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Donald Trump Heading South of the Border Today. Donald Trump Anticipated Immigration Speech Tonight. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired August 31, 2016 - 07:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[07:00:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump heading south of the border today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to get rid of the criminals. You have to secure the border.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump lost the Latino vote on June 16th, 2015. It doesn't matter what he says.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump is not a popular person in Mexico.

TIM KAINE, (D) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump poses a unique threat to American democracy.

MIKE PENCE, (R) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Every day there's something new.

TRUMP: She bleached his chemical so that nobody will ever be able to see him. Who does this?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is "New Day" with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning everyone. Welcome to "New Day."

Up first, Donald Trump takes a surprising trip ahead of his highly anticipated immigration speech tonight. The Republican nominee is heading to Mexico to meet privately with the president there.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, so what's the plus/minus on this trip? Well, Trump gets to look presidential. He gets respect from the Mexican president. He doubts that against the potential ugly political incident given what Trump has said about Mexicans and the wall.

And it also puts even more attention on how he's going to explain softening his immigration stance in his big speech tonight. Let's begin the coverage with CNN's Jason Carroll.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you Chris.

Donald Trump is expected to draw a sharp difference between his position on illegal immigration and Hillary Clinton's, which he says is essentially amnesty.

Trump's hard line supporters are waiting to see if he'll keep his promise of deporting all the undocumented people living in the U.S., but first there will be that meeting with Mexico's president.

Trump traveling with Rudy Giuliani, Senator Jeff Sessions, and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

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TRUMP: We are also going to secure our border and stop the drugs from pouring in.

CARROLL: Donald Trump surprising the political world by announcing that he is heading south of the border today to meet with Mexico's president just hours before his highly anticipated immigration speech, the visit coming after more than a year of criticizing Mexico on the campaign trail.

TRUMP: When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.

CARROLL: Trump tweeting, "I've accepted the invitation of President Enrique Pena Nieto of Mexico and look very much forward to meeting him."

A surprising invitation given Pena Nieto's previous comments about Trump, rejecting the Republican nominee's promise he'll make the Mexican government pay for a 1,000-mile border wall.

TRUMP: I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will have Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Under no circumstances would Mexico pay for that wall?

ENRIQUE PENA NIETO, PRESIDENT OF MEXICO: There is no way that Mexico can pay a wall like that.

CARROLL: The Mexican president likening the billionaire's rhetoric to Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

PENA NIETO (through translation): Whoever speaks badly of Mexican doesn't know Mexicans.

CARROLL: The Mexican president saying he extended the invitation to both presidential candidates tweeting, "The reason behind Trump's visit is to promote the interest of Mexicans worldwide and mainly to protect Mexicans wherever they might be."

PENA NIETO: (Speaking Foreign Language)

CARROLL: During a North American Summit with President Obama in July, Pena Nieto proposed a frank, open dialogue with whomever is elected.

TRUMP: Tomorrow night in Arizona, big speech on immigration.

CARROLL: Trump is set to unveil his long-awaited immigration plan, but details remain vague. The big question is whether Trump will soften his hard line position to use force deportation to remove an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants.

TRUMP: 11 million people in this country that came in illegally. They will go out.

DONALD TRUMP JR., TRUMP ORGANIZATION EVP: We have to have baby steps first.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Well, Trump has not used the term baby steps in relation to his approach to his immigration policy. Later, we will see what steps he would take. The Clinton camp weighing in on Trump's meeting with the Mexico's -- with Mexico's president.

The campaign released a statement saying, "What ultimately matters is what Donald Trump says to voters in Arizona, not Mexico, and whether he remains committed to the splitting up of families and deportation of millions." Chris?

CUOMO: All right, Jason. Thank you very much.

Let's discuss with CNN Political Commentator and former Donald Trump campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, CNN Political Commentator and Clinton supporter, Bakari Sellers. It's good to have you both here.

One wrinkle in our understanding from "The Washington Post" reporting that Pena Nieto, the president of Mexico invited both candidates. Trump must have jumped on the invitation faster. He's getting in there, certainly playing to advantage.

Now, this could be a huge moment in terms of redefining this election. But there are also huge stakes. Let's remind what the context is for this meeting. Here is a mash-up of the things that Trump has said that will come into play in this meeting today.

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[07:05:03] TRUMP: They're sending people that have lots of problems and they are bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.

I'm not just saying Mexicans. I'm talking about people that are from all over that are killers and rapists. Somebody's doing the raping, Don. I mean, you know, like it's -- I mean somebody is doing it. Just take as women being raped. Well, who's doing the raping?

Our politicians are stupid and the Mexican government is much smarter, much sharper, much more cunning, and they send the bad ones over because they don't want to pay for them. They don't want to take care of them.

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CUOMO: OK. So that's going to set a little bit of stakes of what happens in there. But, Corey, from the Trump perspective, the obvious upside is he looks presidential. He's going to meet with the president. He's getting the respect for the invitation. How do you see the upside for him in this?

COREY LEWANDOWSKI, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, I think it's about leadership. It's exactly what that is. It's meeting with the head of another foreign country. It's showing that it's a close business partner.

Obviously he's talked about renegotiating NAFTA and the bad trade deals that America has had. And what he's said on so many occasions is that the Mexican leaders are smarter than us. They re-negotiate, out negotiate the American people.

So what he wants to do is go down and say, "If I'm the president of the United States, we're going to have an understanding, we're going to work fairly together, but we're going to work well together."

CUOMO: What's the chance that he goes down there and is political, you know, that he is changes a little bit? You know, he either comes out giving Pena Nieto the opportunity top say, "Mr. Trump told me that he doesn't think that we're sending only our worst there or that paying for the wall is going to be something that we're going to see as a function of our trade agreement, not some penalty on Mexico." Do you think there's anything like that?

LEWANDOWSKI: Sure, I think that could happen. Look, we've seen other governors from our country get out and meet with the governor of Mexico. Governor Christie was down in 2014 met with him and said, you know, he had a great relationship with the governor -- with the president of Mexico.

Look, it's very, very possible that, you know, Mr. Trump goes down and meets with the president, and says, "Hey, look, we had more things in common than we have apart. Let's find a way that in 69 days from here today when I'm elected president of United States we can work together."

CUOMO: What does it mean to you, Bakari, and the Clinton campaign, if this meeting happens and after it Trump changes somewhat in his position of Mexico having to pay for the wall or, you know, his feelings about who's coming over for Mexico? Because on the one hand that would be a positive step in terms of why you don't like the rhetoric, but how would you see the change?

BAKARI SELLER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think that's what the expectation is. I think what Donald Trump has made a mess of his foreign policy and made a mess of his immigration policy over the pass few weeks and few months.

And so the expectation is that he's going to go down here because he's going to have to stand up man to man with the president of the Mexico and say, "We're going to build a wall and you're going to pay for it. You're sending rapist over, you're sending murderers over, you're sending the worst of the worst over."

Two sentiments that he's espoused throughout the campaign trail, neither of which prove to be fiscally responsible or prudent or just smart for lack of a better term. So it's going to be very interesting how he interacts with the president of the Mexico on the stage, because everybody is going to be watching his words. And then he's going to come back tonight and give his immigration speech in Arizona.

And the question that we have is now I think he's moved his foreign policy or his immigration policy to baby steps. The question is what does that mean? And it's going to get jumbled and he's going to be even more jumbled when he leaves Mexico.

CUOMO: So, this has been a little point of controversy. Donald Jr., you know, to be clear, I'm not a big fan of scrutinizing the family of candidates, but he's an adult and they've certainly he's take on a surrogacy role. He spoke to Anderson Cooper last night and he did redefine his father's position. Here's how.

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TRUMP JR.: He wasn't softening on anything. He didn't change his stance on anything. What he did was, and what he's done all along is, he's speaking with the people. He's not lecturing them like most of the politicians you see today.

He's actually having a conversation. He basically serves as a room and asks, "Hey, what are your thought on this? I want to take that because I want to take into account what the people say."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Here's your problem that that's all fine what he's saying. I don't know that this is the best configure for your message to have his family out there 05 0:04:06.7 case, but that's the call of the campaign.

But, it's fine to change your position to a position that is more reasonable in the eyes of a lot of people. But that's exactly what you said you wouldn't do. You know, Mr. Trump said from the beginning, "No, no, no, you're weak and soft if you say that. Not me, I'm going to get them -- I'm round them all out and they're getting out." That is clearly not the position he wants to push anymore. How do you reconcile the change?

LEWANDOWSKI: I don't know if that's true.

CUOMO: He will not say deportation force, but his son says baby steps.

LEWANDOWSKI: Here's what he said. Here's what he said. Number one build a wall that's never deviated. Number two defund sanctuary cities. Number three a lot of CBP to actually enforce the rules. Number four deport anybody who's convicted of a felony in this country that's in an American jail, send them back ...

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: All of those points match everyone who was on the stage with him every single primary campaign except, I'm going to get rid of all 11 million with a force.

SELLERS: And we keep letting Donald Trump and Donald Trump Jr. get away with this. We're going to send all the murders and criminals back. That's 690,000 people. That's it.

[07:10:05] If 690,000 illegal immigrants who have committed a felony in this country or a serious misdemeanor. Now the question is what do you do with the other 90 somewhat percent of those undocumented illegal immigrants?

What Donald Trump wants to do, and let's not -- let's call it what it is. He flip-flopped. He threw out a test balloon, but now he's back. He wants to round all those people up and send them back.

There is no difference between Donald Trump's policy today and Dwight Eisenhower in 1954 when we had operation wetback. It's the exact same policy prescription and we need to call it what it is.

He threw out a trial balloon and then Laura Ingraham and Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh, they shot it down and now he's back to where he started.

LEWANDOWSKI: To Bakari's point, he's exactly right. Donald Trump has not changed his position.

SELLERS: We agree.

LEWANDOWSKI: From the first day he announced he's running he's not changed his position on immigration. When he says there is no path to citizenship, Hillary Clinton has executive amnesty. The day she gets in, 10, 11, 20, 30 million illegal in the country pass to citizenship. That's not what Donald Trump is saying.

And so it's very, very clear. If you're in this country illegally, you will leave and if you want to come back in, you'll come back in through a proper channel to build beautiful wall with the big door on it, Donald Trump is very clear (ph) on that.

CUOMO: But the only difference between that and the status quo would be forcing that to happen, right? Because everybody says that right now, Democrat, you know, whatever party you're on is. SELLERS: Donald Trump also wants to end birthright citizenship. I mean Donald Trump has a problem with dreamers. And yes, I mean, Hillary Clinton does want a right to citizenship.

I mean, we have an issue with immigration in this country. Anybody who says otherwise is just not paying attention. But we don't want to break up families. I think that's inhumane. That's unjust.

Families should be allowed to stay together. You should have birthright citizenship. You should have dreamers able to go to college and succeed and do these things that are part of the American dream. Donald Trump doesn't want that.

And I think that immigration, immigration in Mexico, the relationship with Mexico and the Mexican president is the clearest, clearest decisive policies that we have. Because, I mean, Donald Trump is actually getting to somewhere where he actually has a policy. It doesn't make sense. It's inhumane. It's impractical. But that's his policy.

LEWANDOWSKI: Look, Donald Trump could go down today and see the president of Mexico and say, "Look, this is an issue that we're not going to change from. I'm going to build a wall, and 69 days from today I'm going to be elected president of the United States. We can work together and we can find a way that Mexico can start finding a way to pay for that wall, but it is going to be built. Its 2,000 miles. We don't need to build the wall all 2,000 miles. Maybe its 1,100 miles because the topography of the border."

But that wall is going to get built. He's never deviated from it and the American people aren't going to pay for it.

SELLERS: Well, tunnel technology too. He said tunnel technology.

CUOMO: And the Mexican president says he's not going to pay for it. So we'll see where that comes out of. Let me ask you something else that came up in the news. The Trump campaign loves to use the metaphor effect of the emails on Clinton's character. "I can't believe what she says, because look what she do with the email."

This Mother Jones piece that came out about the modeling agency that you have these women coming forward, we have one on the show today who says, "You know, I came into this modeling agency. They circumvented the immigration laws to get us in here. They told us what to tell, enforce (ph) the people if they came to help achieve the system."

This is exactly what Donald Trump says has to be stopped. This is exactly what he says is wrong. If this is true, what Mother Jones is putting out there, and we'll test this woman who comes on the show today, how can he say I want to be tough on immigration if he's breaking the same laws that he says he wants to uphold?

LEWANDOWSKI: Well, first, you have to question if the reporting is accurate. Secondly, as a businessman, you know, he has said and he's used legal immigrants to come into country and he has said ...

(CROSSTALK)

SELLERS: This would be illegal.

LEWANDOWSKI: I understand. I understand. I understand and there's been never an accusation that has said, other than this piece, that Donald Trump has done something illegally.

Now, there's no foundation for that other than what Mother Jones is reporting. But, what we know in the Clinton world that time and time and time again her email has been change to drip, drip, drip. I turn them all over.

CUOMO: Never broke a law.

LEWANDOWSKI: And they have that (ph). Well, the FBI says that there was no intent. The law was clearly broke, but ...

SELLERS: She's had 20 years of investigations, and she's never been found to have broken a law.

LEWANDOWSKI: We've never seen one email from Donald Trump that is indicates something other than he said because he never sent an email.

SELLER: I think that this is a problem. This is -- this kind of fits into the mantra that is Donald Trump. Donald Trump will do absolutely anything, including circumvent the law, if it benefits himself.

We saw the fact that he used labor laws and labor policies down in Malalbergo (ph) because he said he couldn't find any American workers, so he went out and got all of these immigrants to come in and work instead of hiring Americans first in Malalbergo. Now we're seeing this with this modeling agency. I mean, we ...

CUOMO: But in fairness to Corey and the Trump's position on this, we got to test it. Let's vet it. Let see what it is.

SELLERS: Oh, I'm all for it.

CUOMO: And then we'll start allowing people to make judgments. But Bakari, Corey, as always, appreciate it.

LEWANDOWSKI: Thank you.

CUOMO: Coming up in the next hour, we're going to talk to Trump's running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence. Now, this is his first interview since the Mexico trip was announced. What does he see as the agenda? We're also going to get reaction from former Mexican President Vicente Fox. Just so we get to hear what both sides have to say in 8:00 hour. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: All right. What do Latino leaders think of Donald Trump's surprise trip to Mexico? Up next, we'll talk to a Latino Congressman and his brother who is a sheriff in a border town, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [07:18:58] CAMEROTA: Donald Trump will make a surprise trip to Mexico today to meet with the country's president. The trip coming ahead of a big immigration speech planned for tonight in Arizona and after more than a year of anti-Mexican rhetoric on the campaign trail. So how do Latinos feel about all of this?

Let's bring in Sheriff Martin Cuellar and Congressman Henry Cuellar from Texas. They are brothers. They are both Democrats and they join us from -- all the way to Texas in front of the Rio Grande, the waterway that, of course, separates Mexico and the U.S. Good morning, gentlemen.

REP. HENRY CUELLAR, (D) TEXAS: Good morning.

MARTIN CUELLAR, SHERIFF, WEBB COUNTY, TEXAS: Good morning.

CAMEROTA: Congressman, let me start with you. What do you expect to come out of this trip between Donald Trump in Mexico's president?

H. CUELLAR: You know, I don't think Donald Trump even knows what he wants to do, because, you know, what is his mission, what's his purpose. The last time he went abroad as a nominee, he went to Scotland to go see his golf course. I don't know if that's part of the agenda, but we do know that he says he's a brilliant negotiator, so I would bet that he's going to fail in trying to convince President Enrique Pena Nieto to pay for the wall, there's no way that's not going to happen

[07:20:04] So, it will be interesting to see what he says there and it will be interesting to see if he flip-flops when he talks about his immigration plan what he's been about, clarifying his immigration plan in Arizona.

CAMEROTA: Yeah, Congressman, let me stick with you for one more second because why do you think Mexico's president extended this invitation after calling Donald Trump's rhetoric? He's basically likened it to Hitler and Mussolini.

H. CUELLAR: You know, I don't know. I was with the president just a few months ago and we did talk about Donald Trump. I don't know why he's doing this, but nevertheless, you know, quite honestly, he's a friend of mine. I've known him since he was governor. He doesn't want anything.

The public in Mexico don't -- doesn't like Donald Trump because he's called them rapists, murders, somebody who doesn't understand the importance of our relationship with Mexico. Every day there's $1.5 billion of trade between U.S. and Mexico.

In fact here in Laredo, we handle 66 percent of all the trade that comes by truck into the United States just right here. He just doesn't understand the border and the importance of Mexico.

CAMEROTA: Sheriff, you are on the front lines there in Laredo of any problems at the border. What to do you think of Donald Trump's plan for a wall? M. CUELLAR: You know, I don't think he has an idea. You know, like we say down south, he's shooting from the hip. And, you know, he needs to rethink and think about these things that he's saying before he speaks, especially on national T.V.

And, you know, one of the things that I look at, you know, we were born and race in this area. And as you see, you can see how safe it is right now. And I don't think he knows what he's talking about.

Now, you know, when we talk about a wall, you know, we have an alternative. We call it border smart. It's a program that we want to implement where we have smart cameras along the border. And we want to make sure that we keep our communities safe by having cameras and sensors and having drones also, you know, fly in areas of hot spots that we call, you know, to keeping away the drug smugglers.

I can give you a perfect example. We have a camera that we have situated at a park where we -- not in this park, but in another park where it's very notorious. It was very notorious of having drug traffickers going in the middle of the park where the kids were playing soccer. And now, you know, what we've done, we eliminated the drug smugglers.

Now they go around us, you know, and it's easier for us to catch them because they're going around us and we're able to do our job, you know. And that shows us that the cameras are working, and that's one of the things that we're going to ask, of course, Congress and also the state where we're going to ask for more new technology and that's what we want to do.

CAMEROTA: Yeah. Well, I mean look, you're on the front lines. You have your finger on the pulse of what works there and what doesn't work there. So gentlemen, what do you want to hear tonight in Donald Trump's immigration speech? Congressman, to you.

H. CUELLAR: Well, I'll start off first. I mean, first of all, it will be interesting to watch what he's saying because he attacked his Republican candidates when they were running in the primary. He attacked Bush. He attacked Rubio. He attacked other folks.

Now he's flip-flopped to a lot of the things he's saying. You know, he used his words where he doesn't really understand what he's talking about. For example, he talks about a deportation force. What the heck is a deportation force? Is he talking about ICE, you know, the people that do the deportation that focus on criminals?

He's saying a lot of things that he attacked his Republican folks that were running against him, the other nominees. So, you know, again, you know, any immigration reform plan has to have three things.

One, we have to have border security. But, you know, nothing about a 14th century solution call a wall in this 21st century problem -- situation that we're in. You got to have smart security technology, the right mixture of federal state, local folks working together.

CAMEROTA: Yeah. H. CUELLAR: You got to have a guess work of plan that works. And finally, what are you going to do about the 11 million or 12 million undocumented persons that you have? If you don't want to have amnesty like President Reagan did in 1986, at least legalize those folks so you know who they are.

So you got to have something that works and not something that sounds right or flip-flopping like quite honestly Trump has been doing. He has been flip-flopping.

CAMEROTA: Yeah.

H. CUELLAR: Bush knows that. Rubio knows that. And other folks know. The American public knows that he's been flip-flopping.

CAMEROTA: Yeah, Sheriff, we only have 15 seconds left. What are you listening for tonight?

M. CUELLAR: I'm sorry, I didn't hear that.

CAMEROTA: What do you want to hear mostly Trump address tonight?

M. CUELLAR: Well, what I want to hear is that they're going to work together.

[07:25:02] You know, one of the things I will look at -- you know, I've been in law enforcement (inaudible) for almost 35 years and we have a perfect relationship. We're not perfect, but close to perfect as far as a relationship working with Mexico.

You know, we've gotten felons that have crossed, you know, to Mexico. We're able to work with the police, with the military in getting those fugitives that go across. And, you know, we want to continue. We don't want Donald Trump to ruin the relationship that we have now.

CAMEROTA: Understood. Martin Cuellar, Henry Cuellar, thank you very much gentlemen for joining us on "New Day."

Coming up in our next hour, we will talk to Trump's running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence in his first interview since the Mexico trip was announced. And we'll also get reaction from former Mexican President Vincente Fox. We'll hear what they both have to say in our 8:00 hour. Chris?

CUOMO: So as Trump tries to mend fences with Mexico, or at least that's what we think he may do when he goes out there, he's now showing no such outreach to Hillary Clinton. He is hammering his rival on her family's foundation and private emails. Is there more trouble for her on the horizon? That's next.

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TRUMP: But the only way to learn the full depth of her public corruption is to read the 33,000 emails that she deleted. They're gone.

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CUOMO: So that would be impossible. But Donald Trump, nonetheless, is not letting up on his attacks on Hillary Clinton's private use of email servers. The FBI is set to release its report to the public, explaining why it recommended no charges against Clinton. This as word the State Department has recovered dozens of deleted emails on the Benghazi attack.

Let's bring in CNN Senior Political Commentator, David Axelrod. And Axe, the main ...