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Trump Says Second Amendment People Could Stop Clinton; New E- Mails Reveal Clinton Foundation Ties to State Department. Aired 10- 10:30a ET
Aired August 10, 2016 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:00] JEANNE MOOS, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Frenzy to the presidential race. We're using cupping to increase blood flow to his brain. Well, it ain't working. Even while being cupped, you can have a brain freeze.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Posture problems, even cocktail waitresses, they're on their back all day or on their feet all day.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All righty then. The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She gets to pick her judges. Nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is. I don't know.
SEN. TIM KAINE (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I really, frankly, couldn't believe he said it.
TRUMP: I think it's a good thing for me because it's going to tell people more about me with respect to the Second Amendment because Hillary Clinton wants to essentially abolish the Second Amendment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me.
Thirty minutes from now, the Justice Department will rip into the Baltimore Police Department. Officials set to reveal the findings of more than a year-long investigation. It is a scathing report. The DOJ says the department has been engaging in a pattern or practice of the following. Making unconstitutional stops, searches and arrests. Discriminating against African-Americans. Using excessive force. And retaliating against free speech.
We'll bring you that press conference live as soon as it starts.
Back to politics, though. Donald Trump thrives on headlines and outrage but today there is a sobering gravitas in the often asked question, has he finally gone too far? At best, Mr. Trump has forced his fellow Republicans to mop up another PR debacle. At worst, he has plunged to a new low, suggesting violence as the way to stop Hillary Clinton and her perceived threat to gun rights.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: CNN's Jason Carroll live in Abington, Virginia, where Trump is due to speak later on today. Good morning, Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you, Carol. A number of Trump's critics are basically saying that look, he has to be held responsible for his words. He has to be held accountable for his words.
As you can imagine, the reaction coming in from the Clinton campaign pretty swiftly. Clinton's campaign chairman weighing in on the controversy saying, quote, "This is simple. What Trump is saying is dangerous. A person seeking to be president of the United States should not suggest violence in any way."
Donald Trump himself, he is on defense, speaking out about this last night, basically offering an explanation for what he said and how he says it was received.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Nobody in that room thought anything other than what you just said. This is a political movement. There's a tremendous power behind the Second Amendment. It's a political power. And there are few things so powerful, I have to say, in terms of politics. There is few things. And I happen to think that if they actually did even bring this up, I think it's a good thing for me, because it's going to tell people more about me with respect to the Second Amendment. Because Hillary Clinton wants to essentially abolish the Second Amendment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Tim Kaine also weighing in on this issue condemning Trump's remarks. Also saying it was very clear to him what Trump was saying.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAINE: I saw it reported, and when I read the quote, I really, frankly, couldn't believe he said that. And so I went to watch a video of it and found that he had said it exactly the way it was printed.
Nobody who is seeking a leadership position especially the presidency or the leadership of the country should do anything to countenance violence and that's what he was saying.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: And, Carol, also weighing in on this issue, Erica Smegielski. She basically tweeted out this morning, I want to briefly describe who she is. Her mother was a principal at Sandy Hook Elementary School. She died trying to protect students there during that horrific shooting back in 2012. And she tweeted out to Donald Trump this morning. Let me just read you her words. She says, "You think gun violence is a joke? Would love to tell you about mom's life and gruesome murder."
You know, Carol, there is an expression, it goes something like this. If you have to explain yourself for something that you said, perhaps you should not have said that. But having said that, there are a number of people who attended that rally yesterday in Wilmington who support Donald Trump. One man saying that his looseness in words may -- people may not always agree with his words, but his looseness in words is what exactly appeals to him in terms of dealing with Donald Trump -- Carol.
[10:05:03] COSTELLO: All right, Jason Carroll, reporting live from Virginia this morning.
The reaction to Trump's comments has been scathing. The "Daily News" proclaiming, "This isn't a joke anymore," and that the GOP should abandon Trump. The conservative columnist Bill Kristol writing, quote, "In the general pattern of Trump damaging everything and everyone he touches, he's now hurting the cause of defense of the Second Amendment." And Hillary Clinton backer, Senator Elizabeth Warren, wrote, quote, "Donald Trump makes death threats because he's a pathetic coward who can't handle the fact that he's losing to a girl.
The Green Party candidate, Jill Stein, tweeting, quote, "Gun violence is no laughing matter. We need a president who understands it's not funny to call on people to shoot opponents. Disarm Trump."
Let's talk about this now. With me, CNN political commentator and former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus Angela Rye, former South Carolina lieutenant governor and Donald Trump supporter Andre Bauer, and Republican strategist Ed Rogers.
Welcome to all of you. Good morning. So, Andre, the CIA director Michael Hayden said when you're a candidate you're not only responsible for what you say but for what people hear. Donald Trump may have spoken clumsily but his words inspire.
I'll give you an example of that. At the Republican National Convention, you were there, too. His dire warnings over the Second Amendment inspired this group of men to show up and they were carrying semiautomatic weapons. Perfectly legal. They said they meant no harm. But I'll tell you, the Cleveland Police were not happy about this.
So doesn't it show, Andre, that words inspire? They have consequences? ANDRE BAUER, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Absolutely they do. But, again, it
depends on the interpretation. If you look at anybody in that room, nobody interpreted it in the way that it's now being spun. And if you look at the pattern of Donald Trump, he's never been a violent person. You never heard -- actually see him getting violent with anybody. And so you've never seen him ever try to encourage violence. And I think, once again, he was trying to motivate voters to get out and get excited about this election.
COSTELLO: But here's -- here's the thing, Andre. I was looking for the quote, though, that's what I was doing. Mr. Trump said, "by the way, if she gets to pick -- if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know." But when he says she gets to pick her judges, she would only get to do that after she is elected.
BAUER: Well, again, I would say that he's saying hey, look, this is an important election. You've got to get engaged. That's why he's got to make the rally and part of being at the rally is to encourage them to get out and get active and participate. We know Second Amendment folks are some of the most active people to ever participate in politics.
COSTELLO: But, Andre, he's the law and order candidate. He's the guy that's going to clean up crime in major cities across the country. And if he sends this confusing message out, how can he then claim that he's going to clean things up because he knows law and order?
BAUER: Well, I don't think he in any way intended for it to be in any way encouraging violence nor did the folks -- if you look at the people behind him, none of them were even -- you know, they didn't change their facial expression.
ANDREA RYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That's not true, Andre. That's just not true. There's a man -- the press has honed in on this man's face. He's sitting to the right. And if you're looking at the screen to the right of Donald Trump, and he literally makes this face, he says, wow, and looks at the lady next to him and laughs. There are absolutely facial expressions. Some of the people chuckled.
It is dangerous rhetoric. And you said that Donald Trump does not have a pattern and practice of encouraging violence? He's done that at several of his rallies. There's the man right there. He's done that at several of his rallies whether we're talking about a Black Lives Matter protester, whether we're talking about Donald Trump saying that he wished he could -- he wishes he could punch a woman in the face? Or we're talking about the man who he said he would pay his bail money, pay his legal fees after he punched that black man in the face in North Carolina.
He absolutely encourages violence. He doesn't rebuke it as he would say. And he absolutely is responsible for the words that he speaks and the actions of his supporters for not discouraging this kind of behavior.
COSTELLO: Well, it is true -- (CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: It is that Mr. Trump often misspeaks and then he says, oh, it was a joke, and we have a litany of examples of that.
And, Ed -- and, Ed, I want you to -- I want you to watch this along with my viewers and then comment on the other side.
ED ROGERS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Good.
COSTELLO: Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: She gets out and she starts asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions, and, you know, you can see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever. Now the poor guy, you got to see this guy, I don't know what I said. Ah, I don't remember.
CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC ANCHOR: Do you believe in punishment for abortion, yes or no? As a principle.
TRUMP: The answer is that there has to be some form of punishment.
MATTHEWS: For the woman?
TRUMP: Yes, there has to be some form.
MATTHEWS: Ten cents, 10 years, what?
TRUMP: I don't know. That, I don't know.
Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 e- mails that are missing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So, Ed, to all of those things, Trump said, you know, people took it the wrong way.
[10:10:01] ROGERS: It all contributes to a negative stereotype that he well deserves, of someone who doesn't have a good filter, who is not measured, who is not judicious, who gets -- who says things a serious person running for president ought not say. And then rather than own up to it and say, I made a mistake, I wish I had it back, maybe show a molecule of humility, a little dignity, he doubles down and he expects his surrogates to go out and have some sort of tortured relationship with the truth at best or lie at worst, and perpetuate his bad day, perpetuate being off message, perpetuate his negative stereotype.
It's not working. He's got the half cock vote. He needs to broaden his appeal.
COSTELLO: Speaking of surrogates, Rudy Giuliani appeared on "Good Morning America" this morning and he blamed this whole controversy squarely on the Clinton spin machine. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: I was there. I'd like the people at home to realize that the first time that any of us had any idea that that is the way it was interpreted is when the Clinton spin machine interpreted that way, spun it out to a press that is willing to hit him every day, bang, bang, bang, and then ask us to question it.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABS NEWS ANCHOR: But in real time you had people like the former CIA director, Michael Hayden, raising the exact same question.
GIULIANI: More than real time. It was after the Clinton spin machine spun it out. They spun it out within about eight minutes, bam, like that. That is not what he intended. What he intended is very, very simple. What he intended was that they should vote against it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROGERS: Good --
COSTELLO: So, Angela, was the Clinton spin machine to blame?
RYE: No. These are reasonable American people watching this happen. There was someone in my Twitter feed, just a regular person on Twitter who said, did you see this? And I didn't believe it, Carol. I didn't believe it happened. I had to see this on the news before I actually believed it happened. I think that he says crazy things all of the time. I thought this was beyond the pale. Just like the Secret Service did. And they tweeted that they are paying attention to this. And just like so many others.
The Clinton spin machine cannot be responsible for the Republicans who have also come out against this type of rhetoric. It is very, very dangerous. It is not a joking matter. It's not a laughing matter. It's highly offensive. And it is terribly treacherous. It's reprehensible.
COSTELLO: Well, Andre, I want you to weigh in because Angela is right, the Secret Service tweeted out, it is aware of the comments made earlier this afternoon. So whether Mr. Trump was joking or not --
BAUER: Well, all they say was they were aware.
COSTELLO: The Secret Service wasn't sure.
BAUER: I'm sure they're aware of everything that goes on because there are Secret Service in the room with him every day.
RYE: Come on, Andre. They don't tweet about everything that goes on. Andre, come on, you're reasonable.
BAUER: Look, Donald Trump -- Donald Trump has said things that you question. Hillary Clinton has a life of question people that are -- we don't even know if someone were alive today because of her actions.
RYE: Wow.
BAUER: So if you want to judge words or actions --
RYE: I'm judging words and actions, Andre, and I need you to do the same. I'm saying that you're reasonable because I actually am shocked. You're someone who I highly respect as a commentator and I cannot believe -- speaking of a spin machine, I can't believe that you're engaging in this.
This is spin. It's not real life. This is not what a reasonable person would hear when they hear Trump's remarks. This is highly toxic and dangerous rhetoric. And it could be life threatening. This needs to be -- he needs to be accountable for his actions and his surrogates, his supporters, people like you, a former elected official, needs to say this is exactly the type of rhetoric that we cannot have in this country, as a patriot, Andre.
BAUER: If I truly believed that that was his intent, I wouldn't be defending him. And I can tell you that.
COSTELLO: All right, So --
ROGERS: Well, Andre, don't you think he said something he shouldn't have said? Don't you think he ought to own up to it? Wouldn't it make your day easier?
RYE: Then all of us understood it.
BAUER: You know, as a -- trying to be a reasonable person, I would like him to say, look, I would like him to verify and clarify. Look, there was absolutely no question, there was no intent, and I don't think he said that. Not specifically --
COSTELLO: He did not do that.
ROGERS: He didn't say that. He didn't say it.
COSTELLO: He said, it would be good for him because it would, like, highlight Hillary Clinton's alleged attempts to abolish the Second Amendment.
RYE: And which is also not true. That has been -- sorry, debunked so many times. Hillary Clinton does not want to abolish the Second Amendment.
Andre, can you at least acknowledge that? That's been debunked on PolitiFact. Can you at least acknowledge she doesn't want to abolish the Second Amendment?
BAUER: I'm definitely not going to sit here and tell you --
COSTELLO: He's not going to --
(LAUGHTER) BAUER: About Hillary Clinton because I don't really --
ROGERS: She's no friend of the Second Amendment.
(CROSSTALK)
RYE: I'm just saying, like at some point, we just got to debate with facts.
COSTELLO: OK.
RYE: We just have to utilize facts.
COSTELLO: OK. I'm going to --
BAUER: I still love you.
COSTELLO: You've got to stick around, we're still -- we're going to continue this conversation but I have to take a break.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Hillary Clinton is gaining in the polls but nagging questions remain about her, too, specifically her e-mail controversy. We'll talk about that next.
[10:14:50]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Hillary Clinton faces more scrutiny over a batch of newly released e-mail. Specifically whether there was too chummy of a relationship between the Clinton Global Foundation and the State Department when Mrs. Clinton served as the nation's top diplomat.
CNN justice correspondent Pamela Brown is live in Washington with more for you. Hi, Pamela.
PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Carol. Some of these heavily redacted e-mails certainly raised questions about the Clinton Foundation's influence on the State Department during Clinton's tenure. In fact in one instance, top Clinton Foundation official Doug Band lobbied Clinton aides for a job in the State Department for someone else, and in that e-mail Band tells Clinton's former aide at the department, Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin, that it is, quote, "important to take care of." And then the name of that person is redacted, and then Band is reassured by Abedin that personnel has been sending him options.
And then there was a 2009 e-mail in which Band directs Abedin and Mills to put a Lebanese Nigerian billionaire and Clinton Foundation to be in contact with the State Department's, quote, "substance person on Lebanon," saying, "As you know, he's a key guy there and to us, and is loved in Lebanon, very important".
[10:20:10] Now these e-mails were not in the initial batch of e-mails Clinton's team turned over to the State Department. It's unclear why that is. They were obtained by a judicial watch in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
The Trump campaign has seized on this new batch of e-mails, citing them as evidence of Clinton being corrupt. A Clinton campaign spokesperson says, "There is no indication of foul play in these e- mails." Saying, "Neither of these e-mails involved the secretary or relate to the foundation's work."
As we know, Carol, the investigation into Clinton's use of a private e-mail server while at the State Department did not lead to charges. The Clinton Foundation was not part of that investigation -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Pamela Brown, reporting live for us this morning, thank you.
I want to bring back my panel right now, at least part of it. Angela Rye is a former Congressional Black Caucus executive director, and Andre Bauer, a Donald Trump supporter and former South Carolina lieutenant governor.
Welcome back, thanks for sticking around. So, Angela, this e-mail controversy, shouldn't Mrs. Clinton hold some sort of press conference, answer tough questions from reporters and call it a day? That would clear things up if she really didn't do anything wrong.
RYE: Let me ask this very simple question. What was her response in the e-mail?
COSTELLO: What -- she just said there was nothing wrong. But I mean, she's answering questions.
(CROSSTALK)
RYE: No, no. No. My question is very simple. My question is, what was her response to these e-mails? There was no responses from Hillary Clinton --
COSTELLO: That's true. They --
(CROSSTALK)
RYE: They're not her e-mails.
COSTELLO: Let's be clear for our viewers. They're not her e-mails. They're between her staffers. It's a staffer at the Clinton Global Initiative and a staffer, Huma Abedin, you know, and she's Hillary Clinton's aide at the State Department.
RYE: At the State Department who was not acting in her official capacity. So I think it is very important when we're talking about it. I know that Rudy Giuliani in the earlier segment was talking about Clinton spin. I think it's very important when we are talking about e-mails because it's been so much. Bernie Sanders told us a long time ago, enough with the damn e-mails. And I'm really there today, especially given what this is compared to in this news cycle.
What exactly happened. What was her role in the e-mails and why does it matter. So I think that my question is, if Hillary Clinton is not included in the e-mails in her response or anything else, why are we talking about that today?
COSTELLO: Oh, come on. Come on, Angela.
RYE: No, and -- Carol --
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Huma Abedin is her right-hand woman.
RYE: But, Carol, these are people --
COSTELLO: Hillary Clinton is her boss.
RYE: So, I understand that, and I'm clear. What I'm saying to you as someone who -- as a former Hill staffer, I want to know the raw. I still do things to help my members today. If one of them knows someone who wants an internship, I'm going to work to try to see if I can make that happen. That is not foul play. That's ensuring that there are people who look like me that are placed in critical roles. I don't see anything wrong with this.
I want to know, maybe I'm missing context and I'm being very honest. I hope you now know that I'm a truth teller. So I just want to know what happened. Where is the background on these e-mails? What exactly happened? And why do we --
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: I think the voters kind of want to know that, too.
RYE: I don't know the answer to it. I want to know more.
COSTELLO: OK. So, Andre, Angela is right. There's no proof that anything was wrong here. There's no proof at all. It's just like an insinuation almost. So -- give me your thoughts on this.
BAUER: Well, I mean, number one, do we wonder why the servers disappeared? Of course we don't. There's a lot more that's been hidden. Number two, this is pay-to-play at its highest. Look --
COSTELLO: Well, we don't know that, Andre.
BAUER: She said we were broke when we --
COSTELLO: We don't know that.
BAUER: And she said -- she said we were broke when we left the White House. In 2014, she made 32 -- almost $32 million? Hmm. All these --
RYE: That's irrelevant.
BAUER: And the Clinton Foundation, the money, they take. I mean, the people want to know. This is hierarchy -- this shows the corruption at the highest level where you can spend money and political power will get you what you need.
COSTELLO: All right, I want to -- I want to turn the corner now and talk about the father of the Orlando terrorist that showed up at a Clinton rally. He sat right behind her. Right? His son killed 49 people at the Pulse nightclub -- Angela.
RYE: Yes, yes.
COSTELLO: Rudy Giuliani, a Trump supporter, says Hillary Clinton's, quote, "soft stance" on Islamic extremism is why Mr. Mateen supports Hillary Clinton and attended her rally. Your thoughts?
RYE: So Rudy Giuliani's remarks are obscene and he ought to be ashamed of himself. But here's what I will say to you, Carol. This is the type of mistake by advance staffers that can never, ever happen. What's more unfortunate about this particular rally, Carol, is Hillary Clinton had just met with some of the victims' family members of the Orlando shooting. So this is just a horrible egregious mistake.
We can't afford it, particularly on a day when we're talking about Second Amendment rights and how folks would use them. This is not the type of news story that any Clinton campaign staffer wants to see. I know personally the Florida state director, Simone Ward, and I would just say my heart goes out to Simone because I know this is not the type of thing that she wants to see reported especially after they had several successful events in Florida.
COSTELLO: So does that explanation fly with you, Andre?
[10:25:03] BAUER: Well, I would question this. Look, any time I've gone, even when I was a lieutenant governor of a state, I had to provide my Social Security number, they ran my name, they did a background check and to be on that stage --
RYE: At a rally?
BAUER: Yes. They knew exactly --
RYE: I never had to do that for a rally.
BAUER: I mean, this is a presidential candidate --
COSTELLO: With thousands of people at a rally, you have to do that?
BAUER: -- that has full security detail. They just don't let people in and the people that are on stage are all picked for a reason.
RUE: That's not true for a rally, Andre.
BAUER: They're picked for a reason.
RYE: I will give you that for town halls but not for a large rally, Andre. I've never heard of any -- just common citizen having to provide their Social Security number to attend a rally. If you're talking about being in the clutch like in the back of a rally or an event where you get to meet the president or a candidate firsthand, absolutely. But we are just talking about lining that stage for diversity, of age, gender --
BAUER: Well, I understand the diversity part.
RYE: Yes, I don't think --
BAUER: But when they have people that close to a presidential candidate, they do a background check usually.
RYE: I've never heard that, Andre, for a rally.
BAUER: They don't just let these people walk in.
RYE: I've never heard that for a rally.
COSTELLO: So the bottom line here, Andre, is what Rudy Giuliani intimated, is that terrorists around the world are somehow attracted to Mrs. Obama's rally and support her because somehow, what, she -- or Clinton, rather. Somehow what, she supports what?
BAUER: Well, I think that they realize that with Donald Trump, they got a guy that is going to come down -- he's not going to be as soft as this administration, nor the Clinton administration would be. And I think clearly she demonstrates the type of America that he would like to see where we aren't as tough on our borders, where we are more willing to not be as tough on our enemies. And I think you got two different candidates and she clearly aligns with the type of candidate he would like to see in office.
RYE: The type of candidate that would be President Obama killing Osama bin Laden. I just want to say that. That's how soft we are in our enemy.
COSTELLO: OK. I have to leave it there.
RYE: Didn't really work there.
BAUER: That's good. You got me there, Angela.
RYE: I know.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Angela Rye, Andre Bauer, thanks to both of you.
RYE: Thanks, Carol. Thanks, Andre. You're still my friend.
BAUER: See you, darling.
COSTELLO: Awesome.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, races and excessive force, and unlawful strip searches. In moments, we'll hear a blistering new report detailing the DOJ's investigation of Baltimore's police department.
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