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Clinton on E-mails; Ex-CIA Head Talks Trump; Chicago Releases Shooting Video. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired August 05, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:31] ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Good afternoon. I'm Ana Cabrera. And we begin with breaking news from both sides of the race for president.

Now, she hasn't given a press conference in months, but moments ago Hillary Clinton taking questions from reporters about Donald Trump, her trust problems, and the economy. But it's the answer on her controversial e-mail server that is making headlines right now. This week she claim twice in a couple of different interviews that the FBI declared her public remarks on this scandal were, quote, "truthful." The problem is, they weren't according to the FBI director. Now Clinton said all the classified information stored on her system were retroactively classified. That's what she told the public. But bureau director James Comey says some were not. Clinton's admission today, she short-circuited her answers. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: That what I told the FBI, which he said was truthful, is consistent with what I have said publicly. So I may have short-circuited it, and for that I, you know, will try to clarify because I think, you know, Chris Wallace and I were probably talking past each other because, of course, he could only talk to what I had told the FBI, and I appreciated that.

Now, I have acknowledged repeatedly that using two e-mail accounts was a mistake. And I take responsibility for that. But I do think, you know, having him say that my answers to the FBI were truthful, and then I should quickly add, what I said was consistent with what I had said publicly. And that's really sort of, in my view, trying to tie both ends together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Joining me now, CNN politics reporter MJ Lee.

All right, MJ, we just heard a clip of that long press conference she just held. What else did Hillary Clinton say about these e-mails?

MJ LEE, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Well, as you heard, she did acknowledge that she short-circuited her answers, but she basically did sort of stand by some of the misleading statements that she has recently made about Director Comey's statements about her public statements about the e-mail server issue. This was at a gathering of black and Hispanic journalists. Clinton was behind the stage just a couple of minutes ago and she was essentially asked, were you sort of saying misleading things about FBI Director James Comey's statements about your statements about the private e-mail server? And she said that essentially she stands by what she said. She said that Director Comey had said that my answers in the FBI interviews were truthful, that - and that that really is the bottom line.

Something else that she said was that she never sent or received classified information. This is inconsistent with what Comey has said in his testimony. Obviously, this is an issue, Ana, that has really dogged her presidential campaign, especially as she has tried to deal with the perception that perhaps she can't be trusted or that she isn't honest. As she continues to raise questions and as the media continues to point out that she's saying things that are sort of misleading, I think she certainly runs the risk that these issues for her continue to remain in the headlines.

CABRERA: All right, MJ Lee, we appreciate the update on that.

Let's talk more about this with our panel now. Jackie Kucinich, a CNN political analyst and Washington bureau chief for "The Daily Beast." Also Joseph Borelli, councilman for the 51st district of New York City council, a Trump supporter and Republican commentator. And Chris Kofinis, a Democratic strategist, former communications director for John Edwards.

Jackie, I'll start with you. What did you make of her answer there?

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, it is - it kind of - it's Hillary Clinton's problem was that answer. It was legalese. It was tripping down on an answer that we know isn't accurate. So it's - she's just - she's kind of - she's sticking to her story, but it is, it's generating headlines because it's not getting rid of the issue, which is kind of what the goal should be, right, to move on from this. And she's not allowing us to because she's not giving us a good answer.

CABRERA: Chris, what's your reaction?

CHRIS KOFINIS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I mean I - my perspective is focus on things that are more to your advantage, which is the litany of mistakes and misstatements that Trump has made. You know, when it comes to these e-mails -

[14:05:54] CABRERA: But wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, because you do need to respond to what we just heard from Hillary Clinton and the fact that she, this week, has said some question - some statements about her truthfulness about her e-mail system. And the fact of the matter is, she implied in earlier interviews that she had been complete truthful with the public and honest about whether or not she had classified information on her e-mail server and was exchanged with other people through her e-mails, her private e-mails, and yet we found out from the FBI, who testified before Congress under oath, that she did indeed have classified information that was sent or received by her on her private server. KOFINIS: Yes, I - I get - I get all that. I get all that. My only

point and my advice to her would be, you know, you admit that you made a mistake, as she has said, and then - and move forward. I mean trying to rehash - it doesn't matter, you know, which candidate, you know, is dealing with any kind of an issue like this, whether it's Trump dealing with his crises, or, you know, Hillary trying to answer the e- mail question, when you're trying to explain the process of what happened and what you said, you end up losing the discussion because it ends up becoming this kind of a debate. What you do - and this is my counsel, my advice is, you admit what she has, you made a mistake, and focus on, you know, you're not going to do this again. It's a really simple answer. I can't explain why she wants to kind of get into the nitty-gritty of it, but I think, you know, she sees it kind of a different way. She sees it in terms of her perspective in terms of what happened versus others. It's just not - it's not worth it politically or otherwise to keep kind of rehashing it because here we are talking about this instead of talking about a litany of Trumpian mistakes that we've seen over the last week or two.

CABRERA: Do you feel like she has done enough, Chris, to make it at least seem like she's trying not to mislead the public? Because I think some critics would listen to her answer and say, in a frustrated response, would say she's not admitting to saying anything that was wrong in the past. She's doubling down on what she's said in the past instead.

KOFINIS: I mean I can't - I mean I didn't hear what the question was in terms of how she was asked. But, again, you know, it's one of those things where I've - you know, I've been in a situation where some candidates get asked a question and they answer the question not realizing how the answer is going to be then interpreted by the media and the public.

On something like this, that has essentially been settled, right, she was exonerated. And so moving forward, all you have to do is, as she has said, I've made a mistake, I'm focusing on making sure it never happens again and re-earning the trust of the American people. It's that simple. There is no need to add any more details or somehow explain what happened or not because once you do, even if it's correct, even if it's right, what ends up happening is the media then just gins it up and spins it up into - into this, into here we are discussing it.

It's not going to win you a vote. It's not going to get you a vote. At this point in the election with 90-plus days out, you focus on the issues that matter and you focus on the issues that will win voters over. This is not one of them, one way or the other. People who have critiques about her on e-mails, they've already decided how they're going to vote. And so it's not worth rehashing it.

CABRERA: Hillary Clinton has not held a press conference for quite some time. I want to play some more of what she said during this - this press conference just moments ago. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: How would you lead a nation where a majority of Americans mistrust you?

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I know it doesn't make me feel good when people say those things. And I recognize that I have work to do. But when I started running for the Senate in New York, a lot of the same things were said.

I ran a really hard campaign against Barack Obama, as I think everybody remembers. It got a little contentious from time to time. And to my surprise, he turns around and asks me to be secretary of state because he trusted me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Joe, what's your reaction to what we just heard from Hillary Clinton?

JOSEPH BORELLI, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Look, trustworthiness is clearly her biggest issue. And I think the one thing we learned is that she's actually learned that you can't lie to both the public and investigators, like, you know, her husband did several years ago. Also, you know, this is not the first time. This is something that we see with Hillary Clinton. That there's one standard - there's one standard of truth for the public, and then there's one standard of truth for investigators or whomever else. With Benghazi, it was one standard of truth for the public, one standard of truth for the families of the Benghazi victims, another standard of truth for her families. It goes back her whole life. She lied about being under sniper fire. She lied about joining the Marines. This is part and parcel to who Hillary Clinton is. I don't think anything she could say could probably distance herself from this reputation, but it sure as heck wasn't that. It sure as heck isn't doubling down on the fact that she's essentially lied to the public.

CABRERA: Chris, your response?

KOFINIS: Well, I mean, you know, here's the thing, trust isn't something that's given, it's earned. And if you look at, for example, the last many weeks of this election, trust - you know, trust is something that Donald Trump has lost every time he opens his mouth. I mean you've just seen this just in the last few days with this inability to understand that a plane did not - was not recording somehow a money drop in Iran.

[14:10:00] But that - putting that aside, if you look at it in terms of her positions on the issues and look at the number of Republicans, national (ph) security professionals, you know, foreign policy professionals that are backing her versus Donald Trump. Listen, it's going to be difficult election because voters have justifiable questions and concerns about both candidates. But when you look at it in terms of her positions and her policies and her vision for the country, and contrast that with Donald Trump and who is supporting her and the number of Republicans and the number of serious experts on policy that are backing her and advising her versus Donald Trump, I mean it becomes pretty clear to me who has the substance to lead this country forward. So, I mean, I am not surprised what, you know, Trump, you know, Trump

surrogates are going to critique, you know, Hillary Clinton by. But at the end of the day, when you look at in terms of her positions, it's a pretty strong contrast about who is capable to lead and who is not. It's pretty clear that that's Hillary Clinton.

KUCINICH: OK -

CABRERA: But, wait a minute, I want to just move on because we have some more breaking news right now.

KUCINICH: Well, we should say that both of those - no one trusts either of these candidates.

CABRERA: And that's the bottom line.

KUCINICH: that's the bottom line. No one trusts either of them. They - no one has the market cornered there.

CABRERA: I'm glad you pointed that out, Jackie.

Some other breaking news that we're following at this hour on the other side of this whole race for presidency, there's been a lot of drama this week, as you know, between Paul Ryan, Donald Trump, Donald Trump saying he wasn't quite there yet for endorsing Paul Ryan. Turns out he's supposed to endorse him today in Wisconsin. We know Trump is holding an event there in a matter of just a couple of hours.

Jackie, this question for you. Now we know Donald Trump is coming out to say he supports Paul Ryan. Could this get any stranger in terms of the dynamics this week?

KUCINICH: It's even stranger because, you know, Paul Ryan just sent out a fundraising request that said - I can't remember the exact terminology, but it basically said like, this can be taken away. I'm -- this is a blank check and -

CABRERA: Right, and is the damage done already this week?

KUCINICH: I - well, there's no trust here between Paul Ryan, Donald Trump or just the Republican establishment and Donald Trump at this point because they don't know what he's going to do. So, yes, it's a little bit too little, too late at this point. But, yes, there's a lot of damage there. And I don't know what they can do to undo it at this point.

CABRERA: Joe, what do you make of the timing?

BORELLI: You know, I don't think it's too little, too late because this is a powerful image that - and one of his chief criticisms was that he can't line up the support of some of these Republicans. Tonight you're going to, presumably, both men on the stage talking about how they're going to unite against Hillary Clinton.

But to your point also, the DNC, on May 3rd, sent out a similar e-mail saying, well, if Donald Trump wins, you should fundraise for us. KUCINICH: Well, yes, (INAUDIBLE).

BORELLI: And on July 19th they also sent out another e-mail saying, hey, Donald Trump is the nominee. (INAUDIBLE) if he wins. You should fundraise with us. I think these are very common things in, you know, congressional fundraiser appeals.

KUCINICH: They read like - (INAUDIBLE).

BORELLI: Right. Of course.

CABRERA: But why is Donald Trump all of a sudden now saying, OK, I'll endorse him? Was it because he is - he is now caving to pressure from others about party unity?

BORELLI: No, I think there's a desire on his part to have a united party behind him as the nominee, as is there's a desire from Paul Ryan. Look, the two men may have personal differences. I don't speak for either of them on a personal level at all. But it's good to see two people who need to come together actually come together. Paul Ryan has a - he's going to win tremendously -

KUCINICH: He's not going to be there, though.

BORELLI: Right. Well, he's going to win tremendously next week. I think all the polling shows he's doing significantly well. And I think the two will go forward and go on to be great leaders and speaker of the House.

CABRERA: We've got to leave it there. I'm sorry, Chris, we're out of time, but we appreciate all your thoughts.

KOFINIS: Thank you.

CABRERA: And thank you all for joining us, Joe, Chris and Jackie. We'll have you back.

KUCINICH: Thank you.

CABRERA: Up next, the former chief of the CIA says he is voting for Clinton, that Donald Trump is a national security risk. Why he says Trump is Russia's, quote, "unwitting agent."

Plus, breaking news out of Chicago. At this hour, police just released this disturbing new video of officers chasing an unarmed black man before shooting him. See the moments that led up to that man's death.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:17:47] CABRERA: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera, in for Brooke today.

A former director of the CIA says Donald Trump would actually pose a threat to national security. Today Mike Morrell wrote a "New York Times" op-ed saying not only that the nation would be much safer with Hillary Clinton as president, but that Trump's character traits, quote, "exhibited during the primary season suggest he would be a poor, even dangerous commander in chief," end quote. Now, Trump's running mate, Mike Pence, hit back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. MIKE PENCE (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I suppose this is the same CIA that told the president that ISIS was the JV team. I mean, I mean, come on, Savannah, these people are playing politics and - and I get all of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Let me turn to former CIA operative Bob Baer, who is also CNN's intelligence and security analyst.

Bob, Mike Morrell started his piece saying he has never spoken out on politics before in his 33 years at the CIA. How unusual is it for anyone in the CIA to comment on a presidential election?

BOB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: Ana, I have never seen this before, frankly. Mike Morrell is a professional. I mean he worked his way up the ranks in the CIA. He's a very serious man, looks at evidence. I mean this guy's not a politician. He's not running for office. For him to come out and write that Trump is an unwitting asset of Russia is just amazing. I've seen nothing like it ever.

CABRERA: And, in addition, he says he has voted for both Republicans and Democrats in the past. We know he served in an intelligence capacity under George W. Bush. He was the acting CIA director for some time under President Obama between 2010 and 2013.

Let me read you some more about what he writes about Trump, saying he has already damaged national security. Here's another quote. "Mr. Putin played upon Mr. Trump's vulnerabilities by complimenting him. He responded just as Mr. Putin had calculated. In the intelligence business, we would say that Mr. Putin had recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation." Whoa, those are powerful statements.

BAER: Yes.

CABRERA: An unwitting agent. Do you agree with this?

BAER: Well, look, I mean, first of all, Putin is not the friend of the United States. And, you know, supporting him in any way for an American candidate for the presidency is just - it's unimaginable, really, because, look, Putin has invaded Georgia, Akazia (ph), the Crimea. He's been assassinating people. He's - he is not our friend.

[14:20:10] So for a presidential candidate to go along with Putin's propaganda - who, by the way, is a professional KGB officer, and has never stopped being one, this is huge. It really, really is huge. And I, you know, I just can't imagine where it's going next. But if I were in Trump's place, I'd stop talking about Russia.

CABRERA: Well, President Obama also causing some ripples this week through the news world, the fact that he has come out so strongly as president and spoken out against one of the presidential candidates. This is what he said yesterday, talking about Democratic and Republican nominees for president receiving intelligence briefings. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If somebody's the nominee, the Republican nominee for president, they need to get security briefings so that if they were to win, they are not starting from scratch in terms of being prepared for this office. They have been told these are classified briefings. And if they want to be president, they got to start acting like a president. And that means being able to, you know, receive these briefings and not spread them around.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: There at the end the president seems to imply maybe Trump can't keep secrets. Is that fair?

BAER: It's fair. I'm not sure he can either. And if I were in the CIA, I would really water down those briefings and not let on to sources and methods or any unusual techniques of collecting intelligence. I just wouldn't give it to him.

CABRERA: Interesting.

BAER: It would be very, very sanitized.

CABRERA: Well, Bob Baer, we appreciate your expertise and insight. Thanks for weighing in.

BAER: Thanks.

CABRERA: Up next, Chicago police releasing this body cam video today of an incident where an unarmed black man was shot by police. That man eventually died from his injuries. We have the video. We'll show you more of this up next. And we have to warn you, it is disturbing.

Back after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:26:33] CABRERA: Breaking news, authorities in Chicago have just released graphic body cam and dash cam video of an officer-involved shooting where an unarmed black teenager was killed by police. This is 18-year-old Paul O'Neal (ph). He was shot dead eight days ago after leading police on a car chase through Chicago's south side. Now the chase began when officers tried to pull over O'Neal they say for driving a suspected stolen vehicle. O'Neal eventually crashed head-in into a police car and tried to flee on foot.

(VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Now, that was just one of the multiple videos released just today. What you are about to see now is a timeline of the shooting beginning with the initial chase. And I must warn you, some viewers might find this disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get of the car (INAUDIBLE) move.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He bailed going west (ph). (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Get (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hands behind your back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put your (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Your hands behind your back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

(INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) in the yard (ph). Somebody's reporting a male (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Got anything on you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You shot too (ph)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Huh?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you shoot?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You too (ph)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And they shot at us, too, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE). Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I shot at the car after it almost hit you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, is everybody all right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Wow. So CNN's Rosa Flores is joining me now. Rosa, we just, you know, pushed together all this video we just got, a

trove of video there, but there is a key piece of video missing, the body cam of the officer who fired the fatal shot. We never saw the video from his camera. We just see the other guys who are running toward the scene. We hear the shots. Why don't we have that piece of video?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, police tell us that that body camera was either off, not turned on, or disabled. So the video that you saw of that cruiser crashing with the stolen Jaguar, that was the police officer that fired the fatal shots. He was in that vehicle. And so police are saying, they don't know if it was disabled because of the crash, if the police officer didn't turn on the camera or turned off the camera. Of course, all of this is under investigation.

The police also tell us that the district where this police officer works out of is part of the pilot program that has been rolling out these body cams. And so this district had only had those body cameras for only eight to ten days. So they don't know exactly how many times this police officers had actually used the body camera, if he had used it before, or things like that. So, all of that, of course, is still under investigation.

[14:30:03] But, Ana, I want to point out something else. As you're watching this video and those shocking images of police officers firing their weapons in this middle - in the middle of this neighborhood, in