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Trump Tries To Reset By Firing Campaign Manager; Will Trump Tone Down Rhetoric?; Trump's Children Played Role In Corey Lewandowski's Ouster; CNN Poll: Unfavorables For Clinton And Trump Near 60 Percent. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired June 21, 2016 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: -- there's a new poll to tell you about. Let's get to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm really proud of him, but we're going to go a little bit of a different route.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Family intervention.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His children were very forceful in saying it's time for Corey Lewandowski to leave.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think what you have is a transition in the campaign.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trump is way behind his Democratic opponent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You need to have more than $1.3 million in the bank.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The FBI released the full 911 transcripts after political uproar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My name is -- I pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr al- Baghdadi of the Islamic State.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything that he did was calculated to buy himself time to kill more people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: New rules will open America's airspace to widespread commercial drone use.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a really massive moment in aviation history.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What happens when a drone falls from the sky?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: I was on vacation recently and had some friends had a drone fall out of the sky in the back of their area. They're kind of everywhere now. CUOMO: Look, very cool, a lot of applications to commerce and our private lives are also going to be problems. We're going to see all of it and show it to you.

BALDWIN: Good.

CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. Alisyn is off. Brooke Baldwin joins me here.

We have big news coming out of the Trump campaign. They're hitting the reset button less than four weeks before the Republican national convention. And by hitting the reset button, I mean, firing someone.

Campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski goes down. Sources telling CNN that Trump's children pushed him out. We're going to weigh that theory.

Lewandowski speaking out himself to CNN in an extensive interview, opening up about his abrupt departure and the campaign's serious fundraising troubles.

BALDWIN: We have that for you this morning. Meantime, a new CNN national poll just out this morning on the state of the 2016 race, how does Trump stack up against Hillary Clinton and who do Americans think really is the best to deal with terrorism in the wake of what we saw what happened in Orlando.

We have the campaign covered for you the only way CNN can. Let's begin with our chief political correspondent, Dana Bash. Good morning again.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning again, Brooke. Look the hope among Republican officials is that Trump getting rid of his controversial campaign manager will mean a move toward a bit of a more traditional campaign organization, one many say is desperately needed.

But Donald Trump has never been a political candidate without Corey Lewandowski by his side and in his ear. So the test now is whether the presumptive GOP nominee will or can turn his campaign around.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: What happened? Why were you fired?

COREY LEWANDOWSKI, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: I don't know. I don't know the answer to that.

BASH (voice-over): But the answer according to multiple GOP sources is Donald Trump's lagging poll numbers, lack of campaign infrastructure plus heated power struggles, which all led Trump's family to say enough.

BASH (on camera): Sources who I've talked to and others have talked said that they described you as a hothead and that you didn't treat people right. What do you say to that?

LEWANDOWSKI: Look, I think I'm a very intense person and my expectation is perfection because I think that's what Mr. Trump deserves. I had a nice conversation with Mr. Trump and I said to him, it's been an honor and a privilege to be part of this. And I mean that from the bottom of my heart.

BASH (voice-over): CNN is told Trump watched Lewandowski's interview as it happened live a few hours after he was fired. Trump later expressed his appreciation as he talked about moving on.

TRUMP: He's a good man. We've had great success. He's a friend of mine. But I think it's time now for a different kind of a campaign.

BASH: That different kind of campaign is one with Paul Manafort Lewandowski's nemesis, now firmly at the helm. CNN is told that internally Manafort's mantra is that Trump must act more presidential while Lewandowski kept saying, let Trump be Trump.

(on camera): Sources from the -- from in and around the campaign have told us that they thought that you were feeding Mr. Trump's worst instincts. If there was a plan in place, post-primary, now that he's trying to pivot to the general, is in the general, that you would get on the plane with him and undercut that plan and bring out his worst instinct. How do you respond to that?

LEWANDOWSKI: I say, what best interest would I have in doing that?

BASH: The suggestion is it's just who you are.

LEWANDOWSKI: Yes, but, look, if Donald Trump wins, that's good for Corey Lewandowski and it's good for the country.

BASH (voice-over): Lewandowski made clear to CNN that he supported Trump's controversial response to the Orlando shooting.

TRUMP: And goes boom, boom.

BASH: And disparaging a judge presiding over a fraud case involving Trump University.

TRUMP: This judge is of Mexican heritage. I'm building a wall, OK?

BASH: The question is now whether Trump will tone down his rhetoric with his like-minded campaign manager out. CNN is told it was that plus concerns about anemic fundraising and basic campaign structure that alarmed Trump's children.

[07:05:07]TRUMP: My boys, Eric and Don, they've been working so hard. Ivanka and Jared have been amazing.

BASH: And they all played an instrumental role in ousting Lewandowski, especially daughter Ivanka and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, a real estate whiz and publisher.

(on camera): Can you tell me about your relationship with him? LEWANDOWSKI: I've had a great relationship with Jared. He's helped us from the onset of having a better online presence, being aggressive in a good way. He understands a different component than I understand.

BASH (voice-over): CNN is told Kushner will now be even more influential in trying to right the Trump campaign ship.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: Now, Lewandowski was in charge of fundraising, which is a new phenomenon for Trump, who spent his own money on his primary campaign, but the general election is so different, it could be $1 billion enterprise, and Trump is his Democratic opponent.

Look at these numbers. Hillary Clinton in the bank $42 million. Donald Trump, $1.3 million. As for their super PACs, you see there, Hillary Clinton has $52 million in hers. Donald Trump's allies have only half a million dollars in theirs. I mean, in political standards, you guys both know this, this kind of money is nothing, peanuts.

BALDWIN: There are those numbers, Dana, thank you very much. And there are these numbers I want to share with you here this morning. This new CNN poll puts Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump here by five points, in a head-to-head matchup, but it's no blowout and the margins get even tighter when you factor in third party options.

CNN's senior political correspondent, Brianna Keilar, is live in Columbus with more. Brianna, talk to me about Hillary Clinton's speech a little later this morning in the all-important state of Ohio.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Very important state and those poll numbers are really interesting, as you mentioned, Brooke, because they do tighten up to four points when you add in those third party candidates.

Her speech here in Ohio today is an answer to one of the problems she's facing. If you look at the latest CNN/ORC poll, where voters are asked, who do you think would do the best job when it comes to the economy?

Hillary Clinton is trailing by eight points. Donald Trump gets 51 percent, Hillary Clinton at 43. This is a big deficit when you're talking about the issue that voters say matters to them the most and that the Clinton campaign thinks will ultimately the issue that motivates them the most in November.

So today in Ohio, Hillary Clinton, we're told, is going to make the case that Donald Trump is unfit to deal with the economy. In conjunction with the speech, she'll be giving here later this morning, the campaign rolling out a video, rolling out a website called artofthesteal.biz.

A negative take on Donald Trump's book, where they and she today will take aim at Donald Trump's ventures, from Trump steaks to Trump vodka to his casinos and bankruptcies there.

We saw earlier this month that she me the case, Chris, that he's unfit to deal with foreign policy. That was a foreign policy speech, we were told, but it ended up being more like a roast of Donald Trump. So perhaps an indication of what we're going to see Hillary Clinton talking about today when it comes to the economy.

CUOMO: Risk in that, Brianna, because part of that campaign, the Clinton campaign, is supposed to be that they won't play the game the way Trump does. That she's going to be about ideas and unity. If she just comes out and bashes Trump, is she really that different?

All right, let's discuss what's going on in the Trump campaign and this new poll. We have CNN political commentators, Jeffrey Lord, Trump supporter and former Reagan White House political director, and Kayleigh McEnany, also a Trump support.

Kayleigh, I'll start with you. My supposition, you should feel good that you're only down five against Clinton given all the tumult you've had in the last few weeks, the money disadvantage, the staff disadvantage, or am I wrong?

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: I think that's absolutely correct. I mean, when you look at the CNN poll and factor in Gary Johnson, it is one point from being within the margin of error. This is an open race with two candidates that have unfavorable ratings. It needs to be worked on.

But Donald Trump, I would argue has a vast ability to change his unfavorable. I'm sure Hillary Clinton has that same ability and this is a very outside election year. This is not, you know, an immensely popular president running against Donald Trump.

This is an unpopular candidate with a lot of scandals behind her running against Donald Trump in an unconventional election year.

CUOMO: People keep saying, I'm sure you hear it as well, that this choice is coming down to who's less worse for people. A little bit of a reflection of how negative the campaign is, as well.

So Jeffrey, what happened? Corey Lewandowski, the engine, the train that could, now out and it's being put on the backs of the children. Do you buy that? Give me some insight?

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, you know, I don't have any particular inside information here on this, but I do find it fascinating here with the kids. Chris, I don't need to tell you, of all people, that there are families in American political life that really take to politics.

[07:10:08]The Cuomos, the Bushes, the Kennedys, the Clintons. I'm wondering here if we're beginning to see the emergence of the Trump family in that sense, where these kids who are really terrific kids, are taking on good, you know, senior roles here.

They've got their dad's confidence. They're involved in things here, and whether or not they're going to play more of a role, if so, I think that's terrific.

CUOMO: Let me ask you something. Do you believe that anybody tells Donald Trump what to say and how to be? Because the theory of the case here is, Lewandowski kept putting these notions in Donald Trump's head to be bombastic and, you know, to be the kind of outrageous guy that he is, for better and worse. Do you buy that?

LORD: No, I really do think that Donald Trump is his own best adviser here. Sometimes pro, sometimes to the negative, I suppose. I think that's true of every candidate out there. One of the things that I've observed about him, he is a very good listener.

He really does pay attention and he's also very competitive. He wants to win. You know, we make light of this and people caricature this, you know, what we're going to have so much winning and this kind of thing, but it really is a reality with him.

And so, I'm not at all surprised at this move in the sense if he feels that there's something that's not right for him, he will change it on the spot because he does want to win.

CUOMO: All right, so Lewandowski is out, for better or worse. Paul Manafort, a man that Jeffrey Lord and I both know very well is clearly at the reins, a seasoned pro.

Yet on the show, his inaugural interview he did when he came on to the TV, he said, nobody tells Trump what to do. He is who he is. He has to do things differently, as the supposition that's coming out of supporters like you, out of the polling.

How do you get Donald Trump to be different? And if you could, if he called you up and said, McEnany, you've got the rains, what do you want me to do? What would he do differently?

MCENANY: I think he has changed a lot. Look, we've come a long way from the days when he was retweeting. And that's something that I think was so good about his candidacy --

CUOMO: Also known as yesterday, yesterday, Kayleigh, but continue.

MCENANY: I'm talking about the Heidi Cruz retweet. You know, that was a bad mistake. He learned along the way, he's not a politician. That's what people love about him. He's learning as he goes.

And Paul Manafort is the perfect person to do this, because we need someone who understands, let Trump be Trump. Yes, that is his biggest asset, being off the cuff, being this rogue person, but also be within a conventional campaign structure that can raise money, that has micro targeting. Paul Manafort can do that.

CUOMO: But why isn't he raising the money? Part of it is systemic. That's true. The organization. But part of it is shock factor by the deep pockets, right, Jeffrey? You know these guys who are out there.

There's a lot of scared money on the sidelines right now, where they want to get involved, they don't want a Clinton, but they don't feel comfortable giving money to Trump when all of these different controversies arise. How do you overcome that?

LORD: Right. Well, I do think you lean o the people, people like Paul Manafort. And one of the things I've tried to say from the get- go, as we were in the early stages of this, and people would say, well, why doesn't he have this, and why doesn't he have that in terms of advisers and etcetera.

And I would say, look, as the presidential campaign gains steam and succeeds, it mimics the office of the presidency itself and traditional campaigns. We're at that stage. It's do or die in that sense.

So, Donald Trump is going to expand here. He's going to transition. I do think the money will flow, but they've got to get on the stick. There's no question about it.

CUOMO: Change is the hardest thing in life, right, on any level. Even if it's like a diet, people can't do it. These are fundamental response, reaction, and personality changes all put into this one word, presidential. Why do you believe Donald Trump can be more presidential, Kayleigh?

MCENANY: Well, I don't think he needs to change all that much. I think he needs to learn not to take baits put out there by the media who wants to sidetrack and he wants to talk about the economy. He want to talk about terrorism. When he sits down for an interview, people ask him about all sorts of things.

He needs to learn to pivot back to the economy, to terrorism. I don't think Donald Trump fundamentally needs to change. I think he has a positive agenda that is good for this country. I think he needs to learn to stick to those issues and not take faith that's given to him.

CUOMO: You will always be asked questions when you're running for president.

MCENANY: You will.

CUOMO: It's your choice what you answer and how.

MCENANY: It's fair to ask the questions, no doubt about it.

CUOMO: Jeffrey, last word.

LORD: You know, one thing, you know history, I know history, you remember the Dewey campaign in which he very much acted presidential and Harry Truman went out there as a sitting president and earned the nickname, "Give Them Hell Harry" and was said to be undignified, et cetera. And Dewey blew an entire lead and the election by acting presidential before he was president so you do feed to be careful about this.

[07:15:02]CUOMO: It's true. But at the end of it, all of these dynamics come back to the same thing. People want the best version of themselves, to lead them. That what they want. What that's going to be in this campaign, we just don't know because there's no best anything. It's coming out of either of these campaigns. Kayleigh, Jeffrey, thank you very much, as always.

LORD: Thanks, Chris!

CUOMO: Big news out of the campaign this morning.

Now, in just a few minutes, we'll talk to Michelle Fields. You'll remember that name. She's the former Breitbart reporter, said she was assaulted by Corey Lewandowski. That case went away, but what is her take on Lewandowski and what just happened? Coming up.

BALDWIN: All right, so we have that ahead. Chris, thank you. Gridlock, meantime, in Congress on gun control. You have these four separate bills, two sponsored by Democrats, two sponsored by Republicans, all failing to pass in the sit-in on Monday.

Now, a fifth plan to keep weapons out of the hands of terror suspects has been floated by Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine. Her proposal would target a much smaller group of gun buyers on terror watch lists and adds provisions for an appeals process.

CUOMO: Meantime, the Supreme Court declining to hear challenges to assault weapon bans in Connecticut and New York. Connecticut broadened its law after the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012, of course. Gun rights activists say their changes violate the second amendment. They plan to challenge the law when the court has nine justices again.

BALDWIN: And funeral services are planned today for the 2-year-old little boy killed by the alligator at Disneyworld last week. Services will be held for Lane Graves at a church in Nebraska. A wake was held for him yesterday. Disney has since added a roped fence and new signage to that water, that lagoon area, warning of gators and snakes.

CUOMO: Boy, I'll tell you, of all of the things parents worry about, you never think you would go through something like that.

Anyway, there was a very rare event in the sky overnight. The so-called strawberry moon, the nickname for June's full moon. This year, it coincides with the summer solstice. That is the longest day of the year, and the official start of summer, not Memorial Day, as Brooke Baldwin tells everybody.

The full moon and solstice coming the same night as a once in a lifetime thing for a lot of us. It hasn't happened since 1967 and won't happen again until --

BALDWIN: Aand I had to go to bed to hang out with you this morning? Is that how that worked?

CUOMO: That's why you got to stay up and get a little of this action under your eyes.

BALDWIN: So beautiful, so beautiful. So happy to be here. The latest poll numbers suggest advantage, Hillary Clinton.

What do we make of her lead over Donald Trump and how do third party candidates factor in all of this? That is coming up next. All love for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:21:45]

CUOMO: After some less-than-perfect weeks, Donald Trump's poll numbers showing some signs of trouble. According to a CNN poll released just in the last hour, Trump trails Clinton by five. Now, by the way, a lot of people will say, he's lucky to only be down five at this point, given the money, the staff differences between the two, and the last couple of weeks of what's come out of him.

So the question is going to be, what do we see in this poll and what can it mean going forward? Let's crunch some numbers, shall we?

Let's bring in the correspondents that cover these campaigns, Dana Bash, Brianna Keilar. The headline, Bash, 47-42. Clinton's up 5. They say, yay, only five?

BASH: Right. Look, Donald Trump was just doing an interview that I was watching where he was saying just that, and, you know, normally I would say, OK, that's just candidate spin. But he's right. I mean, he has had about the worst few weeks that you can imagine for a general election candidate, for a whole host of reasons.

The things that he's said, the fact that his own party officials have been, you know, sort of taking aim at him, because they feel that he's not acting appropriately.

BALDWIN: Really since becoming the nominee.

BASH: Exactly.

CUOMO: Which is his high point, you know what I mean?

BASH: Yes, exactly. And so the fact that he's only five points down, I don't necessarily think shows his strength, as much as it shows his opponent's weakness, one that Republicans don't think that he is taking advantage of enough.

BALDWIN: Well, on weaknesses, Brianna Keilar, you know, we have the economy and terrorism, two issues that Americans care the most about and they're both pluses in the Trump column when you look at some of these numbers here, as far as who would better handle the economy, who would better handle terrorism. We know Hillary Clinton is speaking a little bit later this morning there where you are in Columbus. How does she spin that?

KEILAR: Well, and this really speaks, as Dana was talking about, to the weaknesses of Hillary Clinton. Because when you look at someone's experience, when it comes to dealing with foreign policy and terrorism, clearly, Hillary Clinton has a lot more. And yet she's trailing even on this issue of terrorism.

She's trailing a lot more when you're talking about the economy. Eight points in this latest CNN/ORC poll against Donald Trump. That's part of the reason why she's here. She's taking him on, on the economy. There's this video and website out today.

They want to close the gap on that number, because talking to the campaign, they say, dealing with foreign policy, this is something they think that speaks to Donald Trump's temperament, but when voters really go to the polls in November, it's the economy that they care about. So it's essential for her that she closes that gap.

CUOMO: But the Clinton campaign loves the t-word, temperament because they see it as the umbrella quality that is obviously over everything that does matter. And they see this big plus for them in this poll, also.

Now, Brianna, here's the problem with this. Temperament is the big advantage. That's a good thing. Why is it a problem? Because it feeds a negative campaign if the weakness of your opponent is their temperament, you're going to bash them personally.

So we see a foreign policy speech, which is really just a roast of Donald Trump. We're hearing about an economic speech today. Do you believe that it will be a plan for the country going forward, or a Donald Trump can't be president speech?

[07:25:05]KEILAR: I think it is going to be more of the latter. A few weeks ago, when she talked about foreign policy, there -- it was very broad details of what her plan was on the economy, or pardon me, foreign policy, and it was much more a roast of Donald Trump.

Now, the difference is, and I think the way the campaign would say that they're not playing really Donald Trump's game, is what we saw, was that she used his words against him. She essentially quoted him the tire time.

But if you watch the audience, there were boos, there were people on their feet, they were defying at some of the things she was saying. I think part of it, too, was the campaign thinks this is something that can really unify the party.

There are a lot of Democrats who want an alternative to Hillary Clinton, but they are very against Donald Trump and so that is what she's playing to.

BASH: And not just unify the party, but draw in the few people who are on the fence, for various reasons.

CUOMO: All six of them?

BASH: Exactly. Either it's because of their ideology, they're truly swing voters, or maybe more to the point we've been talking about all morning, they don't like either of these candidates and they don't necessarily think a third party is the way to go. So having that kind of overwhelming feeling that Hillary

Clinton is trying to plant very deep in their souls, that Donald Trump would be bad for the country, because temperament, on a whole host of issues, that is what the Clinton campaign is banking on.

BALDWIN: What about, also, you know, we've been watching so much the gender, the numbers on gender, and I want to throw some more numbers up, because it's not only is Hillary Clinton sort of soaring when it comes to female voters, she's also closing the gap when it comes to men. What would Trump need to do, Dana, to change that especially on women?

BASH: On women? I think it's going to be an uphill climb for him. I think that there's no question that -- never mind that she is a female candidate, the first female nominee of a major party, I think even if it were a man at the top of the Democratic ticket, because Donald Trump has had so many very well publicized, controversial statements and stories about him, vis-a-vis women, it's going to be hard for him to --

BALDWIN: Wouldn't putting Ivanka out more help him.

CUOMO: She's not running.

BALDWIN: I know, but people during our --

CUOMO: But when you put it on the kid, it's hard. It's hard to put that kind of pressure on the children, to come out and say that their father is someone different than he is putting himself out there -- it's tough.

BASH: Yes, I mean, they've tried with his daughter and with his wife. And look, as much as he is controversial among many women, I -- I mean, I cannot tell you how many Trump rallies where I've been, where you have, you know, woman after woman after woman saying that they think that he is the right person, because they want what men want, which is somebody different in Washington.

CUOMO: Right.

BALDWIN: OK.

CUOMO: Of course --

KEILAR: You can see Hillary Clinton making this, she's certainly building a little bit when it comes to men. And I think it speaks to what Dana talked about before, which is Hillary Clinton making this play for the middle, where Hillary Clinton is making these gains with men. These are white voters. These are moderates. This is what she's trying to do aside from just unifying the Democratic Party.

BALDWIN: OK. Ladies, thank you.

CUOMO: And look, what's clear, once again, is that people are not happy with the way things are in this country. They're not happy with the choices that they have for president. And that's why this talk of a third party keeps coming up.

The Libertarian ticket, the two governors, Gary Johnson, who was, of course, from New Mexico. Bill Weld, who was from Massachusetts. They're at the top. People want to know more, we're going to tell you more. There's a town hall tomorrow night 9:00 Eastern only on CNN. And once again, people will drive this conversation.

BALDWIN: We have more politics for you this morning. But let's also talk about what we know as far as the Orlando shooting is concerned. We have new details revealed in the gunman's own words. What we're learning about the terrorist and his motivations from those FBI transcripts. That is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)