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Erin Burnett Outfront
50 GOP National Security Officials Slam Trump in Letter; Trump Unveils Economic Plan; Trump Companies Have History of Hiring Foreign Workers; Trump Companies Have History of Hiring Foreign Workers; Clinton Unleashes on Trump: He's Too Risky for the U.S.; Boy Dies After Riding World's Largest Water Slide. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired August 08, 2016 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:7] ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next, the breaking news. Top national security officials, all Republicans say, Donald Trump shouldn't be president. Tonight, Trump fights back.
Plus, Trump says he will bring jobs back to America. So, why is he hiring so many foreign workers? And a 10-year-old boy dead after riding the world's tallest water slide. Tonight growing concerns over missed warning signs. Let's go OUTFRONT.
Good evening. I'm Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news. Reckless. Fifty prominent Republicans with a damning assessment of a Trump presidency in this letter, veteran foreign policy and national security experts in an open letter to the American people writing of Donald Trump. In part, quote, "he would be the most reckless president in American history." The letter going on, to call Trump not qualified, saying he lacks character, values and experience. And then this, referring directly to foreign policy.
Unlike previous presidents, it says, who have limited experience in foreign affairs, Mr. Trump has shown no interest in educating himself. He continues to display an alarming ignorance of basic facts, of contemporary international politics. Trump has come out slamming the letter just moments ago calling the authors of Washington elite. And for Trump, the timing of this letter couldn't be worse. Because it comes on a day he was trying to recover from a disastrous week on the trail.
He had a very scripted, serious speech on his economic plan. My panel is going to be with me for the entire hour on these major stories tonight. I want to begin, though, with Jim Acosta OUTFRONT.
And Jim, you know, look, this is a pretty stunning letter. As we said, 50 Republicans writing it. What is the Trump campaign response?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: All right. Erin, on the same day that Donald Trump was trying to show message discipline, as you say, he was going to be talking about the economy today. And he got some positive responses to that speech. He is in another fight once again with members of his own party and Trump is punching right back at those 50 former national security officials, many from the George W. Bush administration but some going back all the way to the Nixon administration, who wrote that scathing letters saying the GOP nominee fails the test of being commander-in-chief.
The Trump campaign just put out a statement from the candidate. Here is a portion of it. We put it up on screen. It says, "The names on this letter are the ones the American people should look to for answers on why the world is a mess and we thank them for coming forward. So, everyone in the country knows who deserves the blame for making the world such a dangerous place. They are nothing more than the failed Washington elite looking to hold on to their power and it is time they are held accountable for their actions."
And Erin, I talked to a senior Trump adviser just a short while ago and continued to make that case, saying that many of these former officials are from the George Bush administration that took the country into war in Iraq.
And even though Trump once suggested himself that he was in favor of that war, he continues to hold up the Iraq wars being responsible for much of the violence in the Middle East as this adviser with the Trump campaign put it to me just a short time ago, these advisers, these officials from those former administrations, they are just on the wrong side of history. We heard Donald Trump talk about this in much the same when that criticism came down from Mike Morrell, the former acting CIA director.
BURNETT: Right.
ACOSTA: I think we'll hear more the same from Donald Trump in the coming days -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much Jim Acosta.
I want to go straight to Elise Labott. Our global affairs correspondent. Because Elise, you've had a chance to speak to many of the former officials who have signed this letter. The letter had been discussed among several of them for a while. But it really came together in just the past two weeks?
ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Erin. And just really was drafted and passed around in the last five days. I spoke to John Bellinger who is the former legal adviser to then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. And basically he said that a lot of people have been wanting to speak out. This kind of builds on a letter that was in March by a lot of national security officials about their feelings about Donald Trump.
This time, Mr. Bellinger said they wanted to focus on the most senior people that they can. You have a lot of cabinet secretaries, a lot of deputy cabinet secretaries. Also people that have been in the situation room, that know what it requires to be president and they wanted to talk about values, about judgment and about statements, about the temperament to be the president. They say these people know what is required and they said that they don't feel that that Donald Trump is fit.
But at the same time I have to point out, Erin, this is not a ringing endorsement of Hillary Clinton. What I'm told is that a lot of these people have strong feelings about Hillary Clinton. Some may endorse them. Some have a lot of doubts. But at the end of the day, they all settled on a statement that recognized that there are doubts about Hillary Clinton and then kind of leaves room for these national security officials to make their own endorsement or not.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Elise. And we have one of the people who sign this had letter with me. I want to read another line from the letter, though, as we begin this. "A president must be disciplined," they write, "control emotions and react only after reflection and careful deliberation. A president must maintain cordial relationships with leaders of countries of different backgrounds and must have their respect and trust. In our judgment Mr. Trump has none of these critical qualities."
Now one person who signed this letter. Kori Schake is a former National Security Council official under President George W. Bush. Cory, joins me on the phone. And Kori, why did you sign the letter?
[19:05:28] KORI SCHAKE, FORMER BUSH NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL MEMBER: Because I feel really strongly that Donald Trump is already damaging America's national security by the reckless things he's saying and by the way he lashes out at any criticism. And I genuinely fear he could be elected and it would be damaging to our country.
BURNETT: Is there anything he could do at this point to convince you otherwise? Was there something in the past couple of weeks, as Elise reports, that made you change your mind?
SCHAKE: You know, there are things he could do. He could learn from his mistakes. He could apologize to the Gold Star family and every other Gold Star family and every other Gold Star family who his attacks on them in recent weeks were such an offense to so many of us. He could stop cozying up to America's adversaries and author tarn strong men and could instead reassure America's allies of the reliability of our security guarantees. He could do all of those things I don't believe he will do any of those things and that's why I signed the letter.
BURNETT: But he has responded to your letter, the campaign, the Trump campaign putting a statement out in part, Kori, that says these insiders, referring to you and the other 49 people wrote the letter along with Hillary Clinton are the owners of a disastrous decisions to invade Iraq, allow Americans to die in Benghazi. They are the ones who have allowed the rise of ISIS. They are the nothing more than the failed Washington elite looking to hold on to their power and it's time they're held accountable for their actions. You heard the reporting there, that he is pointing to people like you who work for George W. Bush and putting the blame on you. What is your response?
SCHAKE: I have two responses Erin, the first is that this is exactly the kind of intemperate lashing out reaction that made all of the signers of this letter doubt his suitability to be commander-in-chief, to be calm and deliberative when the nation needs to make difficult decisions. So, he is actually reaffirming the judgments that we put forward in the letter. And the second thing is, it's important to remember that not all the people who were signatories of the letter are people who had to deal with foreign and defense policy.
Some, like Governor Tom Ridge, had to do -- and several people from the Justice Department were responsible for protecting the country from attack. So, even if his critique of people like me, who worked on defense of foreign policy were accurate, how does he explain Tom Ridge thinking he's unfit to be commander-in-chief?
BURNETT: And Kori, quickly before we go, obviously you worked for George W. Bush, this primary season just to make it clear, you're very much a Republican, you backed Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and then John Kasich. You tried and tried and tried.
SCHAKE: That's right.
BURNETT: Your sister though does work for Secretary Clinton. And you are both now voting for Hillary Clinton. And most people on that letter are not voting for her. Are you happy about that choice?
SCHAKE: No! It was an agonizing decision for me and I have deep reservations about voting for Hillary Clinton. But it's a measure of just how fearful I am of the damage Donald Trump would do for our country that I'm willing to cross the line and vote for Hillary Clinton, a candidate who I think is deeply flawed.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Kori, thank you very much. I appreciate your time tonight.
And my panel is with me now. David Gergen served as advisers to four presidents. Reagan and Clinton among them. Clinton supporter Maria Cardona, her firm does work for a pro-Clinton Super Pac. Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, Clinton supporter Basil Smikle. Former George W. White House staffer Margaret Hoover and Trump supporter Andre Bauer, he is the former lieutenant governor of South Carolina.
Corey, let me just give you a chance to respond to what Kori had to say. She said she just thinks the damage to this country would be too great to take the risk.
COREY LEWANDOWSKI, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Look, I don't know Kori but what I know from her record of what she just outlined is she's a three-time loser. Obviously she goes to candidate to candidate to candidate with no core convictions of who she is going to support now. She's going from three Republicans to a Democrat. Clearly she wants to stay relevant in the political world. And that hasn't happened for her. So, I'm sorry to do that.
BURNETT: Echoing, David, exactly the sort of tone you hear from the Trump campaign.
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Sure. This letter is unprecedented. I cannot remember a massive defection of this kind among people who have been at the top of administrations. I went through the list, I personally worked with about 20 people on the list and I know them to be people on the substance, you just don't get any better than Carla Hills and Bob Zelick, they're known and respected around the world. And it's true, the Republicans have not been perfect stewards.
You know, look at the Iraq war and you have to sort of say Republicans bear a large part of the responsibility for that. But these are the same people who help point old back to the next days, who drive a wedge between China and Russia. These are the people who help to get the Russians to tear down that wall. These are the people who end up the cold war without in triumph without firing a shot. Helped to bring Germany held and (INAUDIBLE) back together. Chase Saddam out of Kuwait, where he did and needed to be kicked out. They have repeatedly shown real leadership. They haven't been perfect. But history will be kind to them in terms of what they have accomplished.
[19:10:36] BURNETT: So, Kori, are you concerned about that, about the influence? I mean, he said, these are people of substance.
LEWANDOWSKI: Sure. They are people of substance. They are also people who have made a living inside the government that want to get back into power. That's why you've seen them support to the Bush family, to the Rubio family, to the next candidate, the next candidate now trying to maintain, you know, the government pension with the potential Clinton administration. What I see is $6 trillion. That's what we spent on the last two wars, you have thousands of people who are dead because of those wars. And if these people are the once who are responsible for them, they should be held accountable for those poor decisions.
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: This is what strikes me. Like David said, this is not just an unprecedented letter but these are people who are not focusing on ideology. If you look at the letter, it focuses on everything that has to do with the temperament, the wherewithal, what it takes to be president, how you act as president, your values.
It has absolutely nothing to do with whether you're a Republican or a Democrat. And these people understand whether you agree with them or not on what they did, they understand what it takes to do that job. And another paragraph that really hit me and I think what really will hit the American is they say about Trump. He can't separate truth from falsehood.
BURNETT: Right. We have that one. Yes.
CARDONA: He lacks self-control, act impetuously and can't tolerate personal criticism. That is a description of a 12-year-old boy, not somebody who should be leader of the free world.
BURNETT: Corey, quick response.
LEWANDOWSKI: How many of these individuals have sat down and had a conversation with Donald Trump? My guess is zero, is the bottom-line. Right. So, what they see is the mainstream media reporting on what Donald Trump's like. And if you go and speak to Donald Trump's foreign policy team or Senator Jeff Sessions or Admiral Cubic or Lieutenant General Flynn who've been there, who understand it, they have a very different opinion. Those are the people on the front lines every day. BURNETT: All right. We take a brief pause. All of you are going to
be with me through the next hour. Next, a new third party candidate taking on Trump tonight. Why he could actually be a threat? That report.
Plus, pretty women, attractive men preferably with accents. Did Trump hire foreign workers over Americans at his Florida Beach Club? Our investigation. And how did this water slide kill a 10-year-old boy this weekend?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:16:24] BURNETT: Tonight, Donald Trump delivering a major economic address.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We can't solve our problems if we're going to just go back and rely on these politicians, because that's what we've been doing. Only by changing to new leadership and new solutions will we get new and great results.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: This is a serious, and it was a scripted speech, coming on the heels of a series of controversies on the campaign trail. And calls from many in his own party to write the ship. Dana Bash is OUTFRONT in Washington tonight.
And Dana, we haven't heard much from Republican leaders responding to this speech but it was scripted. It was serious. How surprising is it that there's been pretty much silence?
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I have to say that, you know, during the other campaigns that I have covered on the Republican side, presidential campaigns, whether it was Mitt Romney or George W. Bush or John McCain, when they give these kinds of speeches you had a slew of statements, maybe perfunctory, but statements of support from Republicans up and down Capitol Hill, from agencies around, from groups. And that just doesn't happen with Donald Trump because of who Donald Trump is.
But in this case, you're right, it is a bit surprising. I just got a one-line statement from a spokesman for House Speaker Paul Ryan saying that his plan has many similarities to the job creating plan at the heart of House Republicans, better way agenda. And that is true, which I think makes it more surprising that there wasn't more positive reinforcement. Because Donald Trump, let's just talk about the substance, never mind the way that he didn't jump on protesters, even though they interrupted him 14 times. But just on the substance, he scrapped the tax reform plan that he had during the primaries and signed on to the House Republican economic plan. That's a big deal. That's a really big deal. And so the fact that Republicans seemed to be stepping back and saying, okay. That's one speech. Give me some more, before they heap praise on him, is interesting.
BURNETT: It's very interesting especially, as you point out, it's an incredibly significant thing to do, change your tax plan.
BASH: Yes.
BURNETT: To try to ameliorate their concerns, right? It does come, though, as they have been critical of him, as the polls have been very rough in the past week. And now, Dana, a new conservative third-party candidate who might be very relevant. What can you tell us about him?
BASH: Well, if there -- his name is Evan McMillan. And if people out there saying who, you're not alone. Even people who cover Capitol Hill where he worked like me. Even people who worked in the same office where he worked Erin, House Republican Conference didn't really know him. And that's because he was there very briefly. Before that, he was a CIA operative, good old-fashioned spook, working counterintelligence, I'm told undercover for ten years. And he came to this because he has been outspoken against Trump, as you said.
But he also has the backing of a lot of the anti-Trump forces because he is a Mormon who has a lot of potential support in the state of Utah, which is usually just put in the Republican column and move on on the presidential years. But perhaps not this year. Because Trump has not been popular in Utah. Ted Cruz crushed him there during the primaries.
BURNETT: Yes.
BASH: And to get on the ballot, which is August 15th, the deadline in Utah, only need 1,000 signatures which they think they can get.
BURNETT: Wow!
BASH: So, step one from people who are backing this candidacy is maybe try to rob Donald Trump of the six electoral votes in Utah and then try to move on and get him on the ballot and maybe make some mischief in some other states. Although they're certainly are not saying it's mischief, they're insisting that this is a full-on candidacy, despite how long the shot is.
BURNETT: All right. Dana, thank you very much. I want to go back to my panel.
And let me start with you, Andre. What do you make of this? Because if he can't count on states that are just reliable, tried and true Republican states, like Utah, that's pretty concerning for Trump.
ANDRE BAUER, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: Well, it's concerning but it shows how desperate the Democrats are and how worried they are. Don't think that a bunch of Republicans got together and said, let's recruit this candidate. This is an orchestrated effort. Look, it's Washington once again, the people are fed up with Washington. It's not working. It hasn't gone in the direction in decades. They want it to. And so we keep hearing about the polls. The polls were wrong in the primary.
Sixteen candidates and Donald Trump prevailed. Everybody said he will never make it. And he made it. I was in the grocery store a little while ago. And an African-American gentleman said, you're with Trump, aren't you? He said, I'm voting for him. He's boxing groceries. He's fed up with the truth. It's people at every economic level have seen how dysfunctional Washington is. And they are ready for substantial change and what you see is bureaucrats signed a letters, we don't want Donald Trump, you see the party elite.
[19:21:15] BASIL SMIKLE, EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, NEW YORK STATE DEMOCRATIC PARTY: I don't know what that means, that story. But that said, I don't think Democrats, at all, are recruiting this guy to run for president. I wish him luck. I wish him all the best.
BURNETT: Mitt Romney did.
SMIKLE: Maybe Mitt Romney did. But Democrats aren't doing that. And look, going back to this sort of economic speech, it doesn't seem to me that Donald Trump, in his speech, actually talked about anything that he has been running on. It seems somewhat contradictory. Because it actually, it has gone back to or reverted to me, Republican orthodoxy on taxation on many other areas. You talked about double the growth but double the growth really will depend on what I would say is his version of supply set of economics.
BAUER: You're talking about patrioting money, which he has talked about for a long time.
CARDONA: I mean, what striking is sort of the the he folks you who've correctly identified helped propel Donald Trump to the nomination, right? This plurality of Republican voters, white working class, non- college educated voters has been left behind by the economy. And they made very clear during this primary process that Republicans supply side, traditional conservative supply side policies have failed them.
MARGARET HOOVER, TRUMP SUPPORTER: So, it was striking basically to see Donald Trump basically embrace a new Reagan revolution in taxes is the words that he used. A new Reagan revolution. I mean, this is precisely what they have rejected and frankly what he ran against. And so, it's almost as though he had potentially outsourced this speech of the RNC. Except for them on top he just said but I don't like trade. And so, it's quite incoherent, frankly.
BURNETT: So, what do you say to that, Corey? I mean, that fact that he would, I mean, his tax plan, there's a lot of criticism for it, but that he would throw it out to embrace the one that Paul Ryan likes. Is that in a mission that he needs Paul Ryan and GOP establishment and thinks voters won't notice or to be making a stake in doing that? What happened?
LEWANDOWSKI: No, I think what you saw on this plan tax, he talked about a tax credit for people who are paying for child care. That directly impacts the middle class. That's what he's talking to. He's talked about the need to get us out of the TPP, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. This is a clear delineation, a clear difference between him and Speaker Ryan. Speaker Ryan has been in favor of TPP, this is a job-killing program. He talked about NAFTA. And the impact directly that it had in Michigan --
BURNETT: Definitely he's sticking with his point of view on trade.
LEWANDOWSKI: That's exactly right. And the number of individuals who are employed in the auto industry before NAFTA and how many employed afterward from 280,000 to 160,000. A significant difference over a 14-year period. Those are the people who he is targeting to make sure that they are showing up. And those are the people that the tax cuts and benefits will help long term.
SMIKLE: But he has also been wrong in terms of this entire speech. If you go back and fact check it. In addition to that blaming Obama and the Democrats, was it not Obama that gave the auto industry a bailout? I mean, which the auto industry wanted and was happy about it. So, to me, I mean, this sort of --
BURNETT: -- out when it involves them.
SMIKLE: Yes. But it did support the economy.
HOOVER: But I mean, the policies that Corey just point it out though are policies of Pat Buchanan from 1992. And there's nothing wrong with it. Their conservative populism -- from the mid '90s. That's fine. But then he also supported massive conservative supply side economics policies. Which is it? Because the math doesn't add up for both.
BURNETT: And David? Go ahead.
GERGEN: I want to go back being to my point.
BURNETT: Yes.
GERGEN: Larry Kudlow who was one of the co-owners of this plan made it clear a couple of weeks ago, three weeks ago, that they were going back, they're taking a plan back in the shop and retooling it.
BURNETT: Uh-hm.
GERGEN: The thing they were very concerned about was it was increasingly accepted that the original plan would leave us with a national debt increased by over $9 trillion.
BURNETT: Yes. That's right.
GERGEN: And what Larry Kudlow was now saying today is basically we've come back with a plan that which we think is more responsible and will still increase the debt but only by about $3 trillion. And the reason you have that, what I think is still a very significant increase is he's promising to cut taxes but he has no cuts in spending to deal with it.
BURNETT: That's right.
GERGEN: He's put Social Security and Medicare in a lock box as you know. And I think he's still going to have -- I thought the speech was a significant step forward for him in many ways. But he's still going to have a lot of critics just to deal with it. BURNETT: Specifics that we actually need to figure out how he's going
to pay for all of this.
GERGEN: Yes.
BURNETT: Well, that, I think you can criticize all politicians for -- think about the paid force.
But next, Donald Trump accusing Hillary Clinton of exposing an Iranian scientists spy leading to his execution.
We have the fact on exactly what happened. And America first, the Trump's slogans. But is he hiring Americans first?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: It's almost impossible to get help. And part of the reason that you can't get, you know, American people, they want full time jobs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:29:43] BURNETT: Today, Donald Trump talking about creating jobs for Americans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It will be American hands that rebuild this country. It will be American workers who are hired to do the job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[19:30:00] BURNETT: Trump saying that as there are questions about whether his own businesses hire Americans first.
Drew Griffin has the OUTFRONT investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The visas tell the story, Donald Trump can't find what he's looking for to staff his beach club, his golf course, his vineyard, his modeling agency and even his own Trump organization, which is why for the last 15 years, he's been importing workers.
The U.S. Department of Labor has approved at least 1,256 requests of what it calls foreign guest workers for Trump companies. And according to sources, not just any foreign guest workers.
Sources say Trump likes them, pretty if they're women, good looking if they're men, and he has a fondness for accents.
Nowhere is that more evident than here at Trump's Mar-A-Lago beach club, where 849 requests for foreign guest workers has been approved in the last decade. They are waiters, cooks and housekeepers and various other positions. Some of the foreign guest workers told us their Trump jobs allow them to live the American dream.
A former executive chef at the Mar-A-Lago club told CNN the guest workers are more dependable than U.S. workers, have more skills and says they cherry picked some pretty people, explaining the club hired attractive foreigners for front line positions.
The chef called the practice common at many clubs and restaurants in south Florida.
That explanation, though, is slightly different from how Donald Trump explained why he has to hire foreigners.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: You cannot get help during the season. The season goes from like October until March. It's almost impossible to get help.
GRIFFIN: Trump's argument? In all cases of importing foreign guest workers is that no Americans would accept the jobs he is offering, that he tried his best to find Americans and couldn't fill the positions. It's a requirement on the Department of Labor visa applications, the employer must verify that reasonable attempts were made to hire Americans first, and only after proving Americans would not or could not fill the jobs will visas be granted and the Trump Organization claims it followed the regulations to the letter.
Tom Veenstra says in the case of Mar-A-Lago, he just doesn't believe Donald Trump.
TOM VEENSTRA, PALM BEACH COUNTY CAREERSOURCE: We have hundreds of qualified candidates for jobs like these.
GRIFFIN: Veenstra is a senior director at the Palm Beach CareerSource office, part of a state-funded program to help workers get jobs. The services here are free.
VEENSTRA: We help place local residents into jobs like those.
GRIFFIN: Only once, Veenstra says, did Trump make use of his sources. He sent four candidates. One was hired. He never heard another word. Labor Department records show Donald Trump in his various business interests have applied for and been granted foreign guest worker visas at his Jupiter Club in Jupiter, Florida, at the Lamington Farm Club, and the Trump National Golf Club.
Thirty-nine workers were brought in in the H-2A visa program as agricultural workers to work at Trump's vineyard estates in northern Virginia. Another 280 workers were brought in on special H-1B visas to work as fashion models, engineers and food and wine experts.
And believe it or not, Trump even requested to import fitness trainers and aerobic instructors because, he says, he couldn't find any in South Florida, which came as a shock to Miami fitness instructor Nick Soto. NICK SOTO, ELITE U FITNESS: That's absolutely ridiculous to think
that you have to go out of the country to find qualified fitness instructor or trainer of any kind.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRIFFIN: And, Erin, it appears the Trump companies will continue to seek employees from overseas. Records from the Department of Labor showed Trump has begun the visa process for filling as many as 78 jobs this coming fall for cooks, waiters and maids at least at two of his Florida properties apparently because he doesn't think he will be able to fill those jobs with Americans -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Drew Griffin, thank you very much.
Let me go straight back to my panel. Corey, says American hands are going to rebuild this country. But is it hypocritical that we see him again and again hiring foreign workers at his clubs around the country, including Florida?
COREY LEWANDOWSKI, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think what you've seen is that he's putting America first in all the speeches and jobs he has created. What he is talking about here very specifically are part-time seasonal workers coming in to do a job for a very short period of time.
And what you heard from him was, this is a period of time that goes from October or November to February or March and most people, I think, are looking for full-time employment. These are seasonal jobs. Finding people who want to do their seasonal jobs who are living here has been very difficult. That's when they brought in additional workers.
BURNETT: Maria, you had a look on your face when the personal trainer was speaking there.
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. I mean, in Miami, the fact that you can't find personal trainers and people who are focused on fitness, it just -- it defies reality. But again, what we've seen from the Trump campaign is that they try to defy reality every single day.
Look, this is disturbing, deeply disturbing on many levels.
[19:35:03] The first one being, it's so hypocritical. He has been a campaign and he has been a candidate who has made immigration and being harsh on immigration law, a cornerstone of his campaign. So, when he turns around and does the opposite and everything he criticizes other people for doing, it is absolutely ridiculous.
BURNETT: He's doing it legally.
ANDRE BAUER, TRUMP SUPPORTER: He is following the rule of law created for this very purpose.
CARDONA: He -- what is clear is that he is not trying to hire Americans for this. Maybe they're not good looking enough. I don't know. It's just ridiculous because it's not credible when he talks about this.
LEWANDOWSKI: The system is broken. And as a business executive, he has an obligation to make sure that he takes full advantage of the system which is currently in place.
Now, he is saying that as the president of the United States, he will change that system. But he has done everything directly by the book. The rules indicate that. And what he has harped on and said is a problem in this country is illegal immigration.
Every person who has come through here has been H-1B or a legal process. That's absolutely legal. There's nothing wrong with that.
BURNETT: And, Margaret, he has been very effective to this point in saying, yes, it may look bad, but I do this overseas, I make my ties overseas, bring my workers from overseas, because I know how to use the system. You need to know how to use it in order to change it. That's been effective with voters.
MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's been effective with his supporters. But we are not in a Republican primary race anymore. We are not looking at those 30 percent of Republican primary voters who buy that message and listen to it.
But by the way, even just going back to the facts, at least we mention them, here, "The New York Times" when they first reported a couple of months ago also delineated that there were at least 300 Americans who applied for jobs and only 17 had been hired. Many, many had never heard back.
So, it's clear there's a reason he prefers to have foreign workers. I think what's interesting is why. Why would he prefer not to have American first workers and why would he prefer to have foreigners?
There's a GAO accountability report that suggests that foreign workers have less complaints. They don't give negative feedback to their employers more. I mean, the question is, why does he choose, in this instance, to have a hypocritical message?
BURNETT: David?
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Listen, I think we need to know more facts before you really can condemn him. You got to figure out. If he has played by the rules, I don't see why he should be subjected to a lot of criticism for this.
And after all, yes, there's hypocrisy here. Isn't there some hypocrisy when Democrats attack him, the same Democrats who want to work -- welcome foreigners from all over the world, who want to take (INAUDIBLE) who are --
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: Who are hiring them. GERGEN: Yes, and be here as workers, and, by the way, put them on a path to citizenship, and he brings in foreign workers and Democrats are going to accuse him of doing something wrong? I don't quite get that.
(CROSSTALK)
CARDONA: No, no. The criticism is because he, himself, has said we're going to put Americans to work. We're going to make sure American workers are hired first.
GERGEN: But your party wants --
CARDONA: So, do as I say not do as I do.
GERGEN: Yes, but your party wants to bring in foreign workers, you have an admirable convention celebrating diversity.
CARDONA: Absolutely, that's right.
GERGEN: And I think that's right. But then, you guys -- when he brings in foreign workers and oh, no, you Donald Trump, you can't do that.
(CROSSTALK)
CARDONA: Out of his mouth.
BASIL SMIKLE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think the difference is that he has repeatedly said in the cornerstone of his campaign has been, build a wall and we don't and the thing is that -- yes --
(CROSSTALK)
LEWANDOWSKI: To keep illegal people out.
BURNETT: He said he wants people to do it legally.
GERGEN: That's right.
SMIKLE: But the point is that, he has consistently talk about, A, building a wall. B, the sense of xenophobia that comes across in every speech that he's made throughout his campaign to get through a primary. Now, we're in a general. So, things may change a little bit.
But he has consistently promoted this xenophobic sentiment throughout his entire campaign. And so, to me, when he talks about making America first, make America great again, well, you start at home. And I don't see that. Not only with this particular instance, but with everything that he does, including the ties that he makes.
BURNETT: Actions speak louder than words.
LEWANDOWSKI: The only statement he has made was I'm going to build a wall with a big beautiful door in it. People will come in legally. And he said it many times.
If you want to look at Hillary Clinton's record. She promised 200,000 jobs in New York when she ran for the U.S. Senate. Eight years later, none of those jobs are filled. And those jobs are specifically designed to go to the Upstate area and you look at her history as a U.S. senator, where she promised 200,000 jobs to the state and she didn't deliver on them.
And what you see with Donald Trump is, he's promising jobs, and he's saying I am going to build a wall to stop illegal immigration. People --
SMIKLE: Jobs he has created versus him taking advantage of the system with respect to the bankruptcy that he says he's so good at.
CARDONA: The law states that you have to try to hire Americans first. Americans clearly wanted these jobs. They applied for these jobs and didn't get them.
BURNETT: He said in part they didn't want them because it was just a few months.
BAUER: A state that hires a lot of seasonal workers. And we have that same problem. It does happen in this type of industry.
BURNETT: All right. Thanks to all.
And next, fatal accident the world's tallest water slide, 168-foot drop and more than 50 miles an hour. Were warning signs missed?
And an Iranian scientist executed for spying for America.
[19:40:01] Donald Trump suggests Hillary Clinton could be to blame in a tweet tonight. Where is the evidence?
(COMMERICAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Breaking news, Hillary Clinton leveling a new and aggressive line of attack against Donald Trump. Clinton is in the midst of a two-state swing through the crucial state of Florida, did not hold back at her rallies today.
Jeff Zeleny is traveling with the Clinton campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hillary Clinton blazing across Florida, bringing her jobs tour to this critical battleground state, delivering a sharp rebuttal to Donald Trump in an escalating fight on the economy.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: He can't escape the math. Economists left, right, in the middle all say the same thing. Trump's policies would throw us into a recession.
ZELENY: As Trump offered sharp criticism of Clinton in his Detroit speech today --
TRUMP: Hillary Clinton has supported the trade deals stripping this city and this country of its jobs and its wealth.
ZELENY: -- a new CNN poll of polls shows Clinton riding high, ten- point lead nationally.
On the economy, Clinton is also seeing gains over Trump.
[19:45:01] His lead is now hers. Her campaign releasing a nine-page memo, refuting Trump's proposed policies and tax breaks for the wealthy, saying they would be a disaster for the U.S. economy.
CLINTON: They are just playing the same old siren song. And why they haven't learned, we are not interested in economic plans that only help the top 1 percent.
ZELENY: And releasing a new video using his record as a businessman against him.
TRUMP: I am the king of debt. I do love debt. I love debt. I love playing with it.
ZELENY: Clinton has repeatedly blasted Trump for outsourcing his company's products, painting him as bad for business in the U.S.
CLINTON: Donald Trump said that he can't make his suits or ties or his shirts or his furniture in the United States. We're telling him about 100 places where he can actually make all of those things right here in America.
ZELENY: Trump now questioning whether Clinton is mentally fit for the presidency.
TRUMP: She took a little short-circuit in the brain and she's got problems. She is unhinged. Honestly, I don't think she's all there.
ZELENY: He's taking a page from her playbook.
CLINTON: Trump is not qualified to be president and he is temperamentally unfit to be commander in chief. Anyone you can provoke with a tweet should not be anywhere near nuclear weapons.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: And, Jeff, you know, tonight, a new back and forth between the two campaigns over this issue -- an Iranian scientist who was just executed for being a spy for the United States.
ZELENY: Erin, you're right. Let's take a look at this tweet a few minutes ago. He said this. He says, "Many people are saying that the Iranians killed the scientist who helped the U.S. because of Hillary Clinton's hacked e-mails."
The Clinton campaign has been responding to this all day long, Erin. This is what they're saying. They say, look, "The Trump campaign has never met a conspiracy theory it didn't like. He and his supporters continue to use increasingly desperate rhetoric to attack Hillary Clinton and make absurd accusations."
Erin, tonight, the bottom line is this: there's no evidence that there is any correlation between the execution on Sunday of this scientist and the Clinton campaign e-mails. There simply is no evidence. Our reporting all day long has been showing that as well as everyone else's.
Erin, this is one more example of how some Republicans are so frustrated at Donald Trump. He was supposed to be talking about the economy today, not getting into these reports yet again. So, this is how he is closing out his day here. Not staying on message one more time -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Jeff Zeleny, thank you very much.
An OUTFRONT next, a 10-year-old boy killed in a tragic accident at the world's tallest waterslide. What happened?
And Jeanne Moos on how the presidential race has gone from mudslinging to psycho analysis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's easy to behavior that way when you're mentally ill.
UNIDENTIFIEDMALE: Not insane.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Such a damaged sociopathic narcissist.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:51:39] BURNETT: The world's tallest water slide claiming the life of a 10-year-old boy. Tonight, an urgent investigation is under way to figure out what went so horribly wrong.
The son of a Kansas lawmaker died Sunday while on the 17-story ride, which sends riders down a raft at a speed of about 50 miles an hour. The ride has not been without controversy and safety concerns, though.
And Kyung Lah is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The first drop alone is so steep. Guinness calls it the tallest water slide in the world, at 168 feet seven inches, 17 stories high. Riders hitting speeds around 50 miles per hour.
The local reports say it was on this second hill and 50-foot drop where something went wrong as 10-year-old Caleb Schwab was in the middle of his ride. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I saw everyone's faces as they waited to see if
it was their loved ones that were affected.
LAH: The slide's name is Verruckt, which translates as "insane" in German. The ride's opening was delayed three times in 2014, a portion of it was rebuilt once. Why? This. Reports that in test runs, the raft launched off the slide.
According to the park, two to three riders need to be strapped into the raft for a total weight between 400 and 500 pounds. Riders need to be 54" tall and strapped in. Park guest says a number of riders on Sunday pointed to a problem with the harness that would keep people strapped into the raft.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lady in front of me said multiple times she rode the ride today and that the front harness did not work any of the times she rode it.
LAH: The park's spokeswoman said she had not heard about a harness issue.
WINTER PROSAPIO, SCHLITTERBAHN PARK SPOKESWOMAN: We honestly don't know what's happened. That's why an investigation, a full investigation is necessary.
LAH: When Verruckt did finally open in July 2014, it stood taller than the Statue of liberty and Niagara Falls. The owner and designer of the slide so confident in its safety, they rode it first.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAH: Schlitterbahn did release a statement saying, quote, "Safety is our top priority, as Schlitterbahn, all our rides are inspected daily before opening."
Now, the park says it will reopen on Wednesday, but its tallest slide will remain closed.
As far as the 10-year-old boy, Caleb, he is the son of a state representative. He was there with his family for elected officials day -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Kyung.
And next, Jeanne Moos on the escalating war of words between Trump and Clinton. How it has gone so nuclear.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:57:57] BURNETT: A psychiatrist organization is warning, do not psycho analyze Donald Trump.
Here's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're no longer just hearing from the candidates. Now, we're getting inside their heads. Let me outta here.
Donald Trump has had the lion's share of arm chair analysis.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A screw loose.
UNDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody was asking me about his mental health.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's easy to behavior that way when you're mentally ill.
MOOS: Even the conservative "Weekly Standard" piled on. "Donald Trump is not of sound mind."
That sounded worse than the phrasing Hillary Clinton uses.
CLINTON: He is temperamentally unfit.
MOOS: That probably triggered Trump's temper. And now, he's analyzing Hillary.
TRUMP: Unstable. She's unbalanced.
MOOS: This was the Donald's preliminary diagnosis of Hillary.
TRUMP: She is really pretty close to unhinged.
MOOS: But by the very next day he apparently thought her condition had worsened.
TRUMP: She is a totally unhinged person.
MOOS: One host listed the diagnostic criteria for narcissistic personality disorder.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Requiring constant admiration.
MOOS: And found Trump met all 12.
Tweeted the former dean of Harvard Medical School, Trump doesn't just have it, he defines it. The Donald himself was less specific about Hillary's symptoms.
TRUMP: Honestly, I don't think she's all there.
MOOS: After Michael Bloomberg threw Trump over for Hillary.
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, FORMER NYC MAYOR: Let's elect a sane, competent person.
MOOS: Dr. Drew declared Trump --
DR. DREW PINSKY, HLN HOST: Not insane.
MOOS: And when John Oliver called him --
JOHN OLIVER, TV HOST/COMEDIAN: Such a damaged sociopathic narcissist.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Is that fair to call a Republican nominee a sociopath?
PINSKY: Yes, it is unfair.
MOOS: But clinical psychologist Dr. George Simon said this to Vanity Fair about Trump and narcissism. "He's so classic that I'm archiving video clips of him to use in workshops because there's no better example."
Here is another for your files, doctor.
TRUMP: All my life, I've been told you have the greatest temperament.
MOOS: Jean Moos --
CLINTON: Temperamentally unfit.
MOOS: -- CNN --
TRUMP: Totally unhinged.
MOOS: -- New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: Oh, politics.
Thanks so much for joining us.
"AC360" with John Berman starts now.
