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Major Shake-up in Trump Campaign; FBI Sends Clinton Investigative Report to Congress. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired August 17, 2016 - 06:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[05:57:41] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, August 17, 6 a.m. in the east, and we do begin with breaking news. It is another major shake-up in Donald Trump's campaign. Overnight, Trump appointing a new campaign manager and chief executive.

The question: Is this a reaction to the past of campaign chairman Paul Manafort, or to concerns for Trump's future?

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: So, this is the second overhaul in less than two months for Trump. What does this mean? We have it all covered for you. Let's begin with CNN's Jessica Schneider. She's live at Trump Tower in New York with all of the breaking details.

What have you learned, Jessica?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, Donald Trump reiterating overnight that he will not be changing his style, but it turns out he is changing up his campaign. He's adding two new people to the top post to his struggling campaign. But those people saying this isn't a shake-up; this is just an expansion.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Donald Trump shaking up his campaign leadership team again, for the second time in two months.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, REPUBLICAN POLLSTER/NEW TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: People want to criticize Donald Trump...

SCHNEIDER: Senior adviser Kellyanne Conway confirming that she has been promoted to campaign manager. And the executive chairman of Breitbart News, Steve Bannon, is now the campaign's chief executive.

The campaign's embattled chairman, Paul Manafort, will stay on, despite his relationship with Trump going sour in recent weeks.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The campaign is doing really well. It's never been so well united.

PAUL MANAFORT, OUTGOING TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Trump is very plugged in. He's very connected. The campaign is working, contrary to what the media is saying. SCHNEIDER: Manafort is under investigation by Ukrainian authorities

for allegedly receiving millions in illegal payments from the country's former pro-Russian ruling party.

This is the second major shake-up for Trump's team. Back in June, he fired Corey Lewandowski weeks before the Republican convention.

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.

COREY LEWANDOWSKI, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR/FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: I had a nice conversation with Mr. Trump, and -- 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.

SCHNEIDER: The news comes as Trump tries to appeal to black voters in Wisconsin, but the audience was mostly white.

TRUMP: I'm asking for the vote of every African-American citizen struggling in our country today who wants a different and much better future.

SCHNEIDER: Trump addressing the violent protests in Milwaukee, after police shot and killed a black man Saturday.

TRUMP: Those pedaling the narrative of cops as a racist force in our society, a narrative supported with a nod by my opponent, share directly in the responsibility for the unrest in Milwaukee and many other places within our country.

SCHNEIDER: He's placing the blame for inner city unrest squarely on what he calls failed Democratic policies.

TRUMP: The African-American community has been taken for granted for decades by the Democratic Party. It's time for rule by the people, not rule for the special interests.

Hillary-Clinton-backed policies are responsible for the problems in the inner cities today; and a vote for her is a vote for another generation of poverty, high crime, and lost opportunities.

SCHNEIDER: With only 83 days until the election, Trump is digging in on his combative style, in hopes of turning around his slide in the polls.

TRUMP: I am who I am. It's me. You have to be you. If you start pivoting, you're not being honest with people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER: And in just the past few minutes, Donald Trump has been addressing the additions to his team, putting out this statement, saying, "I believe we're adding some of the best talents in politics with the experience and expertise needed to defeat Hillary Clinton in November and continue to share my message and vision to make America great again." Paul Manafort also talking about it, saying that he team is adding

top-tier talent, not talking about a shake-up, instead addressing this as an expansion.

Now, as for Donald Trump, he'll be receiving his first national security briefing today. It's the first time he'll have access to classified information -- Alisyn and Chris.

CAMEROTA: OK. Jessica, thanks so much for all that background. Let's talk about it.

We want to bring in our panel. We have CNN political director David Chalian; CNN political analyst and national political reporter at Real Clear Politics, Rebecca Berg; and CNN political commentator and political anchor of Time Warner Cable News, Errol Louis. Great to have all of you here with us.

As Jessica was saying, hot off the presses, 23 minutes ago, we get this press release announcing this shake-up. What do these changes mean, David?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: It means the campaign is not going according to plan, and it's not going very well. That's what it means, first and foremost.

Listen, you're 80 days away from a general election. That's not normally the time that you're going to shake up the upper echelon of your campaign. And as you noted, Alisyn, just two months after you already did so. So to me, it's a clear recognition that the last two months did not work.

CAMEROTA: Under Paul Manafort's leadership?

CHALIAN: Under Paul Manafort's leadership, but I also think we have to remember at the top of all this is the candidate. So staff matters. I've covered a lot of presidential campaigns where there's really skilled staff, and then some not-so-skilled staff, and that makes a difference.

But nothing matters as much as the candidate. And that's why, I think, when you see him two nights in a row now stick to the teleprompter, give a speech that's on message that causes some of the concerns inside the Republican Party to be assuaged, in addition to make these staff changes, people will start saying, "Hey, maybe he's putting something together that can get us through to November 8."

CUOMO: So here's what we know. What David just said, Donald Trump hates. The idea that...

CAMEROTA: We already know that.

CUOMO: ... him being on message and being a good little boy and getting patted on the head by people he doesn't respect and he has been successful against, literally makes him physically ill. And that was something that had to change. This is not an unusual situation because of where we started. Paul

Manafort had big problems when he came in. In his first interview here, we went right to it. Donald Trump made the decision to bring him in despite that. So it's not like he was going to have a change of heart now. It's not who Trump is.

So he brings in one guy who's been telling him he's doing it wrong, Bannon. And he brings in somebody who's proven to him that he -- she knows how to do it right in Kellyanne. And that makes a lot of sense right now. Keeping Manafort does ,as well, you could argue. Why get rid of him? It only makes it more true, the speculation about him.

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, that's right. He wasn't charging the campaign, so there's no expense to keeping him there. He's got a lot of wise counsel to offer, whether you take the advice or not. And it looked like they've got something of a team. I think Kellyanne Conway referred to what she called the core four. So it bears some discussion going on, whether or not, you know -- we know that the candidate will make the final decision in this case.

And having Kellyanne Conway, I think, is actually important, not just that there's been a shake-up, but that, you know, she runs a polling company. She doesn't talk in the language of numbers, but she deeply understands the numbers.

CUOMO: They give him a nice balance. He's got -- you know, he's got the old hand in Manafort. He's got a real polished pro in Kellyanne Conway. She knows what she's doing. And he's got the insurgent in Bannon, worked with Dave Bossie, Citizens United. You know, he's got that Breitbart pedigree, which you know, whatever that means to Trump. So he's got a mix of all these different things now.

You want to bring in Rebecca Berg and see...?

CAMEROTA: Yes, what do you think, particularly about the Steve Bannon addition, Rebecca?

[06:05:11] REBECCA BERG, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it's a really interesting choice, because if you think about some of the problems that Donald Trump has right now in terms of his campaign, it's pretty simple. You know, he doesn't have a ground operation. He hasn't been advertising. And he hasn't been staying on message. And I'm deeply skeptical that bringing in any new blood is going to fix those problems.

Steve Bannon obviously understands politics, but he hasn't led a political campaign. And so he's not steeped in ground operation, advertising, in the way that a more experienced political hand would be.

And of course, the issue of Donald Trump not staying on message, it goes back to what David was saying. That's up to the candidate. That's ultimately Donald Trump's decision. And what Donald Trump has indicated is that he's not really interested in pivoting to a toned- down message or changing the way he speaks on the campaign trail. And so what I'm curious to see is whether adding Steve Bannon, adding

Kellyanne in this new role is really going to make any difference in that regard.

CAMEROTA: Right. So this morning we should be talking about his law and order speech that he gave last night that was supposedly outreach to black voters. But again, he's eclipsing his own news this morning by the timing of these announcements. And that gets back to the "let Trump be Trump" philosophy that he seems to be moving back to with Steve Bannon.

CHALIAN: But he is eclipsing it with news of righting the ship, or trying to right the ship, not with some off message.

CUOMO: It's also leaked. I don't think they wanted this news to come out when it did. I think it leaked.

CAMEROTA: The timing.

CUOMO: So he has to deal with it when it falls into the media.

But you're right, though. It does overshadow the speech. But then again, is that a good or a bad thing? What did you hear in that speech last night.

LOUIS: Yes, the speech was one that was one that was not only easily forgotten but one that perhaps he would have been -- done well to sort of step on and pretend it never happened.

CUOMO: Because?

LOUIS: Because what did it do for him? So much of this campaign really comes across as an infomercial for people who have already bought the product, right? So you go to an all-white suburb, and you talk about law and order. Well, is this -- is this getting new voters for Donald Trump? Is this actually outreach to the black vote?

CAMEROTA: He said it was.

LOUIS: OK, well...

CAMEROTA: He said that it was -- he said, "I'm asking for the vote of every African-American citizen struggling in our country today who wants a different and much better future."

LOUIS: Right. "And I will not set foot in a 40-percent black city to tell them that." I mean, that seems to be what the message is. So I think people can read between the lines.

And frankly, you know, I mean, taken from his speech, if there's a choice between a politician who will pander to you and one who will ignore you, I think most voters will make the choice that at least somebody who's pandering is offering us something, even a hope or a promise that we can call them on later.

Donald Trump and the Republican Party generally has not done that. and this is why the high point of black voters for Republican presidential candidates was Gerald Ford with only 16 percent.

CHALIAN: But I would argue that it's not just the direct appeal to African-American votes that was the goal of last night's speech but also to appeal to independent -- Republican-leaning independents who may be reluctant to the Trump candidacy, that he is willing to try to do some outreach.

So I think there are two things going on there. I really do. And I think -- remember, he still has work to do with the Republican base. That's not -- that's not completed work. His numbers of Republican support compared to Hillary Clinton's number of Democratic support in the polls, he has work to do with his own party. And so I think some of this is aimed at doing that work, not trying to get his 1 percent up to 5 percent, necessarily.

CUOMO: One percent is the number of Trump support that they see in the new poll. Right? Put it up there. That, I mean...

CAMEROTA: For African-American voters.

CUOMO: This is hard to believe. It just...

CAMEROTA: Only 1 percent?

CUOMO: Yes, that it's only 1 percent. You're saying it's much too high? No, 1 percent...

CAMEROTA: Inflated.

CUOMO: ... has got to be artificially low. But it does show the discrepancy issue he's dealing with.

Rebecca Berg, let's bring you in one this. The virtue of Donald Trump returning to what got him there. Yes, all the big brains have said what he did in the primary won't work in the general. He can't just go with this one faction of his party. He's got to expand his base. But at the end of the day, if you're Donald Trump and you look at what your best chance is to win this election, how do you turn away from yourself?

BERG: Well, you can't be suddenly a totally new person. I mean, we've seen in past elections how that tends to fail. You come off as inauthentic. People say you're a flip-flopper. Donald Trump doesn't need to completely reinvent himself, but it does help in a general election setting to moderate your tone a little bit, because you are generally speaking to a completely new audience. A Republican primary audience is not the audience you're going after in the general election.

Now Donald Trump needs to be appealing to suburban, college-educated voters...

CAMEROTA: Right.

BERG: ... who are undecided at this stage. They have completely different interests, completely different values, completely different priorities than the Republican electorate in a primary setting.

And so it's not really saying that he needs to become a new person and a new candidate, but he does need to direct his message, target his message, and try to speak to these new people and bring them into the fold. But he hasn't really done that yet.

[06:10:09] CAMEROTA: And it sounds like with this shift that that's not what he's doing. I mean, he's returning to what got him here, is what he's saying, and that he wants the "let Trump be Trump," shoot from the hip, the success of the primary, and that got him 13.3 million voters, but hard to know if that will get him more now.

CUOMO: Well, it can -- it can never hurt to bring in quality, right? Kellyanne was already in there doing the pollster -- the polling, but having her more involved, that can't hurt you.

I don't know what Bannon offers in terms of expanding the base. Breitbart has been very determined to leave one very specific thing in this campaign, and it is not a broad-based building coalition outlet. That's not what it's about.

CAMEROTA: Panel, stick around. We have much more to talk to you about.

Coming up in our next hour, Trump's former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, joins us live to weigh in on this latest campaign shake- up.

CUOMO: All right. And another development. Congress now has its hands on the FBI's report to the Justice Department explaining its recommendation of no charges in Hillary Clinton's use of private e- mails as secretary of state.

Now, the Clinton campaign is blasting Republicans, arguing that the classified report should be made public for you to see, as well. That's an odd turnabout in play here.

CNN investigative correspondent Chris Frates live in Washington with more.

Their initial reaction was this shouldn't be released. Now they're saying everyone should have it.

CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, Chris. And, you know, Hillary Clinton's e-mail problems really continuing to dog her campaign.

Yesterday the FBI sent Congress a classified report explaining why it recommended against charging Clinton in connection with her use of a private e-mail server as secretary of state. And the report contains notes from interviews with Clinton and other material related to the investigation.

The decision to release the information in a case where charges are not brought is extremely rare. And in a statement, the FBI said it provided the report to Congress with the expectation it won't be made public.

But the news drew a sharp response from the Clinton campaign, who said Republicans were only looking to second-guess the FBI. And in a statement, the campaign said this. They said, "We believe that if these materials are going to be shared outside the Justice Department, they should be released widely so that the public can see them for themselves rather than allow mischaracterize them through selective, partisan leaks."

Now, top Republican Senator Chuck Grassley seemed to agree with Clinton on this, saying that much of the material in the report is unclassified and should be made public. And in a letter to lawmakers, the FBI reiterated Director James Comey's assertion that Clinton's handling of certain highly-classified information was extremely careless but did not warrant prosecution.

But judging by the fireworks the report generated on Capitol Hill yesterday, the political battle over Clinton's e-mails is far from over.

Alisyn, back to you.

CAMEROTA: OK, Chris. You've given us a lot of food for thought there. So our political panel will weigh in and debate all of that coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:17:10] CUOMO: Hillary Clinton's e-mail problems may not be a legal issue, but they are certainly a political issue, even more so now with the latest turn of events.

An FBI report with notes on Clinton's interview with the bureau over her private e-mail is now in the hands of Congress. The Clinton campaign is making an interesting play here. They're saying everybody should see it; make it public.

Let's bring back David Chalian, Rebecca Berg and Errol Louis.

David, let's talk about what this is, OK? Federal agents, they don't put you under oath. They do not transcribe. They do not record very often in the context of these types of interviews.

CHALIAN: Voluntary interview, right.

CUOMO: But they take notes. So what could be in there?

CHALIAN: Well, the notes of the different topics that got discussed in that interview that Jim Comey sort of gave us a window into when he held his press conference and when he went to Capitol Hill about what was discussed.

This carelessness among the e-mails seems to be something that was discussed in the interview with Secretary Clinton. And then what we don't know yet is what I would love to know the most out of these notes, is what in the notes, in the portion of the conversation about the markings of classification that she didn't seem to know to be classified material? To me, those little seeds that they discussed...

CAMEROTA: They were misclassified. They weren't the heading, two of them. And so, I mean, didn't we get that explanation already?

CHALIAN: But not -- we don't have the read out of the interview part of that about how she responded to those questions in there. But of course, from her telling of it, she has spoken publicly just the way that she spoke privately with the FBI.

CAMEROTA: Errol, the Clinton campaign basically is suggesting that this is a fishing expedition, that Director Comey put this to bed. I mean, they went -- the FBI went through it. They heard all the testimony. Here is the Clinton statement from yesterday: "This is an extraordinarily rare step that was solely sought by Republicans for the purposes of further second-guessing the career professionals at the FBI. We believe that if these materials are going to be shared outside of the Justice Department, they should be released widely so the public can see them for themselves, rather than allow Republicans to mischaracterize them."

So what more are -- is Congress doing here?

LOUIS: Well, I think there's some truth to this. I mean, they want to find -- and I think we all heard this. The reaction to Comey's press conference was immediate. And from people who had long praised him and praised the FBI and praised the Justice Department, all the sudden a complete reversal. There's something wrong here. There's something that's not quite on the level. Comey should resign. Comey should recuse. All kinds of things started coming out of the mouths of the partisan politicians on Capitol Hill.

They want to be in this game. They want to control and be part of this whole discussion.

What the Clinton campaign is saying, wisely, from their point of view, is say, "Look, let's give this to the voters. Let's give this to everybody else. Let's decide this on November 8. Let's not decide this in yet another ten-hour hearing on Capitol Hill or on the steps of Capitol Hill or in commercials being cut by different Republicans running for re-election."

[06:20:03] So she wants this in the political realm, not in -- and nowhere near the legal realm. And what we are going to see is that people are going to seize on something. There will be something in those notes. Some notes, some suspicion.

CAMEROTA: A discrepancy.

LOUIS: Something, yes. Well, not even a discrepancy. Just a reference to a possible crime. You know, let's keep in mind, that's what the FBI is about. They want to find out was some kind of a law broken? And there will be something in there saying, "I wonder if a law was broken? This is what I asked, and this is what she said."

And people are going to jump on that and say, "A-ha, the FBI knew she was breaking the law. And lock her up." And the whole thing starts to tumble down the same hill that we've seen it go down for months now.

CUOMO: The Republicans are about -- are right about one thing. The FBI is what Errol just said. They're in the job of proving you committed a crime. They want to do that. That's their job. It's usually the DOJ, the Department of Justice, that backs them off and decides what's a good prosecution or not.

This time Comey did both jobs, effectively. That raised some suspicion.

But Rebecca, ultimately, the political reality is what we see in the polls on this issue. Let's put up some numbers and talk about how this is playing and what we see in the state of play between the two candidates. OK?

Florida is a big battleground state. A few weeks ago, it was knotted up, which was a great indication of how tight this race could be. Now, not so much. Hillary Clinton up nine points there. Gary Johnson and Jill Stein somewhat irrelevant. What do you see in those numbers?

BERG: Well, she's having a very good month. Make no mistake about it.

But when you dive down a little bit deeper into these polling numbers, you see that Hillary Clinton is still consistently under water on the question of whether she is honest and trustworthy. And that's where these e-mails and the continuing discussion about them is really going to hurt her in the long run, because this is an issue she and her campaign, unsurprisingly, would love to be able to move past, turn the page on, move onto something they would actually like to be talking about.

But the fact that Congress is getting this report, that new e-mails keep surfacing, this conversation keeps going on and on, it's really damaging for her campaign in the long run, because it reminds voters about these misgivings that they already have about her.

CAMEROTA: But at the same time, it's not affecting her sort of overall numbers in the battleground states. Let's look at Virginia, David. Clinton 52 percent to Trump's 38 percent in Virginia. So I hear what Rebecca is saying, that the trustworthiness continues to dog her. But at the end of the day, it seems like voters might be able to get past that.

CHALIAN: Fourteen points in Virginia, by the way.

CUOMO: Baked in.

CHALIAN: We should not -- we should not forget that it was just eight years ago that Barack Obama was the first Democrat to flip that state to Democrat.

CUOMO: Since, what, 1964?

CHALIAN: But to Chris's point, I totally agree. It is baked in, I believe. I don't think Hillary Clinton can take on more damage on the e-mail issue. I think the damage is there. It has been a huge part of this campaign. And by the way, there's no getting past it. This is going to be with her and the campaign all the way through to November 8, and they know it.

But I don't see the honest and trustworthy numbers, or her favorable/unfavorable numbers, the measures we've looked at on this issue, getting dramatically worse or going in some slide. It is bad and baked in.

LOUIS: Yes, I mean, the problem that Trump has, the reason that he's behind, I think -- look, my personal opinion is that 80 percent of it is because he attacked a Gold-Star family. I mean, that's where we started to see a really precipitous slide. And people aren't necessarily going to forgive that, but he has time to sort of get around that.

And then some other percentage of why he is behind is that he has not been advertising. If you have, you know, 40-something million dollars' worth, I think, is the number at this point, of unanswered attacks from your opponent, you've got to get in the game. Or the numbers will go against you. And that's what we're seeing.

CUOMO: They just announced a major buy. Right? That was one of the headlines -- one of the headlines that's going to be a little underwater today because of the big headline, is that they are starting to play more of that game.

You know, we know why Trump hadn't done it. Rebecca Berg, Trump hadn't done it because we were doing it for him. He got an unparalleled amount of media attention, so he was able to get his message out there now. He's not happy with the tone of the coverage as what's been coming out of his mouth has been getting him in more trouble than it has been advantage, so he's got to do ad buys. Right?

BERG: Exactly. So Donald Trump, as we've seen, has a very small frame of reference when it comes to politics, because he's never run before, and so he keeps looking back to his success in the primary and saying, "OK, what did I do then that worked? We should apply that to the general election."

Now, I think most of us in politics would say that's not really how it works. But because he was successful in the primary without advertising, he's thinking, "Well, let's see how I can do the in general election without advertising, too."

But as you mentioned, we see some ads coming down, although I haven't seen what the reservation is going to be. So what states are going to be targeted? How much is he actually spending? These are really big questions and really relevant to how successful it's going to be.

CAMEROTA: OK. Rebecca, Errol, David, thank you very much.

CUOMO: Quick programming note: It's not just about the Democrats and the Republicans. You've got the Libertarian, and you've got the Green Party. They haven't had their shot at a town hall yet, so they're going to have it tonight. You get to meet the ticket. It's going to be hosted by me at 9 Eastern. And as always, the questions come from the audience, people who are living issues, who care deeply about it. You'll see how they respond.

[06:25:12] CAMEROTA: All right. Meanwhile, the death toll and the flood waters keep rising in Louisiana. Nearly a third of all of the state's parishes are now approved for emergency aid. We have a live report on what's going on there, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: All right. We're going to take you to Louisiana now, because it is far from over and, in many regards, it is worse. The death toll is now up to 11. Flood warnings have been extended in Baton Rouge and other affected areas.

CNN's Boris Sanchez live in Gonzales, Louisiana, with more.

Boris, this situation lacked the initial violent impact that we see with a hurricane, so for some people outside Louisiana, it's been easier to ignore. But it's not getting any better there. Tell us about it.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, Chris. That's what's so unprecedented about this. This wasn't a named storm or a very powerful storm, but it was one that was consistent and dropped almost 7 trillion gallons of water on the state of Louisiana.

In some places, fortunately, the water is receding. In others, like where I'm standing right now, in Ascension Parish, it's not going anywhere. You can see behind me there are homes that are inaccessible right now. You simply can't get inside.