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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Trump Speaks For the First Time Since Shake-Up; Trump: I Regret Not Always Choosing Right Words; State Dept.: Cash Sent To Iran Was "Leverage"; Brazilian Police: U.S. Swimmers Vandals, Not Victims. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired August 18, 2016 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[20:00:00] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Just think about how much different things would be if the media in this country sent their border to our closing factories or to our failing schools? Or if the media focused on what dark secrets must be hidden in the 33,000 e-mails that Hillary Clinton illegally deleted.
(AUDIENCE CHANTING)
Thank you.
Instead, every story is told from the perspective of the insider. It's the narrative of the people who rigged the system. Never the voice of the people it's been rigged against, believe me.
So many people suffering for so long in silence. No cameras, no coverage, no outrage from the media class that seems to get outraged over just about everything else.
So, again, it's not about me. It's never been about me. It's been about all of the people in this country who don't have a voice. I am running to be your voice.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Thank you.
I am running to be the voice of every forgotten part of this country that has been waiting and hoping for a better future.
I am glad that I make the powerful, and I mean very powerful a little uncomfortable now and again including some of the powerful people, frankly, in my own party, because it means that I'm fighting for real change, real change.
There is a reason hedge fund managers, the financial lobbyists, the Wall Street investors are throwing their money all over Hillary Clinton because they know she will make sure the system stays rigged in their favor. It's the powerful protecting the powerful. The insiders fighting for the insiders. I am fighting for you.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Here is the change I propose. On terrorism, we are going to end the era of nation-building and
instead focus on destroying, destroying, destroying ISIS and radical Islamic terrorism.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
We will use military, cyber and financial warfare and work with any partner in the world and the Middle East that shares our goal of defeating terrorism.
I have a message for the terrorists trying to kill our citizens: we will find you. We will destroy you and we will absolutely win and we will win soon.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
On immigration, we will temporarily suspend immigration from any place where adequate screening cannot be performed. Extreme vetting. Remember, extreme vetting.
All applicants for immigration will be vetted for ties to radical ideology and we will screen out anyone who doesn't share our values and love our people.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
(AUDIENCE CHANTING)
[20:05:01] Anyone who believes Sharia law supplants American law will not be given an immigrant visa.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
If you want to join our society then you must embrace our society, our values and our tolerant way of life.
Those who believe in oppressing women, gays, Hispanics, African- Americans and people of different faiths are not welcome to join our great country.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
We will promote our American values, our American way of life and our American system of government which are all, all the best in the world.
My opponent, on the other hand, 550 percent increase in Syrian refugees even more than already pouring into our country under President Obama. Her plan would bring in roughly 620,000 refugees from all refugee sending nations in her first term alone, on top of all other immigration. Think of that. Think of that. What are we doing?
Hillary Clinton is running to be America's Angela Merkel, and we've seen how much crime and how many problems that's caused the German people and Germany. We have enough problems already. We do not need more.
On crime, we're going to add more police, more investigators and appoint the best judges and prosecutors in the world.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
We will pursue strong enforcement of federal laws. The gangs and cartels and criminal syndicates terrorizing our people will be stripped apart one by one and they'll be sent out of our country quickly.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Their day is over and it is going to end very, very fast.
Our trade -- thank you.
On trade, we're going to renegotiate NAFTA to make it better and if they don't agree, we will withdraw.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
And likewise, we're going to withdraw from Trans Pacific Partnership, another disaster, stand up to China on our terrible trade agreements and protect every last American job.
Hillary Clinton has supported all of the major trade deals that have stripped this country of its jobs and its wealth. We owe $20 trillion.
On taxes, we are going to massively cut tax rates for workers and small businesses creating millions of new good-paying jobs.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
We're going to get rid of regulations that send jobs overseas and we are going to make it easier for young Americans to get the credit they need to start a small business and pursue their dream.
On education, so important, we are going to give students choice and allow charter schools to thrive. We are going to end ten-year policies that reward bad teachers and hurt our great, good teachers.
[20:10:01] My opponent wants to deny students choice and opportunity all to get a little bit more policies that reward bad teachers and hurt our great, good teachers. My opponent wants to deny students choice and opportunity all to get a little bit more money from the education bureaucracy. She doesn't care how many young dreams are dashed or destroyed and they're destroyed. Young people are destroyed before they even start.
We are going to work closely African-American parents and children. We are going to work with the parents' students. We are going to work with everybody in the African-American community, in the inner cities and what a big difference that is going to make. It's one of the things I most look forward to doing. (CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
This means a lot to me, and it's going to be a top priority in a Trump administration.
On health care, we are going repeal and replace the disaster called Obamacare.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Countless Americans have been forced into part-time jobs. Premiums are about to jump by double digits yet again. And just this week, Aetna announced it was going to pull out all over, but also in North Carolina.
We are going to replace this disaster with reforms that give you choice and freedom and control in health care at a much, much lower cost. You'll have much better health care at a much lower cost and it will happen quickly.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
On political corruption, we are going to restore honor to our government. In my administration I am going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information.
No one will be above the law. I am going to forbid senior officials from trading favors for cash by preventing them from collecting lavish speaking fees through their spouses when they serve. I am going to ask my senior officials not to accept speaking fees from corporations with a registered lobbyist for five years after leaving office or from any entity tied to a foreign government.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Finally, we are going to bring our country together. It is so divided. We are going to bring it together.
We are going to do it by emphasizing what we all have in common as Americans. We're going to reject bigotry, and I will tell you the bigotry of Hillary Clinton is amazing. She sees communities of color only as votes and not as human beings worthy of a better future. It's only votes.
It is only votes that she sees and she does nothing about it. She's been there forever and look at where you are.
If African-American voters give Donald Trump a chance by giving me their vote, the result for them will be amazing.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Look how badly things are going under decades of Democratic leadership. Look at the schools. Look at the poverty. Look at the 58 percent of young African-Americans not working, 58 percent.
It is time for a change. What do you have to lose by trying something new? I will fix it. Watch. I will fix it.
You have nothing to lose. Nothing to lose. It is so bad -- the inner cities are so bad you have nothing to lose.
They have been playing with you for 60, 70, 80 years, many, many decades.
[20:15:04] You have nothing to lose. I will do a great job.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
This means so much to me, and I will work as hard as I can to bring new opportunity to places in our country which have not known it in a very, very long time. Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party have taken African-American votes totally for granted.
Because the votes have been automatically there for them, there has been no reason for Democrats to produce and they haven't. They haven't produced in decades and decades.
It's time to break with the failures of the past and to fight for every last American child in this country to have better and a much, much brighter future.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
In my administration, every American will be treated equally, protected equally and honored equally. We will reject bigotry and hatred and oppression in all of its forms and seek a new future built on our common culture and values as one American people.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
This is the change I am promising to all of you -- an honest government, a great economy and a just society for each and every American.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
But we can never, ever fix our problems by relying on the same politicians who created these problems in the first place. Can't do it.
Seventy-two percent of voters say our country is on the wrong track. I am the change candidate.
Hillary Clinton is for the failed, status quo to protect her special interests, her donors, her lobbyists and others. It is time to vote for a new American future.
Together, we will me America strong again. We will make America proud again. We will make America safe again.
Friends and fellow citizens, come November, we will make great again. Greater than ever before.
Thank you. Thank you. And God bless you. Thank you.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: There you have it Donald Trump wrapping up an appearance in North Carolina and his first since shaking up his campaign staff, saying for the first that he regrets some of the things he said, drawing a sharp contrast with Hillary Clinton, promising that unlike her, he says, he will never lie to the American people.
Plenty to talk about, I want to bring in our panel, Clinton supporters Bakari Sellers and Christine Quinn. He's a former South Carolina state lawmaker. She a former New York Council speaker. Also, "Washington Post" political reporter Philip Bump, Trump supporter Kayleigh McEnany, Trump supporter and former South Carolina lieutenant governor, Andre Bauer, conservative talk show host Dana Loesch who calls Donald Trump's campaign CEO, and I'm quoting here, "one of the worst people on God's green earth". Also with us, chief national correspondent and "INSIDE POLITICS" anchor, John King.
John King, let's start out with you. You know, for all of the shake- ups of the Trump campaign, the Trump campaign says there hasn't been a shake-up and we've seen in the last day or so, this does seem to be as close to a pivot perhaps as we've seen. It's certainly a different kind of speech from Donald Trump.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, a bit of a surprise off the top. A lot of people look at the Breitbart executive and says, here he comes, he's going to be even more aggressive, he's going to drag up every possible skeleton and fictitious skeleton in the Clinton closet. Instead he came out in the first couple of paragraphs, and said, you know, I've said a lot of things that I regret. I've said a lot of things because I'm not politically correct. If I've caused personal pain, those are the ones I regret the most.
Now, this is one speech, Anderson. We should all take a breath. It's one speech, and the Democrats will say we can go back over the last year or so, some of his non-Democratic critics with you tonight will say the same thing, we can go back and find, A, plenty of things you said and why do you get to apologize or almost apologize with one sentence?
[20:20:05] Is that good enough? That will be part of the conversation.
But this was a well-crafted political speech. He's saying I may be too honest sometimes, but Hillary Clinton is not honest. He was plenty tough, let's not, even though he was a little softer, kinder, gentler at the top you might say, he was plenty tough against Hillary Clinton, plenty tough against President Obama, but trying to make the case that I'm for change, she is the status quo. I'm not beholden to anybody, she's beholden to special interests.
It was a well-crafted political argument. A speech that many Republicans wish he'd be giving a version of for months as opposed to going up on detours like fighting Gold Star families and the like. But again, it was a very interesting the way he started the speech. It was a very interesting, crafted political argument. Let's just say how many times that we had this conversation. Will he stick with it?
COOPER: I want to play the clip that you specifically reference to him talking about regret.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Sometimes in the heat of debate and speaking on a multitude of issues, you don't choose the right words or you say the wrong thing. I have done that.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
And believe it or not, I regret it.
(CROWD CHANTING)
Thank you.
And I do regret it, particularly where it may have caused personal pain. Too much is at stake for us to be consumed with these issues, but one thing I can promise you this, I will always tell you the truth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Philip Bump, from "The Washington Post". I mean, fascinating to hear Donald Trump say that because in pretty much every interview he's ever given from the start of the campaign, he said he doesn't regret anything so far. Can't think of anything he's made a mistake about.
He doesn't give specifics here. The campaign -- I just talked to someone from the campaign right before we went on air, and they're saying all these comments came from Donald Trump. That it's something that he's been working on for several days. And that line in particular I asked about and they said that came fro Donald Trump himself.
What do you make of what you're hearing tonight?
PHILIP BUMP, WASHINGTON POST POLITICAL REPORTER: It was a fascinating speech. I'll bet there are a lot of Republicans watching that wish he'd given the speech at the convention.
COOPER: Right.
BUMP: That was the moment to give that speech. Look, that's Donald Trump. That's not who I am. Those policy things that I said, the way I spoke, that's not what I'm all about. This was a speech that reframed all of that and I think this is who people wanted to see.
I think what's going to be interesting to John king's point, yes, can he continue this? But also, we are now 80 days away, right? So, essentially, if he starts doing a regular presidential campaign right now, can he actually pull it out and can he convince people that the Donald Trump they've been seeing since last June is, in fact, not the real Donald Trump?
COOPER: Also, can he keep this going? I mean, we have seen now three speeches from Donald Trump three days in a row. We've never really seen that before. These kind of coherent, thematic, and kind of all of a theme, and this one really was a sort of resetting things.
I know you -- you -- I've been reading the tweets. You really loved it.
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I was so pumped up because that was not just the best speech I've heard from Donald Trump. I think that was the best speech I've heard a politician or in his case a non-politician give.
To have him look in the camera and say, I promise to always tell you the truth, I'm going to tell you the truth. I regret some of the things I've said. I apologize for that.
To hear him say, that on the heels of the moment where we found out that the Obama administration and Hillary Clinton were telling us lies essentially that there was not this hostage deal, there was not ransom when, in fact, there was -- to have that contrast of lies and deception with humility and honesty.
He proved tonight that he's a hammer. He's willing to hammer ISIS. He's willing to get the economy back in shape but he has humility. That was one of the best speeches and I think this will go down as the moment his campaign turns around.
COOPER: Andre?
ANDRE BAUER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: He's definitely now moving in that direction. I bet the Clinton folks are actually scared. The last three, he's gotten better each time and he's really starting to hone those skills now, he's almost slipped it into overdrive.
COOPER: This is a Donald Trump who can reach out it new voters, to more people.
BAUER: Absolutely. And to making sure he gets those Republican votes, as well.
This speech did that. It brought the folks back into the herd and it also reached out to new folks and it was specific. It talked about clearly delineating a difference between he and Hillary Clinton, whether it be on national security. He went through and he was very clear and concise in this speech.
I'm excited about it and we've already seen him before the numbers are starting to come back now, and I think it is a direct result of the last few speeches he's given.
MADDOW: Dana Loesch, I mean, as you said, you called Trump's new CEO, or campaign CEO Steve Bannon one of the worst people on God's green earth. A, can you -- first of all, tell me what you thought of this Donald Trump you heard tonight? And also why you so dislike Bannon and why you think he's the right person.
DANA LOESCH, TALK RADIO HOST: Sure, Anderson. Thanks for having me.
First off, I'm cautiously optimistic. I'm used to being disappointed greatly by politicians, so I'm being cautiously optimistic right now.
I do think this is the speech I've heard him give. I don't know where this person was months ago. I have no idea where this guy was, but this is the speech that people have been waiting to hear.
So I'm right now, I'm being cautious. That wasn't -- that didn't come from Steve Bannon. Maybe it was Trump -- Trump can say it was his own words. I kind of think that was some Kellyanne Conway influence.
I have the highest respect for Kellyanne Conway. I think that she has done a phenomenal job. This is her wheelhouse. She reads people better than anybody in the game right now and I think that's the smartest hire that he has made.
And as much as I like her, I dislike Bannon on that, but I -- it's different, and I can only think that maybe she caused this pivot or -- or was able to present something to him in a different way. But I mean, I -- he was human in this speech and people haven't seen him humanized like that yet.
COOPER: And, Dana, to your point, I think what was interesting about the speech is, it was the same themes and in some cases the same words and issues that Donald Trump has hit time and time again in those kind of free-wheeling speeches he gives or the free-wheeling rallies, and yet, it was controlled and he didn't go off on tangent.
So, in a way, it was Donald Trump's words whether he wrote it or not, it was Donald Trump's words --
LOESCH: It was refined.
COOPER: Right. It was like a presidential version of what we have seen before.
LOESCH: Yes. I said today on my radio program, Anderson. I said, look, Trump can be Trump, but you can refine the message. You just need to refine it. You can still be who you are, but you can distill everything down to a simple message, look people directly in the eye, humanize yourself. And this is the first time I have seen him do that.
COOPER: Let's turn over to our Democrats. Are you guys nervous? Bakari?
CHRISTINE QUINN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Go ahead.
BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: About what? I mean, Donald Trump's been in f days and the bar is so low that we are now praising him for making an unspecified apology for an unspecified quote to an unspecified group of people. I mean, that takes a lot of courage. I mean, that was sarcasm to quote Donald Trump.
I mean, what we heard today was better than most speeches than he's given, but does this put any fear? No, because tomorrow, Donald Trump is going to go out and step on his own message.
COOPER: Tomorrow, he's going to go to Baton Rouge and be seen, talking to I assume --
SELLERS: I thought Mike Pence was going.
COOPER: I don't know.
SELLERS: Regardless, I mean, I actually think it's a mistake because you shouldn't take resources from those that are trying to recover from a natural disaster, but that's neither here nor there.
One thing that you saw today was Donald Trump attempting to pivot, and I think that we're going to set the bar so low that we're going to say, oh, my God, this is a new Donald Trump 429 days into the race and you know what? It's not. It's the same Donald Trump that's insulted everybody under the planet, the same Donald Trump that's running ten, 12 points down in battleground states. It's the same person, new speech.
COOPER: He says he's always going to tell the truth. Just in this speech. He said he's self-funding the campaign and they raised $80 million, many in small donations as we talked about last month alone and he talked about the African-American unemployment being 50-some percent.
SELLERS: Which is false.
QUINN: Am I nervous? No. Can he campaign until the last day? Yes. Am I nervous? No.
What I see in this speech is smart political people who said you are tanking, and if you want to start to dig out of this hole, you've got to change.
COOPER: Do you think, had he been this Donald Trump and stuck with it much earlier, he would have --
SELLERS: Much more competitive race.
QUINN: Yes, but the truth is he talks about being honest, but so is the theoretical and I agree with you, this really isn't a different Donald Trump, but the supporters are saying this is a presidential Donald Trump, so is that the real Donald Trump? Or is the real Donald Trump who says a judge who is Mexican American can't hear his case, or is it a real Donald Trump who says women are only interesting to him if they're a 10? What's the real Donald Trump?
So there's truth in statements, but there's also truth in behavior, and I think this is the pivot of a desperate candidate who is trying to make himself different and put on a different face and that is not going to fly.
COOPER: Respond and then we have to go to break.
MCENANY: What you saw was Donald Trump's heart. A telling moment was criticism of why aren't the children talking about Donald Trump as a father and Donald Trump Jr. said the times are hard and we have to speak to pain and we have to be tough and speak to American people's pain.
Tonight, Donald Trump said, you know what, yes, I've been tough, but tonight, I want people to see my heart. I want them to see I have had regrets. I want them to see that I'm going to fight for them. I'm going to fight the Washington insiders.
[20:30:01] We saw humility. We saw honesty. Something we have not seen from Hillary Clinton, and she should be running for the words now, because humility versus deception, humility is going to win everyday.
N COOPER: You are fired up about the speech.
MCENANY: I am so pumped.
COOPER: Because this is what the Donald Trump you've been wanting. I'm sure.
MCENANY: Yes, it is.
COOPER: OK. I want to pick this up after the break focus on a piece of news that Donald Trump turned into an attack line tonight, the State Department, a mission about the $400 million cash payment to Iran and its connection to the release of American prisoners.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, Donald Trump had plenty of fresh material tonight, courtesy of the headlines, including this one the State Department late today considering the shipment of $400 million in cash to Iran was connected to the release of Americans held there. A spokesman calling it leverage to be withheld until the Iranians lived up to their side of the deal.
Tonight Donald Trump called it something else.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Speaking of lies, we now know from the State Department just announced that President Obama lied about the $400 million in cash that was flown to Iran. It was flown to Iran. $400 million in cash. He denied it was for the hostages, but it was. It just came out.
[20:35:02] He said, we don't pay ransom, but we did. He lied about the hostages openly and bluntly.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COOPER: So leverage or ransom? With more on how the White House sees it let's go now to Michelle Kosinski traveling with the first family at Martha's Vineyard. So you're with Donald Trump had to say, what do we actually know at this point, tell us more about exactly what the State Department themselves are saying.
MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I mean, strong words there, we're going to hear more of that from Republicans. So now that there's been more detail that came out in the press, the State Department is releasing more detail saying that they withheld paying that $400 million to Iran until they released those U.S. prisoners because the U.S. was worried that they wouldn't release them.
And keep in mind, this has been confusing from the start. I mean just on the basis of it, that this money was owed to Iran from decades ago by the U.S., that it would have been paid to them eventually anyway, and then initially we asked the White House, would those prisoners have been released if that money wasn't on that plane at that time? Did this function essentially as a ransom payment which is what Iran has been calling it. And the White House wouldn't answer that question.
The State Department, though said yes, those prisoners would have been released even if the money wasn't there at that time. That the timings were really unconnected, they just came together because of the Iran nuclear deal, but now the State Department says, well, we did withhold that money until they released the prisoners.
So let's go to the question what really here has changed? From the Republican perspective they say this proves that this was a ransom payment and that initially the administration said there wasn't really a connection in the timing. It just all came together and now they're saying, well, there was a connection. From the administration's perspective, though, they say nothing has changed that this was not a quid pro quo. Again, it all just came together and they say, how could this be a ransom payment if the prisoners were released first and then the money was paid, Anderson?
COOPER: Michelle Kosinski. Michelle, thanks very much.
Back with the panel. Philip and this is clearly something the Republicans now and we just saw Donald Trump smartly incorporating it into this speech because this is something that broke later in the day incorporated it into the speech and to hammer not only President Obama, but also Secretary Clinton, you know, she wasn't secretary of state at the time of the ransom or alleged ransom.
BUMP: Right, yeah, I mean I think that it's interesting to see how this is going to affect President Obama. President Obama right now is above 50 percent approval in polls. He is relatively well liked in part because he hasn't been attacked because Republicans have been attacking Hillary Clinton and that is an asset for Hillary Clinton.
So Hillary Clinton being tied to Barack Obama is not necessarily a negative, but things like which question a her strength on foreign policy by virtual of Obama has been on foreign policy, which she has been strong, and at where Democrats aren't usually strong in presidential races, but B, undermine Barack Obama's presidency could have ramifications down the road.
COOPER: And John King, it's also, you know, you have the State Department saying one thing when this story sort of first was reported by the "Wall Street Journal" I guess more than a week ago or so. And now coming out and essentially kind of clarifying and saying something else.
KING: We made this payment, they're saying, but we made it to use leverage. We made that payment to our advantage and not as part of a ransom deal. As Michelle is pointing out and Philip just said, people will process with their own. But Anderson, I think the key opportunity here for Trump if he can do this is the Clinton campaign and the Democrats more broadly have been very successful in turning this into a referendum on Donald Trump, saying he's this guy who's a little nuts. He's not qualified to be president, he's unfit to be commander in chief, he's a little shaky, you can't really trust him, he's acentric, he's erratic.
It's become a referendum on Trump and it's the referendum. Well the end of a two-term president -- presidency, it's normally a referendum on the party in power. So if Donald Trump can take this pivot moment, if that's we want to call it, and again I would not invest all too much in one speech, let's see if he can use this and build on it, but to make it about the president's leadership, to making about Hillary Clinton's association with the president. Tonight, the Clinton Foundation is saying, if she's elected it won't take anymore foreigner corporate contributions. Bill Clinton is saying he won't give anymore paid speeches.
If Donald Trump can take these news items and try to turn the campaign debate and not make it about him, but make it about them, he has a better opportunity to win the White House.
COOPER: Dana Loesch, I mean I think John makes a great point that this is a chance for Donald Trump to kind of stop this being a referendum on Donald Trump.
DANA LOESCH, HOST OF "DANA" ON THE BLAZE: Yeah, I completely agree with that assessment. In fact that's been one of my biggest criticisms of this campaign. You know, there's a reason why you have surrogates and there is a reason why you have lieutenants, because you don't go out and fight every single fight. I mean it's great to be a brawler, I mean has a nose it's fun to watch, but at the same time if you're serious about winning a campaign against Hillary Clinton who I think everybody underestimates. I mean I think she's the Mack Yafelan (ph) of our time, then you need to be really serious and pick which battles you won, and which battles are worth it.
If it's a fight that does not propel you further towards the White House, it is not a fight worth having. Have your surrogates fight this fight. Have you lieutenants go out there, make it about the issues, make it about those individuals and stop having everything come back and settle on you. [20:40:11] Quit having it be you a referendum on you.
COOPER: Kayleigh, the other things I think and Andre, that I was interesting about the speeches that, traditionally over the last two nights when Donald Trump has read from a teleprompter it just doesn't sound like Donald Trump. It sounds like he's reading from a teleprompter. He goes from one side to the other. Tonight it was -- maybe because it was more of the themes, he's actually talked about constantly, it allowed him to be angry, it allowed him to be whatever emotional in whatever capacity and yet still stay on script.
MCENANY: Yeah, that's clearly was a good move, sticking to the teleprompter, but in his own voice and maybe this is what Donald Trump meant all along when we said, I want to be me. Maybe what he meant is say I want to come out and say I regret things, I want to come out and speak from the heart. I want to draw this outsider inside our contrast, I'll do the teleprompter.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: But if he wanted to say he regretted things, I mean he's had -- he's been asked this question so many times, he said I have nothing to regret. So, he had the opportunity before. Something has change.
MCENANY: He did have the opportunity, but today was the day where he said enough is enough. I know most politicians don't admit to mistakes or if they admit to mistakes they will be in the fashion of Hillary Clinton, I admit my enormous (ph) mistakes, however everything I said is truthful and that ended up being a short circuit that she has to come back and dial back.
Today he said, I'm not going to follow the political playbook of never apologizing, I'm going to be the non-politician who says, hey I've done things wrong, but I'm always going to tell you the truth. And that is he doing that.
COOPER: Does he need to get into specifics, I mean to Kerry's (ph) point ...
MCENANY: Right.
COOPER: ... which is, you know, what's he talking about specifically? Does he need to actually say, you know, what I shouldn't have said that about the Khans or whatever he thinks.
QUINN: I mean, was he apologizing to Mexican-Americans? Was he apologizing to women, was he apologizing to gold-star families? The list of ...
SELLER: POWs, yeah.
QUINN: ... POWs, right. The list goes on and on, and I've said this before. I think admitting you made a mistake is a sign of leadership, but I actually didn't hear him that. He said if what I've said has hurt you, you know, I feel particularly -- I don't remember is that (inaudible), you regretful about that. That's different, that puts it on the person is at hurt me as opposed to him saying knowing what he said would have hurt people and specifically saying what he shouldn't have said or done.
I find it hurtful to LGBT Americans that he went to an anti-gay rally near the Pulse Club. What's he apologizing for?
COOPER: We got to take a break. We're going to have a lot more ahead tonight. We also have breaking news, have more in politics, but also Brazilian police, what's going on Brazil with Ryan Lochte is so bizarre. Brazil police saying, the American swimmers lied when they claimed they were robbed in Rio. A surveillance video surfaces from a gas station, were officials say they committed acts of vandalism, we'll from Rio, what might actually happened to swimmers, next.
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[20:46:44] COOPER: Well more politics coming up, but first our breaking news from Rio, a string and new development to the Ryan Lochte, the Olympic story and fair to say international incident. Lochte, you remember says, he and three other U.S. Olympic swimmers were robbed at gun point.
Earlier today, Brazilian authorities trash that story based on vide surrounded the incident and late today, sources close to the swimmers to answered back largely sticking to their original story citing what they say are missing parts that very same video.
But now the Brazilians have just answered back on that, clearly a lot of back and forth. Our Nick Paton Walsh is in Rio with the latest.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: ... gas station surveillance video shows Lochte and three other U.S.. swimmers the night they say they were robbed at gun point.
RYAN LOCHTE, U.S. OLYPIC SWIMMER: And we got pulled over in our taxi, and these guys came out with a badge. They pulled us over. They pulled out their guns. They told the other swimmers to get down on the ground.
WALSH: But authorities say that's not true. At a press conference today the civil police chief said the Americans were probably drunk and vandalized mirrors and signs on the property.
The gas station owner claims the athletes urinated on his property. In the upper left corner you can see at least one person in the alleyway bending over appearing to pull his pants up before an attendant in red comes over. The men hustled back out from the narrow path as more employees gather.
The swimmers attempt to return to their taxi but approached the wrong one first. Once order inside, a gas station security guard leans in, the athletes Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger to get out. They exit some with their hands up. Police saying the guards were likely armed.
FERNANDO VELOSO, CHIEF OF CIVIL POLIC BRAZIL (In Translation): There is the used of a weapon to control probably one of them.
WALSH: Later, the group is seen sitting from another angle sitting on the curb together, that's when police say the Olympians came to an agreement to pay for the damages.
VELOSO (In Translation): Almost like to pay for the damage that they caused and leave the place before the police could arrive.
WALSH: Lochte's mother first told the media the swimmers were robbed at gun point in a taxi and leave authorities initially denied any robbery took place, but Lochte himself raised the stakes with a chilling account to NBC of men with guns and badges posing as police officers.
LOCHTE: The guy pulled out his gun. He cocked it and put it to my forehead and he said get down.
WALSH: Last night, Brazilian police pulled Lochte's teammates, Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger, off the U.S. bound flights at Rio's airport seize their passports, they are about from leaving the country until they get a statement to officials and are turning for those two swimmers set his clients were a quote, "Frightened and confused and did not understand why they were being preventing from embarking."
As for Lochte he flew back to the U.S. Tuesday joking around in this space wall (ph) video on Instagram just as the story was unfolding today.
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COOPER: Well, Nick, now that all of the swimmers in Brazil have actually spoken to police, is it clear how long they're going to have to stay in Brazil and can they actually face charges?
WALSH: No. It's still not clear how long they have to stay here as we heard before from police suggestion was once Mr. Bentz and Mr. Conger have given their statements they might be allowed to leave, but this story gets increasingly more complicated.
[20:49:59] We've heard from sources close to the swimmers who say they've spoken to all of them that there is, in their opinion a three minute whole in the CCTV footage in which they think that may be where they were force into hand over money. They'll still maintain, this is an armed robbery. And I have to say, we've viewed the full footage from police. There doesn't seem to be a gap there at all, and we struggled to find exactly where this alleged pointing of the guns toward the men would have fallen. Doesn't mean it didn't happen.
At one point one of the men did raise their hands, how long they stay in the country, it depends how frankly how nasty this gets. We have two very different sets of opinions here about what happened. The Brazilians saying, look they were a little drunk, a little bit vulgar and they settled all down with the local gas attendants and we have -- Mr. Lochte's representatives himself as one of the team sticking by their original armed robbery story suggesting perhaps masquerading as the police were involved. How those two reconcile, I simply don't know at this stage.
COOPER: And Nick annoyed are people in Brazil, I mean how big a story is this in Rio, in Brazil?
WALSH: Well I think it's the confusion about this that's got people irritated. It started with the CCTV of these men returning from this alleged armed robbery at the hands of people disguised as police. With lot of high value items still in their possession. You can s on the footage of them returning home after the alleged robbery.
And then it just seemed this back and forth exacerbated that. The Brazilian courts and officials are being keen to try and wipe away the idea there could be robbers disguised as police in this city. But the harsh response from Mr. Lochte and the other swimmers' representatives today, I think just puts it back into this bizarre high profile instance of a crime ...
COOPER: Right.
WALSH: ... which happens very often here, being in international focus. Anderson.
COOPER: Nick, Nick Paton Walsh, Nick thanks.
CNN Sports Analyst, USA Today columnist, Christine Brennan is also in Rio, she joins me now.
Putting this in context, I mean leading up to the Olympics games, Rio's crime problem was obviously front and center. They've had, you know, tens of thousands of police and military on the streets. The reaction to all this now that there are questions about the swimmers' stories, what are you hearing from folks in Brazil?
CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Well, certainly Anderson this story has just taken, it's like the life out of the Olympic Games. A 100 hours -- more than a 100 hours and counting, we're talking about crimes, alleged crimes, guns, no guns, vandalism, it's a very bad scenario for Ryan Lochte, he lied about alleged vandalism in a foreign country while representing the United States as an Olympian. That's pretty terrible by itself.
But I think, at first when the story broke and the idea that visual Anderson, of a gun to the head of a U.S. Olympian, I think that put everyone on edge. The last few days, as the story has begun to unravel and questions have been raised, I think people are saying OK, let's go back to the Olympic Games, let's focus on the last few days of these games. But there's no doubt that these Olympics will be known for many things and certainly this story is one of them.
COOPER: I mean the press conference that the Brazilian authorities gave earlier today, it almost made it even more confusing because, you know, the law enforcement official who was speaking, you know, was said, oh, you know, that there was a gun involved. I mean it certainly raise more questions really than an answered.
BRENNAN: Well, it did. And I think for Americans watching this and saying what do we think of this, keep in mind that the standards are higher for Olympic athletes than any other athletes. You know, Anderson, our senses have been so dulled, you and I have spoke about athlete misbehavior in professional sports.
Well, there's this old antiquated feeling that Olympic athletes are still role models and still have to play by different set of rules. The U.S. Olympic Committee, in stills that thought. There's a code of conduct everyone has to sign. There have been fines and suspensions and athletes getting kicked off teams, not so much fines but a ADA, a couple guys kind of prank stole a mask in Seoul, they got sent home, kicked off the Olympic team and suspended for a year and a half.
This is no joke. And I think that that's what we're seeing here that the nation's looking at this and saying, you know what, your representing us, and in a country Brazil, where the crime issue was so important, to tell any tall tale, a lie, whatever it might be that Ryan Lochte and the others told is something that just seems so wrong, especially at these games representing the United States as Ryan Lochte and the others were.
COOPER: Right, it certainly plays into every stereotype of Rio and the problems Brazil faces. He's got -- and we talked about this last night with you, he's got a number of corporate sponsors, Speedo, Ralph Lauren I think among them. Have they said anything and do you think even if all it is, you know, he trashed a bathroom, you know, was kind of inappropriate in his behavior and then lied, is that enough for him to lose sponsorship?
BRENNAN: I think it is enough. We haven't really heard from -- to answer your question Anderson, we really haven't heard from the sponsors, because I haven't -- we've been so busy covering the story here.
But, I think that this devastating for Ryan Lochte. The fact that he has been on Twitter, having fun, talking about his hair color, meanwhile what he has left in his wake as these three other teammates of course are still here and he's gone, these guys are twisting in the wind here. That's a terrible visual, terrible thought for a lot of people.
[20:55:10] And the fact that he seems to be -- well there has been no apology. Hard to believe. The clock's ticking. He is 32 years old, his career is probably over. USA swimming has been tough in the past. I certainly expect them to suspend him in some way or other as a representative of the United States for this behavior. And I think he's referably harmed. There's no way Ryan Lochte comes out of this without some damage to his reputation, P.R. wise and otherwise.
COOPER: Yeah, it does seem that an apology would kind of go a long way from probably from all the swimmers, to just, you know, have everyone, I think everyone probably even Brazilian authorities want to move on and an apology would probably go a long way of that, we'll see if that actually happens, who is actually advising these swimmers.
Christine Brennan, thank you so much. A lot more to cover in the next hour of "360", including breaking news from the campaign trail. Donald Trump expressing regret for the first time. He used the word regret in his message to supporters. When we continue.
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[20:59:59] COOPER: Good evening. We begin the hour with breaking news and a change in tone from Donald Trump though much remains to be seen about the substance behind what he said or what impact it may have on voters. It was in fact a different sort of Donald Trump than we've heard and seen so far.
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