Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Trump Economy Plan; Trump's Medical Letter. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired September 15, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00] WOLF BLITZER: Thank you.

That's it for me. Thanks very much for watching.

The news continues right now, right here on CNN.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being with me. You're watching CNN.

Very shortly we will see Hillary Clinton's comeback to the campaign trail after a couple of days off, three to be precise, as she has been back home in Chappaqua recovering from her pneumonia. Here she is embarking on her plane there in White Plains headed to North Carolina. And, by the way, we'll be seeing her for the first time, her first rally next hour live.

Meantime, minutes ago, Donald Trump made some big promises as he laid out his plan for what he describes as an ailing economy - millions of new jobs, major growth and much, much lower taxes. And all of it, according to Mr. Trump, without touching Social Security or Medicare, or what's referred to as entitlement spending. Here he was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Under our plan, the economy will average 3.5 percent growth and create a total of 25 million new jobs. You can visit our website. Just look at the math. It works.

It will be accomplished through a complete overhaul of our tax, regulatory, energy, and trade policies. It's time to start thinking big once again. That's why I believe it's time to establish a national goal of reaching 4 percent economic growth.

And my great economists don't want me to say this, but I think we can do better than that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: All right, let's talk and let's fact check. So with me now, Kathleen Hartnett White. She is one of Trump's economic advisors and the co-author of "Fueling Freedom: Exposing the Mad War on Energy." Andy Green is with us today, managing director for economic policy at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, and he supports Hillary Clinton. And CNN global economic analyst, Rana Foroohar, who wrote the book "Makers and Takers." So wonderful having you all with me. And before we go to sort of either side, to you first, if I may. RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: Yes.

BALDWIN: Just on this - the promise of the 4 percent economic growth.

FOROOHAR: Yes.

BALDWIN: How does the number fall on your ears? How realistic is that?

FOROOHAR: Not very realistic, in my opinion. I mean from what I heard in the plan that he laid out today in his speech at the Economic Club, this is predicated a lot on the idea that tax cuts would jump-start growth in America. Now, for if last 20 years, that has not happened. It did not happen under Bush one in 2001 or 2003. It did not happen under George W. Bush. It didn't even happen under Obama. So this isn't a bipartisan thing. Tax cuts just haven't created growth in a big way in 20 years. So I don't see these numbers as really adding up.

BALDWIN: Kathleen, you are advising him. She says it's unrealistic.

KATHLEEN HARTNETT WHITE, CO-AUTHOR, "FUELING FREEDOM": I would respectfully disagree with you. And as a goal, and really a goal to which he wants his policies to hold him, I think it is realistic. And if you go back a little farther in U.S. history, it was using tax cut - tax cuts was the mechanism largely attributed to robust job creation under JFK, John Kennedy, and under - under Reagan. And I think -

BALDWIN: Is that fair to use those comparisons because that's going back mighty far?

WHITE: I think it is because free markets, low taxes, you know, the free enterprise system works.

BALDWIN: You're shaking your head.

FOROOHAR: If I could just jump in. No, demographics were completely different in the country back then. Globalization was different. You didn't have the kind of headwinds from technology-related job destruction. And if I can respectfully say, during the Reagan administration, there may have been tax cuts, but there was a budget deficit that was - or a debt, I should say, that was double the size after - or, sorry, triple the size after two terms. So, you know, if you go back too far, the structural situation is different. If you go to Reagan, you know, you've got tax cuts with a debt that grew. So, again, the math doesn't work.

BALDWIN: Andy, let me just bring your voice in on Hillary Clinton and her promises, economically speaking, as it pertains to growth. What is she promising the country?

ANDY GREEN, MANAGING DIRECTOR FOR ECONOMIC POLICY, CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: Well, she's promising to invest in infrastructure, which will raise wages, increase productivity. She's promising to have strong trade enforcement. She's promising to invest so that women - and make it so that women who are currently not making 80 cents on the dollar for every dollar man makes. You know, I want to go back to something that one of the - my

colleagues here on the panel mentioned, which is, you know, Donald Trump, one of his proposals is to have massive deregulation. And if we look at the deregulatory history of the last 15 years under Republicans, it's caused the middle class tremendous harm. Between 2001 and 2010, because of the global financial crisis, middle-class families saw their wealth decline by 49 percent. Now it's rebounded significantly since then, but we can't go back to a world of trickle down deregulatory economics and, quite frankly, the forthcoming risk of climate change is tremendous, puts trillions of dollars of our economy at risk and, you know, repealing the clean air and clean water proposals and the other proposals that that Obama administration proposes to do to address climate risk is very serious and could put the entire economy at risk.

[14:05:32] BALDWIN: To be fair, Kathleen, I want you to respond to that.

WHITE: I'd like to respond and to perhaps some of the first remarks he made and then later to those about climate issues. I think the additional components of Donald Trump's economic plan add to the job- creating dynamic that low taxes, and this is smart, smart regulatory reform. There are - over the years, the quantity and stringency of regulations has grown and grown and grown. A lot of them are duplicative. It's not like not, you know, maintaining air quality standards and water quality standards, but there are ways that, I think, as a former regulator, head of Texas's very large environmental regulatory agency, you can regulate smart so it doesn't create such costs. Regulatory issues are what many economists view as the greatest challenge for small businesses and interesting studies of how few - we have had -

BALDWIN: OK.

WHITE: Many as a very, very weak recovery. So to accept the new normal, which I think is how one can, you know, very generally characterize Hillary Clinton's economic program, is a very, very dangerous path for this country. And we can achieve the kind of economic growth that made the 20th century the source, not only of more economic growth in this country, but as the United Nations said one time, in the last 50 years the - the last five decades of the 20th century, the global economy released more people from abject poverty than in the 500 years ago.

BALDWIN: OK.

GREEN: Can I -

BALDWIN: OK. Actually, Andy, let me - I do want to get to tax returns before we run out of time. On tax returns we heard from the most powerful Republican in Washington today, the House speaker, Paul Ryan. You know, he has now joined this chorus on Donald Trump releasing his tax returns. Here he was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: I'll defer to Donald Trump as to when he thinks the appropriate time to release his returns. I know he's under an audit and he's got an opinion about when to release those. I'll defer to him on that.

QUESTION: Do you think it's a good idea?

RYAN: I really - it's fine. I think we should release ours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let me add on to that. We also have heard from Donald Trump's son, Don Jr. He gave an interview to "The Pittsburgh Tribune Review" about why his father is not releasing his tax returns and he said, quote, "because he's got a 12,000 page tax return that would create financial auditors out of every person in this country asking questions that would detract from" his father's "main message."

So, Kathleen, just back over to you, what does he mean by that, detract? How would it detract?

WHITE: I - I really can't answer that question. My - my - and I'm not inside the Trump campaign - is policy. That's what all my professional work is. So political issues like that, a far (INAUDIBLE) campaign.

BALDWIN: Do you think he should - let me just ask you the questions I've asked a lot of Trump folks, though, do you think he should release them?

WHITE: Yes, I think the most - I think transparency across the board.

BALDWIN: You agree?

WHITE: Medical records, tax records and all of that.

BALDWIN: Yes.

WHITE: I think that everyone in this country, regardless of their party affiliation, deserves that.

BALDWIN: You're nodding. Yes.

FOROOHAR: Absolutely. And I think 12,000 pages worries me a little bit. I mean, you know, one has to wonder why they haven't been released already. I think that there's going to be questions asked about the tax rate if they are eventually released. You know, real estate, finance, these areas people often pay lower-than-average tax rates. That's an issue and he should clear it.

BALDWIN: OK. All right.

GREEN: Can I jump in?

BALDWIN: Yes, please do, Andy. Please do.

GREEN: Absolutely. Can - I - you know, senator - Vice President Biden gave a speech at the Center for American Progress last week where he said, if you want to know a person's values, look at their budget. And from Donald Trump's speech today, I think it really is emblematic of where his values are. He had, last time, proposed a massive $9 trillion giveaway to - of taxes. He dialed that back, wanted to be a little bit more fiscally responsible. How did he do that? By eliminating and significantly reducing the middle-class tax cut that he had proposed. So his policies, when push comes to shove, are about protecting the giveaways to the rich, the 15 percent pass through tax rate, the repeal of the estate tax proposes to give somewhere between $4 billion and $7 billion to his own family. So, you know, we have very serious questions about his tax returns, what business dealings he has with foreign governments and I think by having more transparency we'll know exactly where his values are and I don't think that his values are about the American people and the American middle class.

BALDWIN: Well, I think we're all in agreement on the transparency issues. Andy and Kathleen and Rana, thank you so much. I appreciate all of you being here.

Next, the Trump campaign is releasing - speaking of transparency - they're releasing the results of Mr. Trump's physical. Not his medical records, but we'll hear exactly what Donald Trump told Dr. Oz. We'll talk to our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, about all of that.

[14:10:13] And Hillary Clinton weighing in on who she thinks is behind the hacking of the former Secretary of State Colin Powell's private e- mails.

Stay with me. You're watching CNN's special live coverage. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: And we're back. I'm Brooke Baldwin. This is CNN.

Donald Trump today released the result of his very recent physical in a very Donald Trump kind of way, joining Dr. Mehmet Oz for his hour- long syndicated TV show. It was taped yesterday. It's airing all across the country today. Dr. - listen to me, Mr. Trump discussed his health plan and health history. And one thing he would like to change.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MEHMET OZ: And your BMI is high. It's probably close to 30, which is sort of the barrier for most people.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Yes. Yes.

OZ: Do your doctors or your family ever give you a hard time about your weight?

TRUMP: Yes, I think I could lose a little weight. I've - I've always been a little bit this way, you know? I've sort of always been there. I was probably a good swimmer. But I've always been this way. I think that, yes, if I had one thing, I'd like to lose weight. It's tough because of the way I live. But the one thing I would like to do is be able to drop 15, 20 pounds. It would be good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:15:21] BALDWIN: The Trump campaign also released a note from his doctor who says he is in quote/unquote "excellent physical health."

So I have Dr. Sanjay Gupta here with me, who has looked at the letter.

Nice to see you again.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You, too. You, too.

BALDWIN: You've looked at the letter from Trump's doctor. What does it say?

GUPTA: You know, it's a single-page summary. And we've read a lot of health summaries it seems this week, right, Brooke. This one is another one from Dr. Bornstein (ph). Looking at the medical records, it's part of this physical exam that he did, and then summarizing some of the test results.

I think, you know, there's no red flags. I think if anyone's looking for red flags, there's nothing that's a red flag. Mehmet Oz is a heart surgeon, as you know, so he was sort of zeroing in on some of the heart stuff. And Donald Trump has had a lot of different heart tests. He's had an echocardiogram and he's had EKGs. He's had CAT scan of his heart. He does have very mild heart disease. He takes a statin, a cholesterol-lowering drug. But there was nothing in particular that jumped out.

You heard the clip you just played. He's close to - he's right on the borderline between overweight and obese and he wants to lose weight. Not an uncommon predicament for a lot of people. So those are the - sort of the big things that came out. His numbers, his cholesterol numbers and all that look pretty good. Again, he's on that medication to lower his numbers. But everything was, you know, about normal for his age.

BALDWIN: I mean, listen, the push for transparency, and that applies both - to Donald Trump and to Hillary Clinton, is valid. We want to make sure the person will be fit to serve the highest office in the land.

GUPTA: Yes.

BALDWIN: What more should we know as voters?

GUPTA: You know - you know, Brooke, it's interesting, and I've been covering these sorts of stories for a long time. 2004 was the first campaign that I covered. And I've made - been making this list over the years of things that I think are important. They're not necessarily invasive and I don't think any of this has to be - you know, I'm not trying to embarrass somebody in terms of their health stuff (ph). BALDWIN: Right.

GUPTA: But I made a list of things that I think sort of are - are what you're really looking for. You want to know, obviously, the cognitive function, if someone has problems with cognition that might manifest during presidency. If there's physical limitation, including things that involve the heart, the lungs, the brain. Obviously any kind of terminal disease that might shorten one's life or require advanced care while they're president. Medications that are required that may be sedating or some sort of intermittently incapacitating things like epilepsy that is not controlled, seizures that are not controlled, for example. Those are the sorts of things that I think, you know, I'd look for.

When I looked at Mr. McCain's - Senator McCain's records back in 2008, that was sort of the checklist that I had there. And, you know, frankly, we've seen these candidates now for a long time. We've seen them for 18 months crisscrossing the country giving speeches, doing all this stuff. If one of those things were - were true, you'd probably have noticed it in some way by now. And really you haven't with these candidates. So that's sort of our own litmus test. But as a doctor, it's those things specifically that I would look for.

BALDWIN: OK. Sanjay, thank you very much.

GUPTA: You got it. Thank you.

BALDWIN: Sanjay Gupta.

Just a short time from now, Hillary Clinton, speaking of one's health, you know, she's been out for the last three days getting better from her pneumonia. She will be holding her first rally speaking in Greensboro, North Carolina. We will listen in for that. That happens during this show. My colleague, Don Lemon, actually just talked to her about race, about hate, and who she thinks is behind the recent Colin Powell e-mail hack. We'll talk to Don Lemon. He will join me here on set.

Also, CNN is live in the Syrian city of Aleppo. Just total and utter devastation there as this temporary cease-fire holds off the violence there for now. We'll take you to Syria coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:23:24] BALDWIN: Just a short time from now, we will be seeing Hillary Clinton for the first time. She's back on the trail since she has had pneumonia the last couple of days. She has been back home in Chappaqua. She is already, though, speaking out. She's speaking with my colleague, Don Lemon, on "The Tom Joyner Radio Show" about her health. She talked about hate. She talked race and suggests it is Russia to blame for the recent hacking of former Secretary of State Colin Powell's e-mails. Here she was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I do think we have to speak out against this hatred. You know, Trump attacked a federal judge for his Mexican heritage. He bullied a gold star family because of their Muslim faith. He promoted the lie and he still is promoting the lie that our first black president is not a true American.

The Russians are continuing to attempt or to interfere in our election. And, you know, I have to say, I'm increasingly concerned by how we've seen Donald Trump's alarming closeness with the Kremlin become more and more clear over the course of this campaign. It's deeply concerning and there's a lot that Trump should answer for.

DON LEMON, CNN: The new polls that are in, in swing states that show that you're down in some states or that Donald Trump is gaining. Are you concerned about enthusiasm in those polls in swing states? That's where it counts?

CLINTON: You know, I - I have said repeatedly, and I will do it again, I have always thought this was going to be a close election. We have our organization in place. I'm very proud of what we've been building now for a year. I hope everybody who's listening takes this really seriously.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:25:08] CLINTON: That was just a preview. I have him with me, Don Lemon, in the daylight hours.

Nice to see you.

DON LEMON: I know. I've been napping on my couch all day.

BALDWIN: What I really wanted to hear was, you know, the conversation you had with her about race in this current presidential election.

LEMON: Yes.

BALDWIN: What did you - what did you talk about?

LEMON: Actually it was my colleague on "The Tom Joyner Morning Show," Civil Wilks (ph), who asked her about, you know, some of the hatred - hatred that has been stirred up on the - you know, because of, in her estimation, Donald Trump. And she talked about his association with the alt-right. She says that she believes that she - he is capitalizing on race and also she discussed the birther movement saying, you know, that Donald Trump was, you know - instigated that movement and kept it going and took it to a whole entirely different level by insinuating or saying that the president was not of this country, that he was not American and then kept that going and still now not apologizing for it. So she was very, very specific about that and she said that's not the America that she knows and the America that she knows is an inclusive America.

BALDWIN: You know, you pointed out, though, those battleground states.

LEMON: Yes.

BALDWIN: I mean it - and especially in some national polls they are tied.

LEMON: Yes.

BALDWIN: And when you hear the language from Hillary Clinton, xenophobic, racist, you know, monster, yet how does that explain how the race is so tight?

LEMON: Yes. Yes. Especially when you look at it - if you look at politically, at a political resume, Hillary Clinton's versus a Donald Trump, there's really no comparison. And so, you know, the traditional - if you look at politics through a traditional lens, she should be trouncing him. But this country is wanting a change right now as you can see with the outsider candidates, as you saw with Bernie Sanders, as you see now with Donald Trump.

So, you know, the polls, as you know, and as she said, are a snapshot in time, as her surrogates will say and as the Trump surrogates will say are a snapshot in time. It's great when you're ahead in the polls and when you're behind you don't believe them, but the only real poll that counts is going to be election day.

BALDWIN: On November 8th, yes.

LEMON: And I think the big marker coming up will be the debates.

BALDWIN: The debates.

LEMON: And that's going to help decide this election.

BALDWIN: On the Colin Powell e-mails, you know, we heard in the clip she was saying Russia. She's pointing to Russia. Does she have evidence to support that?

LEMON: I don't know. You'd have to ask her. I don't know if she has - but she's certainly insinuating it, especially -

BALDWIN: She's flat out saying it's Russia.

LEMON: Yes, with Donald Trump's, you know, positive comments about Vladimir Putin and what type of leader he is. So I think she thinks there is some evidence, especially considering that she - the DNC has been hacked, Colin Powell was hacked and he said disparaging words about her and disparaging things about Donald Trump. Even more disparaging things about Donald Trump. She definitely thinks that, you know, it's one-sided because the RNC and Republicans for the most part are not being hacked. So she believes the two, sort of, there's a - there's a connection there.

BALDWIN: Yes. Yes. Before I let you go, is anything, any moment that really surprised you?

LEMON: I wasn't surprised, but it was good to hear because no one wants anyone to be sick. You know, you don't want Donald Trump to sick. You don't want Hillary Clinton to be sick. You don't want me to be sick or you to be sick. She sounded, you know, really strong. And I think she probably needed those couple days off. What stood out to me was, I think that she sounded strong. And just

speaking to women, what was interesting to me over the last couple of days where her political opponents have been playing that video of her, you know, at the 9/11 Memorial being -

BALDWIN: Stumbling into the van.

LEMON: Stumbling into the van and being held and having to, you know, Secret Service having to take her in there, as a moment of weakness, most women that I have that spoken to see that as a woman being a woman and saying that she has to get up and go to work and she has to be strong and they actually felt her - a bit sorry for her and that made her seem more human. So I think in some odd way, among women voters, which will help decide this election -

BALDWIN: Had to humanize (INAUDIBLE).

LEMON: Will have a positive effect for her.

BALDWIN: An interesting note.

LEMON: Yes.

BALDWIN: And we'll see her for the first time. Again, she'll be in Greensboro, North Carolina. We'll take it live next hour. Don Lemon, thank you, thank you.

LEMON: Thank you, as always. Always a pleasure.

BALDWIN: Look for this guy, 10:00 Eastern here on CNN.

Donald Trump, today, slamming Ford, saying the company is moving out of the U.S., taking jobs with them, thousands of jobs, he says. Well, the CEO of Ford is about to join us live to respond, a he's striking back hard. Don't miss that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)