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Trump Unveils Child Care Plan to Woo Women Voters; Colin Powell Calls Trump 'National Disgrace' in Leaked E-mail; 'Newsweek' Examines Trump's Foreign Business Deals. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired September 14, 2016 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Donald Trump says stuff every day that used to be considered disqualifying for being president.

[05:58:18] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Hillary Clinton's actions are far more corrupt than we ever imagined.

OBAMA: One candidate's family foundation has saved countless lives. The other candidate's foundation took money and then bought a six-foot tall painting of himself.

TRUMP: For many families in our country, child care is now the single largest expense.

IVANKA TRUMP, DAUGHTER OF DONALD TRUMP: My father has created a plan that is designed to bring relief.

SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA), VICE-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: If you cannot call out bigotry, you're enabling it to grow, to become more powerful.

TRUMP: This is far bigger than Watergate ever was.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, DONALD TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Are you calling me a liar?

OBAMA: I really, really, really want to elect Hillary Clinton.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We have a lot to talk about. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, September 14, 6 a.m. in the east.

Up first, Donald Trump trying to court female voters by unveiling a child care plan. Trump's daughter, Ivanka, helping to craft and sell that proposal. So we will discuss how he plans to pay for it.

CUOMO: And then we will compare it to the plan that Clinton has had out there for some time. We'll see which would be better for you. President Obama hit the trail hard and hit Trump as hackers reveal

that former secretary of state Colin Powell calls Trump a, quote, "national disgrace."

Hillary Clinton, when will she get back on the campaign trail? Tomorrow, we're being told. We'll see what shape takes shape.

We have it all covered for you, just 55 days away from election day. And remember, that's not election day for everybody. Early voting begins in just nine days in some states. When's that first debate? Twelve days. That will be the big moment of this campaign. We have it all covered.

Let's begin with senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns, with more on Trump's plan. What do we know, John?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.

This is clearly a play for the women's vote, unveiled in a critical state, Pennsylvania. A bit unusual for a Republican candidate, especially the Trump idea of six weeks of paid maternity leave in the form of unemployment benefits for new mothers whose employers don't offer maternity leave.

The critique on that is that this doesn't address leave for fathers.

And there are also some subsidies here, otherwise known as tax breaks, allowing parents to deduct the average cost of child care in their state based on the age of the child; and that would be available for up to four children or elderly dependents. The plan would also provide tax deductions for stay-at-home parents of working spouse.

Donald Trump speaking last night, explaining the importance of his proposal but, in the midst of it, mischaracterizing the work Hillary Clinton has done on the same issue. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

D. TRUMP: For many families in our country, child care is now the single largest expense. So would think that even more so than housing. Yet very little meaningful policy work has been done in this area. And my opponent has no child care plan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: So, what Trump got wrong there is the last part about Hillary Clinton. In fact, she has had a child care plan up on her website for more than a year. Her plan calls for 12 weeks of paid family leave. It also would essentially -- would put a cap on the cost of child care at no more than 10 percent of a family's income. It would provide free pre-k for all 4-year-olds.

The Clinton campaign says the Trump proposal doesn't go far enough. They put out a statement last night. It says, "After spending his entire career and this entire campaign demeaning women and dismissing the need to support working families, Donald Trump released a regressive and insufficient maternity leave policy that's out of touch, half-baked and ignores the way Americans live and work today."

By the way, the so-called pay-fors on both sides of these plans are a problem. Where would the money for these programs come from? Trump says he'd do it by eliminating fraud in unemployment insurance, and Hillary Clinton would do it by raising taxes on wealthy Americans, but both approaches don't take into account some practical and political realities -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK. We will analyze all of that, Joe, thank you very much.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell tearing into Donald Trump in a series of leaked e-mails exposing how Powell really feels. Meanwhile, President Obama slamming Trump with some brand-new economic ammo in his arsenal. CNN correspondent Phil Mattingly is live in Flint, Michigan, with more.

Give us all the latest, Phil.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Alisyn.

Well, Colin Powell, for -- mostly in the large part, has kept his public opinions about Donald Trump to himself. In private, not so much. Those hacked e-mails relaying that Colin Powell thinks Donald Trump is an international pariah and a national disgrace. And in one e-mail to a former State Department aide, he addresses the birther movement that Donald Trump subscribed to for such a long time and attacked him on that, saying, quote, "The whole birther movement was racist. That's what the 99 percent believe. When Trump couldn't keep that up, he said he also wanted to see if the certificate noted that he was a Muslim."

And Alisyn, it's worth noting, a Powell adviser has confirmed these e- mails are legitimate.

But look, while Colin Powell has mostly kept his criticism in private, President Obama, well, he's been very, very public.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OBAMA: I really, really, really want to elect Hillary Clinton.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Dubbed Hillary Clinton surrogate in chief, President Obama blasting Donald Trump's qualifications to replace him.

OBAMA: One candidate who's traveled to more countries than any secretary of state ever has, and the other who isn't fit in any way, shape or form to represent this country abroad and be its commander in chief.

One candidate's family foundation has saved countless lives around the world. The other candidate's foundation took money other people gave to his charity and then bought a six-foot tall painting of himself.

MATTINGLY: Obama rejecting Trump's claim he is fighting for the working class.

OBAMA: This guy who spent 70 years on this earth showing no concern for working people. This guy suddenly going to be your champion?

MATTINGLY: And discrediting Trump's portrayal of the economy.

D. TRUMP: We have a false economy. We have a bad economy.

OBAMA: By so many measures, America's stronger and more prosperous than when we started out on this journey together.

MATTINGLY: Obama's case bolstered by new U.S. Census numbers, showing the middle-class wages rising for the first time since the recession and poverty rates dropping sharply.

The president also slamming Trump for his praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

[06:05:03] OBAMA: Their nominee is out there praising a guy, saying he's a strong leader, because he invades smaller countries, jails his opponents, controls the press and drives his economy into a long recession.

MATTINGLY: Trump fighting back on social media, tweeting, "Why isn't Obama working?" And "Russia took Crimea during the so-called Obama years. Why does Obama get a free pass?"

Obama pressing the media to do more to hold Trump accountable.

OBAMA: Donald Trump says stuff every day that used to be considered as disqualifying for being president. And, yet, because he says it over and over and over again, the press just gives up and they just say, "Well, yes, you know, OK."

We cannot afford suddenly to treat this like a reality show.

MATTINGLY: Trump keeping up his attack on Clinton for calling half of his supporters deplorable.

D. TRUMP: Well, my opponent slanders you as deplorable and irredeemable. I call you hard-working American patriots.

MATTINGLY: And continuing to go after his rival over her one-time use of a private e-mail server.

D. TRUMP: This is far bigger and a far bigger scandal than Watergate ever was.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: And Chris, we expect Donald Trump, according to his advisors, to keep up those attacks today, first here in Flint, Michigan, then heading over to Ohio. Obviously, two crucial battleground states.

But Trump facing an attack of his own, a new one, in the form of an inquiry from the New York attorney general related to his foundation. They are now looking into that up there in New York. But the Trump campaign firing back. Jason Miller, a top Trump

adviser, saying a left-wing hit job and a clear, politically motivated inquiry. But, obviously, as we look at the Trump Foundation and at the Clinton Foundation, as well, something to keep an eye on as something that's going to continue to rise in the days and weeks ahead in this campaign -- Chris.

CUOMO: I'll tell you, and where where you're standing right now should be an issue people don't forget in this campaign either: Flint, Michigan. Phil, thank you very much.

All right. Let's discuss the political news with CNN Politics executive editor, Mark Preston; CNN political commentator and Time Warner Cable News political anchor Errol Louis; and CNN political analyst and author of the memoir "How's Your Faith," now available in paperback, by the way, D. Greg, David Gregory. It's good to have all three of you here.

So let's start with the plan. Let's put up the two panels, shall we? Trump's plan versus Clinton's plan. Let's dispense with the political first. Trump saying she has no plan. That is patently untrue.

So, she does have a plan. It's been out for over a year, and here's what you get. Expand eligible tax care. That's him. He's doing 12; he's doing six weeks'...

CAMEROTA: Paid.

CUOMO: ... full pay. She's doing 12 weeks, two-thirds. She's saying both parents. He's saying only moms. And those are some of the headlines. And then you get into how they'll pay for it.

Trump, "I'm going to get rid of fraud in the system." Clinton, essentially, "I'm going to tax the rich people."

Preston, the politics aside from being wrong about her not having a plan, how do these size up?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Well, look, I mean, I think that we're going to hear more from Donald Trump about how he pays for it when he does his economic public speech tomorrow.

But the bottom line is, is that this was a good -- I know we're not supposed to talk politics. It is a play to try to get women to support him.

As far as the economics go, there's a lot of people who don't think that Donald Trump's plan actually works. The idea that you're going to go out and make up as much ground finding fraud in the system, a lot of people don't think is possible.

CAMEROTA: Errol, is it unorthodox for a Republican candidate at this point to be talking about family paid leave?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: This is unusual. In fact, it is fascinating to watch Ivanka Trump and her father talk about this. I saw them as, in part, doing something that Bill Clinton used to do all the time, which is go to the opposing party and grab one of their ideas, rip it away from them, and own it. It used to make the Republicans go crazy when Bill Clinton would talk about welfare reform, for example.

You know, all is fair. It's supposed to be a competition, a fight over ideas. And if they want to go ahead and do that, on one level Democrats should say, "OK, right on. Maybe we've mainstreamed this issue that we've talked about for so long."

CUOMO: David Gregory, let's put up the poll of women support right now, just to give some context onto what ground Trump is trying to make up. Got it right there, 53-38. Johnson and Stein bringing in less than 10 percent of that vote. What do you see in that?

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, there's a lot of ground that Trump has to make up. And policy proposals like this in substance but also in tone and the approach, as Errol was saying, where you take a Democratic idea, largely associated with the Democratic idea. Not surprisingly for someone like Trump, who's not ideological, who's not really Republican in many respects, for him to be doing that.

[06:10:00] But he's also sticking to ground that he's got to win. He's got to win Pennsylvania if he's got a shot here, because really, his path to 270, the number of electoral votes that he would need, really does come through the Rust Belt, through the upper Midwest, and so Pennsylvania becomes a key part of that strategy. So that piece is not surprising.

He's got a tremendous amount of ground to work to make up among women, even though he might be leading with married women right now. A lot of white women who typically vote for Republicans are siding with her at the moment.

CAMEROTA: Mark, does this just show how influential Ivanka is in his campaign? I mean, can we assume that this idea originated with Ivanka?

PRESTON: Well, she said it hasn't -- he has, as well. What's interesting is that Donald Trump has been criticized for not giving specific details about his policy proposals. This is pretty specific.

And if you look at where it came from, from his daughter in many ways, I do find that's interesting.

Also, Ivanka Trump again showed us last night how powerful she is as a surrogate on behalf of her father. She is really good. We haven't seen a whole lot of her, though, since the Republican convention; and you've got to wonder why.

CUOMO: Do we know what Trump's policy is with his own employees on this? Has that -- has that been brought out there?

LOUIS: I think we don't know, although I remember there being some reporting on that when it comes to many of the different programs that she talked about during the convention, it doesn't stack up well against what goes on at the Trump Organization.

CUOMO: Politico has a report out, we're being told, that says that it's less than his proposal for the rest of the country. Does that matter?

LOUIS: Well, I mean, look, it's an easy -- it's easy enough to sort of, you know, poke a needle in it and say, "Look, he's not being consistent." You know, if you remember back to the convention, Ivanka Trump was talking about the Trump Organization as if it was the Sisters of Mercy.

You know, she made it sound like social justice was the main -- the main goal of the organization. And I think everybody understood that was probably a bit of an exaggeration.

CAMEROTA: David, let's move on and talk about President Obama taking to the campaign trail to support Hillary Clinton. He describes himself as fired up as he laid out the case for her. So listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I really, really, really want to elect Hillary Clinton. And sometimes, sometimes folks, you know, they're kind of surprised by that, because they remember, man, you guys had a tough fight eight years ago. And it was tough, because Hillary is tough. Every time I thought I had that race won, I was, like, going up the Rocky steps, you know? I was about to celebrate; and then I look, and she's right there.

But I had seen what she could accomplish. I'd seen how smart and savvy and tough she was. So, I asked her, I said, "Join my team."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: So, David, what can President Obama do for Hillary Clinton that she can't do for herself on the trail?

GREGORY: Well, he's a sitting president who's -- who's got a high enough approval rating, a little bit south, I think, of 50 percent, but still high enough to be effective, which says something about how popular the Democratic brand is in the rest of the country.

And as we've said many times before, he's so important to try to rally that Obama coalition of '08 and in '12 younger people, minorities and women that delivered him into the White House not once, but twice. So I think that's what's so important.

If you talk to Democratic fund-raisers, other Democratic supporters in general, they have concerns about whether that base is going to show up in the kind of numbers that it showed up for Barack Obama.

CUOMO: David, keep making your point. Let's just throw up the voter enthusiasm numbers, because they're accenting exactly what you're saying. But keep going, just for the audience to see.

GREGORY: I mean, I think -- so I think that's what's so important, is where is the enthusiasm? And she's got to keep doing that.

Now, look, she can do a couple of things at once. She can have surrogates who can work the base. Then we can have disclosures like Colin Powell coming out, calling Trump an international pariah. I'm surprised we haven't heard from Powell before. I'm surprised we haven't heard from Condoleezza Rice, these people who have had their integrity impugned by Donald Trump and their administration, the Bush administration impugned in their own foreign policy, who can make the case that he is dangerous on the world stage and woefully unprepared.

CAMEROTA: OK, so let's talk about what we're going to see tomorrow, a television spectacular. On "Dr. Oz," Donald Trump says he's going to reveal his medical records. We don't know if that means from his latest checkup. We don't know if that means decades' worth of medical records.

Here is how Dr. Oz describes how he will or will not confront Donald Trump about whatever information is revealed. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MEHMET OZ, HOST, "DR. OZ": The big decision is, look, the metaphor for me, is this a doctor's office? A studio. So I'm not going to ask questions that he doesn't want to have answered, if he puts limitations on what Donald's from (ph).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: "I'm not going to ask him questions that he doesn't want to answer."

CUOMO: That's not how a doctor's office works, by the way. I was just in the doctor's office, and the doctor says -- I was like, the doctor says, "Oh, 228 pounds." And I said, "That's pretty good, right?" She said, "No, it's not good. Your BMI makes you obese. You've got to lose 20 pounds." You know, that's the way it works.

(CROSSTALK)

PRESTON: You go on air, you are obese.

CUOMO: That's, you know -- that's the way it usually works.

CAMEROTA: Let's hope he's dressed differently than in a doctor's office. A lot of things we want to see differently.

CUOMO: That's good, too.

CAMEROTA: What do you think is going to happen here in this TV reveal?

PRESTON: It's a made-for-TV moment, right? I mean, no question about that. If anyone is putting money down that they think they're going to get intricate details about Donald Trump's health, you're going to lose the bet. I mean, the bottom line is, it's going to be 48 minutes of back and

forth. Donald Trump talking about how healthy he is. And I think Dr. Oz might ask him why he eats lot of fast food, and that's going to be it. And then there's going to be more questions that come out of this than are actually answered.

CUOMO: So is this political genius for Trump to make it into an event, the salesmanship? I mean, how much can Oz take? He's a real doctor, but it's a TV show. He's not one of us.

LOUIS: That's right. I mean, look, the reality is normally what you'd do is you'd have some sort of a discloser; and then the news reporters would pounce on it and then we, the commentators, would come in, and it then filters out to the public.

Donald Trump wants to bypass all of that, go straight to the public, say whatever he's going to say. Let Dr. Oz, you know, basically endorse it just by allowing him on the show and not challenging him at every turn. And then it goes -- the message goes out as Trump would have it go out.

And, you know, it's a pretty low bar that I think Mark is right to suggest. He's going to have to clear. And then the rest of us will sort of come and kind of wring our hands and say, if only a real political reporter had been there. Dr. Oz has a lot of responsibility.

CAMEROTA: Very quickly, David.

GREGORY: Let me just say, we've got to stand up for transparency here; and this is what a free press should be doing.

This is a man who still believes that the president of the United States is not an American citizen; has not released his income tax returns, which every presidential candidate has done going back to Nixon; and has not been transparent about his medical records. This is not acceptable as a potential president. There should be transparency. Yes, Hillary Clinton has secrecy, too, which has to be addressed. But this is simply not acceptable.

CAMEROTA: Panel, thank you very much. Great to talk to you.

So there's a new report out this morning on the organization, and it examines the Republican nominee's connections. His Trump Organization connections with foreign businesses and governments; and whether or not they would create a national security nightmare, if he were to be elected. So we will speak to the writer of that "Newsweek" investigative piece when NEW DAY returns.

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[06:21:32] CAMEROTA: A new report in "Newsweek" investigations the connections between the Trump Organization and foreign businesses and government. And the report finds that there are connections that would create a national security nightmare if Trump is elected.

So, let's bring in Kurt Eichenwald. He wrote the story for "Newsweek." He's also contributing editor for "Vanity Fair."

Kurt, thank you so much for being here. Tell us what your reporting has found and what the most troublesome entanglements are for the Trump Organization.

KURT EICHENWALD, WRITE INVESTIGATIVE TRUMP ARTICLE FOR "NEWSWEEK": Well, the entanglements are everywhere, but what the basic story found is that, you know, Donald Trump founded and continues to play a significant role in the Trump Organization, which is an international company that has partnerships, that a large number of them undisclosed, all over the world.

And these are with small companies, large companies, businessmen that most Americans wouldn't recognize their names, but many of them are very tied in to different political parties, different politicians. They're in parts of the developing world where you need that kind of connection.

And the interests of these businesses, the interests of these politicians often go directly against the interests of American national security.

CUOMO: Correct.

EICHENWALD: So right now you have Donald Trump in a situation where he makes money by aiding the people whose interests don't -- don't coincide with America.

CUOMO: So Curt, let's -- you're vetting a little bit in terms of, tell us how you know this and what leads you to suspect that it would create a dangerous conflict?

EICHENWALD; Well, take a -- let's take a very simple example. You have, in Turkey, a connection between Trump and a politically-tied organization. In fact, it was so politically tied that, when there was a project that was launched, the president of Turkey came out to stand there with Donald Trump.

Well, the president of Turkey has now declared that to have been a major mistake. As you remember, he recently faced a coup. And what I am being told is that Turkey's cooperation with the United States in terms of providing an air base where we are able to launch bombers against ISIS would be at risk if Donald Trump was president.

And, so, then you come down to, well, who is Donald Trump going to side with? Is he going to try and repair relations with the Turkish government? Or is he going to try to act on behalf of his investments and business partners there? And, you know, the important thing here is this is an entanglement that cannot be unwound.

CAMEROTA: Wow.

EICHENWALD: Donald Trump, you know, from what I'm hearing, Trump is planning to say that he will put the company in a blind trust, which is sort of like saying, "I have 100 million shares of Apple stock, and I'm going to put it in a blind trust." It will be the most transparent thing about his campaign. He would know what's there. He knows who his partners are; and he knows, you know -- he will know going forward.

CAMEROTA: Kurt, I want to ask you about something that has cropped up that has raised a lot of eyebrows ever since Paul Manafort was his campaign chairman. What are the entanglements between the Trump Organization and Russia and Ukraine?

[06:25:04] EICHENWALD: The Russian and Ukraine connections, the strongest is in Russia. Donald Trump's company, the Trump Organization, trademarked the name "Trump" back in 2008 for the use in certain deals. It met with an organization called MossidyCo (ph), which they tried to negotiate a deal. The head of that organization, who, again, very politically connected, very tied in to the Putin government, backed away from the deal because Trump wanted too much money.

Well, now, in the future, you're talking about giving money to either the family of the president of the United States or money that will go to the president of the United States if his company is in this, you know, blind trust. And, so, that is one thing that exists.

The other is actually, surprisingly, through "The Apprentice." Donald Trump is the executive producer. There's a program in Moscow which is hosted by a major Russian billionaire who obtained radio spectrum licenses. I'm sorry, I'm using the wrong country. But who obtained certain benefits from the Russian government...

CAMEROTA: Yes.

EICHENWALD: ... that were the result of, again, political connections.

CAMEROTA: And that show, that show, by the way, in Russia, it is the equivalent of "The Apprentice." It is called "The Candidate." Hmm?

EICHENWALD: I didn't think of the irony there.

CAMEROTA: I did when I read that. That is incredible.

OK. So...

CUOMO: How do people -- look, you can say false narrative, false equivalence, false parity, but when this comes out, Curt, people are going to set it up against what was learned about the Clinton Foundation. I'm sure that was going through your mind as an analogy here. What's your take on a comparison?

EICHENWALD: They have absolutely nothing to do with each other. Donald Trump is a billionaire, because the money came from the Trump Foundation. I'm sorry, Trump Organization. Donald Trump's continued financial, you know, money is coming from these partnerships.

Hillary Clinton's foundation or the Clinton family foundation, no money is going to the Clinton family. Money is going to buy AIDS drugs in Africa. You know, there is not a financial -- they talk about pay-to-play. First they have to get paid. They're not. Trump is getting paid.

And, so, you know, when you have a scenario like that, plus, the whole world will be on notice. I mean, again, this is a guy who in these transactions, you know, was willing to do a deal with Moammar Gadhafi who was, you know, a renowned terrorist. And, you know, you talk about palling around with terrorists, but he was trying to get money from a Libyan government fund...

CAMEROTA: Yes.

EICHENWALD: And, as a result, was -- you know, was feeding Moammar Gadhafi.

So, you know, there is no comparison. This is, you know -- any company in the world, if Donald Trump is president, can say, "Let's strike a deal with the Trump Organization and engage in some legal bribery of the American president."

CAMEROTA: Kurt Eichenwald, thank you very much for your reporting and sharing it with us. Anyone who wants to read more can do so in "Newsweek." Thanks for being here.

EICHENWALD: Thanks for having me.

CAMEROTA: Tropical Storm Julia forming overnight and gaining strength over Florida and Georgia. Millions now facing the threat of flooding and, of course, damaging winds. So Chad Myers joins us with the latest forecast, next.

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