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Erin Burnett Outfront
Trump Speaking at Rally in Ohio; Trump to Black Voters: Dems Failed You, Give Me A Chance; Trump Calls for Special Prosecutor to Investigate Clinton; Report: Disney Gator That Killed Boy Could Still Be Alive. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired August 22, 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] PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: OUTFRONT, up next, breaking news, Donald Trump speaking live at this hour promising to build that wall. As a source tells CNN he could be delaying his immigration speech that was supposed to be this week.
Plus, Trump's new outreach to black voters. Is it working or is he was his time?
And shocking new details about a toddler killed by an alligator at Disney World. Were warnings ignored? Let's go OUTFRONT.
Good evening, I'm Pamela Brown in for Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight, breaking news, Donald Trump rallying right now in Akron, Ohio. A crucial swing state and a must win for Trump.
And breaking tonight, CNN is learning that Trump is delaying a major immigration speech scheduled for Thursday. A campaign source says he is fine-tuning the language and it has been postponed to possibly next week. An indication he may be shifting on one of his most significant policies since he started his campaign. Trump moments ago, not backing down on the cornerstone of his campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Another major part of our agenda is immigration security. We need to protect American jobs. We need to protect American safety. We're going to build a wall, folks. We're going to build a wall.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Don't worry. We're going to build the wall. That wall will go up so fast, your head will spin. And you'll say, you know, he meant it. And you know what else I mean? Mexico is going to pay for the wall.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Low-income workers are hurt the most by my opponent's policies. Poor Hispanic and African-American citizens are the first to lose a job or to see a pay cut when we don't control our borders. So true.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BROWN: And we begin in Ohio tonight where Trump is narrowly trailing Clinton by four points in a new Monmouth University poll as you see right here.
Sara Murray is OUTFRONT tonight at that Trump rally in Akron. So, Sara, what is Trump saying?
SARA MURRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, and Donald Trump came out, hammering Hillary Clinton. As you see, he continues on behind me. He's calling for a special prosecutor to look into how she used her e- mails, saying that they are pay to play scandals there that have still been undiscovered. Now, as he pointed out, he us also been talking a little bit about immigration tonight and there's no sign, at least on the stump that he's watering down the tone. He's called for building a wall and he once again repeated that line about extreme vetting for immigrants coming into the country. Now, all that's coming as some of Donald Trump's senior advisers are sending a signal that there might be some moderation coming.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MURRAY (voice-over): Tonight, Donald Trump's immigration plan, a cornerstone of his campaign, is coming into question.
TRUMP: We're going to build a wall. Don't worry. We're going to build a wall. We're going to build a wall.
MURRAY: Trump insisting he's not backing away from his proposed immigration overhaul, including restrictions on new visas, building a wall and forcibly deporting millions of undocumented immigrants.
TRUMP: No, I'm not flip flopping. We want to come up with a really fair, but firm answer. That has to be very firm. But we want to come up with something fair.
MURRAY: Trump's clarification came after his newly appointed campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told CNN Dana Bash, the deportation for a Trump setting would create president, they no longer be part of his plan.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Will that plan include a deportation force, the kind that he -- you just heard in that sound bite and that he talked about during the Republican primaries?
KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP'S CAMPAIGN MANAGER: To be determined.
MURRAY: The mixed messages about the potential pivot come as Trump made an attempt to soften his tone. Meeting with his Hispanic Advisory Council this weekend and vaguely apologizing for previous insults.
TRUMP: Sometimes in the heat of debate and speaking on a multitude of issues, you don't choose the right words or you say the wrong thing. I have done that.
GOV. MIKE PENCE (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Donald Trump is not an experienced politician who carefully selects his words. He speaks right from his heart, right from his mind.
MURRAY: Trump's new campaign manager insists the candidate is dialed in and focused on the fight against Hillary Clinton not on attacking others.
CONWAY: Well, he doesn't hurl personal insults, he's challenging the Democratic Party, he's challenging Hillary Clinton and President Obama's legacy.
[19:05:11] MURRAY: But that lasted less than a day. Trump spent the morning tearing in to two cable TV hosts, treating that Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski are two clowns and calling Brzezinski a neurotic and not very bright mess.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MURRAY: Now there is good reason for Donald Trump's advisors who want him to stay on message and at least want them to consider toning it down on a couple of these issues. And that's because he is trailing in nearly every battleground state nationwide. But he is in striking some including right here in Ohio. And it's telling, Pam, that as he took the stump here in Akron, Ohio tonight, he opened with a message about the economy, about jobs and slamming trade deals. That's the kind of message the campaign believes could have win them over independent voters in rust belt states like Ohio.
BROWN: All right. Sara Murray, thank you so much for that.
And Jeff Zeleny is OUTFRONT live in Washington. So, Jeff, Trump just moments ago called for the special prosecutor to investigate the Clinton Foundation. Is the Clinton campaign worried? I know it's probably too soon for them to respond.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, they certainly are watching the whole allegations and questions about e- mails very carefully. That's what he was referring to, Pamela, was a special prosecutor in this long-running e-mail investigation. But the reality of this, as you all know, from covering the Justice Department, calling for a special prosecutor is actually controversial among many Republicans. Many Republicans are not even supportive of a special prosecutor because they believe that, A, there's not much time left in this administration but the reality here is this is another example of Donald Trump potentially getting off track here.
You know, he is calling out the whole e-mail situation, calling out this investigation. But the question is, you know, is he a credible spokesman here on this? But it fires up his base. But he needs to get people in the middle here. So, I mean, the whole focus he is trying to do tonight is turn away from immigration, he's been sort of flailing around on immigration. And the Clinton campaign is been watching this very carefully. Because they want to lock his immigration position in stone.
And John Podesta, the chairman of the Clinton campaign put out this statement not long ago. Let's take a look at this. Their plans on Trump on immigration. He said, "Donald Trump's immigration plan remains the same as it has always been. Tear apart families and deport 16 million people from the United States. One need look no further for confirmation than Donald Trump's own words," here. So, the Trump campaign may try pivot on immigration. Unlikely they'll be able to, at least in the eyes of the Clinton campaign. But this email investigation getting back to our first topic here. This is definitely going to go on to that something that will be drip, drip, drip, until Election Day for Hillary Clinton.
BROWN: Certainly, the Clinton camp does not want this to happen. We're going to talk about this coming up. Thank you so much, Jeff Zeleny.
And OUTFRONT, Jose Fuentes, former Attorney General at Puerto Rico and a Trump supporter. Patti Solis Doyle, former Hillary Clinton presidential campaign manager and David Chalian, CNN's political director.
David, I want to go to you first in light of what we were just talking about with Jeff's breaking news. Trump's now fresh calls for the Justice Department to name a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation. These are some of his strongest comments yet, it seems.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: This is exactly the kind of street fight, taking it to Hillary Clinton every day that we were talking about, Pam, last week, when he shook up his campaign staff and brought in Steve Bannon, former head of Breitbart coming in. This is exactly what we anticipate would be the kind of energy Bannon might bring to the Trump operation. And this is why we hear there's the, you know, postponement of the immigration policy rollout that, you know, folks inside the Trump campaign had said would be coming Thursday.
Because this now is a battle on both sides, to make the selection of referendum on their opponent. And because of the stories that were coming out on the Clinton Foundation and continued e-mail controversies, the Trump campaign and Donald Trump clearly seized on this and said, hey, we can make this week about Hillary Clinton. Let this week be a referendum on her instead of me. And that's why I think you saw upping the ante with this call for a special prosecutor.
BROWN: And Patti. What's your reaction to that, this new call?
PATTI SOLIS DOYLE, FORMER HILLARY CLINTON, 2008 CAMPAIGN MANAGER: I think, look, I think David is probably right, with the bringing in Steve Bannon and the advisors of Roger Ailes and Roger Stone. They do want to make it a street fight. The problem is, Hillary can discredit much of this because it is FOX, it is Breitbart. Look, the foundation, the Clinton Foundation does a lot of good work. It saves lives. Shutting it down is not possible without really putting lives at risk. So, I just don't think that is a reasonable request by anyone at this point. President Clinton has said that it's going to sort of go backwards and stop taking monies and he's going to stop giving speeches. That takes a while to sort of scale back, and that's what I think. [19:10:21] BROWN: Right. Right. And we're going to talk more about
the e-mail controversy and all of this new information later in the show but as you pointed out, David, this is also part of a strategy for Trump to focus on. The Clinton and emails in order to deflect perhaps for moving the immigration speech to next week or possibly beyond because we're getting these indications, Jose, that he may be changing his tune a bit to the idea of deporting millions of undocumented immigrants. That has really been one of Trump's most consistent and significant policies since he started his campaign 14 months ago. Jose, what do you think about this?
JOSE FUENTES, TRUMP HISPANIC ADVISORY COUNCIL MEMBER: Well, I met with him last Saturday, as you know. And we didn't see any shift in policy. He's been very consistent that whatever we do has to be fair to everyone not only to the 11 million undocumented people who are here in the country but to those who stood in line for five, ten years, to get in legally. For those who live on a border that is reckless, that impacts all the sovereign states and for everyone included. So, it has to be fair. It has to be tough. It has to be according to the law. And he's sticking to that. He hasn't changed his tune on that.
BROWN: So, he is still going to deport the 11 million undocumented immigrants that are in the United States? Is that what you talk away from the meeting you had with him?
FUENTES: No. What he was very clear on is that there's 150,000 undocumented people here in this country who have criminal records who would had never qualified to get into this country in the first place. Those people have to go.
BROWN: To be clear -- hold on, Jose. To be clear, because we have to keep it honest here. He has made clear throughout that he wants to deport the 11 million undocumented immigrants, including families. He hasn't just said criminals. He has said rounding up families. So --
FUENTES: No.
BROWN: Well let's --
FUENTES: That's not true.
BROWN: Let's listen to it in his own words.
FUENTES: Sure.
BROWN: Can we play that clip that we have from Donald Trump in his own words about his deportation policy?
TRUMP: We're going to keep the families together. We have to keep the families together.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you're going to keep them together out.
TRUMP: But they have to go. You're going to have a deportation force, and you're going to do it humanely. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're rounding them all up.
TRUMP: I'm rounding them up in a very humane way, in a very nice way. And they're going to be happy because they want to be legalized.
And I'm sure these are very, very fine people. They're going to go and we're going to create a path where we can get them into this country legally.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: So he didn't say anything there, Jose, that he was just focusing on criminals. He made it clear that this was the 11 million undocumented immigrants.
FUENTES: Yes, but --
BROWN: OK. Go ahead.
FUENTES: The clip is very clear. He wants to keep families together. He wants them to be in this country. He wants them to be here legally. So, what's inconsistent about that?
BROWN: Patti, what's your view here? Patti, someone who's been very involved in the Hispanic community, obviously you're a Hillary Clinton supporter but what is your take?
SOLIS DOYLE: Well, two points. I think, one, someone on the Trump campaign finally woke up and realized that they are going to lose and lose badly unless they start to peel off some of the coalition voters that Hillary Clinton has put together, peel off African-American voters, peel off women voters and peel off Hispanic voters. Two, over the past 14 months -- and you've shown some of the clips. We have seen what's in Donald Trump's heart in terms of immigrants and immigration policy. He started his campaign saying that Mexicans are rapists and criminals. He has criticized a judge by saying that he's incapable of doing his job simply because of his Mexican heritage.
FUENTES: Wait a minute. So wait a minute --
SOLIS DOYLE: No, wait, let me finish.
FUENTES: Are you saying --
SOLIS DOYLE: He has basically said that he wants to mass deport 11 million people and he has suggested that the model under the Eisenhower administration which is called the wetback operation, was a good model.
FUENTES: So, what you're saying --
SOLIS DOYLE: He has insulted and demonized Hispanics for the last 14 months. And for him to try and turn it around now is insulting. And, you know, Hispanic voters are not stupid.
BROWN: Go ahead. Quickly, Jose. And then I want David to give final thought.
FUENTES: Yes. So, what you understood from Trump then was that he said that 35 million Mexicans living in this country are rapists and criminals? Is that what you take from that?
SOLIS DOYLE: The day he said those words, he got such enormous backlash. Remember? He lost the Macy's deal, he lost his partnership with Univision for the Miss Universe pageant. And he had every opportunity back then to take those words back, to apologize and he didn't.
FUENTES: And he did. And he did. He says clearly --
SOLIS DOYLE: Even if it hurts him in his wallet --
BROWN: After he said those words, immigration became even more of a centerpiece of his campaign and David Chalian, what's interesting here, if you look at the exit polls, from the primaries, a majority of the Republican voters actually back offering legal status to undocumented immigrants. So, do you think that this sort of a general election pivot he needs to make to woo those Republicans, those swing voters as systemic?
[19:15:22] CHALIAN: Yes. We saw it time and again, primary after primary, Pamela, exactly what you're describing. Which is that either plurality or majority of Republicans said they preferred legal status over mass deportation. Now, not a majority of Donald Trump supporters. Donald Trump supporters are very much on the deportation side. But a Republicans more broadly. So, I think it's not just about outreach and trying to take a slice of the Hispanic vote away from Hillary Clinton. I think it is also about upping his support among Republicans, getting to a place where a broader swath of the Republican Party feels that they can support him going forward throughout the fall.
BROWN: All right. Jose, Pattie, David, thank you so much. I do appreciate you all coming on, sharing your perspectives.
CHALIAN: Thank you.
SOLIS DOYLE: Thank you.
BROWN: And OUTFRONT, up next on this Monday, breaking news. Donald Trump calling for a special prosecutor to investigate the Clinton Foundation.
And remember this story? The alligator attack that killed 2-year-old little boy at Disney World, we have some new details about how a father desperately tried to save his son. Also, Donald Trump's problem with black voters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: What the hell do you have to lose?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE) (END VIDEO CLIP)
[19:19:43] BROWN: Tonight, Donald Trump is ramping up his push to win over African-American voters and key swing state at the same time. As we see him there. You're looking at these live pictures out of Ohio. Trump just wrapped up a rally in Akron. A city that is more than 30 percent African-American. And Trump is continuing his plea for their support.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I want every parent and child in this society, including so importantly every African-American and Hispanic citizen to be able to live in a safe, thriving and prosperous community. It's time. This is the new American future that we're working all together to create.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: So the big question, will they respond to Trump's message? Tom Foreman is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: Wow!
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Facing the weakest African-American support of any presidential contender in years, Donald Trump is making a bold play for them.
TRUMP: What the hell do you have to lose? It's time to get our country back to work, and that includes an all-out effort to help young African-Americans get the good-paying jobs that they deserve.
FOREMAN: Getting more of the black vote seems essential, even though that vote traditionally skews heavily democratic. After all, George Bush scored just 11 percent of African-American votes and won. John McCain lost with four percent. So did Mitt Romney with six and Trump right now is far behind both of them. Polls suggest this is a measure of his clumsy attempts to woo minorities so far.
TRUMP: Look at my African-American over here. Look at him.
FOREMAN: His rallies had seen clashes with racial overtones including a black protester being sucker punched by a white Trump supporter. He muddled his initial response to support from a former clansman.
TRUMP: I don't know anything about David Duke. OK?
FOREMAN: A misstep he soon corrected.
TRUMP: I disavow David Duke.
FOREMAN: But Trump also has history. In 1989 a white jogger was attacked, raped and nearly killed in New York, Central Park. Five young men of color were picked up and Trump bought newspaper ads calling for a return of the death penalty. TRUMP: You better believe that I hate the people that took this girl
and raped her brutally.
FOREMAN: Evidence eventually proved they did not do it. But even now some black voters recall Trump's rush to judgment. However, some factors may be in Trump's favor. Under Barack Obama, African- Americans, taken as a whole, have not done particularly well. Their unemployment rate is way above average, more than a quarter live in poverty and racial tension has risen. All of that, indeed, could make Democratic candidates vulnerable.
TRUMP: We reject the bigotry of Hillary Clinton which panders to and talks down to communities of color and sees them only as votes, that's all they care about, not as individual human beings worthy of a better future.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: Still the polls and the election results tell us that many African-Americans have grown up in families where they've never really seriously considered voting for a Republican for president. It's hard to imagine that a lot of them will suddenly make that leap for this particular nominee -- Pam.
BROWN: Thank you to our Tom Foreman.
And OUTFRONT now, Paris Dennard, a member of the National Diversity Coalition for Donald Trump. He is also the former director of Black Outreach for President George W. Bush. Senior advisor to the Trump campaign, Boris Epshteyn joining us as well. And Hillary Clinton supporters Basil Smikle and Sally Kohn. Thank you all for coming on. We do appreciate it.
And Paris, I'm going to start with you.
PARIS DENNARD, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Sure.
BROWN: On the heels of what we just heard from Tom's report, you look at the polls, the latest poll out from NBC and Wall Street Journal shows that Donald Trump only gets one percent of the African-American vote compared to Hillary Clinton. But to put this in perspective, John McCain and Mitt Romney both did better than that against Barack Obama. So, is Trump wasting his time with his pitch to African- American voters?
[19:24:01] DENNARD: It's never a waste of time to talk to all groups of people, especially the black community. I think what's inaccurate about this polling is that we're looking at one percent today as opposed to the six percent that Romney received and 11 percent that George W. Bush received after the election. We have a lot of time to go until the end of this election in November. And when you have one percent, you can only go up. And I think Donald Trump is going to go up.
BASIL SMIKLE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NEW YORK STATE DEMOCRATIC PARTY: Well, I will tell you, his outreach to me was condescending. But what was worse than that was the hubris that he promoted. To me that was dangerous. Because it sounds like that, whatever outreach, whatever language that he has used as outreach in the African-American community sounds like what he says among his friends at cocktail parties. That is not real policy. I was 17 years old in 1989.
I remember the racial tensions around the Central Park Five case and how he inflamed that. A hundred thousand dollars in newspaper ads, calling for the deaths -- bringing back the death penalty in light of these five young men. I was 17 years old. So, that was particularly felt by me. So, to me, when he gets up there and he starts using and quoting --
DENNARD: Facts.
SMIKLE: Sort of every negative statistic.
DENNARD: Facts.
SMIKLE: It seems like the only -- it seems like the only statistics --
DENNARD: Statistics don't lie.
SMIKLE: It seems like the only statistics that Donald Trump knows are welfare statistics about the black community.
DENNARD: He wants to make us better.
SMIKLE: He knows nothing, he knows nothing about communities of color. When will he come to my community? When will he come to my neighborhood?
BROWN: Look at the other side of this. Look at the other side of this, you know, according to the Census Bureau, the annual median income for African-American households is roughly $35,000 compared to $54,000 for everyone else. And so, you just heard in Tom's report that more than a quarter African-Americans live in poverty. So, is there concern, Sally, with this pitch he's making that perhaps it will be appealing to some African-American voters?
SALLY KOHN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, if the only thing -- it may in fact, be the only thing that Donald Trump chose that this is getting offs in the media and at the country, and our country around kitchen tables to talk about racial inequality, jobs in the economy, than that is a positive. By the way, statistics are not what Donald Trump has been reporting. They are better than he has been reporting --
BORIS EPSHTEYN, SENIOR ADVISER, DONALD TRUMP CAMPAIGN: You're wrong.
(TALKING OVER EACH OTHER)
BROWN: He said 58 percent but listen --
EPSHTEYN: No, he said 26 percent poverty.
BROWN: He said, 58 percent. But listen --
KOHN: Can I make two points? One, African-American unemployment has been cut by half under President Obama. Let's put credit where credit is due, number one. And number two, I think we're really missing the forest for the trees here. Which is, people are kind of scratching their heads, why did Donald Trump go make this pledge, this plea for African-American voters --
EPSHTEYN: Because he wants all voters --
KOHN: Excuse me, in front of white people? Forest. Let me finish my thought.
(TALKING OVER EACH OTHER)
Because he wants white people to not feel badly -- he wants white people to not feel badly about voting for a repeatedly racially divisive and harsh, and aggressive, and hate mongering president.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks for your talking points. Sounds a reality.
KOHN: Look, I'm sorry but --
(TALKING OVER EACH OTHER)
BROWN: I'm watching this. And I'm wondering why now, it seems like all of a sudden he is making this pitch to African-American voters. What's behind this? Why now Boris?
EPSHTEYN: He is going to pitch to all voters.
BROWN: He has been specific here to African-American voters.
EPSHTEYN: Of course he's going to --
BROWN: This is a new side to him.
EPSHTEYN: Which is great. Listen, this is a Republican candidate talking about the blight of inner cities. What is wrong with him? Why is he so upset? It's great. He's talking about --
SMIKLE: He's not talking about the blight of inner cities.
EPSHTEYN: Let me finish now. Let me finish. I'm going to finish.
SMIKLE: He's not talking about the blight of inner cities.
EPSHTEYN: He's talking about the despair of inner cities. He's about to revitalize the inner cities. He's about the 26 percent of African- Americans living in poverty in this country. And he is talking about how to fix that. The Democrats have failed.
BROWN: Why didn't he --
EPSHTEYN: Democrats have not failed. BROWN: Why didn't he seem to care about these issues as much before?
He didn't even go to the NAACP convention in July that past Republican nominee has been to. He said that he was out --
SMIKLE: Or the urban league, the National Association of Black Journalists.
(TALKING OVER EACH OTHER)
BROWN: Why now does it seem like he's coming out and cares about --
DENNARD: I think it's inaccurate to say that he doesn't care. I think that if you go back to the campaign -- look, let's be truthful. Corey, the past campaign manager said he was not going to do coalition type work. Corey was let go. Manafort came in, Manafort made a decision to do more. They hired coalitions people and you saw an increase in the number of meetings, the things that Donald Trump was doing as relates to the black community. And now, with the new campaign manager, you've seen an uptick. You've seen a lot more of that Donald Trump and the campaign is doing. But there's been past presidents, the candidates who have not gone to NAACP and things of that nature. What matters is that he's talking about issues that affect our community.
SMIKLE: I would rather that he say --
(TALKING OVER EACH OTHER)
BROWN: OK. You all -- good news is, you're all coming back right after this break. I knew this would be lively. So, we wanted to keep you around for that reason.
And up next, we have some breaking news. Donald Trump issuing this new call for a special prosecutor to investigate the Clinton Foundation, the foundation he calls the most corrupt in political history.
And we also have some new details about that horrific death of a two- year-old little boy killed by an alligator at Disney. Remember that story? Is that gator still in the water?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:33:18] BROWN: Breaking news: Donald Trump is calling for a special prosecutor to investigate the Clinton Foundation. He spoke just moments ago in Akron, Ohio.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: After the FBI and the Department of Justice whitewashed Hillary Clinton's email crimes, they certainly cannot be trusted or partially investigate Hillary Clinton's new crimes, the Justice Department is required to appoint an independent special prosecutor, because it has proven itself to be really, sadly a political arm of the White House.
(END VIDEOI CLIP)
BROWN: But the Clinton campaign is also on the attack.
Suzanne Malveaux is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight, Hillary Clinton on the offensive, launching a new TV ad slamming Donald Trump on national security.
AD NARRATOR: Because all it takes is one wrong move.
TRUMP: I would bomb the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out of them.
AD NARRATOR: Just one.
MALVEAUX: Reminiscent of the infamous "Daisy" ad of 1964.
ANNOUNCER: Five, four, three, two, one -- zero.
MALVEAUX: But Clinton's camp is playing defense as well, fighting an onslaught of accusations.
GOV. MIKE PENCE (R-IN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: It's time for Hillary Clinton to come clean about the Clinton Foundation.
MALVEAUX: The Clinton Foundation continues to take fire.
TRUMP: Then there was all the money funneled into the Clinton Foundation from foreign governments and corporations. It was pay for play.
MALVEAUX: With Hillary Clinton facing claims she used her status at the State Department to give special access to the top donors of the Clinton Foundation. Her husband, Bill Clinton, announced steps to break from the foundation, should Hillary become president, saying, "While I will continue to support the work of the foundation, I will step down from the board and will no longer raise funds for it".
[19:35:13] But not before Election Day.
ROBBY MOOK, HILLARY CLINTON CAMPAIGN MANAGER: It takes time, when you're in a number of countries around the world, to retool, refocus the mission and adapt.
TRUMP: Number one, they should shut it down. Number two, they should give the money back to a lot of countries that we shouldn't be taking and they shouldn't be taking money from, countries that influenced her totally and also, countries that discriminate against women, and gays and everybody else.
MALVEAUX: And Clinton now caught in a back and forth with her State Department predecessor, Colin Powell, over the use of her private e- mail account.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Thank you so much for everything, Colin.
MALVEAUX: Reported claims now that it was Powell who suggested Clinton use her private e-mail while secretary.
But Powell refutes that, telling "People" magazine, "Her people have been trying to pin it on me. She was using private e-mail for a year before I sent her a memo telling her what I did."
Today, more Clinton e-mails are coming under scrutiny, as a federal judge orders the State Department to come up with a plan to release almost 15,000 documents before Election Day.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Republicans see Clinton's e-mail practice as an issue winnable for them, incredibly damaging for Clinton and ultimately sustainable to the weeks leading up to the election.
Earlier today, Republican lawmakers issued subpoenas of three tech companies who were involved in setting up and maintaining Clinton's unusual home server setup. The Clinton campaign remains focused on fund-raising with $20 million more cash on hand than Trump and a staggering $80 million a campaign in eight key states -- Pam.
BROWN: All right. Suzanne Malveaux, thank you so much.
I want to bring back my fiery panel to us, because we have a lot more to discuss on the heels of the last block.
And, Sally, I want to go to you first, to talk about the notion of a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton that Donald Trump just proposed at his rally in Ohio. He is accusing her of pay-for- play while she was secretary of state. Your reaction to this notion.
KOHN: Well, first of all, look, Republicans have been crowing for weeks about what James Comey found and it was damning against Hillary Clinton, but apparently not damning enough, so now they want a special prosecutor, point number one.
Two other points that I think the American people need to know, one is, look, Hillary and Bill Clinton do not draw a salary from the Clinton Foundation. The Clinton does is it uses its donations, excuse me, it uses its donations to support 11.5 million people around the world to get affordable anti-retroviral drugs for AIDS therapy, to help kids who in this country who are starving who don't have enough to eat, have affordable meal.
So, that's the work that it does. That's what they're taking these donations for.
Unlike, for instance, Donald Trump, who has taken donations from the state-owned Bank of China and Russian banks, Russian investors.
EPSHTEYN: There's no proof. There's no donation --
(CROSSTALK) KOHN: Excuse me. This is getting recorded. Not to do -- you'll get your turn. He has taken money from foreign banks, Russia, Chinese- owned banks in order to not do good work in the world but to line his own pockets.
EPSHTEYN: Sally, name a bank.
KOHN: If we're going to talk about this.
(CROSSTALK)
KOHN: Excuse me, I'm not finished. Excuse me. I'm going to finish. Bank of China is a China-owned bank. There we go.
EPSHTEYN: The bank in Russia? Bank in Russia, name one bank.
(CROSSTALK)
KOHN: I can't remember the name of the bank --
EPSHTEYN: Don't go out here and lie to the American people.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: You laughed when Sally brought up the notion that the Clintons don't take a salary from the Clinton Foundation, that the campaign has repeatedly said. What is a joke about that? Why were you laughing?
EPSHTEYN: Because a big chunk of the foundation goes to overhead, lifestyle, transportation.
SMIKLE: Lifestyle?
KOHN: Lifestyle?
EPSHTEYN: They have this foundation that can pay for their whole life, their whole business, whatever they want to do. They travel around the world based on the money in the foundation.
(CROSSTALK)
SMIKLE: To do good work.
EPSHTEYN: Do you think Gilbert Chagoury, a Lebanese Nigerian billionaire giving a billion dollars with CGI because he wants to do good? He's a convicted money launderer.
SMIKLE: I have actually traveled with the Clinton Foundation and I have seen firsthand the work they do with young people, babies with respect to AIDS and HIV drugs. They're doing tremendous work.
EPSHTEYN: So they should open to a special prosecutor if it's OK. Just say yes.
(CROSSTALK)
EPSHTEYN: It's done with e-mails.
SMIKLE: Move to the foundation.
BROWN: All right. Let me ask you one more question. We bring up e- mails. We're losing time here. This is a problem for the Clinton campaign that now we find out up until the election, we could be getting these drips and drabs of e-mails that the FBI discovered through the course of the investigation.
How concerning is this to the Clinton camp?
KOHN: Look, of course it's concerning, frustrating, and distracting, all of those things. The simple fact remains she said it was a mistake. She apologized.
[19:40:01] She didn't need a teleprompter or weeks to prepare to do it. She did it immediately. And she was not found --
BROWN: She didn't apologize right away. It took her several months to apologize.
(CROSSTALK)
KOHN: But again, I just want to say, this selective Clinton derangement syndrome driven outrage were Republicans who have never concerned about money in politics, about influence of corporation in politics --
EPSHTEYN: She has taken bribes as secretary of state.
SMIKLE: No, no, no. Absolutely not.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Paris really hasn't spoken. Go ahead.
DENNARD: Yes, at the end of the day, had my mama done half the things that Hillary Clinton has done or been accused of doing, she would be in jail. No need for a special prosecutor.
And this is why the e-mail situation is so problematic for them, because it's drip, drip, drip, and it reinforces this narrative that she can't be trusted, that she has something to hide and the rules don't apply to the Clintons. And they continue to see that play over and over again. And American people will go to the voting booth and they say I can't trust her. I'll vote for Trump.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Thank you so much.
And OUTFRONT up next on this Monday, chilling new information about that toddler killed by an alligator at Disneyworld. Were warnings ignored?
And long before he became a presidential candidate, Donald Trump played the stock market.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Money is a scorecard as far as I'm concerned. Believe me, money is not the most important thing but it's a way of keeping score.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:45:27] BROWN: Moments ago, Donald Trump wrapped up a rally in the key battleground state of Ohio, and this comes as an exclusive CNN investigation discovers that once upon a time, Trump engaged in a controversial but legal practice that netted him millions but also may have cost thousands their jobs.
Phil Mattingly is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the high-flying '80s, it was the corporate raiders got the big headlines and even bigger paydays. Donald Trump wanted in on the action.
TRUMP: Money is a scorecard. Money is a scorecard as far as I'm concerned. Believe me, money is not the most important thing, but it's a way of keeping score.
MATTINGLY: It's something Trump rarely discusses on the campaign trail, four years where he played the stock market and mostly won, big, to the tune of more than $200 million.
But a CNN investigation comprised of hundreds of pages of never- before-released depositions, testimony and financial documents, as well as more than a dozen interviews, opens a window into a playbook with striking parallels to his campaign, one driven by a bare knuckle strategy, strong arm tactics, media leaks and public statements that often ran contrary to the truth.
TRUMP: The difference between me and other people is I'll attack back. If I have to attack whatever method is necessary, I will. I will.
MATTINGLY: The review also discovered repeated allegations of Trump's use of one particularly volatile, yet completely legal tactic -- greenmailing, the practice of buying a large stake in a vulnerable company for the sole purpose, forcing its management to buy the stock back to avoid a takeover at a premium. With companies like Bally and Holiday Corp, Trump used his unique position as holder of a casino license, which allowed him to target his competitors in New Jersey and make millions as their management scrambled to stave off a takeover attempt.
Walter Reed, a New Jersey casino commissioner at the time, equated Trump's action to using, quote, a casino license as a weapon to weaken or undercut the financial integrity of his rivals. Trump and his lawyers vigorously disputed the green mail charge, but Trump in an unsolicited moment during testimony in front of the commission took pains to remind the commissioners green mail is, quote, "a totally legal practice. However, it's something the name, greenmailer, is not a very pretty word", according to transcripts obtained by CNN.
But a tell-all account by former executive John O'Donnell paints a different picture. In his 1991 book on the billionaire, O'Donnell recounts Trump behind it very clear what he was doing, bashing Bally executives as idiots who caved in.
In addition to making money, Trump had another motivation. "I really enjoyed doing it, because it put a real scare into them," Trump said, according to O'Donnell. With Bally and Holiday, Trump never went so far to make a tinder offer for the companies, leaving critics to believe he attacked to juice the stock and sell for profit.
CARL ZEITZ, FORMER NJ CASION CONTROL COMMISSSION MEMBER: I don't think he intended to acquire another casino hotel.
MATTINGLY: Carl Zeitz, a Democrat who supports Hillary Clinton, served alongside Reed on the New Jersey Casino Commission and raise major concern about whether Trump's greenmailing practice made him unfit to keep his state gaming license.
ZEITZ: In those days, the term was "greenmail" where you went into a public corporation who's vulnerable and bought stock and kind of held it up. I think that was his purpose. We did not regard it as conduct sufficient or the level to say, you're no longer qualified. But if we did, we took it seriously. We didn't like it. And we hoped that by doing that, we put a stop to that kind of business.
MATTINGLY: Trump kept his casino license. The companies themselves never recovered. Holiday Corp's management, bogged down by the debt, thousands lost their jobs. Bally was also left wounded and similarly mired in debt.
As for Trump, despite the millions in profits and the weakened competitors, it wasn't all positive. His efforts sparked a Justice Department investigation in the 1980s, alleging that Trump concocted a scheme to dodge federal stock purchase notifications, something done specifically to hide his intentions from Bally and Holiday.
Trump settled the resulting federal lawsuit $750,000. He did not admit any wrongdoing.
In a separate civil lawsuit brought by Bally shareholders, Trump agreed to pay them $2.25 million for his role for artificially inflating the company stock.
Yet for Trump, one thing remains clear, then as now, there are no apologies for his tactics.
TRUMP: I love battles. And, unfortunately, battles -- I'm not controversial to be controversial. I mean, I get into a lot of battles and that's part of winning.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Phil Mattingly joins us now.
So, how is the Trump campaign responding to your reporting?
MATTINGLY: Well, Pamela, we reached out to them multiple times and they declined repeated requests to make anyone available, to really kind of walk me through his activist investing strategy. Trump has himself, Pam, he's made clear throughout his campaign he's not going to apologize for the tactics he used as a businessman. He was inn it at a time to make the best deal for Donald Trump and that's exactly what he did.
Now, I did talk to two former Trump executives from the time who told CNN, Trump really went into these deals with the idea that he couldn't lose. On the unlikely chance that takeovers happen, he would be at an advantage. They didn't as he expected, he'd make millions on their stock -- Pam.
BROWN: All right. Phil Mattingly, thank you so much for that in- depth reporting there.
And OUTFRONT up next, on this Monday, stunning new details about an alligator that killed a 2-year-old boy at Disneyworld. The father's desperate attempt to save his son.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Tonight, new details about the alligator that killed a 2-year- old boy at a Disney World hotel. Officials aren't sure if the gator is still alive.
[19:55:00] And a new report revealed that at least two people told Disney staff they saw an alligator in the water right before the attack.
Jean Casarez is OUTFRONT with us.
And it is just stunning, Jean, to think there were warnings of an alligator being in the water, sightings and yet nothing happened. What can you tell us?
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Quite a few warnings. This is the case summary. So, this is the first time we've seen really definitive facts from an investigation. First of all, 45 minutes before the attack happened, what they now say is that a mother and her children were there, on the beach and that the oldest daughter actually saw an alligator five feet from the shoreline.
She went to tell the audio/visual creative director, because they were going to show a movie on the beach. So, lots of people were there. They went into the store. When they come back to the beach, the incident had already happened.
Two people in their rooms about an hour and a half before this happened looked over their balconies and see an alligator in the water close to shore. One of them went to an employee -- we don't know who -- at the hotel saying, I see a gator right there in the water.
And, Pamela, the actual facts we're learning of what happened are unbelievable. This little boy, 2 years old, was building a sandcastle. He had his bucket and he took his bucket to the water to get -- so he could continue to build. And that's when the gator came, grabbed him by his head. His father was right there. His father jumped into the water, tried to pry the head open of the gator. The gator trashed around, carried the little boy with him.
But the cause of death, cranial cervical trauma. Two bite wounds, one tooth in the top of his head, the other tooth in the center of his neck. Two female gators, they think, are responsible, does not say that they were killed, but their stomachs were empty and the boy was found two hours later in the water.
BROWN: Wow. So, we don't know if those alligators have been killed. What about the family? Do they plan on taking legal action?
CASAREZ: Well, they have said they're not going to sue at all. But there's still an ongoing investigation because there are reports that people were feeding the gators in that area.
BROWN: Oh, gosh. It's just heartbreaking to learn about these new details. Jean Casarez, thank you very much.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Well, thank you so much for joining us on this Monday evening. I'm Pamela Brown, in for Erin Burnett.
"AC360" starts now.
