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Clinton: Comey Said My Answers Were Truthful; Clinton Criticized by Benghazi Victim's Families as Trump Criticized by Muslim-American Family; Lawsuits Filed Against Baylor University over Rape Cases. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired August 01, 2016 - 14:30   ET

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


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[14:31:22] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Bottom of the hour. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

As Hillary Clinton pushed across battlegrounds states, including Ohio and Pennsylvania, she is making a surprising stop in the Republican stronghold of Nebraska. And the man there giving her a boost? The oracle of Omaha himself, Warren Buffett, is expected to make the case for Hillary Clinton's economic plan.

But she is coming under criticism from fact checkers for this remark.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Director Comey said my answers were truthful and what I've said is consistent with what I have told the American people, that there were decisions discussed and made to classify, retroactively, certain of the e-mails.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: "The Washington Post" fact checkers gave Clinton's comments four Pinocchios. That is the worst rating the newspaper hands out.

Let's go to Brianna Keilar in Washington with more on this.

How, first of all, is the Clinton campaign responding to that?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're on cleanup detail because what she said obviously doesn't pass muster. She said that "Director Comey said my answers were truthful."

Let's break this down. She says he says her answers were truthful. Well, he said he had no basis to believe she lied to the FBI. But she also said that, "What I've told the FBI is consistent with what I've told the American people. It's quite the opposite. At first, he tried to side step that, but he was asked a few things. She said there was -- I do not e-mail classified e-mails. There were no classified e-mails. He made it's clear she did. She also said she did not send classified material nor receive any that had been marked classify. And Comey made it clear there had been a few.

So her carefully parsed words over the months to the American public, some of the things Republican asked about it, it was clear she was not accurate in her statements. And while Comey did say that as he could tell she had not broken the law with her setup of the private e-mail server, she didn't let her off the hook. He said she and her aides have been careless, and he questioned her judgment on that.

BALDWIN: So add to that then we had Julian Assange of WikiLeaks on "New Day" this morning saying they have information on the Clinton campaign that there will be more coming from them, yes?

KEILAR: That's right. And he said there are some things that are very interesting. Of course in this very polarized election cycle where everyone is so engaged in what's going on, they're very curious about what this holds. What the campaign is saying is that this hack got into a voter analytics database that the DNC operates and that other Democratic organizations share including the Clinton campaign. They are stressing that their cyber security experts are saying the internal communication systems at the Clinton campaign, according to these cyber security experts, were not infiltrated. At the DNC, we know they were, that's why we saw the e-mails come out that created so much fallout that led to the resignation of party chair, Debbie Wassermann Schultz. But right now the Clinton campaign says that's not the case for them. But at the same time, you know, we don't know unless WikiLeaks releases something else. We'll see what he's talking about.

BALDWIN: Brianna Keilar, thank you very much.

KEILAR: You bet.

[14:34:48] BALDWIN: Coming up next, her son was killed in Benghazi, and now Patricia Smith is speaking out. Her response to the family of the fallen Muslim-American soldier who spoke at the DNC, and why she thinks their speech was received differently than her own. That was at the Republican National Convention one week before. We'll talk to her live, coming up.

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BALDWIN: Donald Trump's controversial back and forth with the family of a fallen Muslim-American soldier is escalating. Trump being accused of using anti-Muslim rhetoric after he questioned the mother's decision not to speak there on stage last week in Philadelphia.

But he isn't the only candidate facing backlash here. Hillary Clinton is being criticized again by one of the most vocal parents of the slain Americans in Benghazi.

Patricia Smith's son, Sean, was among the four Americans killed in the September 2012 attack. Since then, she has made her voice heard, doubling down again at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland and prompting a response from Secretary Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) [14:40:18] PATRICIA SMITH, MOTHER OF SLAIN U.S. SOLIDER IN

BENGHAZI: I blame Hillary Clinton personally for the death of my son. Personally.

How could she do this to me? How could she do this to any American family?

CLINTON: My heart goes out to both of them. I understand the grief and the incredible sense of loss that can motivate that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And I also want to play you some sound from Hillary Clinton when she was participating in a debate back in March, asked about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: You know, look, I feel a great deal of sympathy for the families of the four brave Americans that we lost at Benghazi. And I certainly can't even imagine the grief that she has for losing her son. But she's wrong. She's absolutely wrong. I and everybody in the administration, everybody she named, the vice president, Susan Rice, the president, we were scrambling to get information that was changing literally by the hour.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: She was asked if she had lied to this woman.

Patricia Smith is joining me.

Pat, thank you for joining me.

We've spoke before and I'm so sorry for the loss of your son.

SMITH: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Let's -- just begin with, do you think what Mr. Trump has said about the Khan family -- do you think it's acceptable? Do you think it's OK?

SMITH: I think that anybody that loses a child should be allowed the grief that goes along with it. When you lose your child, that's all you can think about. And you shouldn't have anybody telling you that you can't think that way.

BALDWIN: As a mother, when you saw Mrs. Khan up on the stage in Philadelphia, and it was Mr. Trump who sort of questioned initially why she didn't speak, was it perhaps because of her religion, she says she was emotionally distraught. As a grieving mother, all these years later, could you relate to that?

SMITH: Of course, I can relate to that. When somebody cries over their child like I have many, many, many times, that's what you feel. There's nothing wrong with feeling like that. That comes with the territory.

I don't agree with Hillary, though.

BALDWIN: Before I ask you about Secretary Clinton, do you think it's OK -- whether it's DNC or the RNC, whether you like Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, you know, for any politician or any candidate to criticize or say anything other than their own condolences for a family in grief?

SMITH: I'm not going to tell anybody what they should say. They should say the way they feel. If that's the way he felt, that's his business to feel that way and to say that.

BALDWIN: "His" being Mr. Trump?

SMITH: Yes.

BALDWIN: We know, though, because of this, Ms. Smith, that all -- so many Republican leaders condemning his words. I mean, do political leaders have any kind of right to publicly question a grieving family?

SMITH: I don't think anybody should say anything about that. The grieving family is grieving because they are grieving. No other reason other than that, as I was grieving.

BALDWIN: Do you think he should apologize, as these Gold Star families are asking him to do -- Mr. Trump?

SMITH: No, I don't. That's what he believed.

BALDWIN: But did you just said that it's not OK to say those things if a family is grieving? Do you not agree that that was inappropriate?

SMITH: I'm not going to put any words into Donald's mouth. He is saying what he believes that he should say. I don't see anything wrong with that.

They haven't jumped on Hillary for anything that she has said and she has said 90 times more about things than the Donald has. I'm not going to knock him for that.

BALDWIN: I wanted to have you on because I think it's absolutely fair to criticize -- equal criticism of both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. But I have to ask you, personally, at the RNC, when you spoke, your speech was incredibly emotional. And at CNN took you live the entire time. And when you were speaking, Patricia, on that stage, Mr. Trump calling into FOX News channel to have a conversation about why he should be elected president, instead of listening to you. Does that bother you?

[14:45:34] SMITH: Not a bit. I don't know what he does and why he does it or anything. I do know that I like Donald Trump and I do believe in what he says. Not every piece that he says, because I don't know. He didn't tell me in advance what he was going to say. I'm not going to comment on it.

BALDWIN: I know you've been involved in this campaign season. You're a mother whose voice should be heard. We have 99 days to go until Election Day. How do you feel about the tone, both parties, the divisiveness?

SMITH: Well, that's absolutely crazy. That's not what America is supposed to be about. I don't agree with most of the stuff that gets thrown around on TV I don't agree with half of it. I do complain mightily about, well, you're not saying it but I've -- I'm very much against the way I was treated. I was treated like dirt. I don't think the Khan family was treated that way but I was treated like dirt. I was called a liar. She went on TV many times, nodding her head thinking that she is so wonderful and she knows everything and I know nothing and I was just imagining this I don't imagine my son getting killed. I don't imagine that at all. But why would she say that to me? And what did she say she to the Khans? I don't know. I'm still --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: I cannot begin --

SMITH: We have a rotten government.

BALDWIN: -- what you're walking through. No, I cannot begin to understand what you're walking through. And I wanted to make sure we continue here your concerns and your voice.

Final question, you said this is not what America is about with regard to this election. Final question, what should this election be about? What is America about?

SMITH: It should be about honesty. If you say something, mean it. If you don't mean it, don't say it. It was told so much bull crap about Benghazi and most of it lies, absolute outright lies. And the government never got back to me like they promised. Hillary promised she would get back to me and tell me what happened. I don't know why my son is dead. I don't know why he was there. And I was told I was not a member of the immediate family and I do not deserve to know. I don't know if the Khan's were told the same thing or not. You bring me out here to say things that I don't know. I want answers. And I want answers about why my son is dead, and why she made the decisions that she made. I don't like her decisions. I don't think she'll make a very good -- any kind of good president. I don't like her decisions. She kills people.

BALDWIN: Patricia Smith, strong words. I cannot begin to understand your grief.

I appreciate you coming on.

I understand that you had wanted to come on for the Trump campaign. So we appreciate you taking the time to come on.

Ms. Smith, thank you again so much. I am so sorry, all these years later, about your son, Sean, and I hope you get the answers that you so, so deserve.

Thank you.

SMITH: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Moments away, Donald Trump holding a town hall in Ohio, one of the three key battleground states his campaign plans to focus on over the next 99 days. We'll listen for Mr. Trump, coming up.

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[14:53:09] BALDWIN: A new report finds that the country's largest Baptist university may have threatened rape victims with potential expulsion after they reported their attacks. Baylor University has a strict honor cold, no alcohol, drugs or premarital sex. Dancing was even banned on campus until 1996. According to an investigation by a Houston law firms, students felt afraid to report rapes for fear of being found to have violated that code. Investigators from the Houston law firm of Pepper Hamilton are representing the victims. They found some of the women were threatened with violations of Baylor's honor code if they were to speak up and report them.

And the Associated Press, which communicated with some of these victims, found that they were coerced into accepting alcohol conduct violations when they reported sexual assaults, otherwise, they feared they would be accused of violating the code of sexual conduct. Drug or alcohol use, as we mentioned, can lead to expulsion.

Baylor's handling of the rapes on campus led to the firing of the university's president, firing of its football coach. The coach has denied any allegations of wrongdoing.

Six women who say they were raped at Baylor are now suing the university under Title IX alleging civil rights discrimination.

With me now their attorney, Chad Dunn.

Chad, thank you for taking the time with me.

Let me get straight to it. You have six women as part of the lawsuit. I understand it's soon to be eight. You say a number of women coming forward with accusations. What are they telling you?

CHAD DUNN, ATTORNEY REPRESENTING WOMEN SUING BAYLOR: That's right. I talked to more women, frankly, than anybody would want to acknowledge. And the problem at Baylor University is for many years, going back more than a decade at least the university didn't have what we call a Title IX office, an office in place to receive reports of sexual misconduct and what is worth the university didn't pursue any of the rights and remedies for its victimized students that universities and institutions of higher education across the country are obligated to do. So in the process of investigating the claims on behalf of our clients, we've spoken with them and spoken with other victims and we've learned over this troubling history that number of women when they went to the university to report the incident were instead grilled about what they were doing, where they were at. One young lady, for example, was given discipline for having consumed alcoholic beverages that evening in violation of the honor code. And often times --

(CROSSTALK)

[14:55:46] BALDWIN: A woman who came forward and said she was raped was then disciplined for drinking alcohol, according to what she's saying to you?

DUNN: Exactly. I mean, she was asked questions about what she was doing and where she was at and after admitting to drinking alcohol faced discipline for that. On top of that, she and other women report that they were told that if they came forward and reported the details of the sexual assault that their relationships, where they were, what they were doing as a way to further discipline them it seemed and, of course, as this message gets around campus it causes an environment to set in place where victims of sexual assault don't feel safe coming forward.

BALDWIN: Let me read the statement we got from Baylor. "Baylor University publicly released this amnesty finding of recommendations following the independent review by Pepper Hamilton and is already working on a revised policy that lists sexual conduct violations with others under the existing amnesty provision. We are on a course to continue to improve all our processes and policies following the recommendations of the investigation."

That said, what do you think these women talking to you would say?

DUNN: I would say it's too little too late for them. Now, it's important to take these steps moving forward and to give Baylor credit they have started to take the right steps but there's a lot of work to do. And one of the things I learned in my institution is that when institutions of higher learning get the message and take sexual assault seriously. We see a spike in reports. It's not that there's been an increase of sexual assaults on campus. It's that victims are feeling safe to come forward. That's certainly the case here. If I can take a minute, what I'd like to tell folks about Baylor or any other institution of higher education, if you've been a victim of sexual assault, the justice system does work. Step up, speak out. I know that's easy for me to say not being a victim myself. But it won't get better without a report. And perhaps that's the best way forward for Baylor is for the voices to come forward about what occurred?

BALDWIN: Chad dun, thank you so much for coming on.

We'll stay in close contact with you and see where this thing goes, and if these women are listened to.

Thank you. Thank you.

DUNN: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Any minute now, we keep talking about this town hall in Columbus, Ohio. Mr. Donald Trump will be stepping behind that podium and we want to hear what he has to say. We'll take it live coming up.

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