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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan Will Not Support Donald Trump; Sources: FBI Interviews Clinton Aides In Email Probe; Officials: No Evidence Clinton "Willfully Violated The Law" So Far; Clinton Attacks Trump In New Video; Trump Tweets "I Love Hispanics!"; Clinton's Coal Comments Fuel Backlash. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired May 05, 2016 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:00:25] ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Good evening. Thanks for joining us.
As I heard my friend and colleague Dana Bash say, we are running out of adjectives. She used seismic and that seem just to be out right. Paul Ryan, speaker of the house, one of the most powerful Republicans in office, the man who will preside over the Republican national convention told Jake Tapper just a few hours ago that he is not ready to support presumptive nominee Donald Trump. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Mr. Speaker, you have said throughout this process that you will support the Republican presidential nominee. Now you have a presumptive nominee, Donald Trump. Will you support him?
REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: Well, to be perfectly candid, Jake, I'm just not there at this point. I am not there right now. And I hope to, though, and I want to. But I think what is required is that we unify this party. And I think the bulk of the burden on unifying the party will have to come from our presumptive nominee.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, Trump responded in a statement a short time ago quote "I am not ready to support speaker Ryan's agenda. Perhaps in the future we can work together and come to an agreement about what is best for the American people. They have been treated soy badly for so long that it is about time for politicians to put them first."
As I mentioned, speaker Ryan also serves as the chairman of the Republican National Convention. And speaking of that convention in July, there's a growing list of big names in the party that rsvp in a big fat no. Mitt Romney, John McCain, former presidents George W. Bush and George H. W. Bush all say they are skipping the convention as with Jeb Bush. All signs that Donald Trump has huge hill to climb if he wants to unify his own party. Trump is in West Virginia tonight for his first event since becoming
the presumptive nominee. We are monitoring that speech. So far he hasn't mentioned house speaker Ryan.
Chief political correspondent Dana Bash, though, joins us right now. You call what Paul Ryan had to say about seismic. What are your sources saying about the fallout?
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That it is still happening. First of all, most importantly because as you described this isn't just a senior guy giving his opinion. He is the leader of the Republican Party, most highly elected Republican, never mind that he is second in line to the presidency right now. But he also speaks for what one source described as the engine of the Republican Party and that is the house Republican caucus. And he would not have done this.
Now, it is open to question whether or not he consulted enough people within the caucus or not, but regardless he knows the vibe and the temperature of his caucus very well. He wouldn't have done it had he not been confident that he wouldn't get blow back, in fact, just the opposite, had he not been confident he thought this was the right thing to do, to give breathing space, running room to his members if they want to run against Donald Trump or certainly not with him. But more importantly this is Paul Ryan trying to get leverage out of Donald Trump to say I am going to withhold my endorsement. Let me just make sure you act like a grownup, basically is what he is saying, and a conservative.
And I just want to add that the fact we're looking at the screen, and Donald Trump has been speaking for some time, we've all been listening to see if he would do what, you know, the old Donald Trump or usual Donald Trump would do which, you know, sort of take out his boxing glove and counter punch harder than he was punched, might have done it in that short statement, but hasn't done it from the stump. And I think that is quite telling.
COOPER: It is certainly telling. I mean, there's essentially right now a standoff in the highest ranking electoral Republican, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate. How does that play out?
BASH: You know, who knows? It is unclear how it is going to play out. Because what makes it so muddy and such uncharted waters really is that it is not just the Republican nominee and the house speaker, it is that those people represent as really big different sections of the Republican party right now. And Paul Ryan when he was talking to Jake tapper earlier, he fundamentally acknowledged that Donald Trump is not from his wing of the party. He also acknowledged that Trump represents a very angry and very active segment of the party. They're not going to be happy with Ryan withholding his support.
But it is the fact that it is not just them and goes so, so deep, and this chasm goes so into the roots of the party is incredibly -- it is a bad, bad sign for a party and for the people within the party who look to heal and get behind Donald Trump because he is the person the voters nominated to be their presidential candidate.
[20:05:10] COOPER: You also got news about Mr. Trump picking up some support. What have you heard?
BASH: That's right. And I think this speaks to that chasm. Rick Perry who was an opponent of Donald Trump, ran against him, and then when he dropped out he endorsed Ted Cruz, both Texans. I spoke to him just a short while ago from Texas and I actually was calling him, Anderson, because I heard that people trying to get a third party candidate were trying to get Rick Perry to join that, and to be their third party candidate. And his answer was not only am I not going to be the third party candidate, I think that it is (INAUDIBLE). And I, Rick Perry, is going to endorsing Donald Trump because he thinks that is the will of the people, the will of the party, and that we need to move forward and heal. I asked him if he was open to being Donald Trump's running mate, and he said that he would do anything he could to help him get elected, including that.
COOPER: Just - I mean, as memory serves me, wasn't he one of the first who had run to speak out against Donald Trump and to do it based on religious grounds?
BASH: I went back and just looked it up, it was last July. So it was a long time ago. It was almost a year ago that he gave a formal speech with prepared remarks. And Rick Perry called Donald Trump a cancer on conservatism. And I, of course, reminded Perry of that. And I said so, OK, what changed. And his answer was well, he is not a perfect man, he said, but he believes that Trump is smart enough to get the right people around him and to listen to those people in a way that Perry believes that Trump will be an OK president. Because I said not just that, it is not just about conservatism. You would question his temperament which is a lingering problem. And he said no.
And again, just to emphasize much as powerful, as unbelievable as the fact that the speaker of the house isn't endorsing Donald Trump is, you certainly have another wing, including Rick Perry, who are supporting Trump today.
COOPER: Right. Important. Dana Bash. Dana, thanks.
Lots to talk about with the panel. I don't think we have seen a party this divided since sixth grade dances while the boys were on the side of the room and while all the girls are on the other. Joining me tonight until the deejay plays Stairway to Heaven former New York City council speaker Kristen Quinn who supports Clinton, CNN senior political commentator, New York One political anchor Errol Louis, CNN political analyst and "New York Times" presidential campaign correspondent Maggie Haberman, CNN political commentators Kayleigh McEnany who supports Trump and Tara Setmayer and also former New York Republican congressman Rick Lazio.
Maggie, let start with you. What is going on? I mean, not only for speaker Ryan to believe this but to say it so publicly.
MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It is an astonishing moment in the party. You have, as you said, you have standard bearers saying I am here, you have the highest elected Republican saying I'm not with you right now, and you have the old members of the party, the former president, two former presidents, and their one brothers and son saying we're not endorsing you, we are not going to the convention, we are not going to be involved.
The party is split into basically tribes at the moment. And I don't know how you bring it all back together or if it emerges as just something new. But, you know, there was a moment Trump captured the nomination, became the presumptive nominee. And it seemed like well, this will eventually heal itself, even as people took in what it meant. I don't think we really know what this means. Rick Perry, as you said and Dana said, he was so specific staking ground as anti- Trump early on. He was one of the earliest to get rolled by Trump. And he is now joining on, as going to become a key surrogate. That's an important moment. But you have people like Paul Ryan are very focused on the future of the party and future of what conservatism means. I am not sure where this goes. Ryan is very poor to saying to Trump you have to come to me. And Trump is saying, absolutely not right now.
COOPER: I mean, Kayleigh is a Trump supporter. What do you make of this? This isn't Paul Ryan doing this give covered other Republicans to do the same?
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, because I think Paul Ryan will eventually come around. We heard about this meeting that supposed to happen next week. I think they will come around and there will be unity. But the one thing I have to say about Paul Ryan, I respect him a lot, but then today he made this announcement, he used the term unity 27 times by my count. Well, you can say unity all you want but your actions do not speaks unity. If you want that unity, you do what Mitch McConnell did. You do what Rick Perry did. If you are too conservative, that's what you do because you don't want to see Hillary Clinton in the White House.
COOPER: So Tara, I mean, if unity is the goal, why make this public declaration?
TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Because I think it is unfair for Trump supporters to sit her and throw in our faces and lecture us what it is to be a conservative. Because conservatism is a way of life for many of us. It is not just something that you say because it is en vogue at the time. It is the way you raise your family. It is a world view. It is the way you run your business. It is just not just something that flipped. It is actually principles people believe in. And Paul Ryan has been doing this his entire life and he actually believes in these principles.
So it is not just you are going to fall in line or you are just going throw those away because now someone who doesn't represent your principles is quote "the standard bearer." Well, the standard bearer of what? Because the Republican Party and as conservative, we don't look at Donald Trump as the standard bearer.
(CROSSTALK) [20:10:19] COOPER: Go ahead.
MCENANY: OK, I want to ask you something. I am a conservative too. If you are a conservative, how does Hillary Clinton being in the White House help the conservative movement?
SETMAYER: It doesn't but I am not the one who put Donald Trump there to make that choice, I mean. You know, with all due respect to my opponent, not going to exploit your youth and inexperience, but you know, 20 years ago when there were true conservatives like me were fighting for the Republican revolution in 1994 where we had real conservative values like the contract with America, we're the ones that were sitting and fighting for this. And we are not throwing it aside for someone who doesn't represent any of those things. Because as a conservatism is something that he feels he doesn't deserve to be in the Republican Party.
MCENANY: OK. Take away the last 90 percent of what you said. The first thing you said is the important part. You said Hillary Clinton being in the White House doesn't help the movement. So you sitting on the sideline. And now you voting for Donald Trump, by definition, is not conservatism.
SETMAYER: No. That's not true at all. That's a false choice. You know, 60 percent of the Republican Party didn't choose Donald Trump. We look at this guy and we say, he is not what he says, he is conning the American people and unfortunately, this is what we got. So it is not me deciding not to support Hillary Clinton and not to support Donald Trump is not an automatic vote for Hillary Clinton.
COOPER: Rick, with Paul Ryan doing this, does it give him potential influence over Donald Trump or if the goal is to get in influence over Donald Trump, I mean, shouldn't you embrace him?
RICK LAZIO, FORMER NEW YORK CONGRESSMAN: I say first of all it is an important comment today by the speaker not just because Paul Ryan is speaker of the house, will be the chairman of the convention, but because he is seen at intellectual leader of the Republican party, key legislative architect, the guy who talks and knows about tax reform. And I think he is doing here is laying down a marker. He is basically communicating and I agree with what Maggie was saying to Donald Trump listen, divisive comments have got to end. I'm going to use this leverage until you stop having a war on Republicans and start training fire on Democrats. And I want to see whether or not you, from here on end, are going to act like a general election politician, a general election candidate.
I mean, it was interesting to me I thought that after Cruz withdrew, that Trump was making Cruz's father, somehow saying his father was involved in the conspiracy for JFK. Why would you spend your time, your precious media moments attacking somebody who had already withdrawn. And he needs to, I think for me, Donald Trump needs to be able to the general election. If he believes that he needs to do the rest of the campaign what he has done up to this point to be successful, he will not be successful. COOPER: But I mean, Kayleigh, I assume you already think Donald Trump
has pivoted to the general election, it has already begun. Do you agree with Rick?
MCENANY: No, because here is the thing. Donald Trump has been making an effort. He extended an overcharge with Ryan. He called Paul Ryan. They had discussions. But it is Paul Ryan who has taken ten steps back when Donald Trump is trying to take steps forward. He is trying to get there. You have the establishment, they people or the voters, they say we're smarter than you, you made the wrong choice, so we are going to about and not get behind the choice you made.
(CROSSTALK)
SETMAYER: (INAUDIBLE) is going to listen to him or there will be consequences to take. That's not exactly an overturn. That's a threat.
COOPER: Rick --.
LAZIO: I don't understand is why does Trump continue to fight a battle that he thinks he already won? Why doesn't he focus on the future?
MCENANY: Watching him speak in West Virginia right now.
LAZIO: Republicans and the RNC and basically discounting the views of delegates at the convention, why not put all of that past him and start to focus on the general election.
COOPER: Let's bring in - I mean, Errol, is there any scenario which you see Paul Ryan not supporting Donald Trump or is it just a bargaining chip?
ERROL LOUIS, POLITICS ANCHOR, NY1: Sure. It is easy to imagine. And I think there is a reason you don't necessarily see him doing what some Republican leaders like Paul Ryan would like to see, which is that Donald Trump's interest is in getting elected. And that doesn't necessarily mean carrying along a lot of the party platform, a lot of the party baggage, a lot of the party establishment. In fact, just the opposite. So if you look at the math. I mean, we are going to soon start to look at what the electoral path to victory might look like for Donald Trump. You start with 2012, he is 60 electoral votes, sure. Even if you give him Florida and Ohio, he still has go to find other place to find for support. That means talking to independents, doing un-Republican things, talking to crossover voters, talking to some Democrats.
[20:15:00] COOPER: But Christine, doesn't it help Democrats right now? I mean, again, if Paul Ryan, the objective is to defeat Hillary Clinton, doesn't this, (INAUDIBLE) help Hillary Clinton?
CHRISTINE QUINN, CLINTON SUPPORTER: Anything that keeps the splinters your opponent, right, is a good thing. And in this case we see the Republican Party every moment playing out that it lacks any unity, that it is not going to come together, and even if it does come together, it will be kind of, you know, with spit and tape and won't hold together at all. And that's from my own point of view a good thing.
Now, I am not taking Donald Trump lightly, I would be a fool to do that, but it is a good thing to think about Donald Trump and the RNC not being in lock step. I like that.
COOPER: It is just fascinating developments today. Much more ahead this hour. And in the next hour, you will hear the entire interview with speaker Ryan. You will hear his own words.
Up next, will Ryan's announcement be a shot in the arm for the never Trump movement or the party will now find a way off onboard.
Also, more news, we just learning. The FBI investigation so the security Hillary Clinton's email servers is currently almost over. Agents have spoken with some of her local aides according to U.S. What have they found? We have details ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:19:52] COOPER: Breaking news tonight. House speaker Paul Ryan saying he is not ready to endorse or support the presumptive nominee of his own party, Donald Trump. Trump just wrapped up a speech in West Virginia. He did not mention Ryan but he did spend 15 minutes attacking Hillary Clinton. Ryan's comments came today in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, and it was another one of those gravity defying moments that he characterized his election cycle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:20:18] JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Is there something specific he has done or said that has brought you to this moment?
REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: Well, like I said, I hope to support our nominee. I hope to support his candidacy fully and I want to do that. But right now, I have to tell you, Jake, being candid with you, at this point I am not there now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Our chief political analyst Gloria Borger joins us now.
Gloria, the announcement, what are your sources saying how it could impact party unity?
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it kind of throws a monkey wrench into it, doesn't it, Anderson.
Look. This was a stunning, powerful moment with speaker of the house of the house saying, you know, I'm not on board yet. I may get there but I'm not on board. And it, you know, contrasting visions of the future. Donald Trump is the future of the Republican Party right now. Paul Ryan also thinks he is the future of the Republican Party. And as house speaker, what he is doing according to my sources is saying to a lot of his Republicans I'm giving you little political cover here. You don't have to jump on board right now, and if you don't ever jump on board, you can say look, I am a Republican. I am going to vote Republican, but you know, I am a Paul Ryan guy. I agree with the Paul Ryan agenda.
I think the big question is, Anderson, when does this end? How does Ryan get to yes? I mean, he disagrees with Donald Trump on just about everything. Is there some fig leaf that can be applied to get to yes? I don't see that at this time.
COOPER: I mean, it doesn't mean, though, that he wouldn't or couldn't support Trump in the future.
BORGER: Right, it doesn't, but how does he get there because they disagree on every major issue. He has been pretty outspoken about it. And I think what he'll probably do is meet with Donald Trump and try to come up with some kind of agenda that they can agree on, but on very basic issues like Paul Ryan wants to reform, Social Security, Donald Trump doesn't want to touch it. On immigration, on trade, on every issue they kind of disagree.
And so, you know, the question is, is Ryan helping his party, some Republicans I talked to say yes, or is he hurting the party by not providing the unity they're looking for? And some Republicans think that's a problem.
COOPER: Gloria Borger. Gloria, thanks.
Joining me now is former Romney presidential campaign strategist Stuart Stevens and conservative TV talk show host Dana Loesch. Good to have you both.
Stuart, what do you make of Ryan's comments? I mean, does it bolster that never Trump movement?
STUART STEVENS, FORMER ROMNEY PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN STRATEGIST: Well, I think this is a moral choice for a lot of people. I really don't think it is about issues. Donald Trump is a bigot. And think it is a question of whether or not you think in your heart you can stand with this person and accept what he is saying.
But let's just, you know, thinking about this today. So if Donald Trump were president and appointed Bobby Jindal to the Supreme Court, that will be a great moment for Indian-Americans, but because he will ban Muslims from entering the country and ban people from Muslim countries, that means Bobby Jindal's family, relatives in India couldn't come to the United States to see this moment for their son. It is an absurdity. You cannot support this person and believe in rule of law and that has stood to be an American.
COOPER: Dana, I mean, to Ryan's point that Trump has work to do, needs to I guess morph into a Reaganesque conservative candidate, is that even possible for him to do? If he were able to do that, would you be able to support him?
DANA LOESCH, CONSERVATIVE TALK SHOW HOST: Well, that's the million dollar question. I mean, I wrote one of the editorials in National Review. And while I am not never Trump, I'm almost there. And just depending how the next few weeks go, who knows. Maybe if he treats us fairly, Anderson. We'll see how it goes.
COOPER: (INAUDIBLE)
LOESCH: I know. I'm just saying maybe if he treats us fairly, we will see how it goes. But I don't what he would have to do because remember, Paul Manafort said we're not going to change Donald Trump. He has been successful thus far you can who he is. Roger Stone said the same. All surrogates said the same thing. So if they're saying he is not going to change, I am not quite sure what to expect. I also don't see him doing quite a lot to build unity. You know, the nominee, it is their responsibility to build unity. Now, he says he's this terrific builder. Let's see how good he is, how terrific he is, how great he is that building and rebuilding some of these bridges that he has burnt. Scorched earth politics comes with a consequence, Anderson. And one of those is that you are going to have a divided right.
COOPER: Stuart, I mean, I get that you don't like Donald Trump. You don't want him as president. But I mean, haven't voters spoken, Republican voters have spoken, this is the guy that won the nomination. I mean, at a certain point, if speaker Ryan doesn't want Hillary Clinton elected, doesn't he have to get on board?
[20:25:08] STEVENS: Listen. I think you have to look beyond November and you have to ask what does the Republican Party stands for. Charlie Sykes, the Milwaukee talk show host, radio show host has been very articulate on this. To support Donald Trump, you have to buy into Donald Trump. You have to say this is what I believe in. And I think after November that's a very deadly combination for the Republican Party.
If you don't stand for anything but election, you really don't stand for anything. And Donald Trump as far as I can see is opposed to just about everything the Republican Party would like to think it stands for. It is not a Sophie's choice moment. You don't have to support one or the other. You have to decide.
COOPER: Dana, I mean, is there something Trump could go, and you talk about being treated fairly, is there something Trump could do? I mean, is it a stylistic thing, is it tonal, or is it more policy based?
LOESCH: Well, for me, it has always been policy based. I mean, I don't really mind political incorrectness so much, and I don't really even have to an extent mind the tone. As I laid out in the editorial I wrote for "National Review," there are certain policy issues which I am concerned. And I'm concern about his lack of record on the number of issues.
You know, Anderson, I want to make this point as well. People like myself and there are people that have gone all the way to become never Trump, these people are not doing this to be malicious and they are not doing this to be petty. Now, you have to think that these people -I would love to be proven wrong, I really would. I would love to be entirely proven wrong and I would freely admit it if that were the case.
I don't have confidence this is the guy who is going to be able to bring the Republican Party around. He has already started to pivoting, not towards the right but pivoting towards more moderate position. And getting back to Paul Ryan remark earlier today. Ryan is not (INAUDIBLE) because he is anticipating that this is going to have a very demoralizing effect on Republican voter turnout. He is also giving some shade, as Gloria said earlier, to a lot of these people in Congress to be coming up for re-election. He wants to put some daylight between them and between Trump so people don't think of them as a package deal. He would have to change quite an awful lot. And I don't think pivoting towards becoming more of a moderate, Republicans have been protested against that grassroots for a long time, I don't think that is going to be the thing to do it.
COOPER: Dana Loesch, appreciate you joining us. Stuart Stevens as well.
Again, just an incredible day and incredible developments all around. We are going to have a lot more with the panel ahead.
Coming up ahead, up next, breaking news in the Clinton email investigation. We have new details about who investigators interviewed and how close they are to actually wrapping up their work, and what then happens next?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:31:44] COOPER: There's breaking news tonight about Hillary Clinton. Sources tell CNN that the FBI is nearing the end of its investigation to her use of personal e-mail server while she secretary of state. Democratic frontrunner is in Los Angeles finished speaking at an event.
Tonight, we've got new information about who investigators at the interviewed, what they found. Our Evan Perez joins me with the latest. So what have you learned Evan?
EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Well Anderson, we now know that some of the members of Hillary Clinton's inner circle have now been brought in to do interviews with the FBI, and that includes Huma Abedin, who's one of Mrs. Clinton closest aides.
This is an important moment, because it signals that the FBI is close to wrapping up this investigation. Well you know one major that is step left for investigators to do is to interview Secretary Clinton and we expect that to happen in the next couple of weeks. Now so far there has been -- there's still a lot of work to be done in this investigation, but so far there's no evidence to indicate that Clinton willfully violated the law, we are told. And now clearly setting up this e-mail server should never have been done. This is not the way that handle classified or sensitive government information. But it doesn't meet the threshold to bring charges, at least that's what investigators think at this point, Anderson. COOPER: You mentioned Secretary Clinton is not yet been interviewed, but many of her aides have. Why wouldn't she be among the first one to be interviewed. I mean investigators hope to gather evidence against her?
PEREZ: Well, this is how it works in these type of investigations. You know, this is why there are no conclusions yet. Investigators want to see if what she says to them lines up with the evidence that they've already gathered. The FBI is planning to work with her lawyers to set up this interview which logistically is no small thing, by the way. After she's actively campaigning, she's protected by the secret service, and followed by campaign press corp. so that we expect to happen in the next few.
COOPER: And just finally, one of her staffers who actually set up that e-mail server in her home, Bryan Pagliano, he was granted immunity back in early March. Do we know anymore about what he has provided to investigators?
PEREZ: Well, he focused on providing technical details about the server, he helped set it up. So, you know, things like what were security precautions that were taken. We know that the logs and he turned over to the FBI Anderson, show that there were no signs of hackers getting into the Clinton server. Of course, you know, good hackers don't leave traces behind. So we do know that there's still a lot more work for the FBI to do here.
COOPER: All right, Evan Perez, Evan thanks very much.
Back with the panel. I mean Maggie whatever the status of the investigation, I mean Donald Trump is already going after Hillary Clinton tonight. There's no doubt this is going to be continue to be an issue. And even if the officials decide there aren't any charges to be brought. Donald Trump can say as he was already said in interviews, well the whole system is rigged, the Democrats somehow fixed this.
MAGGIE HABERMAN, NEW YORK TIMES PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah and look, if it is definitively closed, that is going to be helpful for Hillary Clinton to an extent, but the cake is pretty baked on this. a lot of people say as you said, Republicans will say this was done essentially to help her. This was a partisan outcome. Her supporters will say this vindicates her. What it might allow her to do is move past this, and try to focus on issues, and not constantly get questions.
What I do wonder about is whether there will be leaks in the investigation that she keeps getting questioned about going forward. That could be very problematic for her even if there's nothing coming of it from these interviews that her aides have given, she could face questions and her own eventual interview again.
[20:35:05] COOPER: Right, Errol, I mean the fact that there are leaks or however Evan, you know, officials saying there's no evidence at this point, the fact that stuff is leaking out, that raises concerns among people. ERROL LOUIS, POLITICAL ANCHOR NY1: Well that's right, and I don't think anything definitive is going to be sufficient to stop say candidate Trump or anybody else from using whatever they want to use. I mean we have to accept it is just a reality politically that Hillary Clinton long ago detached the criticism of her was long ago detached from any kind rational reading of the facts in many cases.
You know, there are lot of different reasons you might want to oppose her, but there's whole industry out there, there's cottage industry, where people have books, and they have movies, and they have all kinds of stuff alleging the most lurid sorts of things.
So, you know, in this case you got a candidate who's never really definitively renounced birtherism against President Obama, he's going to be able to say and he will if he chooses say Hillary Clinton is X, Y, and Z. And there's all kinds of evidence and maybe she's going to go jail, he's been saying it throughout the campaign up until now.
COOPER: But if officials are leaking stuff out already that sort of seems to help Hillary Clinton out, that does raise concerns no, Christine?
CHRISTINE QUINN, CLINTON SUPPORTER: I mean, these kind of leaks in these kind of investigations although they shouldn't happen, and they can be unpleasant if you're the one being leaked about, they're not unusual. I don't think the amount of information that the press and the public has about where this investigation at is at all unusual.
Actually I think it's less than typically honestly gets leaked in this kind of a thing by the federal authorities. I think it's actually been fairly tight. Now, look the facts as we see them, is the investigation is ending soon. That's a good thing for Secretary Clinton, this being over will be a good thing. And I believe completely that when it's over, it will be done and will be shown that there were no laws breaking and -- broken. And although Donald Trump will say, God knows whatever Donald Trump wants over and over again, whether it's the truth or not that Secretary Clinton can say what she said to date, that she did nothing wrong, and there will be a period at the end of that sentence from the FBI and the Department of Justice will be a very good thing.
COOPER: Just on Republic ...
(CROSSTALK)
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: This is not going anyway. Here's the thing, this is what the Clintons do, they try to marginalize problems, we saw this back with the Monica Lewinsky scandal they're going on the bus right wing conspiracy. Look it did in fact happen we found out later.
Let's look at the facts here, Evan Perez said says she's claiming that wasn't willful, so yes, this will not a permissible e-mail situation but she didn't know. This is a Yale educated lawyer who says she did not know the law. So at best is incompetence, at worst, it's this criminal behavior, and amazing to me that Democrats try to marginalize a very big problem ...
QUINN: Two prior secretaries of state, one a Republican, two prior secretaries of state again, one a Republican, did the same thing. So she has the secretary said she shouldn't have done this? Absolutely.
MCENANY: No, they did not do the same thing.
QUINN: They absolutely had private servers doing regulations in place at the time.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: But just basically, if ...
MCENANY: But they did the same thing.
COOPER: ... the FBI determines that she didn't willfully violate the law, is that enough for you Tara, or did have that story.
TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, because just it's, you know, the house still has things going on, there are still lawsuits, there's FOIA requests.
COOPER: So you don't believe the server.
SETMAYER: No, I don't think it will be over.
COOPER: OK.
STEMAYER: Because politically it definitely won't be over, because there are still hearings and FOIA requests that have to be answered. So they can try to say it is over, but it's ...
COOPER: All right, everybody hold the thoughts, I do want to get more Bill's take on something else Hillary Clinton's new video taking aim at Donald Trump's claim on the Cinco de Mayo that he loves Hispanics, that getting a lot of attention all through out the day, more on that ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:42:34] COOPER: Through the war of sorts today between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, Trump posting a photo of him enjoying a taco bowl, and wishing everyone a happy Cinco de Mayo along with the message that he loves Hispanics. That caught the eye of Clinton campaign which posted this video on Twitter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You're going to have a deportation force. They have to go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You promise to deport those in this country illegally, do you stand by that?
TRUMP: In come back, yes, they're going to be deported. Everything I said I'd do, folks, I'd do OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: I'm back with our panel. Kayleigh what do you think, I mean when you saw the tweet from Donald Trump about the taco bowl, the Cinco de Mayo.
MCENANY: I thought it was a nice tweet, and then he gets all this blow back. He can't even say he loves a group of people without being hated. You know, he's talked about deportation, people hate it, he talks about loving the people, people hate him. He can't do anything right. Everyone will unite ...
(CROSSTALK)
QUINN: Without being deported, I don't think love and deportation have an equal sign in between them.
And it's mocking -- it's mocking a group of people he had said he is going to deport, and people he has called rapists and criminals. It's making a joke out of taking an entire segment of America and villanizing them and stirring up hate against it. I find his opinions horrendous, he has the right to have them, but then to make light of them as their funny, I find that just yeah ...
MCENANY: Beyond just take. But voters voted for him in Nevada, the Hispanics voted for him ...
QUINN: No.
MCENANY: ... in Arizona ...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: OK, Tara.
SETMAYER: That's not true. 500 Hispanics out is like, 30,000 that live in this, do you know what I mean.
COOPER: It's too much be made over this tweet, Tara?
SETMAYER: Well, no, I think it was tasteless. Even I mean I'm very a staunch illegal immigration opponent, I, you know, worked on that issue for a long time on Capitol Hill. So I get that frustration, but it was tasteless, that would be like holding up on eating fried chicken on June. I mean what is he doing. I just don't think that this is -- he thinks that this is funny, it's ingratiating him to people. But it gives fuel to the fire, the other side given his past comments to sit there and say look at what he's doing, he's minimizing he's that, you know, I love Hispanic.
COOPER: So for you it's not saying I love Hispanics, it's the combination of ...
STEMAYER: Yes. COOPER: ... the taco bowl, of promoting some restaurant in Trump Tower that sells taco bowls.
SETMAYER: Of course, that so typical of him. And he's a self promoter on top of that.
(CROSSTALK)
[20:45:01] COOPER: Is that much to do about nothing?
RICK LAZIO, FMR NEW YORK REPRESENTATIVW: I think it is. I mean honestly it's a, you know, a typical campaign event and the opposition seizes on it, and exploits it, and tries to run it down. And it's done in every campaign.
SETMAYER: Not really well.
LAZIO: It's, you know, cheap shots. And honestly in the end who cares. Get back and start talk about policy.
QUINN: Well I agree with you on that.
HABERMAN: I don't -- I mean I actually I don't think that he thinks as she agree with what was said here, just in terms I don't think he thinks he's being funny, I don't think that the things he's being mocking. I think he generally thinks this is how I'm going to show you that -- and I think that is sort of straight out of -- of like a local New York city race from the 1970sr '80s. And I think that there's a lot of his political reference points that are -- are fairly dated, and I think that's what he's doing.
I think that I'm struck by that video. And I have been struck by a lot at how Democrats and going at Donald Trump for the last two days which is see that, because they see him as such a target rich environment, they can't quite decide what tone they want to hit, or what targets they're going at.
So that video was kind of also mocking, and light hearted with the music and so forth. There two things appear to be in conflict or rather treating Trump as it fits a joke or buffoon, or your fitting him as if he is a very dangerous threat. But those two messages do appear to be in conflict with each other, and I don't quite get consistency.
COOPER: It's interesting Christine, because couple months ago, Trump made a reference to the Bill Clinton, Monica Lewinsky scandal, I just want to play what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The Clinton administration of which Hillary was definitely a part, she was a part of almost everything, almost I say, not everything, almost. Terrible. Terrible. I didn't think the people of West Virginia thought like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COOPER: Or do you think Trump is going to continue to bring this up? I mean this is something that we're going to be hearing much more about? I asked Secretary Clinton about it yesterday and she said essentially bring it on if he wants to kind of go back to the '90s, and that way there's plenty to talk about.
QUINN: I mean -- it seems like he is going to keep bringing it up, right, because he has already did it again tonight in a kind of weird around the back doorway there. So I think he will keep bringing up, and I agree with the secretary, if he wants to go back and re-trash, you know, rehash something that was clearly, you know, a terrible thing that's happened. I'm not going to make any excuses for it and I don't think the secretary is either, then he should just keep doing that if that's honestly the best that he has.
COOPER: More of this come, Errol?
LOUIS: Yeah, I mean there's a at least one strategist, Roger Stone, who says that they've got to reacquaint a lot of the younger voters if they going to be reaching out to with what happened in the 1990s. And a lot of people missed it.
Of those of us who lived through are probably sick of it, or have made up our minds at a minimum and thus the joke that you played, you know, I mean. You listen to Right Wing Radio, you get into some of the circles, and it's a punch line that needs no explanation, you just talk about, you know, Monica Lewinsky, ha, ha, ha. But there a lot of younger people who don't get the Republicans have decided, the Trump campaign has decided they're going to try and re-litigate us in and acquaint them with it.
COOPER: We got to take a quick break. Hillary Clinton crushed then Senator Barack Obama in West Virginia in 2008. This year is a whole different ball game. Clinton's comments about coal are fueling a back lash, driving some Democrats set across party lines. More on that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:51:57] COOPER: Tonight's breaking news, federal officials tell CNN that the FBI is near the end of its investigation of Hillary Clinton's e-mails and so far have not found any evidence that Secretary Clinton willfully violated the law. Investigators have interviewed some of Clinton's closest aides including Huma Abedin, they expect to interview Clinton in the coming weeks. The news comes as the Democratic frontrunner anxious closure to clenching the nomination. West Virginia holds it's primary on Tuesday. Clinton won the mountain state by a huge margin in 2008, this time she's trailing Bernie Sanders, part of the problem these remarks she made back in March.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm the only candidate which has a policy about how to bring economic opportunity, using clean renewable energy as the key in the coal country because we're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business. (END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well the backlash was swift and although Clinton apologized, her comments could hurt her in the general election if she becomes the nominee as expected. Gary Tuchman reports.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The coal mines that remain open in Logan County, West Virginia are a small fraction of number that used to be open. Thousands of jobs have been lost. Rosco Adkins is the county administrator.
ROSCO ADKINS, LOGAN COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR: I think we are under attack.
TUCHMAN: It's a war on coal, he believes. The attacker, the White House. And we found not far behind on the enemy list around here is Hillary Clinton.
DAVID LESTER, LAID OFF COAL MINER: I'm not a fan of Hillary Clinton. Shame on Hillary Clinton.
TUCHMAN: What's notable is that registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in Logan County by more than 6 to 1. But anger towards Clinton is crossing party lines and increasing because of what she recently declared about the mining industry.
ROGER MAYO, LAID OFF COAL MINER: She meant what she said the first time about getting rid of the coal jobs, and shutting down the industry and all that.
TUCHMAN: That she said she misspoke and apologized.
MAYO: She's a politician. You know, what do you expect her to say, you know.
TUCHMAN: Who will you be voting for?
MAYO: Trump.
TUCHMAN: Even before Hillary Clinton made that statement, she faced an uphill battle here. The Republican candidate has won the last four general elections in West Virginia. The last Democrat to win was 20 years ago and that was Hillary Clinton's husband.
Bill Clinton campaigned for his wife this past Sunday in Logan County and had his share of protesters show up. We interviewed about 20 random voters in Logan County.
You're as registered Democrat?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
TUCHMAN: In November, who's Donald Trump against Hillary Clinton which is look it like it will be, who will you vote for? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trump.
TUCHMAN: Almost all voters we talked to registered Democrats. This man, another laid off coal miner.
P.J. CONN, LAID OFF COAL MINER: No, I'm not voting Democrat when I can vote for a president.
TUCHMAN: So you're voting for?
CONN: Trump.
TUCHMAN: You know, going for the Democrat in November for president?
KENNY AKERS, LAID OFF COAL MINER: No, not this election.
TUCHMAN: Voting trump?
AKERS: Yeah.
TUCHMAN: How come?
AKERS: I think he's better off for coal fields around here.
[20:55:01] TUCHMAN: Debbie Thompson is also a registered Democrat.
And who you're supporting right now for president?
DEBBIE THOMPSON, LOGAN COUNTY RESIDENT: Trump.
TUCHMAN: But he's not a Democrat.
THOMPSON: I know that.
TUCHMAN: What you want?
THOMPSON: But he's for coal mining, and here in Logan County, people live on coal mining.
TUCHAMN: It was not easy to randomly find people here who want Hillary Clinton for president. But we kept looking.
And who you supporting?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hillary Clinton.
TUCHMAN: There's a lot of people here that are Democrats, that tell us Donald Trump.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, I know.
TUCHMAN: You know those people?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.
TUCHMAN: Why do you want Hillary Clinton? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I think she will get the job done for us, for this country.
TUCHMAN: And why don't is not like Donald Trump?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just think he is going to make a big mess.
TUCHMAN: But that seems to be a minority opinion in what doesn't feel like a majority Democratic county.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: It's obviously a big vulnerability in West Virginia for Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump actually brought up coal mining tonight in his rally there, he also brought it up in his victory speech in for -- on the night of Indiana.
TUCHMAN: That's right, Anderson. Tonight Donald Trump said he'll bring the mines back if he's elected president, he says he'll get rid of rules and regulations that make it difficult to compete. He offered his opinion about Hillary Clinton statement saying that she was telling the truth. He moved went into a conversation about the Pennsylvania primary saying that miners there are dying to get back to work. And then delivering a sure applause like that or not is good as West Virginia miners, and people care like that a lot, and finally when the speech came to an end, the last thing he said was, miners get ready to go back and work your butts off. And he wasn't using the butts, he used a different word. Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Gary, Gary Tuchman, thanks very much.
And in next hour of "360", more of the breaking news, Jake Tapper's one-on-one interview with House Speaker Paul Ryan, why the Republican leader on Capitol Hill says he cannot endorse Donald Trump right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
