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Report: Democratic Hack Included Private Email; Trump Tower Climber Charged After Standoff; Cuomo and Giuliani Spar over Trump Media Coverage; Last Doctors in Aleppo beg Obama for Help. Aired 3:30- 4p ET

Aired August 11, 2016 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00] BORIS EPSHTEYN, SENIOR ADVISER, TRUMP CAMPAIGN: So obviously she had lied to Congress. When she said she turned everything over, that's a lie. And now more is going to come out and hopefully we'll see what is in those 32,000 emails.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: We don't know, it just says private and it says of email accounts of Democratic Party officials.

EPSHTEYN: But whether they do or don't the fact is that have set up this narrative and they have set up this organization. Let me finish about Doug Band. Doug Band is someone who ran the Clinton Foundation.

Doug Band is someone who ran the Clinton foundation, now runs Teneo the same entity for which Huma Abedin worked while she was working for the State Department. A huge conflict of interest. And Doug Band is someone who can ask for favors on behalf of Gilbert Chagoury who is a convicted.

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Basically this is what they do. They take this fact and you connect them

EPSHTEYN: Am I wrong in any way?

JONES: Hold on a second, you said you would be able to talk.

BALDWIN: You're talking about Trump advisers and surrogates and supporters.

JONES: Here is the deal. You can throw any number of names out there and say this person knew that person knew that person, therefore it is a conspiracy. And what I am saying to is that you could do the same thing with Trump. But why are we not having that conversation? Nobody's hacking Trump.

You say the process doesn't matter. Nobody's hacking Trump. Nobody is doing what the Russians are doing to the Democrats. You have to ask the question why. Nobody in this world is perfect. Let me finish. Nobody in the world is perfect, nobody's operation is perfect. Some people do dumb stuff but the Russians are hacking the Democrats for the purpose of electing Donald Trump. Why?

EPSHTEYN: The Russians and Donald Trump did not make Hillary Clinton set up the private server, they did not set up an organization where people who are outside the State Department can ask for favors.

JONES: She shouldn't have done it.

BALDWIN: She shouldn't have done it.

EPSHTEYN: The fact that the favor was asked for was absolute proof.

BALDWIN: The FBI, there were no criminal charges. The issue is there is more to come within private e-mails, what's in it, we just don't know yet. To be continued. Van Jones, Boris Epshteyn, thank you.

JONES: Wow.

BALDWIN: Wow. I feel it today.

Coming up next, we're talking Trump as in Trump Tower. The man who suction cupped his way up to the 21st floor found himself under arrest a day after his nearly three-hour stunt. We'll talk about the charges he's now facing coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:35:00] BALDWIN: So this 19-year-old man from Virginia drove all the way to Manhattan to, as he was hoping, meet Donald Trump. Well, he is facing multiple charges because of the stunt that he nearly tried to pull yesterday when he scaled the sides of Trump Tower to try to have a discussion with the Republican presidential nominee who, by the way, was out of town when all this ruckus occurred there on 5th Avenue.

Now authorities say this man, by the name of Steven Rogata, used those giant suction cups to climb up the 58-story glass building. He also left a notebook on the ground that mentions his YouTube video that explains why he scaled the tower and that he would like to have a discussion with Donald Trump.

Now New York police, watch here, you will see as he is trying to continue on up, and they made a run for it and snatched him. This is a 21st floor after he was up there for just about three hours. He has been taken to a hospital for a psychological evaluation. As I mentioned, Mr. Trump was not in the Trump tower at the time.

After the arrest though, he did take to twitter and said, great job today by the NYPD and protecting the people and saving the climber. So CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Danny Sevallos is with me. We will put our thoughts on whatever he was trying to do aside. Just say charges include reckless endangerment, criminal trespassing, those were local charges. What else could he face?

DANNY SEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Those are probably what he'll face. It doesn't really rise to the level of burglary because there really isn't any evidence that he intended to commit any additional crime once he got in or on the premises.

BALDWIN: Does he have a defense? SEVALLOS: There are a couple of different potential defenses. Which

is why this might be a case where the prosecution may want to make a reasonable offer. Only because the defenses may not be good ones but they could certainly tie up a prosecution for a while. First of all, he is being evaluated, there might be some sort of mental defense.

We don't know what that is yet. Secondly, if you look at the history of first amendment rights and the state's rights to prevent people from speaking on private property, citizens have a limited, limited privilege to speak or first amendment rights on private property. Historically states -- I see you looking at me like that now. The defense I'm putting out there is, if he says I was excising my free speech rights, I wanted to get up there and I wanted to talk to Trump.

Certainly he is trespassing on private property. Not public property. But the Supreme Court and state courts recognize a limited right for free speech on private property mostly in the context of shopping malls and nonpublic universities. So it is a bit of a longshot.

BALDWIN: We'll see if the sides are included in that whatsoever as we follow his fate. Danny Sevallos, thank you. Thank you very much. Good thing he's okay.

Today we got another sign that shoppers are not heading to the big box brick and mortar stores anymore. Hours ago, Macy's announced it is closing 100 stores by early next year. This is just the latest wave in all kinds of store closures. Back in January Walmart announced it is closing nearly 300 stores. Sports Authority filed for bankruptcy for this year and is in the process of shutting down all its stores. Add into that Target, JCPenney, K-mart, Sears, Kohl's, they've all pulled the plug on hundreds of stores in recent months.

CNNMoney Digital Correspondent, Paul La Monica joins me. And with Macy's, Paul it's a big deal. why?

[15:40:00] PAUL LA MONICA, CNNMONEY DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: It is a huge deal. It is nearly 15 percent of all of the stores that they have. This is an iconic retailer. We are talking about the Macy's day parade at Thanksgiving and the fireworks, miracle on 34th street.

For this company to shut down this many stores, it just shows that consumers are increasingly shunning traditional department stores in favor of Amazon, of course. But also upstarts like H&M and Forever 21. Fast fashion companies that the perception is they have better apparel right now. And it is cheaper.

BALDWIN: OK. Hopefully this means it doesn't go away for good. Go to CNNMoney.com Paul La Monica, thank you.

Coming up, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and CNN's Chris Cuomo facing off over Trump's accusations of media bias. Hear this fiery exchange next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:45:00] BALDWIN: There has been plenty of blame game going around on behalf of Donald Trump toward members of the media who have been covering his every move. CNN's Chris Cuomo sat down with Trump supporter Rudy Giuliani, New York city's former mayor, for a 41-minute long passionate back-and-forth on a lot of issues. But we will highlight this one for you, talking about what Mr. Trump, what he says about the media. Got feisty. Here you go.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN CO-HOST, NEW DAY: He says the media is doing this to me, the media's rigged. Do you think my coverage is rigged?

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER NYC MAYOR: No, I don't think yours is but a lot of coverage is rigged.

CUOMO: How is it rigged? This comes out of his mouth and you have to apologize for it.

GIULIANI: I'm not apologizing.

CUOMO: You come here and explain it could have meant this.

GIULIANI: No, I didn't say could have meant that, I'm telling you he didn't say words of violence.

CUOMO: He didn't say go out and vote either. Did he?

GIULIANI: No. OK, but you say things in a lot of different ways in politics.

CUOMO: You had trouble with the media when you were mayor. Sometimes you kept people out of press conferences. You've never said the things that he does, you've never said things in front after crowd that had people chanting "lock them up". About the media calling reporters liars when he knows it's not true.

GIULIANI: Coverage is not fair. If you can't see that I can't help you.

CUOMO: No politician likes the media. No politician thinks the coverage of the media is fair to them. That's how you know you are doing your job.

GIULIANI: Nobody -- nobody -- nobody brought up Hillary's comments about Bobby Kennedy?

CUOMO: What are you talking about? It is all over the place. It is all over the place.

GIULIANI: No it isn't all over the place, not three days on the front page of the newspaper. "New York Times" failed to point out in any kind of highlighted way the fact that a terrorist and the father of a terrorist was sitting behind Hillary Clinton, and they failed to ask the question, what attracted him to her? What attracted that Taliban supporter?

CUOMO: What attracted a Mark Foley to Donald Trump? GIULIANI: I don't know lots of questions are asked about that.

CUOMO: Not as many asked about the Orlando father.

GIULIANI: He was asked about David Duke who he's never met.

CUOMO: You don't think that's a legitimate question?

GIULIANI: Hillary hasn't been asked about the father yet. Hillary --

CUOMO: That's not true. They've been all over the campaign asking.

GIULIANI: Her answer was, thank you. Her answer was, thank you.

CUOMO: You just said -- Rudy, you just said she hasn't been asked. The answer is that's wrong. She has been asked. You know what I'm saying? I understand why you support him. I get it. But you apologizing for him.

GIULIANI: Chris.

CUOMO: And I think it puts you in an awkward situation.

GIULIANI: Not for me.

CUOMO: You're right. You don't apologize. Maybe you should. That would just make it go away. It would be the more honorable thing to do.

GIULIANI: It wouldn't be the more honor thing for me to lie. What he meant was --

CUOMO: If you are saying it is on the media, that's not lying but it is also not accurate. It is wrong.

GIULIANI: Media took words. They were not violent words. The media interpreted them as violent words.

BALDWIN: I could keep -- that was such an exchange. I have with me CNN politics executive editor Mark Preston and CNN media analyst, Bill Carter, author of "The War For Late Night, When Leno Went Early And Television Went Crazy."

So let's just jump right in, Mark Preston, we've heard more blaming of the media from the Trump camp, he's lower in the polls, there have been more attacks on the media, he's doing fewer interviews. What sort of -- is this strategy?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: No doubt. Oftentimes we do see this with the Republican candidates. What's very critical is what Chris Cuomo said. Chris Cuomo's father was Democratic Governor of New York and he said no politician likes the media. That's absolutely right.

There are no politicians that necessarily like the three of us because all we do is cause them problems for going out to try to find out what they mean. Now Donald Trump is playing with fire though. It will work to a certain degree where he can blame the media and that will help get his base to coalesce behind him. But at some point though you can't blame the media for every utterance that comes out of your mouth. That's what we've seen from Donald Trump from day one.

BALDWIN: Bill Carter, it wasn't that long ago we looked at Donald Trump and like a bunch of other men on stage with him. Like 17 or 16. Then he wanted the media coverage. He courted it. Now fast forward to blame the media.

BILL CARTER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: Well, he's in a different position now. He's being questioned more closely. He can't just shrug off these things that he says as easily. The media has an obligation. This is the toughest race I think they've ever covered because this guy is saying things every day that seem to be either wrong or outrageous.

BALDWIN: But that's what it is, it is coming -- it is what he's --

CARTER: It's what he's saying, that's right. It's not subjective. It's objective if you say well those facts aren't right. It is also objective to say a lot of people think that's dangerous to say that. That's still objective. Republicans can say, you're hitting him too hard, you're criticizing him unfairly but I think it is an

obligation of the journalists at this point to say that's wrong and that's dangerous. Those things are legitimate objective facts.

BALDWIN: What do you think?

MARK PRESTON: I also think there will be a lot of criticism that the media is not following the Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal very closely.

[15:50:00] I would argue in fact that we are, but Donald Trump will come out and say something that will really shout out the coverage that is going on. I also point out too, for our viewers watching right now, there are many platforms of news. So what you might not see on air between you and Bill and myself right now, you are very will going to find it on CNN.com. I do think the Trump supporters are being critical of the media without really looking at the full picture.

BALDWIN: Final question to you Bill Carter, what is missing from all of this?

CARTER: I think what is missing is overall context, and I think journalists have to provide that. But I also think this race has challenged journalists more than any other one and they have to step up against Hillary when she is wrong and against Trump when he's wrong. They have to really step up, it's a real challenge this time.

BALDWIN: Bill Carter, thank you for that. Mark Preston, thank you as well.

Straight ahead, a desperate plea from the last doctors remaining in Aleppo, Syria. They plea to President Obama, we don't need your sympathy, we need your action, how the White House is responding to this powerful letter next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:55:00] BALDWIN: This week on "Declassified", stepping into the dangerous role of U.S. undercover agents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: One of the early inquiries we got from an Iranian arms dealer named, Amir Ardebili. He asked for a very wide range of military components. Some actually we assessed as being potentially for nuclear weapons purposes. This guy is clearly bad news. So we needed to start a relationship with him. In order to make a case like this happen.

He would send in hundreds of requests for quotation and we were constantly providing him quotes. For the most part he was not closing the deal.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: We had a lot of instances where he committed to us through email he would procure something, we would provide banking information and the money would never come.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: We almost had nothing from him and largely wrote him off because he was not really dealing with us. We were not sure if he was spooked, saw something he didn't like, or if he was just flighty and didn't want to deal with us anymore.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: It is a every ending learning curve running an undercover business. It is tedious process because we are really not business people.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: We are trying to figure out are we doing things the right way because we are not in this trade. We're pretending to be in this trade.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: So that's why we needed to learn more about the illegal international arm's market.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Basically, we needed help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Don't miss CNN's original series "Declassified" Sunday night at 10 o'clock only on CNN.

Want to make sure we get this story out of Syrian here today. The few remaining doctors in Aleppo, they sent a letter begging President Obama to step in and stop the horrific bombings in the rebel held city. This letter comes a suspected chlorine gas attack killed at least 3 people and injured dozens more including two dozen children.

In this open letter to the President these doctors write in part, quote, "We do not need tears or sympathy or even prayers. We desperately need a zone free of the bombing over Eastern Aleppo to stop the attacks, and international action to ensure Aleppo is never besieged again."

CNN's Clarissa Ward was inside rebel held Aleppo just a couple of months ago and joins me now from London. So wonderful always to talk to you, Clarissa, and let me just begin with over the course of years you have talked to a number of doctors like these. Clearly the frustration is there, talk to me about the White House response to this letter.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The White House came out with what I would call a pretty pro forma response saying we have condemned over and over again the targeting of medical facilities by the Assad regime. And essentially reiterating their call for all sides to head to the negotiating table saying there can be no solution but a diplomatic solution or a political solution essentially.

We already heard from one of the doctors that wrote the letter responding to that saying he is shocked and disappointed. The situation is dire in Eastern Aleppo, Brooke, you have 300,000 civilians entrapped there. Just 15 doctors caring for them. A lack of basic electricity, water, food, medicine.

They don't have CT scanners, they don't life support machines, they don't have enough oxygen to give infants and babies and incubators, they don't even have diesel which they need to power generators.

So we are really looking at humanitarian crisis here and I think while the doctors did not necessarily expect President Obama to change course on Syria, there is growing frustration that the international community is leaving these people to die, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Which is horrendous when you think of the numbers and the children. I know you have been to some of these hospitals in Syria, you have seen some of the devastation first hand. It is so tough to think about. You hope these doctors will get what they say they will need. Thank you so much for taking the time there from London, I really, really appreciate it.

With that, we have heard today from Hillary Clinton from Warren, Michigan talking economy. A rebuttal of what we heard from Mr. Trump earlier in the week. What's next, lot to talk about for the rest of the day here on CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin, The Lead starts now.