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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Trump Meets with Henry Kissinger; Boko Haram Captive Found Safe. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired May 18, 2016 - 12:30   ET

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

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: -- Muslim ban. He has said he would be more comfy with another nominee. He said glowing things about Hillary Clinton. So I guess the question is, what do you suppose is going to come out of this meeting, things that you could put in headlines or things that you can't?

[12:30:18] TANA GOERTZ, SENIOR ADVISER, TRUMP CAMPAIGN: Well, your guess is as good as mine.

However, I do know Mr. Trump very well and I know that he likes to meet with people to who are highly respected as Dr. Kissinger is and meet with them to get his input.

So I think it's going to be a great meeting. And I look forward to hearing how it goes.

BANFIELD: Did he request it or does anybody else suggest it? Like RNC suggest this happened, did Henry Kissinger reach out? Do you have any idea?

GOERTZ: No, I don't I'm sorry. I don't have the specifics.

BANFIELD: I know very few people do ...

GOERTZ: I would think you're right.

BANFIELD: Yeah, Ryan, let me ask you this the comment about being OK with, you know reaching out and talking with Kim Jong-un of North Korea, at the same time, almost within, I think, seven days that sort of some, you know, less than flattering conversation about the prime minister of England, David Cameron, the new Muslim Mayor, Sadiq Khan, these are the number allies of the United States.

So I'm just curious about how all of that factors in to the messaging when you're talking about foreign policy.

RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I'll tell you this, Ashleigh. And just one correction, Ashleigh I think you said New York Times. I'm with the New Yorker, just so ...

BANFIELD: Oh, I'm so sorry. I beg your pardon, big difference.

LIZZA: I think look, I've been doing a lot of interviews with Republicans in Washington the last two weeks up on the hill. And a lot of Republicans who have been slow to come around to Trump, I would say foreign policy is one of the biggest sources of concern.

You know, their view is, as president, there's only so much, I hate to use this word, but frankly, damage Trump can do because he has to submit legislation to Congress and they'll have a chance to influence that. But on foreign policy, of course, the president has a much freer hand and Republicans on the hill and the house and senate might not have as much influence there.

And so, you know, from his comments about pulling out of NATO to his comments about, you know, getting rid of the security guarantees to South Korea and Japan and, you know, more alarming saying he would do direct one on one negotiators with the sort of lunatic in North Korea which across the foreign policy spectrum no matter how far or right or left you are, there really is -- are no foreign policy thinkers that believe that that's a good idea.

So there's a lot of concern about Trump's foreign policy views when he just sort of goes on instinct and maybe doesn't have advisors around him coming up with more clear positions.

And so I think from the Republican establishment's opinion, the more he can sort of talk to people like Kissinger and other sort of, you know, muckety-mucks the elite foreign policy advisers at the Republican party, the better because a lot of them frankly are concerned, yeah.

BANFIELD: So basically when you mention the off-the-cuff, I think I'm paraphrasing what you said, he wasn't off-the-cuff when last month he gave a foreign policy speech, it was scripted and he read it off tele prompter, he was real specific about some language that everybody seized on America first, not the first time we've heard it. America first being very isolationist and here he is meeting with a fella who is the first United States, secretary of state to meet with Mao Zedong in communist China that is so not isolationist.

So Ben how -- fly on the wall me in that meeting with two guys like that.

BEN HOWE, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, REDSTATE.COM: I think that for the most part, he's going to be trying to figure out, how can he make the people, the establishment, who are concerned and who may even look at Hillary as better on foreign policy. How is he going to merge those worlds and make it so that the people who he spoke to in the primaries where he was critical of Republican foreign policy, I mean, that was a big plank for him, for him to now come off of that and appeal to what embodies Republican foreign policy, I think he has to try to figure out a way to marry those things.

So I think he's going to be looking to Kissinger for advice on how to make all parties happy because the one thing that Donald Trump.

BANFIELD: Are you suggesting Donald Trump looks at a new marriage? Is that what you're saying Ben?

HOWE: Yes.

BANFIELD: Please don't say that.

HOWE: I'll try to use less marital language.

BANFIELD: Thank you.

HOWE: But I do think he would definitely be trying to figure out, how can I win without losing any of the people who I brought here by being critical of Republicans?

BANFIELD: Delicate dance. And Tana, I love that you laughed because it's, you know, it's ...

GOERTZ: Well, I love your sense of humor.

BANFIELD: OK, right back at you. And guys can you stick around? I have more questions for all three of you, got to throw in a quick break. But not before I ask a few more questions about other headlines that came along last night and see all those women on the stage, all those family members. Many of them now coming forward to say, you know what, we are not happy with the way some of the media are depicting our dad, our husband, and we're not afraid to say so.

[12:35:18] So this is some pretty big fighting words. Was that directed by him? I'll tell you in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka says that she was bothered by The New York Times story that claims her father mistreats women. Here's what she told CBS this morning.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[12:39:59] IVANKA TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S DAUGHTER: I found it to be pretty disturbing based on the facts that I know them, both in the capacity as a daughter and in the capacity as an executive who's worked alongside him at this company for over a decade.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Donald Trump's wife Melania, also setting the record straight on her husband in an interview with Du Jour magazine when asked about comedian Louis C.K.'s comment in March likening her husband to Hitler, Melania reportedly starred blankly at the reporters saying she didn't know who the comedian was. But she did say, "We know the truth. He is not Hitler. He wants to help America. He wants to unite people. They think he doesn't, but he does."

Melania spoke of the election saying this, "They go after him, so he goes after them. It's nothing personal. It's business. Everybody wants to win. He thinks he's the one. She thinks she's the one."

And with that I want to bring in my panel in again. Trump campaign adviser Tana Goertz, Ben Howe of RedState.com and CNN Political Commentator and the New Yorker writer, Ryan Lizza.

All right, if I can, I want to start with the women's issues and Tana, I'm going to throw this one at you. The campaign through Corey Lewandowski, the manager has said that they're not going to do anything different. They're not going to target women or hold rallies for women to try to get past the so-called women's problem that he has, you know, his likability factor.

But this women thing is bugging him. You can tell. I mean he's gone after The New York Times with tweet after tweet after tweet and now Melania and Ivanka, I don't know if they've been dispatched but it seems like it's a concerted effort to try to knock down this woman reporting issue and try to bring up the woman likability numbers, am I wrong?

GOERTZ: Well, definitely, Ashleigh. The fact is, if it was my father, I would be defending him as well. If it was my husband, I would be defending him as well.

As a woman who works for Mr. Trump and knows him personally, it outrages us because it's so far from the truth. If you know Mr. Trump like we do, and you know how good he is to women and men, it's maddening.

So I can see why they're defending their loved one. As I'm defending him and it's just unheard of it. We are not -- we don't have to worry about women getting behind Mr. Trump because women all across the United States are already doing these rallies. So the campaign we don't have to go and do woman rallies. They're actually existing as we speak. They're being formed. I'm being asked to come to these rallies.

So women across America are saying, we are the voters, we love Donald Trump. We support him and we're not going to buy into this frenzy that the media is creating. So I'm 100 percent behind the ladies. I know both women and they are 100 percent correct that Mr. Trump is not this animal that the media portrays him to be.

BANFIELD: So I want to switch gears a little bit Ben if I can with you to the news that broke in the last, I think, 12 to 18 hours that the RNC has inked the deal with Donald Trump, a fund raising deal.

But, and it's a big but, it excludes some pretty important states. It includes the states that Donald Trump has to win, the swing state like Ohio and Florida and Colorado and then also Michigan and Pennsylvania. A lot of people say he can't win this election unless he wins all of Mitt Romney's states and votes.

So what's your take on why the RNC left these states out of the deal?

HOWE: Well, I think that they were being a little realistic about where they could get the most money. And if they're going to focus on areas where they can get the most donations then those aren't the states where it's most competitive right now.

I think most of the people the RNC, Ryan himself, Paul Ryan, they all have to accept the reality of where we're at here which is we have a divisive figure. Well, they have a divisive figure who is going to be destructive for a lot of people who would normally donate to the GOP. They have to be more thoughtful than they've been in previous years. It's not going to be like it was before.

BANFIELD: I want to stay on the money train here and I want to talk about some financial disclosures which are required if you're going to run for president. It's different than tax returns. Financial disclosure forms that you have a big, big difference, yeah.

So Ryan, this question is for you. Both of the campaign or some of the nominees will actually Clinton is not a presumptive nominee. But they released their financial disclosure forms and Trump's rough income last year was $560 million to Senator Clinton, along with her husband, reporting about $6.7 million with regard to royalties and book speaking fees. That's with Bill Clinton as well.

What's fascinating apart from it's always funny to see, fun I should say, to see how much people make.

[12:45:02] The Clinton actually released the forms. The thing that she gives actually to those who need it, she gave to the public. But Donald Trump, instead released a statement, he did not release the forms. So are we in the same boat with the tax returns as we are with the financial disclosures? Ryan?

LIZZA: Maybe. I think there's going to be -- on the financial disclosures, I think there's going to be a lot more pressure for that to be public. And I think we'll see that the Trump campaign is more likely to cave on that. It should be a public document, if I'm not mistaken.

But on the IRS disclosure being the first major nominee, that's not required, right? The IRS disclosure is something that's become a norm in politics. There's no laws that says you have to do.

BANFIELD: In 40 years. Yeah, it is a norm ...

LIZZA: Yeah.

BANFIELD: ... of 40 years which I think you can say it's not the new normal. It is the normal now.

LIZZA: That issue is not going to go away because we in the press who -- our job is to make sure the candidates can have as much transparency as possible are not going to let that go, and I will tell you right now, that Hillary Clinton's campaign is not going to let that go because it's just unprecedented for someone of that wealth and that means not to show where his income coming from And, look, a lot of candidates who reached that level didn't have very interesting taxes. There wasn't a lot to show on those forms.

Donald Trump clearly does. And so I don't think he's going to get through this election without showing that and frankly, from a strategic perspective, the sooner you do it, the better, because then people digest it, they look through it and frankly, it gets forgotten about. He'd much rather do it now than in the heat of the general election in the late fall.

BANFIELD: On that same -- go ahead.

HOWE: I have to say, I mean, I disagree that this is going to be a big deal for him. Having just gone through the primaries and witnessed what happens when conventional wisdom is presented to Donald Trump, he must do this or if he doesn't, he will lose, that continues ...

LIZZA: Yeah.

HOWE: ... to be proven wrong. And I don't know that his supporters, or the people who flock to him, they're going to look at his normal attacks and they're going to say this is just the media doing what they always do or this is the party doing what always to be establishment. All the normal bumper sticker stuff they say and I don't think it'll effect them at all and doubt it who ever really.

BANFIELD: Just a quick button it up there, Tana, if you could for me, are we going to see his tax returns before the election? Regardless of pressure ...

GOERTZ: Absolutely.

BANFIELD: Before the election are we going to see his tax returns?

GOERTZ: I would believe you will.

BANFIELD: Really?

LIZZA: That's pretty big news as a trump spokesperson.

BANFIELD: That's awesome. This is news.

GOERTZ: His legal counsel is aware that everybody wants to see this. He's been under a multi-year audit and in due time, it will come out. I read the statement as well.

BANFIELD: Due time is different before the election? So I'm asking you before the election, you said yes ...

GOERTZ: I am not ...

BANFIELD: ... and did yo mean that?

GOERTZ: Well, I'm just saying, I'm not his legal counsel. I don't make that determination. But what I wild let you know is Mr. Trump is very wealthy. Mr. Trump is self-funding his campaign. Mr. Trump has no interest ...

HOWE: He's not self-funding anymore.

BANFIELD: He's fund raising now.

GOERTZ: Hang on, now.

BANFIELD: We had a conversation about the deal yesterday with the RNC to fund raise together.

(Crosstalk)

GOERTZ: Excuse me, can I speak?

BANFIELD: Go ahead.

GOERTZ: Close to the $50 million that he did self-fund, close to the $50 million that he did self-fund. He's not looking to get any of that money back. Now the RNC and Mr. Trump will be fund raising.

BANFIELD: Tana, part of the deal that he just had with the RNC does allow to be paid back.

GOERTZ: That is correct. That does allow to be paid back.

LIZZA: Self-funding is when you spend your own money on a campaign. He campaigned alone and then raised several million dollars through small donations.

(Crosstalk)

GOERTZ: My knowledge is Mr. Trump is not looking to get his money he put in up to this point returned back to him. That is his donation to making America great again.

BANFIELD: That's awesome.

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: You did two big pieces of news on the show, Tana, that you do believe he's going to release ...

GOERTZ: Good.

BANFIELD: ... returns before the election, huge, and that he does not intend to ask for the money back.

GOERTZ: That is correct, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Tana, you're welcome back every single day. Thank you for that. And Ben, Ryan, and Lisa, I'll say the same because this has been a great conversation. Thank you to all three of you. Appreciate it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks Ashleigh.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take care guys.

BANFIELD: Got a little bit of other news to make as well here. Do you remember that phrase bring back our girls? Remember that was everywhere. It was viral. It was more than two years ago and not a single one of those kidnapped Nigerian girls by Boko Haram have been found and I am happy to say until today, because now, breaking news, someone has been found.

We're going to give you the story next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:53:55] BANFIELD: For two years, there's been a loud cry to bring back our girls. More than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls who are kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists. And today, one of them, just one is home. The first girl believed to have been found, and escaped, in fact, since 2014. CNN's international correspondent, David McKenzie, joining me now from Johannesburg, South Africa. Escape is miraculous to me especially after two years. Listen, do we have any other details of how they found her and how she got away?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ashleigh, the details are still coming in. And as you say, more than two years after these girls were kidnapped from their high school, one of them, just one seems to have escaped.

Now, according to activists we've spoken to, it seems like the young girl was with her, "husband." In fact, Boko Haram fighter she was married to and had a young baby with her. So it's possible that that fighter had defected from the ISIS-affiliated group from deep within the Sambisa forest where. The forest where that Boko Haram fighting force is cornered.

[12:55:11] A vigilante group which patrols her into the forest that came across, one person recognized her. According to the activist, she was taken away, taken to a family where they identified and must have been an amazing reunion after all this time and now the Nigerian military has taken to a place of safety at a military base.

Now the bring back our girls campaign, as you remember, was huge around the world. There'll be hopes that more could be freed soon. Ashleigh?

BANFIELD: Oh god, I mean it's miraculous. David McKenzie, great reporting. Keep us posted. We've also got this continuing story. The fight that's brewing between Bernie Sanders and the Democratic Party. After the fallout from the heated Nevada convention.

Coming up, we're going to talk to Democratic National Committee chair. We'll get her reaction to Sanders campaign manager saying that she's been throwing shade at Sanders since the beginning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)