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Trump and Clinton Exchange More Shots; More Details Emerge Regarding Clinton's Email Scandal; Should Trump's Modeling Agency be Investigated Regarding Illegal Immigration? Aired 10:30-11a ET.

Aired September 08, 2016 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:50]

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN HOST: I'm just reading the latest statement from the Trump camp. Because as you know, Hillary Clinton gave this press conference this morning, right, where she called Donald Trump unqualified to be President. President Obama was overseas, he also called Donald Trump unqualified to be President. And Julian, I'll just read a bit of what the Donald Trump campaign sent out just this morning.

He said, "last night Hillary Clinton again failed the Commander in Chief test. Where she was unable to answer for her terrible foreign policy judgment, mishandling of classified information, and claims that the VA wait time scandal was overblown." And it goes on like that. And then he -- his senior communications advisors wraps things up by saying, "she is woefully unfit for the presidency of the United States."

So is this what can we -- is this what we can expect going forward, tit-for-tat, tit-for-tat?

JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: We will. I mean this is the kind of campaign we're going to get. This is the kind of campaign that Donald Trump ran in the primaries. And it's a difficult argument for her to -- for him to make. There's many arguments he can make about Hillary Clinton. But obviously questioning her experience and competence is probably the most challenging for the campaign to accomplish.

But he will do that because that's at the heart of the Democratic attack. Again, it's not simply the substance of what Donald Trump says, it's about him. It's about him as a leader, it's about whether he's competent to have this job. And going back to 1964 when Johnson, Lyndon Johnson warned you couldn't let Barry Goldwater have control of nuclear weapons, the Democrats are going to make the same argument again and again about Donald Trump.

COSTELLO: All right I have to leave it there. Julian Zelizer, Mark Preston, thanks to both of you.

ZELIZER: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the Newsroom, a new twist in Hillary Clinton's private email saga. Her exchange with Colin Powell on how to handle her email now made public. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:36:19]

COSTELLO: Hillary Clinton's private email server once again front and center on Capitol Hill. A House hearing now underway. The top Republican and top Democrat on the Oversight Committee. Both speaking out just moments ago ripping into one another about whether or not this hearing is a direct attack on Hillary Clinton's political campaign. Manu Raju is covering this for us. He joins us now from Capitol Hill, good morning.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Good morning, Carol. Now -- it's hard to believe, but March 2015 was when the Hillary Clinton email story initially broke. And it's probably going to continue well beyond this campaign. Particularly if Hillary Clinton becomes President.

And why? Because House Republicans, in particular, are keeping the issue alive. Today begins the first of three hearings in this month, by the House Oversight Committee, looking at some part of the Clinton email practices. Today, House Oversight Committee Chairman, Jason Chaffetz of Utah, a Republican, defended this committee's proceedings. Saying that the had to be done in order to get to the bottom of Clinton's arrangements.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONGRESSMAN JASON CHAFFETZ (R), UTAH: Hillary Clinton created this mess, Hillary Clinton set up this convenient arrangement with herself, Hillary Clinton picked this timeline. I know people are going to say, "oh you're -- it's the political season." I just got this information from the FBI. We are days, legislative days after this has happened.

I flew in to go see and read the documents downstairs and I tell you, we're going to move in a rapid pace, no matter the political calendar. And we would be derelict in our duty if we didn't do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now Maryland Democrat, Elijah Cummings is the (ph) top Democrat on that committee. Clearly he is not buying it, pushing back rather strongly at this morning's hearing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONGRESSMAN ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D), MARYLAND: This is an attack, an attack on Hillary Clinton's candidacy for President of the United States of America. The Chairman sent a perjury referral to the Justice Department that is ludicrous on its face. Then he sent another referral accusing Secretary Clinton of obstructing justice. These actions had their desired effect. They kept repeating the headline that Hillary Clinton is under investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP) RAJU: Now this hearing coming on the heels of Elijah Cummings releasing an email exchange between Colin Powell, the former Secretary of State, and Hillary Clinton, from 2009 discussing the email arrangements. In that email exchange, Colin Powell advising Hillary Clinton on using a private email address, saying that's one way to skirt public disclosure laws.

Now Democrats say this sort of exonerates Hillary Clinton. But of course, Republicans aren't buying it. One reason why? It's no evidence that Colin Powell was talking about classified information through his private email address. As we know from James Comey's testimony, in several emails at least, were marked classified, even though Hillary Clinton said she did not send or receive classified emails, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Manu Raju reporting live for us from Washington, thanks so much. For her part, Hillary Clinton is again trying to clarify the use of that server. Here's what she told members of the military at last night's Commander in Chief Forum.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What we have here is the use of an unclassified system by hundreds of people in our government, to send information that was not marked. There were no headers, there was no statement, "top secret," "secret," or "confidential." I communicated about classified material on a wholly separate system. I took it very seriously. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK so let's talk about this. Joining me now, John Phillips, the Trump supporter and CNN Political Commentator. And Patti Solis Doyle, the former Campaign Manager for Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential bid. Welcome to both of you.

PATTI SOLIS DOYLE, FORMER CAMPAIGN MANAGER FOR HILLARY CLINTON, 2008: Same to you (ph).

COSTELLO: So John, the FBI Director, yesterday, said the Clinton email case was not a cliffhanger. And critics who say his investigation is partisan is, "full of bologna." So why this hearing on Capitol Hill?

[10:40:36]

JOHN PHILLIPS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well it's not a cliffhanger because he released all of his information on Friday of Labor Day weekend, when everyone was at a barbecue or watching a baseball game and not paying attention to politics.

Look, we have seen various portions of the executive branch in the Obama administration been politicized. We have class action lawsuits against the IRS for targeting conservative groups. The FBI has been criticized, not just by people in the media on the right side of the aisle, but by former FBI agents. Saying look, they're out there doing the political bidding of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party here. So people are looking at this with the eye of skepticism ...

COSTELLO: But the FBI Director is a Republican.

PHILLIPS: Go ahead? ...

COSTELLO: Does it matter that the FBI Director is a Republican?

PHILLIPS: Look, if you don't look at the guys' party affiliation, if you look at his actions, the guy certainly had a stellar reputation up until this point. But I listen to former FBI agents who are looking at these actions and looking at them bearing this information on the Friday of a holiday weekend. We've been around the political game for a long time, we know that if you want something to not get any legs, you put it out on a Friday of a holiday weekend, that's exactly what they did here ...

COSTELLO: So what you they accusing -- what are you accusing the FBI Director of, exactly?

PHILLIPS: I think he did Hillary a solid. If he wanted people to hear about this, he'd release it on Tuesday when people are back at work and people are paying attention to the news. If you put something out on Friday, you're doing it purposely so that people don't see it or read about it.

COSTELLO: So Patti, did the FBI Director do Hillary Clinton a favor?

DOYLE : No. First of all let's look at this in totality. The fact that he released the report is unprecedented. The fact that he had a press conference before making his recommendation is unprecedented. Look, Hillary Clinton admitted that using her own server for both government and personal use was a mistake.

She has apologized for it, she has repeated that it was a mistake. The FBI -- who by the way, James Comey was absolutely adored by Republicans of all shapes and sizes before he investigated, during he -- during his investigation as well -- he investigated, put 100 or so agents on it. They came up with the recommendation that no prosecution should take place. There was no criminal activity.

After the FBI investigation, after Hillary has admitted that it was a mistake and apologizing for it, I just don't know what else there is to talk about on this specific topic. I think it's time to move on.

COSTELLO: Well you -- Elijah Cummings, and I'll pose this question to you, John, because Colin Powell had said publicly just a few weeks ago that Clinton was trying to pin this email scandal on him. She had claimed that she'd discussed an email server, a private email server, with Colin Powell. Elijah Cummings released emails between Colin Powell and Hillary Clinton proving they actually did have that conversation.

So does that matter to you or Hillary Clinton's critics?

PHILLIPS: I don't understand the politics of what she's doing here with Colin Powell. Colin Powell is a liberal Republican who endorsed President Obama when he ran for office. Donald Trump has been very critical of the Bush administration's foreign policy. He's exactly the type of Republican that should be -- that she should be courting right now.

To -- but to go out and to start a feud with him just, it -- my hands are up in the air ...

COSTELLO: She's -- do you think she's ...

PHILLIPS: ... I can't figure out what she's doing here. This ...

COSTELLO: No, no wait -- she started a feud? Because she didn't share the details of that conversation. She just said she had the conversation. And that's what the FBI asked her about. In the course of the interrogation by the FBI, those emails came out between Hillary Clinton and Colin Powell. So again, is it really a feud?

PHILLIPS: Yeah. I mean the first thing she did was blame him publicly. The second thing that happened was private correspondence was released publicly. I can't see that being described as anything other than a feud. And by the way, according to the CNN poll that was just released, 90 percent of Republicans are now supporting Donald Trump.

Republicans are coming back home to him. If she is going to turn those numbers around, she is going to need allies like Colin Powell to go out there and tell Republicans that have reservations about Trump, "look, I'm a viable option." But what she's doing here is she's poisoning that well.

COSTELLO: Is she poisoning the well, Patti?

DOYLE: You know Hillary has a great deal of respect for Colin Powell. She went to him for advice before she took the job as Secretary of State. She relied on his advice on various matters. And she has said publicly, there is no excuse for using her own server for both government and personal email.

And the fact that Colin Powell also did something similar is no excuse. She took responsibility for her actions. But just to you point, John, Hillary Clinton -- I think 50 Republican leaders in national security came out and supported Hillary.

Tomorrow -- she announced this morning that tomorrow she's having a forum to discuss how to defeat ISIS with both Janet Napolitano and Michael Chertoff, both former Homeland Security Secretaries, one Republican, one Democrat. She is bringing a bipartisan group together to solve the issues of this country. So I, first of all, there is no feud between her and Colin Powell. And she is already working across the aisle.

[10:46:04]

COSTELLO: All right, I have to leave it there. Patti Solis Doyle, John Phillips, thanks to both of you. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump talking tough about how they would defeat ISIS. Senator Barbara Boxer will be with me to talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:50:37]

COSTELLO: Hillary Clinton holding her third press conference so far this week. And she came out swinging, not just against Donald Trump. She's also zeroing in on ISIS. Listen:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: We should make it a top priority to hunt down the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and bring him to justice, just as we did with Osama Bin Laden. As with that operation, getting al-Baghdadi will require a focused effort driven at the highest levels. But I believe it will send a resounding message that nobody directs or inspires attacks against the United States and gets away with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Senator Barbara Boxer is a member of the Foreign Relations Committee. And I'd like to thank you for being with me because I know you have to get to the floor for a vote. So I'm so glad you stuck around for us, I do appreciate it.

SENATOR BARBARA BOXER (D), CALIFORNIA: Of course.

COSTELLO: Senator, President Obama, this morning said on the world stage that he believes Donald Trump is unqualified to be President. Hillary Clinton said the same. What do you think?

BOXER: Well I'm going to be very open with you. I strongly support Hillary Clinton, not only because I think she'll make a great President, but the opposition, Donald Trump, is very dangerous. I swear last night he sounded like a stooge of Vladimir Putin.

He has a secret plan to defeat ISIS when Hillary is very clear. Take out their leaders, make sure that they don't take territory. We're going to defeat them not contain them. We're going to go after them on the internet and make sure they don't recruit more people to their cause. And Donald Trump? Secret plan. He can't tell us what it is. It's unacceptable.

COSTELLO: But there are some veterans that I spoke to earlier today on my show, who think that the leadership in the fight against ISIS hasn't been strong enough, and it has been weak. And Hillary Clinton's plan sounds an awful lot like President Obama's. So how is it stronger and different than the President's?

BOXER: Well what is weak about saying we're going to go after the top guy? Just like we got Bin Laden. Was that weak? Hillary Clinton was in the situation room, is it weak to say we're not going to contain them, we're going to defeat them? As opposed to a man, Donald Trump, who says he has a secret plan and by the way the generals are nothing but rubble? I mean, I think you're going to find people who are Republicans who

will only vote Republican. Let's be clear, Carol. And you have Democrats, some of the same. The question is, we're going after those voters who are independent minded. And anyone who's independent minded who looked at that town hall last night and saw Trump just almost be -- I don't know what to say -- almost threw kisses at Vladimir Putin. A man who's really kind of a brutal dictator who is accused of killing some of his opponents, jailing some of his opponents -- I mean, is unbelievable to me.

And goes against us in Syria, goes against us with Iran, and that itself was amazing. Plus he lied about his support for the Iraq war, which he stated on the radio. So we can't have a lying President, we can't have a President who doesn't trust us and says he's got a secret plan. This election is so critical.

COSTELLO: OK and I do want to get into this because Reince Priebus, the RNC Chair, he tweeted after this forum was over last night that "Hillary Clinton was angry and defensive the entire time. No smile and uncomfortable. Upset that she was caught wrongly sending our secrets." What do you make of that?

BOXER: I'm sorry, what was that last one? I missed it.

COSTELLO: This is from Reince Priebus, he tweeted this out last night after the forum was over ...

BOXER: No but what was the last part of the tweet, I didn't hear that.

COSTELLO: Oh, got you. I'll just read it over for everybody.

BOXER: OK.

COSTELLO: Hillary Clinton was ...

BOXER: OK.

COSTELLO: "Hillary Clinton was angry and defensive the entire time. No smile and uncomfortable. Upset that she was caught wrongly sending our secrets."

BOXER: Wildly sending our secrets. OK well first of all, he's the height of politics. And I just want to say, sometimes you smile. You know, I'm in politics a long time. Sometimes it's not appropriate. When you are talking about defending this greatest nation in the world. When you're talking in front of veterans who have been wounded and grievously hurt in war.

Standing around smiling -- now I watched it, I didn't see too many smiles on Trump's face. Maybe he smiled a little when he said "oh, Putin called me," what was it, brilliant or something? Maybe there was a bit of a smile, which is inappropriate. But be that as it may, I just don't get any of that stuff.

The fact is we have one candidate who is steady, who is knowledgeable, who tells you what she's going to do, who explains it. Versus a candidate with zero experience and kissing up to essentially, strong men and people who brutalize their own country. Do you know that Donald Trump has praised Kim Jong-un, he has praised Saddam Hussein, and he continues to have a love affair with Vladimir Putin.

COSTELLO: But ...

BOXER: ... This is not what America needs ...

COSTELLO: Before you go ...

BOXER: ... We need someone who has character, who has strength, who is willing ...

COSTELLO: Before ...

BOXER: ... to go against these dictators.

COSTELLO: Before you go there is a House Oversight Committee ongoing right now over Hillary Clinton's email server, right?

BOXER: Yeah.

COSTELLO: ... And you want to conduct a different kind of hearing on Capitol Hill. And it has to do with Donald Trump's modeling agencies.

BOXER: Yeah.

COSTELLO: And allegations that that agency employed models without the proper visas.

BOXER: I haven't called for a hearing, I called for an investigation by Immigration Services. Because this is a man who has basically stated what's killing us is illegal immigration. And his Trump modeling agency that he owns 85 percent of, they have been in fact, encouraging illegal immigration, young women coming in, told to lie about their status, getting a tourist visa and then, in this amazing story by Mother Jones, saying they were treated like slaves, essentially.

And this needs to be investigated. It's hard to get a word in edgewise because Trump's always doing his thing. But the bottom line is, the centerpiece of his entire presidency is "keep out those illegal immigrants," and he welcomed them in and told them it was OK to lie about their status. And then treated them like slaves, you know, it's unbelieveable ...

COSTELLO: Well Senator, some Democrats accused Repub -- Democrats recused -- Democrats accused Republicans in the House for being political with their hearings. So why isn't your investigation political as well?

BOXER: I'm not calling for a hearing, no, no.

COSTELLO: No, I mean an investigation, I understand. BOXER: There aren't, no, no, no -- Carol, there are laws in this

country. We are a country of laws. And there are other companies in this country where the executive is serving 26 months in prison and paying fines for the same kind of activity. So all I'm doing is saying, this has come to my attention. This is my job. I'm not holding hearings about it.

The fact of the matter is, what Chaffis is doing is holding hearings every time he has a desire to pound Hillary Clinton. I'm saying there ought to be a formal investigation. Not a publicity stunt. And this is critical -- if someone stands up and says to you, "the big problem is in our country is illegal immigration," and it turns out he is telling people to come in illegally, I think this needs to be looked at. I really do.

I don't see the equivalency between what I'm suggesting and Mr. Chaffetz. And by the way, you know this Colin Powell whole message is one where he encouraged Hillary to use a personal email. In which is exactly what she said. Why isn't Mr. Chaffetz calling up Colin Powell? Which, I love Colin Powell and I don't think he or she, OK, broke any laws. Director Comey said it wasn't even a close call. But yet they continue and continue while we have a candidate cozying up to Vladimir Putin and they shrug it off. It's really -- where am I? Where am I? Is this really the 21st century?

COSTELLO: Senator Barbara Boxer, thank you so much for joining me this morning.

BOXER: You bet.

COSTELLO: All right I do have a -- actually there's breaking news right now, but I'm going to let Berman and -- John Berman and Kate Bolduan do it. Their show is next, thank you so much for joining me this morning.