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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Trump Unveils Paid Family Leave Plan; Clinton To Return To Campaign Trail Thursday; NY AG Investigating Trump Foundation Practices; Campaign Manager: Trump's Been Generous With His Money; Update From Inside Syria; Syria Ceasefire Holding At Start Of Second Day. Aired 9-10p ET

Aired September 13, 2016 - 21:00   ET

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

[21:00:00] ANDERSON COOPER, CNN 360 TONIGHT HOST: We begin, though, in Pennsylvania, a battleground state where Donald Trump wrapped up a rally a short time ago. The topic, his family leave policy. The opening act, his family. Trump's daughter, Ivanka, introducing him tonight. Sara Murray was there and she joins me now.

So Donald Trump rolling out some new key policy initiatives tonight, which we don't often hear Republicans actually talking about. His daughter, Ivanka, did the introducing. What did some of that plan entail?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, that's one of the things that Donald Trump and Ivanka Trump both pointed out is this is not something that Republicans have necessarily focused a ton of time on. And a policy, as he was laying out, one of the top lines was six weeks of paid maternity leave for women whose employers don't already offer it. No paternity leave, just maternity leave, but also an expanded subsidy to help offset child care. Take a listen to how he explained that tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The first part of my childcare plan allows for every parent or family in America, including adoptive parents and foster parent guardians to deduct their child care expenses from their income taxes. That's the first.

I see the women who I just met in the front row are very happy about that. They will fully be able to deduct the average cost of childcare for their state, from birth through the age of 13.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: And Sara, certainly no accident that the speech was in Pennsylvania.

MURRAY: Oh, absolutely no accident. Pennsylvania is a key state for the Trump campaign. They really see the Rust Belt as their strategy to victory. They have not been as competitive in some of the states out west that we've seen Republicans make a play for in the past. So to be here in a suburb of Philadelphia, speaking to female voters, speaking to suburban voters, these are the kinds of people Trump needs to win over in a state like Pennsylvania, if he wants this map to work in November. Anderson?

COOPER: Sara Murray thanks very much. Hillary Clinton set to be back on the campaign trail Thursday after taking a couple of days to recover from pneumonia. The Clinton campaign itself did not take a sick day as President Obama hit the trail for her. Brianna Keilar reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hillary Clinton resting at home with pneumonia, getting an assist from President Obama in Philadelphia where he blasted Donald Trump for not being transparent.

PRES. BARACK OBAMA, (D) UNITED STATES: You've got one candidate in this race who's released decades' worth of her tax returns. The other candidate is the first in decades who refuses to release any at all.

KEILAR: He also defended the Clinton Foundation and criticized Trump's.

OBAMA: One candidate's family foundation has saved countless lives around the world. The other candidate's foundation took money other people gave to his charity and then bought a six-foot-tall painting of himself. I mean, you know, he had the taste not to go for the 10-foot version, but ...

KEILAR: The Trump Foundation's purchase of the painting was first reported by "The Washington Post" which also found the charity hasn't seen a donation from Trump himself since 2008, almost unheard of for a family foundation. Though running mate, Mike Pence, insists Trump has been very generous.

GOV. MIKE PENCE, (R) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Anyone who knows about Donald Trump and his career knows that this is a man who's given away tens of millions of dollars to charitable causes, throughout the course of his business life. He's been incredibly generous.

KEILAR: But we really don't know if that's true and we may never. His campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, asked if he'll release any information about his purported donations.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: And the reason I ask ...

KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: I doubt it.

CAMEROTA: Why would you doubt it?

CONWAY: I doubt it because this is like badgering. In other words, I don't see it as journalism. I see it as badgering. In other words, we've had this conversation so many times on so many different networks. KEILAR: While Clinton has released more than three decades of her tax returns and the Clinton Foundation has publicly released donor information, her use of a private e-mail address and a private server while secretary of state has severely tarnished voters' opinions of her. And most recently, her failure to reveal she had pneumonia until this video surfaced of her nearly collapsing while leaving the 9/11 ceremony is raising questions about her transparency.

COOPER: Why keep it a secret?

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I just didn't think it was going to be that big a deal.

KEILAR: Her campaign initially said Sunday she was dehydrated, and had overheated, only to later admit she had been diagnosed with pneumonia two days before. She and her husband are trying to set her medical state straight.

BILL CLINTON, 42ND UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: Frequently -- not frequently, rarely, but on more than one occasion, over the last many, many years, the same sort of thing has happened to her when she just got severely dehydrated.

[21:04:58] CLINTON: Oh, I think really only twice that I can recall. You know, it is something that has occurred a few times over the course of my life, and, you know, I'm aware of it and usually can avoid it.

KEILAR: Trump has also put out very little health information besides a very colorful letter from his doctor saying his test results were astonishingly excellent and that Trump will be the healthiest individual ever elected president. Conway defending Trump.

CONWAY: I don't know why we need such extensive medical reporting when we all have a right to privacy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Brianna joins me now. Will Hillary Clinton -- do we know if she's going to release her medical records soon?

KEILAR: Yeah. We're actually told it's going to happen soon. So I think we'll see that in the coming days. Her campaign says they're working with her doctor, Anderson, to put some medical information together. And then as we pointed out, Donald Trump is going to be releasing some information on "The Dr. Oz Show" about a recent physical that he had. We should point out that Hillary Clinton has already released that information. You know, her cholesterol numbers, her blood pressure numbers.

And what we don't know about Donald Trump is whether he's going to release information about his medical history. Mike Pence talked to CNN yesterday. He said he's going to release information about his current health status. He wouldn't say that it's going to be anything more extensive than that.

But bottom line for both of these candidates, it's really unclear just how extensive this information about their health is going to be.

COOPER: Any details on what Hillary Clinton has been doing while at home resting?

KEILAR: So her spokesman says, it seems like it's been a little bit of a working at home situation. He says that she's been making calls, that she's been reading. He said that she listened and watched President Obama today in Philadelphia campaigning on her behalf. And CNN's also learned, Anderson, that Clinton actually weighed coming back on the campaign trail tomorrow. In the end, she decided not to do that to probably with her doctor's insight there to get three full days of rest, and she'll be returning to the campaign trail we expect, on Thursday when she speaks before the congressional Hispanic caucus right here in Washington.

COOPER: All right, Brianna, thank very much. Appreciate it.

The Clinton campaign keeping the pneumonia diagnosis under wraps for two days. Donald Trump refusing to release his tax returns. These two examples why there are so many questions about transparency in this presidential campaign.

Joining me to talk about it, political analyst and journalist Carl Bernstein, author of "A Woman in Charge, The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton" and CNN senior political analyst David Gergen, former adviser to four presidents, including Bill Clinton.

David, Hillary Clinton makes the point that, you know, she certainly given out more information about her health and her taxes than Donald Trump has, and yet, there is still this sense that many people have that she is not as transparent as they would like her to be. Do you think that's fair?

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I do think that she's added a lot of fuel to that fire over the years. This is -- you know, she's not a newcomer to the scene. And there have been a number of examples in the past. Going all the way back to the Whitewater case and the SNL scandals, where she's had a real penchant for secrecy as someone call it, the others -- "Financial Times" they called it an addiction to secrecy. And it baffles her friends. Anderson, I've worked with her and for her and I'm among those who baffled because this is an extraordinarily smart woman, who is very much on top of the issues, cares deeply about the way government runs, wants to be a good model. And yet, in this area, she can -- she's made the same mistake over and over. And it's baffling.

COOPER: Carl, do you think it's just that she's been, you know, bruised and had been in the public eye for a long time, and has grown wary over the years as anyone ...

CARL BERSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think this is her real illness. That this is a pattern that goes back, as I say in my book, she's had difficult relationship to the truth, going back to her days in Arkansas. She doesn't trust the press, her constituents, anyone, with the real whole picture. She thinks she has to control information and now it is working against her to the point where she could lose this election. And I have said, it's time for her to put everything out there, put the Goldman Sachs speeches out there, put her health records out there, sit down with her and a doctor in the press for an hour because the other part of this story is that Donald Trump is a con man. He has been covering up his whole business life, not just through this campaign. It is a huge cover-up. We have seen "The Wall Street Journal", "The Washington Post", "The New York Times", great reporting about the cover-up of Donald Trump's business activities.

COOPER: You know, David, to Carl's point, though, you know, we still don't have detailed medical records from Donald Trump. You know, we had this sort of odd, to say the least, doctor's note saying he will be the healthiest president in the history of the world or in the history of the United States. We still don't know really anything about his tax returns even though his 2002 to 2008 returns, the audit on them, according to his own attorneys is finished, and so if the argument is, "Well, I can't release my current tax returns because of an audit," there is no audit on those previous ones, so why not release those?

[21:10:17] GERGEN: I think Donald Trump is on an outrageous course and he's been much less forthcoming than Hillary Clinton has been. And Carl Bernstein is absolutely right on that.

The last nine Republican nominees for the presidency have disclosed their tax returns. The last nine going back to Ronald Reagan in 1980, every single one. It is a tradition that is followed by the Democratic Party, as well. And it's more important for Trump's case than anybody else's, because he's running entirely as a businessman, and the success of his business, and he won't let us understand and see the numbers to back up his claims. He's been really generous with charitable -- charities, he says, well, let's see the numbers. You know, let's see what he's been paying out in taxes.

But let me make one other point. Now that he's coming forward with health records, it's bewildering to get this report that he's going to do it with Dr. Oz. I mean, talking about a way to trivialize this area of the subject, and politically, I think it's a mistake, because he's had Hillary Clinton on the defensive here for one of the first times, and now he's going to make -- if that's the kind of course he's going to pursue on his health records, he's going to bring the issue back to himself and he's going to be on the defensive.

COOPER: Although, you could make the argument, Carl, that, you know, Dr. Oz probably reaches an audience, predominantly women, daytime television viewers, and that may be just who Donald Trump needs to reach to.

BERNSTEIN: Look, "The Apprentice" has got himself to this point by doing this kind of television. I'm not at all sure that this is a big mistake for Donald Trump to do this in the medium of reality television. We need, I think, is a little less equal time debate, particularly on cable television right now. And a little more looking at what the underlying facts are here of both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton's life. Side by side. And I think then we begin -- and our readers and viewers begin to get an idea of who these people are next to each other in terms of the lives they have led, the businesses they had run, the public service they have done or haven't done. What their real values are. Then, I think, we have a basis, and people in this country have a much better basis to make a decision about voting for one of these candidates.

COOPER: And David, this lack of transparency, I mean, what kind of consequences do you think this has? Not just in this election, but moving forward, just in terms of governance. Does it have ramifications?

GERGEN: I think that the both candidates are moving along the track when they're making it more difficult for themselves to govern if they win. It is important, if you're a president of the United States, to build up trust in the American people so that when you say something controversial or when you try to take a controversial action, they will have faith in you that you're telling them the truth and that they're going to go along with you more easily.

When Dwight Eisenhower was president, it was said just when he took a position, 20 percent of the people in the country automatically agreed with him, because he -- they believed in him. They have absolute faith in his integrity. And this question of integrity goes so far in a society when leadership is based on persuasiveness and on influence, not on real power, but on your capacity to bring others along. Trust is the coin of the realm. It's been that way for years, but even more so now.

COOPER: All right, David Gergen, Carl Bernstein, good discussion. Thank you.

GERGEN: Thank you.

COOPER: Coming up ahead, we showed you how Donald Trump unveiled his family leave policy tonight, but how does he pay for it and how does it compare to Hillary Clinton's plan? We'll break it down next.

Also, we have breaking news, why New York's Attorney General is investigating the Trump's charitable foundation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[21:17:27] COOPER: As we've been reporting, Donald Trump tonight spoke about his family leave plan at a rally in Pennsylvania. So we wanted to do a quick reality check on that plan and contrast it with Hillary Clinton. Tom Foreman joins us now with that. Tom?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Anderson. The question of parental leave has been a Democratic talking point for quite some time, but Trump has signaled in a big way that he's putting it on the Republican platform, too. So let's look at how Hillary Clinton's plan and his plan compare.

Among the main points, Clinton wants to give new parents 12 weeks of paid family leave or medical leave, which she says won't cost businesses anything, because she'll pay for it by increasing taxes on the wealthy. Trump's plans call for six weeks of maternity leave. This is strictly for mothers at this point, not fathers. And how would he pay for it? If companies don't already offer maternity leave, they'll have to contribute more to the Federal Unemployment Insurance Program.

What about childcare? Clinton wants no more than 10 percent of a family's income to go for childcare and she wants to give tax breaks or government grants to families where the expenses go beyond that mark. Trump wants to focus more exclusively on the tax break side, suggesting childcare savings accounts, similar to your health care savings accounts, can help people reduce their bills. Clinton wants free quality Pre-K for all four-year-olds. That's just part of a broad series of proposals she has for improving public education. Trump wants to substantially rework some tax deductions to get parents more money in the pocket for all of their childcare issues, including educational choices. Anderson?

COOPER: I mean, these are all certainly popular ideas for many working families, who could certainly use the help. What are some of the problems?

FOREMAN: Well, the Clinton campaign says that for Trump, the problem is fundamentally that his plan is for the rich, that tax breaks won't do much for the middle or low-income families. The Trump people say she's dead wrong. And analysts say the middle -- and analyst in the middle say the real issue is funding. How's anyone really going to pay for either one of these plans or can the plans pay for themselves? The progressives think tank, the Center for American Progress, estimate that for families living below the poverty line, they spend almost a third of their income on childcare, and everyone else pays a lot, too. So offsetting that in a meaningful way would mean shifting monumental amounts of money from one place to another and it's not clear either of these nominees could pull that off as a president. Anderson?

COOPER: All right, Tom Foreman. Tom, thanks.

Back with the panel. Clinton supporters, Richard Socarides, Bakari Sellers, CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger, Trump supporter, Kayleigh McEnany, and senior Trump campaign advisor, Jack Kingston.

[21:20:01] I mean it is unorthodox to hear Republicans making proposals like this, so, you know, Donald Trump is certainly doing something we don't very -- hear very much -- very often.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: We don't hear Republicans very often talking about government solutions to problems, social safety net entitlements. And that's what Donald Trump is talking about now. I think that the big question mark has always been with Republicans, how are you going to pay for things because they don't want to add to the deficit. And as Tom Foreman just said, we don't know. We don't know how you're going to pay the things. He can say he's going to pay for it one way ...

COOPER: Richard?

RICHARD SOCARIDES, CLINTON SUPPORTER: I mean I would say that these proposals from Donald Trump tonight sound kind of like positively European. I mean they sound a little like European socialism. I mean it's like or how far will he go to soften his image. I think though ...

(CROSSTALK)

SOCARIDES: This is about softening his image. But, you know, you've got to remember that this is -- we're eight -- eight weeks from tonight the election will be over and we will know who is our next president. And what elections are about is like, what do you stand for? I mean, Trump can't come up with a proposal eight weeks before the election and say for the first time that he's for childcare.

JACK KINGSTON, TRUMP CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: You know, Hillary was a member of the U.S. Senate. I never knew her to be a childcare champion. I was in the House when she was ...

SOCARIDES: Oh, that's ridiculous.

KINGSTON: I never heard of the Hillary Clinton healthcare proposal.

SOCARIDES: That's ridiculous. Family is what she's been about from the beginning?

KINGSTON: The reality is, I do know she was for NAFTA. Her husband passed it. She said that Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement was the gold standard ...

COOPER: Didn't she work on the whole Health Care Initiative for President Clinton?

KINGSTON: She did, but the childcare component of it wasn't part of it that I remember ...

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: But that's not true.

KINGSTON: I'm going to give you that point. s COOPER: OK. Bakari?

SELLERS: That's simply not true because ...

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Let Bakari respond.

SELLERS: That's just fundamentally not true, Congressman. And what we do know is that the reason that we have the CHIP program, which is the Child Health Insurance Program, it's because Hillary Clinton ...

KINGSTON: Absolutely not. That is not true. I was in the House.

SELLERS: That is so true. That is so ...

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Guys, nobody listens when you talk over each other.

SELLERS: That is so true.

COOPER: Bakari, say your piece.

SELLERS: And I just want a -- I want to get back to the point because I don't want to lose the fact that this has been a tenant of the Democratic Party for very long period of time. The Democratic Party has tried to push through paid family leave for year after year after year and it's the Republican Party and the Republican House when you were there and even now that refuse to pass family pay leave. And so it's nuanced. It's good to see Donald Trump talking about it because ...

COOPER: OK. Jack, respond.

KINGSTON: OK. Let me say this about that CHIPs, the Child Health Care Program. Hillary Clinton, to my recollection, had absolutely nothing to do with it. It came out of the House Republican Education Committee led by Bill Goodland, and we on the Appropriations Committee funded it for the first time.

BORGER: But it came out of health reform.

(CROSSTALK)

KINGSTON: Then everything we're going to say that comes out of health reform originated from Hillary Clinton.

SELLERS: No, no, no. But it's exactly ...

KINGSTON: That is not true.

SELLERS: ... came out of her health reform.

KINGSTON: It did not.

SELLERS: It did.

KINGSTON: It was not. In fact, most states had some level of it and it was part of Medicaid. This was -- CHIPs was simply an expansion of Medicaid for children age 12.

(CROSSTALK)

SOCARIDES: If you're a voter who cares about childcare and you've been paying any attention for the last 30 years in the American politics, you are going to support Hillary Clinton, not Donald Trump.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Right. No one listens when everyone talks. I just -- it's my pet peeve. I know viewers at home just freak out and (inaudible). So please, let's just not talk at each other. I appreciate the enthusiasm.

Kayleigh, you haven't spoken.

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I was going to say that Democrats have made promises, you're right, about childcare that have not materialized over the last few decades. And this is when Donald Trump says, you know what do you have to lose trying something else trusting me on these issues? You've trusted Democrats for 40 years. And it hasn't worked.

Donald Trump is putting forth a plan. He is putting forth a way to pay for it. And Hillary Clinton's promising to do double, but she doesn't have a plan to pay for it. She says, I'll tax the rich, that's what Obama has said. But he even said double the national debt from $10 trillion to $19 trillion.

COOPER: Can Donald Trump though come forward with a plan so close to Election Day when it's not really a subject he's ever really spoken about before? Jack?

KIGNSTON: You know, when you think about what Ivanka did at the convention, she set this thing up. She said it would be coming. So this isn't just ...

COOPER: Right. But is it weird that it came from his daughter and that -- I mean, that basically, his daughter has access to him and therefore got him to do this? Maybe it's a good thing ...

KINGSTON: I think it's appropriate because she is a leader in some of his corporations, some of his business deals and she's saying, "Dad, this is something we need to do," and he's listening. I think we're hearing the Democrats get a little worried he's knocking at the door of some of their issues.

COOPER: Gloria?

BORGER: Yeah. I think you'd have to say that Donald Trump is clearly newer to this issue than Hillary Clinton, who has been working on this for decades. And that's not a partisan thing, it's just the truth.

And recently, Donald Trump bragged that he's got great on-site childcare for his employees. And both the A.P. and the Daily Beast did stories saying that the -- that the day care is actually for the guests at his -- the children of the guests in his hotels, and not his own employees.

[21:25:07] And, you know, people are pursuing that story, because the question is, how long has he been devoted to these issues? What he is doing, I will give you, is further than lots of people in the Republican Party have gone, largely because it doesn't fit in with the Republican orthodoxy, and largely because it's going to cost an awful lot of money. But the notion of sort of who's been devoted to, you know, women's issues, or as in maternity leave or childcare issues, when Hillary Clinton has spent 30 years.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: I do also just (inaudible). We just double checked. PolitiFact has said it's mostly true, Hillary Clinton's claim about being behind the CHIPs program. Again, you can quibble with PolitiFact or not.

(CROSSTALK)

MCENANY: I don't think the question is ...

COOPER: Kayleigh?

MCENANY: I don't think the question is who's devoted to women more. You know, I know Donald Trump's uplifted women in his company, has raised a very wonderful daughter, who has the capacity to achieve and has achieved. I don't think the question is devotion. I think the question is ability to actually get things done.

Hillary Clinton has not gotten this done, despite being so devoted to it, for decades. It didn't get done under Bill Clinton's administration. Donald Trump has the capacity to change, because he's not a politician, he's a businessman. So try someone else. Don't try a politician who talks out of one side of her mouth ...

COOPER: Let's talk about the deplorables comment. At this point, which is not something probably the Clinton people want to talk about. But it's interesting, they are actually now running commercials. I mean, they're not running away from this. She's already said, "Look, I shouldn't have said half, that was incorrect," but they're kind of sticking by it. How big a mistake do you think this was or do you think it was for Hillary Clinton?

SOCARIDES: I don't it was.

SELLERS: I agree with him.

SOCARIDES: I mean, I think that, you know, she probably regrets saying it and she's said as much, because it distract some attention. But the truth is, is that Trump has attracted -- Mr. Trump has attracted a lot of people with very fringy beliefs to his campaign. And he's run a campaign based upon anger and fear and prejudice, and I think we have to call him out on that.

SELLERS: I also agree. I think that this is a playing field where Hillary Clinton would do extremely well. The reason I believe that is because, you know, people try to compare this to Mitt Romney's 47 percent remark. And the reason this is different is because Mitt Romney was showing an animus towards poor people. Hillary Clinton is showing an animus towards racists and bigots. And, you know, for me, I have absolutely no respect for misogynists, no respect for bigots, no respect for xenophobes ...

COOPER: But saying half of Trump supporters ...

BORGER: Right.

SELLERS: I agree with that wholeheartedly. You also have to say that not all Donald Trump supporters are bigots. By any stretch. They're not. But they do have to feel comfortable supporting someone who exudes bigotry on a regular basis.

MCENANY: She insulted half of this country. She said half of Trump support ...

SELLERS: That's not half of the country.

MCENANY: Yes. She said half of Trump's supporters ...

SELLERS: Not half ...

MCENANY: ... are desperate. I let you finished. Half of Trump's supporters are desperate, half of Trump supporters are not American -- read in between the two comments that are being reported on the news, are not American. And all the horrible labels that you illicit. She insulted millions of people.

And I agree with President Obama in 2012, if you're not going to be president of all the country and you only want to be president of half, you can't be president. That's what President Obama said.

COOPER: Do you give her credit for saying, "You know what, I was wrong to say half?"

MCENANY: No, because she never retracted the statement. You retract the statement and said I was completely out of line, when I'm president of United States ...

COOPER: But has Donald Trump ever retracted a statement?

MCENANY: Donald Trump has said he regrets ...

COOPER: Has he ever retracted a statement?

MCENANY: He said, yes, if the John McCain statement was taken out of context, he takes it back ...

COOPER: No, no. But that's not retracting a statement.

KINGSTON: There's another book into this, which I find offensive and that was Bill Clinton's speech the next day, where he said, "You now, make America great again," which is a phrase he's used many times, but, he said, you know, really, it's code talk. And if you're white from the south, you know what it means, wink, wink, wink. Well, I've got to tell you, I'm white, I'm from the south. I was the author of the African-American museum, which is being built on the mall in Washington, D.C.

(CROSSTALK)

KINGSTON: I was the co-author with John Lewis ...

SELLERS: But that's not the point.

KINGSTON: That's code talk ...

COOPER: But isn't what he's saying that there's an awful lot of Americans, African-Americans, gay Americans, others who actually think, you know what, actually, America is better than it's ever been before. Because to say "Make America great again," does harkens back to a time when for African-Americans and a lot of groups ...

KINGSTON: But Bill Clinton said the phrase probably six or seven different times.

I think it's a campaign slogan and I think it's a fine slogan. I don't think it's ...

COOPER: Bakari?

SELLERS: This is the definition of false equivalency and this is the absurdity of it. Because Donald Trump from day one has disrespected millions of people and we don't have to assume whether or not there are millions, there are millions. He's disrespected Hispanic voters from day one. He's disrespected people with disabilities. He's disrespected African-Americans, and we quote/unquote call it outreach.

I mean, he's disrespected group after group after group. And yes, many of Donald Trump supporters are deplorable, people who actually wear confederate flags down in the south, I know, I'm from South Carolina, and are chanting "Make America great again," that literally terrifies me. Because I don't want to go back to a place in this country where we harken on some of those sold prejudices.

[21:30:10] And all I'm saying is that leadership, leadership means and it denotes that Donald Trump has to one -- for one time in this campaign, stand up against that bigotry, stand up against that xenophobia ...

MCENANY: He has, repeatedly.

SELLERS: No, stand on the stage and simply say, this is not a part of our ...

COOPER: Jack?

KINGSTON: He's the guy who is reaching out to the African-American community.

SELLERS: That's not outreach.

KINGSTON: Let me say this, if I'm trying to sell you a Chevrolet, and you've already told me you're not going to buy a Toyota or Ford, I'm not going to give you a very good deal. And I think one of the issues with any demographic, if they say, I reject you regardless of what you are telling me, I don't think it's good for the system.

SELLERS: You know, Jack ...

KINGSTON: And I think it's very important to say, you know what, Donald Trump is talking, he's engaged, he's going to Baton Rouge, he's going to Mexico, he's going to Milwaukee, he's going to Detroit. This is positive ...

COOPER: Bakari, respond and ...

SELLERS: I'm glad we're having this conversation, because there is a way for the Republican Party to reach African-American voters. But it's not talking at us. It's not talking down to us. And it's not being condescending, which Donald Trump does.

COOPER: We've got to go. Thanks to everyone on the panel.

Breaking news ahead. We'll have more on that right when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[21:35:11] COOPER: More breaking news tonight. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman says he's investigating the Donald Trump charitable Foundation to make sure it's complying with the laws governing charities in New York. Now, the Trump campaign called it another left-wing hit job motivated by partisan politics. The investigation comes in the wake of a series of reports by "The Washington Post" that Trump spent money from his charity to buy things for himself and also passed off contributions to the foundation as his own donations. Trump has refused to release more information about his foundation's finances. On CNN's "New Day," his campaign manager defended Trump's charity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONWAY: Donald Trump has been incredibly generous over the course of his life ...

CAMEROTA: With his own money?

CONWAY: With his own money, and his foundation's money, which is his money.

CAMEROTA: No, the foundation's money are other people's money.

CONWAY: OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: "The Washington Post" found that Trump hasn't actually given any money to his own foundation since 2008.

Joining me, CNN's senior investigative reporter, Drew Griffin, who's been doing his own digging.

Drew, you've been working on sourcing some of the quote/unquote "tens of millions of charitable" given the Trump Foundation has claimed. What have you been finding?

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: First, there's no evidence tens of millions in donations exist anywhere. We've been after the campaign, as David has, trying to get any kind of documentation on that. It doesn't exist.

But what the campaign told us last night is, look at "The Washington Post" report. It's filled with inaccuracies. Based with no other guidance, we started checking some of David's report and we have found some problems. Three of five groups that David pointed out that may have not gotten the money, they actually, it turns out, did get the money. Latino Commission on AIDS today, they went back and checked on our prodding and lo and behold, found a record of a $10,000 donation, made by the Trump Foundation. The giving back fund, similarly, reported that they didn't have any record of any kind of donation. They went back again today with their accountant and found a $10,000 donation.

And we just got off the phone with -- it's called Friends of Veterans in Palm Beach, Florida. This looks more like an inaccuracy on the Trump Foundation report.

The Trump Foundation reported that they had given to Friends of Veterans in Vermont. Well, the folks in Vermont didn't get the $1,000, but the Friends of Veterans in Palm Beach in Florida did.

So on those three different cases, it seems that Trump may have a point, that there's some inaccuracies in the reporting. But as I said, overall, we're looking for tens of millions of dollars and we're talking about collectively, $21,000 here.

COOPER: I want to bring in David Fahrenthold from "The Washington Post," who, as Drew pointed out, has done exhaustive research on Trump's foundation.

So, David, other than the three charities, which have told you, they didn't have things now, they say they have found thing that Trump that sent them in the past, what surprised you most, first of all, overall, in your reporting, in what you found?

DAVID FAHRENTHOLD, "WASHINGTON POST" REPORTER: Well, I think, as Drew pointed out, you go into this expecting that it's the Donald J. Trump's foundation. The expectation is it's Donald J. Trump's money, and then it turns out that -- but he hasn't given any money since 2008. So we've been looking sort of -- we've been looking for other gifts. Trump says he gives other money outside the foundation. We've been searching for that all summer, almost large portion of the year, talked to 326 charities that look to be as sort of the closest to Trump. And in the period between 2008 and this May, I found one gift from back in 2009 that was given outside the foundation.

So, as far as I can tell, the Trump Foundation, such as it is, is the public evidence of Trump's charity in the last few years.

COOPER: Kellyanne Conway stated that Donald Trump has donated to charities with his own, "own money and his foundation's money, which is his money." That's not exactly accurate. I mean the money, as you pointed out, since 2008, going to his foundation, though, he initially had given money -- millions of dollars to his foundation, that's all coming from corporations and others, correct?

FAHRENTHOLD: Well, if you look back -- since 2008, the tax records we have go from 2008 to 2014. Trump Foundation has not released its tax records for 2015 and 2016. So it's possible that Kellyanne Conway knows something that we don't know that maybe Trump has been giving money in the last couple of years and not telling anyone about it. I've asked for that information. I'm sure Drew has as well. And we haven't gotten anything from them that would indicate that's true. And it's back when Alisyn Camerota pressed Kellyanne Conway on this morning and said, "Hey, actually I think the money in the foundation is not Trump's money." She sort of seemed to concede and say, "Well, OK, fine."

COOPER: What are some of the unanswered questions at this point? I mean do we know more than we don't know at least?

FAHRENTHOLD: I mean I think the thing that I would want to know, why do people give to the foundation? A lot of the people who are the biggest donors to the Trump Foundation, Vince McMahon of the WWE fame, there's a ticket broker in New York City, NBC Universal. I've tried to get answers from them about, you know, why do you give money to a guy who then gives it away sort of with his own name attached? What's in it for you? And I've got no answers from them. I'd love to know the answers to that.

[21:40:00] I also want to find the locations of a couple of things that Trump seems to have bought for himself with money from the Trump Foundation ...

COOPER: There was like a six-foot-tall painting of himself.

FAHRENTHOLD: Six-foot-tall painting of himself, which he bought in 2007 with money $20,000 from the Trump Foundation. So that's one thing. I'm trying to find out where that is. He's supposed to have kept it or used it for charitable purposes. He can't just use to decorate a golf club. So, we haven't found that. There's also Tim Tebow helmet that he bought in 2012 with money from the foundation.

COOPER: And David, as compared to other, you know, foundations founded by very wealthy people, I mean think about Gates, obviously, Oprah Winfrey has a foundation. Her foundation has several hundred millions of dollars in it, I believe. And her net worth is supposed to be less than Donald Trump's, right?

FAHRENTHOLD: Right. If Forbes says her net worth is $3 billion versus $4.5 billion for Donald Trump, and she has, as you said, more than $100 million in her foundation.

George Lucas, the Hollywood producer, is ranked about equal to Trump in the Forbes scale of billionaires that his foundation has hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars. So, it's just a totally ...

COOPER: And theoretically, how much money has Donald Trump generally had in a foundation at one time?

FAHRENTHOLD: The most money that they've ever reported having is about $3.3 million and that was in 2009, mostly because of money from Vince McMahon. Vince Mcmahon had just given a $4 million gift a few years before. So that's the most they've ever had.

COOPER: All right. David Fahrenthold, appreciate it. Drew Griffin as well, thanks so much.

Well, up next, we saw a lot of Ivanka Trump tonight. She's a mom to three young kids. She talked about it a bit tonight while introducing her dad. Just ahead, her path to motherhood and how it felt or how it led to her becoming an advocate for working women.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[21:45:29] COOPER: Ivanka Trump was center stage again tonight, this time in Pennsylvania, introducing her dad as he prepared to unveil his family leave policy which she credit her for helping to shape. Here's some of what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IVANKA TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S DAUGHTER: I have three young children myself, and I'm grateful daily for the means to pursue two of my dreams, being a mother and investing in a career that fulfills me. I recognize that far too few women can say the same for themselves and that I am more fortunate than most. This must change.

As a society, we need to create policies that champion all parents, enabling the American family to thrive. My dad agrees, and he's in a very unique position to do something about this problem and the numerous other problems facing tens of millions of parents and caregivers across our country.

Today, childcare is the single greatest expense for many American families, even exceeding the cost of housing in much of the country. It's depleting the hard-earned savings of men and women across our nation, and it's at the root of wage inequality, by disproportionately affecting woman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Randi Kaye tonight reports on Ivanka Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When Ivanka Trump isn't bending her father's ear about business or politics, she likely has her hands full at home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Baby one.

I. TRUMP: Baby two.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Baby two.

I. TRUMP: Baby three.

KAYE: Baby three, now baby Theodore, arrived in March this year. He joined big brother, Joseph, who is two, and big sister, Arabella, who is five.

Ivanka calls having three little ones at home the perfect kind of chaos. She shared more about motherhood as CNN's Trump family town hall.

I. TRUMP: It's the most amazing type of challenge that you really can't prepare yourself for, but is so unbelievably rewarding. So, I feel so fortunate.

KAYE: By now, she has the routine down, telling "People" magazine, "I am familiar with timing and balance as well as bathing, diapers, and how to hold a baby without fear of an accident. I feel like I am now a pro". She told the magazine she loves watching her kids grow and change. Leaving them at home when she goes to work is the tough part. It gets harder and harder to even think of leaving them, she said.

In 2009, Ivanka married real estate developer, Jared Kushner and converted to Orthodox Judaism. She told "Vogue" magazine, the Judaism, it creates an amazing blueprint for family connectivity. Observing the Sabbath on Saturday means no iPhones or any technology. Something Ivanka supports. Telling "Vogue, "for Arabella to know that she has me undivided one day a week? We don't do anything except play with each other, hang out with another, go on walks together. Pure family."

Her husband calls Ivanka the CEO of the household though she actually works as an executive vice president for the Trump organization. She also has her own jewelry collection and clothing line. Motherhood, Ivanka says, has made her a better businesswoman.

I. TRUMP: Anyone who's tried to impose their will on a sleepy toddler knows that it just doesn't work well. And I think leadership is not so dissimilar.

Good evening, everyone.

KAYE: Ivanka says she wants to make things easier for women and working mothers.

Her blog with its hashtag, "women who work," is chock-full of career advice, everything from asking for a raise to dressing for success. And she's promised if her father is elected president, to make sure women in the workplace are taken care of.

I. TRUMP: At my father's company, there are more female than male executives. Women are paid equally for the work that we do and when a woman becomes a mother she is supported not shut out.

KAYE: Now, Ivanka is putting her stamp of approval on her father's childcare proposals, and putting herself front and center in the campaign for the working women's vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Randi joins us now. I mean, she certainly has a lot on her plate. She's got to have some help.

KAYE: She does. She has a nanny, and according to "Vogue" magazine, that nanny is already teaching her children to speak Mandarin. So that's good. But you'll know in -- I mean you see, Anderson, she never appears really stressed out. She says basically that she's learned to be incredibly efficient. She knows that parenting is very unpredictable, but she just wakes up every day and says, "I'm going to try to accomplish as much as I can personally and professionally." And she does the best she can. But what's funny is that she still thinks about all that time before she had these three kids.

[21:50:02] What did she do with all that free time which I bet a lot of parents probably wonder? But now, she has three kids under five years old ...

COOPER: Wow.

KAYE: ... so that free time probably long gone.

COOPER: Randi, thanks very much. Appreciate it.

Up next, our report on Syria on the ceasefire. The question, is it holding up?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: No air strikes, no deaths, that's what it's been like across Syria for more than 24 hours. The ceasefire brokered by the U.S. and Russia appears to be holding. One critical goal has not been met yet, getting much needed aid to desperate Syrians.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen is in Syria tonight. He joins us from Damascus.

It's almost dawn there. One full day, the ceasefire passed. Does it look like it's holding?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, it certainly looks like the violence has decreased significantly, at least that's what the United Nations say throughout the entire country. Now, they do say that there have been some instances of fighting, especially around the Aleppo area which was, of course, one of the most contested areas before the ceasefire went into play, some shelling out so they say, perhaps some air strikes as well.

But at the same time, the people here say they still don't really trust the ceasefire because they've been in the situation before where there have been ceasefires in local areas but also nationwide as well, and those have fallen apart after a few days. So many people are glad that the violence is less but at the same time still waiting to see whether or not it's going to last, Anderson.

COOPER: What about humanitarian aid, is it getting in?

PLEITGEN: Well, that's the problem. It isn't at this point in time. You know what, they -- the U.N. said it hasn't delivered any humanitarian aid since the ceasefire went into place during the first 24 hours, maybe a little bit more. The Syrian government says that no aid is going to be delivered to Aleppo, which of course was one of the most important areas, the largest besieged area here in this country. No aid is going to be delivered from Turkey without the consent of the Syrian government and the United Nations. So far, that consent isn't forthcoming.

[21:55:16] And, you know, we've seen things like this in the past where there've been agreements to deliver aid to besieged areas and it's taken a very long time because there's a lot of scrutiny, that a lot of these convoys get checked by the Syrian government, held up by the Syrian government, the rebels groups as well. So this is a process that could take a long time which, of course, is horrible for the people who are still suffering, and is some cases, starving in those besieged areas, Anderson.

COOPER: And the ceasefire applied to the government, the Syrian government, rebel forces, is not like ISIS is playing by the same rule.

PLEITGEN: Well, no. That's one of the main things about this. It's a ceasefire that was brokered, of course, by the U.S. and by Russia. And the one thing they can agree on is that ISIS and also some formerly al-Qaeda affiliated groups are not part of this ceasefire. And interestingly, if the ceasefire holds for a week, and the U.S. and Russia want to coordinate their campaign, their air strikes for instance, to try and hit ISIS together. So wait and see whether or not that happens but it is one of the main things that ISIS is not part of it and should be hit harder as part of the ceasefire.

COOPER: Fred Pleitgen, thanks very much. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[21:59:59] COOPER: Well, that does it for us tonight. Thanks for watching.

"CNN TONIGHT" with Don Lemon starts now.