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Clinton Ahead in Presidential Fundraising; Trump's Children Behind Firing Lewandowski. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired June 21, 2016 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:33:20] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: It's a twist. It's a twist in this campaign that the man with all the money, the billionaire, self- described, Donald Trump, is down in campaign cash so decidedly. Here are the numbers. As of May 31st, Trump only has $1.3 million in the bank, compared to the Clinton campaign's $42 million war chest.

Super PACs, you know, that's part of that nice money that we have in the business now of politics, you look at the numbers there, $500,000 for him, millions for Hillary Clinton. And also it's about generating the money, raising the money. Trump hasn't been doing that. He said he would self-fund. Well, is that really going to happen? How about on the Clinton side? Well, that's all about Gary Gensler. He's the chief financial officer for Hillary for America, the official money man.

Let's start with one macro policy issue about money in general and then I want to talk to you a little bit about the speech today. Why does money matter, and why should people perceive money as strength?

GARY GENSLER, CFO, HILLARY FOR AMERICA: Well, in political campaigns, it's all about connecting with voters and Hillary Clinton has a plan throughout this election to talk to voters, connect to voters, and that does take support from donors, and we look forward to any donors going to hillaryclinton.com and helping us out because it's going to take a lot of money to make sure voters know that Donald Trump is not the man to be president.

CUOMO: When we talk about money, the fact that you are the CFO of Hillary for America, do you believe that there's something daunting. It's your job, it's your task, and you've done it willingly, but that so much money is needed, the number now maybe $1 billion price tag for a presidential election. What does it mean to you that so much money is necessary these days?

[08:35:06] GENSLER: Well, it is daunting, and that's why Secretary Clinton feels that we have to have robust reforms of our campaign finance laws. But we have to bring this to the American public on - with the rules that are in place now. And so it means raising the money so that we can connect with voters and tell this story, why Hillary Clinton's going to be the best person to be the 45th president.

CUOMO: All right, that's the catch-22, right? Everybody says they want to reform the system, but only - you only win if you game the system most effectively and raise the most money.

Today there's a big economic policy speech coming up. Are we going to hear an economic policy speech, or do you think that Clinton is going to spend her time taking down Trump because of his temperament and saying he's dangerous for the economy?

GENSLER: Well, it's going to be a bit of both. Hillary Clinton does feel that the American public needs to understand the difference between Donald Trump, who's been an erratic businessman, who really would wreck this economy going forward, and her plans moving forward for everyday Americans, for millions of Americans, where Donald Trump's more about those at the top and, frankly, often himself.

CUOMO: Sometimes what we hear out of the Clinton campaign is, we're not going to play Trump's game. We're not going to do these personal attacks. We're not going to go negative. We're going to be positive. We're going to unify. Why not do that all out and just lay out your plan, say why it's better, and leave people's analysis of Trump to them.

GENSLER: Well, just as the secretary did two weeks ago in San Diego about foreign policy, we're going to lay out the contrast in the case why Donald Trump is erratic, and he would wreck the economy. I mean just yesterday a leading economist, John McCain's economist, actually, and advisor, laid out how Donald Trump would lead to a recession and 3.5 million jobs would be lost.

CUOMO: Well, there's certainly a lot of different evaluations flying around. It is Clinton's job to make the case, no question about it. As the money man, Gary, let me ask you something, coming out of that foreign policy speech, did you see any shift in the momentum to what it was to raise money? Did that speech help?

GENSLER: It - well, it's making the case to the American public. We've had a good month and you saw the figures we laid out yesterday.

CUOMO: Yes.

GENSLER: But we have to continue to make that case and we continue to look for support from the American public, because this is going to be a tight election, and Donald Trump shouldn't be underestimated and Hillary Clinton needs everybody's help.

CUOMO: When you go to your friends who aren't necessarily Democrats and say, I want you to get your money into this race, how many of them are saying, look, I'm a Republican, but I don't know that I can go for Trump. I don't know if I want to go for Clinton either. How much of that vacillating are you hearing?

GENSLER: Well, I think that Republicans across the board and Americans across the board are looking at this election and they have one candidate, Hillary Clinton, who's got real plans, who's going to look out for every American, and they've got Donald Trump, who's been erratic. He's had four bankruptcies. He's had 3,500 lawsuits against him. He's not such a good businessman, actually and he's not that trustworthy. So a lot of Republicans are starting to reassess this race and thinking about who should be the next president.

CUOMO: When it's all said and done, what do you think the price tag will be on what Hillary Clinton was able to raise and needed to spend?

GENSLER: Oh, I'm not going to speculate on how much. It's going to be an important component of this race going forward. But most important is what she's going to do for the American public, and telling her case, both affirmatively and in contrast to Donald Trump, who may wreck this economy.

CUOMO: When the CFO doesn't want to talk about the price tag, you know it's got to be a big price tag. Gary Gensler, thank you very much for making the case for the Clinton campaign. Appreciate it.

GENSLER: Thank you, Chris.

CUOMO: All right, be well.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: All right, Chris, thank you.

It is no secret, more and more parents are being increasingly cautious with kids and concussions. Can your child get a concussion and never even know about it? Surprising new information, next.

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[08:42:39] CUOMO: Time for the five things to know for your new day.

Number one, Donald Trump firing his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, just four weeks before the Republican Convention. Now sources say Trump's children led the charge to push him out.

Hillary Clinton has a five point lead over Trump in a new CNN national poll, 47/42. Now, that margin is further squeezed when you include third party candidates. So that's a big one to look for.

Four gun control bills failing to pass the Senate despite widespread demand for action coming on the heels of Orlando. Now there is a compromise plan by Senator Susan Collins of Maine. It is gaining traction.

Orlando police defending the tactics used to end the standoff with the gay nightclub attacker. Police say officers forced the gunman to retreat to the bathroom, allowing them to rescue people from the Pulse Nightclub.

Family and friends will remember Lane Graves. The little boy from Nebraska, you remember his story. His life ended by an alligator at Disneyworld when he was there on vacation with his family last week.

For more on the five things to know, go to newdaycnn.com for the latest.

Brooke. BALDWIN: Risk of head injuries in pro-sports, that's certainly nothing

new. But in today's "New Day, New You," news about concussions you need to hear if you are a mom or dad here. Researchers from the University from Pittsburgh Medical Center find nearly 2 million children in the U.S. are getting concussions every year playing sports and, you know, doing other activities, but most aren't going to the doctor. The likely result is misdiagnosis and a lack of necessary treatment. Experts say early intervention is the preferred approach rather than rest, which is how most parents handle that issue.

CUOMO: Grew up playing the game. Love the game. The game will never change until you take the helmets off the heads. Remember I told you that, Brooke Baldwin.

BALDWIN: I -

CUOMO: We talk about helmet technology and all this stuff.

BALDWIN: I -

CUOMO: As long as there's a helmet on the head, people are going to use it as a weapon. That's just the nature of that game, period.

BALDWIN: There you go.

CUOMO: So, the head of Donald Trump's campaign was fired in this supposed family directed power play, right?

BALDWIN: Right.

CUOMO: So, that's our question today, how much power do the people on your screen actually have, Trump's daughter, Ivanka, her husband, Jared Kushner? Are they really the go-to players in the campaign right now? We've got the man who literally wrote the book on Trump, next.

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[08:49:20] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE (voice-over): Ivanka really respects Corey and it's absolutely true. And she likes Corey. And I read all these reports about the children and about, you know, all of this. It's all nonsense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: All nonsense, he says. Donald Trump, just this morning, dismissing reports that his children were mostly behind the firing of the campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski. CNN sources say it was the kids who pushed their father to oust Lewandowski.

Let's discuss the dynamics here of the Trump family, who's really calling the shots. Here to discuss, Michael D'Antonio. He is the author of a Trump biography entitled, "Never Enough: Donald Trump and the Pursuant of Success."

Nice to see you again.

MICHAEL D'ANTONIO, AUTHOR, "NEVER ENOUGH: DONALD TRUMP AND THE PURSUIT OF SUCCESS": Good to see you.

BALDWIN: So Donald Trump just said, it's all nonsense. So as much as you know about his, you know, tight-knitness with his family, do you buy that his sense of nonsense?

[08:50:11] D'ANTONIO: Not one bit.

BALDWIN: Not one bit?

D'ANTONIO: No. I mean in any room where Donald's children and Donald are present, the kids are the adults. So they are the ones directing this. I think they saw Corey as kind of the guy who worked for a while, but he was a bad influence. He kind of amplifies Donald's id (ph), would get him to continue the kind of angry, erratic campaign that he's conducted so far, and they're very moderate. They're going to try and reign him in, reign in this operation, and professionalize it a little bit. I don't know if they can succeed because he's an awfully strong personality.

CUOMO: Well, that's the point he's making, though, right?

D'ANTONIO: Yes.

CUOMO: I mean, first of all, if there's one virtue you're going to give Donald Trump, he cares about his kids.

D'ANTONIO: Yes.

CUOMO: You know, all this politics aside and what he said, he has to be responsible for that.

BALDWIN: Loves his family.

CUOMO: He's protective of his kids, and that's been a big challenge for them. These are grown-ups, by the way.

D'ANTONIO: And they're protecting -

BALDWIN: We keep saying "kids."

D'ANTONIO: Right. Right.

CUOMO: Right, these are grown-ups -

D'ANTONIO: Right.

CUOMO: But he's been very slow to put them out there, even Ivanka, because he's afraid of the scrutiny that he gets being put on them and he does not want that and you have to respect it.

In terms of looking, though, at what you're defining here as the power structure, what you say, who the adults are in the room, let's look at the family tree. Tell us who they are and how they matter. D'ANTONIO: Sure. Sure. Well, Donald Jr. is really modelled himself

after his father. He's very much involved in all the real estate development. Travels overseas quite a bit. His son, Eric is more engaged in charitable organizations, the foundation. But also is interested in the golf courses. And Ivanka, I think in Donald's eye, is really the star. And she promotes the hotels, promotes her own businesses. And those young people have in mind creating a more stable, less risk taking company, once their father is gone. And I talked to them about that. And, you know, they're - they got a little bit sad to contemplate the fact that he's not going to be around forever, but they know that he's not. And they also recognize, and this is what Donald Jr. said to me, half the people that meet their father don't like him and that he's a polarizing figure. So they know he needs to balance some of his rhetoric and imagine.

BALDWIN: So back to Ivanka, who maybe is like an unofficial chief of staff, you call her the star. She's married to Jared Kushner. Who he is?

D'ANTONIO: Jared runs "The New York Observer." His family was in real estate, still is, at a level comparable to the Trumps. So he knows the territory that the family has navigated forever. And I actually think that he is a great influence. He's a person with experience and skills from the outside world. And, you know, this whole Trump constellation is very insular and they have this risk of not understanding what's going on beyond Trump Tower. And I think that he brings in a perspective that's really valuable.

BALDWIN: He wrote the speech, the AIPAC speech, a couple of months ago -

D'ANTONIO: Yes.

BALDWIN: When Trump used the teleprompter. So we talk about him as a real estate mogul, and we talk about him as a publisher, but also delving into politics. Donald Trump name checked him with the New Hampshire primary win, and Indiana as well. I mean do you see him having a larger role now that Corey's out?

D'ANTONIO: Oh, yes, I think there's a great level of respect there. But, again, this is Ivanka's choice as a husband. And I think that Donald respects that.

You know, it's very interesting. Donald needs, I think, a strong figure in his life. In past it was his first two wives. But Melania is not as strong.

BALDWIN: You mean someone who says no?

D'ANTONIO: Someone who says no and says, hey, you're off track here, and yet loves him. So he has that trust going on. And Ivanka is that person.

CUOMO: But - but when we look at the dynamics of what's going on inside the campaign, I don't see a lot of indication to support the fact that Ivanka's pulling the strings, or Jared Kushner's pulling the strings. Manafort, Paul Manafort, since he arrived there, has been pulling the strings. That's what caused the riff with Corey Lewandowski. I mean, you know, I take Donald Trump at his word. He's saying it's not about the kids. Well, that makes sense. They had two number ones. Manafort has this ridiculous pedigree in politics. He's been around a long time, at the highest levels, working with the biggest players, and it was him put in the same room with Corey Lewandowski. Do you think Manafort really is someone you should be looking at here about why they changed the team and why they want things different going forward?

D'ANTONIO: Well, that push, I think, has been going on for months. So this conflict between Manafort and Lewandowski, ever since Manafort showed up in early April, we were headed in this direction. But someone had to tip the balance.

CUOMO: You don't think it was Donald Trump? You don't think he was like, look, I need to do better than this. I could win this thing.

[08:55:02] BALDWIN: You think it was the kids.

D'ANTONIO: I actually think Corey is more Donald's kind of guy. Corey actually got him this far. And really can channel an inner Trump. If you watched that interview with Dana Bash yesterday, Corey performed almost as a Trump clone. You know, you -

BALDWIN: A good soldier. He was a good soldier to the Trump campaign.

D'ANTONIO: A very good soldier.

BALDWIN: Yes. Michael -

D'ANTONIO: And I think Donald really looks for that.

BALDWIN: Michael D'Antonio, thank you so much for your time this morning.

Shall we do "The Good Stuff"?

CUOMO: Please.

BALDWIN: Next.

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CUOMO: All right, this is a good, good stuff for you, all right?

BALDWIN: OK.

CUOMO: Because you came here, you did us a favor. I'm doing one back.

BALDWIN: All right.

CUOMO: Greg Zanis of Illinois, he drove 1,200 miles from Illinois to Orlando, where we were, to pay tribute to the victims of the Pulse Nightclub massacre. And he did it carrying very precious cargo.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREG ZANIS, BUILT MEMORIAL CROSSES FOR VICTIMS: Some of them were signed in Nashville when I was coming down here. One of them was signed in Indianapolis when I'm coming down here, and Chattanooga, and, you know, people come up to the rest areas and I say, you want to write on them, you know? So they say all those cities on them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: He built these crosses.

BALDWIN: Oh, that's so lovely.

CUOMO: And Greg made one for each of the 49 victims and placed them outside the hospital where the survivors are recovering.

[09:00:07] BALDWIN: That is so lovely.

CUOMO: Right.

BALDWIN: Good for him. Good for him.

CUOMO: Beautiful gesture for someone to show we're all interconnected, you know?

BALDWIN: We are. We are indeed.

Hey, thanks for having me.

CUOMO: Oh, it's nice to be here.