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Trump Reaching out to Minority Voters; Former Breitbart Spokesman Voting for Clinton; Rio Olympics Comes to a Close. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired August 22, 2016 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00] BASIL SMIKLE, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, SMIKLE ASSOCIATES: He has done nothing. He hasn't gone to churches. He hasn't spoke to the NAACP. He hasn't gone to the Urban League. Even the National Association of Black Journalists, all who have met recently. He hasn't done anything and made any in-roads in communities of color. For him to sort of it there and say, well, you have nothing to lose. You know, you were living in poverty, your schools aren't good. Well, what have you done to fix it? What have you done to push your party back with respect to the kinds of policies that have helped create some of that situation?

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Corey, what's the answer to that?

COREY LEWANDOWSKI, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, I think the answer is the numbers, right? The bottom line is, there are 7.3 million African-Americans on food stamps and assistance in 2009. Today there's 11.7 million. The bottom line is, the people of the African-American community, unfortunately, under this president, not better off today than they were four or eight years ago.

CAMEROTA: Should Donald Trump be able to hold up something that he's done thus far?

LEWANDOWSKI: Look, he's been a private businessman. He's employed African-Americans his entire career and he has not been the leader of the free world. He's not been the person who's running the federal government. The bottom line - what we know is that home ownership under this administration for the African-American community is down. Median income is down.

SMIKLE: Well, let's - actually, let's talk about that. But let's talk about that.

LEWANDOWSKI: Unemployment is up.

SMIKLE: Because if you're - if you and your campaign are citing statistics about food stamps and welfare, and that's all that's being said about the African-American community, that's why he's polling at 1 percent, because there's no real understanding of what's going on in communities of color.

Well, let's talk about it. Let's talk about the fact that communities of color - we talked about gun control, whereas Donald Trump hasn't pushed back any of his - any of his supporters in the NRA on gun control. We talked to - we talk about schools and college - and high school to career transitions. He hasn't talked about that at all. Things that would help African-Americans -

CAMEROTA: You want him to broaden the message?

LEWANDOWSKI: He's talk - he was talking -

SMIKLE: Well, it's not about broadening the message. Actually talking to communities of color and understanding -

CAMEROTA: Going there?

SMIKLE: And understanding how diverse these communities are, as opposed to saying, you're all poor, you all don't go to good schools. That's just not true.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Corey - Corey, when you say (INAUDIBLE) the numbers -

LEWANDOWSKI: The Democratic Party has taken advantage -

BERMAN: Can I - can I ask a question, because, you know, because you worked inside the campaign and you still are in close contact with the campaign. Any introspection about why in some polls Donald Trump is at one or zero percent with African-American voters? Any introspection about why there seems to be a lack of trust there? Is it, you know, because Donald Trump spent so much time in 2011, 2012 questioning the birth of President Barack Obama?

LEWANDOWSKI: Look, I think, again, you - the mainstream media continues to cite one poll, "The Wall Street Journal." It says Donald Trump's at 1 percent with the African-American community. If you go back and you look during the primary process, and I was intimately involved in this, in the state of South Carolina, Donald Trump was receiving 25 percent of the African-American vote in the state of South Carolina, a key battleground state during the primary process. If you look back to what Senator Tim Scott received as an African- American U.S. senator, first African-American elected since reconstruction in South Carolina, he received 18 percent of the black vote during that process.

SMIKLE: But -

LEWANDOWSKI: The bottom - the issue is -

BERMAN: So everything's great with Donald Trump and the African- American?

LEWANDOWSKI: No, no. No, no, that's not what I'm saying. But what you're - what you're looking at is the totality. One percent nationwide on one sample. What you're not doing is looking at the battleground states, and that's much more important.

SMIKLE: But we can show - but we can -

BERMAN: Pennsylvania - the Marist poll in Pennsylvania and Ohio was just as bad.

LEWANDOWSKI: Here's what we saw in Pennsylvania.

SMIKLE: But - but -

LEWANDOWSKI: What we saw was the - the numbers of Democrats who have been registering to Republicans is down 200,000 -

BERMAN: But you're changing the subject.

SMIKLE: Right. You're saying - right, because then there's this whole conspiracy on voter fraud that the Republicans -

LEWANDOWSKI: I'm not changing the subject because what we know are those Democrats that - no, those Democrats who were registered in Pennsylvania are changing their party registration to register Republican in epic proportions. It's happening in Florida. It's happening in Iowa. It's happening in Pennsylvania.

SMIKLE: But I think, fundamentally, Donald Trump doesn't understand the African-American community and to my opinion he doesn't care about the African-American community. All - his entire outreach was meant at softening his edges, so to speak, so that some people, whether it's his core supporters or some in the Republican Party, could feel more comfortable about voting for him. There is no real engagement with communities of color or the African-American community. So, to me, he can take whatever it is that he thinks that he's doing for us and just not say anything at all because that's even better -

BERMAN: (INAUDIBLE) the softening edges is a good segue to talk about immigration, which I think we're going to go to.

CAMEROTA: OK, so thank you for that segue, John.

So he appears to be changing his policy on immigration. He had started unequivocally, Corey, with saying that he was - every single illegal undocumented immigrant was going to be deported under his plan. This weekend that changed. He spoke to some community - a Hispanic community leader. And Kellyanne Conway, his new campaign manager, said, well, the plan is now to be determined. Why this shift?

LEWANDOWSKI: Well, you heard what Governor Pence said. You interviewed him. he said, people are getting to know Donald Trump, and what Donald Trump has said on immigration is that he's going to follow the Constitution. And what that means is, understanding that we have to reform the INS, reform the people who are coming into the country, first and foremost. Also what that means is, the people that are here illegally, we need to identify who those people are. There are at least -

CAMEROTA: Right, but that's different than deporting every single one of them. He said he'd round them up and deport them.

LEWANDOWSKI: We don't even know who they are. We don't even know who that is. At least 11 million. Maybe 30 million people. What we know is we've got convicted felons - BERMAN: Corey -

LEWANDOWSKI: Illegals who are in this country -

SMIKLE: But what we - but what we do know - what we -

BERMAN: Corey, is Donald Trump opening - open now to letting -

LEWANDOWSKI: He has not -

BERMAN: Just answer the question. Is he open now to letting some of the 11 million people stay?

LEWANDOWSKI: He has not said that. He has not said that at all. What he said is, first of all, what we're going to do is we're going to identify these people.

BERMAN: Is he, though? I mean maybe he hasn't said that. My question is, do you think he is open to letting some of the 11 million people stay?

LEWANDOWSKI: What I think is that he heard from the Hispanic community about the importance of the family and keeping that family together.

[08:35:02] CAMEROTA: Yes.

LEWANDOWSKI: And those individual whose were born here legally. But if you're not here legally, at the very premise, you've committed a crime at the onset.

CAMEROTA: So, split up the families?

SMIKLE: So what does all -

LEWANDOWSKI: What he said was - no, no, uphold the Constitution and treat people fair and equitable.

SMIKLE: We are - we are 70 - we are 78, 77 days away from this election and his immigration policy is TBD, quote/unquote. That's astonishing. And you can't be a presidential candidate and your immigration policy, at this juncture, it is TBD. There - he could have been talking about immigration reform because there are Republicans that might have given him cover in talking about that. But he hasn't. Whereas, from the Democratic perspective, Hillary Clinton has been talking about this for years. I worked in her Senate office. One of the first meetings she had was with an immigration coalition in her Senate office talking about this issue. So, you know, it's interesting that we kind of keep going through these reboots and resets of Donald Trump's campaign, but TBD is not a policy.

BERMAN: We'll hear what he has to say later on today.

Guys, thanks so much.

CAMEROTA: Nice to have you.

LEWANDOWSKI: Thank you.

BERMAN: All right, Steve Bannon's former coworker at Breitbart makes it clear that he is now voting for Hillary Clinton, not Donald Trump. Steve Bannon, of course, now the CEO of the Trump campaign. So why is the guy who used to work for him switching teams? We'll get answers, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:40:11] BERMAN: All right, Donald Trump has a new CEO of his campaign, Steve Bannon, head of Breitbart, a controversial conservative media site. Kurt Bardella, who worked as the spokesman for Breitbart, says the move helped him decide who he is voting for in November. He wrote an op-ed that saying, "it is glaringly obvious that Donald Trump does not have the temperament or the judgment to occupy the Oval Office. This is one of those times where the best interest of the whole outweigh any partisan allegiances or any specific issue. It's why I've made the personal choice to vote for Hillary Clinton in November."

Kurt Bardella joins us right now. Also with us, CNN senior media correspondent and host of CNN's "Reliable Sources," Brian Stelter.

Kurt, you know, a lot of people who are familiar with Breitbart will think it's pretty remarkable that a guy who used to work there and is closely associated with Breitbart now says he's voting for Hillary Clinton. Explain.

KURT BARDELLA, CEO, ENDEAVOR STRATEGIES: Well, you know, I mean it's very true. I've had a lot of Republican friends in my own personal life and my own circle, you know, raise that eyebrow of, I can't believe that you're considering and are at this case voting for Hillary Clinton. I tell them, you know, even if you were to take - let's take the worst case scenario that Republicans paint about a Hillary Clinton presidency, that it would be a disaster. I tell them, then you're choosing between someone who may be a disaster, but someone else who is going to be catastrophic. And I can tell you, this country can recover from a disaster. It can't recover from catastrophe. And a Donald Trump presidency would be an unprecedented level of chaos, uncertainty, and he's just not responsible or has the temperament to be our commander in chief.

BERMAN: And you worked with Steve Bannon for a long time at Breitbart. You don't think that that's a good move for the Trump campaign? That doesn't make you more likely to vote for Donald Trump, that he went and worked for him?

BARDELLA: I think it's a move that signal that there's an ambition to do something more beyond November, beyond the political sphere. I think that re-enforces a lot about what Brian's actually talked about, which is that there's this desire by Trump, and I think Bannon as well, to launch a media venture, and that this presidency, this run for office, is a set-up to something bigger than that.

CAMEROTA: So - BARDELLA: And that's another reason why I don't think you should vote for Donald Trump. I don't think that this is what his angle is. I think his angle is to do something different.

CAMEROTA: Kurt, that's really interesting. So you don't think - do you think that in some ways this has been a rouse, the presidential race?

BARDELLA: I think that - I don't even think Mr. Trump would have thought that he would be in this position right now as a Republican nominee when he launched this effort. And I think the fact that he's bringing in Steve Bannon, I think the fact that he's consulting with Roger Ailes, I think that tells you that there's something else going on here, and that even the rhetoric of the Trump campaign, targeting, fixating on the media, bringing up the narrative of how this election is rigged, how the media has it in for him, that that's why he's going to lose, it's laying the groundwork for something else.

BERMAN: That's a separate issue than the conspiracy theory of that Donald Trump doesn't want to be president. You know, he's just doing this to get attention to start a company. So, leave that aside for a second.

But, Brian Stelter, you know, this idea that the elections is rigged, is something that Donald Trump talks about a lot. There are also things that you see from the Trump campaign which also sort of plays into this idea that he's sort of gaming the electoral system here. Rudy Giuliani, you know, a big Donald Trump supporter, over the weekend suggesting that Hillary Clinton isn't healthy. That she's got health issues. It's something that's being rumor mongered out there, including, you know, by breitbart.com.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Right.

BERMAN: Rudy Giuliani was out giving an interview over the weekend saying, check the interview, it's all there, and he's still doing it this morning, in fact.

STELTER: Yes.

BERMAN: You know, what's going on here? What do you see?

STELTER: This is an idea that started in the fever swamps of the Internet. It started on a grain of truth because Clinton did have a health scare in 2012. But now there's been this mountain of lies build on top of this grain of truth and it's really doing damage, I think, to the Republican Party because it's setting up this false impression that maybe Clinton won't be able to be president. That maybe she has a secret illness. That's the theory here that's underlined when Donald Trump says she doesn't have the stamina to be president.

Someone like Rudy Giuliani, who so many of us admire, the 9/11 mayor, right now, this is a sad, sad situation for Rudy Giuliani to be encouraging Fox viewers, just Google the secret truth about Clinton's health. I mean, come on, yes, Breitbart's website has dozen of stories speculating recklessly about Clinton's health, but it doesn't make it true. If you just ask a Clinton beat reporter, they'll tell you, she has incredible stamina. Say whatever else you want about Clinton, but she's on the campaign trail all the time, all this weekend, raising money in between her time out on Martha's Vineyard in Nantucket. She has a - quite a bit of stamina, as does Donald Trump. So I would hope, if people are Googling her health, they're looking for the truth and not these lies.

CAMEROTA: So, Kurt, in terms of the conspiracy theories like that, that Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump are talking about that - about, do you think that that's the influence of Steve Bannon and Roger Ailes on the campaign message?

BARDELLA: Oh, that - that has Breitbart, you know, clickbait headline written all over it. But it also tells you, again, the kind of campaign we can expect from here to November. Not a campaign of substance, not a campaign of ideas, not a traditional Republican campaign that talks about specific policy initiatives, but about outrageous conspiracy theories targeted at a specific audience. This isn't going to help them grow their voting base. It's not going to help them appeal to the general election electorate. It's targeting a very specific audience that they want to keep engaged for beyond the election.

[08:45:16] STELTER: I mean Clinton is followed by dozens of reporters. If there was some sort of severe health problem, I think reporters would be on to it. It would be a big story. So it's foolish on its face, this idea, this theory, but it has gotten roots. It's taken root online in what I would call the fever swamps of the web. Sites like Breitbart are helping to promote it. And that's why I say, you know, Giuliani is telling everybody to Google this stuff. You should look it up. You should check the facts. But rely on what we would call reliable sources. Rely on substantive material, and not these kind of gossip websites.

BERMAN: Kurt, just - take us inside like meetings at Breitbart. How does a decision like this get made to start traffic in this kind of innuendo?

BARDELLA: Well, I think it's a lot of what Brian said, you find a kernel of something and then you expand upon that, you sensationalize that and you take it to the furthest limit possible because, in that paradigm, it doesn't matter what the facts are, it doesn't matter what you believe, all that matter is people are going to click on it, read on it, talk about it, TV shows like this are going to do segments on them, and, for them, that's a win.

STELTER: And we I talk, we have to look straight into the camera and say, there's no evidence of this conspiracy theory. There's no evidence it's true. In fact, Clinton's doctors have said repeatedly, as recently as last week, that she is fit to serve as president. And there's just not evidence to the contrary. If there is, it will be reported and it should be reported, but right now they are sewing doubt about Clinton's health in a way that ultimately is bad for the party, bad for Trump's candidacy, because if she does win in November, Trump supporters are going to go around and say, wait a second, I thought she was on her death bed. I thought she couldn't possibly be elected president. It's going to end up doing the party a disservice. BERMAN: All right, guys, thanks so much.

CAMEROTA: Brian Stelter, Kurt Bardella, thanks so much for the candor, Kurt. Great to talk to you this morning about all this.

BARDELLA: Thanks for having me on.

CAMEROTA: All right, turning to the Olympics now. Ryan Lochte admitting that he, quote, "over exaggerates" a gun point robbery. Does the controversy overshadow America's big victory at the Olympics? We look at that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:50:43] CAMEROTA: As we all know, Rio loves to party, and the successful Olympics gave people another reason to celebrate there. The city passed the torch to Tokyo at the closing ceremonies following two weeks of incredible performances, as well as a controversy involving the U.S. swimmers that did threaten, at times, to overshadow the games.

So for more on all of this, we want to bring in CNN sports correspondent Coy Wire and CNN sports analyst Christine Brennan.

It's been so great to get your reporting down from Rio for the past couple of weeks, but I want to tell you about some reporting that has just come out in the past hour. This is a new "People Magazine" interview with Ryan Lochte and he says some new information that you'll be interested to hear. Here's the first thing he said, he made up the robbery. He admits it. Sort of most plainly that we've heard. He says, "the part that I made up was saying it was a robbery. I think the word 'robbery' shocked a lot of people and the story went viral after that. A gun was pulled and we had to give them cash. If I didn't say 'robbery,' none of this would have happened."

Christine, what do you think of that explanation?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Well, I think he's right about that. If he - if his mom hadn't spoken, if he hadn't spoken out on that Sunday, everything would be different. No one would even have known about it. The lying is terrible. The lying to the U.S. Olympic Committee, who brought him to the games, and, of course, he represents the USOC and the United States, that's terrible. And that it took a week. Here we are more - well, eight days, that now the definitive word, which is just not a way to handle a scandal. You want to get in front of it quickly and, of course, that's the complete opposite of what Lochte and his people have done.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: One thing that's interesting to me is what's going to happen next for Lochte. He is going to lose sponsorship? And I spoke to an executive with a sports and entertainment marketing group, closely connected with the games, and he says, in the eyes of sponsors during the Olympic games, there are three types of infractions. There's doping, from which it's really tough for anyone to come back because it's premeditated. There's the mishap during the games, between games, excuse me, in the off season, if you will, from which athletes can come back, as we've seen by his own teammate Michael Phelps. You can correct yourself. But then there's the breach of integrity during the games that causes dissension and disgrace to the entire team. That's where Lochte lies. He says, that's going to be tough for him to come back from because he's essentially throwing people under the bus. You usually have to wait until another Olympic games to try to redeem yourself, and that's a luxury which Lochte likely will not have.

BRENNAN: Probably not. Yes.

WIRE: He's older. He's not Kobe Bryant. He's not Michael Phelps, one of these great athletes who can come back from personal adversities to rise to those monetary mountaintops again. So he's probably going to be in trouble and really hurting from this whole situation.

BERMAN: Let's talk about the closing ceremony, shall we? You know, Christine, we know often the closing ceremonies are sort of a bittersweet moment, kind of strange, not all the athletes are there, and you sometimes see some of the most, you know, interesting spectacles. I think one of the strangest things I have ever seen was this, you know, you're looking at footage right now. Hopefully we have it right now. The prime minister of Japan, Prime Minister Abe, there's - there's Mario, Super Mario right there, of course from Nintendo, a Japanese company. Then video play and who pops out, the prime minister of Japan, dressed as Super Mario. I give him huge credit for the sense of humor there. But I've never seen anything like that.

BRENNAN: No, John, I haven't either. I mean it hearkens back to just four years ago when Queen Elizabeth filmed a video and then it looked like she was jumping out of a plane into the London opening ceremonies, when, of course, that was a stunt double. It was not Queen Elizabeth coming into - parachuting in. But that was that theme.

This takes it a whole step farther. There he is. He's shown up. And it shows, I think, just how excited the folks in Tokyo are. And, you know, they're going to put on a great Olympics and the organization will be fantastic. And, obviously, there's going to be fun in those games too. And I give them great credit for doing that.

WIRE: Absolutely. They were having viewing parties, guys, back in Japan of the closing ceremony. They were keeping it under wraps what they were going to do, but the 12-year-old kid in me was loving that Super Mario. I mean get these games ready to go. I hope and pray that I will be able to be there. I think they're going to be pretty special.

[08:55:00] BERMAN: You've earned the right. You know, Coy Wire, Christine Brennan, thanks for a great few weeks there for us. Really appreciate it.

CAMEROTA: Thanks, guys.

BERMAN: "The Good Stuff" is next.

BRENNAN: Thanks so much.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Today's "Good Stuff" comes from Laredo, Texas, where 11-year- old Madelyn Niles (ph) was born premature and without all of her ribs. She's had surgery every six months for the past nine years. So what did she do? She took her situation, wrote about it, and got it all published.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When, you know, I read the story and I get choked up, and the fact that the editor called me and she was all choked up, I didn't know to say. I'm just so proud.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Oh, that was Madelyn's dad who helped her publish the story of her life with one simple message in mind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That it's OK to be afraid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Wow. Madelyn wrote this book with the intent to help other kids her age get through scary experiences.

BERMAN: And, you know, that's what's so important for anybody, right? You want to know that there's someone else out there like you who has been through this before, who's been in a scary situation. That's why books like this can make such a big difference. Good for her.

CAMEROTA: So valuable and beautiful. A great message.

All right, it's time now for "Newsroom" with Carol Costello.

Hey, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Alisyn. Hi, John. You guys gave a great day.

[09:00:00] NEWSROOM starts now.

Happening now in the NEWSROOM, does Donald Trump still want to deport millions?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Will that plan include a deportation force?

KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: To be determined.