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Erin Burnett Outfront
Report: Trump Refuses to Support Ryan, McCain; Obama: Trump "Unfit" For Presidency; Clinton Raises $63 Million, Record for Campaign; Warren Buffett Challenges Trump to Release His Tax Returns; Christie: Trump Wrong to Criticize Khan Family; Cases of Zika Contracted in Florida Rises to 15. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired August 02, 2016 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:08] ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: OUTFRONT next, the breaking news, Donald Trump refusing to support John McCain and Paul Ryan in their reelection bids as President Obama calls on Republicans to pull their endorsements of Trump.
Plus, Trump accepts a vet's Purple Heart saying he always wanted one. We have a report on why Trump never starved himself.
And more breaking news, the Zika virus spreading in Southern, Florida. My guest tonight, the State's Governor Rick Scott. Let's go OUTFRONT.
Good evening. I'm Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news, Trump dumps the GOP in an unprecedented development refusing to support House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senator John McCain in their re- election bids. This is a remarkable break with leading Republicans coming as the same day as the first Republican congressman says, he will vote for Hillary Clinton, not Donald Trump.
Richard Hannah, a three-term congressman from Trump's home state New York calling him deeply flawed. Also today a former top aide and Trump loyalist Governor Chris Christie saying she, too, will cross party lines and vote for Hillary Clinton. This comes as President Obama challenges Republicans to withdraw their endorsements of Trump. The President charging that Trump is, quote, "unfit to be president."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. BARACK OBAMA (D), UNITED STATES: And the question I think that they have to ask themselves is, if you are repeatedly having to say in very strong terms that what he has said is unacceptable, why are you still endorsing him?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Dana Bash begins our coverage OUTFRONT tonight. And Dana, let's start with Trump's stunning move as we say, dropping the GOP. I mean, this is an unprecedented situation. Why is he refusing to back Paul Ryan and John McCain?
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it seems as though in the case of both men it's personal, but for Paul Ryan it is much more significant, as you say, because of his position. He is the top-ranking Republican in Congress, and in elected office. Let me just read to you exactly what Donald Trump said about Ryan who has a primary a week from today, a Republican primary challenge. "I like Paul, but these are horrible times for our country. We need very strong leadership. We need a very, very strong leadership, and I'm just quite not there yet. I'm not quite there yet."
Now, if those words and phrases seem familiar, I'm not quite there yet Erin, is because that's what Paul Ryan told our Jake Tapper about Trump when he became the presumptive nominee and he held off for a little more than a month before formally endorsing Trump. But of course since then he has and actually chaired the convention that Trump was formally made the nominee for.
BURNETT: So, Dana, I mean, you have Donald Trump coming out with this stunning move, then what is the response? What does Paul Ryan say?
BASH: He hasn't said much, and that's kind of in keeping with the way Paul Ryan tends to be in situations like this. His campaign spokesman simply said that they never asked for Donald Trump's endorsement. That's what he's saying publicly, but I can tell you, Erin, privately, talking to some of Paul Ryan's closest friends and confidants many of whom have endorsed Donald Trump, they're just stunned. They're stunned because of the fact that clearly, Ryan has not been all that comfortable with endorsing Trump with going out and doing even what he did at his convention, nominating Mike Pence, formally being the person to do that as his vice presidential running mate.
But Donald Trump, I mean, you know, we don't know, we haven't spoken to him, but it's hard to imagine what Paul Ryan said in the past few days about Donald Trump going at that time with Gold Star parent, the parents who spoke at the DNC.
BURNETT: Right.
BASH: He was very tough and others were, too, including John McCain, very tough and it's pretty clear that Donald Trump didn't like that very much.
BURNETT: All right. Dana Bash, thank you very much. Very tough but not withdrawing their endorsement which is of course Donald Trump is now saying he will not endorse them, either of those men.
Jason Carroll is OUTFRONT covering the Trump campaign tonight. And Jason, is the campaign concerned about fallout from this move? I mean, John McCain and Paul Ryan, not only Republican leaders, not only the highest ranking Republican in the United States in the case of Paul Ryan but both incredibly popular especially popular when you look at Ryan as the speaker.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, I agree, and it's a valid question. I mean, at this point, no response from the Trump camp. Expect that there will be at some time. But look, I think there is a very strong argument that at this point in terms of where Donald Trump is, based on what we've seen and based on what we've heard, not sure Donald Trump has any regrets about any of the controversial things that he has said or the things that he has done.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL (voice-over): Donald Trump out on the trail in Virginia today steering clear of his confrontation with the family of a slain Muslim U.S. Humayun Khan who was awarded a Bronze Star and Purple Heart, instead, trying to draw attention to his military support.
[19:05:10] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: A man came up to me and he handed me his Purple Heart. I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier, but I tell you, it was such an honor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: The Purple Heart is awarded to those wounded in combat. Swift reaction coming in from Hillary Clinton tweeting this from a man who says he sacrificed for our country. Clinton pointing to Trump's response to Khan's father who criticized the GOP nominee during the Democratic National Convention saying Trump had not sacrificed for his country. Amid the bipartisan backlash to Trump's comments, Trump's son Eric today insisted in an interview with CBS that his father has apologized to the Khan family.
ERIC TRUMP, SON OF DONALD TRUMP: I think he has by calling them a hero.
CARROLL: Donald Trump trying to keep his focus on Clinton hammering his Democratic rival today on trade, immigration and her ability to improve the economy as well as her character.
TRUMP: Here is a woman who is a total thief. I mean, she's a crook. She's got a bad temperament. She's got the temperament of a loser.
CARROLL: But trump getting sidetracked during his remarks by a crying baby.
TRUMP: Don't worry about that baby. I love babies. I hear that baby crying, I like it.
Actually, I was only kidding. You can get the baby out of here.
CARROLL: Trump's rhetoric and his off-color comments continuing to be a concern to GOP leaders. Republican Congressman Richard Hannah of New York becoming the first to say he will support Clinton writing in an op-ed, "While I disagree with her on many issues, I will vote for Mrs. Clinton." The Khan controversy, not the only comments from Trump raising eyebrows this week, asked about the sexual harassment allegations against former FOX News Chief Roger Ailes and how his daughter Ivanka would respond under similar circumstances, Trump said, "I would like to think she would find another career or find another company if that was the case." Eric Trump backing up his father with these comments.
E. TRUMP: You know, Ivanka is a strong, powerful woman. She wouldn't allow herself to be, you know, objected, you know, to it. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: And Erin, in another interview with a local reporter, Trump said that he had no regrets about anything that he said about the Khan family. The reporter also asked Trump about that comment he made about Hillary Clinton referring to her as the devil. Trump also saying that he did not feel as though he went too far with that comment, as well. So at this point, Erin, no apologies, no regrets -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Jason Carroll, thank you very much. And OUTFRONT now our panel, former Trump Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski. Former RNC Communications Director Doug Heye. Clinton supporter and New York State Democratic Party Executive Chairman Basil Smikle and Jamie Gangel, a CNN special correspondent.
And Jamie, I want to start with you on this conversation because former adviser and strategist for Chris Christie who is a loyalist, a Trump loyalist criticized him today actually on this military issue, but one of the most loyal backers. She is coming out now and saying she will not back Trump and will vote for Hillary Clinton.
JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. So, this is Maria Comella and just to give you some context, she's been with Christie since 2009 and is in his inner circle. She is widely credited with launching him on the national stage and she's been working seven days a week, 24 hours a day to make him a candidate. She came out today and did an exclusive interview with us. The whole thing is on CNN.com, and she said point-blank, she is voting for Hillary Clinton and that every other Republican should get out there and do it, too.
I just want to read one quote from her. She said, "If those of us who believe that Donald Trump shouldn't be president don't say anything, we are just part of the same problem. I'm voting for her, Hillary Clinton because I don't believe it's enough to say you aren't for Donald Trump." And she's a registered Republican in New York which will go for Hillary Clinton, but she says, you have to vote in my words.
BURNETT: And so let me -- Corey, I'll go to you because you had Maria Comella, you had adviser -- Jeb Bush yesterday from Jamie's reporting, Congressman Richard Hannah, pre-terms congressman from New York, the first congressman to come out and say he is voting for Hillary Clinton and not just not voting for Donald Trump, saying Trump is unfit to serve the party and cannot lead this country. Are you worried more will follow?
COREY LEWANDOWSKI, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: No, I'm not. And here's what I think. Every person from Warren Buffett to Corey Lewandowski to Donald Trump gets one vote in the ballot box and everyone has their opportunity to going votes for who they think is going to be the best president of the United States. And if Congressman Hannah who is not seeking reelection decides that he doesn't want to support Donald Trump, he's entitled to do that, but at the end of the day it's a decision that's binary, you can have another term of the Obama administration with Hillary Clinton there who is against trade, good trade for our country who is for open borders or he can have a strong leader that's going to stop and build a wall and make sure that we renegotiate trade deals and bring jobs back to the country. So, look, you can have that choice and that's a choice you have to make in the ballot box.
[19:10:17] BURNETT: So, Doug, what about you? I mean, you have a choice to make here.
DOUG HEYE, FORMER RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Well, I announced in January that I wouldn't be supporting Donald Trump. I just want to agree that is a binary choice. The fact that CNN is hosting a town hall with the libertarian candidates but it's not a binary choice.
BURNETT: So, you are one of those who believes -- you'll going to vote for someone, right?
HEYE: I'm going to vote for Paul Ryan.
BURNETT: You're going to vote -- OK, but let me just -- this is the big question now facing Republicans because you can come out and say that, Paul Ryan is not going to win.
HEYE: I understand that.
BURNETT: Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump are going to win. So, ultimately by doing that you are implicitly supporting.
HEYE: No, I don't think that's the case, but I'll tell you, I've known Maria Comella for at least 12 years and she's a dedicated Republican staffer who has not just worked for Chris Christie but in New Hampshire for the Bush reelection. In Iowa. And to see people like Maria, to see people like Sally Bradshaw stand up and say, no, more people are going to do so and that's not beneficial to the Trump campaign.
BURNETT: So, Basil, President Obama says Trump is unfit to be president. OK, let me just quickly play it in his words.
BASIL SMIKLE, EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, NEW YORK STATE DEMOCRATIC PARTY: Sure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I think the Republican nominee is unfit to serve as president. I said so last week, and he keeps on proving it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: There today, Trump has just come out, he's been responding. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: He's been one of the worst presidents in the history of our country. I think he's probably going to go down maybe as the worst, we'll see how this all comes out, but he's been one of the worst presidents in the history of our country and for him to be calling me out is almost an honor because he truly doesn't know what he's doing. He's been a very, very weak president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And then he just said moments ago, Basil, I think it just means he's concerned, I'm going to win. Is that true? The more President Obama starts mucking it up with Trump, the more it's fear?
SMIKLE: No. And I think it goes to the points that were made earlier, it's country over party, quite frankly. And I think what the President is saying is that, look, I may have been disappointed if Mitt Romney became president of the United States, but you know, that being said, we have to start thinking about what it means to be presidential, and I think what Barack Obama is saying is that Donald Trump is not presidential in anything that he has said or done, and I respect Congress member Hannah from Upstate New York. He may be not running for reelection, but he does represent Upstate New York and we talk a lot about New York values and Donald Trump being a New Yorker I think what represents him does not represent New York values.
BURNETT: So, Corey, but it sounds like Donald Trump is coming out and saying, Donald Trump is not going to support John McCain, Paul Ryan, obviously something personal there, OK, clearly but, let's just say Paul Ryan because you know what? I barely got there on supporting him, he's done all these things since then from the Mexican judge on, and I'm done with it. I no longer endorse. Is that what Donald Trump wants?
LEWANDOWSKI: Congressional approval rating right now is 10 percent. Ten percent of the American people actually think that Congress is doing a good job and 61 percent think they're doing a bad job is raised poll numbers. I don't think that Donald Trump is concerned and look, I ran the primary campaign, we spent zero days in Washington, D.C. There is not one vote to gain in Washington, D.C. And the issue is Washington, D.C., has failed the American people for the last 30 years so going and asking for their support and their endorsements has never amounted to anything, if that was the case Jeb Bush would be the nominee.
BURNETT: All right. So, Jamie, are there going to be more from your reporting? You've had two people in two days.
GANGEL: I absolutely think there will be more. I think they're going to be some that come now. I think there are going to be some October surprises, and most important, I think that these people coming out are sending a message. I've spoken in the last couple of days to a lot of Republicans around the country who said, what are we supposed to do? They're not Trump supporters, they don't like Hillary, but when you see people like Sally Bradshaw and Maria Comella and X, Y and Z to come saying, it is your responsibility to vote for Hillary Clinton, it may influence some votes.
BURNETT: All right. Well, thanks to all. All staying with me, of course. Next, Hillary Clinton winning the fund-raising war. Is Trump closing
in? And Trump fires back after billionaire Warren Buffett calls him a failure.
And Trump was in his early 20s at the height of the Vietnam War. He signed up for the draft. Why didn't he serve? Our report coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:17:42] BURNETT: Breaking news. The first Republican member of Congress breaking ranks to support Clinton New York Congressman Richard Hannah's endorsement coming as Clinton is now cashing in on her convention momentum. The campaign announcing it raised $63 million last month. Of that nearly nine million raised in the 24 hours after Clinton accepted the nomination. It is her best haul to date nearly double what Trump says he raised last month.
Brianna Keilar is OUTFRONT. And Brianna, how big of a difference is this gap?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, usually money makes all of the difference, but this has been more true for Hillary Clinton who has relied on TV ads which are pretty expensive and staffs, big staffs in key states. But we learned in the Republican primary, Erin, that it really didn't matter as much for Donald Trump. Yes, he self-funded, you know, his travel to all of these events, but he used a lot of freebies, earned media, the attention that he got in the press and then free methods of marketing like Twitter, Instagram videos and that was what made the difference for him.
Even now his campaign staff is much smaller than Clinton's. Some would say that is to his detriment, but you are seeing a sensitivity from the Clinton campaign on this and they're seeing this claim from Donald Trump is not true, that they have 900,000 donors and not just 20 as he has been claiming and it's something that's sensitive too because Bernie Sanders would say during the primary, you know, that his donations were smaller. He had more donors to show that his campaign was more grassroots and so they're pretty adamant about setting the record straight.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Brianna.
And I want to bring back my panel. Alex Burns, political reporter from "The New York Times" joins us as well.
All right. Corey, Clinton raised $63 million for her campaign. Obviously, big jump from what she raised in June. Trump raising only about half of that amount. He's clearly behind, OK, and at some point money does matter. Not always, but do you think it really just doesn't matter?
LEWANDOWSKI: It doesn't matter. Look, Jeb Bush raised $150 million in the primary and had three delegates.
BURNETT: Good comeback, Corey. LEWANDOWSKI: A hundred and fifty million dollars -- for each of these
delegates. And he wasn't the nominee. He wasn't closed to being the nominee. Dropped out after the second race. OK. Donald beat 16 candidates and spent a fraction of what they spent and he largely funded his own campaign. He continues to fund his own campaign. He has the financial resources, he wants to put $50 million in, or $100 million in or $200 million, he has the ability to do that. Right? And he continues to fund his race and have all the reasons --
BURNETT: He has the ability, but yet he really doesn't put that kind of money in.
LEWANDOWSKI: There's no need. Hillary Clinton has put on tens of thousands of ads against Donald Trump and she now had a post- convention bounce but prior to that post-convention bounce, she was running dead even or behind in all the recent polls after having spent tens of millions of dollar on advertisement which clearly hasn't made a difference.
BURNETT: Basil?
SMIKLE: But at the same time, how does he get, if we talk about him being able to get this earned media in lieu of the cash that he's raising? You know, how was he doing that? He is doing that by making these statements and putting his foot in his mouth and he gets tripped up every time. And that may have worked well for him in the primary. But my question is, is that suitable in the general election? Is that going to work for him in a general election? And that's why going back to the earlier point, my guess is you will start to see more Republicans say, you know, I've had enough. They may not pull back their endorsement but they're not going to be helpful to him.
BURNETT: Alex, he points -- it's the press, that's the bogeyman, right? It's the press that's picking up the wrong comments or else he relishes the coverage that he is getting, negative though it may be.
ALEX BURNS, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, NEW YORK TIMES: He clearly -- this whole jab today was coming out and sort of jabbing at Ryan and McCain like this. He clearly wanted that story to be out there.
BURNETT: Yes.
BURNS: He wanted to make a big splash like that and it may succeed. It's sort of changing the subject away from his view of the Khan family for a couple of days. I don't know if over time it helps you consolidate support from Republicans and o do think, Erin, you know, we tend to talk about money and campaigns in terms of television advertising. There is a whole other universe of staffing and infrastructure and data that you don't get if you don't have the money for it, and when it comes down to that October crunch time, I do think that's what makes Republicans nervous both for Trump and for their candidates a down ballot for counting on those turnout operations to be there.
HEYE: Yes. That's exactly what you hear from Republican down ballot candidates throughout the country. I'm from North Carolina and we are talking about white suburban women outside of Charlotte, outside of Raleigh. These are people that the Trump campaign are going to have to spend money to identify and spend money to get absentee ballots, to spend money to chase the absentee ballots, spend money to get them to the polls and not only is that not happening, it's early for a lot of that to happen, but there's a lot of fear that it won't happen, because not only the money is not there, the infrastructure is not there. Iowa is a key state, right now, a key swing state. Right now there are three paid Trump staffers in Iowa, that's a problem.
SMIKLE: And that's the question. Like, the question is, does Paul Ryan and does John McCain actually care if Donald Trump actually endorses them?
HEYE: No.
SMIKLE: Because to your point, you know, you can create a fire wall around Donald Trump and then put all the money into --
[19:22:20] BURNETT: They certainly didn't want or need that endorsement anyway certainly because of John McCain.
SMIKLE: These are important states that I think Democrats are looking very hard at.
HEYE: Yes. Ted Cruz won Paul Ryan's district pretty comfortably and the one district that Donald Trump did get involved in, North Carolina 2 where he endorsed Renee Ellmers. Renee Ellmers got crushed by Congressman George Holding. So, the Trump endorsement in a primary doesn't necessarily mean anything because there was a 17-person primary that Trump was able to take advantage of.
BURNETT: All right. So, the polls have shifted, OK? You have a post-Democratic convention bounce for Hillary Clinton, it is a significant one, Corey. She is now solidly ahead and well outside of the margin of error in our latest poll and he is not doubling down saying that the system is rigged. But if he loses it's because it's rigged. Here's how he's saying it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're running against a rigged system.
And I'm afraid the election is going to be rigged, I have to be honest because I think my side was rigged.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Is that useful to say that to make people worried about the entire electoral system for president of the United States?
BURNS: There are a couple of things to look at. I don't think you can really get a full picture of Hillary Clinton's support for another week. You know, she get the bounce coming out of the convention. I think that's exactly --
(CROSSTALK)
She looked a week ago, Donald Trump was winning outside the margin of error and now she's had her opportunity to do that. And let's look at her numbers a week from now. After that, look, has voter fraud been a problem? Sure has. Some states have address this. We've seen that the federal courts have stepped in and called some of the voting rules unconstitutional and we had to go back and re-write those. We know in my home state of New Hampshire, you don't need to be a resident of the state to go and vote.
BURNETT: You're staying that if she wins, it could be fraud?
BURNS: No, what I'm saying is that there is a potential in some states that have had voter fraud in the past. There's something that -- there's no question. The other thing is just to go back to the infrastructure component on this. It's very important --
BURNETT: Hold on, let Basil get in.
SMIKLE: The voter fraud thing is very important and interesting to me because states like North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia that have had these very, you know, restrictive sort of voting access laws that have been struck down, I want to hear Donald Trump talk about that. If he's talking about this rigged system, I want him talk about that. Talk about Citizens United, talk about how a conservative Supreme Court actually gutted the voting rights act, talk about that. But I don't hear it.
HEYE: But the problem is, whenever you have all of these -- conversations, whether it's Lindsey Graham's cell phone and Carly Fiorina's face, the family of a fallen soldier and now a rigged elections and not endorsing candidates. We're not talking about Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton's campaign to defeat ISIS. What their jobs plan is. Real issues that are affecting the voters who are starving for real issue answers from our leaders are not getting them because we have the outrage du jour coming from Donald Trump.
BURNETT: All right. Well, thanks to all. And next, Donald Trump is firing back one day after Warren Buffett slams him on the campaign trail. This battle of the billionaires and why Warren Buffett calls Donald Trump a failure and Trump responds. And Trump says he regrets not serving in the military. He said that today. We now know exactly why he didn't serve and that special report coming up later this hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:29:02] BURNETT: Tonight, Donald Trump not taking the bait and refusing a challenge from one of the world's richest people, Warren Buffett. Buffett, the Clinton supporter told Trump, if you release your tax returns I'll release mine, too. Trump though says, telling our affiliate WJLA, "I don't really care what he says. It doesn't matter. He's a Democrat. He's been a Democrat and he's for her."
This is just the latest in the war of words between the billionaires and Warren Buffett is calling Trump a failure. Brynn Gingras is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The battle of the billionaires is hitting up. Donald Trump forced to defend his business brand this time against fellow mogul Warren Buffett.
TRUMP: Well, I don't care much about Warren Buffett.
GINGRAS: Those comments after Buffett took aim at Trump's casino business in Atlantic City.
WARREN BUFFETT, CEO, BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY: In 1995 when he offered this company, if a monkey had thrown a dart at the stock page the monkey, on average, would have made 150 percent. But the people that believed in him that listen to his siren song came away losing well over 90 cents on the dollar.
[19:30:06] They got back less than a dime.
GINGRAS (voice-over): In fact, the company's stock, DJT, Trump's initials, lost 89 percent of its value during its time on the market, between 1995 and 2005. During the same time, the S&P 500, a broad indicator of stock performance gained about 125 percent. While Trump investors lost out, Trump received at least $40 million in compensation.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I had great timing. I got out, and I made a lot of money in Atlantic City over the years. I have to look at myself. I have to look at my company, and I made a lot of money.
GINGRAS: Buffett, a Clinton supporter not only challenged Trump on his business record, but also on not releasing his tax returns.
BUFFETT: He can pick the place, any time between now and Election Day.
GINGRAS: Trump says it's because he's under an IRS audit. Buffett says he, too, is under audit by the IRS, but that's no reason to withhold it.
BUFFETT: Nobody's going to arrest us. There are no rules against showing your tax returns. You're only -- you're only afraid if you have something to be afraid about.
GINGRAS: It's a dare the outspoken Trump has not yet responded to, but has previously said he will not release them. Even though Buffett criticized Trump's handling of money, back in April, he didn't seem to think the economy would suffer under a Trump presidency.
BUFFETT: I will predict that either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton becomes president or one of them is likely to be, very likely to be, I think Berkshire will continue to do fine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRYNN: Erin, Trump has been pretty on the point when it comes to Buffett. We don't see his usual activity on Twitter. We didn't see any comments from him at the Virginia rally today or any comments from him yesterday.
And, Erin, as you summed up, I don't really care what Warren Buffett thinks because he is a Hillary Clinton supporter.
BURNETT: All right. Brynn, thank you very much.
Corey, let me go straight to you. Buffett was right. We went and check them. You saw Brynn's reporting. The casino stock lost 90 percent of its value in '89. If you had done a random investment in the stock market, the Buffett's money, you would have more than doubled your money. So, the monkey would have more than doubled your money. If you had it in Donald Trump's particular casino stock, you lost almost all of it any over that time he paid himself at least $40 million.
How is that not be damning scenario?
COREY LEWANDOWSKI, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Let's look at Bill Gates, right, Microsoft stock. If he would have left his money in Microsoft and not taken it out of the market, you know what would have happened right now? Bill Gates would be worth probably $200 billion worth than what he is today.
So, is this a condemnation of Bill Gates as well, that he's taken his money out of the stock market, or that if he would have left it there, stocks would have done better? Of course not.
What it says is Donald Trump is a businessman, as a private investor, made an investment and received compensation for that investment and left Atlantic City at a time when the market was oversaturated and did very well. That's what a businessman does for himself and for his business and for his family.
As it relates to Warren Buffett, I think he should release his taxes, I challenge him to do so, there's nothing that prevents him from doing that. This is the same individual who said that his secretary pays more money in taxes than he does. If that's a case --
BURNETT: That's a percent.
LEWANDOWSKI: Well, then, he should either pay her more money or he should take less money of his own, but why hasn't he released his taxes if he's willing to do so.
BURNETT: OK, but here's the thing. His company lost money during that time. So he wasn't running -- to the Warren Buffett point, isn't that he paid himself while the company was losing money.
LEWANDOWSKI: Let's look at tech companies across the board that lost money during the stock market last -- let's look at Coca-Cola. Let's look any -- let's look at General Motors. Let's look at Ford Motor Company that needed a bailout from the federal government to withstand and keep people employed.
BURNETT: You buy it over here?
BASIL SMIKLE, EXEC. CHAIRMAN, NEW YORK STATE DEMOCRATIC PARTY: I don't buy it because if you 2010 when Republicans are talking about job creators and job growth. Republicans used to say that a lot in those days.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot still do.
SMIKLE: But they're not applying that to Donald Trump. While he will call himself a job creator, you know, to go back to what you made, yes, he's created businesses and yes, he's pulled his money out and he's left people's lives in the wing, as well, and that's something that the Democrats and Hillary Clinton are going to be continuing to talk about. The fact that for him it's dollars and cents, but there are people's lives behind those dollars and cents.
LEWANDOWSKI: The difference is in the private sector, Donald Trump has tried and created tens of thousands of jobs and put kids through college and health care. The only jobs that Clinton family has put straight in the private sector, zero.
They've lived off of the government dole for their entire career other than the Clinton Foundation which is money coming in from foreign countries. They've never created jobs. So what makes us think --
SMIKLE: What they've done is put people through high school and jobs, number one.
LEWANDOWSKI: Where?
SMIKLE: I will tell you. I would start with this, 1994, the Empowerment Zone Program and Charlie Rangel with --
LEWANDOWSKI: The government doesn't create jobs.
SMIKLE: The government actually does create jobs. The government actually can do that through careful investing, community reinvestment act, there are a lot of things that government does to grow jobs in communities, particularly distressed communities and going back to early in the Clinton administration. They were doing that.
[19:35:01] But what Donald Trump is trying to say is that, well, he's built all these buildings and these created all of these jobs, what he's done is he's played the system, he's gamed the system and a lot of people particularly in Atlantic City where Hillary Clinton was some weeks ago where people have lost their jobs and lost their -- their homes and businesses.
BURNETT: The message here is Warren Buffett, OK? He's a household name. He's one of the richest men in the world, I believe the third at this point.
Alex, the thing is, is that Donald Trump when he responded to him, he's always a Hillary Clinton supporter. But that isn't what we would normally hear from Donald Trump. He would come out and say actually Warren Buffett has not always cracked up, he would come after him more aggressively. He did not do that.
Why is that? Is this the one person Donald Trump is actually afraid of?
ALEX BURNS, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, NEW YORK TIMES: I don't want to assume -- I don't want to put Trump on the couch to assume that he's afraid of anybody in particular. But in general, he has tended up to blow up big fights with people who are unsympathetic to his base of supporters and who are less well known to average Americans and to some he can caricature or correctly describe as a Washington insider of some kind.
Warren Buffett is not that guy. He may be the only American businessman who is better known than Donald Trump before Trump started running for president and look, this whole conversation that we're having right now about Trump's business performance over time and how many jobs he's created, talking about that is a defensive argument. And so, for him to escalate against Warren Buffett, who is a revered and popularly known figure as a business leader, that would drag Trump into a days-long fight on a fight that he doesn't want to litigate.
BURNETT: You know, Doug, he also today, he said, he thought the market was a bad place to be, he would take his money out of the market. Again, I ask the question, look, it's no one's job to be a cheerleader, but it is a proxy for the power and prominence for the United States. I know people who say, like Mark Cuban, he said if Trump's elected it would go 20 percent. That's what he said on this show. But should Trump be saying the market's going go down, is that --
DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: No. He shouldn't be and this is not a role where you're supposed to be financial analyst or predictor. And what we see is time and time again, these kinds of statements coming from Trump that cause problems either for markets or for his own campaign and who do they benefit? They largely benefit the Democrats and Hillary Clinton has not been talked really about her awful statements that she made this weekend, when we go back to the judge in the case over Trump University.
We didn't have to talk about the awful job numbers and we didn't have to talk about the I.G. report against Clinton. Terrible GDP report come out Friday, we're not talking about that because Donald Trump and he's masterful of this, changes the conversation to whatever he wants it to be about.
BURNETT: All right. Thanks to all.
And next, why wasn't Donald Trump drafted during the Vietnam War? We'll tell you the reasons he never served.
And breaking news tonight, another case of Zika in Florida, and this one possibly very different from the others. The Florida Governor Rick Scott is OUTFRONT tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [19:41:39] BURNETT: Tonight, Donald Trump's most loyal political backer, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, is publicly taking issue with the Republican nominee. Christie who is a finalist to be Trump's V.P. saying Trump is wrong to criticize the parents of a fallen Muslim American war hero.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R-NJ), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And for Mr. and Mrs. Khan, the pain of losing their son while defending our country is unfathomable, and I think it gives them the right to say whatever they want. It's just inappropriate for us in this context to be criticizing them, and I'm not going to participate in that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: The criticism coming as Trump says today that despite five draft deferments, he now wishes he had served in the military.
Suzanne Malveaux is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: Thank you.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A rare admission from Donald Trump, expressing regret about not serving in the military.
TRUMP: It's something I've always missed and I built and helped built the Vietnam Memorial in downtown Manhattan. To me, that was a very important thing to do, but I've regretted not serving in many ways.
MALVEAUX: Trump has been under fire for days after criticizing the family of a fallen soldier who challenged Trump at the Democratic National Convention.
KHIZR KHAN, FATHER OF U.S. SOLDIER KILLED IN IRAQ: You have sacrificed nothing and no one!
TRUMP: I think I've made a lot of sacrifices. I work very, very hard. I've created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousand of jobs.
MALVEAUX: Trump's reaction spurring more angry and scrutiny of his own military record.
TRUMP: I was fortunate to really not have to go. This was during the Vietnam period and we were in a very, very highly contested and unpopular war.
MALVEAUX: June 1964, Trump registered for the draft after he graduated from the New York Military Academy. He received four education deferments while he was at Fordham and Wharton. Then, September 1968, Trump started his real estate career, got a medical deferment because of a bone spur in his foot. TRUMP: I had deferments because of college like a lot of people did,
numerous deferments, because of college, and I had a foot thing, and I get the deferment for that.
MALVEAUX: Despite the fact that Trump had been active in various sports, including basketball and baseball.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The battles have no fixed front. Trump often explains it was his high draft number, 356, which spared him from going to Vietnam.
TRUMP: That was an amazing period of time in my life. I was sitting at college, watching. I was going to the Wharton School of Finance, and I was watching as they did the draft numbers and I got a very, very high number and those numbers never got up to it.
MALVEAUX: But as it turns out, the draft lottery was never a factor when Trump was in college.
According to selective service records obtained by CNN, Trump had been out of school for 18 months before the lottery even began.
The Republican candidate prides itself on being a champion for veterans.
TRUMP: And we're going to take care of the vets, believe me. We're going to take care of their medical and we're going to take care of them.
MALVEAUX: Today, a veteran gave Trump his Purple Heart.
TRUMP: I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Well, that comment is spurring even more anger tonight from some veterans groups who see it as highly sensitive as making light of an award that is given to those injured in service to those country.
[19:45:01] One veteran leader noting people who receive this award have lost an eye or an arm or worse, saying, quote, "no one wants a Purple Heart" -- Erin.
BURNETT: Poignant there.
All right. Thank you very much, Suzanne.
And next, the breaking news, another case of Zika in Florida and this one not in that zone. Florida's Governor Rick Scott is my guest next.
And Jeanne Moos with a word for Donald Trump, silverware and chicken not the way to go.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BURNETT: Breaking news tonight: a new case of non-travel related Zika in Florida. Officials saying there are a total of 15 such cases and this newest case and this is what's crucial tonight is outside of the area where officials said active transmission has taken place.
Florida Governor Rick Scott joins me now from Tallahassee.
And, Governor, thank you so much for being with me.
According from the statement we have from the Florida Department of Health, this newest case is outside of the area where active transmission is taking place. Obviously, that's a pretty frightening headline, does it mean Zika is spreading?
GOV. RICK SCOTT (R), FLORIDA: Erin, right now, what we believe is it's still confined to that one-mile radius just north of downtown Miami. We have 15 cases.
[19:50:00] We've been getting prepared since February. We have very good mosquito control. We've tested over 20,000 mosquitoes in the state and not one of them has Zika.
So, we have very good department of health of state and county. The CDC is down with their emergency response team. We are offering everyone, all pregnant women in the impacted area a free test for Zika and we'll be rolling that out statewide for anyone that's pregnant at any one of our county health departments for free. We will be working on doing that. So we're going to make sure everybody is safe.
BURNETT: So, let me just ask you, though, if there is a case, the Florida department is saying there is outside the zone, what does that mean if it doesn't mean that it's spreading, right? You have this zone and this unprecedented move that is now with the travel ban and now there is a case outside it.
SCOTT: So, what we're saying with this one-mile radius is that's where we believe there is a chance of getting Zika right now, the likelihood that there is still active transmission. What we're saying with the other cases we don't believe around them, we are testing people. We tested over 2,300 people around the state and we don't believe in any other areas, there's the likely local transmission at this point.
And we are hopeful that through all of our mosquito control efforts, that will be the case and it will be that one area. We've been very good with other viruses with chikungunya and dengue fever. We've stopped local transmission of those.
BURNETT: Yes.
SCOTT: So, we believe there's no reason that it won't happen with this.
BURNETT: So, what are you doing about spraying? Obviously, some mosquitoes are immune to the pesticides and whatever it might that that can kill the Zika mosquitoes. Some of the mosquitoes are immune. What are you doing about that, or the reality is that we have to accept the fact that there will be more Zika in the United States?
SCOTT: We are doing a variety of spraying. We're bringing in additional experts. We've always figured out how to handle this in the past, we'll figure it out in this case. But we have individuals from the CDC. We've got individuals from other areas and we are doing backpack spraying and other spraying.
The other thing we're doing is doing what every citizen should do, get rid of standing water, wear repellent. We've given people protection and equipment to protect themselves, wear long sleeves, wear pants and all these things.
Look, we've had 60, probably 65 million tourists this year. We've had 20 million cases, so we have one square mile and we're doing everything we can to make sure everybody is safe.
BURNETT: So I also want to ask you also, Governor, while you're with me, a very important question about the election. For those who don't know, you were a very early Donald Trump supporter. You are now more than just a supporter and you are chairman of perhaps the main Trump super PAC.
You also, though, governor, are a veteran. You served in the Navy, and I know it's an important part of who you are. Are you OK with Donald Trump's comments to the Gold Star parents, the Khan family?
SCOTT: Well, I was proud to have the opportunity to serve in the Navy. I'm very proud of my father who did the combat jumps in the Second World War I've done a lot of things with the Gold Star families in our state. I'm very appreciative of everybody that served, and my heart goes out to anybody that's lost a loved one.
I know that Donald Trump cares about our military, and he will do whatever he can build it up. But let's all remember, this is an election about two people. It's going to be about jobs. We have an add-up in rebuild America now that Hillary wants taken now. You can look at rebuildingAmericanow.com because it talks about her saying in her own words, she's not going to stop the outsourcing of jobs in this country. And so, this election is going to be about jobs.
BURNETT: The bottom line is you're not changing in any way your support or endorsement of Donald Trump?
SCOTT: No. Look, there are only two choices, Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. She's a career politician, has never created a private sector job, never supported our military, never supported local law enforcement, and had her chance to destroy ISIS and she failed.
BURNETT: All right. Governor Rick Scott, thank you very much, and I appreciate you being with us tonight.
SCOTT: Nice seeing you, Erin.
BURNETT: And OUTFRONT next, Jeanne Moos on Donald Trump's problem with fast food.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:57:44] BURNETT: We know Donald Trump eats French fries with his hands, but what about a Big Mac or fried chicken? Here's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Every so often, we are treated to Donald Trump food tweets. Remember the I love Hispanics taco bowl?
And then there was the McDonald's aboard his private plane Instagram. Followed now by a KFC tweet and what may or may not be the same seat, but it's the knife and fork that have folks dropping their cutlery and manhandling the chicken.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who would do it with a knife and a fork?
MOOS: Donald Trump.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump does? Oh, my God, you've got to eat it with your fingers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my hand, yeah. I'm a man.
MOOS: How would you eat it?
UNIDENTIFIED BOY: With hands.
MOOS: We all know that Donald is a neat nick and a germ freak. So why should critics stick a knife in him for using a knife and fork on KFC?
Maybe because this is Trump's second cutlery faux pas. The first was when he took Sarah Palin out for pizza?
JON STEWART, COMEDIAN: Are you eating it with a fork? A (EXPLETIVE DELETED) fork?
MOOS: OK, maybe it's not as weird as eating a Snickers with a knife and fork as characters on Seinfeld did.
The practice spread.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look, she's cutting up an almond joy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw someone on the street eating M&M's with a spoon.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is wrong with all you people?
MOOS: Why stop at eating KFC with a knife and fork?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really, you should just inject it directly into your artery with a needle like that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just use your hands and use the grease off of your fingers and keep the comb-over in the face. MOOS: There are no do-overs when candidates eat in public.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I learned early on not to eat in front of all of you.
MOOS: After Hillary resisted eating cheesecakes, Stephen Colbert taught her how to do it.
STEPHEN COLBERT, COMEDIAN: We'll take off just a little bit off the top right here and then eat as much as you want.
MOOS: Colbert used both a fork and his hands, straddling the issue like some cheesy politician.
Jeanne Moos, CNN.
STEWART: What a (EXPLETIVE DELETED)
MOOS: New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: I'm very jealous for Jeanne for getting to eat that KFC. Gets your stomach growling, doesn't it?
Thanks for joining us. Don't forget. You can watch OUTFRONT anytime, anywhere on CNN Go.
"AC360" with Anderson begins right now.
