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Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump Exchange Criticism on Foreign Policy; Report Highlights Incidents When Donald Trump was Fined for Illegal Political Donations; Controversies Clouding Clinton's Campaign. Aired 8-8:30 a ET

Aired September 07, 2016 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:05:00] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Sara?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Good morning, Chris. Donald Trump is trailing Hillary Clinton on who is best prepared to be commander in chief in our latest CNN/ORC poll, but he is trying to turn the numbers around and he's trying to do that by going after Hillary Clinton not just on her foreign policy approach, but also on her use of a private email server.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She never talks about policy.

MURRAY: Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton clashing over who is ready to be commander in chief.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He has no clue about what he is talking about.

MURRAY: Trump unveiling endorsements from nearly 90 U.S. military leaders, and revealing his plan to demand a plan to take down ISIS.

TRUMP: I'm going to convene my top generals and give them a simple instruction. They will have 30 days to submit to the Oval Office a plan for soundly and quickly defeating ISIS.

CLINTON: He says he has a secret plan to defeat is, but the secret is he has no plan.

MURRAY: As Clinton warns Trump will lead the U.S. back to war.

CLINTON: When it comes to fighting ISIS, he has been all over the map. You would have to literally map it out. He has talked about letting Syria become a free zone for ISIS. Look at the map, Donald. He has talked about sending in American ground troops. Not on my watch.

MURRAY: The Democratic nominee capitalizing on Trump's own words on veterans in this new ad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John McCain, a war hero.

TRUMP: He is not a war hero. He is a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured.

MURRAY: As she touts her own military supporters.

CLINTON: They know they cannot count on Donald Trump. They view him as a danger and a risk.

MURRAY: But Trump continues to argue Clinton is the risky one.

TRUMP: Hillary Clinton favors what has been called military adventurism, rushing to invade countries, displacing millions of families, and then inviting the refugees into our country, creating power vacuums filled by terrorist groups like ISIS.

MURRAY: To two rivals trade barbs over who qualifies as friend or foe.

TRUMP: Hillary likes to play tough with Russia. Putin looks at her and he laughs, OK?

Russia doesn't like ISIS any better than we do. Wouldn't it be nice if we actually got along with Russia and we could knock them out together? Wouldn't that be a good thing?

(APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: We're going to work with our allies, not insult them. We're going to stand up to our adversaries, not cozy up to them.

MURRAY: Trump also taking aim at Clinton's private email server, highlighting the FBI's revelation that one of her aides destroyed old phones with a hammer.

TRUMP: Very shady activity.

MURRAY: And seizing on Clinton's repeated claim in her FBI interview that there were some details that she just couldn't recall.

TRUMP: If she really can't remember, she can't be president. She doesn't remember anything. Were you instructed on how to use -- I can't remember.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MURRAY: And you can expect Donald Trump to keep up his criticism of Hillary Clinton today, talking about that military adventurism and contrasting their different approaches to foreign policy. But he's also going to be talking today about his plans to bolster the military and calling for an end to sequestration. Back to you, Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Sara, for Hillary Clinton for her part is pounding on the fact that Trump was caught by the IRS for concealing a foundation donation for $25,000 to the campaign of Florida's attorney general at the same time that she was considering investigating fraud claims against Trump University. We're now learning that this is not Trump's only violation of political donation limits, not even close. CNN senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny has that story for us. This isn't new, but it's new in focus.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: New context of course on all of this. Donald Trump has often railed against what he calls a rigged political system. But this morning, there is a fresh reminder that he has also been part of the system for a very long time. It's that $25,000 donation from his foundation to the Florida attorney general that is receiving fresh scrutiny because it came just as her office was set to review allegations of fraud at Trump University. Foundations, of course, are not allowed to make political contributions. So he was slapped with a $2,500 fine by the IRS. The Clinton campaign back on offense, with Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton raising all of this and Trump's unwillingness to release his own tax returns.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: Truly, the list goes on and on. The scams, the frauds, the questionable relationships, the business activities that have stiffed workers, refused to pay small businesses. So clearly his tax returns tell a story that the American people deserve and need to know.

BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I got tickled the other day when Mr. Trump called my foundation a criminal enterprise. He made a political contribution to the attorney general of Florida who at time had her office investigating Trump University. And mysteriously, the investigation vanished.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:05:08] ZELENY: Now, Trump says he never discussed this case with Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, but has held fundraisers for her and she is a big supporter. Now, a comment he made last summer about contributions he's made to politicians over the years is resonated anew this morning. He said this, "When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do." That's a reference to his contributions for more than three decades, which, Chris, now includes a laundry list of fines for evading limits and violating campaign finances.

CUOMO: So the "New York Times" took this waltz into the past and lined up all the different times that he has been caught, not using the system, but abuse be the system, break the rules, right?

ZELENY: It is a long list, mainly here in New York. And here are some of the highlights here of really what is a laundry list of these. In 1985, he evaded donation limits using 18 subsidiary companies. That means he gave more than he should have by using all those different companies. In the 90s he was fined for exceeding donation limits by nearly $50,000. In 2000, fined $250,000 by failing to disclose lobbying activities. And now tens of thousands of dollars to four attorneys general, two Republicans, two Democrats, looking into Trump University here. So again, these are not allegations, these are places he was fined. He agreed to pay the fine, all part of it sounds to me like that rigged system he has talked so much about.

CUOMO: Jeff Zeleny, thank you very much. Alisyn? ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, let's discuss all of this with

Republican congressman Chris Collins of New York. He's co-chair of the Trump campaign's House leadership committee. He was the first member of Congress to endorse Donald Trump. Good morning, Congressman.

REP. CHRIS COLLINS, (R) NEW YORK: Good morning, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: So you just heard Jeff Zeleny's report there. There are all of these different examples dating back to the 1980s of Donald Trump not only skirting the law, breaking the law in terms of campaign contributions and donations. How is that not him rigging the system?

COLLINS: Well, Donald has always said it's a rigged system. I point out to all the viewers one big difference. Donald Trump has always been a donor. Hillary Clinton has always been someone with his hand out as she has put the Clinton family first, always, and continues to do so. She has been on the receiving end of donations.

I frankly don't think America cares too much on an individual giving his money as much as they do about somebody who has got their hands out shaking down donors and then being subject to the, you know, demands of those same donors. I think it is very different. I also think it is a distraction today, frankly, from the biggest issues which are jobs and the economy and the immigration issues and ISIS.

CAMEROTA: Congressman.

COLLINS: We're going to see a lot of mudslinging for the next 62 days, that's for sure.

CAMEROTA: But Congressman, don't you think the American public cares about breaking the law?

COLLINS: These are technicalities in many cases, as he pointed out on the recent Bondi one. He was solicited for donation, he told his clerk to do it. She wrote it out of the wrong checking account. They self-reported it. There was a fine that went along with that self- reporting. And he cleared it up. Those things do happen. But I'll go back to, again, the difference is Donald Trump has been donating money. He has always said he has donated money. Hillary Clinton just has always been on the receiving end.

CAMEROTA: Let's look at the list again, because it is more than just donations. It is illegal donations. The one to Pam Bondi, that one warranted a fine. That was the most recent one. But let's look back. In 1985, evaded donation limits by using 18 subsidiary committees. That's a loophole. But the next one is an actual illegality. In 1990s fined for exceeding donation limits by nearly $50,000. In 2000, fined $250,000 by New York for failing to disclose the extent of lobbying activities, in other words lobbying politicians and paying them for something that he wanted. And, now, of course, he donated to more than just Pam Bondi, four attorneys general who were looking into Trump University. Isn't this the very definition of payola, the practice of bribing someone to use their influence to promote your particular interest? How does this differ? COLLINS: Well, as I've said, Donald Trump has been on the donating

side. He's always said that. He has said you make donations at times to get the ear of somebody that you would like to speak with. That's part of what goes on in politics. It is the dirty side of politics. Everyone knows that. Clinton has been on the receiving end.

CAMEROTA: But not illegal. It is a big difference, congressman, but nothing illegal.

COLLINS: Many of these are technicalities. I'm not going to defend it, but they are technicalities when it comes down, especially in New York.

[08:10:00] There is nothing worse, and I live in New York, I know how to goes with LLC's and other vehicles that people use donating to statewide candidates incredible sums of money. New York has got the worst system in the entire United States, certainly at the state level. But again, the public is hearing this, but what they really care about are the bigger issues of jobs and the economy.

COLLINS: Congressman, let me tell you some breaking news this morning, and that is that the "Dallas Morning News," obviously a huge paper, influential paper in Texas, for the first time in its 75 years is endorsing a Democrat, Hillary Clinton this morning. Here is what they write. "Trump's values are hostile to conservatism. He plays on fear, exploiting base instincts of xenophobia, racism, and misogyny to bring out the worst in all of us rather than the best. His serial shifts on fundamental issues reveal an astounding absence of preparedness, and his improvisations insults and midnight tweets exhibit a dangerous lack of judgment and impulse control." Texas is obviously a red state. How big of a blow is this endorsement?

COLLINS: Oh, these kind of endorsements, Alisyn, are totally meaningless. If anything I should know. My local paper, the "Buffalo News" when I ran for Congress said I was uniquely unqualified for Congress. Out of 330 million Americans, I was uniquely unqualified. I won. So when I read newspaper endorsements, I just chuckle and think back to my own where I didn't get many newspaper endorsements. So I don't think they mean a thing. I'm proof positive of that one.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: You seem to be taking that in stride, congressman.

COLLINS: Here I sit.

CAMEROTA: I see that. So voters don't always listen to newspapers is what you're saying.

COLLINS: I don't believe they do.

CAMEROTA: I want to ask you about Donald Trump's plan. He said in the first 30 days he will ask his top generals if he becomes president to give him a plan for fighting ISIS. We obviously have a whole bunch of generals that we use here at CNN who have said basically yoo-hoo, what do you think we've been doing for the past 10 years in trying to fight terrorism. What will Donald Trump that is new?

COLLINS: I think it comes back to the weakness of President Obama and Secretary Clinton in what I believe is putting handcuffs on those same generals, saying give me a plan, but. Here is something I won't do. I don't want to offend the radical Islamic terrorists. We're not going to call them radical Islamic terrorists. We don't want to offend those in the Middle East.

We're going to cozy up to the ayatollah. We're going to strike a bad deal with Iran. There's not going to be a redline that we're going to acknowledge in Syria. So I believe the Obama administration, along with Hillary Clinton, have put handcuffs on these very generals who I believe if they're told we're going to defeat ISIS, think about no handcuffs, what are we going to do to get it done.

A think then the plan will evolve from that, but I do believe Obama has consistently put handcuffs on his generals and has clearly not followed their lead or we wouldn't have the catastrophes that we've had both in Syria, Iraq, pulling out. There's no way the generals recommended we pull out of Iraq unilaterally without a plan to fill the void. So I think it starts with a type of leader Donald Trump is going to be at the top, compared to, frankly, no leadership by President Obama.

CAMEROTA: Congressman Chris Collins, thanks so muh for being on NEW DAY.

COLLINS: Good to be with you, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: You, too. Over to Chris.

CUOMO: All right, one time Democratic rival Bernie Sanders now stumping solo for Hillary Clinton. What is his message? Is it effective? We're going to speak with Sander's former campaign manager, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[08:17:21] TRUMP: By the way, if she really can't remember, she can't be president. She doesn't remember anything. She doesn't even remember whether or not she was instructed on how to use e-mails. Were you in instructed on how to use -- I can't remember.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: The character contest, as much as everybody says they want it about policy, who is the better person seems to be a predominant theme of both campaigns, or who is a less bad person based on all the things that keep coming out. So, we looked at Donald Trump and the controversies that are surrounding him.

Now, let's do the same with Hillary Clinton. You see them on your screen, obviously the e-mail issue. There was her role in Benghazi and what was and what's not done there, and, of course, the foundation.

Let's discuss, CNN political commentator and Trump supporter, Kayleigh McEnany, and CNN political commentator and op-ed columnist for "The New York Times" Charles Blow.

So, Kaleigh, let's make the case, when it comes to character, and that does seem to be a predominant theme between these two -- why is Hillary Clinton not the right choice and Donald Trump is?

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: The biggest problem with Washington is that laid out by Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump and that is to say, when you are in government, you're servant of the people, not of yourself and your own interest. Part of that means being transparent, it means abiding by FOIA requests, Federal Records Act request, preserving those records.

Hillary Clinton did not do that. She sledge-hammered her devices. She used BleachBit to erase records under subpoena to preserve for congress. A remarkable lack of transparency. We need to get back to the idea of being public servants, not entering into government leaving dead broke in her own words and being personally enriched $100 million as secretary of state.

CUOMO: She didn't do the hammering and things like that, but it goes to the nature of what was going on around her.

Does that disqualify Hillary Clinton, and if not why?

CHARLES BLOW, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I don't think it does. There is no criminal activity there. People have looked into this thing, which I do believe is a mistake on her part. You know, it is a real thing, this e-mail issue.

But it is not a criminal issue. And the idea that it should be about transparency coming from Donald Trump, a person who just refuses to even produce his tax returns is -- it just doesn't ring well, I think in most viewers' minds this idea that you would be the person to come forward and say, you're not being transparent and you're not that every presidential candidate in modern history has done.

[08:20:07] So I just don't think that it holds water.

If she is, in fact, you know, that criminal, who has been investigated for 25 years, she is the best criminal ever, right? Because none of this --

CUOMO: Is the illegally the bar for the leader or just wrong, shady, evasive, but not illegal, but still not OK?

BLOW: I think there is a part of the Clintons that is very defensive. And apart of that is because they've been fighting for a very long time and part of that is their own fault. And that is a thing that they have to deal with.

I think she has made it very clear that was a mistake to do that, to sets up the personal server. That said, trying to make these kind of equal issues that Donald Trump is a pathological liar. I mean, CNN ran these reports, these kind of mini-documentaries last night, I was watching them, one, you see a public servants over a lifetime, which what Hillary Clinton's was, and Donald Trump, you literally saw a pathological liar.

Like from the moment that that thing started to run, and he was introduced to the public, and every one of his business dealings was shady from the very beginning. And it is just, it rolled out and I sat there thinking to myself, this is a pathological liar.

CUOMO: Kayleigh is shaking her head.

You disagree with the assessment. Why?

MCENANY: I disagree entirely. If we want to talk about lying, let's look to Hillary Clinton, who told the American public that her server was completely okayed by the State Department. She told us a myriad of facts that were contradicted by the FBI director. Then, after saying it was a mistake, she preceded to blame it on Colin Powell. And then in these FBI notes, we learned that she's blaming it on age, she said 39 times, I do not recall, I know that's a legal technique, do you recall if you've ever owned an iPad. I do.

She said she can't recall if she owned an iPad, despite owning five. She said she could not recall whether she owned a flip phone. The American public, I'm sure can recall if they own a flip phone over a period of eight years. So, these are remarkable statements I guess either incompetent or outright deceit. Those are the only two options, neither are good when you're looking at the president.

CUOMO: So, if Donald Trump is in an inappropriate change agent in your opinion, why is Hillary Clinton better than Donald Trump when it comes to the issue of character?

BLOW: I'm not making the argument of her being better than him. What I'm making the argument is I do see a pathological liar. I genuinely believe he is fundamentally and uniquely unqualified to be president, that there is something really wrong with the character of that man.

Now, whether or not you choose to vote for Hillary Clinton, that's your business. Whether or not you choose a third party, that's your business. But I believe this particular candidate is uniquely unqualified.

CUOMO: Then why are the polls when it comes to character so constant -- look, they both have high negatives.

BLOW: They're both --

CUOMO: Historically high negatives. Nobody can dispute that.

But he does better than she does. In this CNN poll, you've got 50 percent of your respondents of likely voters saying he is more honest than she is.

BLOW: Which is insane, right? That's part of, I think that's part of our fault. That we have now created this false equivalency that what she has said, all politicians lie, right? "The New Yorker" is trying to find the truth of Donald Trump, because as they put, his relationship to the truth is just a different level of --

MCENANY: The problem that you just --

BLOW: A different level of lies.

MCENANY: This is the problem when you throw out labels that Donald Trump is a liar, X, Y and Z, and yet, everyday, we find out about a new potential misleading on the part of the Hillary Clinton.

I'll give you another one. Look at Benghazi, where she said, look, hey, this was not a terrorist attack. Then we find later comes out two emails, one to the Egyptian prime minister saying, yes, this had nothing to do with the video and then you have families coming out and they claim that she told them that it was about a video after she told the Egyptian prime minister something else.

You're going to ask me whose word I take, someone who has been caught in a lie time and time again, or two Benghazi families. I'm going to err with the Benghazi family. That's a third one just in this segment.

BLOW: That's part of what you do, right. You're going to do that.

(CROSSTALK)

BLOW: I'm sorry, don't do that. Don't do that.

CUOMO: All right. Quick last word.

BLOW: This is what you do.

Donald Trump should never be president of the United States. He is a pathological liar.

MCENANY: Labels.

BLOW: No, it is just the truth, right? If you look at the fact checkers of all the things he said, the number of times that they have caught him lying is off the charts, right? The number, the percentage of PolitiFact alone, the percentage of the things they've found true is like --

(CROSSTALK)

MCENANY: But they find all Republicans lying.

BLOW: No.

CUOMO: Last word, Kayleigh.

MCENANY: PolitiFacts finds Republicans lie double the time they find Democrats lie.

(CROSSTALK)

[08:25:02] BLOW: That's the problem with the Republican Party, then. They need to stop lying like that.

CUOMO: You can go to PolitiFact and you can check that for yourself. Thank you for laying it out, Kayleigh, Charles Blow, as always.

Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Bernie Sanders is hitting the campaign trail for his former rival, Hillary Clinton. Can he convince his supporters to vote for Clinton? We speak with Sanders former campaign manager, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: The answer is 100 percent clear. On every issue, Hillary Clinton is the superior candidate. Hands down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Senator Bernie Sanders, stumping for Hillary Clinton, you heard him there at a New Hampshire event on Labor Day.

How many of the people who felt the Bern are ready to say, "I'm with her"?

Let's discuss with Bernie Sanders former campaign manager, Jeff Weaver.

Jeff, I have missed you. It is good to have you back on the show.

JEFF WEAVER, FORMER SANDERS CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Thank you much, Chris. Great to be here.

CUOMO: So, we know the answer to the question, right? We do know that somewhere between 70 and 80 percent of Berners, to use that with all respect, have said they would vote for Hillary Clinton, not Donald Trump.

But what we're seeing in the election is can you get the people who need to be enthusiastic out?