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Erin Burnett Outfront
Trump Holds Fundraiser, Clinton Crushing Him in Cash; Trump Questions Clinton's Religion; Pressure on Trump's New Campaign Chief to Squash GOP Revolt; Trump: Clinton "Would Do So Baldy with the Economy"; New Details About the Man who Plotted to Kill Trump; Sources: Orlando Gunman Bought Plane Tickets Day Before Massacre. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired June 21, 2016 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:10] ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next, breaking news, Hillary Clinton crushing Donald Trump in the race for cash. Trump at this hour asking for more money.
Plus, the delegate revolt against Trump gaining speed, another top Republican tonight backing the idea, could there be a convention coup?
And new details tonight on the Orlando shooter, he was inside the nightclub hours before the massacre. Let's go OUTFRONT.
Good evening. I'm Erin Burnett OUTFRONT tonight. We begin with breaking news. The money war. Donald Trump at this moment hosting a major fundraiser at this moment in New York City. Trump trying to make up a huge deficit in his battle for Hillary Clinton for big money. The fundraising gap between the two candidates unprecedented in modern politics. Trump starting this month with $1.3 million.
Clinton $42 million and just moments ago, Trump doing more to sure up his campaign saying, he's expanding his campaign staff. All this while today sending out his first fundraising e-mail promising to raise money. Trump saying, he'll match every contribution dollar for dollar up to $2 million. He did put a ceiling on it. The desperate race for cash coming us new poll number show Clinton leading Trump 47 to 42 percent.
Trump's recent controversies appeared to have him hurt. Eight in ten now say Trump's comments about the American judge's Mexican heritage were inappropriate. This coming just the day after Trump fires his campaign manager. And he tries to tell donors he is writing the ship.
In just a few moments, I'm going to speak with the man who is trying to close Trump's fundraising gap but first, Sara Murray is OUTFRONT. And Sara, stunning fundraising numbers from the Trump camp tonight.
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Erin. And as you said, Donald Trump is making another push tonight to try to back him up some cash and he is certainly playing catch-up when it comes to trying to catch up to Hillary Clinton. It's a stunning fundraising gap as raising alarm among any Republicans. But Trump is shrugging it all aside today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Look at that. Wow.
MURRAY (voice-over): Today, Donald Trump is brushing aside his latest round of setbacks, from a big fundraising numbers.
TRUMP: You know, in New Hampshire and other states I spent a tiny fraction of what other people spent. And I wound in a landslide.
MURRAY: To dismissing his campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski a day earlier.
TRUMP: We're going in a different direction because this is now different. The primaries, I ran them very lean. And I spent very little money. I won in landslides because vote in history and won in landslides and Corey was absolutely perfect for that.
MURRAY: As Trump tries to regroup, he's down playing his sharp disadvantage in the money race.
TRUMP: Let me just tell you this, I understand money better than anybody.
MURRAY: The billionaire businessman ended last month with a paltry $1.3 million in the bank compared to Hillary Clinton's $42 million war chest. Today he blasted out a fundraising e-mail promising to match small donors, dollar for dollar up to $2 million but Trump insist, if things grow desperate, he can bankroll his campaign as he did in the primary.
TRUMP: I can go a different route. I can just spend my own money, I have a lot of cash and I can do like I did with the others. Many people think I do better that way by being a little bit of the insurgent, the outsider.
MURRAY: All of this as the presumptive GOP nominee still faces skepticism from his own party. And makes the dubious suggestion that some Democrats have been better boosters than those in the GOP.
TRUMP: I'll also tell you this. I need support from the Republicans. I mean, in some ways, I get more support from the Democrats than I do the Republicans.
MURRAY: Not exactly. A new CNN/ORC poll shows Clinton leading Trump 47 percent to 42 percent nationwide. And she trust support from 90 percent of Democrats. But Trump's odds look better in key battle grounds while he trails Clinton by eight points in Florida. The candidates are neck and neck in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MURRAY: Now Trump has said he's moving into a new phase of his campaign and tonight, we're getting some new signs of that. The campaign announced that they had brought on a round of new hires, they included digital director, a human resources director, someone to sort of wrangle their surrogates and they said, more hires on the way, are on the way as well on the communication side. So, it does look tonight, Erin, like moving Corey Lewandowski aside, it did seem to open the floodgates and allow some of these new hires to --
BURNETT: All right. Sara, thank you very much.
And now, Donald Trump at this moment, he was in a meeting with evangelical leaders before this fundraiser raising questions about Hillary Clinton's religion.
Jim Acosta is OUTFRONT live outside Trump Tower in New York. And Jim, I had to read this several times. I had to go back and say, did this really how it played out but it is. What did he say?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that is right. That is what he said. Donald Trump was meeting with top evangelical leaders from around the country. They gathered here in New York City to meet with the presumptive GOP nominee and during that meeting, Donald Trump questioned the fate of Hillary Clinton and here is more of what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[19:05:10] TRUMP: She's been in the public eye for years and years and yet, there is no -- there's nothing out there. There's like nothing out there. It's going to be an extension of Obama but it's going to be worse because with Obama you had your guard up. With Hillary, you don't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Now this is all part of Donald Trump trying to pivot away with some of the troubles we've seen with his campaign in recent days. Fundraising numbers, as poll numbers that Sara Murray just mentioned and we can point out in just the last 15 minutes or so, Erin, Donald Trump's campaign launched a new website lyingcrookedhillary.com. It is a website that is not ready to go, you can click on it.
There is nothing there at this point but they say, it will be ready to go in a couple of days and it is going to continue these attacks on Hillary Clinton, something he'll be doing tomorrow with a speech in New York City and we should mention, you're seeing some protest signs behind me, some commotion behind me. Just a few moments ago, a very large protest just wrapped up being sponsored by the LGBT community here in New York City. They were protesting against Donald Trump accusing him of cozying up to Christian conservatives that he was meeting with earlier today -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Jim, thank you.
And OUTFRONT now, a close friend and business associate of Donald Trump's Tom Barrack, the real estate billionaire has known Trump for more than 30 years. And Tom, thank you for being with me. The trump campaign is referring to your fundraiser, the one that you hosted as its biggest success, you raised more than $6 million, one dinner about a month ago. Are you going to be able to keep doing that because they are still pointing as you at that one dinner as the big success?
TOM BARRACK, CLOSE FRIEND AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATE OF DONALD TRUMP: Republican National Committee is raising money. They are in great position. They will come to help him, but it might be a little bit like Sears and Amazon.com. Right? Sears is in place. It's got great locations everywhere. People don't utilize it too much anymore, but when you marry it with something like Amazon.com for logistics, it works pretty well. We'll have to see what happens.
BURNETT: So, you're making an argument that the numbers as skewed as they are aren't everything but obviously Trump can't do it with zero. I mean, when we look at the numbers Tom, you know them. Hillary Clinton $42 million right now for her campaign. Donald Trump $1.3 million. So, you know, you can argue that Donald Trump is a future and that there -- a lot of that money is wasted but you can't get with that small amount of money. I mean, how are you going to close that gap?
BARRACK: You have to remember, Hillary has done a great job, she's got a political machine, she has ground fruit and she'd been raising money really for 12 years. For Donald this is new. For the team it's new. So, I don't know that this is a proper place to assess it, nor do I think you can assess it when you don't know the utilization of the money is. In other words, the utilization of hundreds of millions of dollars of DNC money or Hillary money or Super Pac money is going mostly to the establishment of political operatives who are using that money.
BURNETT: So you're saying, she's got 700 employees, a lot of that is wasted, she doesn't need it. And you're basically saying, she's got a lot of money but she is not using it well.
BARRACK: Well, she may be using it well but what I'm saying is, something different may be afoot. I'm not sure that you need it.
BURNETT: The thing is though, you do need donors, and the last time we spoke, you broke the news about Trump's new Super Pac, we're building America now, and you had said it raised $32 million in just a few hours from just a few people. That money though was raised before Donald Trump's comments about the judge in the Trump University case when Trump said the judge was bias because of his Mexican heritage. And Tom, 80 percent of voters say what Trump said was inappropriate. How much does that hurt you? Your efforts with big donors.
BARRACK: I don't think that those comments hurt fundraising. It raises in some instances a cloud on traditional donors but in other instances, you know, if you took Donald's comments which people feel were inappropriate and say this is just an individual venting about a disadvantaged position in a lawsuit, right, not the candidate for president of the United States but how people feel there in litigation, you can interpret it differently.
But traditional donors are not donating for the good of the country, for the most part. They are donating for the good of the donor. The raising money is an antique. Super Pacs are an antique. 501-c4s is already been more antique and the donor process of how politics works is also in jeopardy. The parties are in jeopardy. The Republican party has great leadership, they're doing a great job but if Donald hadn't come to the scene, the relevance of them in this instance may be jeopardized.
BURNETT: The thing as though when it comes to things that Donald Trump has said, you know, he's not an individual venting. Right? He is the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party, for President of the United States and some major donors have said that they just want to see him start acting that way. One of the leading GOP fundraisers Fred Malek said, and I'll quote him, Tom, "He needs to curve its instincts to some extent and be more disciplined in speaking and his positions. If Corey is replaced with someone Trump will accept guidance from, it will help. But the real change needs to come from the candidate himself."
And today, the Wall Street Journal op-ed, Tom, reads, "The hard reality is the problems with the Trump campaign aren't Mr. Lewandowski's fault. They are Donald J. Trump's." You have known him for more than 30 years. Is he going to accept guidance? Is he going to listen to other people?
[19:10:40] BARRACK: I think he knows what he's doing. We're testing a system just like every disruptive technology that's in the market today, which is almost anti-political and anti-rules, but that's going to be the choice. So, Corey who was brilliant, look, I think really what happened is Donald protected Corey because Corey was a dedicated and very good ally in the first part of the campaign and when he brought Paul Manafort and he brought Paul on, because they knew they were going to have a convention and they need a veteran hand to be there.
And at that point in time, Corey was evolving and transitioning but when he got into this battery and assault situation out of loyalty, neither of them wanted to appear that that was the reason that Corey would going to evolve into the next place. So it happens when it's supposed to happen.
BURNETT: How do you get him though to up to the dialogue? I mean, you say this but then today he was tweeting about crooked Hillary. That's not upping the dialogue.
BARRACK: Well, you can't change Donald. Donald is going to do what Donald does the best. To me, maybe what he was doing is the right thing.
BURNETT: There are so many questions about whether Donald Trump himself will self-fund more, right? He bragged about that so much during the primary. Now of course he is raising money. One donor told me Trump has to put $200 million for big donors to say, okay, you're putting enough of your own skin in the game for me to one to get in here as well. You know him Tom, you know, more about what he's worth than most people and, you know about his character. Is he going to put a lot more of his own skin into this game?
BARRACK: I think the answer is yes. I think he'll do what he needs to do. BURNETT: All right. Tom Barrack, thank you very much.
BARRACK: Thank you, Erin. Great being with you. Thanks.
BURNETT: And OUTFRONT next, the GOP delegate revolt against Donald Trump gaining steam. Another prominent Republican supporting the movement tonight. Could it actually happen or is it a pipe dream for those folks?
Plus, new details about the man who plotted to kill Donald Trump. Is the violence at Trump rallies getting worse?
And Hillary Clinton mocking Trump on his signature issue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: He's written a lot of books about business. They all seem to end at Chapter 11.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[19:16:28] BURNETT: Some signs of support for delegate revolt against Donald Trump for the Republican convention. Moments away, the Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker agreeing with the House Speaker Paul Ryan saying Republican delegates should vote how they want instead of honoring the election results in their states. It's a huge move.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think his comments are legitimate. I think historically, not just this year delegates are and should be able to vote the way they see fit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: That is another challenge facing the new campaign manager for Donald Trump Paul Manafort.
Sunlen Serfaty is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Paul Manafort taking the reins of the Trump campaign, it comes just three months after Manafort was brought in by Donald Trump to run his campaign's delegate operation when the billionaire was facing then the prospect of a contested convention.
TRUMP: Because it's a rigged system, folks. The Republican system is a rigged system.
SERFATY: Manafort helped manage the 1976 convention for a fight for Gerald Ford.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are all a part of this great Republican family.
SERFATY: And he also served as an adviser for Bob Dole's 1996 presidential bid.
PAUL MANAFORT, POLITICAL CONSULTANT: What you saw today was the Republican Party coming together.
SERFATY: But other parts of his professional past have endured more scrutiny. His lobbying connections to a litany of foreign government and leaders such as Russia's Vladimir Putin and an ousted Ukrainian president.
TRUMP: I really want to thank my team. My team has been amazing.
SERFATY: From the start, Manafort's role with the Trump campaign set off friction with the then top dog campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you the boss' boss now?
MANAFORT: I work for the boss.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, that's it. You have one guy you listen to and that's Trump?
MANAFORT: Well, I listen to everybody but one man's voice is louder than everybody else.
SERFATY: Manafort expanded his re-tweet in the campaign, handling outreach to Congressional Republicans with weekly briefings.
MANAFORT: We will continue to unify the party and grow the campaign and build it out.
SERFATY: Manafort advising Trump to be more scripted with Trump now occasionally using a teleprompter.
TRUMP: Thank you very much.
SERFATY: Encouraging Trump to tone down his inflammatory rhetoric. A stark departure from Lewandowski's directive to let Trump be Trump.
TRUMP: At some point, I'm going to be so presidential that you people will be so board.
SERFATY: And even reassuring nervous Republicans at private meetings that Trump is only putting on an act.
MANAFORT: When he is out on stage, when he is talking about the kinds of things he talks about on the stump, he's projecting an image, that's for that purpose.
SERFATY: Manafort is also trying to diffused uproars Trump has created.
TRUMP: Now, this judge is of Mexican heritage. I'm building a wall. Okay? I'm building a wall.
SERFATY: After those controversial remarks about a judge overseeing a case against Trump University, it was Manafort who stepped in convincing Trump this lengthy statement was needed calling his comments misconstrued. But Manafort is now in position to have a bigger imprint on the campaign.
TRUMP: Corey has done a great job and Paul has done a great job.
SERFATY: After his win this week and his power struggle with the now ousted Lewandowski.
TRUMP: In a very, very different personality.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SERFATY: And with Corey Lewandowski now out, the Trump campaign may say that Paul Manafort is keeping his title as chairman and chief strategist of the campaign. No word if he'll get that former campaign manager title added but sources tells CNN that Manafort is the de facto campaign manager already assuming that role, Erin, fully in charge of the campaign under Trump.
BURNETT: All right. Sunlen, thank you.
And OUTFRONT now, former Reagan White House political director Jeffrey Lord, Donald Trump supporter and Christopher Ekstrom, who is the chairman of the courageous conservative Pac which is leading the effort to stop Donald Trump, the so-called revolt. So, let me start with you Christopher. Last few weeks not good for Donald Trump.
All right? He knows that. Everybody knows that. But he is now made a course correction. He is replacing Corey Lewandowski, he has put Paul Manafort clearly, visibly in charge. Is this something that could get you on board?
CHRISTOPHER EKSTROM, SUPPORTING DELEGATE REVOLT AGAINST TRUMP: Well, I don't think this is so much of course correction as possibly averting disaster. I mean, Mr. Manafort doesn't come before conservatives with one of the stellar records. He basically made sure that Reagan didn't win in 1976 in Kansas City and then he -- that essentially gave us Jimmy Carter. So that --
BURNETT: He did work for Reagan though in 1980 in both convention teams at that time.
EKSTROM: Well, I'm sure he was happy to work with Ronald Reagan at that point. I think Mr. Manafort has worked for a lot of people and I don't think that he particularly chooses his clients on the basic of his personal principles.
[19:21:10] BURNETT: All right. So, he doesn't do anything to get you on board. I mean, Jeff, what can Donald Trump do to squash this possible revolt because people like Christopher, people like Steve Lonegan, these guys are getting people on board.
JEFFREY LORD, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: Well, first of all, I would respectfully disagree. You know, back 1964 when Nelson Rockefeller flamed out as the Barry Goldwater's appointment, the Republican establishment pushed in Pennsylvania Governor Bill Scranton. He was the horse they used to get to the convention. He got clobbered. These folks, good folks that they are have no horse here. Governor Walker has come out and said effectively, sounds to me, he wants to abolish the Wisconsin primary. I mean, if that's so, then do it in 2020, but the fact of the matter is, is that about 14 million Americans, Republicans and I might add a lot of them are conservatives.
When you look at those exit polls, a lot of them describe themselves as very conservative. They voted quite deliberately for Donald Trump. I don't think this move is going anywhere but if it did for some strange reason, I think what you would have is conservatives in the base who voted for Donald turning on the Republican Party and not only voting for whoever they nominated that was not Donald Trump but taking it out on those senators and congressmen and people like Paul Ryan, et cetera.
BURNETT: So Chris, Paul Manafort says, he's not scared of you. In fact, he says that when you say you've got, you know, thousands of people who are interested, that that's completely overblown, let him say it in his own words.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANAFORT: The delegates to the convention that we're dealing with on a regular basis are looking for exciting time. There aren't going to be any serious issues in Cleveland. People are banding together. What's getting all the attention of five or six people?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Five or six people, Chris?
EKSTROM: No, I think Mr. Manafort did get something right. He is going to have a very exciting time in Cleveland. It may be a little more exciting than he intended. Jeff Lord is a good Republican, he's a good conservative, he -- I'm also a Jack Kemp fan and the only other candidate I ever supported besides Ted Cruz was Jack Kemp. But this is a very wide net, we don't have a horse in this race at this point. I'm not a stocking horse for Ted Cruz or for any other candidate.
You heard Governor Walker today. You've seen Governor Haslam from Tennessee, which is a very important middle of the road state. We have a lot of people that supported Kasich contacting us. There's a lot of people who are very disgruntled and unhappy with the way that Mr. Trump has chosen to present himself. These are things that Mr. Trump did by his own version. This is not Corey Lewandowski who made these decisions. So, he has not unified the party. Now he's got Paul Manafort in a nearly impossible position to pull this together before we go to convention --
LORD: Yes. The problem is --
EKSTROM: We are asking -- well -- hold on a second, Jeff. We are asking --
LORD: Chris.
EKSTROM: Our Republican delegates who are very savvy people to go out and to open up this convention and give them an opportunity to vote their conscience.
LORD: Chris, Chris, the horse left the barn on this. You had the opportunity. I myself suggested Ted Cruz for vice president. He chose to go in another direction here. You've got all these people, conservatives, many of them, many of them who quite deliberately voted for Donald Trump. They deserve to be respected. If you want to change the system, that's fine. Change it for 2020, abolish primaries if you think you want to do that. Try and do that. If that's what Governor Walker wants to do but at this stage when you've got all these millions of people who are on board, this is a total disservice to these folks who went out and voted for Donald Trump quite deliberately and for reason.
BURNETT: I mean, Chris, that is the point Donald Trump --
EKSTROM: Mr. Lord.
BURNETT: -- has what? Forty million votes, more than anybody else.
EKSTROM: He got plenty of votes and many others did, too, and the other ones are very disgruntled with him. I mean, the question of whether --
LORD: Well, they lost.
EKSTROM: I don't know where that comes in. How do you know what Ted Cruz thinks about anything? I don't know what Ted Cruz thinks. We haven't been in touch with him. Ted Cruz has not endorsed Mr. Trump among many others. I don't think any of those evangelical faith leaders endorsed Mr. Trump after that meeting today. I guess I'm incorrect.
LORD: It sounds to me like they were happy with what they heard.
EKSTROM: Did he endorse him?
BURNETT: He already has.
LORD: No, no, there weren't endorsements but they said they got this on the right track and they were very pleased with the meeting.
EKSTROM: Well, I mean, that's a nice talk, political talk. The --
LORD: No, I don't think so.
EKSTROM: The rubber hits the road is when somebody says, I am for Donald Trump and I support him. Now I was never --
LORD: A lot --
EKSTROM: That is not where -- that's not where I came from. I thought it was very foolish early on when some people decided to go off on a negative campaign about Donald Trump in particular and they did not have a candidate that they supported. I wish I had a candidate that I supporter. At this point, I don't have a candidate I support. I support an open convention and a fair process. If Trump is so great, if he has won the hearts of all of these Republicans, he should win easily at the convention and then he will have the ability to unify the party.
LORD: You know, Chris, with all due respect.
BURNETT: Final word, Jeff.
LORD: With all due respect, I have to say, Ronald Reagan whom I worked for didn't manage to win the hearts of all Republicans. John Anderson left the party and ran against him in 1980. So, this is not something that happens. Even Abe Lincoln didn't manage that trick.
BURNETT: That is a fair point. Abe Lincoln won in the third ballot, right? All right. Thank you both very much. I appreciate it.
And next, a top economist says Trump's policies would be disastrous for the economy. He's OUTFRONT tonight.
And breaking news in the Orlando terror attack. We now know the gunman was casing the nightclub hours before the shooting and then he came back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:30:38] BURNETT: Breaking news: Donald Trump firing back at Hillary Clinton tonight after Clinton delivered a scathing take down of Trump's economic policies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I built a great, great company. It's worth tens -- I mean, it's a very, very valuable company. Some of the greatest assets in the world including with what we're sitting on right here. She has a bad temperament. She would do badly with the economy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Earlier, Clinton tore into Trump, warning of dire consequences if his economic plans become reality. Her proof this: a new report from Moody's analytics which predicts a recession under President Trump with 3.5 million people losing their jobs, a recession longer than the one in the great crash a few years ago.
I'll speak with the author of the report in just a moment but first, Jeff Zeleny with the details of Clinton's take down.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We can't let him bankrupt America like we are one of his failed casinos. JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hillary Clinton delivering a blistering take down of Donald Trump's business record.
CLINTON: Just like he shouldn't have his finger on the button, he shouldn't have his hands on our economy.
ZELENY: It's her latest effort to brand Trump as a dangerous menace, this time on the economy.
CROWD: Hillary! Hillary!
ZELENY: She spoke from the floor of an auto plant in Ohio, a critical battleground where she hopes to limit Trump's appeal to working class voters.
CLINTON: Every day, we see how reckless and careless Trump is. He is proud of it. Well, that's his choice, except when he is asking to be our president, then it's our choice.
ZELENY: Trump offering his real time response on Twitter, refuting one point after another. "How can Hillary run the economy when she can't send e-mails without putting the entire nation at risk?" he wrote.
CLINTON: Absolutely.
ZELENY: As she tries defining him, the Clinton machine is overwhelming him, at least in traditional metrics.
First in fundraising, a staggering $42 million to $1.3 million in the bank and in organization, as he invites today's three-point attack, her speech.
CLINTON: He has written a lot of books about business. They all seem to end at Chapter 11.
ZELENY: Paired with a web video.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: Have you heard of Trump Steaks? Have you heard of Trump Vodka? All of these companies that he's ruined.
MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Whatever happened to Trump Airlines?
ZELENY: In a website called "The Art of the Steal."
CLINTON: The United States of America doesn't do business Trump's way.
ZELENY: She is hoping this coordinated campaign will turn around numbers like this -- Trump leads by eight points on the economy, a new CNN/ORC poll finds.
CNN has learned Clinton is narrowing her choices for her running mate, privately studying the records of a handful of prospects, including Elizabeth Warren, Tim Kaine, and Julian Castro. Her list is not limited to these three in a search that's highly secretive and intensifying.
But, publicly, it's all Trump, seemingly taking delight in mocking him.
CLINTON: Trump ties are made in China. Trump suits in Mexico. Trump furniture in Turkey. Trump picture frames in India. Trump bar wear in Slovenia. And I could go on and on, but you get the idea.
And I'd love for him to explain with all his talk about America first.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZELENY: Now, Erin, this speech was a point by point take down of Trump's economic policy but several politics in here as well, particularly how American workers were not involved in Trump's fortune. That resonates here in Ohio and these key 18 electoral votes will be critical between the general election matchup.
But, Erin, so struck by Hillary Clinton repeatedly going after Trump in a personal way, how he made his fortune here, belittling him all the way along. Now, this is part two of the lecture series. More installments to come -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Jeff Zeleny.
Mark Zandi is the chief economist of Moody's Analytics. He was the lead author of the report on Trump Clinton is citing and now using to back up her point of view. Mark, of course, also donated $2,700 to Hillary Clinton's campaign, the max you're allowed to do and served as an advisor to John McCain. So, obviously, he's been on the Republican side as well.
So, Mark, look, you analyzed Trump's plan and you say the consequences are very significant. You talked about a long recession.
[19:35:01] You talked about 3.5 million jobs lost.
MARK ZANDI, CHIEF ECONOMIST, MOODY'S ANALYTICS: Yes, that's right. So, if Mr. Trump gets economic policies that he's proposed and we can talk about those are and what they look like, the economy would suffer a significant recession that lasts through 2018 to '19 and the economy would be diminished. Jobs, GDP would be lower when he finishes the term. Unemployment would be higher. So, yes, that would be the case.
BURNETT: And, obviously, one of the issues here is he hasn't been that specific on a lot of his policies, right? He said, I don't want to mess with Social Security and Medicare, that might be one of the more specific things he said. But basically wants to redo trade agreements.
So, how were you able to get specifics to say that the plan doesn't work?
ZANDI: No, he's been quite specific. Yes, he's been quite specific on several policies. Tax policy, you can go to his website and take a look. It's pretty explicit. He's been fairly explicit about government spending and what he would do there, you know, piece by piece.
You mentioned the entitlement programs, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
BURNETT: Right.
ZANDI: But he's talked about veteran benefits and Medicare. He's talked about trade in quite extensive and quite detail. You know, 45 percent higher tariffs on Chinese imports, 35 percent on some Mexican imports and he's been very, very explicit about requiring undocumented immigrants from -- to leave the country.
BURNETT: Now, on the issue of trade --
ZANDI: So, there is policies we evaluate.
BURNETT: Right. You gave him a face value.
On the issue of trade specifically, let me ask you because he's been clear. He throws 45 percent out but that would be he would throw that out and make it so high that China would come to the negotiating table so we could get a better trade deal and he wouldn't have to put those numbers on.
ZANDI: Yes, I hope so. I mean, that's one scenario for sure. I think another reasonable scenario is that China would respond in kind, raised tariffs on the exports of U.S. products to China. So, it would be a trade war.
So, you know, it's possible and we should consider the scenarios. They're all very important but we thought that the most likely scenario, in if fact, we do slap 45 percent higher tariffs on Chinese goods, that they would respond in kind.
BURNETT: So, Donald Trump is upset about your report. He put out a press release to refute your charges and in it the headline was, "Mark Zandi is an Obama advisor and Clinton donor". It acknowledges you were an adviser to John McCain, but goes on to detail all the donations you've ever given to Democrats.
He raises one point, should voters trust that there's no political motivation behind your analysis?
ZANDI: Yes, look, I do this for a living. I evaluated all kinds of economic policies. I have done this for lots of presidential candidates. I have a team behind me with the same model and, by the way, on that team are Republicans and Democrats, some of whom contributed to Republican campaigns. So, we got a diversity of views here at my firm and we use the same model.
And I'm an open book, you know, take a look. You can look at the study and you can evaluate it and judge it and, you know, make your own judgment, and I'm very willing to engage on substantive criticism. I think the ad hominem attacks would be -- it's just counterproductive.
I think the substance of what we said is clear and willing to engage on the debate.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Mark, thank you and I want everyone to know here is a report you can read online, 15 pages. You can read it. It's very clear. Make your own judgments on it but analysis of Trump's policies and a couple of other scenarios. And he's going to be evaluating Hillary Clinton's plan next.
OUTFRONT after this, new details about one man's plot to kill Donald Trump. Are violent incidents at Trump rallies growing?
Plus, the Orlando shooting, how he case the area hours before the deadly massacre. I'm going to talk to the man who called the FBI to warn them about Omar Mateen.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:42:50] BURNETT: Tonight, we're learning new details about the man who plotted to try to kill Donald Trump, the person who spoke to him moments before he tried to steal an officer's gun is speaking out today, which comes amid growing concerns about security for Trump.
Kyung Lah is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: Thank you, thank you, officers.
KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Michael Sanford being led out of this Trump rally moments after trying to grab a Las Vegas police officer's gun. A federal complaint charging Sanford, a British citizen in the U.S. illegally with an act of violence.
Sanford telling Secret Service he had driven four hours from southern California to the Vegas rally to "kill Trump".
The day before the rally, Sanford went to Battlefield Vegas gun range. According to the complaint, he fired 20 rounds from a .9 millimeter Glock pistol to learn how to use it.
Gregg Donovan clearly a Trump supporter was one of the first in line for Saturday's rally, standing in light for nine hours right behind Michael Sanford.
GREGG DONOVAN, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: I was suspicious but not to the point I would tell authorities.
LAH (on camera): He didn't seem violent?
DONOVAN: No.
LAH (voice-over): But he was withdrawn, says Donovan.
That's also how people from Sanford's hometown recall him. Neighbors near his family's home outside of London say growing up, he was a sweet child, but as a young adult, troubled.
KATRINA GREGG, SANFORD'S FORMER NEIGHBOR: He was always quite scruffy looking fellow and seemed to be quite solitary most of the time.
LAH: What the complaint doesn't says is why Sanford was motivated to try to kill Trump at a rally, rallies that have frequently seen outbursts, arrests and even a fair share of violence, but always in the crowd.
From San Jose, California to Chicago.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a fight going on down here.
LAH: In North Carolina, this man sucker punched by a Trump supporter. And increasingly, Trump supporters attacked for just trying to hear their candidate speak.
LUCAS ROWE, FORMER U.S. SECRET SERVICE SPECIAL AGENT: It's just a different sort of feeling to the campaign this season, a little more provocative and more controversial.
LAH: Lucas Rowe is a formal special agent for the U.S. Secret Service and served on multiple security details for then-candidate Barack Obama and candidate Hillary Clinton.
[19:45:04] Rowe says this political season's tone is clearly more heated but says the level of threats toward Trump has not been unusual.
ROWE: My understanding is that Obama was subject to more threats than Trump is even now. For the Secret Service, our duty is to our protectee. So, something goes wrong in the crowd, we got to the protect you. That's the first and foremost. We don't necessarily worry about those people out there.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAH: The challenge and the concern would be trying to figure out if the tide is turning away from the crowd towards the candidate, but the special agent we spoke who left the U.S. Secret Services as recently as six months ago says his understanding remains that the over-riding security concern, Erin, remains within the crowd but now as we head into the general as this recent incident has happened, certainly something U.S. Secret Service is going to have to respond to.
BURNETT: All right. Kyung Lah, thank you from L.A.
And next, details about the night of the Orlando shooting. Where was the gunman planning to travel, next -- yes, you heard me right -- because he was planning to go somewhere else.
And Jeanne Moos with Donald Trump's praise for his ex-campaign manager.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Ivanka has great respect for him and so does my family. He's a great guy and he did a great job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Well, then, why fire him?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: And breaking news on what the Orlando gunman was doing right before he committed the worse shooting massacre in American history. Law enforcement officials are telling us that Omar Mateen went to the Pulse nightclub.
[19:50:00] He went there hours before the attack, sort of went to hang out, and then he left and he returned to murder the 49 innocent people inside. Investigators believe he may have been checking club security.
Now, we're also learning the day before the massacre, he bought three plane tickets to California for himself, his wife and his child, which raises even more questions about his plans.
OUTFRONT tonight, the man who reported Omar to the FBI, Mohammed Malik.
And, Mohammed, thank you very much for coming out and talking about this. I know it can't be easy. You knew Omar Mateen for several years. You went to that same mosque in Ft. Pierce.
When did you become suspicious?
MOHAMMED MALIK, REPORTED ORLANDO SHOOTER TO FBI IN 2014: I first became suspicious in 2014. We had another young man by the name of Monar Abu Salah (ph) who had radicalized and committed a suicide bombing. The FBI questioned a lot of us in the community because we knew him and after the questioning, the FBI wanted to know if there was anybody else I thought -- would be -- could go down that same path and nobody came to my mind.
However, after talking to members of the community, trying to get an idea what could have led this boy to do what he did, Omar Mateen was one of the people I was speaking with and Omar Mateen brought the name Anwar al-Awlaki, who's the radical cleric that has radicalized several people, including Nidal Hasan, who's the Fort Hood shooter, and mentioned he had also seen videos of Anwar al-Awlaki.
And my reaction to him was what he thought about the videos and he told me, they were powerful. Both of those raised a red flag for me and prompted me to speak with the FBI.
BURNETT: And I know that that took courage to do. You also -- you'd known Omar, though, for a long time. So, this is a young man that you had an opportunity to see change, right, to change in front of your eyes. This was relatively new in 2014, right, when he confessed to you about watching those videos and finding them powerful?
MALIK: Yes. Even at that point having known Omar he had just started -- he had gotten married for the second time, had a son and was starting a family. I didn't think that he fit the profile but as a precaution, to prevent anything bad from happening again, to prevent any more innocent people from getting hurt, I thought the FBI should be notified and that's what I did.
BURNETT: So, let me ask you about in issue with him getting married and having a son, because I know that you contacted the FBI and as you point out this time when you contacted the FBI, I believe it was the second time, right, because of these videos of Anwar al-Awlaki, you thought that Omar would not commit violence because he was married and had a son, that his life had changed.
After the massacre, the FBI director appears to reference you Mohammed directly. Let me play for you what the FBI Director James Comey said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: One witness told us when asked do you know anybody else who might be radicalizing that he once had been concerned about the killer because the killer had mentioned Awlaki videos, but the witness concluded that he later got married and had a child and got a job as a security guard, and so, he was no longer concerned about him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So, that's the FBI director saying you concluded Omar wasn't a threat, so the FBI moved on. Do you feel like the FBI is blaming you?
MALIK: This is actually the first time I'm hearing that. I don't think the FBI is blaming me, but I did leave it on the FBI to do their job. My hope and guess was that they did their job and that's where I left it.
BURNETT: Mohammed, local law enforcement officials are telling us the FBI is now interviewing people who say they met Mateen on gay dating apps. You knew him for a long time. Do you think he was gay?
MALIK: No, nothing spoke to him about indicated that he was gay or even homophobic. Whenever he spoke about women was his preference for women, not anything else.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Mohammed Malik, thank you so much. I appreciate your time tonight.
MALIK: You're welcome.
BURNETT: And OUTFRONT next, Jeanne Moos on Donald Trump showering his campaign manager with praise as he fires him.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:58:08] BURNETT: A key Trump player gets canned and describes the conversation with a four letter word.
Here's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: His boss called him Corey.
TRUMP: Corey, good job, Corey.
MOOS: And firing him could have been gory.
TRUMP: You're fired. You're all fired. All four are fired.
MOOS: But instead of covering his face, Trump's former campaign manager remains smitten.
COREY LEWANDOWSKI, FIRED TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: And I have unbelievable respect for Mr. Trump.
MOOS: And it was mutual.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why did you fire him?
TRUMP: Well, first of all, he's a great guy.
MOOS: How many firings end up in a love fest?
TRUMP: I'm really proud of him.
LEWANDOWSKI: I'm proud of the campaign. I really am.
TRUMP: He's a good man. We've had great success.
LEWANDOWSKI: It's been an honor and privilege.
TRUMP: I think Corey is terrific
LEWANDOWSKI: I'm so thankful for this chance.
TRUMP: I can tell you, though, I give him a ten.
MOOS: A ten? You give the guy a ten and still you give him the boot.
TRUMP: You're fired.
LEWANDOWSKI: Oh, he didn't say, hey, you're fired. It wasn't like an episode of "The Apprentice".
TRUMP: Well, one thing, the Donald did it over the phone. Some have speculated Corey Lewandowski couldn't say anything bad because he signed this confidentiality agreement with a no disparagement clause. "You hereby promise and agree not to demean or disparage the company, Mr. Trump, any Trump company."
But Lewandowski pooh-poohed that.
LEWANDOWSKI: I believe in Donald Trump. I have from day one. From the first time I meet him, he's going to be the best president this country has ever had.
MOOS: At least one Trump staffer wasn't so gracious about Lewandowski getting sack. Adviser Michael Caputo had to leave the campaign after tweeting a link t this.
What's not dead is the apparent bond between these two. Even if Trump says he needs a new manager to take the campaign in a different direction.
(MUSIC)
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: And thank you so much for joining us. You can watch OUTFRONT any time anywhere on CNN Go.
"AC360" begins right now.
