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Clinton Slams Trump As Economic Disaster; Clinton Attacks Trump's Business Record; Clinton Talks Economy In Swing State Ohio; Clinton States Trump Shouldn't Have His Hands On Our Economy; Clinton Slams Trump As King Of Debt; Orlando Gunman Went To Club Before Returning For Attack; Investigation Continues into Orlando Gunman; Clinton Calls Trump Dangerous. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired June 21, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It's going to be interesting because later this week, Brexit, U.K. may vote --

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

ROMANS: -- to leave the E.U. That could be a market-moving event. Who does better in that situation will be very interesting to see.

BANFIELD: I want to thank all three of you. I want to thank our viewers in the United States and around the world who've been tuning in to us for this coverage of Hillary Clinton's extraordinarily important policy speech.

Thank you, everyone. Please stay tuned. This has been LEGAL VIEW, but "WOLF" starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 6:00 p.m. in London, 7:00 p.m. in Paris. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

Up first, the breaking news. We're following political breaking news. Hillary Clinton goes after one of Donald Trump's proudest accomplishments, his record as a businessman. In a speech that just concluded in Columbus, Ohio, Hillary Clinton tried to paint Donald Trump as bad for the economy, especially for working class Americans.

She attacked his policies on trade, taxes and raising the minimum wage. And she took direct aim at past business dealings. She's hoping to convince Americans that she can run the economy better than Trump can.

But a new poll suggests that could be a challenge. In the new CNN-ORC poll, look at this, 51 percent of registered voters nationwide say Trump would better handle the economy, compared to 43 percent who say Hillary Clinton would. That's a slight increase for both since the poll conducted towards the end of May when Trump led Clinton on this issue 50 percent to 45 percent. The economy issue in the new poll also, by the way, Hillary Clinton leads Trump 47 percent to 42 percent in a head-to-head match-up.

Trump wasted no time firing back at Hillary Clinton more than an hour before her remarks. He tweeted this, and I'm quoting him, "I will be making a big speech tomorrow to discuss the failed policies and bad judgment of crooked Hillary Clinton."

Let's talk about the Clinton versus Trump battle with our panel. Right now, joining us, our Political Commentator Ryan Lizza, the Washington correspondent for "The New Yorker," and Jackie Kucinich, the Washington Bureau Chief for "The Daily Beast." Guys, thanks very much for joining us.

Gloria Borger is going to joining us in a few minutes as well. Your bottom line, what did you think of Hillary Clinton's attack on Donald Trump's economic record? We know, in recent weeks, she's gone after him on national security foreign policy. Today, it was a direct attack on the economy.

RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, two thoughts. One, she's going, obviously, directly at what he considers his great strength. And he is a businessman that built the multi-billion-dollar empire. That is the core of his reputation to the extent that people know what he's about. It's that he knows how to build wealth, right? So, she went directly at that, making -- and connected it to his own economic policies.

The other thing she did, there is a case Donald Trump occasionally makes, a much more economically populist message that is a break with traditional Republican economic orthodoxy. He hasn't been consistent. And so, she has gone after things like, he doesn't want to raise the minimum wage. Even though, on occasion, he has suggested maybe he'd be open to that.

He went after -- she went after him on taxes in saying his tax plan is just the traditional Republican tax cuts for the wealthy. Even though, on occasion, Donald Trump has had a more populist, more middle-class targeted tax plan.

If Donald Trump were to stick to that more middle-class economic populist message, that's the message that the Democrats fear. She's going after him the same way the Democrats went after Mitt Romney and not letting him make that turn.

BLITZER: Let me play a little excerpt of a key moment in her attack on Donald Trump. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: /A few weeks ago, I said his foreign policy proposals and reckless statements represent a danger to our national security. But you might think that because he has spent his life as a businessman, he'd be better prepared to handle the economy.

Well, it turns out he's dangerous there too. Just like he shouldn't have his finger on the button, he shouldn't have his hands on our economy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Jackie, she went point after point after point trying to debunk this myth that he's been such a brilliant businessman.

JACKIE KUCINICH, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "THE DAILY BEAST": She's got to define him early. Ryan mentioned Mitt Romney and that's exactly what they're doing here. This is somewhere, we've seen in the polls, that is a sense of strength for Donald Trump. And she has to chip away at that just like she has with foreign policy, especially in places like Ohio, like Pennsylvania.

Those rust belt states that Donald Trump said he's going to run hard for and try to flip from the R to the D column -- I'm sorry, from the D to the R column in the presidential race. So, this is part of that strategy. And I think, and particularly on the economy, you're going to hear her talking about this a lot with him until those poll numbers start to drop.

BLITZER: You know, Gloria, the notion that it's the economy stupid, going back to the 1992 campaign when her husband, Bill Clinton, was elected president. That was his motto. That was the theme. It's the economy stupid. If you could convince the Americans you're better on economic bread and butter issues than the opponent, you're going to be elected. I assume that still holds very much today.

[13:05:12] GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: It does and if you look at the polling now, you know, some polls show them very close. Our poll says that she's behind Trump, when it comes to the economy.

The one thing that really struck me today was her attacking him on his income taxes, not releasing his income taxes. And she went right at it and she said, what's he so afraid of? Maybe that will learn he hasn't paid any taxes or that he isn't as rich as he claims or that he hasn't given as much money to charity.

So, she's raising all of these questions, just as Mitt Romney did, and Mitt Romney released his taxes. And so, she's saying, you know what? It's very clear indication that this is something she's going to continue to go after him on saying that the American people have a right to know what his --

BLITZER: What if --

BORGER: -- what his tax bill was.

BLITZER: -- what if Trump responds on that issue? Right now, he says he can't release his income tax returns because the IRS is still auditing years of his income tax.

BORGER: Well, Richard Nixon did while being audited.

BLITZER: Well, what if he does --

KUCINICH: (INAUDIBLE) Trump.

BLITZER: What if he takes something out of the Bernie Sanders' play book and says, I'll release my income tax returns when you release the transcripts of your speeches before Wall Street firms.

BORGER: Well, and maybe she'll take the bait at that point. I mean, she might not have wanted to take the bait against Bernie Sanders who's a whole different situation. But maybe, maybe she'll end up releasing a transcript, if it would get him to release his tax returns. You know, they have to weigh -- they have to weigh that and it wouldn't surprise me if, perhaps, they would do it.

LIZZA: Absolutely. Does anyone think that Hillary Clinton was so off message in front a Wall Street crowd that with a number of people there that she said something that was disqualifying --

BORGER: Compared to Trump.

LIZZA: -- compared to --

BORGER: Yes.

LIZZA: -- the fear of Trump releasing his tax returns?

BLITZER: Let me play --

LIZZA: I think the Clinton campaign would take that deal.

BLITZER: Ryan, let me play you another excerpt, another clip, from Hillary Clinton's speech. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: He's written a lot of books about business. They all seem to end at chapter 11. And over the years, he intentionally ran up huge amounts of debt on his companies and then he defaulted. He bankrupted his companies not once, not twice, but four times. Hundreds of people lost their jobs. Shareholders were wiped out. Contractors, many of them small businesses, took heavy losses. Many went bust.

But Donald Trump he came out fine. Here's what he said about one of those bankruptcies. I figured it was the bank's problem, not mine. What the hell did I care?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: You know, he was tweeting during the course of her presentation of her speech. Let me read a couple of the tweets in the last few minutes. I am the king of debt. That has been great for me as a businessman but is bad for the country. I made a fortune off of debt. Will fix U.S. Obama-Clinton inherited $10 trillion in debt, turned it into nearly $20 trillion. They have bankrupted it.

And then, he goes on point after point after point. Hillary Clinton's open borders immigration policies will drive down wages for all Americans and make everyone less safe. He's going to be delivering his own big speech, his aides say, tomorrow, going after her on a whole bunch of issues.

LIZZA: I mean, we're seeing sort of this amazing mismatch in resources in campaign organization. You have Hillary Clinton with a well-funded campaign to the tune of 10s of millions of dollars and growing, professional speech writers, big speech. And you have Donald Trump responding on Twitter.

Right now, the story of the campaign is one campaign is completely organized the way campaigns need to be for a general election. And one campaign is in complete disarray. I mean, considering the mismatch, you might wonder how Hillary is not doing a little bit better.

So, it will be interesting to see what tomorrow's speech is like. If it looks like Hillary's. If it has a well-coordinated message, surrogates echoing it, all the things a traditional campaign does.

BLITZER: Say what you will, Jackie, about Trump, whether he's worth 2 billion or 10 billion, as he says he is worth. He's certainly worth a billion dollars, at least a billion dollars. That's the argument he's going to make, I am a rich guy and I can deal with these kinds of issues.

KUCINICH: But what's interesting is one of the biggest criticisms here of Hillary Clinton is that she plays by her own rules. She's trying to turn that around on Donald Trump. This rich guy is playing by his own rules and he's hitting -- and it's hurting the little guy.

The other interesting thing about this speech is she's engaging in a little bit of slogan here in herself, at this point. Donald Trump likes to call her corrupt Hillary. I'd listen (ph) for king of debt to be part of this campaign a lot.

BORGER: And, you know, this is so -- you mentioned Mitt Romney before. This is so reminiscent of what the Obama campaign did to Mitt Romney. This is Bain Capital right here Atlantic -- right here in Atlantic City.

[13:10:04] KUCINICH: (INAUDIBLE) hotel.

BORGER: This is -- you know, he filed -- you know, he filed for bankruptcy. He did fine but the little people got hurt --

LIZZA: Yes.

BORGER: -- is what Hillary Clinton is saying. Small businesses never got paid.

KUCINICH: Yes.

BORGER: Watch for this. It's a rerun of 2012.

LIZZA: Absolutely. BLITZER: All right, important day for Hillary Clinton. Tomorrow will be a big speech by Donald Trump. We'll, of course, have coverage of that as well.

Coming up here, Donald Trump preparing that rebuttal speech of his own, slamming Hillary Clinton and her past. We'll have a preview.

And just in to CNN, we're getting new details right now on the shooter's movements in the hours leading up to the attack on the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. What was his wife doing? What did she know? New information coming in. We'll update you right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: Breaking news now. We have new information just coming in to CNN about the Orlando gunman who killed 49 people, wounded 50 more at a nightclub last week. The details emerging as the U.S. attorney general, Loretta Lynch, travels to Orlando today.

Our Justice Correspondent Evan Perez is here with me. Our CNN Correspondent Boris Sanchez is in Orlando. Evan, what can you tell us, the new information you're learning?

[13:15:05] EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. The Orlando gunman went to the Pulse Nightclub earlier on Saturday night and then left before returning to carry out his attack as the gay nightclub prepared to close early on Sunday morning.

Now, according to officials we've been talking to, the gunman paid an entry fee and obtained a wristband and then he entered the club. Investigators believed he may have been checking out the security of the club. The FBI has been using surveillance videos, cell phone tracking, along with witness interviews to build a timeline of his whereabouts on the night of the attack, but they're still working to determine what he was doing for a two hour period between when he left the club and returned.

Now, we are also learning that the day before he launched the attack he had bought three plane tickets for him, his wife and his child to travel from West Palm Beach to San Francisco. That's a trip that they were planning in July. Now, investigators don't know why if he was planning an attack he made these travel plans.

His wife has told investigators that when the gunman left his home on Saturday in Fort Pierce, about a two hour drive from Orlando, he was angry and he carried a bag with his guns. Now, she said she pleaded with him not to leave, grabbing him by the arm. She said she didn't know that he was planning an attack, but she tried multiple times during the night to send him text messages and to call him.

Wolf.

BLITZER: Interesting. Hold on for a moment because I want to get Boris in on this as well. Boris, the attorney general, Loretta Lynch, she's going to be meeting

with whom today when she's down there in Orlando?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're told that she actually just arrived in Orlando. She's going to be meeting with the families of victims, likely to offer condolences and support in the wake of this attack. She's also going to be meeting with prosecutors, likely to review any evidence that may lead to potential charges being filed potentially against the shooter's wife. She's also set to meet with reporters as well.

And just an about hour from now, she likely will be asked a lot of questions about those redacted FBI reports that were initially released yesterday in which the shooter's communications with officials were blacked out, portions where he mentioned specifically his allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi and the Islamic State, portions where he called himself an Islamic soldier.

The -- a lot of prominent officials, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, came out yesterday and said they did not like that approach. They felt that it minimized the threat and kind of put on the back burner the source of this radicalization, partly the basis of this attack. The FBI later relented and released the full transcript, but you can bet that later today the attorney general will answer questions about that initial report.

BLITZER: All right, Boris, thanks very much.

Evan, thanks to you as well.

I want to get some analysis on these new details emerging about the Orlando shooter. I'm joined by CNN contributor, the co-author of "ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror," Michael Weiss. Also joining us, our CNN senior law enforcement analyst, the former FBI assistant director, Tom Fuentes.

What are your impressions about these new details emerging from Evan, Michael?

MICHAEL WEISS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, it looks like he was definitely scouting the nightclub and trying to figure out what the security detail was like. I mean if other patrons of this club are to be believed, he had been there many times before. Sometimes he sat in the corner and drank quietly. Sometimes he acted belligerently. There's been a lot of speculation and suggestion that he might have actually been a closeted gay man himself, although the FBI says that they found no digital evidence on his hard drive to suggest anything of the sort.

It's a little too soon to tell, I have to say. Also bizarre to me that he would -- I mean presumably he was going to become a (INAUDIBLE) martyr for the Islamic State. That's why he pledged allegiance. So why then buy a ticket for yourself and your family? And, by the way, if you're going to attack the LGBT community, to buy a ticket and go to San Francisco seems a little bit bizarre to me as well. A lot of things in this story don't really add up and I'm still waiting -- I think the FBI is probably sitting on more information than they're willing to disclose at this point.

BLITZER: I'm sure you're right.

Tom, you used to work in the FBI. He said the wife says she didn't know he was actually planning the attack that night, but he left the house with a bag full of guns. Does it seem as though there's emerging enough information yet to charge her?

TOM FUENTES, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I think, Wolf, almost, but there's still some question, you know, in her mind, I guess, or other minds, of, was she positive he was going to do it. Then, in that case, yes. And if they can prove it, that's another thing is, you know, she now has a lawyer. She's probably going to stop talking. And they're going to have a third party source to prove what she knew and if she really was convinced he was going to do an attack. I think her word probably in the long run won't be enough for a conviction. They probably will charge her, but it's going to be difficult to convict her of knowing that he was going to conduct this attack.

And also, you know, I think right now we're just speculating of what happened when he goes to the club, leaves for two hours and comes back. Yes, we hope that the FBI is able to get the cell phone tower tracking information to show where in Orlando he went during that time. Maybe he went to another club. Maybe he was undecided. Maybe he was going to do the attack then have to think about it some more, then decided to go ahead and do it a couple hours later. So those are facts that we just don't know positively at this point and we may never know what was in his head to case that two-hour delay.

[13:20:16] BLITZER: Tom Fuentes, Michael Weiss, guys, thanks very much.

Let's get back to politics right now, presidential politics, here in the United States. Donald Trump meeting privately right now with hundreds of evangelical leaders in New York City. His plan, he's trying to win over conservative Christians, gain their support. We'll have details when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:25:03] BLITZER: Donald Trump certainly way behind Hillary Clinton when it comes to fundraising right now. Clinton with $42 million in her war chest, compare that to Donald Trump's $1.3 million. That at the -- as of the end of May. Her super PAC also raising a lot more money.

Let's talk about this and a whole lot more. The changes that could be ahead for the Trump campaign moving forward since the firing of the campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski. Ed Brookover is joining us. He's the Trump campaign senior advisor. He's also the Trump campaign's new liaison to the Republican National Committee.

Ed, thanks very much for joining us.

Let's -- I want to get your immediate reaction to what we just heard from Hillary Clinton. She delivered a scathing attack on Donald Trump's business record, painting him as a danger to the U.S. economy if he were ever to become president of the United States. Your immediate response?

ED BROOKOVER, SENIOR ADVISOR TO TRUMP CAMPAIGN: I think Mrs. Clinton is trying to divert attention from the failed policies that has put us in the economic mess we're in right now. Two percent growth is unacceptable. We have almost $20 trillion -- $20 trillion in debt. That's unacceptable. The American public shouldn't stand for it and they won't when it comes to voting for her this fall.

BLITZER: But she made the case that if he were president and implemented the tax cuts, the other steps he wants to implement, that $20 trillion debt could go to $30 trillion, if not higher, very quickly.

BROOKOVER: Well, Mr. Trump not only will cut taxes, he's also going to cut spending. He's going to reduce the size of government and his overall plan will actually start to reduce that deficit and get us back on sound economic footing.

BLITZER: He's -- we know his tax plan, where he wants to cut taxes for rich, for everyone else as well, but we don't really know where he wants to cut spending. He's given a few examples, but he hasn't really gone into detail. Will he do that?

BROOKOVER: Yes, he will. He's going to lay out a plan which is going to show how it is he will take his business experience, bring it to government and put our -- put us back in a place where we're only doing those things that government really should be doing. Our government's bloated. It's gotten way too big. And so we need to make sure that he's -- that our government is doing what the people want, not what the bureaucrats want.

BLITZER: Will that be included in his speech tomorrow?

BROOKOVER: I'm not going to predict what he's going to be saying tomorrow, Wolf, but we'll wait for him to say that then.

BLITZER: He said he's going to be giving a major speech tomorrow.

BROOKOVER: Sure.

BLITZER: He tweeted this. I'll put it up on the screen. He said he'll discuss -- "I will be making a big speech tomorrow to discuss the failed policies and bad judgment of crooked Hillary Clinton." What's going to be his main argument there?

BROOKOVER: I think that that's her -- the policies that the Obama/Clinton team has implemented has failed our country. We -- we've gone through eight years of economic failure. Our unemployment -- our -- the number of people looking for jobs is at a record low. We have underemployment, we have unemployment and we have no growth. Right now government is strangling business and it's strangling our economy and that needs to change. BLITZER: You see all these reports, how much money she has raised, how

much the pro-Clinton super PAC has raised. He's raised a minuscule amount. How much trouble are you guys in right now when it comes to political fundraising? You've been a political strategist, operative for so many years. You know how important money is in politics.

BROOKOVER: Well, there's a lot of ways to run a campaign. One of them is to be able to communicate. The bottom line is, you have to communicate to the voters your message about why it is you should be elected and why your opponent should not be elected. So far Mr. Trump's been able to do that in his own style, be that rallies, be that Twitter or be that paid media in certain cases. I'm confident we'll have enough money to deliver the messages and get out the vote this fall.

BLITZER: We did some checking and I'll put some numbers up on the screen. We looked at what Donald Trump is spending some of that money on. Look at -- look at this. He's spending $694,000 on t-shirts, mugs, and stickers, $208,000 on hats, $5,000 on signs. Compare that to $347,000 on his payroll, $115,000 on online advertisement, $5,000 in print ads. As a longtime political strategist, is this the most effective way to be allocating campaign expenses?

BROOKOVER: I know that people around America love his hats. So I think that's a good expenditure. What I do know is that his communications are working. The CNN poll that just came out today shows a very tight race. Polls in Ohio and Pennsylvania show things tight. So there's a lot that the Trump campaign is doing right and will continue to get better as we move toward November.

BLITZER: It does show in Pennsylvania and Ohio a very tight race, at least according to our new CNN poll. Florida, not so tight right now. Nationally, the new poll shows Hillary Clinton topping Donald Trump 47 percent to 42 percent. And many of the registered voters out there in this national survey, they say she has a better temperament for the presidency. And as I said, she has an eight point lead in Florida. That's disturbing. Can you win the presidency without Florida?

[13:30:00] BROOKOVER: I think there a lot of paths to the presidency. We're going to compete in Florida. We're going to fight for Florida. I think eventually Mr. Trump will do very well down there. People are hurting down there and in an environment like this, retirement community gets hurt.