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Trump in Mexico to Meet President Nieto; Clinton Jabs Trump's Last Minute Trip. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired August 31, 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] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hillary Clinton also hit Trump though she barely mentioned his name while speaking to veterans in Cincinnati today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You don't build a coalition by insulting our friends or acting like a loose cannon. And it certainly takes more than trying to make up for a year of insults and insinuations by dropping in on our neighbors for a few hours and then flying home again. That is not how it works.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Our CNN senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny is there in Cincinnati where we just saw Hillary Clinton speaking. Tell me more about what she said and also I think let's point out the rolling list of tweets that the Clinton campaign of everything Trump has tweeted about Mexico since he's jumped out and wanted to run.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, that is a pretty long list, as we know. This has been a long and unruly presidential campaign and certainly it has been in many ways marked by twitter, by what Donald Trump has tweeted from morning to noon, often late at night. Clinton campaign is reminding folks of everything he has said about Mexico and the wall and immigrants and immigration in twitter. They're reprising these.

I was looking through them. You almost forget about some of these. One example from June 30, 2015, "I love the Mexican people but Mexico is not our friend. They're killing us at the border and they're killing us on jobs and trade. Fight!"

So we wonder if that is the type of tone of Donald Trump's conversation when he is in that meeting today. Perhaps we won't get a clear readout because that is a closed meeting. But here in Cincinnati it was more of a commander in chief test-like speech. This is a non-political crowd. Of course, Democrats and Republicans, independents making up the military veterans here in the American legion. Hillary Clinton using it as an opportunity to talk about diplomacy, to talk about the type of leader that will come out of this election.

Talking about the stakes of this election here. Not mentioning Donald Trump by name, only a couple times. But mainly talking about what she says he's been trading insults and other things, talking about the alliances in this country and the world, talking about American exceptionalism. Interestingly, tomorrow Donald Trump will address this exact same crowd.

The veterans I talked to today, many of them, frankly, were not pleased with either choice here. So Donald Trump surely will have a tough audience here, just like she did today. It was respectful but far from enthusiastic.

BALDWIN: We go back to Mexico. Jim Acosta is in the room in Mexico City. There are two podiums? Set the scene.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. I'm not used to doing it like but the Mexican officials are asking me to sit down for this live shot. That is what we will do. You see the two podiums behind me.

Interesting to note just the Mexican flag. No American flag. We are not traveling with the president of the United States. We're traveling with the man who wants to be president of the United States, Donald Trump, who is now meeting behind closed doors with Mexican President Pena Nieto. This is obviously a private meeting.

We are hoping for some kind of read-out from these two leaders and their staffs. After it is all over we do know from talking to Mexican officials and campaign officials that they will both be making some statements out here. The question is whether or not they will take questions. I talked to a campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, she said they are deferring to the Mexican officials on this and that is I think a sign of some diplomacy here.

We've seen signs of Donald Trump showing restraint in the past where we've expected him perhaps to take some questions and he didn't take questions or at the convention we expected him perhaps to speak every night of the convention, he didn't do that every night of the convention. So perhaps it won't be conventional wisdom here and that Donald Trump won't be able to help himself and take questions. Of course if he takes questions we'll be right here in the front row to do that.

[15:35:00] Obviously as Jeff was just mentioning, there is a lot of ground to cover between these two leaders. There has been a diplomatic war of words between Donald Trump and just about every leader in Mexico over the last year. Donald Trump referring to Mexican immigrants as rapists is one point. Pena Nieto referring to Donald Trump earlier this year, describing him as many similar to Hitler and Mussolini, although at a press conference earlier this summer with President Obama, Pena Nieto walked that back, saying he was just worried how the U.S. was going down a road of isolationism and destruction.

So there's obviously a lot to talk about between these two leader what we do know from campaign officials is that Donald Trump is going to emphasize his seriousness when it comes to building this wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. When we talked to campaign officials about this trip and his speech later on tonight, they are emphasizing that Donald Trump is determined to build not a virtual wall but an actual wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Obviously down here in Mexico, they have choice words for that proposal and for many of Donald Trump's other proposals. But that is where this begins. And that is why you are hearing people like Mike Pence, Donald Trump's running mate, saying this is the beginning of a conversation, this is the beginning perhaps of negotiations between these two leaders if Donald Trump is elected president.

One final thing on the flip side of this, we should point out. Enrique Pena Nieto's poll numbers are not so great in Mexico, you perhaps talked about this, and so there is something politically in this Pena Nieto. If he can show Donald Trump he's not going to tolerate some remarks he's made in the past, if he doesn't show the warmth he does with President Obama, that we can read into the body language that Pena Nieto perhaps extended this invitation in the hopes that Donald Trump would accept the invitation, so he could sort of show Donald Trump up down here in Mexico City. We aren't sure if any of that is going to happen but that is why all of this is going to be very fascinating to watch here in just a few moments.

BALDWIN: Amazing scene, Jim Acosta. Let's stay on that live picture, if we can. Gloria Borger, just looking at the picture and Jim Acosta teed it up perfectly. The appearance, the body language. The names thrown around the last couple of months. Thoughts? Ruminations?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: What's going to be fascinating to watch here is whether they're going to take any questions. Kellyanne Conway just threw the ball right into the Mexican president's court. And said, "it's up to them." And they do take questions, would Donald Trump criticize Mexico on Mexican soil? Would he do that as a potential president of the United States?

BALDWIN: Let's ask Steve. Steve, would he?

STEVE CORTES, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Well, first of all, none of us know. You know this -- Trump is nothing, if not unpredictable. Right? But my guess is he's going to be very statesman like. As ardent as I am a supporter of Donald Trump's, I will concede to you as a Hispanic and a supporter of his, I didn't like some of the language he used very early in this campaign.

But I think he has gone far past that now and he is very intentionally and deliberately reaching out to people of color, to Hispanics and African Americans in the United States. I think this trip to Mexico is part and parcel of that strategy. So from that perspective I think what we have is a serious and very presidential leader.

My guess is that's how he is going to act. It is on both sides. As the reporter mentioned, Donald Trump was compared by President Pena Nieto to Nazis and fascists. They need to dial down the rhetoric as well. Mexico and the United States, we have a very bright future together as neighbors and friends. Often part of being a very good neighbor is having a good fence. I think that makes sense in this case.

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN COMMENTATOR: I think we need to add some context to this conversation. Contrary to what Mike Pence says, this is not the beginning of a conversation at all. In fact, it began when Donald Trump came down the escalator and accused of the Mexican government of sending over their worst, their rapists and their criminals.

It went to his outreach on twitter with the taco bowl in Trump tower. It went to his criticism which Paul Ryan the Speaker of the House said was the definition of racism in his criticism of Judge Curiel. His deportation force which mimics that of President Dwight Eisenhower, operation wetback.

BORGER: It's a bigger play.

BALDWIN: That's what I wanted to ask you, why do you think this is a bigger play?

BORGER: Look. We know Donald Trump is behind Hillary Clinton by 42 points with Hispanics. Hugely behind with African Americans. He's in single digits with African Americans. This is a larger play and he is looking at the states, Florida, Colorado, Nevada, maybe even Arizona.

SELLERS: Maybe, Arizona.

[15:40:00] BORGER: Maybe, but let's say Florida, Colorado, Nevada. He is looking at those states. What he is trying to do is say to the college educated white voters in those states, the suburban women, suburban Republican women. Suburban Republican women, independent voters, saying, you know what? I am not the person maybe you saw coming down that escalator, that some of those people may decide, look, I'm on the line here and I don't want to vote for somebody whom I believe is intolerant.

So what he is doing is making a political play here which he is allowed to do in a presidential campaign but this is what he is doing. Make no mistake about it, to broaden that base. Does he anger then Ann Coulter? Does he anger the people who supported him because of that position on mass deportation? The words we have not heard him use lately, by the way.

Does he anger that base? Yes. Is that a risk? Yes. Think they understand because they're smart people. And Kellyanne Conway is a pollster who has studied immigration very closely. And she knows what he's got to do if he's going to have a chance in some of these key swing states. And that is to reach out.

CORTES: It is unfair to accuse him of duplicity in this endeavor because it doesn't have to be either-or. It doesn't have to be binary. Either he tries to persuade minorities or suburban soccer moms, it can be both. And by the way what I think he is doing and this is wonderful, it is a shame that the party of Lincoln has for decades, not just Donald Trump, for decades earned almost no support from the African American community.

We need to reverse that. Donald Trump I think is taking brave steps toward that aim of telling Hispano-Americans and African Americans that we have answers to many of the problems that face your communities. Because people of color are not participating in this economic recovery right now. Hispanics, for example, have one tenth the household wealth that white Americans do. So the policies --

BALDWIN: You understand, Steve, that the criticism is of those of course not those who support Trump but those who are looking at him saying, hang on a second, you may be going to a black church on Saturday in Detroit and speaking to this Reverend or you may be going to Mexico and trying to improve relations with Hispanics. But really it's to send the subliminal message to those white college educated suburban moms.

CORTES: I understand that. I understand that. But I'm saying why can't it be both? It doesn't have to be binary. I think he is absolutely appealing out of his heart to Hispanics and to African Americans and he happens to win over some hearts and minds from white soccer moms, all the better. If we can do good and do well, why not? That's great politics then.

SELLERS: One of the things you have to point out is Donald Trump has a negative 67 percent approval rating with Spanish-speaking Hispanic voters. Hillary Clinton has a plus 57 percent approval rating. He is down a full 124 points with Spanish-speaking voters in this country.

So when you think about it, that just echoes the fact of what Gloria was saying. This is not the target audience. To do things like this, then to come around, you have to come back to the speech tonight. If he is still talking about breaking up families, ending birth rights citizenship, deporting --

BALDWIN: That is the question of clarification.

SELLERS: You can't simply say that, oh, my god, I said I love the Hispanics, I love blacks, and then in your policy prescriptions don't add up to you loving either one of those groups, they're not going to fall for that.

BORGER: I think the question tonight really is, what is he going to do with the 11 million or so undocumented immigrants living in this country who are not criminals in any way, shape or form. Does he still want to deport them and when? And how different is that from the position he was taking very clearly at the beginning of this, and accused his colleagues, his rivals, of being for amnesty if they wanted to do it in a multi-step process?

BALDWIN: My eyes are on those two podiums and so Brian Stelter, I understand you have some scoop on this meeting between Trump and the President.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Just an update from my campaign aide who is with Trump in Mexico City saying the meeting is still going on. The reason that's interesting is because this was going to wrap up by now. We thought by 3:45 eastern time we would see these two men come to the podiums.

They could still walk up at any minute but I am curious about what they're talking about in the room and why it is going on a little longer than originally anticipated. Trump touched down more than an hour ago, flew right away to the presidential palace. We don't know exactly how many people are in the room for this conversation. It will be really interesting to see if we hear two different versions of events from the two sides. For now, as of a couple minutes ago, the meeting is still going on.

[15:45:00] BALDWIN: Andrew Selee, let me ask you as this meeting is going on and he is meeting with the president of Mexico, tell me more about Enrique Pena Nieto and just even his personality and how he would get on with someone like Donald Trump in a closed-door meeting, you think.

ANDREW SELEE, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, WOODROW WILSON INTERNATIONAL CENTER: They might actually get along quite well. I have a feeling that they are both people who are good show people. They are good at the message in their own way. Pena Nieto has hit some rough patches but at least as a campaigner, he did very well on messaging.

Some would say he is a better messenger than a substance guy. Could see them actually getting along well. Although I think a lot of people in Mexico are concerned that Trump may outshine Pena Nieto. I think it is actually extraordinary that here we are in the middle of the general election campaign, less than three months out from the national election in the United States, and we actually have one of the major candidates in Mexico City.

This tells us I think that Mexico is increasingly a domestic issue in the United States. We increasingly are seeing issues that have to do with our neighbors, questions of trade, questions of immigration, questions of how we work together on issues, becoming part of the American campaign. Think we will see the same thing in a couple of years when Mexico has their election.

I think we will see United States is part of Mexico's domestic politics as well. We've become incredibly close and intertwined. That means increasingly as we get into elections we've got to deal with each other in ways no one would have

thought of a few years ago.

BALDWIN: Andrew, thank you. Everyone, please stand by. Quick break. Donald Trump meeting with president of Mexico right now. We're live in Mexico City as they are speaking.

Also ahead, the former director of Hispanic outreach for the RNC joins us live with her take on this visit and this speech tonight on immigration in Arizona.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:51:08] BALDWIN: OK, as we are waiting, Mexico City, two podiums, Donald Trump and the Mexican president they will both step out and they will speak there from behind the podiums any minute now. Mexico City, two podiums. Will they take questions?

That's a good question. We don't know.

Let me bring in Bettina Inclan, political strategist and former director for Hispanic outreach at the Republican National Committee. Bettina, welcome, nice to have you on. Before we talk about this election, and I should tell everyone you don't really love either candidate. Are you watching all of this coverage here? Trump in Mexico? Especially given everything he said about Mexicans and undocumented immigrants?

BETTINA INCLAN, POLITICAL STRATEGIST: I, like many people, are watching this closely. I've made my concerns about Trump pretty clear. While I am lifelong Republican I am undecided what I want to do with Trump.

Trump has made me uncomfortable, and it's not reflective of what I believe is the principles of the Republican Party. That being said, I am not voting for Hillary Clinton, I don't trust her, I don't trust her judgment. But I think focusing on the issue at hand, I think this is a great opportunity for Donald Trump to tamp down some of the issues people have with his temperament to show that he can be presidential.

And has a great opportunity to show all of that in his meeting with President Pena Nieto.

So I'm looking forward to see what is happening next. And what happens tonight as he tries to explain his immigration positions.

BALDWIN: As someone who has worked so closely with the party, I'm curious what the biggest reason is for you to not quite be there yet with Donald Trump, what is the biggest reason you don't like him as the next commander and chief.

INCLAN: I think the tone and his rhetoric has made me uncomfortable. And while neither option is great, I think -- I wrote a piece for Refinery 29, and a lot of it is hoping that his campaign realizes that words matter. That what he says matters and as a woman and as a mom, as a daughter of Mexican immigrant and a Cuban political refugee, some of the words he has said make me uncomfortable. I need him to do a few things moving forward. Not reflective of the Republican Party.

I need him to do a few things. One is stop insulting people he needs to win over. Focus on positive policies that are focused on exactly telling us how he will make America great again. We have seen some of that, I hope to see more of that moving forward.

Two, I think this needs to be more referendum on Hillary Clinton. Right now everyone is talking about Trump and not enough about Hillary's many, many --

BALDWIN: Talking plenty about both, we spent much of last week talking about the criticisms of the Clinton Foundation and the e-mail issue that has been going on for months and months and months, I promise you both sides are covered.

Bettina, I have to go so we can get back to Mexico. I appreciate your voice and your candor, and the fact that you admitted you're uncomfortable. I think a lot of people feel the same way from both sides of the party.

Again, a quick break, back to Mexico in a moment. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:57:06] BALDWIN: It is the corner stone of Donald Trump's campaign. Build a wall on the southern border and force Mexico to foot the bill. That is perhaps part of the conversation he is still having with Mexican President at the presidential palace. How he hopes to accomplish that has many Mexican nationals and their families worried.

He says if the Mexican government will not fund the wall, he will halt the wiring of funds between the countries which could stop billions of dollars a year. Rosa Flores has really looked into this for us, she's joining us. You followed the money what did you find?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We wanted to go beyond the headlines really chase the human impact of the money transfers. Who it affects? And what are those affects?

We interviewed an undocumented immigrant here in Chicago. He sends money to parents in Mexico. When we arrived in Mexico, we realized that not only do his parents rely on the money transfers for basic things like food, electricity, water, but the entire town relied on these money transfers. That is why we hear the $25 billion is transferred to Mexico last year.

Once we started digging even deeper, we found out that this entire town also relies on the monies from some undocumented, some documented immigrants in the United States for things like roads, parks, community colleges, and the Mexican government gives these towns incentives, they call it three for one, $1 gets you $3 for public projects in Mexico.

So it really gave us an idea of what people use this money for, and what is the impact in the towns. And to tell you the truth, once you realize there are many towns like the one we profiled in Mexico, it gives you a sense of the impact.

BALDWIN: Rosa, thank you. I think that is something we have not been talking enough about. And on the note about the wall, we know that is going to be one central piece of Trump's speech tonight in Phoenix. You will be hearing that and the practicality of that and who pays for that. So in my remaining two minutes, I still have Gloria, Bakari and Steve.

Steve quickly, how do you think Mr. Trump would say to the Mexican President, I'm building a wall, and you're paying for it.

CORTES: Listen, it is a difficult sell, but I think we have to realize that America negotiates from a position of strength not weakness. Iran and nukes, China and trade, Mexico and immigration, and we have been getting abused by a lot of the world.

And immigration, I point out that we are not going to have to go all the way to garnishing those remittances back to Mexico but it is important to note that Illegal aliens who are here, they are breaking the law. And by the way Hispanics who did it illegally, people like my father, it is offensive to them to say that people should be able to cheat the system. And hop in line in front of them and also have to compete in the labor market against them because illegals almost always work for lower wages because of their status.

So there is the issue of fairness here that is very important, fairness to Americans and Hispanic Americans that did it legally and the right way.

BALDWIN: To be fair, in my remaining minute, Bakari Sellers, I defer to you, I know we have not had time to go through all of Hillary Clinton's stance on

immigration. I'm sure we'll make the time tomorrow, what do you have in the last 40 seconds.

BAKARI SELLERS: I think that one of the things that we have to take note of, is this is the clearest difference between the two candidates. Trump

wants to deport 11 million people. Many of which are hardworking and are not criminals and contribute so much to the country who have come here to pursue the American dream. The corner stone of Hillary Clinton's immigration policy is making sure they have a path to citizenship.

There could not be a clearer difference. We don't really know what Donald Trump's plans are in a lot of areas. Donald Trump has only eight or nine policy proposals on his website, it's hard to know what he wants to do. This immigration debate, you can choose one side or the other.

BALDWIN: We have more going on CNN. We're here all night. I appreciate all of you for being here. All of you of course as well.