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Trump Campaign Grapples with Tax Bombshell; Kim Kardashian Robbed at Gunpoint in Paris. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired October 03, 2016 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: He didn't pay any federal income tax.

[05:58:37] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: That makes me smart.

RUDY GIULIANI (R), FORMER MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: The man's a genius. He knows how to operate the tax codes.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Trump says, "Hey, I'm worth billions, but I don't pay any taxes. You, you make 15 bucks an hour, you pay the taxes."

CLINTON: This is someone who always puts himself first.

TRUMP: Hillary Clinton's only loyalty is to her financial contributors and to herself. I don't even think she's loyal to Bill. Why should she be, right?

CLINTON: They're children of the great recession, and they are living in their parents' basement.

SANDERS: There are young people who can't find decent paying jobs. They are living in their parents' basements. And that's the point.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Monday, October 3, 6 a.m. in the East.

And up first, a true election October surprise. "The New York Times" revealing Trump may have avoided paying federal taxes for nearly two decades, thanks to a loss of over $900 million that he might have been milking all this time.

The tax revelations have some calling him a genius, while others are saying his losses show the extent of his financial troubles.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: So Hillary Clinton is trying to capitalize on Trump's tough week. We are 36 days to go until election day, one day until the vice-presidential debate. Six days to the next presidential debate. So set your alarm clocks. We have it all covered for you.

Let's begin with CNN senior political reporter Manu Raju. He's live in Washington. Catch us up on everything that's happened, Manu.

MANU RAJU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

Now remember, before last week's debate, Donald Trump had been on the upswing. Polls showed him with serious momentum and actually leading Hillary Clinton in a number of battleground states. But now questions about whether Donald Trump paid taxes and new questions also about his business record.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLINTON: He didn't pay any federal income tax. So...

TRUMP: That makes me smart.

RAJU (voice-over): After refusing to release his tax returns for months, Donald Trump and his campaign defending revelations in "The New York Times" that Trump once claimed a $916 million loss on his 1995 income tax return, which legally could have allowed Trump to pay nothing in federal income taxes for nearly two decades.

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R-NJ), HEAD OF TRUMP TRANSITION TEAM: There's no one who has shown more genius in their way to maneuver around the tax code.

RAJU: Trump's high-profile advisors responding by praising the GOP candidate's business savvy.

GIULIANI: He's a genius. What he did was he took advantage of something that could save his enterprise.

RAJU: Trump himself tweeting that he knows the tax laws better than anyone, and he's the only one who can fix them.

SANDERS: Trump goes around and says, "Hey, I'm worth billions. I'm a successful businessman, but I don't pay any taxes. But you, you make 15 bucks an hour, you pay the taxes, not me."

RAJU: Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani defending the practice in a contentious exchange on CNN Sunday.

GIULIANI: Most Americans take advantage of every deduction available to them.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Most Americans pay federal income taxes, though, sir, and Donald Trump apparently did not.

RAJU: Trump campaigning in Pennsylvania over the weekend, lobbing unfounded attacks Clinton despite warnings from GOP leaders to stay away from personal attacks.

TRUMP: Hillary Clinton's only loyalty is to her financial contributors and to herself. I don't even think she's loyal to Bill, if you want to know the truth.

RAJU: And again, attempting to raise doubts over Clinton's health.

TRUMP: Here's a woman, she's supposed to fight all of these different things, and she can't make it 15 feet to her car.

RAJU: Mocking her recent bout of pneumonia.

TRUMP: (MOCKS FALLING DOWN) Give me a break.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU: Now, the Trump campaign said that the candidate has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in other taxes, like property and real-estate taxes but, Chris, it has not yet denied the "Times" report.

CUOMO: All right, Manu. Thank you very much. Let's bring in one of the journalists who helped uncover the Donald Trump tax revelations: "New York Times" reporters Megan Twohey. It's good to have you with us this morning.

So net operating loss, carrying forward loss, all these big tax terms you guys had to unpack in about 10 days. What do you think the documents show?

MEGAN TWOHEY, REPORTER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": So I think the most important thing, I mean, it's interesting, you know, you feel like you've struck gold as reporter when you get tax returns from a specific year.

I think what made these particular records so valuable to us was this net operating loss figure of nearly $960 million, which didn't necessarily -- which had implications that weren't just limited to 1995, the year these tax returns were filed, but had implications for up to 18 years' worth of taxes.

CUOMO: Because you can go back three years and then forward 15 in kind of prorating how that affects your income. Meaning you offset what you make by what you lost.

TWOHEY: That's exactly right. So what we learned from the tax experts that we retained for that period of time that we were trying to sort through this and figure out what it meant, was that this -- that this basically, this net operating loss of nearly $1 billion would allow Mr. Trump to avoid paying taxable income of up to nearly $1 billion over that 18-year stretch. So, it was extremely significant.

CUOMO: So, what does it mean in terms of his business acumen or his obligation to pay taxes, because the spin cycle has it two ways. Right? These are the rules. Nobody is saying it's illegal. He did it. As it shows, it shows he's smart.

Other people are saying, it shows that he can't be that good at business and that there was some type of failure to pay a fair share. How does the reporting review it?

TWOHEY: Well, you're right. And it is important to note that we didn't find any evidence of illegal activity on his part.

And I think that what's happened and since the story published on Saturday night, is it's raised questions about Donald Trump's, you know, business success. I mean, he -- this net operating loss came out of the sort of financial wreckage that he had wreaked in the early 1990s that was a result of his failed management of casinos in Atlantic City and his, you know, basically ill-time foray into the airline industry.

And so you know, there's no doubt that this net operating loss came from what New Jersey regulators at the time basically described as financial, you know, dire financial straits for Mr. Trump.

[06:05:04] So the question is, you know, separately, is this a fair tax code? I mean, is this something -- you know, is this something that, you know, Americans feel good about? That somebody, a wealthy businessman, can basically finagle, legally, you know, these losses into, you know, basically income tax, you know, coverage, for as many as 18 years.

CUOMO: His retired tax planner, his accountant said that this return and dealing with this loss was one of his big regrets, it said in your reporting. That he was helping Mr. Trump finance his lavish lifestyle without him paying any taxes. Was that surprising to you to hear from a tax planner, who's in the business of figuring out loopholes?

TWOHEY: Right. Well, I think that -- that, you know, my colleague, David Barstow, was able to connect with Trump's accountant, the man who prepared these records that came to us in the mail anonymously. So that was -- that was hugely important. And we're very grateful to him for confirming that these records were authentic. I mean, we should point out that he -- he declines to sort of discuss the underlying finances that went into preparing these records.

CUOMO: Because didn't have Trump's approval.

TWOHEY: That's right. That's right. And so, you know, he was, he was limited in what he said. I mean, he noted that it was -- you know he couldn't help but remark what -- note at the time that he was basically helping to somebody avoid paying taxes who apparently had made so much money.

CUOMO: Now, Trump says the only headline here is you broke the law, that you published tax returns without his approval. There's a specific statute that says you're not allowed to publish tax records without approval. How did "The New York Times" feel that they're on safe, legal ground?

TWOHEY: Right. So that -- you know, that's something that happened on Saturday night. You know, on Saturday, you know, earlier on Saturday we took our findings to the Trump campaign and gave them, you know, until the evening to respond. And their first response was from a lawyer, saying, "We're going to sue you guys if you publish this, because, you know, he has not authorized the release of these tax records."

We consulted with our attorneys immediately, and they said, you know, you have absolute grounds to move forward with this.

CUOMO: All right, so, you've been reporting other aspects of the election: the fallout from this and how Trump handled it, namely, by going after Hillary Clinton's fidelity and marriage. So stick around. We'll bring you in with the panel, and we'll discuss that next, but thank you, Megan, for helping us...

TWOHEY: Happy to be here.

CUOMO: ... unpack this tax reporting -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: We will have much more on Trump and his taxes coming up. How does Trump's campaign explain his stance on taxes? Our political panel weighs in, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Donald Trump's campaign says his business practices in the 1990s that may have allowed him to avoid paying taxes are, quote, "absolutely genius."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: He lost almost $1 billion in 1995.

GIULIANI: Correct.

TAPPER: That doesn't sound particularly brilliant to me.

GIULIANI: Well, yes, it does. It shows what a genius he is. It shows he was able to preserve his enterprise and then he was able to build it.

CHRISTIE: There's no one who's shown more genius in their way to maneuver around the tax code, as he rightfully used the laws to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: It's like "The Princess Bride." You keep on using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

CAMEROTA: Inconceivable.

Let's bring back our panel. We want to bring in "New York Times" reporter Megan Twohey, along with CNN political commentator and political anchor of New York One News, Errol Louis and CNN political analyst and national political reporter for "The New York Times," Alex Burns. Thanks to all of you for being here.

Alex, let me start with you. If Donald Trump has not paid income tax since 1995, that is legal. That's a loophole, and it's legal. So, what does this mean for his campaign? ALEX BURNS, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Well,

we should say, first of all, he has not denied the story or any of the implications of this story. We also aren't in a position to say that he has always paid his taxes in accordance with the law, because we don't have his taxes.

CAMEROTA: He hasn't released them.

BURNS: Right. So we can't say that he hasn't followed the law. We also can't say that he has followed the law.

I think it's going to be really interesting to see if any other Republicans, you know, outside the inner, inner Trump circle of people like Chris Christie and Rudy Giuliani, decide to take up this line of proudly Trumpeting his prowess as a businessman and very possibly not paying taxes for 18 years. This is not something that you would typically imagine senators up for re-election, a congressman who's in a tough district or a national leader of the party like Paul Ryan or Mitch McConnell out there saying this guy is a genius because he didn't pay taxes.

CUOMO: Well, you have the practicality and you have the optics. On the practicality side, he's a genius. He rebuilt. That goes to the notion of why they allowed this in the tax code, which is to allow a business to not be put under by its losses, to give it some relief, to help it build forward.

But that's not what Trump did. He didn't save a big employee structure. A lot of people lost their jobs. Contractors didn't get paid. And he individually wound up resurrecting himself. So that changes the analysis a little bit, doesn't it, Megan?

TWOHEY: Well, you're correct. I mean, I think we're all getting a crash course in the complicated nuances of the tax structure. But this operating net loss of nearly a billion dollars was something that was able to flow off the balance sheets of his businesses and onto his personal income tax, you know, what he was required to pay as an individual.

So while, you know, the businesses that were failing that helped lead to this loss were sort of hemorrhaging, you know, he personally was able to benefit. And I think that's raised a lot of legitimate questions about how that's allowed to happen.

CAMEROTA: Errol, this story that was Megan was part of the team reporting over the weekend is the most viewed, most shared, most e- mailed article of the weekend. It has almost 5 million views this morning. So is there any way to tell how Donald Trump supporters will see this?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I don't know about Donald Trump supporters, but we know "Fortune" magazine, or "Fortune" news organization, they did a poll earlier this year, asking whether or not his failure to disclose made you more or less likely to vote for him. And the number that came in as less likely was pretty high. It was in, like, the 37 percent range, and that was true not only for likely voters overall, but for independent voters. This is a group that Donald Trump, like Hillary Clinton, really needs to reach.

So this is not -- and that was before we had these latest revelations. So now that it's being blasted all over the media, one would expect -- and keep in mind, people are voting today. People are voting tomorrow. Today is election day in many, many states, for all intents and purposes, thanks to early voting laws.

[06:10:15] So, this is not good timing for this information. This is not good timing for the Trump campaign to have to try and push back some of this stuff. And, obviously, we'll see. The polls will tell us, the votes will tell us. But the fact that close to 40 percent already said that this doesn't make them likely to bite.

CUOMO: So, you get early voting, Alex, at a time that -- you know, and we have to couch this, because the list is long, but he may have said the most offensive thing yet about Hillary Clinton. Also a window into this -- how he feels about this tax story.

He says, "Hillary Clinton is only faithful to her donors. I don't even think she's faithful to Bill Clinton." Obvious, obvious allegation that she's cheating on him in their marriage. What does he expect to gain by something like that?

BURNS: You know, it's sort of difficult to know how to respond to something like that, because he's -- of all the behavior that we've seen Trump engage in that is just off the spectrum for a presidential...

CUOMO: Of all the hypocrisy that he has revealed, this may top the list.

BURNS: And there's just no evidence to substantiate that charge. It's just a blunt personal smear, right?

I don't know what he's thinking when he says something like that, that this is going to be (ph) down to his political benefit. This came as part of a rambling, really unusual speech where he said a bunch of different wild things over the weekend. I don't know that it's coincidental that the speech came as the attack story was about to be published.

This is a guy who generally doesn't do well as an underdog. He can discipline himself up to a point when he's winning. He likes to be in charge of a situation. But when he starts to fall behind, as he has over the last week, you start to see him lash out in wild and unpredictable ways that damage himself and, more to the point, damage a lot of other Republicans around him.

CAMEROTA: Going to be a very interesting day. We will, of course, be reporting everything that's happened over the weekend. Panel, thank you very much.

And thanks for sharing your reporting with us, Megan.

All right. Join us tomorrow night for the vice-presidential debate. Indiana Governor Mike Pence and Virginia Senator Tim Kaine are going to face off at 9 p.m. Eastern. Coverage starts at 4 p.m. right here on CNN.

CUOMO: Kim Kardashian shaken up after being robbed at gunpoint inside her Paris hotel room. Husband Kanye West halting her show after hearing the news. We'll break down the reality TV star's real-life drama, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:21:34] CUOMO: Breaking overnight, Kim Kardashian West robbed at gunpoint in her Paris hotel, armed gunmen getting away with millions in jewelry. The reality TV star badly shaken but unharmed, we're told.

CNN's Jim Bitterman is live in Paris with the breaking details. This scene very planned and deliberate, Jim. What do we know?

JIM BITTERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Somebody knew a lot, Chris. The fact is, they broke into the hotel, very discreet apartment hotel behind me, where stars stay when they come to Paris. They obviously knew what they were looking for. There were five that came with guns and also masks. They threatened the concierge, and the concierge took them upstairs to the apartment of Kim Kardashian. They tied her up, apparently, in the bathroom, and then stole her jewelry and walked off. No one was hurt, although Kim Kardashian, through her spokesman, said she was badly shaken.

The first word of any of this, Chris, came when Kanye West, her husband, in fact, interrupted his concert last night. Here's the way it went.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KANYE WEST, HIP-HOP ARTIST: I'm sorry. Family emergency. I have to stop the show.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BITTERMAN: So, family matters and now Kim Kardashian has rejoined her family, apparently. She left here about a couple of hours ago. We saw some visual evidence of that because of police cars out front, outside the hotel here, have been withdrawn -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Jim, that's all just really weird. Thank you for that. I mean, is the concierge supposed to take armed gunman up to the room, the suite of the person that they're looking for?

CUOMO: No, but when you have a gun in your face.

CAMEROTA: I understand. Isn't there, like, a panic button or something that they could hit?

CUOMO: Whether there is or not, if there's a gun in your face, the button's not going to help you, right?

CAMEROTA: I guess my point is that it feels a little bit like an insider job. CUOMO: There may be a "who knew?" Who knew she was there, because this had to be coordinated with this number of people. She supposedly had security that were overwhelmed by this, as well. There's going to be an investigation. That's for sure.

CAMEROTA: OK. Meanwhile, the fourth Sunday of the NFL season saw plenty of big performances, none bigger than the Falcons' Julio Jones, who had 300 yards receiving. I could go on, but let's bring in Andy Sholes. He has more on this morning's "Bleacher Report."

ANDY SHOLES, CNN SPORTS: Hey, good morning, Alisyn.

It's says to say if you had Julio Jones on your fantasy team, you did pretty well this week. Jones absolutely tore apart the Panthers yesterday, hauling in 12 catches for a Falcons record 300 yards.

Now, Matt Ryan had 503 yards passing. This was the first time in NFL history a quarterback and receiver combined for 500 yards passing and 500 yards receiving.

Falcons win this game 43-33, drop the Panthers, 1-3 on the season. More bad news for Carolina: Cam Newton left this game in the fourth quarter after he suffered a concussion.

First time in eight years the Ryder Cup is coming home. The U.S. defeated the European team over the weekend. And Rory McIlroy and Patrick Reed had an epic exchange in their matchup. Check this out: Rory knocked down this putt. Then he yells to the crowd in Minnesota -- watch this -- "I can't hear you."

Well, Reed comes back with an awesome putt of his own, and he's going to give Rory the Dikembe Mutombo finger wag.

The picture of the weekend, though, guys, was right here: all the U.S. players kissing their wives/girlfriends after the win. Check out Ricky Fowler, right there in the middle. He must have been going stag, because he just smiled to the camera.

CAMEROTA: That's a funny picture.

SHOLES: I love that picture.

CUOMO: Huge win for the U.S. in the Ryder Cup. They've had their struggles, and that was an epic, epic. I haven't seen one like that in a lot of years. Awesome, awesome.

All right. Back to presidential politics. The role the media is playing, whether you're looking at Donald Trump's tax woes to Clinton's e-mails. We'll look at the impact of print and TV coverage on this race.

CAMEROTA: Also speaking of TV, "Saturday Night Live" making its big return with a new take on Trump. How do you think Alec Baldwin did? Watch this.

CUOMO: Genius. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEC BALDWIN, ACTOR (AS DONALD TRUMP): She and Obama stole my microphone. They took it to Kenya. They took my microphone to Kenya, and now it's broken.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[06:29:20] KATE MCKINNON, CAST MEMBER, NBC'S "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE" (AS HILLARY CLINTON): He hasn't released his tax returns ,which means he's either not that rich...

BALDWIN: Wrong.

MCKINNON: ... not that charitable...

BALDWIN: Wrong.

MCKINNON: ... or he's never paid taxes in his life.

BALDWIN: Warmer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: This morning we're taking a look at the impact the media is having on the presidential race, not just TV news and print journalism but comedy shows like "Saturday Night Live."

Joining us now CNN senior media correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES" Brian Stelter; and CNN media analyst Bill Carter. Gentlemen, great to see you.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

CAMEROTA: Very entertaining. "Saturday Night Live" camp comes back with vengeance.

BILL CARTER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: Always. Very. Yes.

CAMEROTA: They do the debate, Alec Baldwin now playing Trump. Very funny. Does it have an impact on the race, Bill?

CARTER: I don't know if you can one to one and say it's going to change anybody's opinion. But it certainly confirms sort of a narrative in people's head. You know, is Trump kind of buffoonish? Is he kind of saying outrageous things? Yes.