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At This Hour

Trump Expected to Talk "Deplorables" in Iowa; Pence Responds to Claims of Trump Supporters being White Supremacists; New Questions on Trump Foundation, Comparison to Clinton Foundation; Clinton Camp Seemed Reluctant to Release Pneumonia Diagnosis; Trump Hammers Clinton on "Deplorables," Clinton Uses Trump's Words Against Him. Aired 11- 11:30a ET

Aired September 13, 2016 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:00:21] HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (voice-over): I just didn't think it was going to be that big a deal.

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A similar sort of thing happened to her when she just got severely dehydrated.

CLINTON: Oh, I think really only twice that I can recall.

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (voice-over): This last week I took a physical. I'll be releasing when the numbers come in.

CLINTON: Donald Trump's doctor said he'd be the healthiest president in history. That's just not even serious.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump hasn't given any of his own money to the foundation that bears his name since his last donation in 2008.

MIKE PENCE, (R), INDIANA GOVERNOR & VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is a man who's given away tens of millions of dollars to charitable causes.

TRUMP: My opponent slanders you as deplorable. I call you hard- working American patriots.

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm John Berman.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kate Bolduan.

Eight weeks to Election Day. This morning, one candidate campaigns in Clyde, Iowa, while the other recovers in Chappaqua, New York. Donald Trump taking full advantage of Hillary Clinton's unscheduled break from the campaign trail and he is pounding the pavement, hitting battleground states as hard as he can while he has the field basically to himself at the moment. He'll be holding a rally in Iowa a short time from now. We'll be watching closely for that.

While Hillary Clinton is still home resting under doctor's orders due to pneumonia. The campaign only admitting the illness after this video surfaced of Clinton appearing unable to walk on Sunday. Why not reveal it sooner? Clinton said herself that she didn't think the illness was a big deal.

BERMAN: Donald Trump and his team, of course, think it is a big deal. They're happy to talk about it. They're also happy to talk about Hillary Clinton's description of some Trump supporters as a "basket of deplorables." That is fair game in Trump's world. Not fair game, his tax returns or records of his charitable giving. So the one exemption we know he is claiming is himself when it comes to financial transparency. More on that in a moment.

First, let's get to CNN's Jason Carroll, following Donald Trump in Iowa where the smart money says we will hear the word "deplorable" -- Jason?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Very smart money. Even before I walked in here, John, I ran into a woman, she was wearing a T-shirt that said, "I love deplorables." This is something that has really struck a nerve with many Trump supporters who were out here in Iowa. So expect Donald Trump to hammer home on this issue today, just like he did last night.

You know, when Hillary Clinton made this comment what she was basically referring to are what she called a number of people who she says have racist or homophobic leanings who support Donald Trump, people like David Duke, former head of the KKK.

Just a little earlier this morning, Mike Pence was asked about this very same issue and whether or not he thought David Duke was deplorable. He said he wasn't into name calling. Listen to how he responded to the question.

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PENCE: Donald Trump and I have denounced David Duke repeatedly. We have said that we do not want his support and we do not want his support of the people who think like him.

And yesterday, I was asked a question about that and I repeated that again.

And the simple fact is that I'm not in the name calling business. My colleagues in the House of Representatives know that I believe the civility is essential in a vibrant democracy and it's just never been my practice.

But I'm also not going to validate the language that Hillary Clinton used to describe the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Well, Trump's critics certainly will not be satisfied with that particular response.

But despite all the name calling going on back and forth, John, a number of voters we talk to, some of those out here, say they're hoping to hear more about issues. Once again, we're going to hear about the deplorables.

But later on tonight, we are expected to hear Donald Trump address a specific issue and that has to deal with child care and child care affordability. He's going to be unveiling his child care affordability plan at another rally later on tonight. His daughter, Ivanka, will be there with him. She helped craft some of this proposal to rewrite the tax code to allow working parents to deduct from their income taxes child care expenses for up to four children. That will come later on.

But for here, for right now, expect to hear a lot more criticism about Hillary Clinton making that "deplorable" comment when he takes the stage here just outside of Des Moines -- John?

[11:05:08] BERMAN: We will be watching.

Jason Carroll for us in Des Moines. Thank you so much.

Meanwhile, new questions about Trump and the foundation that bears his name. How does it work? How much money does he have? How much is it Donald Trump's money? How much charity giving has there been really? Answers to this could be in his taxes if he released them.

BOLDUAN: So many questions, so little time.

CNN senior investigative correspondent, Drew Griffin, has been digging into all of these questions.

Drew, you've been digging into his charity and details about his giving for months now.

GRIFFIN: Ever since he started with his vet's charity thing back in the Iowa primary days. It's confusing because we're Trump's personal donations, which are somewhere buried in his hidden, tax records and his Donald J. Trump Foundation, which is very public. You have to file these 990 reports with the IRS to keep the status. That's where we get these records from, the foundation.

We learned he hasn't given any money to his own foundation, the one that bears his name, since 2008. Before that, he did give a significant amount. So where does the rest of the money come from? Well, it's not a lot. This foundation is pretty smart. Just over $1 million in its latest tax returns. Trump has gotten individual donations from NBC. The company gave him $500,000 in 2012. Comedy central donated $400,000. World Wrestling Entertainment gave his foundation $1 million. All entities he was having business dealings with.

BERMAN: None of his own money to his own foundation since 2008. That is some information there. What about where his foundation is going? GRIFFIN: It's very broad. The foundation doesn't seem to have a

central cause. He's given money to the Clinton Foundation, for instance. It's been widely reported. $100,000 to Citizens United Foundation, the conservative political group whose president has just joined Trump's campaign. For two years, he gave to the Palm Beach Police Foundation. The group holds its policemen's balls at Trump Resort every winter. Get this, Trump's Mara-Largo resort charges. It's not a small amount. It's like $500,000 over two different balls. So on the one hand, he's giving to this group. On the other hand, he's charging them for use of the ballroom.

BOLDUAN: Put it into perspective, the foundation broadly. How does the Trump charity, how does the foundation compare to other charities?

GRIFFIN: Let's compare it to the Clinton Foundation. The Clinton Foundation is huge. In 2014, the Clinton Foundation had $332 million in the bank. Trump had $1.3 million in the bank. They don't do a lot. There's not a lot of activity. The Clinton Foundation hires a lot of people. They have projects. The Trump Foundation doesn't have a single employee. No paid staff whatsoever. So they're very, very small compared to the actual Clinton Foundation.

The Trump campaign did get back to us last night saying all the questions about the foundation are inaccurate. Here's a statement. They said, "Mr. Trump has donated tens of millions of dollars to charities, both through his foundation and otherwise. In addition, friends of Mr. Trump have generously donated to his foundation."

The statement points out Trump doesn't receive compensation and he makes regular personal contributions to charities and causes of his choosing outside the foundation.

Here's the problem, guys. We can't find any records of it. We've asked for records of it. They're not forthcoming. So we just don't take his word for it. We can't at this point in his presidential election. We're not seeing signs of it.

BERMAN: No records of it and no tax returns to check it.

Drew Griffin, stick around. We want you to join our panel.

Also with us, CNN senior CNN Washington correspondent, Jeff Zeleny; CNN political analyst and "USA Today" columnist, Kristen Powers; and CNN senior political reporter, Nia-Malika Henderson.

Kirsten, I want to start with you because on this issue of charity, Trump's campaign manager was asked this morning on CNN will Trump release exactly how much he himself has given to charity and Kellyanne Conway's response was I doubt it. I'm not sure that's transparency.

KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It's definitely not transparency. I have to ask, like, how is this an acceptable answer? Why is he allowed to go out and talk about how charitable he is? But he doesn't have any obligation to prove what he's saying. He needs to release this information. We need to see what his charitable giving has been over the years because he's made a lot of claims about it, and people have a right to know, to have some sort of verification this has happened.

[11:10:06] BOLDUAN: When you talk about the kind of the umbrella theme of transparency here, Nia, this is exactly what the Clinton campaign points to as a double standard.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: That's right. They're pointing to the double standard. Not only looking at the press saying the press hasn't covered this well, but also that Donald Trump gets away with saying things that are either not provable or not accurate and doesn't really pay a price for them. It looks like he is able to do that. It hasn't damaged him in the polls. If you talk about the tax returns and him not releasing those, at this point, it's hard to see if he has any incentive in doing those. We know Hillary Clinton has given to charity because she's released her tax returns. They've given about 10 percent of their income to charity, and we don't know that from Donald Trump about his charities. We would know from the tax returns. That's something he hasn't been willing to do. It certainly I think takings it away from the sharpness, the effectiveness of his argument. He can't continue to effectively Hillary Clinton. He says, for instance, Hillary's hiding meme that they kept blasting out to supporters and e-mails. He himself hasn't been transparent in any number of things.

BERMAN: Drew, you've been digging. The Trump campaign says he's under audit, which is why he can't release his taxes. We don't have exact proof. Just taking Trump at his word for that. That only covers back to 2008. Have they given information why they're not releasing earlier tax returns?

GRIFFIN: No, they haven't. He can give a list of the charities personally if he wants to. He can go through his own records, itemize. We could call those charities and say, hey, did you get this check from Donald Trump? Yes, no, he gave us that much money. There's any number of ways he can release the information without having to release his tax returns. The fact is, John if somebody gave me 1 million, I would tell you. This guy gave me $1 million. I'm happy for it, thank you. Donald Trump for instance. We don't have it.

BOLDUAN: Jeff, what's plaguing Hillary Clinton still is the fact that -- the whole issue related to the pneumonia and how the type line and how it all was revealed or seemed to be kind of forced for the campaign to reveal. Last night, Hillary Clinton called in, spoke to Anderson Cooper, and when asked why she didn't reveal it sooner, she said she didn't think it was a big deal. Is that the standard? What are you hearing from team Clinton? Is that the standard they're comfortable with?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: They were comfortable with it at the time. The people aren't her were comfortable at the time. There lies the problem. I talk to a lot of people who were very supportive of Clinton. They're so frustrated by yet another sort of self-inflicted wound here. And one of the consistent things I'm hearing is that, you know, they're really questioning who is directly around her saying, yes, ma'am, that's a fine idea to not talk about this. Should she have some new blood around her? In that interview last night, Chuck Schumer, the senior Senator from New York, he had pneumonia as well. Different people. She's running for president of the United States. It's a different moment in her life.

You know, she talks about how much information we have about her past life. We do have a lot of information about her tax returns. Absolutely true. The transparency argument is not equal here at all. She's given a ton more stuff. The burden on her with the health information is serious. She's 68 years old. She has a health history here. We simply don't know enough information. I'm told that she is going to release some more things in the coming days here. It will not be on Dr. Oz like Donald Trump is going on Dr. Oz. But it is still going to hang over her somewhat.

BERMAN: I want to come back to Dr. Oz in one second.

Kirsten Powers, one of the things bubbling up in the pat few days is that Don Fowler, the former DNC chair, said the Democrats need some kind of contingency plan or the "Politico" reported he needed some kind of contingency plan in case something happened to Hillary Clinton. You talked to Don Fowler and the DNC. What can you tell us?

POWERS: I talked to Don about an hour ago, he does say he believes they need to have a contingency plan. He said he didn't say, which was reported in "Politico," was they needed to identify a successor. So that's a distinction he would make. He does feel it would make sense they would have sort of a contingency plan. Donna Brazile, head of the DNC now, said to me in an e-mail, I asked, if you feel you need to have a contingency plan, and she said, no, we support our nominee.

The DNC has rules in terms how to deal with the situation if they did need to select a nominee. It's possible Don Fowler feels it needs to be discussed in more detail. But it looks like the DNC, at least the official position, is they feel no need to do that.

[11:15:18] BOLDUAN: Nia, here's your "choose your own adventure." You can either talk about Dr. Oz and the fact Donald Trump is revealing his physical results -- it's great for TV but I don't know if it's great for transparency purposes. Or how concerned Hillary Clinton is just simply that she's still off the trail and he's pounding the pavement, regardless of what he's doing, it's a stop on Dr. Oz, but the fact he's on the trail, and she's not.

HENDERSON: I think ideally if you're Hillary Clinton, you want to be out there. Pushed through pneumonia to get o there, to fundraise and be at different events. But the campaign never stops. You're going to have a President Obama out in Pennsylvania. Michelle Obama will be in Virginia on Friday Hillary Clinton campaign has released ads targeting black Millennials in Florida and North Carolina. The campaign unfortunately in some ways for many of us who have to, you know, sit through commercials for instance, the campaign never really goes away. Sure, she wants to be out there. Least addressing these groups on Friday. She'll be addressing a group of black women. A conference of black women on Friday. On Thursday, I believe, she'll there's a group of Latino lawmakers. At some point, she'll get out there. You want to ideally be out there so you can get the local press and local newspapers and local news broadcasts at 5:00 and 7:00. Soon enough, she will be out there. In the meantime, she's got these people out there in her stead.

BOLDUAN: You think she's itching to get back out there, Jeff

ZELENY: They are. It should be noted she was supposed to be in Los Angeles at two fundraisers. Her only battleground stop of the whole week was supposed to be in Nevada tomorrow. So this isn't disrupting her schedule all that much. It's much more of a political issue than it is I think an on the ground issue right now.

BERMAN: Very close. I'm sure she would want to be there.

ZELENY: And Bill Clinton is going tomorrow.

BERMAN: Jeff Zeleny, Drew Griffin, Nia-Malika Henderson and Kirsten Powers, thank you very much.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: Next, as Donald Trump hitting Hillary Clinton's "deplorable" remark, the Clinton campaign is trying to turn those attacks right back around on him. Will it work?

BERMAN: Plus, just a short time from now, President Obama, he goes on the trail for Hillary Clinton alone, headed to Philadelphia. What will he talk about? Will he talk about Hillary Clinton's health? I bet he talks about Donald Trump. We'll hear what he has to say about that.

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[11:21:34] BOLDUAN: The battle over "deplorable." Hillary Clinton now using Donald Trump's words and statements about deplorable against him. Take a look at a new Clinton campaign ad.

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TRUMP: You can't lead this nation if you have such a low opinion for its citizens.

How stupid are the people of the country?

We're building a wall.

He's Mexican.

You got to see this guy. Ah, don't know what I said. I don't remember.

You're living in poverty. Your schools are no good. You have no jobs. What the hell do you have to lose?

If you look at his wife, she had nothing to say. She probably maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say.

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BOLDUAN: So this ad comes as Donald Trump is hammering Clinton for, in her remarks at a fundraiser, saying half of Trump's supporters belong in a "basket of deplorables."

Joining us, Congressman Gregory Meeks, of New York, Democrat from New York. He's chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus and a Hillary Clinton supporter.

Thank you so much for joining us.

REP. GREGORY MEEKS, (D), NEW YORK & CHAIRMAN, CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS: Good being with you.

BOLDUAN: Thank you.

We know now Hillary Clinton after saying the "basket of deplorables," she says she regrets the remark but she only regrets saying half of his supporters should fit into a basket of deplorables. Listen, hear, how Donald Trump is using her remark to his advantage. This is from last night.

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TRUMP: She looks down on the people who cook her meals, drive her cars and dig the coal that power her electricity.

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BOLDUAN: So no matter what you think, I mean, obviously, you agree with Hillary Clinton. Doesn't Hillary Clinton hand Donald Trump a gift with her remark? What Donald Trump said right there, that's a powerful line.

MEEKS: You know what, common sense tells you because Donald Trump himself, from what was indicated on those commercials and what you heard from his mouth all along, he is deplorable. And deplorable individual, it's only reasonable to believe, will attract other deplorable people. When you think about Donald Trump, for example, what he said about Megyn Kelly, bleeding out of her, that's deplorable. When you think about what he said about the Mexican American judge who said he couldn't do his job simply because he was Mexican, that's deplorable. When you think about the fact he said he was going to pay the legal fees of one of his supporters to attack someone at his rally, that's deplorable. I could go on and on about the things Donald Trump has said or done is deplorable. So that indicates that Donald Trump himself is deplorable. And only is rational to believe that deplorables are attracted to deplorables.

BERMAN: Again, you were talking most noticeably about Donald Trump right there but Hillary Clinton was talking about Donald Trump voters. Mike Pence and Donald Trump and Trump's supporters say, you know, we're not a basket full of anything, we're Americans. And should a candidate be talking, Hillary Clinton in this case, be talking about voters this way? MEEKS: Well, you know what, some Americans unfortunately are

deplorable. I would say David Duke is deplorable. Mr. Pence said he would not put him in that category as being deplorable. There are some Americans by their actions and what they do --

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: -- he and Donald Trump denounced David Duke, has denounced association with David Duke, and he said he just wasn't going to get in the game of using the word that Hillary Clinton used and wasn't going to validate it by using that remark.

MEEKS: No, the fact of the matter is, is David Duke deplorable? The answer is yes. It should be yes for anyone right off their mouth. Not to say as Donald Trump attempted to do during the primary. He claimed he didn't even know who David Duke was. Why? He wanted his support to help win the primary. So it is a deplorable act. So there's nothing wrong with telling the truth if you see something that's deplorable. Dr. King once said if there's a good people are silent about deplorable acts of others, then you can fit in that category also.

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[11:25:27] BOLDUAN: Do you think Hillary Clinton should not have apologized or regretted any of that remark?

MEEKS: I think what she said was appropriate. There are some. Mean I know some individuals who are supporting Trump's interest, they won't go out and stand up for hip. They're not, you know, vouching for hip. They're supporting him. I know those individuals. There's a lot of individuals that are not deplorable who are supporting him, but there's no questioning the fact that because of his deplorable statements he has attracted a lot of deplorable people.

BERMAN: Congressman, Hillary Clinton is at home in Chappaqua right now, recovering from pneumonia. A former chair of the DNC, Don Fowler, says the party committee should be coming up with contingency plans in case her health doesn't improve. Do you think the party needs to start addressing this issue?

MEEKS: We are just fine. Hillary Clinton is the equivalent to a strong and star athlete who happens to come down with an illness. The doctor has advised she rest and she'll be back on the field. This is nothing serious, you know. I tell folks, from my own experience, when I'm ill, once I know I'm ill I try to fight through it --

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BERMAN: Congressman, you say it's nothing serious. How do we know? How do we know? We know pneumonia at this point. We're told it's not serious by Hillary Clinton. We haven't been told by a doctor that it's not serious. We haven't been told by the records. We don't know what kind of that pneumonia she has.

MEEKS: That's not exactly true. The doctor made the announcement. He's been treating her.

BERMAN: That's true. You're right about that.

MEEKS: So the doctor has told you what her condition is, and stated, you know, what he's doing to treat it and she's going to be OK. She has been, you know, people talk about transparency. I don't know of anybody who has been -- you know more about than Hillary Clinton. The same standard should be placed on Trump.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: Congressman, would you like to know if Donald Trump had pneumonia?

MEEKS: I'd like to know his health records. At least give the same kind of information that Hillary has given. He has some doctor saying he's going to be the healthiest president of the United States history. That's a medical report? We should demand more. He won't give his tax returns, who he's invested with, who with him.

BOLDUAN: We are asking those questions. We are asking those questions. Same as --

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: Whoever has pneumonia. They should fess up and tell us.

BERMAN: Congressman Meeks, thank you so much for being with us.

MEEKS: Good to be with you.

BOLDUAN: Thank you, Congressman. Thank you.

BERMAN: All right, as this debate over "basket of deplorables" breaks out, violence breaks out at a Donald Trump rally. See what happened and how the Trump campaign is responding.

BOLDUAN: Plus, under way right now, a hearing about Hillary Clinton's missing e-mails. What are members of Congress looking for? And will the aide who set up the private server, will he testify, will he show up? We'll take you there live.

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