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Trump Addresses Media in Florida; Trump: I Hope Russia Can Find Clinton's E-mails. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired July 27, 2016 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:01] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I could be doing other things. I'm doing this because we're going to make America great again. I'm doing this because when I looked at the Iran deal, which was incompetent -- when I looked at what's going on with jobs being torn out of our country and going to Mexico and China, what's happening with China. And with all of this, with ISIS, with our military being so badly depleted where we have old fighter jets. We have to take parts from museums and from graveyards.

When I look at all this I say I sort of have to do it. You know this country's been great to me. I'm giving back. That's all.

Now as far as running a campaign, I guess it's probably not typical. But they said that against, you know when I ran there was 17 people, a total of 17. Governors, Senators, Ben Carson who's a fantastic guy, capable people. Wait a minute. Everybody said, oh he can never win because look what he's doing. He's giving a talk to 5,000 people in New Hampshire instead of going to everybody's house and having dinner.

And then I won New Hampshire. And then I won you know 38 or 39 states. And won by the way, not by a little bit. Won with the highest vote in the history of the Republican Party. So just...

QUESTION: (inaudible)

TRUMP: OK but John but the point is this, so it's a different kind of a campaign. But it's what I think is good. I think it's good. I think it's working here too.

QUESTION: But this aggressive counterprogramming the Democratic Convention is different than what we've seen in previous campaigns. And I'm wondering why you felt the need to make sure that everything that was said was responded to immediately with personal appearances, with campaign appearances while they were (inaudible)...

TRUMP: Well, when Joe Biden says that I want to firebomb the enemy, which was on television this morning, or carpet bomb. He used the term carpet bomb. When he makes the statement that Donald Trump wants to carpet bomb, I never said that. That was Ted Cruz that said that OK? That was Ted Cruz, wasn't me.

When Sanders, and I think a lot of his people are going to come to me because of trade. But when Bernie Sanders makes a statement that I wanted to go lower than the minimum wage, lower, it's a lie. So I have a choice. All my people say don't respond to it, it doesn't matter. I say to me it does matter. It matters.

When people tell lies, politicians who tell lies very well, that's what they do, that's why they're politicians. But when politicians tell lies, and I'm lucky in a sense because I have a big microphone. In other words I can say that Biden lied when he said that. Or I can say that I didn't say that, Bernie Sanders. And you guys know that I didn't. In fact he was criticized by people that fact check for saying it because I never said it.

So it's nice to be able to, President Obama said a year-and-a- half ago, Donald Trump will never be president. Today on "The Today Show" he said, this is democracy. A little bit different. Little bit different.

(LAUGHTER)

David, go ahead Dave.

QUESTION: Last night at the Democratic Convention (inaudible) women and gay advocates made strong cases that you and the Republican Party are kind of on the wrong side of history regarding abortion rights and gay marriage. Can you clarify your position on those?

TRUMP: You'll have to see it in the polls David. You know what my positions are. You'll have to see it at the polls.

QUESTION: I don't know what...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Yeah go ahead.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: David my positions are down. You ask the question every single time. I give you an answer. My positions are down. Take a look. Go ahead.

QUESTION: Didn't you hold a Miss Universe Pageant--?

TRUMP: Yes I did.

QUESTION: Did Don Jr. say back in 2008 that there was Russian money pouring into the top organizations...

TRUMP: We wanted to, yeah, I don't know what he said. But we wanted...

(CROSSTALK) TRUMP: Excuse me, listen. We wanted to; we were doing Miss Universe 4 or 5 years ago in Russia. It was a tremendous success. Very, very successful. And there were developers in Russia that wanted to put a lot of money into developments in Russia. And they wanted us to do it. But it never worked out.

Frankly I didn't want to do it for a couple of different reasons. But we had a major developer, particular, but numerous developers that wanted to develop property in Moscow and other places. But we decided not to do it.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Yes ma'am go ahead.

QUESTION: (inaudible) President Obama has said that you would never win the presidency. Last night he said that anything is possible.

TRUMP: He did say that.

QUESTION: What is your reaction to that?

TRUMP: Well, I just said sort of said that. He just said that. He said it this morning, anything's possible. I think I'm going to win. I think people are sick and tired of incompetence. They're sick and tired of having politicians leading them down the tubes. Whether it's taxes, whether it's debt, whether it's any one of 15 different things. And that's why. I mean I think I'll win the election. I think you'll see that in the polls.

All right a few more questions. Go ahead John.

QUESTION: Back in December...

TRUMP: I hope your arm's OK.

QUESTION: It's all right. Back in December sir you had said that you were probably going to be going to Israel to go and meet the leadership. Now that you are the Republican nominee, it is a tradition once you secure the Party's nomination, to do a trip...

TRUMP: Well, it's a tradition but I don't do things that are traditional. But I have great support from Israel. I will back Israel 100 percent. I would like to go there. But I have great relationships as you know, to the people in Israel.

And by the way, Obama in my opinion is the single worst thing politically speaking that's ever happened to Israel. He has been a disaster for Israel.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I don't know. I don't know. I haven't set my schedule yet. It could happen.

QUESTION: (inaudible) you are the nominee. Has you or your campaign had any conversations with foreign leaders trying to build up a relationship should you win in November, that you don't have to hit the ground running (inaudible)? TRUMP: No, I think we -- it's possible we have. But I'm not -- I'm only interested in winning. Once I win, I'll get along great with foreign leaders, but they won't be taking advantage. I mean, the problem we have with foreign leaders, whether it's China, Russia, or anybody, they don't respect our leadership. And certainly in the case of China, they take tremendous economic advantage of us -- tremendous, to a point that is hard to believe.

I'll get along great with the leadership. And we'll do well.

Yes, ma'am, in the back?

QUESTION: Mr. Trump, (inaudible)

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: No, no. Excuse me. In the back?

QUESTION: I would like to know if you became president, would you recognize (inaudible) Crimea as Russian territory? And also if the U.S. would lift sanctions that are (inaudible)?

TRUMP: We'll be looking at that. Yeah, we'll be looking.

Go ahead.

QUESTION: Mr. Trump, (inaudible) questions. First, a quick one on the minimum wage. You said we need to raise it to $10. (inaudible) be clear here. Are you talking about the federal minimum wage?

TRUMP: Federal.

QUESTION: OK. Second question about (inaudible).

TRUMP: Right.

QUESTION: You said (inaudible). Would religion be a part of the (inaudible)?

TRUMP: I'm not making it a part. But at some point, maybe people will change their minds, but as of right now, I'm not making it a part.

OK.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Yes, ma'am? Go ahead.

QUESTION: (inaudible)

TRUMP: Who said that?

QUESTION: (inaudible)

TRUMP: Who?

QUESTION: (inaudible)

TRUMP: I think President Obama has been the most ignorant president in our history. His views of the world, as he says, don't jive. And the world is a mess. You look at what's happening with the migration, with Syria, with Libya, with Iraq, with everything he's touched. He has been a disaster as a president. He will go down as one of the worst presidents in the history of our country. It is a mess.

And I believe that Hillary Clinton will be even worse.

Go ahead.

QUESTION: (inaudible) polls you (inaudible). You just said (inaudible).

TRUMP: Oh, (inaudible) just said that? Many polls show that you are winning? I can't believe it. Are you Katy Turek (ph) of NBC? It's a disguise.

Go ahead.

(LAUGHTER)

QUESTION: Many polls show you (inaudible). He said he feels that you are (inaudible) not prepared to be president. Can you (inaudible) lay out for us and for him what you do on a daily basis? How does your (inaudible)?

TRUMP: OK. Well, (inaudible).

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: (inaudible) about what's going on (inaudible) and domestic affairs.

TRUMP: Sure. Well, you've been asking me a lot of questions for a lot of times. I've turned out to be right. I turned out to be right on NATO. After I said that on NATO, NATO changed their whole program because of me.

Excuse me, Katy, Hillary Clinton said yesterday she's going to start renegotiating trade deals. She never said that in her life. She said it yesterday only because of me. I'm the one that's prepared. President Obama when he became president, he didn't know anything. This guy didn't know a thing. And honestly, today he knows less. Today, he knows less.

He's done a terrible job. I think I'm very prepared.

Now, with that being said, I've been a businessman all my life, but I've been watching it. I've been seeing it. I've been feeling. And as you know, I've been very much involved in politics from the other side. I understand politics or I guess I wouldn't be here. I mean, I beat a lot of very talented people.

QUESTION: (inaudible) advisers, though?

TRUMP: I do. I have great foreign advisers. And you have a list. And I gave you a list. And the other day, as an example, General Quinn and General Flynn, and we have so many -- we have so many. As an example, I had a meeting three or four days ago, and I'm going to do a report on it, with seven or eight very, very talented advisers.

Now, with all of that being said, a lot of people want the people that are doing it now; people that have certain names. Look at the mess they've gotten us into. They said, "Have you spoken to so and so?" Well, I said, but he was in favor of the war in Iraq many years ago, which I was not in favor of. "Have you spoken to this one or that one?" I said, they were all -- look at the job they've done.

So a lot of the people that you think are good because you know their name or because you see them on television, I don't think are good. Because look at the end result. The end result is our country is a mess. The Middle East has never been worse. Had we done nothing with the Middle East; had our presidents, with an "S," gone to the beach and relaxed, we'd be in better shape than we are right now.

All right, Tom. A couple more. Go ahead, Tom.

QUESTION: (inaudible) security briefings. You're about to get one.

TRUMP: Yeah.

QUESTION: Do you expect your opinion on (inaudible) or your opinion on (inaudible).

TRUMP: Well, we'll have to see. I mean, that's my opinion. That's my opinion. We'll have to see. I have a real problem when Hillary Clinton, who gives open access to a phony server, is allowed to get these briefings. How does Hillary Clinton get a national security briefing when she's been probably hacked, when so much of her information, the director of the FBI said it was essentially negligent. It was negligent.

Now why are they giving her briefings, why are these people with great knowledge of the inner workings of our country and our security, why are they giving Hillary Clinton briefings? Because it's going to get revealed. I mean her number one person, Huma Abedin, is married to Anthony Weiner, who's a sleazeball and a pervert. And I'm not saying that, I mean that's recorded history, right?

I don't like Huma going home at night and telling Anthony Weiner all of these secrets, OK? So how can Hillary Clinton be briefed on this unbelievably delicate information when it was just proven that she lied and that her server shouldn't have had it and that they're missing 33,000 e-mails and that's just the beginning. So I don't think that I know at some point, they're going to be calling, they're going to want to brief me, but I'm not a talker about this stuff.

I don't think that it's safe to have Hillary Clinton, in light of what just happened, and in light of what we just found out, I don't think it's safe to have Hillary Clinton be briefed on national security because the word will get out.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

TRUMP: No. He's not going to run for mayor. Oh, Don (ph)? He's not going to run for mayor. Don (ph) has no attention of running for mayor. But he did a great job the other night with his speech. Because he made a good speech, everyone says he should run for mayor. You know why? Because we have a Democratic mayor who's horrible, he's doing a horrible job, de Blasio. But Don (ph) is not going to run for -- he has no interest in running for mayor.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

TRUMP: Yes. QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

TRUMP: Unbelievable what he said. I think it's disgraceful. Hillary Clinton, because of me, said that TPP is not going to happen. But we all know it is going to happen if she won. Terry McAuliffe said with a wink that if Hillary gets in, she's lying and it will happen. And there is nobody closer, I know this for a fact, there is nobody, including her own husband, closer to Hillary Clinton than Terry McAuliffe, OK? Go ahead.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

TRUMP: Oh I don't know what he said, Jon (ph), I really -- Anthony Weiner's -- look, look, look -- Anthony Weiner is a proven loser. I mean the poor guy, he's locked up in a room. They lock him up in a room, they don't let him out. I don't know what Anthony -- my son doesn't want to run for mayor. He has no intention of running for mayor.

And besides that, as a Republican, you have a very tiny sliver in Manhattan, as you know, and in that area. It's almost impossible for a Republican to win. So, and my son likes to win, but my son has no intention of running for mayor so let's just put that to bed. Go ahead.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

TRUMP: Yes, in (inaudible) very sad. Not (inaudible).

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

TRUMP: Yes, I'm looking at it. I actually want to find out what causes it. It's a problem in many areas, OK? Yes, go ahead.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

TRUMP: Well, they shouted -- you know what was interesting. Yesterday I made a speech in front of the great veterans as you saw, and it was very well received, she was there the day before. And when I started talking about Hillary Clinton, the veterans who saw her 24 hours before, started screaming, "Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up." They also screamed that, as you know, during the speech I made. The big speech.

TRUMP: And I said, "Don't do that." Now, I didn't do that for any reason. I really -- I didn't like it. And they stopped. Not one reporter said that I said that. They all said -- they started screaming "Lock her up! Lock her up." I said, "Don't do that." Nobody reported that I said that, because it's dishonest reporting.

You do agree I said that, right?

QUESTION: You did say that.

TRUMP: OK. Well, why didn't somebody report that?

QUESTION: That's what I want to ask you about, you said you...

TRUMP: No, I think it's -- I think it's a shame that they said it, but a lot of people would say that should happen.

OK, one more question, yes -- yes, ma'am, go ahead.

QUESTION: Yes, three weeks is a long time to wait for that (inaudible) immigration.

This is Doral, it was built by...

TRUMP: Well, Doral is great. And Doral -- I think I have over 1,000 Hispanics working at Doral, and they're doing a great job.

Yes, ma'am, in the yellow, go ahead. Yellow.

QUESTION: I have another question.

TRUMP: Excuse me. Yellow.

QUESTION: Hillary Clinton's (ph) running mate...

TRUMP: Who?

QUESTION: Hillary Clinton's running mate speaks Spanish. Do you think this (inaudible) an advantage on...

TRUMP: No, I don't think it has any impact. He's been very bad -- her running mate has been very, very bad on employment. And all you have to do is go to Virginia and speak to the people of Virginia, he has been so bad.

I figured when she chose him, he was very popular in Virginia. They don't like him. They don't like him. It has been very close races, and his polling is very bad.

So, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. I think it's time for Hillary Clinton to do a news conference, because it's almost a year now and it would be interesting to see how she does.

Thank you all very much.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) running for the president (inaudible)?

TRUMP: Might as well tell him to have a good time. He has done one bad job.

OK, thank you, everybody.

[11:46:41] KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And there you have it, Donald Trump speaking to the press for almost an hour, taking questions from the media on a whole slew of topics, but especially talking quite extensively about the DNC e-mail leak, the strong evidence that Russia is behind it, and also the accusations that Russia was doing it in order to tilt the scales on this election. Donald Trump, when he was asked about that, he calls it a total deflection on the part of the Hillary Clinton campaign.

But then he also said this. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. Let's see if that happens. That will be next.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, that was Donald Trump just moments ago.

David Gregory, host of "The David Gregory Show" podcast, political commentator here.

It is unusual, which is a charitable way of saying it, for a presidential candidate to call on the intelligence services of another nation to hack into American government e-mails. But that's what Donald Trump just did.

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, I've run out of words to express my shock and how completely beyond the pale that Donald Trump is as a potential leader of the free world, the commander-in- chief of our country. This is truly beyond the pale. He is encouraging Russia, which, by all accounts, was behind the leak of one of our major political parties, to do more, to go beyond, to try to hack into Hillary Clinton's server to find missing e-mails, to kind of get in the middle of the scandal. It's as if, you know, this is a child playing with matches who doesn't understand how badly he and the country can get burned. It's a very serious thing.

The one thing about Trump is he is very clear for all to see, he is making very clear what he thinks, how he comes by information. And I think frankly the lack of seriousness and the intemperance with which he speaks about important national security matters should certainly give people pause. I don't think there's anybody that would think that was anything but a fair reading of what we've seen here.

Vladimir Putin is dangerous. He's been dangerous to a Democratic president, to a Republican president. President George W. Bush, who thought he had a better relationship with him. And now this nominee of the Republican Party wants a closer relationship with Vladimir Putin, which is what he said. He thinks he has the ability to have a better relationship. There's no evidence to believe that's the case.

BOLDUAN: Andre Bauer, let me bring you in, former lieutenant governor of South Carolina, also a Donald Trump supporter.

When you hear say him say, "Russia, I hope you're listening and I hope you can find Hillary Clinton's 30,000 missing e-mails," do you support that?

ANDRE BAUER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I don't know that I support it. But it shows the frustration. Look, Donald Trump has his finger on the pulse of America. He understands what the average folks are feeling. They're frustrated that the shift has now become Russia has these e-mails, not the deception, not the negative things, talking about the people from the party that says they're over embracing when the leader of their party is saying so many negative things about so many people. And the whole conversation has changed now and it's deflect, deflect, deflect, and make it all about Russia. And I think he's saying, look, everybody --

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: Isn't it one thing to say that the Hillary campaign as gone too far out in front of the investigation, which is still under way. No one knows yet what the motive of the hackers was. Another thing to say, actually, Russia, you could help me out?

[11:50:11] CHRISTINE QUINN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, the issue here is, there's an issue on the e-mails. People have apologized. That's going to be taken care of by the DNC. But we're talking about the government that has never been our ally, never a friend, an incredibly oppressive government. The man, who thinks he's going to be president of the United States, stood in front of the world and called on Russia and Putin to hack into the e-mails of the former secretary of state. Honestly -- and I know I'm partisan, clearly -- but it's, honestly, almost treasonist.

BAUER: Well, and it's treasonist to have 30,000 e-mails disappear.

(CROSSTALK)

BAUER: It's treasonist to the American public and nobody wants to stand here and say that on this stage. But, look, you keep dodging --

(CROSSTALK)

QUINN: It's not true that the FBI -- (CROSSTALK)

BAUER: -- on Trump. And I swallowed it all week. But I'm telling you, you can say all you want. The American public is fed up with the deception of this administration. And Donald Trump is the only one who has the courage to talk about it.

QUINN: Do you actually think, to say I'm going to be friendly with Putin, be friendly, it would be great if we got along. How do you think people from the Ukraine feel about that? How do you think the people he's repressed feel about that? That is an irresponsible statement and that is what we just saw.

BAUER: I think you see somebody that wants to be friendly with everybody. You try to give everybody a fair shake and try to engage --

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: Hold on.

S.E.?

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Except for our NATO allies --

QUINN: Right.

CUPP: -- which he considers to be lessees in one of his building. If the faucet is leaking, he'll fix it, only if the rent is paid up.

There is a disconnect, Andre, between his support of dictators and his dismissal of allies. Average Americans -- I think you're right that Donald Trump has struck a chord with average Americans. But you're wrong that average Americans think that Russia should be spying on the former secretary of state on behalf of Donald Trump. That's wrong.

What he said today was startling. And there's one reason he's having this press conference today. That's because the idea that Russia is somehow meddling in our election is a cementing story. He has to come out and act like he has nothing to do with it. I don't know if he has anything to do with it. It's clear he's made a number of statements to Russia and Vladimir Putin, and Russia has been clearly interested in propping up Donald Trump. This is the story of the year, if it turns out to be true that Russia has meddled in our elections. That's why he's talking --

(CROSSTALK)

BAUER: -- on CNN this morning that it was not the Russian government.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: Hang on.

Let me tell you what was reported. What's was reported this morning, right now, is that the U.S. government says it's highly likely that the Russians were involved in the hack. They did not say whether it was the Russian government or private or intelligence service or not. But that it is being investigated, and that it is possible that there are government agencies involved. That's our latest reporting on that right now.

Marc Lamont Hill, there's another aspect to this, which he was alluding to, which is, is Donald Trump somehow in cahoots with the Russians in any way. Now he just flatly denied it. He said no. He said he's never met Vladimir Putin. He said he's had no contact with any --

BOLDUAN: He contradicted that in the debate.

BERMAN: Exactly. He said he had no business dealings with them.

Now, one way you can prove that you have no business dealings with them or they haven't given you any money in any way is to release your tax returns, which again, today, he said he won't do.

CUPP: Coincidentally.

MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: First, I am not convinced that there's an elaborate scheme or plot of Donald Trump and the Russian government. Mainly because I don't imagine Donald Trump to be that sort of thoughtful and disciplined to carry something like that out. For him to have a -- not to say things out loud. And as you saw in this press conference, he was thoroughly undisciplined on the campaign trail and unable to contain himself.

The other part of the question, which I think is an interesting one, which is do the tax returns show us something. Of course, they do. This is one of the world's longest pressers. I was joking with S.E., during the pressers. I said, you should quickly just ask him about tax returns.

(LAUGHTER)

He'll give a five-second answer. He doesn't want to disclose -- I always thought it was a Planned Parenthood thing. I thought it was some liberal organization that he was aligned with through his money, but it could be something deeper. And that's what the American public needs to find out.

GREGORY: Can I just say to this, there's a time for political fighting and there's all kinds of issues on both sides. This is dangerous talk --

CUPP: Absolutely.

GREGORY: -- in so far as it related to the actual reality to the presidency. Forget about a potential working with Vladimir Putin. His support for Russia, his lack of support for NATO is objectively an invitation for Russia to attack our allies. That is a fact. That is incontrovertible. The encouragement of a foreign leader to further manipulate our political process or to commit an act of cyber attack is far beyond e-mails that could cripple our fundamental infrastructure. So what I observe about Trump is that there has not been any evolution of what he knows about critical issues that could affect the presidency, were he to become the presidency, nor a desire to go deeper on those issues. And again, for any of us who covered the presidency up close, words matter, actions matter, unpredictability matters. You're talking about life-and-death issues here. I think this is what people ought to focus on. There's plenty of time for all these political debates and touching nerves of voters, which is all legitimate, but this goes far beyond that.

(CROSSTALK)

[11:55:24] LAMONT HILL: It might not be that he doesn't care. He may be indifferent to it.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: Hold on one second, guys.

Let's bring in chief national security correspondent, Jim Sciutto. He was listening in on the press conference with us.

Jim, have you been doing a lot of talking with your sources about where things stand in terms of the investigation into this e-mail leak. And I want to get your reaction what you heard Donald Trump say.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: First, let's set it straight, Donald Trump at the news conference says it's doubtful or unlikely that Russia hacked the DNC's e-mails. That's in direct contradiction to the view of U.S. intelligence. In fact, I spoke to a U.S. official briefed on the investigation today. In his words, he said that there is little doubt that Russia is behind the hack. And when we say Russia and when they say Russia, they're not talking about random hackers working for no one. This is seen as a Russian intelligence operation with approval at the highest level. So this, in their view, goes right to the top.

And just to echo David Gregory's point, I speak to people in the intelligence community all the time, not just about Russian hacks, but Chinese hacks, North Korean hacks, they take these very seriously. These are not things that they laugh about or joke about or call political attacks. They look at them very seriously. They look at them as part of, in effect, a low-level war. And that's the way Russia views them. Russia views these as attacks in what they call the information space, which is a front in a war, just like operations at sea, in the air, nuclear weapons are. This is one front in what they see, not as a declared war, not even perhaps as a new Cold War, but as a new kind of war with a country it sees as an adversary.

Just one final thought. U.S. intelligence characterizes Russia as an existential threat to the U.S. Not as a theoretical threat, as an existential threat. So we're in very serious territory here.

BERMAN: Jim, stand by.

I want to bring back in Andre Bauer, Donald Trump supporter. You've heard the discussion. You've heard our latest discussion on

the Russian involvement, the possible Russian involvement in this hack. Again, as a former state government official, does it concern that you that the Russians are hacking into the U.S. political system?

BAUER: It concerns me that anybody can hack in.

BERMAN: Russia --

(CROSSTALK)

BAUER: But again, I think you're missing it on NATO. The American public is fed up with footing the bill for everybody else. If I don't pay my car payment, it's going to get repossessed --

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: But isn't that a separate issue?

(CROSSTALK) BAUER: It is. But the main part of this issue, real quickly, just a minute ago, it became part of the discussion. Again, I think you're missing the boat. The talking heads may say all of this is so important. The average guy on the street, and gal, are fed up. And they see a dodge and a shift in the --

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: What the people here on this panel are saying -- David Gregory, you heard from S.E. Cupp, a Republican, a journalist, and you're hearing from Democrats here -- is that you say this kind of thing, to invite the Russians in, people here are saying it disqualifying to be commander-in-chief. Do you feel that's the case?

BAUER: I don't. Again, you're accusing him -- several -- not saying you -- I should apologize. Several people are accusing him of being tied to the Russians. That has become the story. So here is the guy saying, look, if you got it, out it. I don't blame him. If I were him, I'd be defensive, I'd be frustrated, I'd be angry that I'm being --

BOLDUAN: Would you like to see Russian hackers hack into Hillary Clinton's e-mail and take her e-mails? Would you like to see Russian hackers -- are you asking Russian hackers to hack into anybody's e- mail in the United States?

BAUER: I'm not asking anybody to hack into anybody's e-mail. But I will tell you this, if I was warned by the federal government that somebody was getting ready to hack into my e-mails, I'd be very reluctant to send any more e-mails, and the DNC kept doing it.

BERMAN: Let's go to Jim Acosta, our chief White House correspondent, who is actually covering the Trump campaign at that news conference in Florida.

Jim, you were one of the reporters not told to be quiet, interestingly, by itself, by Donald Trump. But this was an unusual event, to say the least?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think you have to give Donald Trump credit for one thing. He is right that he's holding more press conferences than Hillary Clinton. He demonstrated that again today. Whether or not that is to the delight of his staff members, one can only guess.

But at the same point, we should point out, John and Kate, there's a little news to report that the Trump campaign put out a statement from Mike Pence, which appears to go farther than what Donald Trump was willing to way at this news conference in the last hour and a half. Just reading from the statement, Governor Mike Pence says, "If it is Russia, and they're interfering with our elections, I can assure you both parties and the United States government will ensure there are serious consequences."

That really goes farther than what Donald Trump said in this room. I asked Donald Trump repeatedly will he call on Putin to stay out of the election. He did not want to go that far. And he seemed to be signaling that it will be a new day in the White House if he's elected president when it comes to this policy with Russia.