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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Hillary Clinton Will Not Be Charged On E-Mail Server Issue; FBI Director James Comey To Testify On Capitol Hill; Clinton Slams Trump's Business Failures; Attorney General: Clinton Will Not Face Charges; New Video Of Deadly Police Shooting; Trump, Clinton Trade Punches; Corker Exits VP Stakes. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired July 06, 2016 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[20:00:16] JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Good evening. John Berman here in for Anderson.
Tonight, breaking news, word from attorney general Loretta Lynch, no charge against Hillary Clinton or anyone else.
Also talks under way for a joint, Clinton-Bernie Sanders appearance next week possibly for him to endorse her. More on all of that shortly.
We begin, though, with Donald Trump, fresh from speaking out against Hillary Clinton, against FBI director James Comey, against a system he calls rigged and to some degree, controversially praising Saddam Hussein. And for the first time saying he wishes his campaign would not have taken down a tweet that some saw as anti-Semitic. His remarks came at a fiery event in Cincinnati. Fiery is an understatement. Here's some of what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Rigged system, folks. Remember, I used to say it. I'm the one that brought that word up. Now everybody's using it. Bernie Sanders is rightfully using it because, honestly, what they did with him was not good. I wake up, and I turn on the television. Donald Trump loves Saddam Hussein. He loves Saddam Hussein. And I was just asked a question by the "Cincinnati Inquirer" and said, Mr. Trump, is it true that you love Saddam Hussein? Essentially like sort of that, you know? I said that's not what I said. That's not what I said. So that's the narrative that goes around. I actually put a press release out. And now, the people that saw it says that was great, but they are liars. These are bad people. These are bad people. And what I did say -- and what I did say is that he was good at one thing. He was really good at killing terrorists. He didn't wait around. So one of my guys who is married to a Jewish woman, this is a very fine person, Dan Skovino. He put out a tweet talking about crooked Hillary Clinton. And on the tweet was a star. A star. Like, a star. And I said -- because when I looked at it I didn't think anything. All of a sudden it turned out to be in the minds of the press only because it could have been a sheriff star, it could have been a regular star. My boy comes home from school, Baron. He draws stars all over the place. I never said that's the Star of David, Baron, don't - so it's a star. Have you all seen this? It's a star! The Democrats, was there a mosquito. I don't want mosquitos around me. I don't like mosquitos! I don't like those mosquitos. I never did. OK. Speaking of mosquitos, hello Hillary, how are you doing?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: That was Donald Trump just moments ago.
CNN's Sara Murray was there. She joins us now from Cincinnati.
Sara, it's safe to say this was not the teleprompter Donald Trump.
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: I think that's fair to say, John Berman. This was pretty classic, old-school Donald Trump. He was going after the media and he was reviving controversies that seem to have mostly been put to bed. You saw him there talking about the tweet that had the star -- six-pointed star and had Hillary Clinton and piles of cash. It invoked some anti-Semitic imagery and he got a lot of criticism for that on twitter, as well as from the anti- defamation league. His campaign deleted it. They covered it with something else.
His social media director put out a statement saying I never meant to offend anyone. They didn't go so far as to apologize but that was a couple of days ago. And today, Donald Trump just brought it all back and in addition to the comment about Saddam Hussein that he made last night.
Now, John, he started on message. He started talking about Rob Portman who is in tough reelection fight here, is a great senator, bashing Ted Strickland and he ended on message. But there were some tangents in there, as you noted.
BERMAN: There are some tangents. He did talk about James Comey, the FBI and some emails and that is what a lot of Republicans want him to focus on almost exclusively at this point.
Tomorrow, Donald Trump heads to Capitol Hill. He will meet with members of Congress. He will try to reassure some members of Congress. Do you think tonight's event and tonight's speech will be reassuring on Capitol Hill?
MURRAY: Well, it sort right now when it comes to prosecuting the case against Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump does that just as energetically as he talks about pretty much everything else. You know, he said she lied about her emails and it was clear. And that anyone else who did what Hillary Clinton did would have been going to jail and she has managed to get away with it. And so, I think you are going to hear more of that when he goes to talk to Republicans on the hill.
And he tends to do a little bit better in these closed-door meetings with Republicans where they can ask him questions. talk to him a little bit more about the fundamentals of his campaign, about his strategy going into the general election, but the Donald Trump you get on the stump on the campaign trail on nights like these where he is very fired up especially against the press is a totally different thing, I think, than what you are going to see behind closed doors tomorrow in Washington.
[20:05:09] BERMAN: He is an energized, Donald Trump, that's to be sure.
Sara Murray, thanks so much.
Donald Trump going to Capitol Hill tomorrow. FBI director James Comey also will be there. He will be in Congress going to answer questions about his recommendations against criminal charges for Hillary Clinton, a recommendation that today attorney general Loretta Lynch accepted.
As you saw again tonight, director Comey is facing heat from Donald Trump and Republicans accusing him of a double standard, charging others under similar circumstances, they say, but not charging her. Now, this is an allegation that Comey tried to nip in the bud yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: All of the cases prosecuted involved some combination of clearly, intentional and willful mishandling of classified information or vast quantities of information, exposed in such a way to support an inference of intentional misconduct or indications of disloyalty to the United States or efforts to obstruct justice. We do not see those things here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Now, Republicans including Congressman Jason Chaffetz who is chairing the hearing, they disagree and now say they want to know more even though in chairman Chaffetz's case, the Clinton campaign pointed out her new video, he recently praised director Comey and said he will probably, except his upcoming decision.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JASON CHAFFETZ (R), UTAH: His finger is on the pulse of this. Nothing happens without him. And I think he is going to be the definitive person to make a determination or recommendation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: All right, that was then. Right now let's turn to CNN's Manu Raju.
Manu, Director Comey actually met with attorney general Loretta Lynch today who officially announced he is not going to press charges against Hillary Clinton or anyone else connected to this. What can you tell us about today's meeting?
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, John, this really does not come as much of a surprise since Loretta Lynch previously announced that she would accept the recommendation from the FBI no matter what it was. And with Comey saying that he didn't think a credible case could be made against Clinton, she clearly agreed.
Now, she met this afternoon with Comey and federal prosecutors who investigated the matter for a year and said in a statement that no charges would be brought against quote "any individuals within the scope of the investigation."
Now, in the wake of Bill Clinton's meeting with Lynch on an airport tarmac this week, many Republicans simply don't think the attorney general is impartial and she will be on Capitol Hill next week, John, testifying and answering questions from Republicans.
BERMAN: Yes. So what can we expect to hear from director Comey tomorrow when he appears before chairman Chaffetz's committee?
RAJU: You know, he is going to get a grilling from house Republicans and Jason Chaffetz. And many of those Republicans simply believed that Clinton broke the law and should be prosecuted. There are going to be multiple rounds of questioning from members of both sides of the aisle and house Republicans are saying that this is just the start of a political pressure campaign that is just going to intensify all of the way up into November, John.
BERMAN: And earlier today, Manu, speaker Ryan spoke about the FBI decision, also spoke about what actions Congress might take against Hillary Clinton. What was he saying?
RAJU: Yes. Speaker Ryan also suggested that he believed that Hillary Clinton got preferential treatment. And when I asked him today if he thought Congress should push for a special prosecutor he actually did not rule that out. He said that all option are on the table. But Ryan had been very clear that Clinton should not get access to the country's secrets during the campaign. Listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: I was on the ticket in 2012. After the convention you get the full, deep, classified information as part of the transition, as part of being a nominee. I think the DNI, Clapper, should deny Hillary Clinton access to classified information during this campaign given how she so recklessly handled classified information.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Now Republicans on the house intelligence committee privately met this morning. And I am told they discussed whether there was any legislative recourse to deny Clinton access to intelligence, so watch out for that, John.
And interestingly, I asked Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell if Donald Trump would be briefed on classified intelligence and he would not answer. And instead he called on Clinton to release the transcripts of her FBI introduce, John.
BERMAN: 2016, Manu Raju, thanks so much. I want to bring in panel right now. Clinton supporter's Basil Smikle
and Christine Quinn, "New York Times" political correspondent Patrick Healy. Trump supporter Kayleigh McEnany and Joseph Borelli. They were caught in the middle of it all and conservative Trump critic, Tara Setmayer. Kayleigh, we were talking about tonight's Donald Trump's speech. Not
the teleprompter Trump which actually received a lot of praise from a lot of Republican on Capitol Hill. Do you think this will be of concern to people who liked Donald Trump painting within the lines?
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, because this was Donald Trump taking control of the narrative being set forth by the Hillary Clinton campaign who takes any small incident, blows it up and manufactures outrage and tries to create controversy where it does not exist. So it was important for Donald Trump to set the record straight and say Hillary Clinton has said x, y and z about me, here is my rebuttal. He did focus on this. You see did focus on the FBI investigation. That was most important too. That's probably most important but it was important to give those rebuttals.
[20:10:11] BERMAN: Well, rebuttals to the Star of David or, you know, or the tweet controversy, which no one was really bringing up today, Kayleigh. I mean, today, was really focused on the FBI, focused on James Comey, focused on the emails which I have no Republican in Washington thinks is a very fertile issue.
And councilman, this is what Donald Trump said unprovoked in Cincinnati today. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So we have unbelievably dishonest media. So think of that. You have the star, which is fine. I said you shouldn't have taken it down. You know, they took the star down. I said, too bad. You should have left it up. I would have rather defended it. Just leave it up and say no, that's not the Star of David. That's just a star.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Were you surprised, councilman to see Donald Trump again tonight unprovoked when so much folks' elsewhere is on Hillary Clinton and her emails bring up this controversy again.
JOSEPH BORELLI, CO-CHAIR, TRUMP NEW YORK CAMPAIGN: I think as Kayleigh pointed out you reach a point when you are just so frustrated with some of these manufactured anger coming like things from the Star of David to his trip to Scotland. And one of the things he spoke about at length today was his trip to Scotland and how the Clinton campaign used golf videos of him for years ago just to create this lie that he was in Scotland, you know, solely play golf.
I think you have reached a critical point where you get frustrated and seeing this take a larger precedent in the media over some things that Hillary Clinton is doing like the FBI investigation, et cetera, et cetera. BERMAN: But my point is it wasn't taking today, at least a larger
role in the media. Today it's been all about the FBI. It's been all about the emails. It's been all about the hearings that are going to take place in Congress tomorrow.
Patrick Healy, you are with Donald Trump today and with you he was bringing up the Star of David?
PATRICK HEALY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Sure. Shortly before his rally today we sat down at his office and he was so clear. It was just galling him. It was galling him this idea that he was pushing and trafficking and anti-Semitism and he said I wouldn't have deleted it. I would not have deleted it. To me I saw this, I saw a star. And he sort that he understood his staff took it down because of sensitivities and sensibilities, but he wanted to fight.
And I think the thing that was just so striking, John, is that as you know, you know, Republicans dream of a kind of week like this where the FBI director I getting up there. You know, Barack Obama's FBI director and giving to Hillary Clinton and serving up just these softballs. And Donald Trump instead is just really kind of still seething over a tweet that nobody really wants to talk about. You think that he didn't want to talk about anymore and he's not pounding on the judgment and on the confidence and on the instinct questions that now were so fertile that he could be raising against Hillary Clinton.
BERMAN: Christine, go ahead.
CHRISTINE QUINN, CLINTON SUPPORTER: No. It kind of baffles the mind where he would go back to this unfortunate, at best, unfortunate incident. And I think it reminds Americans that he's kind of irrational and doesn't really have a sound sense of judgment and that makes you relates to being president of the United States. But beyond that, his staff members said that they picked it off of some anti- Hillary Web site. When in fact, that exact imagery, the Star of David with words like corrupt in it, on top of a pile of money has been well documented as an image used on anti-Semitic websites. And it's not just the media or Hillary supporters. You cannot assail the qualifications of the anti-defamation league.
(CROSSTALK)
BERMAN: Hang on a second.
Let's just put up the tweet for that. If this is the tweet that Donald Trump now says he wishes were not taken down.
But Tara, the issue, because I don't think that we ever going to get the councilman or Christine Quinn to agree on whether this is an anti- Semitic or not, but the issue is that by and large, Tara, this was litigated in the press, litigated in the public discourse two days ago.
TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right. BERMAN: And it wasn't going to be discussed as much as it is now
unless Donald Trump did what some people I have heard from the last 20 minutes did was the politically unthinkable which is bring it up himself at a rally in Cincinnati.
SETMAYER: On a day when Hillary Clinton, her email scandal and the fact that the FBI director has to go in front of the Congress for hearings. These are all things, like Patrick said, we talked about this earlier, you and I. These are all things that should have been death blows to Hillary Clinton and her campaign. But no, instead Donald Trump is obsessing over a mistake that his campaign made four days ago. He is still talking about that. He wasted time when all of the networks are covering him, rehashing that issue.
Not only did he waste time on that bringing it back up so now we're talking about this instead of going after Hillary Clinton. He brought up the Scotland, you know, golf thing again. He is bringing up all of these other, dredging up stuff. He wasted so much precious time on about himself and other controversies and he spent more time criticizing CNN and the media instead of talking about this country and going after Hillary Clinton, her record, her problems instead of hammering that message home. He did that for about --
[20:15:22] BERMAN: He hit Hillary Clinton.
SETMAYER: He did that for three minutes and he went off on these crazy tangents again.
BERMAN: Kayleigh, go ahead.
MCENANY: Everyone expects him to be this perfectly politician. But you know what he is? He is a real person. And when he is accused of things that are unsavory and that our disgusting accusations, he going to address them. Unlike the secretary of state who stood up today in Atlantic City and trying to dis-barge someone's business record. Instead of (INAUDIBLE) American people --. He did not deceive the FBI and addressing all of the various myriad of contradictions that James Comey pointed out. She didn't address the issues. Donald Trump addresses the issues and takes them head-on like any real person would do.
(CROSSTALK)
BERMAN: Basil, I want to get you into this discussion because Kayleigh is right. Secretary Clinton has not spoken out publicly about the emails, about what the FBI director said and about the investigation at this point. She hasn't talked yesterday. She hasn't spoken today. Should she?
BASIL SMIKLE, CLINTON SUPPORTER: Well, I don't know if she will, but the investigation is over. Loretta Lynch said that today. This investigation is over. What's going to happen, is that the Republicans unsatisfied with this finding who have pinned their White House aspirations on Hillary being indicted will continue to prosecute her in the shadow prosecution by bringing James Comey down to Congress, a man who has been lauded by people on both the right and the left and all of a sudden now these findings are somehow flawed.
(CROSSTALK) HEALY: In comments that she made yesterday in the release from yesterday. But the fact of the matter is this is going to continue to get dredged up. And it's not about finding systemic problems and changes that can be made. It's about prosecuting her.
BERMAN: All right, guys. Stand by. The investigation maybe over, this discussion is not over nor are the questions over because tomorrow James Comey will be on Capitol Hill. There is much more to discuss about these hearings.
And later, Hillary Clinton on Donald Trump's old turf, Atlantic City, taking dead end at how he ran his hotels and casinos hem. Run them, she says, into the ground.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:21:11] BERMAN: Just before Donald Trump began speaking in Cincinnati tonight, word came down that attorney general Loretta Lynch would not pursue charges against Hillary Clinton or anyone kecked to her. Trump reacted. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: This happened, as you know, with the attorney general of the United States saying no problem. No problem. No problem. You know, I wrote out a couple of things about Hillary, crooked Hillary, crooked, so crooked. She made so many false statements. Is she going to be brought before Congress or something? Is something going to happen? Is something going to happen? Because it's a disgrace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: All Right. Back now with our panel.
Patrick Healy, I want to start with you because the Democrats to your right they suggest the investigation is over. This issue is completely over. This is not over. Not when James Comey is going to Capitol Hill tomorrow to answer questions to one committee. Not one next week the attorney general is going to appear before another committee. Not when the house is going to consider, you know, legislation to bar classified information from going to the secretary of state while she is running for president. This is kind of a big deal with the FBI director going to Capitol Hill tomorrow.
HEALY: No. I think it is really is the beginning of something. The end of this investigation and the beginning of a very difficult political period for Hillary Clinton. The question is are the Republicans on the hill who are going to meet with Donald Trump going to say to him, this is how you have to prosecute the argument. You have her on the hot seat like no Democratic nominee has been in years. This is how you have to go after her because this could be the kind of story that lasts, you know, for weeks for her.
And as we know with Hillary Clinton, she is not the greatest at sitting down and taking all questions and saying, you know, I'm going to answer every last question that comes at me. But people are going to be pressing her on this. People are going to be shouting questions at her. And you know, if he figures out a way to really focus on the mistrust, the judgment, then he will start being able to reach, I think, undecided voters whereas the conspiracy theories that he is sort of trading in a lot of the times, people roll their eyes.
BERMAN: By the way, when you say she's not the best at answering questions, she doesn't really hold news conferences in any kind of --.
SMIKLE: If I can just tweak that a little bit. I would take a little issue with that because when she was asked to testify at the Benghazi hearings, which she did two times, one of them was an 11-hour session. So she is prepared to sit down and answer questions related to these very tough issues. But I think what the voters will look at ultimately is that we spent $7 million on these investigations. The last report hit with a thud. No new information there.
And I think what the American people will want to know is you can spend all of this time and all of this money trying to go after this woman, but you can't muster the fortitude to create good gun control.
BERMAN: Tara, I want to ask you, James Comey is going to be in the so-called hot seat tomorrow. There's one guy who can handle the hot seat it may be James Comey. Do the Republicans run some risk here by putting the heat on him?
SETMAYER: I think if they don't overreach. As long as they ask legitimate questions, Congress has oversight capacity over the FBI and the department of justice and they have every right to ask the FBI director how the investigation was conducted and how he came to the conclusion that even -- what's the difference between extremely careless and grossly negligent. I think he has the American people -- have the right to hear a full explanation of that. As long as they don't overplay their hand, I think what happened at the Benghazi hearing, was there missed opportunities. There was new information in the report that came out last week, but at the hearings, there were some things and there were some missed opportunities there. As long as it isn't a rehash of that, I think that this still could have political upside for the Republicans for sure, but Donald Trump have to capitalize on it whish he is not doing.
BERMAN: Hang on, one second.
Councilman, I'm going to change the change the subject completely because Donald Trump tonight - Donald Trump said something very interesting about the man who was on stage with him tonight. Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the house, he went out of his way to praise Newt Gingrich. He said, well, I'm not telling you it is going to be Newt, meaning my vice presidential running mate. But if Newt is in the debates, he is not going to lose. Do you think that Newt is number one or two or three on the list right now?
[20:25:21] BORELLI: I mean, I think all evidence in the media is that Newt is one of the finalist in the Veep stakes and I think he would be a great choice. I think a lot of people that are on the list including people that have come out and say they might not be willing to be considered were all very good picks. I think Newt does bring a certain gravitas. He brings a lot of mainstream, Republican support. He brings a vast knowledge of policy which I think Donald trump could benefit from.
But I really want to ask one question just to Basil's point if you would indulge me a second. The question that we spent $7 million trying to answer is one of Hillary Clinton won't answer is why -- you have bold-faced lied to the American public about sending emails and not deleting them. You bold-faced lied to the American public on Benghazi, what you told your daughter versus what you told the public. How do you answer that?
[20:26:05] SMIKLE: First of all, she didn't lie about deleting emails, number one.
BORELLI: She said I never sent classified emails.
SMIKLE: You asked me about deleting emails. She didn't lie about deleting emails, number one.
(CROSSTALK)
No, no, no. Number one. Number two, with respect to the conversation with her daughter, if you remember what was said in the testimony, it was that there was an -- this was an ongoing event, obviously, right? Things were evolving --
BORELLI: So why did she first say one and then the other?
SMIKLE: One of the things she said to her daughter including some of the comments made by Susan Rice was relative to information that they were just getting, but not settled on. It was an evolving event. This took place - I mean, these were conversations --
BORELLI: But what about an event that evolved about not sending classified email which she ought to have known. Why was she so willing to lie when directly asked several times on this question?
QUINN: I think it was very clear in the way the secretary conducted herself at the Benghazi hearings and the degree to which those ended up as a show of really no new evidence of any wrongdoing. It shows she was not lying. And again, I want to say tomorrow at the hearing when the FBI director is there. Tara raises a very good point about will they go too far again. And what I believe will happen regardless of how the Congress members conduct themselves, within the appropriate way or they go out of their way to attack a dignified, highly regarded public servant, Donald Trump will go out of his way to be outrageous again.
BORELLI: She shouldn't be charged and you should accept the fact that he basically said what we all know is that she lied about this.
QUINN: The words lied and never --
(CROSSTALK) QUINN: That was -- don't put words in such a distinguished public servant's mouth. Let's not forget, Joe, wait! Let's not forget, Donald Trump just yesterday raised the Specter that the FBI director, a man who has taken on Republicans and Democrats with clear, you know, patriotic focus, that he had made this decision because he was being coerced into staying on as the FBI director. That's what will happen. You have Donald Trump that will act in a way that is disrespectful, un-American.
(CROSSTALK)
BERMAN: We are going to take a quick break and talk more about this coming up because clearly, there is a lot to discuss right now.
There is also more to discuss about Hillary Clinton and her day to day. She went to Atlantic City to talk about Donald Trump and his businesses in Atlantic City, failed businesses. She gave a scathing speech about what he did there stood in front of a fading Trump name on a now close casino. The latest on that and the latest on discussion about what Hillary Clinton told the American people and what James Comey told the American people. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:32:46] BERMAN: Hillary Clinton was in Atlantic City today. She did not answer questions or give any explanation about the e-mail story and what the FBI Director has said about her practices as secretary of state. Instead, she hammered Donald Trump's business failures in Atlantic City and warned essentially that a President Trump is a gamble of the country could not afford.
On the boardwalk in front of a now closed Trump plaza casino, Secretary Clinton talked about Trump's multiple bankruptcies, stiffing contractors, she said, and causing job losses during his stint running casinos there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: When this casino collapsed because of how badly he managed it, hundreds of people lost their jobs. Shareholders were wiped out. Lenders lost money. Contractors, many of them small businesses took heavy losses and many themselves went bust. But Donald Trump, he walked away with millions. And here's what he says about the whole experience. He actually brags about it. Atlantic City was a very good cash cow for me for a long time. The money I took out of there was incredible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Jeff Zeleny joins me now with more from the Clinton campaign trail. Jeff, what else was she saying about Trump and his business record and why?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, it was really song and verse about the long business record of Donald Trump, particularly here in Atlantic City. It certainly has seen its better days and Donald Trump certainly not to blame for all of the economic issues of Atlantic City, but he certainly has bankruptcies in his history and his record here. So, she came directly to the heart of the boardwalk here, literally turned behind her and looked at the sign where Trump Plaza used to stay.
But John, her point here is this. He got rich. Other people did not. That is her whole anthem of her campaign here. She believes that he is trying to, you know, sort of defraud and mislead working-class voters across America, so she's trying to at every turn, get them to pay a little bit more attention here to his actual business record.
John, I got the sense that today it might be replayed again in the form of a T.V. commercial with Clinton turning behind her and looking at that Trump Plaza, formerly Trump Plaza sign.
[20:35:01] BERMAN: You know, one of the things that might give you that impression is the fact the Clinton campaign had cameras there filming it, which is how it made it up ...
ZELENY: Indeed.
BERMAN: ... in the campaign ad later on. And clearly, the Clinton campaign wants to focus on that and not the e-mails.
Jeff, the Attorney General Loretta Lynch today announced that she would accept Director Comey's recommendation for no charges against Secretary Clinton. Hillary Clinton's not talking about it, but how is the campaign reacting?
ZELENY: She is not talking about it publicly yet, John, she will at some point, we know. But a tweet from her Spokesman Brian Fallon a short time ago said this, "With the Attorney General accepting Director Comey's recommendation, the case is resolved, no matter Republican's attempts to continue playing politics."
So, again, they say the case is closed. The case is resolved. And legally, that may, in fact, be true. But politically speaking, this case goes on and in fact, it will go on tomorrow morning on Capitol Hill before the House Oversight Committee when Director Comey is answering these questions.
But one interesting thing, the Clinton campaign has been working with House Democrats on that committee to shape some of these questions here to get some context out and their side of the story out as well here. So the hearing is not just one-sided with Republicans, it will be with Democrats asking questions as well.
BERMAN: That's going to be fascinating tomorrow. And Jeff, you have some other news, some political news on the Democratic side, the idea of possible Democratic unity, a possible joint appearance between Secretary Clinton and Bernie Sanders next week?
ZELENY: John, we are learning that tonight. There's a potential meeting next Tuesday in New Hampshire with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. The, you know, behind the scenes they've been working on this for quite some time and the details are still not yet worked out. The Sanders campaign is, in fact, holding out hope for a couple more things and the outcome of a platform meeting, a Democratic platform meeting this weekend in Orlando, if that goes well, if the Sanders campaign sort of get some more things that it's been asking for, they believe that he will appear on Tuesday in New Hampshire and will, in fact, endorse her.
Now, if things don't go well he may not here. So, finally, this is coming together. Some patience is really running thin on some Democrats who want to get on with this. She's already appeared with the President of course, and the Vice President come Friday. But they want to get this out of the way before the Democratic convention, which is really just slightly under three weeks away. John.
BERMAN: All right, Jeff Zeleny, thanks so much. As you heard there, Secretary Clinton said in her speech today that Donald Trump convince other people that is Atlantic City properties were great investments so they want to invest but always rigged it, she said, so that he got paid no matter how badly his company has performed.
CNN's Jessica Schneider has been digging into Trump's business history in Atlantic City. This is what she found.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN NEW YORK CORRESPONDENT: With one rub of the genie's lamp, Donald Trump became the self-proclaimed king of Atlantic City.
It was April 1990 when Trump opened his third casino in Atlantic City, the Trump Taj Mahal to extravagant fanfare and his signature bravado.
DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: They talked about a million dollars a day. I think, bucky, we've done that in the first few hours.
SCHNEIDER: But within days, Trump's new trophy was tarnished. It almost immediately began losing money, but you wouldn't have known it from what Trump was saying publicly. He talked to Larry King less than three weeks after the opening.
TRUMP: We've broken every record, we are seeing numbers that nobody's ever seen before. It's a great building.
SCHNEIDER: Trump's boasts didn't stop the alarm bells from sounding at the New Jersey Casino Control Commission. In the summer of 1990, the Commission issued an internal report flagging the fact that several of Trump's Atlantic City casinos were generating an insufficient level of cash flow, pushing the Trump organization toward complete financial collapse.
TIM O'BRIEN, "TRUMPNATION THE ART OF BEING THE DONALD": He didn't run a company that served Atlantic City well. He didn't run a company that served investors well. He didn't run a company that served its employees well. He left a lot of damage in his wake.
SCHNEIDER: Tim O'Brien documented Trump's financial woes for years as a reporter for the "New York Times".
O'BRIEN: The reality is he got too big to fail and Atlantic City couldn't afford to let him run aground because he'd gotten control of such a big part of the market.
SCHNEIDER: The financial fallout was felt throughout Trump's properties. The Castle Casino owed $20 million to bond holders in 1990, and as the deadline on that debt approached, gaming officials expressed concern to the Casino Control Commission about a ripple effect. The Commission considered pulling Trump's gaming license but feared an industry wide collapse. The Casino Commission, instead, approved a $65 million bailout, the money coming from nine banks. It also put a strict limit on Trump's personal spending budgeting him $450,000 a month for the first year with decreasing amounts for the next five years. Ever the outward optimist, Donald Trump touted the bailout as a win.
TRUMP: We had a great victory. I'm happy as hell.
SCHNEIDER: But the Casino Commission lamented the position it was forced into.
W. DAVID WATERS, NEW JERSEY CASINO CONTROL COMMISSION MEMBER: If you have those casinos going out eventually some of those people area going to relocate at another casinos but not the entire workforce, which then constitutes a drain, I would think economically, on Atlantic City.
[20:40:06] SCHNEIDER: In 1991, one year after it opened, the Taj Mahal filed for bankruptcy. Trump's other properties in Atlantic City followed suit. But despite those failures, some still credit Donald Trump for infusing Atlantic City with the energy to make it the east coast gambling destination in the '90s.
Augie Renna says Trump's early years were the best days here. Renna spent four and a half years working at the Trump Plaza, working as the head of Player Development.
AUGIE RENNA, FMR. TRUMP EMPLOYEE: He was an excellent leader and an excellent boss. He picks the very best, most knowledgeable and most talented people.
SCHNEIDER: And Donald Trump defends his bullish business ways.
TRUMP: I had the good sense, and I've gotten a lot of credit in the financial pages, seven years ago, I left Atlantic City before it totally cratered, and I made a lot of money in Atlantic City, and I'm very proud of it.
SCHNEIDER: Trump standing by those words saying bankruptcy is effective and a commonly used practice.
Jessica Schneider, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: All right, a lot to talk about there. We're going to take a quick break and discuss it with our panel when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:45:01] BERMAN: As we've been reporting, Hillary Clinton today attacked one of Donald Trump's favorite bragging points, his business dealings. It's part of the failed Trump Plaza casino in Atlantic City. Clinton slammed Trump's bankruptcies, his failure to pay contractors, the jobs that were lost during his attempt to build a casino empire.
Trump responded at a rally in Ohio just a short time ago and imitated Hillary Clinton talking about him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Donald Trump is a bad person. Donald Trump made a lot of money on Atlantic City but he hurt the little people she goes at a little bit. He hurt the little people. She calls it the little people. He hurt the little people. I didn't. I made a lot of money and government, what they did. I'll tell you, do you see that sham? I left seven years ago.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: All right, back now with our panel. Patrick Healy, the term swift boating comes to mind here, which in political terms means, goes -- go after your opponent's perceived strengths. Donald Trump's one of his perceived strengths is he's a businessman, made a lot of money, so the Clinton campaign is hitting him on his business practices. How far do they think they can go with this?
PATRICK HEALY, "NEW YORK TIMES" POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, they think they can go far, John. I mean, this was -- it was just a picture perfect, so well executed campaign event for Hillary Clinton. This is what they do, when the message is bad, like with the FBI, they go to Atlantic City, they stand, you know, right in front of that image, see that sort of Trump faded sign, and they want to push it just like Barack Obama planned to go after Mitt Romney as much as he could about the down sizing of Bain, layoff of workers that this hits people where they live and going and trying to bring that message to the undecided voters in Pennsylvania, and Ohio, and Michigan where Donald Trump is really hoping to make serious inroads. And to remind him, this is a guy who is a billionaire who lives in a penthouse apartment, who put people out of work, cashed out, took the money away, it's a powerful argument.
And the thing is, Donald Trump has a powerful counter argument about a different narrative about her trust, but he doesn't make it in the same way that she can execute so clearly and cleanly.
BERMAN: You know, Tara Setmayer, Jersey women here.
TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. Proudly.
BERMAN: The Republicans try this in the primary, is they hit Donald Trump on this. Do you think they did it less effectively on Hillary Clinton?
TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Obviously, they lost. I said for months that they needed to go after his business record and bring and make it more human and bring the human interest stories into this so people could see and hear the actual words and rhetoric that Donald Trump used in '80s and '90s to get these casinos and the promises that he made and that ended up being completely untrue, and compare that to the same language that he's using and making promises to the American people, which is going to turn out to be untrue also.
I mean, Atlantic City is a microcosm of the Trump campaign right now. And for example, I mean, you know, I hate to agree with Hillary Clinton, it pains me, but she's 100 percent right on his business record there. Not only did he put a lot of people out of work, he put people out of their homes, and you know, with eminent domain. He was -- he was, he had to -- he lied to the Gaming Commission down there to the point where they were like, we don't really believe what you're saying and they almost didn't approve things. He needed his father to come in and signed off on the leases from the Mafia, by the way. They didn't get into the stories about his ties to the mob in Atlantic City, which are well documented.
BERMAN: Alleged.
SETMAYER: They didn't talk about the, you know, the fact that he was fined to those casinos for workplace discrimination against black and female dealers who appease in an alleged Mafia figure. Didn't talk about how he wanted to take over one of the casinos there because it wasn't doing well and promised the Gaming Commission.
BERMAN: Kayleigh.
SETMAYER: Let me take over because, you know, I can do -- what happened when he took over? It went bankrupt in a year.
BERMAN: Kayleigh, you must have a different view.
(CROSSTALK)
BERMAN: Let Kayleigh answer. Let Kayleigh answer.
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think this is the problem with the Atlantic City argument is that people walk down the streets of Manhattan and they look up and they see Trump Towers. They go to the beach in Florida, they look and they see Mar-a-Lago. I went to Las Vegas, I look up, there's Trump Tower. He has a successful business. He has 500 businesses, one went wrong in Atlantic City, but one out of 500 ...
SETMAYER: Five.
MCENANY: ... is a rather good record. He's created a $10 billion enterprise.
SETMAYER: That's not documented. MCENANY: No one in presidential history has ever done that. He's employed tens of thousands of people. Hillary Clinton has employed precisely zero. That is the problem with that argument. It's a losing one.
(CROSSTALK)
SETMAYER: He lied -- all the people that he -- tell that to all the people that he promised jobs too that they didn't get that. Tell that to the people in Indiana when he went there and promised another riverboat casino there and he was going to have all these thousands of jobs for the local workforce there and none of that came to fruition. Tell that to the cabinet makers in the Atlantic City that worked for him because they believe in the Trump name whose family business went out of business because Donald Trump did not pay them because one of his bankruptcies. Tell that to the piano salesman who didn't get -- who was intimidated ...
BERMAN: Kayleigh.
SETMAYER: ... paying 70 cents on the dollar -- getting 70 cents on the dollar because Donald Trump said he wasn't going to pay him what he wanted. That's real.
MCENANY: With respect -- Tara, I assume you haven't seen the contracts between these various contractors and Donald Trump.
[20:50:01] You don't know the terms of the contract.
SETMAYER: They're in the bankruptcy. They're in the bankruptcy.
MCENANY: You don't know that ...
SETMAYER: It's public record, Kayliegh.
MCENANY: Have you seen them?
SETMAYER: Yes, actually I have.
MCENANY: Have you look at the contracts? OK. Well, we can go ...
SETMAYER: I've seen the bankruptcies.
MCENANY: We can -- you haven't seen the contracts. We can go ...
SETMAYER: So those people are lying?
(CROSSTALK)
MCENANY: Donald Trump did not create a $10 billion enterprise by not paying people ...
SETMAYER: There's no proof ...
(CROSSTALK) HEALY: I keep up recently, people now is how does all this get in front of voters? Hillary Clinton and her campaign and her super PAC had spent millions and millions of dollars buying T.V., air time in battleground states. They're going to flood the airwaves with commercials like the one that Jeff described. And Donald Trump is just so far behind on this to come up with the counter argument as strong as Kayleigh might be making it. It's just not going to reach voters.
BERMAN: Hang on, hang on because we have to take a break. He does have some new money in the bank right now, $26 million for his campaign whether 25 year raise for the Republican Party. Some fundraising contain to years and maybe he will go on the air with a message soon.
We are going to take a quick break. We have some breaking news to discuss coming up.
CNN has obtained new video of a police shooting in Baton Rouge in Louisiana. The images, the clearest yet of the final moments of this fatal encounter.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: More breaking news tonight, a new video obtained by CNN shows the final moments of a deadly police shooting in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. These images are extremely graphic. If there are children watching, this will be a good time to have them step away.
The person you're going to see pin to the ground is a man named, Alton Sterling.
[20:55:01]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's going on?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get on the ground.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get on the ground.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Now, this is not the only video of the shooting. A previous video showed Mr. Sterling being tackled before the shots were fired. Look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get on the ground. Get on the ground.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, no. Oh my gosh.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They shot him?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my goodness.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: You do seem to hear someone shout, "He's got a gun" before the police officer opened fire.
The killing explored outrage and now a Federal investigation.
Martin Savidge joins us now from Baton Rouge with the latest.
Martin, from what we know, what led up to the moment we just saw?
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: What led up to it was actually a phone call according to the authorities.
Let me just tell you where we are, John, we're outside of the Triple S Mart, which is where all of this happened a very late Monday night, early Tuesday morning. Very large crowd that's on hand here like there was last night.
Tonight, there are a number of things going on, a prayer vigil. Perhaps, you can hear singing behind me.
A major intersection, though, has been blocked now by the crowd and by the traffic. It's all been very peaceful and the calls have continued to be for people to maintain order, but it's quite clear. A lot of people are gathering just to see what happens next.
As to your question, though, it was a phone call, according to authorities, that came into 911 on that Monday night that reported a man wearing a red shirt, who apparently had accosted the caller with a gun threatening him. So, the report came in of a man at this food mart threatening people with a gun. That's what police say they were told and that's the attitude they have when they arrived. John.
BERMAN: All right. And Sterling's family, the man who was killed, they spoke out today. What do they have to say?
SAVIDGE: Well, they believe that this is murder, murder done by the police. They don't believe that there was any justification, either for the action that the authorities took, or even for some of the evidence that the police say they have.
There are family members who don't believe he has a gun, never said that he had a gun. He did talk about needing protection in the neighborhood, but his mother had said she recommended a knife. They didn't say there was a gun. And that is one of the things that is in great dispute.
But the family here clearly states that the video shows and the store owner backs up, that he was not being aggressive and that there was no gun in his hands at the time that the police arrived. John.
BERMAN: No gun in his hands but maybe in his possession. That is what is in dispute. The officers involved here. What's the latest on them?
SAVIDGE: Well, they're on administrative leave. That is, of course, the standard practice here. And now, it's being told that there has been an initial interview done with them.
This is in keeping with actually what is the law in the State of Louisiana and in Baton Rouge. If officers are involved in any kind of shooting like this, there is an immediate interview that is done of them by detectives.
So that's taken place. It took place before the Federal authorities got involved. And both of those officers say that they believe their actions were justifiable.
We should point, though, that that kind of evidence or those kinds of statements are not used or not admissible. It is merely for police understanding of what happened. John.
BERMAN: All right. Martin Savidge for us in Baton Rouge in front of peaceful protests there, thanks so much.
We have lots more to discuss in this two hour edition of "360". A busy day and night on the campaign trail. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton hammering each other.
Plus, Donald Trump's short list for a running mate just got a little shorter. Senator Bob Corker taking himself out of consideration. What's up with that and how it shifts the playing field?
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