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New Day

New State Department Docs May Soon be Released; Interview with Sen. Jeff Sessions; Trump Reaches Out to Minorities. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired August 23, 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: That's the number of newly discovered State Department documents that may soon be released. What's in them? What isn't in them? We have every angle covered.

[07:00:10] Let's start with CNN's Jessica Schneider. Jessica.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn and Chris, a federal judge is now calling for the State Department to release those e-mails and documents as soon as possible.

This is just as Donald Trump is once again hitting Hillary Clinton on her e-mail scandal, calling for an independent expedited investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD: Lock her up. Lock her up. Lock her up.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump once again attempting to capitalize an ongoing scrutiny of Hilary Clinton's e- mail and the Clinton Foundation, in his strongest language yet, accusing his opponent of fostering a pay for play culture when she was secretary of state.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The amounts involved, the favors done and significant number of times it was done require an expedited investigation by a special prosecutor immediately, immediately, immediately.

SCHNEIDER: Trump claiming the FBI and the Justice Department whitewashed Clinton's e-mail scandal.

TRUMP: Does it has proven itself to be really sadly a political arm of the White House.

SCHNEIDER: This charge coming as a judge orders the State Department to review an additional 15,000 e-mails and other documents. The former secretary of state did not voluntarily turn over. A development Clinton brushed off, Monday night.

HILARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Jimmy, my e-mails are so boring.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, mine aren't. CLINTON: I mean, I'm embarrassed about that, they're so boring. And -- So we've already released, I don't know, 30,000 plus, so what's a few more?

SCHNEIDER: Trump continuing his outreach to Black and Hispanic voters, raising eyebrows with his tone, yet again.

TRUMP: What do you have to lose? I will straighten it out. We'll get rid of the crime. You'll be able to walk down the street without getting shot. Right now, you walk down the street and you get shot.

SCHNEIDER: Clinton's campaign blasting Trump's overcharge of the black community, accusing Trump of "Doubling down on insults, fears and stereotypes that set our community back and further divide our country."

This appeal to Hispanics coming as Trump's campaign continues to attempt to clarify his stance on the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants after postponing a big policy speech.

TRUMP: We'll going to get rid of all of the bad ones. We have gang members, we have killers, we have a lot of bad people that have to get out of this country. We're going to get them out. And the police know who they are.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He will deport those who have absolutely committed a crime, been convicted of a crime.

SCHNEIDER: This change coming after Trump advocated for mass deportation for months.

TRUMP: They're going back where they came.

SCHNEIDER: As for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee forced to address unfounded conspiracy theories over her health.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go online and put down Hillary Clinton illness, take a look for the videos for yourself.

CLINTON: I don't know why they are saying this. I think on the one hand, it's part of the whacky strategy, just say all these crazy things and maybe you can get some people to believe you.

On the other hand, it just absolutely makes no sense.

SCHNEIDER: Can you open this jar of pickles. This has not been tampered with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHNEIDER: So Hillary Clinton brushing off those health rumors just as she's tellering her message today to small businesses, outlining a standard tax deduction and an expansion of health care credits.

V.P. candidate Tim Kaine will talk about the plans at a round table in Colorado. Alisyn? ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Jessica, thanks so much for all of that background.

Joining us now is Alabama Senator and Trump supporter, Jeff Sessions. Senator, thanks so much for being here early with us.

SEN. JEFF SESSIONS, (R) ALABAMA: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: OK, let's talk about the calls for special prosecutor to look into the Clinton Foundation. What exactly is the smoking gun that Donald Trump thinks warrants a special prosecutor?

SESSIONS: Well, we've seen a whole host of things. But this light ...

CAMEROTA: I mean we've seen e-mails. So what's -- where is the there, there?

SESSIONS: Well, the fundamental thing is you cannot be secretary of state of the United States of America and use that position to extort or to seek contributions to your private foundation.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

SESSIONS: Wait a minute. I mean, that is a fundamental violation of law and that does appear to have happened here.

CAMEROTA: Where -- what -- where has she extorted money?

SESSIONS: Well, when you -- when people think that the way you gain entree is to give to this foundation, why are all these people giving money to the foundation? Why are these people in countries that are very poor giving millions of dollars, even hundreds of millions of dollars to a foundation that doesn't benefit them in any direct way or the people in their country?

So they're doing it to gain access. And you cannot pay for access.

CAMEROTA: Of course.

SESSIONS: Wait a minute. This last deal was that this prince asked in the regular order to get access to Hillary Clinton and meet with her. It was turned down. The foundation called and said, "In effect he's given $32 million and they immediately got access" that's wrong.

[07:05:03] CAMEROTA: But other than a meeting, maybe that's a handshake. Maybe that's a photo op. Maybe that's a hello, how are you? Where is the evidence that some money was exchanged for a policy or something that happened?

SESSIONS: He asked for an investigation. The man wanted access to talk about something. This is very important to people. And they have an agenda, they wouldn't be asking for access for nothing. And they wouldn't be giving $30 million to a foundation that's not relevant to them. They wanted access. They got access. And I think that raises questions. I'm not saying that's a crime at this point. But I think there -- a definitely raises questions. CAMEROTA: Are you saying that you don't trust director of the FBI James Comey's conclusions?

SESSIONS: Well, I'm saying that things keep coming out. This was a recent discovery in some of the later e-mails it seems to me.

CAMEROTA: Well, the FBI had these e-mails. These were as we understand, that these were something that they found from the server, from that had been deleted that were part of what the Clintons claimed were personal e-mails. But the FBI has had these. Are you saying that you don't trust James Comey?

SESSIONS: What I'm saying is that the evidence indicates to me that this should be fully investigated. I cannot say that Mr. Comey has not completed a full investigation. But it seems like he has not.

And I think there are -- there is a cloud over this. And just because he might conclude that there's not a chargeable offense does not indicate that there's no wrong doing. This is not healthy. You do not use the secretary of state position to benefit your private foundation.

CAMEROTA: And of course Hillary Clinton denies that there was any use of the State Department to benefit the Clinton Foundation.

Let me ask you about what Donald Trump has been saying about rigged elections, et cetera, et cetera. Do you think that there's any danger in suggesting to Americans that they can't trust the Department of Justice, they can't trust the FBI, they can't trust the media, they can't trust the democratic process of elections? Does it get dangerous that message to go out to Americans?

SESSIONS: Look, what he was doing is what's done in every election. I've been involved in politics for many years. Every party calls on its people to call out poll watchers to make sure you're watching the other side in that voting process. They tell them that that could be possible fraud.

CAMEROTA: No presidential candidate has ever said that the election is rigged.

SESSIONS: I don't believe that. I don't believe that no presidential candidate has never said we don't need to be watching these elections to make sure it's fair. That's said every time.

CAMEROTA: Yes, of course. Watching, going to -- getting involved in your civic duty and going to polls is different than saying the election is going to be -- if I lose, the election will be rigged.

SESSIONS: Well, what he said I think in Pennsylvania was, we are determined to carry the State of Pennsylvania. This is a high priority of ours. And we're going to win Pennsylvania. And if we don't win, they're going to be stealing it from us. It's just a bombastic but strong statement of his belief that he's going to win.

CAMEROTA: Yes, but he said that the only way Hillary Clinton wins is if there's cheating. She's ahead in the polls.

SESSIONS: Well, she's not ahead in all polls. In fact the Los Angeles Times tracking poll has Trump ahead, not behind, right? And so we keep saying he's behind big numbers, it's not accurate.

CAMEROTA: But if she wins, senator, if Hillary Clinton wins, will Donald Trump send a message to all of his millions of supporters that the election wasn't legitimate?

SESSIONS: Well, it will depend. I would assume there will be a fair election. Most elections turn out to be at bottom fair. But we found out, you know, in the 2000 close election in Florida that there was a lot of things that went on there that were dubious. And so we have a close election, you could have Ohio, you could have Pennsylvania going down to the very wire and there might be -- it could be determined one way or another ...

CAMEROTA: Of course, but what happens if your candidate loses? Would you accept the outcome?

SESSIONS: Well, if it's fair, sure. Absolutely. I expect it to be fair in the end.

CAMEROTA: Why is Donald Trump canceling the immigration speech that he had scheduled for this Thursday? Because Americans do want to know where he is now on whether or not 11 million plus people undocumented immigrants will be deported.

SESSIONS: Well, he is clear on the fundamentals of his policy. There's no doubt about that. We're going to end the illegality. We're going to make the borders secure. We're going to protect the country from dangerous terrorists from coming in through refugee programs and other programs. And we're going to protect the country in that regard.

CAMEROTA: But what about, will every person be deported? That's what he originally said.

SESSIONS: Well, that's -- these are tough issues. I've wrestled with them for many years. The first thing you have to do is end the lawlessness because you can't be rewarding people for illegality. Everybody that's here that entered this country illegally is subject to being deported. That's just what the law is.

[07:10:00] CAMEROTA: And has he changed his policy on whether or not he thinks it is practical and feasible to deport every single person who is here illegally?

SESSIONS: Well, what we're going to do is he's going to look at that, he's going to make a statement about that.

CAMEROTA: So why did he cancel the statement for Thursday?

SESSIONS: Well, these are complex matters. And I think they deserve really serious reviews. But the fundamentals, the whole majority of what he's talking about on immigration is that we can fix it. And we can protect the American workers. And if you bring in more workers from abroad than we have jobs for, it pulls down wages. It's impacting American workers. We've had a steady decline in wages.

Wages declined again the first half of this year, 1.1 percent, second quarter of this year. Part of that is an excessive labor flow. Part of that is a failure of our trade policy to protect American high paying manufacturing jobs. And we're losing them steadily.

So the combination of illegal and legal flow of immigrant labor and the decline of manufacturing is hammered American workers. Donald Trump is the only person that's talking clearly about that. And the only one in years that talked about it.

CAMEROTA: But Mr. Trump has canceled not only what the speech he was going to give on immigration in Colorado. He's also canceled some rallies in Oregon as well as other places. There were four of these canceled for this week. So does that suggest that there's retooling of the message? Is he going back to the drawing board this week?

SESSIONS: Well, he's having more rallies than Hillary Clinton ever thought about. I don't know what she's doing. She's having private fundraisers with friends. But he's out talking to the people to a degree that few candidates have and drawing crowds very few have. So I'm not sure what his schedule is and you're always changing those things as you go along.

CAMEROTA: What do you think about Mr. Trump's outreach efforts to black voters? What do you ...

SESSIONS: It's wonderful. That is exactly what he needs to be doing. The American people, working Americans, are getting hurt. Hispanics, lawful immigrants, African-Americans have been hurt more than other people as a result of bad policies.

Donald Trump is one -- the only person that's talked about it directly. And it will -- his policies will benefit the African- American community more than probably any other community in the country.

CAMEROTA: Do you think that his message of you can't walk down the street without being shot out. Your neighborhoods are terrible. Your schools are a mess. You have dramatic poverty. Do you think that that message speaks to all black voters?

SESSIONS: Well, we do have too much crime in the African-American community. The law enforcement needs to focus more on that and help those communities stabilize. I've been a part of law enforcement effort as a federal prosecutor and state attorney general for many years. Good people are demanding better law enforcement in their communities and we can do better. But ...

CAMEROTA: And what exactly will Donald Trump do to help black communities get jobs?

SESSIONS: Well, as I said, the first thing you do is you don't bring in more labor than we have jobs for. We should give priority to the American people first. That poll is about 80 percent with African- Americans. Who should get a job? Should you bring in somebody from abroad to take the job or should you make sure and do everything you can to get an African-American or any American citizen that job first? Give them the first opportunity. That's only sound policy. And that's what he's saying. And it will help all communities.

CAMEROTA: Senator Jeff Sessions, thanks so much for being here on NEW DAY, nice to talk to you.

SESSIONS: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Let's get on with Chris.

CUOMO: All right, as you were just hearing Alisyn and the senator discussing Donald Trump trying to boost his appeal among Black and Hispanic voters. But how about how he is doing it? Is painting the minority reality in America as completely ghettoized? Is that the way to do it?

[07:13:47] We'll debate next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It is a disaster the way African-Americans are living in many cases. And in many cases the way Hispanics are living. What do you have to lose? I will straighten it out. I'll bring jobs back. We'll bring spirit back. We'll get rid of the crime. You'll be able to walk down the street without getting shot. Right now you walk down the street and you get shot. Look at the statistics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Donald Trump's attempt to reach out to African-American and Hispanic voters right there in Akron, Ohio, at a rally. Is that the way to do it?

Joining us now is CNN Political Commentator and Vice Chair of the New York State Democratic Party, Christine Quinn, she's a Hillary Clinton supporter and Joe Borelli. He's a New York City councilman and Trump supporter. Good to have both.

The criticism is an obvious one here, right? Why are you ghettoizing all African-Americans and Hispanics? Why are you making this reach to those voters when you got all these white people behind you in Akron, Ohio? What's the play here?

JOE BORELLI, NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL MEMBER: Look, the play here is he's talking to people not only just African-Americans but anyone who lives in the inner city.

I'm not an African-American person. I can't claim to speak for that community. But I do live here in New York City, the biggest city in America.

If you also live in this city or any city like it and you've seen crime rates and you've seen, you know, homeownership rates, poverty rates, its the policies that are designed to help you, have no longer help you, you have a right to question the party that has been giving these policies.

CUOMO: Absolutely. But when you talk to those groups you don't discuss them as if they're all in poverty, right?

BORELLI: I don't know. But I mean, even the Democratic Party has been playing sort of raised politics and have been generalizing races for many years. So I don't think there's a double standard with anything Donald Trump has ever said.

CUOMO: So the criticism from your party is exactly what I'm saying it is, which is that he is playing on a stereotype and that's not helpful. But what about the underline?

Let's say Trump is not doing it the best way, OK. This is a clumsy approach. But these big cities have in almost every instance been run by Democrats for a very long time and the status quo is what it is and it's unacceptable. Why should you be blamed?

CHRISTINE QUINN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, look, I think you have to look at the picture here, right. Many big cities absolutely are true are run by Democrats. But cities don't exist alone. And we had eight years of Barack Obama trying to get things through Congress that would help cities, trying desperately and Congress not participating.

[07:20:14] You know, Donald Trump last night made it sound like no street in America was safe for an African-American or Latino or Hispanic person to walk down, talking about them getting shot. That's a man who has been endorsed by the NRA, who himself and his party have pushed back against sensible gun control laws that are a part, not the whole answer, but a critical part to making our streets safe.

And I have to say, I just find it -- now, I am also not an African- American person. But find it so offensive this you have nothing to lose. Just because someone might be -- wait, just because somebody might be low income and might not have the best job that they want, they have a lot to lose.

CUOMO: No. But what he's saying is, this situation has to get better there and it will if you give somebody else a chance.

QUINN: But it's the way he phrases it?

BORELLI: But stats don't lie. 11.3 more African-American saying was living in poverty since before Barack Obama took office. Stats don't lie. I'm not sure what you can point to that Congress did as supposed to what some of these Democratic mayors have done in a city to address that problem.

CUOMO: Here's what I'm saying Joe. I think that's a valid line of argument, it's all about how you argue these things in a campaign, right? Why is it in a black community? Why isn't go to NAACP?

BORELLI: He has had -- this week he has had prominent Hispanic Americans. He has met many times with African-American leaders. I think you will see him going to more African-American churches and things like that as a typical candidate would.

But don't forget, he's speaking to a T.V. audience. I mean that the audience broad. The audience is not limited as we see to the people who happen to be in the arena for that particular event.

QUINN: I think that's -- with all due respect that's absurd because he had an opportunity when he flew his private plane and drove his motorcade into Detroit to stop and actually meet people and hear what they're going through, the same way he did in Louisiana.

BORELLI: But he was in Milwaukee, he met with Sheriff Clark there, who is an African-American.

QUINN: He could have met with everyday African-Americans in Detroit and didn't. And it does matter, honestly, that a white man is standing up in a fashion I find patronizing and telling African-Americans that they're all living in poverty. They're all going to be victims of gun violence, that they have nothing to lose and does it in front of a white audience. It's a terrible sign, in my opinion of disrespect.

And then add to that, this comments and speeches he's given relevant to African-Americans are riddled with misrepresentations, 58 percent of ...

CUOMO: Joe, button it up, I want to ask about something else. Go ahead.

BORELLI: Well, he is not saying that. He is saying if you live in one of these places and you have seen for the past two generations time and time again that the Democratic Party has let you down. He is questioning, why you would continue to drink sort of the cool aid of the Democratic Party. I mean it's just not something that is irrational. It's something that is very rational.

If you look at everything, broadly, the pay rate -- rather the median income for families. All these things have not helped middle income, poor, lower income families throughout the United States of America. He's simply suggesting that putting in people's heads that, "Hey, maybe the Democratic Party is not the right choice for you."

QUINN: But if you want to look at that how ...

BORELLI: And he is one of the first Republicans to his credit to really actually even speak to people in inner cities, to people who are low income, that's been a criticism of the Republican Party and probably fairly and I think he is at least starting to do a great job in addressing it.

QUINN: But if you look at what are the plans that would help urban America and communities of color, how do trillions of dollars of tax cuts for super rich Americans help them? How does changing the state tax so ...

BORELLI: How does rent control was made rents more expensive for everyone else in the system unlike those -- unless you're one of the lucky ...

QUINN: Thank God, the president of United States has nothing to do with very incomparable. But how is changing the state tax, which won't help ...

BORELLI: But this is Democratic Party policies. And the president does with the ...

QUINN: No, no, no, no ...

BORELLI: ... with the Section 8 programs and things like that.

QUINN: We're talking about Donald Trump's plan.

BORELLI: Sure.

QUINN: And those are his plans to cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires and to change -- whoa, whoa, whoa ...

BORELLI: And for the working poor.

QUINN: There is no evidence that you change ...

BORELLI: Yeah, there is.

QUINN: ... taxes to benefit people like himself to roll back Obamacare, something that Tim Pont's rementioned that's helping low income ...

(CROSSTALK)

BORELLI: ... on middle class families because of Barack Obama.

QUINN: Forget the rhetoric, there's no substance there that will help ...

CUOMO: All right, but, you know what, there is a lot of substance on both sides. And that's why this is a good debate to have that's why I let it go. I think it's good for people to hear this, which should be an exchange of ideas. It hasn't.

One of the reasons, the e-mail situation is what it is. The FBI going through its investigation seems to have been found holy unsatisfactory by the Donald Trump campaign. He is all but saying that Comey, I guess to use his words, "rigged this thing." Do you endorse that, Joe Borelli, as an elected official yourself, do you believe that the FBI should be undermined by the Trump campaign?

[07:25:02] BORELLI: Well, I think the FBI itself was undermined by the Department of Justice. Don't forget the fact that the FBI along with three separate Department of Justice field offices independently decided that the Clinton Foundation should be investigated for criminal corruption. It was the Department of Justice led by Attorney General Loretta Lynch which coincidentally she met with Bill Clinton on a private plane. She's the one that nixed these.

So if the Department of Justice is not taking the advice of their unlinks and from their system ...

CUOMO: So you think the Department of Justice is corrupt?

BORELLI: No. I'm not saying ...

CUOMO: You have to be saying that. You have to be. You can't say what you just said and say it's not.

BORELLI: ... Loretta Lynch met with Bill Clinton and that influence ...

CUOMO: I'm just asking you the question. Do you think the Department of Justice is corrupt?

BORELLI: If Loretta Lynch met with Bill Clinton and had some type of ...

CUOMO: ... my question, you don't want to say it because you know it's a loaded statement. But the campaign keeps tiptoeing right up to that line. We just had Jeff Sessions, very respected guy saying, "Hey, this demands full investigation." "Oh, you're saying the FBI didn't investigate?" "Oh, no, I'm not saying they didn't do a full investigation but it demands a full investigation." What are you people saying?

BORELLI: The FBI itself has said that we wanted to investigate the Clinton Foundation for corruption and the Department of Justice led by Loretta Lynch has squashed their desire to investigate.

They believe there may be corruption. I'm not saying there is, I'm not saying there isn't, they believed it was. We have Pretoria and others, three Department of Justice field offices, independently saying that there is something worth looking at here.

Now that we see these e-mails, we see evidence of pay to play, we see evidence of corruption. These are things that Americans do care about. It's not necessarily how many e-mails there were, it's the substance. Now we're seeing the substance and its problematic and why it was, you know, nixed and investigation is problematic.

CUOMO: Quick button on this.

QUINN: Yeah, I -- Director Comey is somebody that everyone, Republicans, Democrats say is above reproach, straight shooter, you know, who has never let anyone push him around and always been a quest for justice. And I think it's really unacceptable to undermine the FBI and their director who is a great American of great standing to say that something was rigged. He's made a statement. He put this to end. We're now seeing a right wing group trickle out e-mails. This is no longer a bad substance.

BORELLI: A federal judge.

QUINN: It's about politics. And that's going to undermine ...

CUOMO: All right, and also people in their mind. First of all, thank you Joe, thank you Christine.

QUINN: Yup.

CUOMO: And remember you got to keep in your minds you got to separate these two things. It's not a criticism of Comey when it comes to the e-mail investigation itself. He made his finding. But with the foundation, the FBI different parts of that agency did believe there should be a case. An investigation made to the Department of Justice said there should not be. Two different situations. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: All right Chris, here's another questionable connection to tell you about. Donald Trump may not be the only candidate with a university problem. What a CNN investigation reveals about a for- profit school and its link to the Clintons. That's next.

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