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Trump to Unveil his Immigration Plan in Arizona Tonight; FBI to Release Clinton Emails Report to Public. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired August 31, 2016 - 06:00   ET

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

[05:59:55] JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A surprising invitation, given Nieto's previous comments about Trump rejecting the Republican nominee's promise he'll make the Mexican government pay for a 1,000 mile border wall.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I will build a great, great wall on our Southern border, and I will have Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Under in circumstances would Mexico pay for that wall.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is no way that Mexico can pay a wall like that.

CARROLL: The Mexican president likening the billionaire's rhetoric to Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoever speaks badly of Mexicans doesn't know Mexicans.

CARROLL: Nieto saying, he extended the invitation to both presidential candidates tweeting, the reason behind Trump's visit is to, quote, "promote the interests of Mexicans worldwide and mainly to protect Mexicans wherever they might be."

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

CARROLL: During a North American Summit with President Obama in July, Nieto promised a frank, open dialogue with whomever is elected.

TRUMP: Tomorrow night in Arizona, big speech on immigration.

CARROLL: Trump is set to unveil his long awaited immigration plan, but details remain vague. The big question is whether Trump will soften his hardline position to use force deportation to remove an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants.

TRUMP: Eleven million people in this country that came in illegally. They will go out.

DONALD TRUMP, JR., SON OF DONALD TRUMP: We have to have baby steps first.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CARROLL: Well, Trump has not used the term baby steps in relation to his approach to immigration policy. So we'll have to see how that works out. Later, we will see what steps he will take. The Clinton camp, for their part, weighing in on Trump's meeting with Mexico's president, the campaign released a statement saying what ultimately matters is what Donald Trump says to voters in Arizona, not Mexico, and whether he remains committed to the splitting up of families and deportation of millions.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Jason, thank you very much. But this is significant move. And you're going to see it echoed now by the campaign, namely Donald Trump, Jr. coming on television defending his father's immigration policy against accusations that he's flip-flopped on his central campaign issue. Tough spot for the son who sat down with Anderson Cooper last night to drill down on specifics. Here's a taste.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Tomorrow your dad is giving a big speech on immigration. A, have you seen the speech? Do you know what it is? Have you talked to him about it? And if so, is there going to more clarity on exactly what his policy is?

DONALD TRUMP, JR.: Yes. There's going to be more clarity. I've seen parts of it. You know, they're still finalizing aspects of it now and they're going to continue to lay out things, you know, in the coming weeks and months as that expands. You're going to see a lot more detail, but you're going to really see the fundamental principles that we have to do. And we have to secure our border. We have to start implementing an e-verify system. We have to let ICE do their job, enforce the existing laws on the books. I mean, some of these is a rocket times.

I mean, these are laws that are there today. They've been on the books for years. They've been expanded. And these guys are basically told that they can't do that. So, you know, we have to have baby steps first. We have to let ICE do their jobs, and we have to do this for the benefit of the American people.

COOPER: Your dad was very clear during the primaries about his policy. It's obviously build a wall, have Mexico pay for it, go after the criminals, the 11 million undocumented immigrants who are here. They've got to go, good ones can come back. It will be done humanely. There will be a deportation force. He's used to be de-emphasizing that or at least focusing, trying to focus more on build wall, the e- verify, go after the criminals. And now we're hearing from someone from the campaign just the other day, well, on the 11 million, we'll figure that out down the road. Is there going to be more clarity on that tomorrow?

DONALD TRUMP, JR.: Well, I think the 11 million is one thing, but when you take out, you know, again, the criminals, when you take out the people who have committed felonies and you send them back home, I mean, that's actually millions of people. That's a big portion of that group. And without doing that, everything else is irrelevant. I mean, you have to take those steps first.

COOPER: That was pretty much Jeb Bush's policy. That was pretty much, a lot of other Republicans' policies. Even your father have acknowledged that under Obama they've been deporting an awful lot of people. So, I guess what people has -- and you know this better than anyone, what has concerned particularly the Republicans just in the last week or so is some of your dad's statements about softening.

DONALD TRUMP, JR.: Anderson, I was there. Because you're obviously referring to the Hannity thing. I was there with them. I did a segment, you know, for the next day, you know, five minutes after that. He wasn't softening on anything. He didn't change his stance on anything. What he did was and what he's done all along is he's speaking with the people. He's not lecturing them like most of the politicians you see. He's actually having a conversation. He basically surveyed the room and asked, hey, what are your thoughts on this?

I want to take that because I want to take into account what the people say, unlike our opponents who basically will take into account only those who, you know, contribute millions and millions of dollars to her campaign. He's actually having a conversation with the people of this country, the hard working men and women who made this country great. He's giving them a voice. He asked an opinion. He didn't say, well, my policy is now changed. He didn't say that. Now, the media will run with it however they want. That's not what happened. And I was in the room.

[06:05:08] COOPER: It did seem some viewers though who we talked to that, it seemed like he's polling the room, he's not quite sure, what his own policy is.

DONALD TRUMP, JR.: You know, he was asking for an opinion. His policy has been the same for the last six, seven, eight months.

COOPER: They all got to go.

DONALD TRUMP, JR.: That's been the same, correct. But again, you have to start with baby steps. You have to let ICE do their job. You have to eliminate the sanctuary cities. You have to get rid of the criminals, certainly first and foremost. You have to secure the border. These are common sense things, Anderson. These are things that every other country in the world has done. And those who haven't and those who have gotten lackadaisical about it, look at what's going on. And perhaps Europe is the best example of that right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: All right. So let's discuss Trump's surprise trip to Mexico and his big speech tonight with CNN politics executive editor Mark Preston, CNN political analyst and national political reporter for Real Clear Politics Rebecca Berg, and Latin American political analyst and radio host Ana Maria Salazar. Great to have all of you with us this morning.

So Mark, how is this going to work today with this meeting between President Nieto and Donald Trump? Donald Trump who has called Mexican immigrants rapists and President Pena Nieto who has called Donald Trump, he has likened him to Hitler and Mussolini.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Right. So, look, I think that we would expect there would be a lot of fireworks going into this meeting. However, I don't think that's going to happen. I mean, you have two men. They know what they need to do. You have a president of Mexico right now whose favorability rating is in the 20s. Somewhere right there. You have Donald Trump back here talking about this populist message about how he's going to force Mexico to build this wall.

What I do think is going to happen is that you're going to have Donald Trump go to this meeting, get back on an airplane, fly to Arizona, talk about how well things went and how well he'll be able to work with Mexico, and I think you'll probably have the Mexican president say, we're still not going to pay for that wall.

CUOMO: Ana Maria Salazar, what's your take on what would motivate the Mexican president in a meeting like this and where he needs to be on the other side of it?

ANA MARIA SALAZAR, LATIN AMERICAN POLITICAL ANALYST: I don't think anybody understands what motivated the President to accept this meeting. I mean, literally everybody is in shock down here because this meeting is going to take place. And it's hard to foresee any results from this meeting that could benefit Pena Nieto or the Mexican people or Mexicans who are living in the United States or Mexican- Americans. It's very perplexing. It's very difficult to understand why he accepted the meeting. And this could have repercussions in Mexican politics. There are a lot of questions in regards to the sanity of this meeting taking place in Mexico by the Mexican president.

CAMEROTA: Rebecca, let's remind everyone of what President Pena Nieto said about paying for the wall, which has been one of Donald Trump's main campaign promises, when the President of Mexico sat down with Fareed Zakaria. So, listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump's main policy proposal, the one he began his campaign with, is that he intends to build a wall between the United States and Mexico along the border, and he intends to get Mexico to pay for it.

ENRIQUE PENA NIETO, PRESIDENT OF MEXICO: There is a way to help Mexico pay the wall, but any decisions inside the United States is a decision of its government.

ZAKARIA: But under no circumstances would Mexico pay for that wall?

PENA NIETO: There is no way that Mexico can pay a wall like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CAMEROTA: That's what he says, there's no way that they can pay for a wall like that. So Rebecca, what do you think is going to happen on that topic when these two men finally talk?

REBECCA BERG, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, REAL CLEAR POLITICS: Well, I don't think, Alisyn, that we can expect any sort of down payment on the wall from this meeting today. But I think it will be an opportunity for both of these men, Donald Trump and the Mexican president to talk tough and represent their stances to each other and then be able to go back to their supporters -- and the Mexican president back to his countrymen and say, look, we made clear where we are on these issues, we stood our grounds and that would I guess be beneficial to both of them in the long run.

But of course, as Mark said, this is important for Donald Trump because it gives him some context for his immigration speech later today. It gives him an opportunity to say, I've seen on the ground what's happening on the border, and now also met with the Mexican president and expressed my concerns and expressed what I want to do if elected. And that gives him sort of some credibility with this issue, whereas he doesn't have, as we know, foreign policy experience, like Hillary Clinton. This is one of the major concerns among voters when you look at public polling. And so any opportunity that he has, especially outside of the spotlight in terms of the American press. He's not bringing reporters with him on this trip. So it gives him a very safe space to say, look, I am bolstering my credibility on this issue.

CUOMO: It's absent and ugly incident with Pena Nieto. This is a home run for Donald Trump. Because it sets him up a statement. It has him doing something that a president would do. And there's almost no chance that he can't come out of it saying that he got his message across. So, that's all good. The downside is, going into this speech tonight, they haven't figured out how to finesse a change in their position. I'm no big fans of kids and campaigns. But Donald Trump, Jr. isn't a kid. He's 30-something years old. And there's a difference between confidence and competence. The idea that well, baby steps. He never said baby steps.

PRESTON: Right.

[06:10:31] CUOMO: That idea that let ICE do its job. Who's keeping ICE from doing its job? You know, is that going to get past scrutiny, that kind of argument?

PRESTON: It certainly will with the supporters of Donald Trump. You're right. I mean, we're talking about very muddy waters right now.

CUOMO: But he is changing his position because he wants to move beyond the base. He wouldn't change it all if he's only worried about his base.

PRESTON: Because there's no way that he can win in November if he doesn't change his position and move beyond the base.

CUOMO: Right.

PRESTON: No question about that. But they really are muddying up the waters and making a confusion about where does Donald Trump stands on everything, whether it's deporting 11 million, whether it's getting the bad guys out of here which I think everybody wants to get out of here, about continuing on with policies that are already in place by Barack Obama. But to your point, who is stopping ICE from doing their job? I mean, there's nobody out there, stopping them from doing their job.

So, it will -- but do I think for the supporters of Donald Trump, regardless of what his position is, and to your point softening, which I agree with absolutely, some would say evolving on the issue, his supporters are going to stay with him. I think that Republicans who are concerned about Donald Trump, about his stand on immigration, and certainly voters who don't like the way his rhetoric has been directed at his Hispanics are going to embrace this.

CAMEROTA: Ana Maria, let's talk about the mystery as you've been alluding to, about the timing of this. And the motivation for this. Because President Pena Nieto invited Donald Trump and invited Hillary Clinton. So why wouldn't he wait until there was a U.S. president elect, until the American voters had decided on one of these people to then meet with them?

SALAZAR: That's why -- that's what's been the Mexican tradition. And the Mexican tradition has been not to show any preferences for any of the candidates who are seeking to be the next president of the United States. That's why it's astounding that he's meeting with Donald Trump the same week where the President Pena Nieto is supposed to present his version of the state of the Union in Mexico. It's kind of the State of the Nation Address. That's supposed to happen on Thursday. And he is being bombarded by a lot of questions in regards to ability to govern.

So this meeting is probably taking place the worst week that could possibly be for the president in political terms. And of course, those who want to be potential candidates for the 2018 elections here in Mexico already tweeting and sending out messages and telling Donald Trump that he's not welcome. So it will be used against the President, against the President's party, and ultimately Donald Trump is despised in Mexico. And regardless -- whatever the outcome is of this meeting, it's perceived like all of you have said. The only one who can really benefit from this is Donald Trump.

So, I'm not -- you know, to think that Donald Trump meeting with the Mexican president could potentially even benefit him with Hispanic or Latino voters in the United States, Mexican-American voters, is not going to go very far. So, I could almost bet that this meeting is going to be considered one of the historical mistakes of this president and that, yes, Donald Trump is going to use this means to somehow justify him being a bully or speaking strongly against the Mexican people, against the Mexican government.

And three, and no one has really mentioned this, the Hillary Clinton campaign is probably pretty angry about this. And it is very unlikely that she would come and visit Mexico, especially after this meeting. And I would even say when she becomes president of the United States, it's very unlikely that she'll be -- that one of the first countries she'll be visiting will be Mexico. So, it could also have repercussions in relation in the Mexico/U.S. bilateral relationship even after the elections.

CAMEROTA: Ana Maria, such a fascinating perspective from you to talk about the ripple effect that today's meeting could have on everything. Thank you for all of that insight. Rebecca and Mark, stick around. We have more questions for you coming up in our 8:00 hour. We will talk to Trump's running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, in his first interview since this Mexico trip was announced.

CUOMO: We'll also get reaction from the former Mexican President Vicente Fox. Hear what they both have to say. That will be in the 8:00 hour.

CAMEROTA: OK. Two big GOP establishment senators fighting off primary challengers and keeping their bids for re-election alive. Arizona Senator John McCain, a day after his 80th birthday, beating his 47-year-old opponent, who called him old and weak, by more than ten percentage points. McCain goes for a sixth term against Democratic Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick in November.

And Florida Senator Marco Rubio cruising to a victory with the decisive win, nearly 72 percent of the vote against a millionaire who spent his own money trying to knock out Rubio. The one-time presidential candidate will now face off against Democratic Congressman Patrick Murphy. They're expected to run a tight race with Republican control of the Senate on the line.

[06:15:35] CUOMO: All right. So now the FBI is set to make public its report that recommended no charges against Clinton over private e- mails. The question is, what will this do to the campaign? What could be in there? We'll give you a good hint. Next

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:19:52] CUOMO: All right. Some cause for speculation on both sides of the race. The FBI is set to release to the public its report to the Justice Department recommending no charges against Hillary Clinton for her use of private e-mail servers as secretary of state. This as we're learning that the State Department found dozens of Clinton's deleted e-mails related to the Benghazi attack. On the other side, a real hit piece in Mother Jones that basically describes Donald Trump's modeling agency as a circumvention of immigration law.

So, let's bring back Mark Preston and Rebecca Berg. Let's talk about these two potential bombshells. I put it in quotes because what can there be in these e-mails if the FBI already looked at them, right? Already inspected these e-mails that it's giving over? What could be in there that would change the race?

PRESTON: Well, we don't know, but I mean, that's what's the $64,000 question except is there correspondence back and forth between the State Department aides, folks perhaps, you know, outside of the State Department? Because we already know there was a connection with the foundation anyway. Were there people on the outside providing help to the people on the inside about how to deal with Benghazi. And if that's the case, that would be new. That would be revealing. And also, I think it goes to a greater problem for Hillary Clinton. We talk about this every week as we're sitting here. Is that the Clintons seem to try to play by their own rules. And this is another example of them saying, do as I say, not as I do.

CAMEROTA: So, Rebecca, we're also going to get these 30 pages of the FBI's notes that they took while Hillary Clinton was being interviewed. Now, this was already given to Congress. And so, some of this has leaked. So, what do we think -- this is the result of a FOIA we should mention request by impart CNN. So now the public will be able to see what the FBI took notes on during that interview. What do we expect will be in those?

BERG: Well, that's the question, right? And what I think Republicans are hoping will be in there are some inconsistencies between what Clinton has said publicly throughout the course of this campaign about her e-mails and her private server and what she said in private to the FBI. And now, of course, this interview wasn't done under oath, something that many Republicans had some qualms about. It wasn't recorded. So, these are just rough notes, rough transcriptions of what was said in the interview.

And Clinton's campaign might use that as an opportunity to push back on some of the content and say, well, hold on a second, this isn't the full record of what was said. But at the same time, it is very consequential in terms of her trustworthiness, her honesty. These are metrics that are very important in this campaign and ones she has really struggled with throughout this campaign. And if there is any sign of inconsistency between what she has said publicly and privately, that's going to hurt her. And she will have to defend then why there are those differences.

CUOMO: Couple of quick points. One, the FBI never puts you under oath. But lying to the FBI is a crime. So they don't need to put you under oath the way the cops do. But even then, you can still lie to the cops. It's not a crime.

CAMEROTA: But isn't also one of the things that might be revealed that the FBI didn't ask the questions that Congress wanted them to ask. Some of their issue with it is not her answers. It's that they don't think the FBI went deep enough.

CUOMO: Or just as much the other way, that guys in the room with her or women, whoever was doing the interviews --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CUOMO: -- had suspicions and didn't like certain answers and thought there should be action about certain answers.

CAMEROTA: In their nose.

CUOMO: And found out not being the call. Yes. Because remember, the FBI is set up to make a case. That's what their job is. It's the Department of Justice's job to say whether or not their case is good enough.

CAMEROTA: Right. But the FBI decided not to make that case.

PRESTON: Right. It's also worth noting, as much as Congress is upset about this and certainly Jason Chaffetz and others, the Republicans who are leading, you know, the investigations into this, the FBI is not an arm of Congress. Right? I mean, they have their own job to do. When we saw Comey go on Capitol Hill and try to answer questions, he kept on getting badgered saying, well, you know, did you learn this, did you ask that? And Comey would say over and over again, the FBI director, that was not the focus of our investigation. The focus of our investigation is, you know, we did not see an inconsistency in what you're asking.

CUOMO: He was in a tough spot. Because usually it would be the Attorney General who would be having that conversation about why they decided not to prosecute, not the head of the FBI.

Rebecca Berg, this other story, this Mother Jones story. It basically says, to Mark's description of the Clintons, you play by you own rules, that speculation. It seems to fall into that category with Donald Trump. This modeling agency that he has, women came forward saying they circumvented immigration law, they put us in these lousy apartments, and they were just milking the system and milking these women to model and doing it on the cheap. How much do you think they're there happen with this?

[06:24:32] BERG: Well, it could be hugely consequential because it shows perhaps that there's some inconsistencies between what Donald Trump is saying and what he's actually done in his business career. But what we have seen with Donald Trump is that he likes to brag about taking advantage of loopholes in the law, not only when it comes to something like this, immigration rules, but also with taxation. And he's used the tax codes, as he said, to his advantage. And so if he can make the case that he was trying to take advantage of a broken system, there is a way that he could maybe maneuver this politically to a place where it's advantageous for him.

CUOMO: I know. It's not taxes though. It's not taxes. These are the H1B visas that he's talked about being abused. He said, I'm going to get rid of them because people abuse them. That's really wrong. We have to be tougher. That's what they're accusing him of in this piece.

CAMEROTA: Right. I mean, basically that he had told the models who were coming into this country, just say that you're here for tourism.

CUOMO: Taking meetings.

CAMEROTA: Yes. You're taking meetings. You're trying to find an --

CUOMO: You're not working.

CAMEROTA: If they find your portfolio, because they really were coming in for work, they find your portfolio, just say that you were looking for an agent. So is that a loophole or is that breaking the law?

PRESTON: Well, it's clearly breaking the law, right? I mean, in the end, I mean, but what Donald Trump as Rebecca says has said over and over again as a businessman, I'm going to take every chance I can to help myself out personally. But now that I'm running for president, I'm here to help you out, and we will close these loopholes down. For some reason that, hasn't stuck to Donald Trump in this campaign, as a lot of things haven't stuck to Donald Trump.

CUOMO: But working the taxes and breaking the law are two different things. Everybody wants to pay the least amount of taxes. We all get that. This could be something different. The question is, does it get that kind of traction that it needs?

PRESTON: Right. And I would say this. Being in New York City with the tabloids, that could be his downfall in the sense that they could seize upon the story and run with it.

CAMEROTA: We're going to be having one of the models who says that she exploited this, you know, breaking of the loophole or whatever on NEW DAY coming up in the program. So, stick around for that.

CUOMO: All right.

CAMEROTA: Thanks so much, panel.

CUOMO: Yes, thank you very much. On Monday, we're going to have two special reports on both presidential nominees. Personal stories from those who know them best. The series is called "Unfinished Business: The Essential Hillary Clinton," Monday at 8:00 followed by "All Business: The Essential Donald Trump" at 10:00.

CAMEROTA: All right. Watches and warnings in Florida as a major storm barrels towards the Gulf Coast. What areas will feel the brunt of this storm? We have the forecast for you next.

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