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Erin Burnett Outfront
Trump Links Weiner Sexting Scandal to Clinton; Top Clinton Aide Splits From Husband Over Sexting Scandal; Trump to Visit Black Church in Detroit in Outreach Push; NFL Player Calls Trump "Openly Racist"; Trump to Clinton: I'll Release My Health Records If You Do; Top Clinton Aide Splits From Husband Over Sexting Scandal; Comedy Icon Gene Wilder Dead at 83. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired August 29, 2016 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:12] ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: OUTFRONT next, Anthony Weiner's sexting scandal, Donald Trump's new comments tonight and what was the final straw for Huma Abedin?
Plus, Trump's challenge to Clinton over hope records as new questions squirrel about Trump's doctor. Sanjay Gupta weighing in OUTFRONT.
And the breaking news, Gene Wilder, the beloved start from "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" dead at 83. We remember his greatest moments on the big screen. Let's go OUTFRONT.
And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight, the Anthony Weiner scandal now front and center in the 2016 presidential campaign. Donald Trump is speaking out tonight about the latest shocking sexting charges against the former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner. Trump is charging Hillary Clinton showed bad judgment putting the country at risk by allowing Weiner's wife, Huma Abedin to continue to work for Clinton as her top aide.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: He is a sick person and, you know, she has access to classified information. How Hillary got away with that one, nobody will ever know. But to think that it's very likely that much of this information, Anthony Weiner would know about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Huma Abedin announcing today that the couple is separating. Tonight sources tell CNN that she was, quote, "furious and sickened" when she found out that he sent this picture to a woman in a series of sexually charged messages, it's a close-up of Weiner in his underwear in bed alongside their son, the four-year-old apparently asleep. Weiner and a woman, just described as a 40-something divorcee, and Trump supporter allegedly exchanged racy photos of each other over the course of the year. Stunning development.
Miguel Marquez is OUTFRONT tonight, and Miguel, Donald Trump is now determined to make this a campaign issue.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, he is. By weighing in, he is subtly, at least, making it a campaign issue. How long it will go is not clear. Look, Anthony Weiner has not only a problem with sexting, but getting caught doing it. And now it is part of presidential politics.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Anthony Weiner caught in yet another sexting scandal, the disgraced former congressman, husband of long-time and powerful Hillary Clinton adviser Huma Abedin humiliated once again. This time on the front-page of the New York Post. And this time it's not just a lurid photo of Weiner on the front-page. The selfie he sent to a woman, not his wife, shows him in his underwear, this time with his child beside him.
The Post reporting the picture was sent by a 40-something divorcee out west in the midst of a sexual conversation with the caption, "Someone just climbed into my bed." According to the Post, Weiner and the woman exchanged messages going back to January of last year. The disturbing image seized upon by Donald Trump, who used it to continue questioning Hillary Clinton's judgment, saying, "I only worry for the country in that Hillary Clinton was careless and negligent in allowing Weiner to have such close proximity to highly classified information. Who knows what he learned and who he told. It's just another example of Hillary Clinton's bad judgment. It is possible that our country and its security have been greatly compromised by this."
But for Huma Abedin, it was apparently the last straw. In a statement, Abedin said, "I have made the decision to separate from my husband. Anthony and I remain devoted to doing what is best for our son, who is the light of our life." She also asked for privacy. In 2013, during a comeback effort, as he ran for mayor, Weiner was caught for a second time sexting with women under the alias Carlos Danger. Abedin defended him before the cameras.
HUMA ABEDIN, HILLARY CLINTON'S TOP AIDE: So really what I want to say is, I love him, I have forgiven him, I believe in him. And as we have said from the beginning, we are moving forward.
MARQUEZ: But today separated, their marriage dissolving even before the public announcements of close friend telling CNN that the couple has been separated for months and recently she hadn't even been wearing her wedding ring. Anthony Weiner resigned from Congress in 2011 after accidentally tweeting to the entire world a sexually explicit photo intended to be a direct message to a 21-year-old woman. After days of denials and mounting pressure to resign, he finally fessed up.
ANTHONY WEINER, FORMER NEW YORK CONGRESSMAN: To be clear, the picture was of me and I sent it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ: Now, there is no indication at the moment that any security breach happened or there are any security concerns because of all of this. Anthony Weiner, though CNN has reached out to him, he hasn't got back to us. He did talk to the New York Post saying this woman was a friend for some time, he thought their conversations were private. He also said, he didn't think anything they said between each other was inappropriate -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Miguel.
Jeff Zeleny is traveling with Hillary Clinton tonight OUTFRONT in South Hampton, New York, where Huma Abedin has been with Clinton at fund-raisers. And Jeff, what are you hearing about Huma Abedin's reaction to these photos and particularly the one that I think everyone finds so disturbing with his son in it?
[19:05:30] JEFF ZELENY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, she learned about this photograph over the weekend. And I am told she was furious and sickened by this. This is from two friends close to her and Anthony Weiner. And he, in fact, was out in the Hamptons as well with their son, Jordan. They were going to spend the weekend here as well as the coming days. Hillary Clinton is out here on a big fund-raising spree. And this has upended all of that. And Huma Abedin I'm told did not want this to be a distraction from the campaign.
Now, we all remember those days turning into weeks as Anthony Weiner changed his story, as Miguel just reported there, you know, before resigning from Congress. She did not want that to linger, I'm told. That's why she was out early this morning with a statement saying that she is, indeed, moving to separate with him. And I'm told by another friend of her Erin that this is not something that happens overnight. She didn't simply see this photograph and decide that it was time to put out a statement to separate with him.
This has been building for months, she has been a bit estranged from him in recent months and they have been having difficulties. One friend told me they were on a path towards splitting up but she simply did not want it to be a distraction for the campaign. While Anthony Weiner saw to it that this was at least a one day distraction, Donald Trump would like it to be a longer one. We'll see if he gets his wish -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Jeff Zeleny, thank you very much.
OUTFRONT now, Kayleigh McEnany and Paris Dennard, both a Donald Trump supporters. Maria Cardona, whose firm currently does work for a pro- Clinton Super PAC. Also with me along with Keith Boykin, a Hillary Clinton supporter. OK. Welcome to all.
Maria, Huma Abedin, you heard Jeff reporting, they have been on the path toward separation. Obviously this is a horrific, embarrassing, humiliating thing that has happened. This could be another distraction to Hillary Clinton. That was her fear.
MARIA CARDONA, HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: Right.
BURNETT: So, she tried to keep this under wraps. Clinton campaign not expected to address this, not expected to respond to Donald Trump. Smart strategy?
CARDONA: Absolutely. Look, Donald Trump's tweet was callous, insensitive, wrongheaded, misguided. In short, it was vintage Donald Trump. I think the majority of Americans see this for what it is. A personal painful tragic incident that a family is going through in the public limelight. Most women's hearts will go out to Huma. Her and her son deserve nothing but respect and privacy.
This is not an issue that should be politicized by any means and Donald Trump's trying to politicize, I think just reeks of desperation. Because he has seen the polls, he has seen the numbers and he is trying to do anything to try to distract from the fact that people are understanding that he does not have the temperament to be president. And ironically, things like this, actions like this underscore that point.
BURNETT: So, let me just -- Donald Trump, Kayleigh, did respond not just on twitter but also on radio interview, he spoke specifically about this issue with Anthony Weiner, he said, asked whether it was relevant, that it was Huma Abedin's husband to the Hillary Clinton campaign. Here is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Terribly. I mean, I said a long time ago that she's married to a guy who is a disaster. I've known him for a long time. Here is a guy that what he has done over the internet is disgusting. He's a pervert and just a very sick guy. And she is married to him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Should he be going there, Kayleigh?
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: Yes. Because here is how it's relevant what he said in the statement. You know, first, I want to say, that, you know, as women, we can all empathize with Huma. He praised her today, saying she's very wise for stepping away from this situation as she should have done. But this is not personal where I think Maria is wrong that this isn't personal, it absolutely compromised all of us here in the public. Because she has access to highly sensitive information.
We know that Huma, at one point, left highly sensitive information in her car in a foreign country. So, there's a history of having this around her and have this at her home. To have potentially CIA asset names in a home with Anthony Weiner that could have been exploited, that could have been picked up by other people, that's when a private matter becomes a public matter. So, he is right to put the spotlight on this. He said she was wise for walking away. We can all empathize with her. But when you're in a highly public position, the public is in fact at risk.
BURNETT: Keith, this is a guy who has been known for oversharing.
KEITH BOYKIN, HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: Yes. That's definitely true. I mean, Anthony Weiner has a history. I mean, the idea that the Trump campaign is trying to make this an issue is a big stretch. It's an over reach of the worst sort. And it has the potential to backfire politically. I mean, if you want to go out this route, Kayleigh. And let's talk about Steve Bannon's domestic abuse, let's talk about Cory Lewandowski, let's talk about Paul Manafort. Let's talk about all the Trump campaign aides. We've gotten to the polls -- we're not just talking about the candidates.
We're talking about the spouses of the aides of the candidates. That is so far nuanced and distinct from the actual people who are in the race that I think it has the potential to backfire and create a backlash. Most people know that a candidate's spouse -- not even a candidate's spouse but an aide to a candidate's spouse has very little connection to what the candidate himself or herself will do in office.
(CROSSTALK)
[19:10:33] MCENANY: First of all, the accusations against Bannon and Lewandowski were never proven in a court of law. So, it's irresponsible to throw that out there as facts. Not only that, Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Shaffer came out today, and said that the scenario with Huma was a dream for foreign intelligence operative. These are military leaders that have come out and said that this is a dangerous scenario. So, for you to deny that it is a dangerous scenario. So, for you to deny that it is --
CARDONA: Are you saying that Weiner is a foreign intelligence operative?
MCENANY: No, he said that it is a dream. The scenario there was a dream for a foreign intelligence operative.
CARDONA: What does that mean? Are they saying that Huma shared this with the public?
MCENANY: No, no, no.
CARDONA: It makes no sense. It's ridiculous.
MCENANY: No, Maria. You have to understand. Foreign intelligence operatives look for scenarios in personal lives and they try to blackmail individual who are in positions of high power. A lieutenant colonel said this, none of us are military leaders here at this table.
BURNETT: Paris?
PARIS DENNARD, TRUMP NATIONAL DIVERSITY COALITION MEMBER: I think that back to Keith's point about this being politically -- the political issues, I think it's a smart move for the Clinton campaign to distance themselves from this. Because I think if she, meaning, Secretary Clinton, were to weigh in on this issue, it would draw attention back to the fact that she is married to someone who lied, she is married to someone who cheated repeatedly and she is married to someone who is a philanderer. And so, I think that what will do was turn off a lot of women voters who will be reminded of her --
(CROSSTALK)
And going back, and I'm not going to be baking cookies at home and these things that, problems that she may have with women voters. CARDONA: Erin, as a woman you really do not want to bring up those
kinds of things because Donald Trump is throwing stones at glass houses. This is a guy that in the 1980s and the 1990s, the only thing he cared about was burnishing his playboy reputation, saying horrible things about women on radio shows. And so, if you want to bring that up, bring it on because this is not something --
(TALKING OVER EACH OTHER)
DENNARD: We can debate, Trump versus Trump now or Trump versus years ago. This is Trump versus Clinton.
CARDONA: Something that the Clinton campaign doesn't want to bring up. And is it a bad strategy? I agree with Keith, all of this is going to backfire.
BOYKIN: Let me just make one quick point about this real quickly. Anybody who is over 30 years old knows what happened in the 1980s with Bill Clinton and those people have already made up their own minds about this and the dies have been cast. People under 30 are the people who don't have needs to win but he's losing them by almost two to one margin. So, I think that that's strategy --
(TALKING OVER EACH OTHER)
And they're still not supporting him though? Why are they not supporting him?
BURNETT: All right. One thing that he is trying to do to change out, of course is to reach out to voters who up to this point in polls have not been that supportive. Donald Trump has a new message for -- trying to talk to African-American voters. But tonight the NFL quarterback who refused to stand during the national anthem. You're going to hear exactly what Donald Trump has to stay to him.
Plus, Trump challenges Clinton to release her medical records as new questions surface about his doctor. Sanjay Gupta is OUTFRONT.
And the death of comedy legend Gene Wilder.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GENE WILDER, ACTOR: You know, I don't mean to embarrass you but I'm a rather brilliant surgeon. Perhaps I could help you with that hump.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: What hump?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[19:16:38] BURNETT: Tonight, Donald Trump not backing down in his fight to win over African-American voters. The Trump campaign announcing he will travel to Detroit over Labor Day weekend, visit a black church, something he has not yet done during the course of the campaign. But will this work? It's also leading to outrage for some.
Dana Bash is OUTFRONT. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Off the campaign trail Monday but never off Twitter, Donald Trump's rapid fire tweets are almost all about his new focus, the black vote. Look how bad it's getting, he tweeted. How much more crime, how many more shootings will it take for African-Americans and Latinos to vote Trump equals safe? And now that African-Americans are seeing what a bad job Hillary-type policy and management has done to the inner cities, they want Trump. Trump started appealing to black voters as his new team took over earlier this month.
TRUMP: What do you have to lose? You're living in poverty.
BASH: His advisers insist he has the capacity to make inroads with working class blacks, using some of the same arguments he makes with working class whites that the system is rigged against them.
TRUMP: I'm asking for the vote of every single African-American citizen in this country who wants to see a better future.
BASH: But this weekend, Trump was slammed for taking that outreach into tasteless territory. When basketball start Dwayne Wade's cousin was shot and killed by strayed bullets while walking her kids, Trump tweeted, "Dwayne Wade's cousin was just shot and killed while walking her baby in Chicago. Just what I have been saying, African-American will vote Trump." Later on the trail he tried a more tactful approach.
TRUMP: She was the mother of four and was killed while pushing her infant child in a stroller, just walking down the street. Shot. We have to solve our inner city problems and we will. I will fix it.
BASH: Then there's Trump's case against Clinton.
TRUMP: Hillary Clinton is a bigot.
BASH: An argument he is now using to back that up is that one of Clinton's Senate mentors was the late Robert Byrd who was briefly in the KKK as a young man. Yet Byrd had long disavowed that, which she reiterated with us a decade ago.
(on camera): They have said that one of your biggest regrets is briefly being a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
SEN. ROBERT BYRD (D), WEST VIRGINIA: I've been accustomed that people are asking me questions about the Klan, and I have never hesitated to say that was the greatest mistake of my life.
BASH (voice-over): Team Clinton is responding to Trump's attack with what she calls his steady stream of race baiting.
BYRD: Donald Trump would be best for the job.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For president?
BYRD: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am a farmer and white nationalist. Support Donald Trump.
BASH: Making head way with black voters is an uphill climb for any GOP presidential candidate. Trump is only getting two percent in the latest Pew Survey. Yet Trump is still trying. Next Saturday, Labor Day weekend, the start of the final push to Election Day, he will be in Detroit, visiting a black church, next Sunday.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: Now, the Trump campaign announced that upcoming trip to Detroit with a statement from Pastor Mark Burns, one of Trump's most outspoken African-American supporters. This afternoon, Pastor Burns sent a very controversial tweet that depicted Hillary Clinton in black face, telling black Americans, thank you for letting me use you again. Now, Erin, tonight, Burns is standing by and defending that tweet even as he was pressed hard by my friend, Kristen Welker at MSNBC, about whether it was appropriate. He is saying it entirely is.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much. And we'll just put that back up on the screen. So, I can go straight to you, Paris. You sit here as an African-American supporter of Donald Trump. Is that tweet too far?
DENNARD: It's not a tweet that I would have sent out. But I do understand what the point that Pastor Burns is making as it relates to Hillary Clinton and how she takes advantage, and a lot of Democrats, in my opinion, take advantage of the black vote and just use it as a voting bloc and not as something that they're really concerned about. You look at crime, you look at educational stances and educational position that they take against school choice, and charter schools and things of that nature as it relates to these urban cities, Democrats have failed our community.
BURNETT: All right. But you wouldn't have said it in that way?
DENNARD: It's not my style.
BURNETT: You would not have done that?
DENNARD: No.
BURNETT: Keith?
BOYKIN: It's totally offensive. It's typical Trump. Typical Trump surrogacy strategy. The idea that Trump is the guy first of all who said that laziness is a trait among black people. He said he wouldn't want to have a black accountant because he likes to have Jews handle his money. Let me finish. Let me finish. I let you finish. He figured out who started out his career with a racial discrimination lawsuit against him, for housing discrimination here in New York City. I live in Harlem. I took the subway down here.
One stop on the A train to 59 Street. Donald Trump says one step away and hasn't visited New York City's own black community. Why does he have to go to white people time and time again and talk to them about us? Why can't he come and talk to us? Why does he have to be pressured to do it, pressured to do it after a year on the campaign trail?
DENNARD: That's not true.
[19:21:39] BOYKIN: He has not done one single event in the African- American community in more than a year, almost a year-and-a-half of campaigning. How is that justifiable? How can you say that he's making a serious outreach to African-Americans?
BURNETT: Paris?
DENNARD: I can say it, Megyn -- because you see him talking about the issues that affect our community on a regular basis. This is a very significant thing for any Republican candidate to be doing. Now, would you go back to the fact that, when he was a Republican, running for Republican nomination, the black community is not a large voting bloc in the Republican primary. And so, he did not need to do that type of engagement with the black community.
BOYKIN: So the moment --
DENNARD: Excuse me. So the very moment he became the GOP nominee, you saw him have a deliberate uptick in directing -- but before that -- actually not true --
BOYKIN: I don't have --
DENNARD: -- Coalition for Trump was created during the primaries and that's consistent of African-Americans as well as a lot of Hispanics, and Jews and --
BOYKIN: The primary ended in May or June. We have had now several months for Donald Trump to visit the African-American community. He has not done so. He had to be pressured to do this. And then they go to this church to do an interview with the black pastor. Why won't he speak to the black journalist? He wouldn't even go to the National Association of the Black Journalist convention, he was offered an invitation and he declined. He would not go to the NAACP, he wouldn't go to the urban league. This is not a man who was taking the African- American votes seriously. And the idea Paris that you would come here and suggest something otherwise --
DENNARD: Watch it. Watch it. I'm not playing the black card for you.
BOYKIN: It's not about the black card.
DENNARD: Yes, it is.
BOYKIN: It's about reality. You represent one to two percent of the African-American.
DENNARD: Actually eight percent -- BOYKIN: The two polls just came out a second ago on the television
history. Don't try to change the reality.
DENNARD: Eight percent.
BOYKIN: Let's just deal with the fact. Donald Trump will not get the black vote support. He's not trying to get the black vote support. He's trying to reach white voters in the suburb and he's making this fake appeal to African-Americans to convince them. But he's not talking to us.
DENNARD: He is talking to me.
BOYKIN: And being pressured to do it.
BURNETT: OK. Paris?
DENNARD: That's just patently false.
BOYKIN: What is false?
DENNARD: That he is not engaging with the black community, that he has not been doing it for consistent basis. He has met multiple times.
BOYKIN: When? Name one time he met with an African-American community. When did he come to our community? When did he come to our community? When did he come to Harlem where I live?
DENNARD: You know what? Let's just talk about -- let's just go back to the time in New York that you referenced with Jesse Jackson. Reverend Jesse --
BOYKIN: Let's go back to --
(CROSSTALK)
DENNARD: Let me finish. When he opened up race relations in the project that he needed for the economy.
BOYKIN: That's an economic decision. It has nothing to do with Democrats -- ask him what he thinks about Donald Trump --
DENNARD: Well, you can go to YouTube and see the growing remarks about it. And when Donald Trump owned Mar-o-largo, when he became the owner of that property, he opened it up to African-Americans and Jews. When it was unpopular to do so.
BURNETT: All right. Hold on --
(TALKING OVER EACH OTHER)
On this issue of race, I just want to play again with the 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick said, about why he wouldn't stand up during the national anthem and then play what Donald Trump just said to respond to that. All right. So, here is Colin Kaepernick. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN KAEPERNICK, SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS QUARTERBACK: You have Hillary, who has called black teens or black kids super predators. You have Donald Trump who is openly racist. I mean, we have a presidential candidate whose deleted e-mails and done things illegally and is a presidential candidate. That doesn't make sense to me. If that was any other person, you would be in prison. So, what is this country really standing for?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: He slammed both candidates and he said he didn't stand because of how minorities are being treated in this country. Kayleigh, to that, Donald Trump directly responded to him in an interview today and here is Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I think it's personally not a good thing. I think it's a terrible thing. And, you know, maybe he should find a country that works better for him. Let him try. It won't happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Productive response?
MCENANY: Absolutely. Look, men and women have bled and died for that flag and that anthem. And to sit there and to not honor that, the deaths, the people who have given him the opportunity to make $17 million in this country, the freedoms of this country, that is absolutely an appropriate response. I just quickly have to respond to what you said because I can't allow falsehoods to be said. You're referring to one person who alleged that Donald Trump made a claim about laziness. Here's an entire book by Secret Service Officer Gary Byrne and we don't refer to on this network because it's one person's word against a candidate. You're referring to one person's word against Donald Trump and to malign a man who opened his --
(TALKING OVER EACH OTHER)
No. You like to feel about the people but you have got to let me finish. He was the first candidate to stand on that stage, the debate stage, Republican debate stage and say, he wanted the confederate flag of South Carolina to come down. This is the man who opened his door to the Rainbow Push Coalition and there's glowing praise by Jesse Jackson. He's not a racist man and it's sad to see people characterize him.
[19:26:36] CARDONA: Why is it, Kayleigh, that over and over again, we see in polls that around 60 percent of the American people believe that he is racist and bigoted? And that is why you see this kind of fake outreach to African-Americans, to Latinos, so that he can possibly try to erase some of that bigoted image, racist image to college-educated white voters. Because if he loses college-educated white voters, which he is right now, and especially college-educated women, there is no path to 270 for him.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you to all. All are staying with us.
Next, Donald Trump telling Hillary Clinton that he will release his health records if she releases hers. Dr. Sanjay Gupta next.
And who is Huma Abedin? Her story from White House intern to Hillary Clinton's top aide, ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:31:19] ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump squaring over their health. Trump tweeting a challenge to Clinton, saying he would have no problem releasing his detailed medical records if she releases hers.
This comes after Trump's doctor admitted he only spent five minutes writing his letter, declaring the Republican candidate would be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency -- of course, a statement no doctor could ever make unless he evaluated all the other presidents in American history.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, our chief medical correspondent, is OUTFRONT.
And, Sanjay, just -- you know, putting that aside, how does Trump's doctor letter compare to the letter we got from Hillary Clinton's doctor? This is really all we have from either of them at this point.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, it's kind of hard to put some of that hyperbole aside, Erin, because the letter is so chockfull of it. I mean, a couple of things about the letter, first on. I think this -- I know you've talked about this. But it bears repeating, this is not the way doctors write letters.
The language, the certain language that is typically used, for example. Most patients, certainly all doctors know that positive results are not what you want to hear from your doctor, because that means you have something. Negative test results. And even if all patients don't necessarily know that, all doctors do. And yet, he puts in the letter all of Mr. Trump's test results are positive.
He says stuff like astonishingly excellent. Test results are normal or abnormal, not astonishingly excellent. And finally this point that you make about the healthiest president ever.
But I think there are some serious things that are not in the letter, which I think is the more salient point probably, Erin. The heart and brain, cardiovascular health and the brain health overall is what people typically want to know about. And there's really no data in this letter, nothing objective where anyone could evaluate that.
BURNETT: And, Sanjay, Trump's doctor, gastroenterologist, you know, says he wrote note very quickly. There was a car waiting to get the note from Donald Trump, he said he was under some stress. Here is exactly what he said about it. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. HAROLD BORNSTEIN, DONALD TRUMP'S PHYSICIAN: I thought about it all day and at the end, I get rushed and I get anxious when I get rushed. So, I try to get four or five lines out as fast as possible so they would be happy.
Sit right at this desk and write that letter while the driver waited.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: What's your reaction to that?
GUPTA: Well, I mean, there's a lack of seriousness here, Erin. This is not about poking fun at anybody. But this is a serious matter. You know, you write a letter about one of your patients.
You look at the medical records. He said he has been his doctor for 39 years, presumably going to be medical records to look at, test results. What were the results of EKGs, cholesterol, again, things that evaluate the heart and brain. It just wasn't in there.
There was something else that Douglas Brinkley said the other day that I thought was important. The doctor here, Dr. Bornstein, talked about being friends with Donald Trump and this idea of the friendship of, in some ways, based the letter on. He said he wanted to sound like Trump, that Trump tweeted the letter would reveal perfection and he was trying to emulate that.
Those are some serious problems. I mean, there should be objective data, nothing subjective in this. It shouldn't be based on a friendship or some sort of expectation. Unfortunately, I think that's what happened here.
BURNETT: All right. Sanjay, thank you very much.
GUPTA: Yes, thank you.
BURNETT: All right. My panel back with me.
Kayleigh, what's your reaction to what Sanjay just said? Because obviously, there are moments in this whole thing that you can sort of snicker at, or chuckle at, but then you have to take a step back and say, this is deadly serious.
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, Donald Trump is a guy who wakes up early in the mornings, and he is up at 6:00 a.m., and from accounts in his campaign, he's up until 1:00 a.m. He's on the campaign trail double the amount Hillary Clinton is on the campaign trail.
This is a doctor who went to med school for four years, residency for seven, passed the boards like any other doctor.
[19:35:03] So, you know, he may be a funny character. He has seen the guy for 40 years. And I think the evidence is there that Donald Trump is a healthy guy.
BURNETT: Does it disturb you when Sanjay points out you don't talk about being astonishingly amazing or whatever it might be? These are not -- excellent -- these are not words that a doctor would use in a serious medical evaluation.
PARIS DENNARD, TRUMP NATIONAL DIVERSITY COALITION MEMBER: Well, I think that, you know, the doctor has known Mr. Trump for 39 years, as he said. So, he can talk with great level of expertise about his abilities to be a healthy candidate. And he is. He's 70 years old. He's on the campaign trail all day and he's going strong.
So, I don't think that he needed to go and spend hours and hours on this. If I asked one of my mentors to write a recommendation letter for me, it wouldn't take them hours. They know. They know for over 20 years. They write and it's done.
BURNETT: And yet, Maria, here is the thing, though. Put the letter aside. You would need a new letter. You would need a lot more data.
Trump has said, I'll give you all the data, right? Fine. Forget the letter. I'll give you all the data. Where is Hillary Clinton's? Where has all her -- he has said, I'll put out all my medical records.
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, you know what, we know more about her medical records than we know about him. I mean, let's be serious. A letter that was produced through mad libs would have seen -- would have been seen more serious than the letter we got from this doctor. There's nothing in there about heart rate, cholesterol, EKG.
BURNETT: Right. He said he's willing to put that out if she also is.
CARDONA: But why should she put something out first that she already has out there? We don't know any of --
BURNETT: Se doesn't have a lot of detail about --
(CROSSTALK)
CARDONA: In her letter we have her heart rate, her EKG, her cholesterol, her medications, what she has gone through in the last ten years. Her doctor clearly did a medical examination before she wrote this letter.
The letter from Trump's doctor, we have no clue if there was an examination there. It looked like a letter that Donald Trump drafted and gave him to sign.
BURNETT: And yet, Keith, she has made a joke of Donald Trump asking for her records. Here she is on Jimmy Kimmel.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Take my pulse while I'm talking to you. JIMMY KIMMEL, TV HOST/COMEDIAN: OK.
CLINTON: So make sure I'm alive.
KIMMEL: Oh, my God, there's nothing there.
CLINTON: There's nothing there. That's what I thought.
Back in October, "The National Enquirer" said I would be dead in six months.
KIMMEL: Oh, wow -- oh, boy!
CLINTON: So, with every breath I take, I feel like it's --
KIMMEL: You have a new lease on life?
CLINTON: Yes, a new lease on life, yes.
KIMMEL: Can you open this jar of pickles? This has not been tampered with. This is --
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Funny, but is it something she should be joking about?
KEITH BOYKIN, HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: It doesn't matter for that show. Donald Trump spent one full year of questioning the birth certificate of Barack Obama. The very least he should do is produce his health records, regardless of what any other candidate is doing.
BURNETT: All right. Thanks to all.
And next, one of Donald Trump's oldest and closest friends on why he's now on his third campaign chief in just two months.
And Huma Abedin in a recent interview saying she doesn't know if she could continue to work if not for her stay-at-home husband. Our report coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Tonight, CNN learning new details of Donald Trump's immigration plans as the Republican nominee prepares to deliver a major speech on the topic Wednesday. Senior adviser to the campaign telling CNN that Trump is adamant he will build a, quote, "impenetrable physical barrier" along the U.S. border with Mexico. This coming as Trump continues to send mixed messages about his plan to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants.
Here is what he has said over the campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: They're illegal immigrants. They came over illegally. Some are wonderful people and they've been here for a while. They got to go out.
There's certainly can be a softening because we're not looking to hurt people. We want people -- we have some great people in this country. What people don't realize, we have very, very strong laws.
There is no path to legalization unless they leave the country and come back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: OUTFRONT, Tom Barrack, close friend, business associate of Donald Trump's, has known him for nearly 40 years, now serves on Trump's economic advisory panel.
And, Tom, you spent time this morning with Donald Trump. You were talking about immigration together. You just heard his contradicting answers on whether he's going to go ahead and deport 11 million immigrants or not. Is he going to stand by that proposal?
TOM BARRACK, DONALD TRUMP ECONOMIC ADVISORY COUNCIL MEMBER: Yes. Look, all these things are terribly complicated. I think the good thing of moving to further punctuate an idea is he's flexible. He learns. He surrounds himself with very good people.
And as that idea develops in complexity -- I mean, let's not deceive ourselves. Deporting 11 million people when you really start getting into fine details of how can it be done, and what has to be done is amazingly complicated.
BURNETT: Well, let's be honest, it really can't be done in this country at this time.
BARRACK: Exactly.
So, rather than taking the political exit, which is to say I have a point of view and I'm staying on that point of view no matter what, he's punctuating it. He's not softening it. He's starting to define it in a way that we can all take a look and either say yes, this makes a lot of sense and will be further punctuated or what we have today is acceptable.
BURNETT: You talk about Donald Trump as being flexible, listening and being flexible. Those are not words a lot of other people have used to describe him. He is currently on his third campaign manager, others have resigned and others have been fired at that senior level in that campaign.
You have known him nearly 40 years. Why can't he seem to work with anyone right now consistently?
BARRACK: Look, I think he does. But the campaign has evolved and it's a new playbook, little bit like the Cavaliers, right? The playbook started and everybody said it's against all odds and he sensed something in America, this common touch, this ability not to be politically correct, ability to say what he really thinks. And more importantly, the ability to accept pain.
I don't have any other friends in business community, in the media community, that have the ability to walk into this arena and actually compete.
[19:45:04] BURNETT: So, you're making a good case for saying none of us had anything to do with Donald Trump?
BARRACK: I think what it has to do Donald Trump is he looks at it and says I'm going to win. What people love about him is that he's going to win. He is the most loyal person in the world.
In this particular instance, with Corey, with Paul, what he has done now -- Bannon is a superstar. I mean, the man is so accomplished as a fighter, as a warrior, as an investment banker, as media maven, but totally off of the map. But this is all about that.
So, at the end of the day, maybe none of this works, but what works is we change the debate. Democrats, Republicans, people who haven't voted, people who are aligned with Israel, people who have never heard of many of these issues on immigration on the budget, on entitlements, things we haven't talked about. So I think the debate will change things.
But you have a warrior who never has entered that arena and the playbook keeps changing, and as the playbook changes, you have different athletes who participate in various ways. So, I think, again, it's part of the disruption, by not taking that playbook and saying I'm going to listen to a bunch of professionals, no matter how injurious it may be along the way. And these instances, I think, help him, not hurt him.
BURNETT: And so, when he comes out now and talks about Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin, that's the stuff you don't want to hear him talking about.
BARRACK: Yes. Personally, I don't, because I think it detracts from the substance. I understand it, right? In other words, he's saying, look, I'm here, the American people want leader, they want somebody who stands in the middle of that fire and fights and fights to win. So, if I have all these issues, I'm going to use them and they can use them on me, bring it on, right? Nobody else does that.
Everybody says, I'm not going to bring that up because somebody is going to bring it up on me. He walks into the fire and says, I'm going to use it. I don't personally agree with that.
BURNETT: All right. Tom Barrack, thank you very much.
BARRACK: Thanks, Erin.
BURNETT: And OUTFRONT next, Huma Abedin just weeks ago praising her husband weeks ago for being a full-time dad, making her career possible. Her story ahead. And remembering beloved actor Gene Wilder.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:50:55] BURNETT: Tonight, top Clinton aide Huma Abedin says she's separating from her husband over allegations he texted sexually explicit photos again. Abedin has been a long time Clinton confidant, almost always by her side.
Sunlen Serfaty is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Huma Abedin, Clinton's longest serving aide, is now finding her family thrust into the spotlight.
Just last month, Huma telling "Vogue Magazine" of the guilt she feels as a working mom, praising her husband as a father. "I don't think I could do it if I didn't have the support system I have, if Anthony wasn't willing to be essentially a full-time dad."
Their rocky relationship front and center in a documentary about his run for mayor, derailed by a sexting scandal.
ANTHONY WEINER (D-NY), FORMER U.S. CONGRESMAN: The level of guilt and pain that I feel, I am very sorry I put everyone in this position.
SERFATY: Huma Abedin has been by Clinton's side for two decades, first working for First Lady Clinton in the White House, being with her through her Senate run, her 2008 campaign, in the State Department.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Unconfirmed. Yes, unconfirmed.
SERFATY: And rising now to vice chairwoman of the Clinton campaign.
HUMA ABEDIN, CLINTON AIDE: She's on the road a lot and I just, you know, am there to help keep it all together and help people be at their best, including my boss.
SERFATY: Their relationship is close, so close that Clinton has known to refer to her as a second daughter. Her wedding officiated by Bill Clinton. It was her boss, Hillary Clinton, who helped Huma through her husband's fall from grace in Congress in 2011, amid his first sexting scandal.
ABEDIN: I love in him. I have forgiven him. I believe in him. And as we have said from the beginning, we are moving forward.
SERFATY: Abedin is a Muslim, born in Michigan, raised in Saudi Arabia, her father from India, her mother from Pakistan. Her background and family ties, the subject of speculation and scrutiny by Clinton critics. Rupert Murdoch's paper bringing up allegations last week about her
association with this academic journal founded by her father that looks at issues related to Muslims living in Western societies, to which Huma is listed at one point as an assistant editor.
The Clinton campaign downplaying her involvement, telling CNN, quote, "She wasn't paid, did little to no work."
She is also being caught in the center of her boss' most durable controversies.
ABEDIN: And with that, I will be making no further comments. Thank you.
SERFATY: Including in a flood of new e-mails from Clinton's private e-mail server during her time as secretary of state, revealed last week. Those emails showing Huma arranging meetings with Secretary Clinton and major Clinton Foundation donors, raising new questions about the State Department's relationship with the foundation.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SERFATY: And it really can't be overstated how close Huma really is to Clinton, how loyal she has been, how trusted she is. She is always by Clinton's side and is widely seen as a likely choice for Hillary Clinton's chief of staff if she does go on to win the White House -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Sunlen, thank you.
And OUTFRONT next, Gene Wilder dead tonight at the age of 83. Jeanne Moos on his amazing career. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:57:51] BURNETT: Breaking news tonight: the loss of an icon, Gene Wilder, the star of "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", dead at 83.
Here is Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Willy Wonka has left this world.
Actor Gene Wilder changed it with his performances, from his Oscar- nominated role in "The Producers" to his other Oscar-nominated role in "Young Frankenstein."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dr. Frankenstein.
GENE WILDER, ACTOR: Frankenstein. You must be Igor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now it's pronounced Igor.
MOOS: Wilder died at 83 with the complications of Alzheimer's. His nephew said it never stole his ability to recognize those closest to him, there was nothing wild about Wilder in person. He had a sweetness about him, even when deflecting a question.
WILDER: Are you asking me if I want to have a baby?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
WILDER: Well, I'll tell you after the interview.
MOOS: He was an actor who painted watercolors, who married four times. His third wife was "SNL" favorite Gilda Radner, who got ovarian cancer even as Wilder himself successfully non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
WILDER: I'll sign right now an exchange life spans with you. The irony is I meant it. I thought she would pull through and that she would live longer than I did.
MOOS: Five years into the marriage, she was gone. Wilder's fourth wife survives him.
"There's a big hole in comedy's heart with the loss of Gene Wilder," tweeted comedian Larry Wilmore.
Wilder blazed his way through Mel Brooks comedies, a hard drinker with a quick draw. No wonder kids liked him. He was an expert in not growing up.
WILDER: A lot of men are babies. To grow up, it's something that comes easier to women.
MOOS: A toast to your imagination, Gene Wilder. You'll live in ours.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: Lovely tribute. Thank you so much for joining us. See you back here tomorrow.
"AC360" starts right now.
