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Clinton Blasts Trump's Ties to Breitbart Chief; Italy Earthquake: Strong Aftershocks Rattling Region. Aired 9-9:30a ET
Aired August 26, 2016 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:00] CAMEROTA: Also I'm going to be talking to the star and director of "South Side With You" on Facebook Live so you can go to Facebook.com/CNN to watch that. And now it's time for "NEWSROOM" with Erica Hill in for Carol Costello.
CUOMO: Facebook Live.
CAMEROTA: Yes. Tune in.
CUOMO: Where is my phone?
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, guys. Have a good day, a great weekend.
NEWSROOM starts now.
CUOMO: Where is my phone?
CAMEROTA: I stole it.
HILL: Good morning, I'm Erica Hill. In for Carol Costello this morning. Thanks so much for being with us.
It may be their most bitter fight yet. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton deliver dueling speeches. Each charging that the other is stoking the fires of racial tension. Earlier this morning, Clinton responding directly to Trump attacking her as a bigot. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What I want to make clear is this. A man with a long history of racial discrimination who traffics in dark conspiracy theories, drawn from the pages of supermarket tabloids and these kind of white supremacist, white nationalist anti-Semitic groups, should never run our government or command our military. If he doesn't respect all Americans, how can he serve all Americans?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Trump meantime standing by his latest attack on Clinton, telling Anderson Cooper in an exclusive interview that Clinton's policies make her a bigot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She is totally bigoted. There's no question.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: But it does imply that she doesn't -- she has antipathy, she has hatred toward, in this case I guess you're talking about African-Americans. But I don't know --
TRUMP: I think she has been extremely, extremely bad for African- Americans. I think she's been extremely bad for Hispanics. You look at what's happened with her policies and the policies of President Obama and others. Look at the poverty, look at the rise in poverty. Look at the rise in violence.
COOPER: But hatred is at the core of that or dislike of African- American people?
TRUMP: Or maybe she is lazy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Jason Carroll is following the story for us from Manchester, New Hampshire, and joins us this morning.
Jason, good morning.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you. You know, a lot of name-calling going back and forth. A lot of accusations going back and forth. What's very clear is that Trump is clear where he stands on the issue of race. His critics say what is not clear is where he stands on the issue of illegal immigration, although he tried to make sense of it all when he spoke to CNN's Anderson Cooper last night.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: There is no path to legalization.
COOPER: You're talking about paying taxes on Hannity.
TRUMP: Unless people leave the country -- well, when they come back in, if they come back in, then they can start paying taxes.
CARROLL (voice-over): Donald Trump struggling to clarify his immigration stance, now telling CNN's Anderson Cooper he is ruling out a pathway to legal status for undocumented immigrants in the United States.
TRUMP: There is no path to legalization unless they leave the country and come back.
CARROLL: This after indicating earlier this week that he was open to the idea.
TRUMP: They'll pay back taxes. They have to pay taxes. There is no amnesty as such. There is no amnesty.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS: Right.
TRUMP: But we work with them.
CARROLL: Trump, sending mixed messages.
TRUMP: There certainly can be a softening because we're not looking to hurt people. Well, I don't think it's a softening. I think it's --
COOPER: But 11 million people are no longer going to be deported.
TRUMP: I've had people say it's a hardening, actually.
COOPER: But 11 million who have not committed a crime --
TRUMP: No. We're then going --
COOPER: There's going to be a path to legalization, is that right?
TRUMP: You know it's a process, you can't take 11 million at one time and just say boom, you're gone.
CARROLL: Some Trump supporters insisting their candidate cannot flip- flop on his central campaign issue. Sarah Palin warning in the "Wall Street Journal" there would be massive disappointment if Trump were to go down a path of wishy-washy positions. His reversal also provoking criticism from former rivals.
JEB BUSH (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: All the things that Donald Trump railed against he seems to be morphing into. It's kind of disturbing.
CLINTON: Thank you.
CARROLL: This as Hillary Clinton launches a blistering takedown of Trump.
CLINTON: Donald Trump has built his campaign on prejudice and paranoia. He is taking hate groups mainstream and helping a radical fringe take over the Republican Party.
CARROLL: Clinton accusing the Trump campaign of merging with the alt- right, a movement linked to white nationalists.
CLINTON: A man with a long history of racial discrimination, who traffics in dark conspiracy theories drawn from the pages of supermarket tabloids and the far dark reaches of the Internet, should never run our government or command our military.
CARROLL: Trump defending his campaign, accusing Democrats of what he calls their oldest play in their playbook.
TRUMP: When Democratic policies fail, they are left with only this one tired argument -- you're racist. You're racist. You're racist. [09:05:05] CARROLL: Trump also disavowing support from hate groups.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you want white supremacists to vote for you?
TRUMP: No, I don't, at all.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: And Erica, Donald Trump says the vast majority of his supporters are not racist. He says his campaign is about commonsense and love of country. And as for his stance on immigration, the campaign says he has been consistent in one area. They say he has always said no amnesty, no path to citizenship.
We're going to get more specifics about his policies on immigration when he delivers that policy speech next week in Phoenix -- Erica.
HILL: Jason Carroll this morning in Manchester. Jason, thanks.
To talk more now about Donald Trump's stance on immigration and its impact on the campaign, I'm joined by CNN political commentator and Trump supporter, Scottie Nell Hughes, and CNN political contributor and Clinton supporter, former Philadelphia mayor, Michael Nutter.
Good to have both of you with us. As we know from day one --
MICHAEL NUTTER, CLINTON SUPPORTER: Good morning.
HILL: Immigration has been central to Donald Trump's campaign. He has talked about it consistently and he was consistent in his message for a very long time. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We have a law. Right. You're supposed to come in legally. I would get people out and I would have an expedited way of getting them back into the country so they can be legal. They are illegal immigrants. They got to go out.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: But how do you do it in a practical way? You really think you can get rid of 11 million people?
TRUMP: You know what, at some point, we're going to try getting them back, the good ones. You're going to have a deportation force and you're going to do it humanely.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Are you going to be sending in officers?
TRUMP: We are a going to be sending people in a very nice way.
BURNETT: Force some people -- into people's home to get them out?
TRUMP: We're going to give notice. We're going to be saying you have to go. We have at least 11 million people in this country that came in illegally. They will go out. They will come back -- some will come back. The best. Through a process. They have to come back legally.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: That message, though, of course, shifted a bit as we saw when he spoke with Sean Hannity. Let's take a listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And there certainly can be a softening because we're not looking to hurt people. We want people. We have some great people in this country. We have some great, great people in this country. So -- but we're going to follow the laws of this country. You know what people don't realize, what people don't realize we have very, very strong laws.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: So Donald Trump there in his own words, saying it is a softening, but then last night, telling Anderson Cooper, well, actually maybe I'm hardening my stance a little bit. The big question this morning for a lot of people, Scottie Nell Hughes, is what is Donald Trump's immigration policy this Friday morning, August 26th? Do we know?
SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Oh, we do. And I think it's been consistent all along. You know, just because you use the word softening, that doesn't mean it's hanging. In fact it's considered to be working. I think this actually shows the conversations that are happening between Republican House and Senate leadership about what actually can be done.
We're dealing with a Congress not only has not been able to get much done. It's been kind of a stalemate standoff between the White House and this Congress. I think a President Trump would say, OK, what am I actually going to be able to get done and work with you on? And it's been consistent. It's going to build a wall, a wall that Hillary Clinton voted for actually when she was a senator, and she points out in her campaign when she ran against Barack Obama. That both of them voted that there needed to be a wall, and they both voted for that when they were in Congress. And that there's going to be a wall and that we are going to humanely sit there and incentivize people to leave this country but give them a chance to come back into this country because we do believe and value those that want to be American citizens, what they bring to our country. And I think it's a very simple -- he hasn't changed since last year.
HILL: So you're saying there's been no shift? Because I think listening to that sound bite, we hear a distinct shift in what he was saying up until this point on Wednesday night. I mean, he used the word get them out, talking about rounding them all out and getting them out of the country. And now he is shifting. He is softening, even though he went back on his own word of softening, and saying well, maybe we'll do it in a different way.
So you're saying that change, Scottie, comes with the fact that he sat down with leadership and they have explained to him that you can't just round up 11 million people at once?
HUGHES: Well, From what I can tell, I think that's where this is coming from. And we have already have a deportation force. We have ICE. And that was created. I think Mr. Trump now realizes that the force is already there, and if we sit there and cut you're their incentives to stay here in America. I mean, you have to look at it. Right now illegal immigrants are costing $213 billion to taxpayers right now. They're not paying back into that system. That's on the backs of the middle class.
Mr. Trump is saying we can't afford that as middle class any more to do that. $213 billion we need for urban development, we need in our schools, we need in our military right now so let's find a way to actually sit there and to encourage them to go home, but come back and come back as American citizens. We want them here. That's why this country has always been successful because we have had an idea of welcoming those that want to be Americans. And that's all this is about.
HILL: Michael, we saw Hillary Clinton very quickly jumped on the comments that Donald Trump made about her being a bigot and ran with those yesterday.
[09:10:01] I'm wondering, though, Michael, if there wasn't a missed opportunity here to talk more about immigration policy and to talk about the change in words, as we heard from someone else said, and what Donald Trump was saying, that it was different. Did the Clinton campaign miss an opportunity?
NUTTER: No, she didn't. And Secretary Clinton has consistently been strong on the issue of immigration. She continues to talk about it. But actually has some plans make some sense. But, you know, in the course of a campaign, 74 or so days ago, somebody calls you a bigot, you actually do have to respond to it. It really is more Donald Trump actually talking about himself, when you actually look up the definition, Merriam Webster is a pretty good source on that. He's actually just talking about himself. And his lack of tolerance for other people and other people's views, especially around race and religion.
And so it is his own words that continue to trip him up. It's difficult. And Scottie is really good, and I always appreciate her. But it is really difficult for Trump supporters to ever truly explain what in the world Donald Trump is talking about because it changes so much in a relatively short period of time. And so it's really hard for folks to keep up with what he is talking about. And the reality is, he doesn't know what he is talking about and he is making it up as he goes along.
Yes, I'm softening. No, actually I may be hardening. I mean, you know, it's kind of hard to do both of those in a 12-hour period of time. So he has no idea what immigration is really all about. It's not like folks filing out of a movie theater and then we're going to let them back in for the next show. It's 11 million people, who have various complications in their lives, which really begs the points, what is the point in the first place. The folks are here. They haven't done anything. Their children are
here. They are American citizens, in fact. And so what is the point of, you know, kind of sending them out, and then we're going to bring them back in and we're going to do our best or whatever. He has no idea what governance is really all about. And it's demonstrated sadly on the national stage each and every day.
HILL: Scottie and Michael, I want you both to stick around because we have much more to discuss. But we do need to take a quick break. Just stay with us.
And still to come, Hillary Clinton's clear message for Republicans and independents alike, you don't have to vote for Trump. Will her attempts, though, to tie her GOP rival to the alt-right move voters over to her side or push them away? We'll tackle that and a few other things, on the other side of this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:16:33] HILL: Always a hot button issue. The issue of race in America is really exploding now in the 2016 campaign. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump escalate their attacks on one another. Trump doubling down on his claim that Clinton is a bigot, while Clinton says Trump's campaign is written in prejudice and paranoia, and linked to the alt-right, a predominantly online group that focuses racist, homophobic and sexist content.
This morning, Clinton spoke out again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE (via telephone): I am reaching out to everyone, Republicans, Democrats, independents, everyone who is as troubled by I am by the bigotry and divisiveness of Donald Trump's campaign. And I've said repeatedly, this is not a normal choice between a Republican and a Democrat. We're not just discussing our different views on tax policy or anything else of importance. We are facing a divisive candidate, whose loose cannon temperament and his complete lack of preparation make him unqualified to be president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: CNN's Chris Frates joins me now from Washington with more.
Chris, good morning.
CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Erica.
Yesterday might have been the nastiest day of this campaign so far, and really could be a preview to what could come in a brutal fall. Now, Both Trump and Clinton calling each other bigots, with Clinton accusing Trump of building his campaign on prejudice and paranoia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CLINTON: These are racist ideas, race-baiting ideas, anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, anti-women -- all key tenets making up the emerging racist ideology known as the alt-right. So, the de facto merger between Breitbart and the Trump campaign represents a landmark achievement for this group. A fringe element that has effectively taken over the Republican party.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRATES: Clinton referring there to the conservative news site Breitbart which was recently headed by Steve Bannon, who just became the Trump campaign CEO.
Now, look, part of Clinton was trying to attack Trump, trying to change the subject. She continues to come under fire for her e-mails and for meeting with her families foundations donors while she was secretary of state. Now, Trump has accused her of pay to play by meeting with those donors, but no evidence to support that claim.
But, Erica, it is really a preview of just how ugly this election could get in the fall.
HILL: I think that's exactly what we're seeing. Chris Frates, thank you.
Joining me now to discuss further, Scottie Nell Hughes, Trump supporter, and Michael Nutter, Clinton supporter and former Philadelphia mayor.
So, before we begin, I do want to play some sound from the last 24 hours in this race for the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: How is she bigoted? Bigoted as having hatred toward a specific group.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Well, because she is selling them down the tubes. She is not doing anything for those communities.
CLINTON: From the start, Donald Trump has built his campaign on prejudice and paranoia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: There is no denying the rhetoric on both sides in this race. And it is actually taken over. I mean, this is a year where there is so much to discuss in terms of issues, and yet both campaigns seem to be focused on hurling insults at one each other.
Question to both of you. I'm going to go ladies first on this one. How did we get to this point?
[09:20:00] SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: No, I agree with you. I think that's very sad. We got to this point because we realize we do have a problem in this country, that we have not been able to heal a lot of the wounds and a lot of the black eyes both within the Hispanic community, African-American community, and as Americans as a whole. We're trying to find a solution.
I don't think it is working, because unfortunately, as I listen to Hillary Clinton's speech yesterday, we've come to decide that I have the right to cause hatred upon you, to sit there and call you names because I feel that's justified because of what has come across to me.
And Hillary Clinton, yesterday, did not only just talk about Donald Trump, she talked about an entire group of people, 14 million voters to be specific, that has grown since Donald Trump secured the nomination. She insulted every single one of us, calling us all sorts of names.
While Mr. Trump's speeches are positive and he is trying to reach out to the African-American community, trying to reach out to Hispanics and trying to bring them in, and include them and a representative of all Americans, while she is trying to demonize a large group of Americans.
HILL: Scottie, if you look back at the convention, Republican convention, it was far from a positive experience. I sat there every single day. I was there in Cleveland.
It was not all roses and flowers, and it was not about love, as Donald Trump has taken to saying in the last 24 hours. It was about fear, and the terrible state of this country.
I just want to go back to the question. It is more about, this is rhetoric coming from both sides. This is not just one candidate hurling insults at the other.
Michael, I put this again to you. Where are the issues in the campaign? It has become, you should vote for me because I'm not the other person, who is really, really, really, terrible. It's not about, you should vote for me because I've got the best plan on either side.
MICHAEL NUTTER, HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: Well, it certainly started out that way for secretary Clinton. She is, I mean, you can say a lot of things about her, but she is a policy wonk and has more know, just about anybody else out there. That's the kind of campaign she ran during the course of the primary and certainly into now the general election.
On the other hand, what she was pointing out yesterday is from the start, Donald Trump was for banning Muslims from the United States, insulted Mexicans, insulted the disabled community, insulted women, insulted African-Americans, these are the pillars, the fundamental tenets, the foundation of the entire campaign and dispatch with 16 other candidate, many of whom have had long public service careers and have done some stuff.
So, again, in this business, if someone takes these kind of sledgehammer swipes at you, you're not going to stand by idly and just take a beating. HILL: But do you make it your focus?
NUTTER: Donald Trump, debate and discussion, Hillary Clinton will meet him any time, any place, any where that he wants to have serious policy discussion. She is not going to allow herself to be punched and not respond.
HILL: Which we get, right. I think anybody who has insulted you automatically wants to respond. But do you make that --
NUTTER: It is beyond, insult.
HILL: Do you move on and take the high road?
NUTTER: I don't mean to cut across you. I apologize.
It is not just that there are insults. This is a national campaign that of course has international ramifications. So, the ideas that in the statements, the few words at a time that come out of Donald Trump's mouth are also issues about the philosophy and the view and the vision of the current America and we're trying to go in the future.
And apart of being a candidate, local, state, federal, and certainly for president of the United States of America, you are really speaking to the world. The rest of the world is trying to figure out what is going on in the United States, and they are fearful of a Donald Trump presidency, and so you know, Erica, as well as I do, that when a candidate like Hillary Clinton speaks, she is not only talking to you all directly, she is talking to other Americans, but also sending messages around the world about who we are and who we are not, which is not the party of Donald Trump, and the hate and viciousness that comes out of the campaign.
HILL: The bad news I have for you is that we're out of time. The good news I have for you is that we're not out of time when it comes to the election. So we have got 70-some odd more days to continue talking about this.
Michael Nutter, Scottie Nell Hughes, appreciate both being with us this morning. Thank you.
NUTTER: Thanks, Erica.
HILL: Still to come, strong aftershocks rocking central Italy, as rescuers continue to scramble for survivors. We have the latest on the recovery efforts, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:28:52] HILL: Hundreds of aftershocks are rattling central Italy, days after an earthquake. The death toll now at 267. It's unclear just how many people may still be trapped under mound of concrete and brick. The rescue mission is in its third day, just barely still within the crucial 72-hour window, when possibility of survival is at its highest. There have been a few dramatic rescues, including a girl we saws
pulled from safety after being trapped for 17 hours. We can tell you today, she is out of surgery and doing well. Italian media reporting her 10-year-old sister found next to her did not survive.
CNN's Frederik Pleitgen has been covering this story from the quake and joins us again today.
Fred, Good morning -- rather good afternoon, where you are.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Erica. You're absolutely right.
The rescue crews are very well aware of the fact that they're coming towards the end of the 72 hour period where they believe the chances of finding any survivors are at their highest. So, therefore, they're ramping up their efforts.
I want to show you around Amatrice a little bit, this is, of course, the hardest hit town by the earthquake, and you can see some of the destruction here. But also see how big the rescue effort actually is. In front of there, you can see a team of rescue dogs, taking a break right now, but they've been in that rubble all morning.
