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Trump Hurting Other Republicans?; Louisiana Flooding; Trump in Milwaukee. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired August 16, 2016 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:01]

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're about 40 minutes or so from Milwaukee.

In terms of this meeting that you are talking about, Brooke, this meeting in terms of some of the details have been kept sort of private by the Trump campaign.

I can tell you that we have reached out to both the Milwaukee Police Department and the Milwaukee Sheriff's Department, county sheriff's department. Nothing seems to be officially on the calendar there. In fact, just a few moments ago, when I spoke to the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department, they said, look, there is nothing officially on our calendar with Trump, but that would not prevent our sheriff from doing something on his own.

And, as you know, this man, Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, was -- has been very outspoken in his support of Donald Trump. He spoke at the RNC. He's been outspoken against the Black Lives Matter movement. This is an African-American law enforcement official who is solidly on the side of Trump.

Perhaps he will be one of those people meeting with Trump when he holds that meeting later on this afternoon. In terms of here in the state of Wisconsin, lot of ground to make up here in the state, not just with African-Americans, but with the electorate at large.

You look at recent polling, one out just last week shows Hillary Clinton at 52 percent, Donald Trump at 37 percent. You will also remember that, Brooke, here in the state of Wisconsin, he lost this state during the primary to Senator Ted Cruz. So he really has a lot of ground to make up here.

But if he can do it, perhaps he can do it through the law enforcement community. As you said, as Trump has said many times, he has billed himself as the law enforcement candidate. We will have to see how that goes over here, given what just happened in Milwaukee just over the weekend -- Brooke.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you for setting all of that up, Jason. Did it perfectly. Thank you.

Let me just now talk to Wisconsin Democratic State Representative David Bowen. Representative Bowen, first of all, welcome. Thank you for joining me.

DAVID BOWEN (D), WISCONSIN STATE REPRESENTATIVE: Brooke, thank you for having me.

BALDWIN: First, just help me, help this country who is not as familiar with Milwaukee understand. Racial issues, from what I have read, been simmering for a long, long time.

BOWEN: Absolutely.

And when it comes to Sylville Smith and his friends that live in this neighborhood, they have impacted by mistreatment.

And when it comes to them having access to living wage jobs that are growing on the outskirts of this county and surrounding counties, they don't have transportation. They don't have the public infrastructure to get there. When it comes to education, they have not been given the well-funded public education that they deserve.

These neighborhoods are dealing with huge deficits from the last recession that negatively impacted homeowners who tried as hard as they could to keep their homes in this neighborhood, but a lot of them fell into foreclosure due to the unregulation and the practices that have allowed the recession to negatively impact their lives and so many other hard working-class Americans that deserved to have opportunity.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: I'm hearing you paint this picture. It's been tough for these folks you have just described. And then you add in what happened over the weekend and the protests and pieces of the city burning. Then you add in the news today. Mr. Trump will be holding an event or part of an event this evening in Milwaukee. He's meeting with the officers and the veterans any minute now.

But is there anything, in your opinion, that Donald Trump can say -- he speaks so strongly about supporting law enforcement -- to just -- to help your city mend?

BOWEN: Well, this is the problem with Donald Trump's method. Right?

He wants to come here and only engage the law enforcement community and trick them into thinking that they do not have a place in standing up for black lives in this country and in this community.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Why do you think he's tricking them? Let me just ask you that. Forgive me for jumping in, but why the word trick?

BOWEN: Because he's playing into the racial fears that have been stereotyped on this community and the people that live here for quite some time, that they are not law-abiding, that they are doing things that put the blame on them to be in the situation that they are in.

When you look at the statistics, when you look at the numbers, in the real-life situations that they are going through, a lot of them are systemic, a lot of them are dealing with situations where they, even when they do everything right, they still get the short end of the stick.

Law enforcement has a chance to step up, to treat black communities with respect and dignity, and it should be a priority for them. It should not be hidden or whispered that accountability is a good thing. It should be loud and proud that our law enforcement entities need to treat these communities with respect and dignity and ensure that, when they practice serving the community, that they actually get to know the community, that they live in the community, that they are building authentic relationships with the community.

[15:05:20]

And those are things that don't happen. They want you to expect that those things should not be expected, as happens with white communities all the time.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Let me just jump in. Forgive me.

BOWEN: Go ahead.

BALDWIN: But a piece of this -- and Jason Carroll, our correspondent, just pointed out, as we are watching for Trump to meet with these members of law enforcement, watching to see if he meets with Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, who is this sort of firebrand who's made controversial comments, famously outspoken against the Obama administration.

He's referred to Black Lives Matter as black lies. And he also spoke at the Republican National Convention. Here he was then.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CLARKE, MILWAUKEE COUNTY, WISCONSIN, SHERIFF: Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to make something very clear. Blue lives matter in America!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I bring that up, Representative, just to see if he will be present at this meeting.

But can you -- final question, can you give Donald Trump any credit, some credit for coming to your city in such a state of unrest to speak?

BOWEN: The only credit that I will give Trump is coming here to play into the fears that continue to make this it look like it is the fault of people, when it is not the fault of their own.

They are dealing with situations where they actually need Donald Trump and the law enforcement's partnership and their empathy at this point to make sure that they actually address the concerns that they have. What he is coming here to do is to play politics with a situation that is something that should not be happening in the United States of America, a country that is full of people from different backgrounds.

And whenever you have a situation where you allow individuals in our community, in our country, where their concerns go ignored, where they are supposed to stay silent on the things that affect them, and nobody reaches out to help them, it is clearly unfortunate that our politics are not put in the position to actually help people, but it is put in the position to play them.

And those on both sides, on the law enforcement side and the community, are being played by Donald Trump.

BALDWIN: I appreciate your voice, State Representative David Bowen there for us in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Thank you, sir, so much.

BOWEN: Thank you so much.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Thank you so much.

Let me get reaction.

Van Jones is with me, CNN political commentator, Boris Epshteyn, senior adviser to the Trump campaign.

So, gentlemen, welcome.

And I'm sure you were both listening to my conversation.

Boris, just to be fair, I want to make sure you can respond. I was jotting notes as I was talking to him, referring to tricking law enforcement, Mr. Trump being there tonight, not speaking to the community. And that's a concern among many, that he is playing politics in Milwaukee. Your response?

BORIS EPSHTEYN, SENIOR ADVISER, TRUMP CAMPAIGN: Donald Trump is going to Milwaukee to talk about the issues that face a lot of cities in this country.

And mostly -- actually, Sheriff Clarke talked about it. It is the crippling poverty that's facing the inner cities of this country. And Donald Trump's been talking about this for a long time.

BALDWIN: Which is what the state representative was just outlining, the impoverished...

EPSHTEYN: Of course.

And Donald Trump has been at the front lines of wanting to combat that. You heard statements after Dallas. He talked about it, after all the shootings in Minnesota.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: But will he talk to the communities and not just speaking in support of police?

EPSHTEYN: He will be talking to all the folks out there, the folks who are experiencing these lives which neither you or I would want to live, frankly, right, these awful lives, awful situations which force people into the kind of desperate moves, desperate decisions that you are seeing out there.

So, Donald Trump will be talking about making those lives better. If you look at examples like the city of Detroit, where strides are being made because of investments by businesspeople like Dan Gilbert and Mike Ilitch, that's being done because of reinvestment into those cities.

And Donald Trump wants to talk about that and wants that to be an actual situation that happens, something that is a reality in these cities, like Milwaukee, like Detroit, like Chicago, and all over this country, where the inner cities are struggling to a degree, which, frankly, is being ignored by the mainstream media and something we need to fix.

I think Van will agree with me largely on that.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Van Jones, jump in. I just want to hear -- obviously the state representative was giving Donald Trump no credit for taking time to go into Milwaukee. We heard from Boris.

What do you think, looking ahead to him today?

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, as is often the case, Donald Trump's surrogates are better spokespersons often than he is.

If Donald Trump was running the campaign that Boris just described, he would have 70 percent black support. Unfortunately, though his surrogates often get it, I have not heard from Donald Trump anything except for law and order and sticking up for the police.

[15:10:00]

Now, I'm from a law enforcement family. Nobody wants law and order more than the communities that don't have it. But you have to have a balanced approach.

I miss Jack Kemp. Boris said that Donald Trump has been on the front lines. He may have been there rhetorically. But Jack Kemp, a wonderful Republican leader, now deceased, he was physically in those communities, and so he had the moral authority, as a white guy, as a Republican, to say, listen, I'm going to be tough on you young people, I want you to do better, but I'm going to be tough on the grown people, too. We have to do better by these kids. We are lacking moral leadership right now on these issues and people

want to go to one side or the other and throw rhetorical bombs at each other. These are very, very tough issues. And I don't think that Donald Trump has yet met that Jack Kemp or that Bobby Kennedy standard. And I hope he does.

BALDWIN: Just quickly, I have an entire segment dedicated to criticism of Mr. Trump not going into black churches and historically black colleges and barbershops. That's missing. We mentioned he has 1 percent approval rating among African-Americans in this country. Quick response. Then I want to move on.

EPSHTEYN: The response is in his statements that you have seen publicly, including after the Dallas shooting, Donald Trump has been very specific about what he sees as a resolution to a lot of these issues, the police vs. inner cities trouble that we are seeing out there.

And that resolution is economic, to resolve that horrible poverty. And I think that folks all over this country, no matter what party you are of, would agree that if we resolve the crippling poverty of the inner cities, a lot of this tension between the police and the urban communities will ease. I'm sure Van would probably agree with that.

BALDWIN: OK. Let me just move on, because I promise we will loop back to that and dedicate an entire segment to it.

Let me ask about Roger Ailes, because the reporting we have, the ousted FOX News chief embroiled in allegations of sexual harassment, just the beginning, the report we have is that Roger Ailes has been talking with Donald Trump about debate preparation and other campaign matters, according to sources to us.

Hope Hicks, the spokesperson for Trump, saying: "This is not accurate. He is not advising Mr. Trump or helping with debate prep. They're longtime friends. He has no formal or informal role."

But it does sound like there has been some communication. Obviously, Mr. Ailes has excellent political chops, dating back to Nixon '68, through H.W. Bush, vice president, and Reagan in those debates. The question is, bad P.R. move, or brilliant?

EPSHTEYN: Sure. It's not a move. Right? The premise is -- there is no move. They have known each other for a long time.

BALDWIN: They have been in contact.

EPSHTEYN: How much they are in personal contact, I'm not going to speak to.

They have known each other for a long time. Mr. Ailes is neither a formal or informal part of our campaign.

BALDWIN: Not formal.

(CROSSTALK) EPSHTEYN: Neither formal nor informal. That doesn't leave a lot. He is not a part of this campaign.

BALDWIN: So they're not having conversations about debate prep, because, according to our sources, they are?

EPSHTEYN: Listen, are those sources willing to come on the record?

BALDWIN: Would you want him helping you with debate prep, given his chops?

EPSHTEYN: That's not up to me to decide.

If Donald Trump -- whoever Donald Trump decides to speak to, that's up the him. But, again, Mr. Ailes is not a part of this campaign, either formally or informally, which leaves not a lot of room. He's not a part of the campaign.

BALDWIN: OK. I hear you. I also have our reporting. I'm kind of caught in between.

EPSHTEYN: But the reporting, there is no one on the record. Right. You don't have anyone on the record from the campaign or from the Trump Organization saying...

BALDWIN: I don't know who our sources are, but we have some sources. Let me just tell you that. And the sources have said Mr. Ailes has been talking to Donald Trump about debate prep.

BALDWIN: Van...

JONES: Brooke, I think it becomes a problem.

BALDWIN: Go ahead.

JONES: Listen, I think it becomes a problem that just compounds his existing problems.

Obviously, the kinds of things that Mr. Ailes has been accused of are despicable, to be using his position to push women into, you have to have sex with me. People have been pulled off the air, they felt, because they wouldn't go along with it.

These are the kinds of things -- even if it's your friend, you might want to say, hey, look, go get some help. Talk to me once you're better. I'm running for president. I don't have time to be playing in the playground with people who are acting the way you are acting.

The fact that they -- if there is an ongoing relationship here, unless it is Trump advising him to get help, is very disturbing.

EPSHTEYN: Listen, we couldn't be talking about Roger Ailes. We should be talking about Kathleen Kane, the attorney general of Pennsylvania, who just got indicted.

(CROSSTALK) BALDWIN: Let me move on to Hillary Clinton.

(CROSSTALK)

EPSHTEYN: Clinton supporter. Sorry.

BALDWIN: I like you, but I'm going...

(CROSSTALK)

EPSHTEYN: I like you too. OK.

BALDWIN: Van, I'm going to you.

On Hillary Clinton, CNN confirms the FBI has turned over a number of documents related to their investigation of former Secretary Clinton's use of a private e-mail server. House Oversight Committee staff currently reviewing the information that's classified secret. No further details at the time, although, forgive me, language matters, Hillary Clinton's top aides are making it clear that they would like the notes, Van, to be released publicly.

But it is classified information. Is that just bluster? I got to ask.

[15:15:01]

JONES: Well, it could be.

I think, for Democrats, as proud as we are of Hillary Clinton and what she's been able to do -- and, frankly, her command over every issue is so extraordinary -- this is just a source of continued heartburn and rug burn for this campaign. The reality is that she's apologized again and again for judgment.

But it was bad judgment. And we're now having to pay a cost in the campaign. I would say it is a strike against Hillary Clinton that she chose to use that e-mail server. It is a strike against her that she's handled it in this weird way going forward. That's two strikes against her.

The reality is that Donald Trump, unfortunately, strikes out every day multiple times, day after day, week after week. And so you're dealing with two candidates that have made some mistakes. Donald Trump has never apologized for one of his. Hillary Clinton's made a serious set of mistakes here. She's at least apologized.

I wish this could go away. It is not going to go away. Congress will probably investigate. We are going to keep talking about this. Nobody probably regrets it more than Hillary Clinton that she chose the server, but, daggone, I wish she hadn't.

BALDWIN: It's rug burn you get to talk about.

EPSHTEYN: Well, rug burn, now we're talking about rug burn. So, that's exciting. The issue -- another large issue here is that three FBI field offices

wanted to pursue a criminal investigation against the Clinton Foundation, which is also related to these e-mails that are now coming out about things like Gilbert Chagoury. Talk about bad people.

Like, Gilbert Chagoury is a convicted, convicted money launderer who had to pay $60 million to get away with it. The Nigerian-Lebanese businessman give out billions, with a B, a billion dollars to the Clinton Foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative.

These are really bad people who have been influencing the Clintons for a long time. And the Clintons have been hiding it. There's still 33,000 e-mails that have not been turned over. And also another issue which we should be talking about more, Clinton State Department erased about 100 calendar entries about her meetings.

Who were those meetings with? What happened in those meetings? The assumption is those meetings were with Clinton Foundation donors or people who are related to the Clinton Foundation or the Clinton Global Initiative.

Again, you're talking about strikeouts. She's already striking out so much, she shouldn't even be a candidate. She should be in jail. But here we are here talking about it.

JONES: Lock her up, lock her up. That's the kind of stuff that is not..

BALDWIN: We're not doing that.

(CROSSTALK)

EPSHTEYN: Van, you're chanting lock her up now, too? I love it.

JONES: No, I'm just saying, that's your thing, yes, lock her up, lock her up. That's actually not playing out very well for you guys, because you guys overshoot the runway every time.

She makes some mistakes. She has apologized for the mistakes. All Democrats wish she hadn't made them. But you guys overshoot the runway on it every time. By the way, I haven't heard any Republicans talking about the literally hundreds of thousands of e-mails that Dick Cheney -- well, actually millions of e-mails that Dick Cheney and those guys deleted off of government servers with no consequence from you guys or from the Democrats.

(CROSSTALK)

EPSHTEYN: Dick Cheney isn't running for president.

JONES: But my point is simply this.

Sometimes, with these electronic records, people do not handle them the way that you and I wish that they would. But you guys make a big deal about a couple hundred from Hillary Clinton, and you said nothing about millions from Dick Cheney. It just seems opportunistic. BALDWIN: We got to go.

(CROSSTALK)

EPSHTEYN: To be fair, it was over 60,000 of Hillary Clinton.

(CROSSTALK)

JONES: A couple hundred. Millions from Dick Cheney, and nothing from you guys.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: OK, still an issue, still an issue.

EPSHTEYN: Good times.

BALDWIN: Boris Epshteyn and Van Jones, gentlemen, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

How many days we have to go?

EPSHTEYN: Eighty-four days.

BALDWIN: Eighty-four.

EPSHTEYN: Eighty-four days.

BALDWIN: Eighty-four days.

EPSHTEYN: Eighty-four days. It is going to be so much fun.

BALDWIN: OK.

Coming up next -- thank you, Boris. Thank you, Van.

A Republican senator in a tough reelection fight, she says she will stand up to Donald Trump, but she will also vote for him. Can you have it both ways? Hear how New Hampshire's Kelly Ayotte says she is walking that fine line.

And breaking news, an up-close look at the absolute devastation in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where thousands of people are staying in shelters after floodwaters destroyed their homes. We will take you there live. This is CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:22:58]

BALDWIN: In New Hampshire, incumbent Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte is trying to hang on to her seat while distancing herself from Donald Trump.

Ayotte now says she will vote for Trump, but will not endorse him. Critics say she is trying to have it both ways. Senior political reporter Manu Raju joins us live.

And, Manu, you spoke with her and you also talked to her Democratic opponent, Governor Hassan. What do they say?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this presidential race having a significant down-ticket impact here in New Hampshire.

Governor Hassan is actually trying to align herself very closely with Hillary Clinton, but also struggling with questions over Hillary Clinton's honesty and trustworthiness.

Meanwhile, Kelly Ayotte is running away from Donald Trump, but at the same time she needs Donald Trump supporters to come out in November.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU (voice-over): Six years ago, New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte wrote rode an anti-Obama wave into office.

Now she's battling the headwinds caused by her own party's nominee, Donald Trump.

(on camera): You are saying you support Donald Trump, but you do not endorse him?

SEN. KELLY AYOTTE (R), NEW HAMPSHIRE: I have actually said that I'm going to be voting for him, but I do have significant disagreements with him, which I have been very clear on, so I won't be endorsing him. So that's my position.

RAJU: What's the distinction between endorsing and voting?

AYOTTE: There's actually a big distinction, because everyone gets a vote. I do, too. And -- but an endorsement is one where I'm out campaigning with someone. And so while he has my vote, he doesn't have my endorsement, and I'm going to continue to focus on really my race.

RAJU: So you won't be campaigning with Donald Trump if he comes out here?

AYOTTE: Listen, I will be campaigning in the Senate race.

Thanks for volunteering today. That was excellent.

RAJU (voice-over): And she is aggressively campaigning up and down the state, key for saving her seat and helping Republicans hang onto the Senate majority.

With Democrats only needing a handful of Senate seats to take back power, they're seizing on Trump's growing unpopularity in battleground states like New Hampshire, where the GOP nominee is down 15 points in a recent poll.

[15:25:11]

That has Democratic Senate candidate Maggie Hassan linking Ayotte to Trump.

(on camera): She says she's voting for him, but she's not going to endorse him.

GOV. MAGGIE HASSAN (D), NEW HAMPSHIRE: I think people should hear that statement for what it is. She is trying to have it both ways. I don't think any elected leader who is supporting Donald Trump for the presidency should hold office.

RAJU (voice-over): Meantime, Hassan, who has served as the state's governor since 2013, is eager to align herself with the top of her ticket.

HASSAN: Onward to victory in November.

RAJU: Speaking this weekend at a rally in this Manchester for Clinton's running mate, Tim Kaine.

Yet 64 percent of voters in a recent CNN/ORC poll believe Clinton is not honest or trustworthy.

And asked three times, Hassan would not give her opinion.

(on camera): Do you think that she is honest and trustworthy?

HASSAN: I support Hillary Clinton for the presidency because her experience and her record demonstrate that she is qualified to hold the job.

RAJU: You think she's honest?

HASSAN: She has a critical, critical plan, among others, for making college more affordable.

RAJU: But do you think that she's trustworthy?

HASSAN: I think that she has demonstrated a commitment always to something beyond herself, bigger than herself.

RAJU (voice-over): After this interview, Hassan's campaign clarifying that she does believe Clinton is honest.

For her part, when asked, Ayotte won't say if she trusts Trump with his finger on the nuclear button.

AYOTTE: What worries me, and what I don't trust is continuing the foreign policy that we have been under, under this administration, and that will be continued by Hillary Clinton.

RAJU: Ayotte has sparred periodically with Trump on issues like his call for a Muslim travel ban and his fight with the Gold Star family, so much so that Trump recently called Ayotte weak, only to backtrack and announce his support for her a few days later. AYOTTE: Hey, listen, I call it like I see it. And when he criticized

me, I just said very clearly, which I'm going to continue to do, whether I have his endorsement or not, it is going to be about calling it like I see it for the people of New Hampshire.

Whether it's my own party or the opposite party, if they're doing something that I don't agree with, that I don't think is right for New Hampshire, I will stand up to them. But I will also work with them to get things done.

RAJU: And suggesting Trump should release his tax returns.

AYOTTE: I think that it is really -- it is -- in the presidential race, it is better to release them, but he's got to make that call.

RAJU (on camera): Is there anything that he could do to force you to not vote for him?

AYOTTE: Well, like anyone, I think you constantly reevaluate. And so I can say that for any position. The election is in November, so of course.

RAJU: You could work with Secretary Clinton if she became president?

AYOTTE: Absolutely. I will work with anyone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU: Now, Republican leaders are growing increasingly nervous about their chances to keep the Senate majority. Last week, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell actually called the prospects dicey for keeping the majority.

And an interesting development today, Brooke. The McConnell-linked super PAC actually released an ad campaign in Missouri, a $1 million ad campaign, to prop up an incumbent once viewed as safe, Roy Blunt of Missouri, a sign that the landscape is shifting in no small part because of Donald Trump -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Manu Raju, great, great job. Thank you very much. We will be watching that race closely.

We're also watching Louisiana very closely. Look at these pictures; 20,000 people have been rescued from this deadly floodwater, a lot of them forced to stay in shelters. We will talk live actually to the Red Cross about what can be done to help families who have lost everything.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)