Return to Transcripts main page

LEGAL VIEW WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD

Latest on FBI Investigation into Hillary Clinton Emails; GOP Convention Preview. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired July 4, 2016 - 12:30   ET

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


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: -- these findings despite that impromptu meeting as you put it Chris in Phoenix with the former president, even though she says she does, you know, regret that that happened. Do we have an idea of how long it would take before that report would be finalized or even sent to the attorney general?

[12:30:20] CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Well certainly this was a big step and everybody was waiting to see when if Hillary Clinton would sit down with the FBI. This is an important point in the investigation. And James Comey, the Fbi director himself has said that, you know, he wants to do this as quickly as possible. He understands that we're in an election year and this is a politically sensitive issue. But he's also said that he wants to make sure that this investigation is done well, that he gives it all of the resources that it needs. And he would rather it be done well first and quick second.

So there is no official timeline Fred, but certainly this is a big step towards completing it. And, you know, a lot of people argued that it couldn't be done without having Hillary Clinton sit down and talk with the FBI. She's now done that. She said she would do that. And the Clinton campaign is going stay pretty harsh, harsh on this as the FBI. As, you know, the sensitivity around this investigation is huge Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Chris now, I do understand we have a statement and the statement is from whom?

FRATES: The statement is from Nick Merrill. He is the spokesman for Hillary Clinton. Let me read this again to our viewers so they can know exactly what the Hillary Clinton campaign is saying about this interview.

"Secretary Clinton gave a voluntary interview this morning about her e-mail arrangements while she was secretary. She is pleased to have had the opportunity to assist the Depament of Justice in bringing this review to a conclusion. Out of respect for the investigative process she will not comment further on her interview."

Now, an aid tell me that this interview did happen at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. this morning, it lasted about 3.5 so a long interview. Certainly, you know, it's very difficult to schedule an interview with a presumptive major party nominee, Hillary Clinton of course the presumptive Democratic nominee. So they, you know, they tried to get her, get this schedule. There was, you know, scheduling issues. There -- it's a pretty quiet weekend on the campaign trail. And so they got her in for 3.5 hours, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, somebody tells when the FBI says they want an interview. Yeah, you kind of clear the schedule. It's going to happen. OK, Chris, hold tight.

And I've also got with us CNN Senior Law Enforcement Analyst Tom Fuentes on the phone along with legal analyst Avery Freeman. You first, Tom, in a 3.5 hour interview, you formerly with the FBI, what kinds of questions might be asked to the presidential candidate?

TOM FUENTES, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well I think first of all they're going to ask her every aspect of this investigation of what they've been looking at. And normal procedure, having investigated in overseas probably thousands of investigations, you do the main subject interview last. They would want to have every record they could possibly obtain, all of the interviews with everyone else, the state department at the company that set up the private servers, all of the information that they could possibly gather, they would want to have already received that, analyzed it and been prepared for the interview so that they would understand if she's telling the truth or not. And also give them an idea of what specific questions to ask. So this is really probably -- unless she's offered something new that they didn't have, and they will look into but this would normally be the last step in this complex investigation.

WHITFIELD: So Tom, is this strictly an interview, you know, an exchange of words or given that it was at her home, we saw the images of the vehicles leaving the home, would it also involve looking at getting a second look at anything physical within the home?

FUENTES: No, we're hearing that the interview was conducted at FBI headquarters. So, you know, the FBI normally, you know, and this is just normal strategy. You don't conduct these kind of interviews and give the person home court advantage.

So if possible it's going to be done at an FBI office or if you're based in Washington, an FBI -- in the sensitivity of this case, FBI headquarters, so that would be normal procedure in this state. And also she's in a little bit of a predicament.

If you're going to be interviewed by the FBI, whether you're the subject of a case or a witness, you don't have to talk to the FBI. You could say I don't want to talk.

And now, she's not in that position because of being in the heat of this campaign. And look, if she refused to answer questions. If you talk to the FBI, you have to tell the truth. And if you don't tell the truth you can be prosecuted under Title 18 Section 1001. And as you recall, people like Martha Stewart went to prison because they were convicted of lying to the FBI during an official investigation.

So she's more or less politically had to talk the bureau. But legally, you have to tell the truth as well. And if they can't find misstatements in what she talked about there during that interview that itself is prosecutable. [12:35:10] WHITFIELD: All right, so Tom you reveal that more information to ascend that. That interview would take place at FBI headquarters, those images that we would see of the vehicles leaving the residence in the Washington, D.C. area of Hillary Clinton presumably now, maybe that's her transit as suppose to vehicles with the FBI departing.

FUENTES: Yeah that was probably, you know, she has a secret service detail as presumptive nominee, she's under secret service protection. So she would have a protection taking her to the meeting.

WHITFIELD: Right. OK, very good. So Avery, I would like to bring you into this too. So what would be your best understanding as the kinds of probing questions that would be asked of Hillary Clinton at this juncture given there have been, you know, so many layers of this investigation. And if this is the final phase before a report would be submitted. What would need to be asked, what would need to be answered?

AVERY FRIEDMAN, LEGAL ANALYST: Well, you know, this is the wrap-up interview. And Tom is exactly right. The fact is that anything that she says, if it veers from the truth in any respect, she's looking at a potential crime here.

So it is very significant that here she is at FBI headquarters, Fredricka, she does 3.5 hours with undoubtedly the best of the best at the bureau. And they're going to be asking many of the questions that relate to what she knew about engaging the service, engaging the contractors, what kind of communications.

And they have access to the documents that have been produced. And those are thousands of documents. So whether or not Secretary Clinton remembered what a particular document said, it may very well be that for 3.5 hours, many of the answers are going to be, "You know what, I don't remember." And if she does remember, remember, she's got to tell the truth or else she's looking at criminal indictment and criminal prosecution.

WHITFIELD: So while question are being asked answers, you know, also being given. How many people potentially might be part of this interview, whereby someone would be trying to check to see if they're consistencies of the information exchange? Avery would you know offhand how many people would a part of this interview?

FRIEDMAN: I would. And it's not uncommon when you meet either at the local United States attorney's office or with the FBI or at main justice. And I've been at all three places. You've been in a situation where you don't know. For all I know, they're meeting in the major conference room at main justice, on constitution. They have a slew of agents and specialists who are feeding the inquirers of Hillary Clinton information about what they want to find out.

Now remember, Fredricka, this is the wrap-up. They have interviewed enormous numbers of people have hundreds of thousands of pages of materials. So to the extent there could be a clarification, you could have a limitless number of FBI agencies and specialists asking those questions, making the inquiries.

WHITFIELD: And so Tom, you know, I got to ask because we're talking the FBI, would there ever be a use of, you know, a lie detecter test? Would there be anything to measure her believability?

FUENTES: No, the measurement is going to be the statements she makes against the facts that they've gathered already and additional facts that they could pursue. Polygraph is inadmissible in court. From my experience it's clouded more investigations than it's helped, when even being used for information purposes. So they wouldn't try to change the whole investigation by throwing a polygraph in which may or may not be accurate and it definitely is not admissible anyway at the end of the day. So I would not expect that.

WHITFIELD: All right, Larry Sabato, director of for UVA Center for Politics is also with us now.

So Larry, you know, we've been talking about optics all week as it pertains to the former president and the attorney general and their, you know, impromptu meeting. And now we're talking about the optics of a presumptive Democratic presidential nominee now at FBI headquarters being probed, asked of questions about her choices of e-mails. Talk me about what -- how you interpret or how voters might interpret the optics of that.

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR UVA'S CENTER FOR POLITICS: Well, Fred, that isn't the ideal situation for somebody on the verge of a presidential nomination. There's no tradition in American politics of a nominee presumptive being interviewed by the FBI.

So I'm sure Hillary Clinton would rather be anyplace else. But let me also add this. It's about time. The Democrats are getting ready to nominate Hillary Clinton just three weeks to be president of the United States. And she is, after all, the front runner, not for the nomination, for the general election.

I think all of us need to know what the facts are and what their determination is as quickly as possible.

[12:40:07] WHITFIELD: And so do you feel like, Larry, if there was a more opportune time in which this were to take place, is now much better than if it were early on so that it would have mileage throughout the campaign? Or do you see that this is potentially most damaging because it is on the precipice of the Democratic National Convention just weeks away.

SABATO: It would be worse if it were after the convention and she were the official nominee. At that point the only change could occur if she agreed to step aside and resign the nomination. At that point it would be up to the Democratic National Committee. They would elect her successor as the democratic nominee.

But I think we're jumping way ahead of reality. Personally I don't think she's going to get indicted. I don't know too many people who follow this process who believe she is. But Fred, ideally this would have been take care of months ago. There were primaries in all of the states and territories and the District of Columbia. It would have been better to have this information earlier. I realize practically speaking that wasn't possible. But this is really pushing it, three weeks before the convention.

FUENTES: And Fred, I just want to jump in there on Larry's point. When you talk to Democrats, they will tell you they hoped this would have already been behind them, in fact not just the Hillary Clinton's interview with the FBI. But this whole mess.

Remember this goes all the way back to last March is when we first learned about this private server. It came out of the House Republicans inquiry into Benghazi. That's how we found out that there was a private server to begin with because they had gone looking for e-mail correspondents. The State Department couldn't find that e-mail correspondents, then we learned that she had this private which set off this firestorm that has been dogging her campaign for over a year.

And if you talk to Democrats, they had hoped this would all been put behind them because Hillary Clinton maintains that she didn't do anything wrong, and then in fact, if you look at the investigation right now, sources telling CNN that there's no evidence yet that she willfully violated the law here when it comes to classified information.

You can bet if that continues to be the case, that the Clinton campaign and Democrats generally would love to get that out there and put this behind them because right now it's still being investigated a you hear Donald Trump out there on the campaign trail over and over again using this investigation to hit Hillary Clinton.

Now, she says, "I did nothing wrong," but she doesn't have any proof of that because it's not concluded.

And as Larry pointed out, I mean we're very close here, to just a few week to the Democratic nomination. I think Democrats had hoped when this broke, that this would be over long before now. And if these bleed into the general election in the fall when people really start to tune in, it only lingers and becomes more of a headache for Democrats in the Clinton campaign.

WHITFIELD: All right, thank you to all of you. We're going to talk more about this of course, Chris Frates, Tom Fuentes, Larry Sabato, Avery Friedman, appreciate it.

Again if you're just now joining us, Hillary Clinton did meet with the FBI for 3.5 half hours at FBI headquarters. This just now three weeks away from the Democratic National Convention.

We'll have much more straight ahead after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:46:28] WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. This breaking news, CNN has learned that Hillary Clinton has met with the FBI today over the investigation into the use of her private e- mail server while she served as U.S. secretary of state.

Clinton spokesman, Brian Fallon, saying this in a statement, "Secretary Clinton gave a voluntary interview this morning about her e-mail arrangements while she was secretary. She's pleased to have had the opportunity to assist the Department of Justice in bringing this review to a conclusion. Out for respect for the investigative process, she will not comment further on her interview."

CNN Justice Correspondent, Pamela Brown is covering this and she's joining us right now on the phone. So what more do you know Pamela about this interview that took place at FBI headquarters involving the presumptive Democratic nominee?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: What we can tell you Fredricka, that this was the big piece of the investigative puzzle for the FBI to sit down with Hillary Clinton and conducted Fredricka. And we know it lasted 3.5 hours, it happened at the FBI headquarters.

I can tell you that the hope was that this would be done much sooner than now. Of course we're weeks out from the Democratic Convention. I know it was important to investigators to try to do it before the convention. Of course she as officially named the nominee.

In fact, we've been told previously that they hope the (inaudible) FBI is that the investigation is wrapped up before the convention. But of course it's an investigation that is take an year. And so now, we have reached this critical point where they've sat down with Hillary Clinton.

And just covering the FBI for the last couple of years, I can tell you, I mean the feeling inside the bureau is that this is one of the most high stakes investigations that the bureau has ever done, you know, investigating the presumptive Democratic nominee. And so they're taking it very seriously. We heard James Comey say, they want to be quick but thorough. And so thorough is the priority. But we're reaching the home stretch according to officials we've been speaking to. Now, that this interview is done we expect it to wrap up shortly. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: And so Pamela, what do we know about the timing of this? I mean the in the statement it makes it very clear that she voluntarily, you know, participated in this interview. We heard from a number of our analyst just moments ago, who said, you know, she did, you know, have to say, "Yes" to the interview. But, you know, Hillary Clinton did, but what about the timing of the interview in terms of the phase of this investigation?

BROWN: Well typically an investigation, you want to interview the target of an investigation toward the very end once you have gathered all of the evidence and all of the facts. So that is why they have waited until the end of the investigation to do this interview.

And again, you know, even though the FBI says, we are focused on being thorough more than anything, they are acutely aware that the Democratic convention is just around the corner, and so the hope was to get to that phase, to this phase toward the end before the Democratic convention, which they have done, but just weeks away, certainly cutting it close. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right, Pamela Brown, thank you so much. We'll have much more on this story again.

[12:49:35] Hillary Clinton meeting with the FBI for an interview that lasted 3.5 hours at FBI headquarters today. We'll have much more straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

So in just over two weeks the Republicans will gather in Cleveland for their party convention.

This morning presumptive presidential nominee, Donald Trump tweeted, "The speaker slots at the Republican convention are totally filled with a long waiting list of those that want to speak. Wednesday release."

Our sources tell us one of those speakers is Former Republican Presidential Candidate, Ben Carson.

Joining me right now to discuss this is CNN Delegate Analyst. Mike Shields. He is also a former chief of staff to the Republican National Committee. All right Mike, good to see you.

MIKE SHIELDS, FMR. CHIEF OF STAFF, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Good to see you too. Good afternoon.

WHITFIELD: All right, so let's talk about the highly anticipated Republican Convention where potentially Donald Trump could be revealing his vice presidential pick as well as unveil this long list of speaker. What is the tone that the Trump campaign you believe is trying to build here?

SHIELDS: Well, you know, first of all, it is up to the nominee who is going to be speaking. They're really, the people that are putting on the show on. I think that Reince Priebus and the Republican Convention has done a fantastic job of putting together the parts of this that the party can build, building a stage and a platform upon which the candidate can then put his message out there.

It looks like, Donald Trump wants to look like, continue to look like an outsider. I think this is an election that shaping up to be an insider versus outsider message. Even more than it is a left versus right message. And Hillary Clinton is the ultimate insider. You're not going to find anyone in politics who is more of an insider than she is. And it looks like the way that for what we're seeing that the Trump campaign is doing is they want to build a convention that sort of conveys outsider, not normally what you would see in a convention sort of feeling a message. WHITFIELD: And what do you suppose the real objective will be? He is indeed, family members are going to be speaking including his wife Melania potentially and Ivanka his daughter potentially.

SHIELDS: Well, I mean look, Donald Trump has some of the worst approval ratings that you've ever seen in a candidate in history.

Hillary Clinton would have the worst approval ratings of any candidate in the history if it wasn't for Donald Trump having worst numbers.

And so I think putting the family out there really shows a completely different side of Donald Trump. And, you know, you hear over and over again people saying, what a credit to him his family is, and how intelligent they are, and how warm they are.

[12:55:03] And so I think my guess is that the thinking is that, you know, if they put the family members out there, it helps soften his image a little bit, it helps him sort of navigate going through a time when his negatives are so high and people are viewing him so unfavorably in terms of his personal favorability members.

WHITFIELD: There's a lot of unpredictability with this convention as well. There's also a lot of anticipation. There has been growing, you know, unrest at rallies and protests at Donald Trump events where you've got clashing sides. How much of that potentially is going to be part of the equation for the convention? How worrisome potentially is that?

SHIELDS: And, you know, it's hard to say. I mean there's so many things that are being reported about this convention that are actually pretty common place at conventions. For instance you have politicians saying they're not going to the convention. That happens all of the time.

In 2012 there were about five competitive house races in North Carolina and the Democratic Convention was in Charlotte. And so we were chasing after the Democrats saying, "Wait a minute it's in Charlotte, aren't you going to your convention?" And no one who was in a targeted race wanted to be anywhere near Barack Obama in a very liberal looking convention in a say like North Carolina.

WHITFIELD: But is it particularly troubling that you hear so a Republican leadership who would customarily be at a RNC saying, they're not going to. And spelling it out in large part because they don't prefer a Donald Trump?

SHIELDS: Yeah, I don't mean to say that there isn't something sort of going on that may be a little bit of a political issue for Trump when it comes to his party. And that's obvious.

But my point is that some of it, I think some of it is actually pretty common place. You have people that don't go to the conventions. You're going to have protesters. Protesters have been coming to the conventions and being put into their protest box. I think all the way back to 1986. Now, to what degree it is, that I think is what remains to be seen. And I know that the convention is making preparations for, they're working with the city of Cleveland and trying to ensure everybody's safety. It's not like they don't know this is coming. And so I think they're doing everything they can to prepare for it.

And then I think some of it is up to Donald Trump. I mean, frankly, if he wants to unite the party, if he wants to have more leaders coming to his side, there are things he can do and say in the next couple of weeks and his vice presidential choice for instance could be a big part of that.

WHITFIELD: All right, Mike Shields, thanks so much. Good to see you.

SHIELDS: Good to see you too.

WHITFIELD: All right, take care.

All right, straight ahead, we're going to have more on the FBI meeting with Hillary Clinton today for about 3.5 hours at FBI headquarters.

All about her private e-mail server, more on that breaking news next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Hello again, and thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We begin with this breaking news. The Democratic presumptive nominee for president, Hillary Clinton meeting with the FBI earlier today voluntarily, her campaign said she talked to investigators about her use of a private e-mail server while secretary of state, and that meeting taking place about 3.5 hours.

Let's get straight to CNN Chris Frates with more details on what you know. Chris?

[13:00:00] FRATES: Hey Fred, yes, so big news here with Hillary Clinton finally sitting down and meeting with the FBI. This is been something that's been in the works for some time now. And we have a statement from the Hillary Clinton campaign, from one of her spokes people. And I want to read that to you right now. It says, "Secretary Clinton gave a voluntary --