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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Manafort is Out; Lochte Releases Statement; Louisiana Flooding. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired August 19, 2016 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. Welcome to LEGAL VIEW.

We're going to begin this hour with breaking news out of the Donald Trump campaign. Eighty-one days before Election Day and two days after the GOP presidential nominee brought in two brand new campaign leaders, the campaign's chairman, Paul Manafort, is now calling it quits. As if nonstop controversies and tanking poll numbers weren't enough, Manafort's former ties with pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine apparently became what Manafort and others considered a, quote, "distraction" from the work at hand. In a statement Trump says he, quote, "accepts" Manafort's resignation and wishes him, quote, "the greatest success in his future endeavors.

The candidate and running candidate are at this hour in Louisiana visiting the flood zone and so far have had no public comments on the campaign comings and goings. But last hour, last victim of a Trump campaign shakeup, who now is a CNN political commentator, phoned in with his take. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COREY LEWANDOWSKI, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR (voice-over): Well, look, it's obviously a difficult thing for anybody when they change jobs and have a position that they've been so vested in for a long time and really put their heart and soul into something, to not be part of it, particularly when you're this close. But what the most important thing is, is this is a reminder to me that to the American public that Donald Trump will do anything it takes to win. And if you look at the week that he has had, putting a new leadership team in place, rolling out TV ads, making speeches that have been very well received from the public, saying things that have not traditionally been said by Donald Trump, I think what you find is that this campaign is squarely focused now on attacking Hillary Clinton, on laying out their plan to make America great again to the American public, and it's going very well. I think this is the best week Donald Trump has had in a long, long time on the campaign trail.

And so, look, I think this is a very important change for the campaign and it reaffirms unequivocally that Steven K. Bannon and Kellyanne Conway are taking the campaign in a new direction, and it's the direction that Donald Trump wants to go, and that's the direction to lay out his vision for America.

Again, I don't have any of the information, you know, as it relates to how those conversations took place or what Mr. Trump's thinking was, but I think what you have clearly here is, Mr. Trump has said this and he's been very clear about it. He did not like the direction where the campaign was going, if that was, you know, the indication of the polling data in the key battleground states. He wasn't pleased with that. And so what you have now is someone with Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway, who's bringing a different perspective, an outsider's perspective, who is saying, you know what, let's get back to what Donald - what brought Donald Trump here, which is allowing him to be authentic, to allow him to go back and do the things that he wants to do to be successful, that has gotten him to the point of where he is today, which is the Republican nomination. And now you're going to grow that base. And you're going to grow and you're going to bring more people in. So I think - you know, it doesn't matter, staff stories shouldn't matter, but what you have is a realignment of Donald Trump and the direction of the campaign, which, most importantly, is what the candidate wants.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Any - any last words for Paul Manafort, Corey?

LEWANDOWSKI: I wish him the absolute very best. And he - he's a true professional. And I know how thankful I was to be able to work next to him as he worked to secure the delegates needed and to execute a convention.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Pretty glowing words.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is following the fallout of all of this in Washington.

So this is sort of part two in the shakeup. And you just heard Corey Lewandowski say that this is the best week that Trump has had in a long, long time. I'm not sure that everybody would say that when you're sort of ditching person after person and bringing on new folks so close to election time.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely right, Ashleigh. You know, the Trump campaign has been insisting all week that these sort of piecemeal changes to their staff does not represent a shakeup. But it is very clear, especially with today, that this is kind of a dramatic and extensive whole-scale changes that the campaign is currently undergoing, you know, really showing how significantly they are trying to change the direction, change the trajectory of the campaign.

Paul Manafort, remember, he was originally brought in, in the spring to focus specifically within the campaign on delegate strategy when it was faced with the prospect then that this would go to a contested convention in Cleveland. He then grew considerable influence within the campaign. He was the one pushing Trump to be a little bit more presidential, really more in line with what Republican establishment leaders had wanted in their nominee. And, you know, faced with, as you noted, a couple hard few weeks slipping poll numbers, it does seem that there was these questions, whether that direction was the right way to go. And, as you most notably pointed out, he himself, Paul Manafort, was facing increased scrutiny over his own past, this own lobbying ties to foreign governments in the Ukraine and such. And so it was very clear, and this is according to Trump aides telling CNN's Dana Bash, that he was a distraction. Then his exit was made today.

[12:05:18] BANFIELD: So it's a bit of an shadowing of what he's doing in Louisiana with the flood touring. And they're not saying anything on the ground in Louisiana about the big shakeup. But is the Trump camp putting out any sort of comments from the inner circle on this resignation?

SERFATY: Well, that's absolutely right. Today is Trump and Mike Pence's day to be a little optically presidential, tour the flood damage, but certainly they do not want to say anything on the ground to take away from those visuals which are so important to a presidential campaign. But it's interesting that the Trump campaign did put out Eric Trump, his son, for an interview this morning and he specifically used the word "distraction" when referring to Paul Manafort. Here's, in part, what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S SON: I think my father didn't want to be, you know, distracted by, you know, whatever things that, you know, Paul was dealing with. And, you know, Paul was amazing. And, you know, he helped us get through the primary process. He helped us get through the convention. He did a great job with the delegates, you know, and now you look at, you know, Kellyanne and some of the other people that we're bringing in and they're absolutely fantastic and, you know, I think they're going to be the ones that bring us, you know, all the way through November 8th and ultimately get us to victory. But, again, my father just didn't want to have the distraction looming, you know, over the campaign and, quite frankly, looming over all the issues that - that Hillary's facing right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: So certainly interesting there, saying distraction looming over the campaign. And Donald Trump did release a short - very short statement today accepting Paul Manafort's resignation, saying that he had been a true professional during the course of the campaign. But certainly, Ashleigh, his accepting of the resignation acknowledgment that he was indeed a distraction then (ph).

BANFIELD: All right, Sunlen Serfaty, stand by, if you will.

I want to bring in my panel now to sort of dissect this and see if there's really an implications for it. CNN's political director is David Chalian, he's in Washington. Here with me in New York, CNN political commentator and political anchor of Time Warner Cable News, Errol Louis, and CNN political reporter Eugene Scott.

So, David, the effects of this, I mean, two big campaign shakeups in I think as many months. They're downplaying it, but you can't really do that, can you?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: No, there's no downplaying a complete overhaul of the leadership of the campaign. That's a pretty significant development. And even more so when you're about 80 days from Election Day.

But, you know, I - so I think that, you know, the Manafort departure today and resignation sort of really began with the announcement of putting Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway in charge on Wednesday. And what was clear is you heard just from Eric Trump and you heard this from people familiar with Manafort's thinking as well, these stories about Manafort really were becoming a distraction and so I think this is one place where Manafort and Trump really agreed that it would be better for him to not be inside the campaign anymore because that may end up distracting, when, in fact, one of the key components that Manafort had been sort of arguing for throughout his tenure there is to try to get rid of some of these distractions and keep the candidate on message as best he could. So, I think you started to see that.

Listen, Ashleigh, I think you are seeing - it's like watching a battleship try to turn itself around here. It is - this isn't something with the flip of a switch and this is something that will continue to need to be watched. But this week will go down as a week that was critical in the Trump campaign history because of the adjustments that were being made here. We'll see if his tone remains what it was last night or if it shifts somewhere else.

But here's what we know. Think of it like an orchestra. Donald Trump is now trying to play all - get folks to play all the different instruments in the orchestra, have them hit all different kinds of notes. So he's got the Hillary Clinton brawler, the guy who's going to take it to the enemy every day in Steve Bannon. He's got somebody like Kellyanne Conway, who can be in his ear about, hey, maybe we can express regret here, maybe this is a way to still be an authentic part of you, but with some more welcoming language. I think they're going to - it's not one or the other here. I think it's going to constantly be trying to hit as many of these notes as possible to take it to Hillary Clinton every day and to make sure that he's presenting -

BANFIELD: Strange timing.

CHALIAN: His path forward in a way that adds to his support as best they can.

BANFIELD: Strange timing is all I can say because if you have a big photo op planned in Louisiana to do flood, you know, flood visit, why would you want to drop this news at the very same time and have us talk about this headline rather than the pictures I'm about to show you, which are just coming into us. I think these are live pictures of Donald Trump and his entourage there headed through a high school that was flooded. This is Denim Springs High School, apparently suffering a great deal of damage and Trump and his folks are heading through there with live cameras. So you'll have to apologize for the wiggly nature of the video, but we're just getting it in as I speak.

[12:10:05] This should be the headline. This should really be what we're all seeing. This is what a campaign does, they set up these very, you know, specific moments for us to digest - this is just from moments ago. You want to look presidential. You want to go down and visit the flood ravaged area. And he's had a few comments. The audio on this, unfortunately, is not very good but earlier we could heard audio saying the president, unfortunately, is golfing and wants to get his golf score under par. That's the kind of thing you want on television, not so much the, oh, boy, I've got another campaign chief who's on the outs.

And with that said, Errol, I'd like you to comment for me, if you could, on comments that were made last night in a speech. Sort of curious to find out if you think that the new leadership and - has had its effect on Donald Trump when he said sort of the jaw dropping thing that we're all replaying today. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Sometimes, in the heat of debate and speaking on a multitude of issues, you don't choose the right words, or you say the wrong thing. I have done that. And believe it or not, I regret it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: I don't even know what to say.

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's interesting because I think - I've talked about this with a number of people here just in the green room and around the newsroom, everybody, without exception, assumes that that line was put in the speech by Kellyanne Conway. It speaks to, I think, probably a certain amount of sort of a gender bias that we have about the kind of language that's used or maybe wanting to be heard by women.

BANFIELD: Didn't she say let Trump be Trump, that's what we're doing? Sharpen the message, but let him do what he did so well to get here?

LOUIS: Well, but he - he said it. I mean I think the - though - there's a - there's an immediate political need that this campaign has, which is to get him back into the good graces of Republican women in particular. The ship is leaking all over the place. He's - he's got weaknesses and problems all over the place. They're finally getting back on - they're finally getting on the air with some advertising. It should have been done a month ago. At least they're getting it done. There's some problems in the campaign leadership. They did a reshuffle. That's something that they probably should have done earlier, but they were trying to get to that too.

I would say probably in addition to getting a ground game in place, their most urgent need is to get him back on the map with Republican women. It is a constituency he cannot afford to lose, that he's been weak with, and that's what attribute that statement to.

BANFIELD: I want to play two things in a row right now if I can and the - this first little moment is what Donald Trump has said prior about, you know, what he this in terms of does he regret his words, does he feel - how does he feel about some of the things. This is what he has said prior to last night. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: To look back and say, gee whiz, I wish I didn't do this or that, I don't think that's good. I don't even think, in a certain way, I don't even think that's healthy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: So he said, "I don't think that's good to do those kind - I don't think it's good to look back and regret those things. And then we wondered, I wonder exactly what it is he is referring to when he says, I do have some regrets about things I've said. So we went back into our archives and we picked just a couple. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Right after, a couple of good paragraphs, it - and they're talking about northern New Jersey draws the probers eye, written by a nice reporter. Now the poor guy, you've got to see this guy, uh, I don't know what I said. Ah, I don't remember. He's going like, I don't remember. Ah - oh, maybe that's what I said.

You're not allowed to say - and I never expect to hear that from you again - she said, I never expect to hear that from you again. She said he's a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) (INAUDIBLE). Her.

He's proud of his heritage. I - I respect him for that.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: But you're saying he can't do his job because of it.

TRUMP: Look, he's proud of his heritage, OK. I'm building a wall. No, I think I'm going to do very well with the Spanish.

TAPPER: He's a legal citizen -

TRUMP: You know why I'm going to do well with the Spanish, because I'm going to bring back jobs. And they're going to get jobs right now. They're going to get jobs. I think I'm going to do very well with Hispanics. But we're building a wall. He's a Mexican. We're building a wall between here and Mexico.

TAPPER: If you are saying he can't do his job because of his race, is that not the definition of racism?

TRUMP: I don't think so at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: So, Eugene, one line in his speech last night, is it enough to erase about 14, 15 months' worth of these moments?

EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: I certainly don't think so with the voters. I will say that this is not insignificant. I remember writing the story where Donald Trump said he doesn't even seek forgiveness from God when he does things. So for him to move to the place of, I regret some words that cause pain, that may be the best you're going to get, at least for right now with this situation. But for the voters who are not aboard the Trump train, and not just black voters and Hispanic voters and women voters, but independents and even Republicans, they're going to want specifics. What are you exactly regretting?

[12:15:10] BANFIELD: Sorry about, yes. And not sorry, regretting.

SCOTT: Yes, what are you -

BANFIELD: There's a difference between sorry and regret, right?

SCOTT: Right. No, it's very clear. And they want to know, are you regretting saying that Black Lives Matter protesters should be thrown out? Are you regretting the statement about Mexicans and rapists? What is it specifically that you are going to do differently and people want to know and people are going to wait and push and see if he's going to go further with this.

BANFIELD: Well, we have some live coverage of him today. He's, like I said, touring Louisiana. We showed that a little earlier. We'll continue to tap in down there to see what comes next.

Errol Louis, Eugene Scott, David Chalian, thank you to all three of you.

SCOTT: Thanks, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Really appreciate it.

Coming up next, Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte now also apologizing for his behavior, but not backing down necessarily on the details of the story of a gun being pointed at him. So what on earth happened at this gas station in Rio? And what price will he and his fellow swimmers pay for it?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:19:54] BANFIELD: U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte is breaking his silence after Brazilian police accused him and three other U.S. swimmers of making up that story about being robbed at gunpoint at the games in Rio. Lochte sent out a statement now via Twitter. I'm going to read a little bit of it for you. "I want to apologize for my behavior last weekend, for not being more careful and candid in how I described the events of that early morning and for my role in taking away from the focus from the many athletes fulfilling their dreams of participating in the Olympics."

In the meantime, two of Lochte's teammates, Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz, are now back on U.S. soil after giving statements to the local authorities these about what happened that night. And Rio authorities are saying that Conger and Bentz told them that Lochte's account of that robbery was not true.

As for the fourth teammate, Jimmy Feigen, Reuters is reporting that he is going to pay $11,000 to a Brazilian charity to settle his part of the dispute. It is all a little strange, I agree.

So joining us now, hopefully with some clarity, is CNN's Martin Savidge, who live - is live right outside of Ryan Lochte's home in Charlotte. Also with us is CNN's Nick Paton Walsh, who's' been doing the reporting live for us in Rio.

Martin, first to you, outside of Lochte's home. The statement and that's it? We don't see hide nor hair of this fellow? Exactly what should we make of the timing of him finally putting out this printed statement at least?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the - obviously this is a clear example of damage control that is trying to be done either by himself or professionals who are probably advising him. He says that the reason he came out with a statement now is the fact that he wanted to make sure that this case back in Brazil has been handled, presumably that the other people involved had made their statements to authorities, and/or had left Brazil. And we know in the case of at least two other swimmers, that is what is happening. So that's the timing of this.

He also goes on to say, and here's his sort of explanation, "it's traumatic to be out late with your friends in a foreign country with a language barrier and have a stranger point a gun at you and demand money to let you leave. But regardless of the behavior of anyone else that night, I should have been much more responsible in how I handle myself and for that I am sorry to my teammates, my fans, my fellow competitors, my sponsors and the hosts of this great event."

So it actually goes on for some three paragraphs there and begins with that classic line, I apologize for what I did last weekend. So there you have it, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: It's weird. So much of it is weird. And I'm still curious about his colleague, Jimmy Feigen.

Nick, what - first of all, is Jimmy Feigen still in Brazil? And, second of all, why is he having to pay a whole bunch of money to charity of all things? Can you clear this up?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's not clear if Jimmy Feigen's still here. We know he's paid $11,000 to a charity here. There's a nice silver lining to this rather ugly, vulgar mess that actually the charity that's going to get it runs a judo school in one of the Favelas here, those sort of shanty towns where an Olympic hero got her training, Rafael DeSilva (ph) got the gold medal here. Very much idolized now in the Brazilian media. They'll be getting $11,000. It's part of a settlement ranged with a Brazilian judge here.

Is Jimmy Feigen still in Brazil? It suggests maybe. And from the statement from Mr. Lochte, he's not - we haven't got evidence. For that, most of the flights state-bound leave later on in the day and may also be they chose to release that statement exactly as it came when Paul Manafort announced he was leaving the Trump campaign, dominating the airways for that particular moment. But Mr. Lochte here, not looking good. Vilified in the U.S. media

certainly. Not at all popular here in Brazil. Armed robbery is a very serious thing here. And while it does appear that he chooses his words very carefully to suggest that, yes, he felt threatened by a firearm. He's also says he wasn't candid enough and careful enough in his original election of explaining the events. And, frankly, you know what candor means, Ashleigh. So do I. It's not facing the uncomfortable details you'd quite like to have to address.

This has been, frankly, awful for the U.S. Olympic Team, dominated the headlines here. At the end of the day, we're getting an apology for them. We're not getting them standing by their original story.

BANFIELD: Yes, I think you put it pretty aptly, an ugly, vulgar mess regardless of how much truth there is in what actually happened in their account. The overall narrative certainly wasn't at all what we had been led to believe at the beginning.

Thank you to the both of you. Nick Paton Walsh doing a great job down in Rio, and, Martin Savidge, thank you, as well, from outside of Ryan Lochte's house.

Coming up next, amid the comings and goings and distractions at his campaign headquarters, Donald Trump and his running mate are down touring Louisiana in the flood zone today, meeting with victims and getting in some digs at the president while doing so.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:29:11] BANFIELD: Looking presidential has not always come easy to the Republican nominee for president, but today Donald Trump is doing something that presidents usually do, he and his running mate are visiting the scene of a disaster. The devastating flooding in and around Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

CNN's Rosa Flores is in the town of Gonzalez, which is on the outskirts of the Louisiana capital.

So, as I understand it, you're at an emergency operations center. Trump is on route there. Give me a bit of a feel for what you're doing there and what he's going to see when he gets there.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Ashleigh, from what we understand, he's going to be briefed by first respond here. He's going to be meeting with the sheriff as well. And he might be able to, you know, meet and greet some of the people here in Southern Louisiana.

[12:30:00] Now, where we are at is the Church (INAUDIBLE). s

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