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How Trump's Old Tweets about Taxes Are Being Seen in New Light; NYT: Trump Paid No Federal Income Taxes in 10 Out of 15 Years; Mother of SC Teacher Who Died of COVID Also Dies from Virus; Police Report: Wife of Trump's Ex-Campaign Manager Says He Made "Suicidal" Comments, 10 Guns Found in Home. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired September 28, 2020 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:31:16]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: There's always a tweet. And with "The New York Times" reporting that President Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017 and no federal income taxes whatsoever for 10 of the previous 15 years before that, his old statements are exposing some stunning hypocrisy.

Like this one from 2012. Trump blasting the American people saying, quote, "Half of Americans don't pay income tax despite crippling government debt."

Mind you the average tax filer pays $12,000 a year. Considerably more than the president has.

Later that year, Trump attacked President Obama saying, quote, "Barack Obama, who wants to raise all our taxes, only pays 20.5 percent on his salary. Do as I say not as I do."

That year, Obama paid more than $162,000 in federal taxes.

And in another attack on Obama, President Trump said, quote, "Have we ever had a POTUS before Barack Obama who earned over one-third of his income from foreign sources and paid taxes to another country?

"The Times" reporting that, as president, Trump has received more money from foreign sources than previously known.

Trump also attacked billionaire, Jeff Bezos, multiple times. He accused him of using business losses at "The Washington Post" as a big tax shelter to screw the public essentially.

According to "The New York Times," Trump took huge deductions, including $70,000 to take care of his hair.

And also appeared to write off hundreds of thousands of dollars, paying his daughter, Ivanka, as a consultant to the Trump Organization, even though he was employed as an employee of the Trump Organization.

And then there's this. Trump bragging that he, quote, "will pay more in taxes in one year than you pay in your entire life." Again, while paying no taxes for 10 of 15 years.

And he is flexing here. He's posing next to a tall stack of papers with the caption, "Signing a recent tax return. Isn't this ridiculous?"

President Trump is denying "The New York Times" report, calling it fake news.

Joining me now, journalist and CNN political analyst, Carl Bernstein, with us.

Carl, give us your reaction to what's really a bombshell report here.

CARL BERNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: This is really the smoking gun of a pervasively criminal presidency. We have a president of the United States who is a grifter. His family are grifters. And this is the evidence of it.

But more grievous and grotesque and dangerous are the national security implications of "The New York Times" report.

I think you have to go back to a statement by Eric Trump, a while back who said, well -- the son of the president -- well, we don't rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia.

This once again points to the president's foreign entanglements for his own political purposes and his own financial good.

This is an unraveling that we now need to do in the press and the Congress of the United States to find out just how great a national security threat to this country our president is, particularly in his dealings with Putin, with Erdogan of Turkey.

What this report in "The Times" shows is the pervasive ability of these countries to hold the president up. And as a former national security director -- pardon me, director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, said recently he believes that Putin has something on Trump.

And we need to follow the leads now to see where it really takes us. Follow the money, follow the lies.

[13:35:02]

KEILAR: He owes a lot of money and it's very unclear to whom he owes that money.

This report just very much shatters something that had been tarnished already, which was Trump's image as a successful billionaire tycoon.

You did use the word criminal. So when you look at this, is this -- I know you believe that this is very much a con that we see play out on in this report. But you also think it's a crime? Explain that. BERNSTEIN: There's certainly implications of tax fraud to begin with

that needs to be looked at and will be. But again, the question of: What other obligations does he have?

For instance, he has put up people in his hotels from these foreign countries. The sources of his income unare unknown but they have to do with favors he has possibly granted to foreign entities. That's suggested time and again in "The New York Times" report.

This president needs to be thoroughly investigated in terms of how the United States has or may have been compromised by his actions, his selfishness, his putting his own interests, financial, in front of the interests of the United States.

What this report proves, beyond a doubt, is what we have been reporting a long time, and that is he did not expect to win the 2016 election. That he wanted to improve his financial condition. He was underwater. That is what we see here.

It has been house of cards, the Trump Organization. And he is hundreds of millions of dollars in debt that he now must find a way to come up with this money.

How can we have a president of the United States with these kinds of obligations?

It is time for Republicans, especially in Congress, to say, wait a minute, we need to look at this. We can't blindly endorse this man with what we know about his tax situation, about how he may have compromised our national security.

This is a grievous, grievous, dangerous moment because of what is revealed in "The New York Times" reporting.

KEILAR: He claims that it's fake news. He is also, though, accusing "The New York Times" of illegally obtaining the information and having only bad intent.

If something is fake news, there wouldn't be something to be illegally obtained. And we should mention that this wasn't illegally obtained. "The New York Times" is clear about that.

What is your reaction to him covering all of his bases here?

BERNSTEIN: He has always tried to make the conduct of the press the issue instead of his own conduct. And here he is doing it once again.

But the fact remains, "The New York Times" has done a remarkable public service by simply putting these returns and what they say out there.

How they came by them is not the issue here. They say in their story that it came from people with legal access to them. That's not the issue.

The issue is Donald Trump and whether or not he has compromised the American people once again for his own financial gain and for his grifter family.

This is something unprecedented in our history. A president of the United States with these conflicts of interest, who's not paid his taxes, has not revealed his taxes.

And yet, we see now that these taxes are the key to understanding his whole presidency. That's what this is. We now have a template to put over all of his actions at president of the United States. And that is what is in these tax returns.

And we need to know: What did the actions as president look like? What are the phone calls?

I did a report about eight weeks ago about the president's phone calls with Putin, with Erdogan, with other authoritarian leaders, all of them in places where he has financial interests.

So now we've got a lot to go on. And it's time that the Congress of the United States, even at this late moment, not just the voters, take a look at the national security implications of this.

And even if he leaves office, we still have the problem of a president of the United States with all of that national security information who is compromised.

That's the problem. He is compromised to foreign entities, which these reports and these tax returns certainly indicate. Let him show us how he's not compromised if that's the case.

KEILAR: Carl, always great to see you. Thank you.

BERNSTEIN: Thank you.

KEILAR: A man is sentenced to a year behind bars for hosting parties during the coronavirus.

Plus, Georgia under fire for keeping school COVID information secret. Hear why.

[13:40:05]

And a tragic story out of South Carolina. The mother of a teacher who died from the coronavirus also dies from COVID. A friend of theirs will join me next.

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[13:45:05]

KEILAR: Over the last seven days, South Carolina has reported close to 4,000 new coronavirus cases and 135 deaths.

Among them, 57-year-old Shirley Bannister, the chair of the nursing department at Midland Technical College in Columbia. She was an active member of her church and she was a mother.

Shirley lost her 28-year-old daughter, Demetria, who was a third-grade teacher, to coronavirus just a few weeks ago.

They were incredibly close, according to family members, and the influence they both had on their community was profound.

The president of the college where Shirley worked described her this way, quote, "She was like an angel on earth. Her life mission was caring for others. While her death is devastating, her impact is everlasting."

Ron Rhames wrote that message and he is joining me now.

Ron, I'm so sorry for the loss of your friend and colleague. And I know this is especially devastating considering she had just lost her daughter. This is very tragic for this family.

Can you share with us a little bit about Shirley Bannister and the impact that she had on you and those around you?

DR. RON RHAMES, PRESIDENT, MIDLAND TECHNICAL COLLEGE & FRIEND OF SHIRLEY BANNISTER: Yes. Certainly. She was an outstanding leader for our college. But more important, she understood what it meant to be student centered.

When you think about student centered, as a college president, I think about Shirley. She understood the importance of students succeeding.

She would spend tremendous amount of time and effort making sure that her students were successful in what they were doing.

There was an incident with Shirley literally paid out of her own pocketbook fees for a student to make sure that they were able to succeed here at our college.

So there's no doubt about it. Her impact on our students and our college and our community will be everlasting.

KEILAR: Can you tell us how the family is doing? As we understand it, her husband, Dennis -- she is survived by her husband, Dennis, but Demetria was an only child.

RHAMES: Yes. I have not talked to her husband at this time. I was giving them, the family, time to spend some time alone to reflect and those kinds of things.

But I believe it's a strong family. While these are very difficult times, I believe they will overcome. We'll offer all the support we can from the MTC family.

KEILAR: Shirley discovered that she had COVID-19 on the same day that her daughter, Demi, died of it.

And there was an interview that we have seen where her sister-in-law said that Shirley had difficulty getting tested. That she went to the E.R. three times but, I guess, was told she didn't really meet the threshold for being tested.

Have you heard stories like that in Columbia, South Carolina?

RHAMES: Well, I think, early on in the testing process, the COVID-19, there were some challenges getting testing. I'm not sure specifically about Shirley's experience with getting tested.

But certainly in the beginning, throughout the country, there were really challenges with testing for the COVID-19.

KEILAR: Yes. No, it certainly had its challenges.

Ron, thank you so much. I think it's so important that we focus on people who we have lost through this. And we appreciate you sharing with us a little bit about Shirley Bannister.

RHAMES: Well, thank you for this incredible opportunity to share just a little bit about a great person that I think had one of the finest souls that you can ever meet. And so thank you for this opportunity.

KEILAR: All right. Ron, thank you.

Soon we'll be hearing from President Trump in the Rose Garden for an update on the coronavirus response. But Will he take questions about a revealing report on his taxes? We're going to bring it to you live.

[13:49:00]

Plus, what we are learning of a suicide attempt by former Trump campaign manager, Brad Parscale, including what was found inside his home.

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KEILAR: President Trump's former campaign manager, Brad Parscale, is in the hospital after a reported suicide attempt inside his south Florida home. Parscale was once a rising star in the campaign, who has a history with the Trump family. But he was reportedly armed and threatening to harm himself.

A police report says Parscale's wife told investigators he had been ranting and raving about something while holding a gun and she thought he had shot himself.

The report also said Parscale's wife said he had been making suicidal comments throughout the week.

Here's CNN's Randi Kaye.

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RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brianna. Brad Parscale is getting treatment at the Broward Health Medical Center here in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, after police responded to his home yesterday. They were responding to reports of a suicide attempt.

It all started around 4:00 yesterday afternoon. His wife had apparently called police saying that he had barricaded himself inside the home with numerous weapons.

She was very concerned that he was going to harm himself so police did show up. They negotiated with him. They must have said all the right things because he did surrender without incident just shortly after the SWAT team had arrived, actually.

They were negotiating with him on his exit and, apparently, they developed a rapport with him to get him out of the home. So he is being treated here.

We can tell you that Tim Murtaugh, the communications manager for the campaign, gave CNN statement saying, "Brad Parscale is a member of our family. We all love him. We are ready to support him and his family in any way possible."

[13:55:03]

So certainly a lot for this family to be dealing with. Once again, it's unclear what brought this on but certainly our thoughts are with them.

Brianna, back to you.

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KEILAR: Randi, thank you so much.

We are right now digging through the numbers, after a report reveals how much President Trump is not paying in taxes. Could there be legal ramifications?

Plus, the head of the CDC is overheard complaining that Trump's top COVID advisor is giving false information.

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