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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Police & Protesters Clash At California Trump Rally; Senior Aide: Ryan And Trump To Talk On Phone Tonight; Warren Gets Her War On; Lawsuits Say Trump University Was A Fraud; Starr Under Fire For Handling Of Alleged Rapes; John Kasich Defends Gov. Martinez. Aired 9- 10p ET
Aired May 25, 2016 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:02:11] ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Welcome back, 9:00 p.m. here at Washington with the junior senator from Massachusetts is making a name for herself by taking on Donald Trump using the same kind of verbal force that he uses on other. That's just ahead. We begin though with breaking news.
Another Trump rally, the second in two days in which there were arrests and violence. Protesters and Trump supporters clash and protesters and police going at it. Police in riot gear, some on the horse back turning out of numbers and force making arrests. An unfolded this evening outside of the convention center in Anaheim, California in the heart of conservative Orange County.
Gary Tuchman is there for us. You are following Gray the protests all day, what happened?
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, even before Donald Trump took the stage at the Anaheim Convention Center, dozens of people who do not like Donald Trump were gathered outside getting ready to protest. Ultimately there would be more than 100 protesters but they were far outnumbered by the police. More than 300 police officers, mostly on horseback, motorcycle, foot and car from the Orange County sheriff's office from the Anaheim city police department and from other municipalities in this county were out in full force. Things got very tense at times.
At least five people were detained. Police say there were instigator some were throwing rocks or bottles. But there was very little violence and nobody was hurt. They were able to forestall that. We talked to some of the protester some of them said they had never been to a protest before. Others told us they were anarchist but they all had in common was an intense hatred of Donald Trump.
And that's what I caught in the outside this arena an intense hatred to Donald Trump, inside the arena, an intense love of Donald Trump. And that's certainly a recipe for possible problems in the weeks and months to come as we continue along with this election odyssey, Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Gary, thanks very much. That was happening outside.
Now the media to the Trump message today, the red meat with a big dose of venom for his opponents and even a potential ally, more on that from CNN's Jim Acosta.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump is on the general election war path unleashing his arsenal of one liners and every direction on Hillary Clinton.
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Crooked Hillary. She is crooked as they come.
ACOSTA: Trump is tangling with his lively Democratic opponent over his comments on how he was looking to make money buying cheap real estate during the housing crisis.
TRUMP: She goes, and Donald Trump is a terrible person. And he wanted to buy housing when it was at a low point. Who the hell doesn't?
ACOSTA: Clinton ripped into that.
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He bragged about what he did. He said profiting off working people losing their homes would be a "good result." So a good result in Donald Trump's world is he gets his and you get hurt.
ACOSTA: The presumptive GOP nominee is also firing off is his patent at zingers at Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren who's emerging as Democrats Trump troller in chief. He's hitting her past claims of her Native American heritage.
[21:05:03] TRUMP: Pocahontas, that's Elizabeth Warren. I call her goofy. She gets nothing done. Nothing passed. She's got a big mouth. And that's about it.
ACOSTA: But when Trump tweets goofy Elizabeth Warren is all talk, no action, she seems to enjoy the fight responding, "Fling as much mud as you want. Your words and actions disqualify you from being president and I won't stop saying it." Warren is also slamming Trump on his remarks on the housing bubble.
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN, (D) MASSACHUSETTS: What kind of man does that to us? A small, insecure money grabber who doesn't care who gets hurt, so long as he makes a profit off it.
ACOSTA: After violent protests both inside and outside his rally in Albuquerque, Trump is also mixing it up with New Mexico's Republican Governor Susana Martinez. A GOP rising star who still hasn't endorsed his campaign and skip this event.
TRUMP: She's not doing the job. Hey, maybe I'll run for governor of New Mexico. I'll get this place going. ACOSTA: A Martinez spokesman wasn't amused saying in a statement, "Trump's pot shots weren't about policy, they were about politics. And the governor will not be bullied into supporting a candidate until she is convinced that candidate will fight for New Mexicans." A Trump adviser said, the real estate tycoon was only responding to a snub.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like most campaigns, elbows get up under the basket. We saw a lot of that last night.
ACOSTA: Clinton seized on the GOP and fighting as a symptom of a larger problem.
CLINTON: Last night, he insulted the Republican Governor Martinez of New Mexico. just gratuitously. I don't know, he seems to have something about women.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Now, Donald Trump has other concerns inside the GOP. Last night, there are Trump sources talking to reporters telling them that an endorsement from House Speaker Paul Ryan was coming any day now. Anderson, earlier today Ryan's office was telling reporters no, that's not the case while the two leaders are scheduled to have a phone call tonight.
Ryan's side of the equation says this is not about an endorsement and Trump sources are telling me this evening just a few moments ago, they're going to give the House Speaker all the space that he needs. And Anderson, there is other breaking news in the Trump campaign tonight. They just announced that a top staffer Rick Wiley who had used to work for Scott Walker's campaign. He's now leaving the Trump campaign and standby for more headlines. Donald Trump will be on Jimmy Kimmel later on tonight, Anderson.
COOPER: You said Rick Wiley is leaving?
ACOSTA: He is leaving the Trump campaign. That's right. He was hired just six weeks ago and there was no indication that this was a temporary hiring. But the Trump campaign just announced it, it was a temporary hiring and he's now leaving the campaign. I talked to some sources inside the campaign who said that had been building for some time. There was some discomfort as to what Rick Wiley's allegiances were. They thought maybe he was a little too close to some anti-Trump forces out there inside the GOP Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Jim Acosta. Jim thanks very much.
Joining us is Clinton Supporter and Former Obama 2012 Campaign Press Secretary, Ben LaBolt, also CNN Political Commentator and Senior Contributor for the Daily Caller Matt Lewis. CNN Political Director David Chalian, Jason Osborne, and Stuart Stevens are back. CNN Political Commentator and Trump opponent Tara Setmayer joins us as well.
David, I mean, I don't know what round we're in. I mean, the gloves they're not only their off, they're like tossed away or I don't know what they are.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yeah. It's not all that hopeful for what the next six months or so will look ...
COOPER: Yeah.
CHALIAN: ... like in terms of this campaign.
COOPER: Like it's extraordinary.
CHALIAN: But I do think you do see some real battle lines forming here. I mean, it is clear that the Clinton campaign is committed to prosecuting this argument about Donald Trump's business background and how that it impacts the middle class. And I think it's quite clear from what we heard him say that he's ready to embrace that as a two- prong sort of doubling down on something he's been presenting. One, he claims it's reinforcing that he's an outsider from business and not a politician when people want that.
And two, he is trying to use it, you know, he try to turn this attack against him into a positive by reminding people that he was successful. He did what needed to be done to be successful and I think he's hoping to convince Americans that he can do that for America as well.
COOPER: Ben, I mean, do you think it is an effective argument for Donald Trump, essentially this argue? I mean, for a lot of these shots that are fired at him by the Democrats. Elizabeth Warren saying he's money grabbing.
He said, he seems to be saying well, I mean, for business anything was OK, that allow as a businessman. That's what we did whether it was giving money to politicians left and right. It was whatever the case may be. Do you think that is-- that the American public accepts?
BEN LABOLT, OBAMA 2012 CAMPAIGN PRESS SECRETARTY: I think that's the argument that Mitt Romney made and it didn't get him over the finish line. His remarks certainly looked like cheerleading for the housing crisis, so that he could make a profit and also as a businessman. He should be the management guru that he portrayed himself on his television show "The Apprentice," but with his campaign fraying at the edges in civil war internally, I don't think we can believe that anymore.
[21:10:03] COOPER: Matt?
MATT LEWIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, look, I think that you brought up Mitt Romney. I think that there's a vast difference between Mitt Romney and Donald Trump. This sort of attack that Elizabeth Warren and Hillary Clinton are trying to use would have worked very well against Mitt Romney because Mitt Romney basically apologized for being a rich guy. But you can't change somebody who's shameless.
You can't expose somebody who has nothing to hide. Donald Trump says, of course I made this deal. I'm a businessman. And guess what, America is failing just like the housing crisis. I'm going to turn that around. I take bad situations and make them better, that's why you're hiring me. I'm going to do this work for you just like I made myself rich. I'm going to make America rich again.
CHALIAN: The other thing that I just been having disturb maybe can speak to this. But when the Obama campaign defined Mitt Romney and got out there and did that, Mitt Romney was still largely undefined on his own terms for the American public at that time. That's not the case for Donald Trump. He has largely defined himself.
So the Clinton effort now is a re-branding of Donald Trump with Mitt Romney. It was sort of the initial impression that was being built. No?
STUART STEVENS, FORMER ROMNEY 2012 STRATEGIST: Well look, people forget on Election Day Mitt Romney's favorables were 50 percent. Right now Donald Trump's favorables are about 30 percent. So whatever Mitt Romney was doing, he was better at pushing himself out in front of the public than Donald Trump is now. So winning a primary is one thing and we've seen that Republicans and Democrats do too, but will vote for unelectable candidates and multi-candidate it feels with the prual (ph) of your votes.
And it happened with Todd Aiken. It happened with Richard Mourdock in Indiana. The challenge for Donald Trump is to prove that he's not Todd Aiken and that he's not just one of these people that happen to get elected nationally that have been elected on the state level like or nominated on the state level and then they lose general elections. But when you go out and attack the very popular head of the Republican Governor's Association who is also a woman, who is also Hispanic because she doesn't agree with you on every issue, it just sends, first of all, sends all of the wrong signals. It's self-destructive because he needs her and he needs the groups that are most proud of her and I just don't understand it.
It's sort of not in his best interest and it seems sort of like this irresistible urge that he has. You can control what Donald Trump does based upon how you treat Donald Trump. If you're nice to him, he'll be nice to you.
LEWIS: But I think that to me in Pennsylvania and Rob Portman in Ohio too. I mean, this is it. It could have a chilling effect. These Senate candidates who are running for their political lives right now and if you don't get onboard with Donald Trump, is he going to come into Ohio in October?
COOPER: Although its interesting I mean Charlie Sykes raise the point of, there sort of been a silence from other governors. You don't hear other governor stepping up to defend the New Mexico Governor.
TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Because they don't want to be on the receiving end of this. This is something that is unprecedented. No one really knows. There's no playbook for how to handle someone like Donald Trump because he has really nothing to lose. What Matt said, you can't shame someone who is shameless. You're exactly right. And this is what this is the scary part for the Clinton campaign. Yes, they're going after Donald Trump on his business record now which is valid. But this is what the Republicans should have done during the primary season very early on.
But unfortunately it's not. I don't know how effective it's going to be unless they can -- unless you start bringing out the personal stories of people who suffered at the hands before the bankruptcies that Donald Trump went through, the small contractors and small businesses that got stiffed because of those bankruptcies, the people that were screwed over by Donald Trump and his amazing deals that he made. Well, he made terrible deals and but unless you can humanize it, Hillary Clinton is not the best messenger for this. So I think it's the ...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: If you can't shame someone who is shameless a great slogan to run on as president?
JASON OSBORNE, TRUMP SUPPORTER, FORMER SENIOR BEN CARSON STRATEGIST: Well, not certainly the one that I would use. But I, you know, I think Hillary and her supporters have a real problem here. I think it's interesting and I just do have to get this quick out there. The last line that she had which is that Donald Trump certainly has a problem with women would be something that she probably said at her own dinner table.
But and continuing to attack Donald Trump on businesses and that he has failings, I think it speaks Donald Trump and his supporters are going to get out there and say, you know, over 80 percent of small businesses fail every year. But people continually try and get back on that horse. And Donald Trump can speak to that and say "Yes, I may have had some businesses fail, but I kept getting back up there. And that's what I'm going to do." And so, when you are attacking somebody for failing in a business ...
COOPER: But he doesn't acknowledge any business failures, does he?
SETMAYER: Right. He said, he doesn't like to use the B word. That a quote ...
OSBORNE: Well, you know, and that's, again, that's Donald Trump and that's how he speaks. I can't speak for him. But I think also I would worry that Hillary starts attacking Trump more on the housing market and his comments there because there are many folks particularly in a conservative area that look at what Bill Clinton did with a community reinvestment act that started the problem with Fannie and Freddie investing into low income and portable housing. And that let the market to explode with 80 percent of their mortgages being in these small affordable housing.
[21:15:09] And so he took advantage of that. Just like Elizabeth Warren and her using the line that I went in and I flipped the house and I disable it. COOPER: Right.
OSBORNE: That's the same thing Trump.
COOPER: We'll going to talk more about that including Elizabeth Warren who has not endorsed Hillary Clinton, but he certainly eagerly defending her and going after Donald Trump about as sharply as anyone has. The question is, is it effective? We'll look at that later.
And what could be the irony of the last two decades, Ken Starr who investigated Bill Clinton in connection with a sex scandal is now under firing connection with a sex scandal it's actually assault scandal at the university that he is president of. The details on that, ahead.
(COMMERICAL BREAK)
COOPER: We've been talking about Donald Trump's latest verbal target and her habit unlike many of his opponents are punching back and something punching first. Agree with her or not agree with the tone of all of this or not. Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, she's to be doing what none of his past opponents have been able to do. She's seems to be getting under his skin.
Details from CNN's Jeff Zeleny.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: She's never been Hillary Clinton's biggest defender, but Elizabeth Warren is becoming Donald Trump's sharpest critic.
WARREN: Donald Trump was drooling over the idea of a housing meltdown because it meant he could buy up more property all the cheap. What kind of a man does that?
ZELENY: Friends of Warren tells CNN she knows she needs to step up and it's good for her in politics. After Bernie Sanders has a cluster as the Democrats leading liberal. Her words are pointed.
[21:20:09] WARREN: A small insecure money grabber who doesn't care who gets hurt, so long as he makes a profit off it.
ZELENY: And she's getting under Trump's skin.
TRUMP: Goofy Elizabeth warren. I call her goofy. She's a nasty person.
ZELENY: Democrats have long wanted Warren in the race. At first as a candidate herself but after taking a pass on her own run, she spent months in silence. Not endorsing Clinton or Sanders.
WARREN: Thank you.
ZELENY: She still hasn't that CNN has learned she and Clinton now communicate frequently mostly about taking on Trump as she did Tuesday night in a blistering speech.
WARREN: Now that he's sewn up with the Republican nomination, Donald Trump is dropping all pretenses. He's kissing the fannies of the poor, misunderstood Wall Street bankers.
ZELENY: There war of words on Twitter escalating again today. If Donald Trump actually believes every stupid lie he reads on the internet, we're in for a truck load of trouble if he's president. He often shoots back like this goofy Elizabeth Warren didn't have the guts to run for potus. Her phony Native American heritage stops that and VP calls.
Attacking Warren's heritage is a central themes as he did again today in Anaheim.
TRUMP: Pocahontas, that's s this Elizabeth Warren I call her goofy. She is -- oh no goofy, she gets less done than anybody in the United States Senate. She gets nothing done nothing passed she has a big mouth and that's about it.
ZELENY: Her Native American ancestry caused an uproar in her Massachusetts Senate race with critic saying she tried passing herself off as a minority to get ahead at Harvard. She struggled to prove her family ties finally expressing regret for not handling it well.
WARREN: We'll have that debate.
ZELENY: Warren, one of the most popular faces of the Democratic Party, is now intent on taking down Trump.
WARREN: Let's face it, Donald Trump is about exactly one thing. Donald Trump.
ZELENY: She brushes back the suggestion she's campaigning to be Clinton's running mate.
WARREN: Right now I just want to be clear, I love my job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: Now, Anderson all these attacks on Donald Trump certainly have warmed in otherwise frosty relationship between Senator Warren and Secretary Hillary Clinton, but all talk of a running mate will she be at or not there many reasons to think that she in fact would not be.
One or not that close personally they have different visions of governing and even more than that she's from Massachusetts. The governor is a Republican that means were she to be selected, her replacement would be a Republican and that could tip the balance of power in the Senate gate away of course he's all getting ahead of ourselves here. For right now Hillary Clinton is so happy to have Elizabeth Warren on her team. Anderson.
COOPER: Jeff Zeleny, Jeff thanks very much. Back in the panel. David, I mean it is interesting that she has Elizabeth Warren has stepped up. Makes sense politically for her and certainly for Hillary Clinton.
CHALIAN: Yeah, without a doubt I think this is sort of a perfect role for Elizabeth Warren and what will happen now is that the Sanders- Clinton race wines down. Elizabeth Warren by being out there as sort of the attack dog is going to be able to be a broker in many ways between Sanders and Clinton because she will focus all of her power on Donald Trump, really focused on the general election not gotten mired in the Sanders-Clinton feud right now as they tried unwind themselves and so she'll be able to I think help Hillary Clinton bring on some of those Sanders supporters to her team.
COOPER: Matt, though I mean do you think her attacks on Donald Trump are actually getting under his skin?
LEWIS: Well I think they are getting under his skin I think that's an important distinction here I mean there so many things he has to back around right it so is the messaging does it work the argument that he, you know, was betting on a housing failure like does that resonate, that's I assume that they have done focus groups and polling that they know to that it has a potential ...
(CROSSTALK)
LEWIS: ... stay to something right but then there's the messenger and this is the part that I think really matters. There's only a certain people who seem to be able to get away with attacking Donald Trump like Jeb Bush obviously could never do it. Rubio was sort of flirting with this mockery of them and it worked a little bit and then, you know, crumbled.
Obviously President Obama can mock him really well and I think I just saw -- I think Elizabeth Warren -- it's not mockery it's more of a righteous indignation but it there's something about it works in a way that Hillary Clinton herself can't do.
COOPER: Ben do you agree with that that Hillary Clinton has a problem or doesn't want to do that?
LABOLT: Well, I think there are somethings you want this surrogate to do and the candidate to do. I mean the candidate needs to prove that they can lead the American people. And Hillary Clinton is delivering a contrast she's talking about Donald Trump being dangerous and divisive but Elizabeth Warren is taking that one step further and questioning his motives and questioning his values and making it clear these aren't just attacks. They mean that he's out for himself and he's attacking the American people his not just attacking Hillary Clinton.
[21:25:13] COOPER: It is though interesting the whole idea that there's the things you want the candidate to do and the things you can't surrogates to do. Donald Trump is defying all that. I mean, he's doing all of the things that a surrogate would traditionally do.
OSBORNE: Right, I mean, well, Donald Trump has been running campaign based on how he wants to run it. I mean, I think, that now ...
COOPER: Even now at this point?
OSBORNE: Even now at this point.
(CROSSTALK)
OSBORNE: I mean, to say that Donald Trump I think what a lot of people are missing here and particularly in the Washington class is that what Donald Trump is doing and how he's talking is how the American people feel. So we sit here and try to explain what the housing bubble was this and, you know, it was caused by this. The American people when hear this and they hear him say, you know, I'm going to go after -- I hope it breaks because that I'll make some money. They respect that in many ways because that's his business. As a politician, he's never going to be like that because he's not going to never be a politician, right I think he's going to continue to run and speak if everyone of these rallies people are cheering.
SETMAYER: That's the interesting psychology about this, which is why I say you have to humanize his failures. Because as long as you present it from, well, these are politicians talking from inside the beltway about the housing crisis and policy that doesn't resonate with people because Donald Trump speaks in colloquial language and he tells it like it is. I don't, I couldn't tell you how many people say, well, he tells it like it is at least. And it's like, yes, but at what cost? So, for example, if you take his language about I'm going to go back to bankruptcies because it's important. You know, I'm from New Jersey and I k now what happened to Atlantic City and I remember when these things happened.
He promised that he wouldn't use junk bonds to finance the casinos. He made all these promises that how wonderful things are going to be and then he turned around when it was advantageous to him and guess what he did? He used junk bonds to finance the Taj Mahal at a 14 percent interest rate and it all went under in spectacular fashion and he did this four times where he promises one thing, he says I'm going to be the best deal, it's going to be the best casino ever, and then he makes mistakes. His whole campaign is based on I'm the best deal maker. I know how to negotiate. But, yet, you can show in his business record where he said those things and it's failed and there are human costs to that. That you bring the people who, you know, well, this is what happened when Donald Trump promised this or he negotiated that. This is how it hurt me. But they haven't been able to grab that message. And, you know, Hillary Clinton is not the best messenger ...
OSBORNE: Is that I would much rather support a businessman who was enthusiastic and optimistic than somebody saying, you know what, if I do junk bonds then this casino is going to fail and everyone is going to be out of a job. I have to respect the fact that he went to every step he could to try to make that casino success. It failed.
SETMAYER: It was dishonest though.
(CROSSTALK) OSBORNE: It was dishonest to say ...
SETMAYER: It was dishonest in the way he went about it.
OSBORNE: Do you think that he actually went into it saying that the business is going to fail so I'm going to lie to these people and say that I'm getting ...
(CROSSTALK)
SETMAYER: Now, but it's misrepresenting whatever he needs to say at the time to get what he wants which is what he's doing right now to the American people.
COOPER: I want to get into here, but we have to take a quick break.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: So we're going to continue this conversation right after the break.
We're also get in to business of Trump's business specifically also Trump University which some students and several lawsuits say which is a scam dupe him in amount of tens of thousands of dollars, what our Drew Griffin found out, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:32:21] COOPER: As we've been talking about Hillary Clinton has been going after Donald Trump's record as a businessman saying he's only interested in making himself rich at the expense of other people, she's been mentioning his businesses, multiple bankruptcies and how he spoke in mid-2000s about hoping the housing market would crash so people like him could, "go in and buy". That quote is from an audio book produced for Trump University which is currently the subject do you probably know of multiple lawsuits that claim it was a totals fraud. A scam that duped people out of tens of thousands of dollars each.
Our Senior Investigator Correspondent Drew Griffin takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATOR CORRESPONDENT: (Inaudible) loved Donald Trump. This retired navy veteran of 40 years thought Trump was a great American success story.
TRUMP: At Trump University we teach success.
GRIFFIN: And attending a free introductory real estate seminar from the now shut down at Trump University.
TRUMP: Success it's going to happen to you.
GRIFFIN: (Inaudible) brought into the idea that this billionaire, Donald Trump himself, really wanted to help make him a success, too. So this is what you signed?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. I signed.
GRIFFIN: Not only sign but allowed Trump University to swipe this credit cards.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the receipt for both of this $10,000, $10,000.
GRIFFIN: In total he paid more than $26,000 for a real estate course. Now let say (inaudible) his wife Elaine (ph) would attend them but what did he get? What a five days he says, he got useless information. And instructors constantly pressuring him to pay even more.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you talking about? More money and I'm not learning anything.
GRIFFIN: You didn't learn anything in that class?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
GRIFFIN: There were no real estate secrets or techniques taught he says except for the one that finally made him realize he'd been had. An instructor detailed the benefits of paying off unpaid tax debts of elderly people keeping them in their homes until they die but then taking ownership of the property.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I saw that teaching you how to steal somebody's house, oh this not right. That moment I said babes let's go home.
ERIC SCHNEIDERMAN, NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL: This is thousands of people who were taken for millions of dollars.
GRIFFIN: New York's Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is leading one of three lawsuits against Donald Trump and his Trump University. The lawsuits all basically say the same thing. That almost everything about Trump University was a lie starting with the name.
TRUMP: Action is what Trump University is all about.
GRIFFIN: It wasn't a university. And its teachers didn't teach any Donald Trump secrets according to New York's attorney general.
TRUMP: And these are all people that are handpicked by me.
GRIFFIN: And none of Trump University's experts who taught at the seminars were picked by Donald Trump.
[21:35:05] SCHNEIDERMAN: There wasn't one piece of his picked that was actually true. And they weren't Donald Trump's secrets sees there. Just been admitted and the president of the Trump University are admitted that Trump never had anything to do with writing the curriculum. GRIFFIN: In fact, it's all admitted in a 2012 deposition, portions of which were recently released and reviewed by CNN. The president of Trump University, Michael Sexton, stated under oath, "None of our instructors at the live events were hand-picked by Donald Trump."
Sexton was asked, "Did anybody at Trump Organization work on the curriculum for the three-day workshops? His answer, "No, they did not."
As for the Trump secrets of success that were supposed to be taught, Sexton testified, "Mr. Trump has made investments with foreclosures. We cover investing with foreclosures."
Bob Guillo, who is suing Donald Trump for his $35,000 paid in tuition says, there were other so-called secrets that really weren't.
BOB GUILLO, TRUMP UNIVERSITY STUDENT: For example, they would put up a slide and they would say, if you want to know about your tax deductions as a business, go to irs.gov. If you want to ...
GRIFFIN: That was a tip.
GUILLO: Yeah. That was a tip. If you want to go to find property, go to trulia.com or ...
GRIFFIN: Another great tip possible.
GUILLO: Another website like that. And, you know, I just was, you know, shaking my head all the time. And I kept hoping that the next retreat that I would take, that I would get some knowledge that I never had before, but never did.
SCHNEIDERMAN: It was a scam. To the extent they had any expertise, it was at suckering people into spending more money.
GRIFFIN: A review of Trump University presenters and so called, "Real Estate Experts", revealed questionable credentials and inflated resumes.
Documents filed in the case show many instructors had little real state experience. Trump University background checks on some instructors couldn't even determine if they graduated from high school.
In a statement to CNN, Trump's lawyer insists Mr. Trump not only met with the instructors and professors who design the course, but also contributed to the curriculum and added the vast majority of Trump University instructors were real estate experts.
Wow, there's a lot of books.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. It's a lot of book. Believe me, it's a lot of money that I spent with this guy.
GRIFFIN: (Inaudible) who paid $26,000 to Trump's school, says he has at learned one lesson, he no longer believes what anyone tells him even a billionaire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Drew joins us now. What's the likelihood this is actually going to go to trial before the election?
GRIFFIN: You know, there's three different places going on, Anderson. And one looked like it really go. The New York case might go this summer, but there's been so many legal dealings and the Trump team was able to get an appeal on one question and that looks like it's going to put this back to after the election. Most likely, the first case to go to trial will be at California case and that is set for trial on November 28th.
So, it's probably not going to happen before the election.
COOPER: I would ask you, is Trump University officially shutdown, but it's not a university, so there's no actual place to shutdown. But, is the business -- has it shuttered its doors?
GRIFFIN: I'm trying to remember, it's called the, "Trump Entrepreneur Institute". And it no longer has any students, no longer has any teachers, no longer has any curriculum. But, they tell me it's not technically shutdown and Trump even said after he becomes president, his kids are going to reopen it and run it, because it was such a great success.
COOPER: I'm sure his kids are dying to run it. You know, I'm sure they're going to jump onboard that. Drew, thanks very much. We're going to talk about all this next with the panel.
Also ahead, in a twisted someone's literary, the man who investigated Bill Clinton in the '90s, Kenneth Starr is reportedly closed to being fired as a university president in connection with his sexual assault scandal involving the school's football team. That's what we know when "360" continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:42:58] COOPER: More shortly on the Trump U story on the last segment. First, our breaking news on New Mexico's Republican Governor, Donald Trump has been attacking until now as we've been talk about, no big name Republicans, endlessly come to her defense.
However, just moments ago, Ohio Governor, John Kasich tweeted this out. "Governor Martinez is an outstanding governor who's brought conservative reform to a blue state. She is exactly who our party and nominee should be lifting up and supporting not tearing down."
That was Governor Kasich just moments ago. Back now with our panel. Stuart, I mean, it is interesting, does it surprise you that there hasn't been more sort of public support like what we just heard from Kasich for the governor?
STEVENS: Well, Jeb Bush tweeted out something I thought was interesting in support of Governor Martinez. I think what's happening here in part is if you know Governor Martinez, she's a very tough person. And I think that there is a balance here. You don't want to step in like well, you know, big guys are going to protect this woman and she's, you know, let her speak for herself.
This is someone who has a great story. She is a true American success story. Donald Trump got rich the day he was born. Susana Martinez really is someone you can look at and invest in and be proud of, which is one of overlooking all of this, you know. She has the sort of story that we want to celebrate in America.
And, OK, maybe she doesn't agree with me on everything. I mean, she spoke at the convention and she had things she wanted to say. She said what she wanted to say. We have to respect differences. I mean, that's how our whole policy works, our whole political system.
And, you know, Donald Trump, the thing that I just go back to is this character flaw that he can't help himself. He can't stop. There's nothing in it for him to attack Susana Martinez and yet he attacks her. And you can say that it's interesting in a reality show.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: That there's nothing in it necessarily for him to go after Elizabeth Warren?
STEVENS: Elizabeth Warren has the big stories, because Donald Trump is attacking her. If Elizabeth Warren at Junior-Senior from Massachusetts is out doing and say we'll get a little coverage, but he is a nominee of a party, about to be. So, it becomes a big story.
[21:45:08] So, he's elevating Senator Warren's attacks. And, you know, I just think that's a very difficult to sustain, because anybody can attack and you'll respond. You're relinquishing control.
OSBORNE: I think there is something to be said about the fact that, you know, and you been to several rallies where you have people like come up and say why aren't you saying this? And why aren't you saying that about this guy? I mean Donald Trump again speaks for a lot of Americans out there that are just fed up with government.
And so when he speaks his mind and says that Susana Martinez, all right, she's not me. And, you know, the welfare and food stamps have gone up in the states, he's saying what people in New Mexico were saying about her and he's just expressing his view, that he's not going to be like every politician out there that won't speak his mind about different people. They may be from the same party. But that doesn't matter. It shouldn't matter.
SETMAYER: What happened to common decency and respect for dissent when a founding father were ...
OSBORNE: That a dissent, she just said ...
SETAMYER: She's going to be ... OSBONE: ... I'm not going to be there.
SETMAYER: Well no, she obviously has differences with him on policy and things that he had said with his, you know, disparaging comments about immigrants and women. So that's a difference of opinion. That's dissent. And with Donald Trump's it's his way to the highway or his going to go scorched air on you.
And that's a character flaw to use Stuart's term and I don't want for someone it has the power of the presidency there. I mean, you know, you though why act such a petulant child with people who have a discipline with you. That is something that you concern everyone. If you want to talk recklessly and say tell it how it is when you don't have any responsibility or your consequences for it, go ahead and do that in the private sector.
OSBORNE: But, I mean we ...
SETMAYER: When you representing the United States and the people, then that is something that people should be concerned about who they want to put in power. There are consequences to your words.
OSBORNE: What's interesting here is that, you know, we're all Republicans over on this side and, you know ...
SETMAYER: Conservatives.
OSBORNE: So we shouldn't be battling back and forth as much. But what's interesting is said I have never heard Republicans or Democrats complain about the other party attacking or saying I'm not going to support Hillary Clinton just because she attacked Donald Trump or just because she attacked somebody else. But you ...
SETMAYER: You minimize this.
OSBORNE: No, I'm not minimizing.
SETMAYER: You are. Yours saying is much everything.
OSBORNE: Donald Trump had an opinion. And what he said was he didn't make a personal attack. What he said was that the food stamps and welfare, you know, are not in good shape. I don't know his exact comments. But he didn't attack her and say, you know, she's a despicable woman. He said that the conditions in New Mexico aren't great. How can we sit here and you want each Republican to stand up and defend every ...
COOPER: Let me stick the other side in here ...
SETMAYER: Donald Trump is not a politician.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Does it make sense though for Donald Trump to be doing this, I mean from a political standpoint? LABOLT: I think there's something more subtle happening here which is a fundamental breakdown in the Republican Party as we know it. I mean if you can hear it on the other side of the panel. The Republican leadership fanned the flames on Tea Party for years which had different views and establishment Republicans on things like trade and foreign policy.
Donald Trump has become their candidate and some establishment Republicans are still desperately searching for another candidate and now you have Donald Trump in open warfare with prominent, popular republican governors.
COOPER: We going to take a quick break. So we're going to take a quick break. Ahead turn a twist of more huge proportion. Kenneth Starr investigated Bill Clinton, we figure some let say relish in the '90s opening the door to his impeachment is now under fire for his handling of alleged rapes at the Christian University where he himself is president. We'll be right back.
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[21:52:18] COOPER: Tonight, the former independent council who lead the investigation that ultimate leads the impeachment of President Clinton is back in the news.
Only this time, he is the one in danger of losing his job over a sexual assault scandal at Baylor University in Texas where he's president, the scandal involves the school's handling of reports of rape and assault by Baylor football players.
Ed Lavandera investigates.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nearly nine years ago, the seeds of the Baylor University renaissance were planted when the school hired Art Briles as its football coach, then Ken Starr, as university president. Yes, that Ken Starr of 1990's Clinton/Lewinsky cover-up investigation fame.
And after decades of mediocrity, Baylor football was blossoming. A new $266 million football stadium was built on campus.
From the outside, Baylor was on the rise. But now, some say it came at a painful cost.
IRWIN ZALKIN, VICTIM'S LAWYER: Absolutely there was a cover-up. The reality is it tends to be all about the money, you know. It's how do they protect their wealth, how do they protect and do damage control to protect that reputation?
LAVANDERA: Irwin Zalkin represents former Baylor student, Jasmine Hernandez, who is now suing Baylor for the way the school and the athletic program handled her rape allegations when she first came forward. At least three Baylor football players have faced sexual assault accusations and there are reportedly a number of other Baylor students who've come forward with allegations of being sexually assaulted.
Two victims who've spoken with CNN say the university tried to cover up the rape allegations. Jasmin Hernandez was sexually assaulted by Baylor football player Tevin Elliott in April of 2012.
JASMIN HERNANDEZ, FORMER BAYLOR STUDENT: This person had numerous claims of assaults made against him before where we're claiming very serious allegations of assault and just being completely ignored and like sort of pushed under the rug.
LAVANDERA: Hernandez struggled with the trauma. Her grades suffered and when her mother asked the Academic Services Department for help, she says a Baylor School official told her, "If a plane falls on your daughter, there's nothing we can do to help you."
Hernandez eventually lost her academic scholarship. Elliott was convicted in 2014 of sexually assaulting Hernandez and is serving a 20 year pre-sentences.
As for Ken Starr, he's not spoken publicly, but the irony of a sexual assault cover-up happening on the watch of the man who investigated the most famous sexual affair cover-up isn't going unnoticed.
[21:55:02] Then there's the case of Sam Ukwuachu which raises even more questions about what was going on under stars watch. Ukuwuachu transferred from Boise State to Baylor in 2013 after he was dismissed from that team for disciplinary reasons. It turns out, there were serious concerns about his violent behavior toward his then girlfriend. Last August, Baylor football coach Art Briles denied knowing anything about it.
How much do you know about what happened at Boise State?
ART BRILES, BAYOR FOOTBALL COACH: No, zero.
LAVANDERA: But Boise State's former head coach said in a statement, I thoroughly apprised Coach Briles of the circumstances surrounding Sam's disciplinary record and dismissal. Ukwuachu arrived in Waco and was convicted last summer of sexually assaulting a Baylor student. Irwin Zalkin says, Art Briles cannot claim he didn't know about the actions of his football players.
ZALKIN: You'd have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to know. And if he, you know, if he stuck his head in the sand and tried to avoid knowledge, that's just as bad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Ed Lavandera joins us now. What does the university President Ken Starr have to say about all this?
LAVANDERA: Not much. We've made repeated requests for an interview, all of that has been denied. There is a report out tonight and it's been out for the last couple of days that the board of regents here at Baylor has already voted to fire Ken Starr and then essentially, the details are working out.
However, a spokesperson for the university says that the board is still debating that and analyzing all of that. But an official announcement will be made at some point between now and the end of next week. Anderson?
COPPER: All right, Ed Lavandera, we'll continue to follow and thanks. We'll be right back
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COOPER: A lot of breaking news we're continuing to follow tonight, the continuing fallout from violence at Trump campaign events, the possibility of a Paul Ryan endorsement and more. Stay tuned to CNN for all of it.
[22:00:03] In the meantime that does it for us, thanks for watching. "CNN TONIGHT" with Don Lemon starts now.
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