Hillary Clinton supporter and Democratic strategist. Rebecca Berg, she joins us as well. She is a political reporter for "Real Clear Politics."

So Jeffrey, on that note, let's start with you. We know Donald Trump is in Pennsylvania. He is going to be speaking there any minute now. Hillary Clinton shows up there on Tuesday. How does Trump revost the Democrats' 28-year winning streak in that state and these other states that are traditionally blue?

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right. Pamela, I have to say, not for nothing do they call Pennsylvania a battleground state. I have been involved from the Pennsylvania presidential campaigns or presidential campaigns in Pennsylvania in my (INAUDIBLE) from the ground up. And I remember very distinctly when the sort of moderate Republican wing of the party said that Ronald Reagan should never be nominated because he would lose Pennsylvania. And they went with Gerald Ford and he lost Pennsylvania. And four years later they said the same thing. And Ronald Reagan won it twice and then his heir as it were, George H. W. Bush won it a third time. It hasn't been won since.

And I would suggest Donald Trump is the first Republican nominee since 1988 that has a real considerable chance of carrying Pennsylvania. He is in exactly the right place today in Pittsburgh, in western Pennsylvania, where the state is a bit more conservative. He will be coming back here to where I live in Harrisburg, central Pennsylvania, and what we call in Pennsylvania the "T" which goes from the middle of Pennsylvania straight up to the New York border and left and right over to Erie and Wilkes-Barre Scranton. I'm sure he will be doing that and then hitting those suburban counties in Philadelphia. And traditionally in Republicans, they become more moderate in recent years. I think certainly he will be targeting that as well. So it's a battle. There's no question about it.

BROWN: And now we have another factor at play here, Jeffrey Lord. That's President Obama campaigning on behalf of Hillary Clinton.

LORD: Right. BROWN: He did well in 2012 in white counties, particularly in Ohio,

another battleground state. How much of a threat to you see him as?

LORD: Yes. There's no question the president will play a role here. It's not often that we have had popular presidents or reasonably popular presidents who can do anything. The president Eisenhower was sort of kept sidelined in the Nixon campaign. And they later thought that was a mistake. President Reagan went all out for George H. W. Bush and it helped him. Bill Clinton was a bit of a drag on Al Gore because of his impeachment situation and the Gore people were not too happy with him so they kept him out, which I think in retrospect was a mistake. And George W. Bush was not a help at all to John McCain.

So In this case, I think President Obama can be a bit of a help here. He can also be a bit of a help to Donald Trump in the sense that if you are not an Obama fan and there are people in Pennsylvania who are not, he can energize those folks as well.

BROWN: All right, Bernard, let's go to that. Regardless of all of that, President Obama does have high approval ratings. How effective do you think, Bernard, that President Obama can be in transferring his popularity to Clinton out on the trail considering her unfavorables are still pretty high?

BERNARD WHITMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think it's going to be extremely powerful out on the stump, because he is -- has highest approval rating he has had since his second inauguration. The base loves him. Independent voters are starting to look at the president, compare him to Donald Trump and say you know what, maybe President Obama actually hasn't been so bad after all.

You know, we have had years and years and years of economic expansion, not to the degree that we need it but he remains very, very popular. I tell you, this election is going to come down as most elections do, to turnout. When you have half of Donald Trump supporters saying you know what, I'm going to have to hold my nose to come out and vote for him, turnout is going be huge. And the president is beloved by members across the Democratic Party, particularly key constituents like African-Americans, Latinos, love the president. I think you are going to see him go all out. And I will say, I was around in 2000, huge mistake for Al Gore not to use Bill Clinton. I think it helps him lose that election. Hillary is not going to make that mistake.

BROWN: OK. And Rebecca, I want to talk to you about Mitt Romney's criticisms of Donald Trump. He really came out and doubled down on Donald Trump, just saying he is unfit for office, that he's going to hurt America's values and America will never be the same if he's president. Let's listen to sound from Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[15:10:16] TRUMP: When I heard he was going to run again and I was thinking about running, I let him know. I said, the guy is a stone cold loser. He choked and when you're a choker, you can never give a choker a second chance. It's too important. \

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Your reaction, Rebecca?

REBECCA BERG, POLITICAL REPORTER, REAL CLEAR POLITICS: Of course this rivalry, Pamela, is nothing new. Mitt Romney is one of the most forceful rebukes during the Republican primary of Donald Trump when he gave his speech, calling Donald Trump sort of politics unbiased bigotry. Encouraging that sort of thing. And so, he has been a very outspoken critic for a long time now of Donald Trump.

What makes Mitt Romney stand out from other Republicans is that he has maintained his strong criticism of Donald Trump even as he has become the nominee. And Mitt Romney is in a different position than many Republicans. He is not currently in office. He is not a current leader of the party. He is certainly a figure head, but he doesn't have any sort of obligation to keep the Senate, keep the house, any obligation, any constituents of any kind. And so, it gives him a unique position to be able to air his criticisms about those sorts of potential consequences you could see down the ballot in terms of fund- raising and getting out the vote for these Republican candidates.

It is interesting that he is keeping up pressure on Republicans as we saw from his summit in Utah, encouraging them to soften their support for Donald Trump or even withdraw their support for Donald Trump. It's interesting that he is mounting this pressure campaign because certainly none of these Republicans who have endorsed Donald Trump and still are criticizing him, none of them are in a very easy political position here. They have responsibilities to continue to elect Republicans down the ballot. And, of course, they're under a lot of pressure from Republican voters at the same time. And so, it really lays bare some of the divisions in the Republican Party now. And these are not going away any time soon.

BROWN: And what do you make of that, just on the heels of what Rebecca said, Jeffrey, that there are sort of this divide in establishment Republicans. There are some who say that look, we are going to vote for Trump come November but he is a racist and they condemn what he says. And then you have others like John Kasich who basically say, look, my values are not in line with his, I'm not going to vote for him. What do you make of that?

LORD: Well, I do think that divide is there. And frankly, I think this is the surfacing of a divide again that has been there in one way or another for decades, going all the way back to Thomas Dewey in 1948 before any of us were around.

BROWN: For someone like a Paul Ryan to do that, that's not very typical of the party's leadership.

LORD: Well, I remember a time when President Ford says that Ronald Reagan was too was an extremist and could never be elected president. There were plenty of Republican establishment types that took that view of Ronald Reagan himself. So yes, I have seen this before. But I do think this is the time to pull together.

It disturbs me. I mean, the Romney thing, I must say, his father did the same, pulled the same stunt, if you will, in 1964 when he was governor of Michigan and he refused to endorse Barry Goldwater. You know, Barry Goldwater was sort of the founding father, if you will, of the political version of conservatism and George Romney went at him with a vengeance when he was the sitting governor of Michigan, refused to campaign with him in the fall. Mitt Romney is following in his father's footsteps. And I might add, this business about trickle-down bigotry and all this kind of thing. We can all recall in 2012 the tape that was made secretly of Mitt Romney standing in a closed private room talking about the deriving 47 percent of Americans who were never going to vote for him. They were going to vote for President Obama, aka, what. Because they were on government assistance or they are black or whatever. I mean, that was his true feeling. So I think that was not trickle down bigotry. I think that was flat out bigotry and it was wrong.

BROWN: OK. We are going to have to leave it there. But the good news is that the three of you will be back after this break. And we want to talk about the speech that we are now expecting to hear from Donald Trump on Monday going after Hillary Clinton. So stay right where you are.

And coming up, Donald Trump is hammering Hillary Clinton as we said, for appointing major Clinton foundation donor to a sensitive intelligence board while she was secretary of state. We'll get those details.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They all looked and they said, where did this guy come from? He made a contribution of 250,000. All of a sudden he is on this very important and vital board. This position dealt with tactical nuclear weapons and had top secret clearance. And he knew nothing about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:18:00] BROWN: And right now as we speak, we are watching for Donald Trump to come out and speak any minute now in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This is a state that's not voted Republican in a presidential general election since 1988.

A new Hillary Clinton ad mocks Donald Trump, Trump University promotional ad. It claims to tell the true story about his defunct Trump University that's facing multiple lawsuits. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now you too can be a source of Trump's wealth with Trump University. Just follow these three easy steps. Step one.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sign up for Trump University.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Step two, pay for Trump University at the amazing price of everything you have.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The instructions include encouraging people who couldn't afford the courses to pay for them with multiple credit cards.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Step three, there is no step three. You won't actually learn anything. It's that easy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And meanwhile, Donald Trump is slamming Hillary Clinton over some newly released state department emails from when she was still secretary of state. They reveal that a big-time Clinton foundation donor wound up on a sensitive government intelligence advisory board and he didn't even seem to have much experience in that field.

CNN investigative correspondent Drew Griffin has all the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAJ FERNANDO, FOUNDER/CEO, CHOPPER TRADING: I'm Raj Fernando, founder and CEO of Chopper Trading.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Raj Fernando is a Chicago-based stock trader. And for a very short period of time he was an appointee to the U.S. estate department's international security advisory board. What qualifications did he have? Apparently none. What he did have is big money ties to Bill and Hillary Clinton. He had donated between one and $5 million to the Clinton foundation. He has donated to Mrs. Clinton's 2008 primary campaign and even served as a so-called bundler of large campaign donations for Democrats.

On the campaign trail today, Donald Trump called his appointment just another example of his crooked Hillary campaign theme.

[15:20:07] TRUMP: She even appointed to the national security board someone with no national security experience, instead, he was a donor, a recent donor, to Hillary Clinton's campaign.

GRIFFIN: It is clear Raj Fernando had no diplomat experience and no background in international security affairs which could explain why just one month after taking this photo during his very first meeting with the board, Raj Fernando was writing a letter to Secretary Clinton resigning. And emails just released show behind the scenes political panic was setting in as a state department official struggled to explain what this big donor to the Clinton foundation was doing with top security clearance inside the state department.

On August 15th, 2011, an email from an ABC News producer asks for Fernando's qualifications. The follow-up email shows state department officials scrambling to come up with an explanation. They discussed how the appointment came directly from Hillary Clinton's long-time aide and state department chief of Cheryl Mills. The true answer is simply that Cheryl Mills added him, the state department official writes in an email. He was added at their insistence. Someone else writes, can we dig up a short paragraph about his distinguished career and a sentence about our selection and approval process? The next day, a senior adviser emails we must protect the secretary's name as well as the integrity of the board. Through a colleague, Cheryl Mills chimes into the email chain asking the state department to stall in its response to ABC news for 24 hours. No real qualifications for Fernando were ever sent. Instead, the next day, August 17th, Raj Fernando suddenly resigns.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Happy Friday.

GRIFFIN: At the state department today, answers on why were hard to come by.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If he was at all qualified, why did he resign so suddenly after ABC news started asking questions?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, you would have to ask him.

GRIFFIN: Drew Griffin, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And the Clinton campaign is now responding to Drew griffin's reporting saying quote "this was an unpaid volunteer advisory board and one of several foreign policy focused organizations that he was involved with as the state department itself has said, the ISAB charter called for a diverse set of experiences for its members. That's all there is to it.

So I want to bring in our panel again to get your thoughts on this. And Bernard, naturally I'll start with you to get your thoughts. We head that some of the Clinton camp are seemingly downplaying this. But at the same time, this could feed into the perception that Hillary Clinton was involved in shady business while she was at state. In your viewed, does this report blunt Hillary Clinton's momentum that she has garnered this past week?

WHITMAN: No, I don't think so at all. I mean, that maybe he wasn't the best choice. But I think that maybe he wasn't the best choice. But I think that many Americans would be surprised to know how our ambassadors get picked. Many of our ambassadors get chosen because they deliver a lot of money to the campaign. Many people are chosen for all sorts of hundreds and hundreds of these advisory boards exist all across government. A lot of time people who donate money or raise money are appointed to the boards. And the truth is, the board charter itself said let's get people from a diverse set of backgrounds, a different set of experiences. Let's get them in there. He obviously was cleared from a security standpoint. Maybe it wasn't the best person to choice. And I think ultimately when the hubbub came up, he said, you know what, I don't want to be an embarrassment so I'm going to resign. So frankly, I think that it is interesting story for about 24 hours. But beyond that, I don't think it's that relevant.

BROWN: But I just have to ask a follow-up. You see those emails where it appears that they are sort of scrambling about how to respond to this ABC producer. If they didn't think it was bad optics, why would they be doing that?

WHITMAN: Because I mean, why should the focus of the secretary of state's office be on an obscure board that no one ever heard of that probably doesn't really do a whole lot to be honest.

BROWN: Well, it was more the donor, though, not the board.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITMAN: Right. But what I'm saying is, it brings all this attention to the secretary of state's office over some obscure board, a guy was in a volunteer position. It wasn't paid. The easiest thing to do in a politician situation like that is end it. The guy probably said, you know what, I don't want to be a distraction to the secretary of state's work. I'm just going to resign quietly.

BROWN: Jeffrey, your thoughts?

LORD: Yes, I mean be I think she has a problem with this. I will say I think Bernard is right. This story will probably last about 24 hours in the news cycle and we'll be on to something else. But I do think that it adds, as a part of a larger mosaic that's a constant story with the Clintons, from all the way from whitewater to her conduct in the state department, you get constantly into these stories of interest peddling and connections and contributions and all of this kind of thing.

I'm sure there is more to come out. Donald Trump is going to give the speech on Monday. I have a feeling this will be, everything including the kitchen sink on this topic. And that is going to be a huge issue in a general sense in this election.

[15:25:13] BROWN: And I want to go to you on that, Rebecca. We are expecting Trump top give a speech on Monday. What do you think he needs to do, given that Hillary Clinton has had a lot of momentum this week, becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee, garnering President Obama's support, what kind of Trump do you think we need to see on Monday? Is it the teleprompter Trump or the free-wheeling Trump?

BERG: Well, I think it's clear, Pamela, that we do and especially Republicans, will be looking for the serious teleprompter Trump. Because over the past few weeks he had a five-week head start on Hillary Clinton going in and transitioning into the general election. And many Republicans feel at this stage that he squandered that head start by wasting his time campaigning in states like California, that didn't really matter for him by starting various controversies that didn't have anything to do with trying to attack Hillary Clinton and define his own message, leading into the general election.

And so, what he needs to do with this speech is what Republicans have very publicly, including Senator Mitch McConnell, been urging him to do. And that's to focus, to get on message and to start attacking Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee for president. And so I think that's why we will see the teleprompter version of Donald Trump on Monday, because he has points he needs to hit. When he's speaking off the cuff as we've seen, he doesn't really hit the points that he's needing to hit. We saw a preview of this in his speech to the freedom coalition meeting here in D.C. on Friday. He started talking about the Clinton's history of being corrupt, easily corruptible, influenced by money. I think we're going to -- using government to enrich themselves. I think we'll see a continuation of these themes in his speech on Monday.

BROWN: The speech on Monday is in the afternoon, New Hampshire, 2:30 p.m.

Jeffrey Lord, Bernard Whitman and Rebecca Berg, thank you so much.

BERG: Thanks, Pamela.

WHITMAN: Thanks, Pamela.

LORD: Thanks, Pamela.

BROWN: And we are also following new developments in the shooting death of pop singer Christina Grimme. Police say they identified the shooter and the cold-blooded killing was all planned. The latest on this investigation up next.

Plus, Trump supporters get ready for their man to take the stage in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. Of course we will bring that speech to you when it happens.

You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:31:19] BROWN: Welcome back.

We just learned that Donald Trump's plane has landed in the battle ground state of Pennsylvania. We do expect him to take to the podium very shortly. And we will be monitoring this for you. Here is the Trump plane. We see all of his supporters there raising their cell phones taking pictures. And that they are at an airplane hangar there in Pennsylvania. That was moments ago.

Meantime, turning to a really disturbing story, police say the man who shot and killed pop singer Christina Grimmie traveled to her concert last night specifically to carry out a cold blooded crime. Video taken during Grimmie's show revealed a happy and talented 22-year-old and what would be her final performance.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

Just imagine shortly after leaving the stage right here, Grimmie was shot dead while signing autographs for fans. The shooter then fatally shot himself after being tackled by her brother.

CNN's Boris Sanchez has been following the investigation. He joins me right now from the venue of where the shooting occurred. So what more do we know about this man, Boris?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pamela, right now we are working hard to find out more information about him. We don't have many details just yet. Though shortly, just a few moments ago, we got a clarification from Orlando police earlier at a press briefing. They told us the suspect was a 21-year-old man. They just clarified that to say he is a 27-year-old man. So he is a little bit older than we thought.

But aside from them, it's really unclear his motive as to why he did this. As you said, the belief is that he came here to Orlando specifically to carry out this attack against Christina Grimmie, the 22-year-old You Tube sensation with more than three million followers online. She was also obviously a finalist on "the Voice" finishing in third place. And as you said she just finished performing, she was at a meet and greet signing autographs when this 27-year-old man approached her and opened fire. Here's more details about what we know so far about the gunman from the Orlando police chief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF JOHN MINA, ORLANDO POLICE: The suspect in this case is not from Orlando. The suspect travelled to Orlando, apparently, to commit this crime and then had plans to travel back to where he came from. What our detectives are doing right now is they are going through the suspect's cell phone and computer to see if they could find a motive for this crime. The suspect had two handguns on his person. He had two additional loaded magazines for those handguns and a large hunting knife.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Orlando police are commending Christina's brother, Marcus, for as you said, Pamela, tackling this suspect shortly after the shooting. They said that he prevented other people from getting hurt. During that scuffle, police say it's apparent that the gunman turned the gun on himself, taking his own life. Again, his motives are a mystery, initially on social media it was reported that he may be familiar to her family as they may have known each other. But this afternoon, Orlando police dispelling those rumors saying it's not clear there was any kind of relationship between the singer and the 27-year-old suspect.

BROWN: One thing we do know, according to Orlando police is that he acted alone. A lot more to learn about this man, Boris Sanchez. Thank you so much for that.

Meantime, new revelations from inside the trial that has outraged America. The Stanford student convicted of sexual assault claims he wasn't a party boy. But we will tell you just what the prosecution has revealed about his past in newly released documents. And we will read you part of the letter written by Brock Turner's mom to the judge.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:38:16] BROWN: Welcome back.

Donald Trump now getting off his plane there in Pennsylvania as we speak. He's going to be speaking to a crowd there. He is in Pittsburgh. And we will, of course, be monitoring this for you.

But we want to turn now to another story that's really gripped the entire country. We now know just how Brock Turner, the Stanford student convicted of sexual assault was portrayed in court. A decent guy in small town in Ohio. This was revealed in a copy of the statement Brock Turner gave probation officer.

It reads in part, coming from a small town in Ohio I had never really experienced celebrating or partying that involved alcohol. A statement that possibly led to his six-month jail sentence. But was it true? According to new court files, the answer is likely no. Evidence he sent texts to friends that prosecutors say proves he was a drinker who partied regularly using marijuana and other drugs.

Joining me now, CNN's Brynn Gingras.

So Brynn, CNN has obtained this letter written to the judge by Brock's mom. Tell us more about that and how the town is reacting to that and all of this.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, quite frankly, this is a town that seems to want to separate itself from the whole entire Brock Turner incident. Remember, Oakwood, Ohio is the town where Brock Turner was raised. This is where he went to high school. This is where he competed in sports. And we talked to city officials, city employees, just residents, neighbors of the Turners and really everyone said because this incident happened halfway across the country, in California, there's really no upside into talking about Oakwood, Ohio or how it's affected this town in general.

But it is Turner's mother, Carlene, who actually brought in this town into her statement with the judge during that sentencing phase of the trial. And I want to read you an excerpt of what she said. She writes there have been many references of Brock being from a wealthy, privileged background and he thinks he is entitled. Your honor, this could not be further from the truth. We do not come from money. Rather the opposite. Dan and I are a working middle-class couple with Midwestern values. Trust me when I say Silicon Valley, California, is vastly different from the suburbs of Dayton, Ohio.

And one woman I did get a chance to have a candid conversation with who actually lived across the street from the Turners where Brock was raised. She kind of said, this is how she feels. How he was raised, where he was raised has no bearing on her opinion of Brock Turner. What does matter is the fact that he committed a crime in her eyes and that is all.

So that's what we're hearing from here in Oakwood - Pamela.

BROWN: All right. Brynn Gingras, thank you so much. We are going to continue to follow this story.

In fact coming up, we will be speaking to the professor who kick started the effort to recall the presiding judge. We are going to ask her why she and so many others are still furious in what this could mean for future rape cases across the country.

And be sure to watch CNN Tuesday night at 9:00 eastern, Ashleigh Banfield and Alisyn Camerota are hosting town hall on sexual assault. Just ahead, the school valedictorian who made a bold statement during

her graduation ceremony. How she felt moments after revealing her biggest secret.

Plus, Trump supporters get ready for their man to take the stage in the battle ground state of Pennsylvania. We will bring you that speech when it happens.

You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:45:09] BROWN: Donald Trump is speaking to a crowd in Pittsburgh. Let's listen in to what he's saying.

TRUMP: I'm looking at your numbers. I mean, Pittsburgh, you got wiped out, folks, I hate to say it. You got wiped out. Your manufacturing is way down. Your steel is way down. I look at Pittsburg and you know, maybe I'm a little old-fashioned but I love steel. OK? I love steel. And I love the miners. And we are going to put the miners back to work, OK. We are going to put the miners back to work.

Remember Hillary about a month and a half ago, she said we are going to put the coal mines and the miners out of business. Isn't that smart? Isn't that wonderful? She's not winning Pennsylvania, let me tell you folks. She's not winning Pennsylvania. She wants to put the coal miners out of business. My you know what. It's not going to happen. Not going to happen. I'm not allowed to use any bad words by the way. If I use even little bad words like I almost used the "a" word. But I almost used it. If I use it, they would say these people, the dishonest media, the world's most dishonest people. If I use the "a" word, they say Trump used foul language, horrible, horrible, horrible. If somebody else uses it, forget it.

You know, I was saying before, because we just came up from Virginia, we just came up last night. We were today in Florida. We're all over the place. It's a beautiful scene. We were in Tampa. We're all over. And I'll tell you what, we have spirit. This is a movement. This is a movement. This is a movement. And this isn't me that's saying it. This is the cover of "Time" magazine, many, many covers over the last number of months. I hear we have another one coming up this weekend. Who knows, good, bad or indifferent, it's a cover.

But you know, it is a movement. And a lot of the pundits, even pundits that absolutely hate me, don't forget, they said he'll never run. You'll never run. And then they said, this is the finest group of Republicans ever, ever to run for office before I joined. In fact, I said to my wife, listen. I'm hearing about how great these people are, how can I possibly do this? But the country's going to hell. We have to do something about it and I don't see it happening.

I'm watching FOX and Charles Krauthammer said before I join said this is the single finest group of Republicans, perhaps, ever to run. Now maybe he said since World War II but that's good enough. But perhaps ever to run for office. One of the finest groups. I said to my family, I said, you know, I just heard like these are the finest people ever then one by one, boom, boom, we started off with absolutely 18, not 17 but that's OK. Whether you call it 18 or 17, it depends on how you define a couple of them, right. But we start off with 18, and then 16, and then 15, and then 13 and then 11, and then nine, and then seven and six and five. And then -- not four, then three. And then all of a sudden it was over and they said what the hell happened? It's Trump! It's Trump! It is crazy. It's crazy. But you know what --

BROWN: There you hear Donald Trump speaking in Pittsburgh to his supporters, touching on an array of topics, including his hatred of the media which he continued, it seems throughout his campaign. And also talking about Hillary Clinton saying that he believes she will lose Pennsylvania and he will win it, of course, Pennsylvania battleground state, Hillary Clinton is expected to be there next Tuesday.

And just ahead, right here in the NEWSROOM, ahead, delete your account. The twitter war and the preview of the general election to come.

Every year thousands of kids age out of the U.S. foster care system. And many have no family, no possessions, nowhere to live. But in Los Angeles, this week's CNN hero, Georgia Smith, is working to change all that, transforming temporary living spaces into real homes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This population is the most likely to become homeless and to become incarcerated and to be jobless. The odds is that high against them. And they finally get to that amazing place as having their own space because they have never had their own home and then they are sleeping on the floor.

We need to lift them up and create a foundation from which they can thrive.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my goodness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And you can watch more of her amazing story right now at CNNheroes.com. And while you're there, nominate someone you think should be a CNN hero.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:53:59] BROWN: After months of refusing to be pulled into a twitter with war with Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton finally opened fire 140 characters or less.

CNN's Jeanne Moos has the blow by blow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's twitter war on one keyboard --

TRUMP: Crooked Hillary.

MOOS: On the other keyboard.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He can say whatever he wants to say.

MOOS: May the best tweeter win.

After President Obama even doors endorsed Hillary Clinton.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm with her.

MOOS: Donald Trump fired first. Obama just endorsed crooked Hillary. He wants four more years of Obama but nobody else does. To which Hillary's campaign tweeted delete your account. Her followers made it seem like the greatest insult ever. They posted gifts expressing shock and awe over Hillary's comeback to oh, snap to boom to a congratulatory toast. But not all of us understood the magnitude of "delete your account" as a zinger.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just smack talk.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't even know what that means but apparently that's what producers say that's what kids use to say they don't like you. I think the technical term is --

[15:55:06] MOOS: The delete your account presumably sent by a Hillary aide since tweet Hillary herself writes are signed with an "h." The chairman of a Republican National Committee Reince Priebus jumped in tweeting at Hillary, if anyone knows how to use a delete key, it's you. Last week Hillary tweet the Donald for his twitter habits.

CLINTON: I'm willing to bet he's writing a few right now.

MOOS: And sure enough his counter attack to delete your account soon arrived. How long did it take your staff of 823 people to think that up? And where are your 33,000 emails that you deleted?

TRUMP: Crooked Hillary Clinton.

CLINTON: I really could care less.

MOOS: But how could we not care when someone unexpected chimed in on a subject of Hillary's delete your account tweet. Too late for some of us dead panned Anthony Weiner, there's nothing like a war of tweets to put the twit in twitter.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:59:52] BROWN: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Pamela Brown in Washington on this Saturday. Thanks for being with us here. We do appreciate it.

Right now Donald Trump is speaking in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. We are going to hear what he has been saying a little later in the show.

Meantime, new revelations about just what was revealed inside that courtroom of the trial that has captivated and outrage the country.