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AT THIS HOUR WITH BERMAN AND MICHAELA

Congress Receives Summary on Clinton FBI Interview on E-mails; Trump in Milwaukee Reaching Out to African-American Voters; Trump Begins Receiving National Security Briefs Today. Aired 11:30-12p ET

Aired August 17, 2016 - 11:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:32:15] KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Congress now has its hands on the classified FBI notes in the interview with Hillary Clinton over the use of her private e-mail server. The report also explains why the FBI says she wasn't charged following their investigation.

CNN's senior political reporter, Manu Raju, is joining me from Washington with more on this.

What if members of Congress have their hands on it, what's the word from Capitol Hill?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Yeah, that's right. The Clinton campaign is worried Republicans are going to leak this information and they're worried each leak information, Kate, about her e-mail arrangements. And they're worried that each of these leaks could prompt a new round of stories and would be a major distraction in the heat of this campaign. In Secretary Clinton's view, they didn't do anything wrong. In fact, one aspect of the FBI director's rather blustering assessment of the practice was that she did not lie to the FBI.

This is what the Clinton campaign is saying now about the notes being sent to Congress. They say, "We believe if these materials are going to be shared outside the Justice Department, they should be released widely to the public rather than allow Republicans to mischaracterize them through selective and partisan leaks."

The FBI responding, suggesting that the public will not see them, saying they were given to Congress, "with the expectation that will not be decimated or disclosed without FBI concurrence."

I'm told House Republicans are right now reviewing this information in a secure location in the capitol. Some of this information has been redacted, I'm told. And it comes as the House Republicans are trying to make the case that Clinton lied in her testimony to the House Benghazi Committee last year when she said there was nothing marked classified in her e-mails either sent or received. They say she should be charged with perjury. In response, Kate, the DOJ told them they will take, quote, "appropriate action as necessary."

So this issue, Kate, not over yet.

BOLDUAN: Not over yet. We'll see what members of Congress do with that information. Albeit, can't be released.

Manu Raju, great to see you. Thanks, Manu.

RAJU: Thanks, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Donald Trump is calling Hillary Clinton a bigot as he courts black voters. Hear why Trump says the Democrats have failed the African-American community.

Plus, more on our breaking news out of Rio. Search-and-seizure warrants issued for two American swimmers who say they were robbed, including Ryan Lochte.

[11:34:27] Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: "Restoring law and order in the country," that was Donald Trump's pitch last night. It was also his attempt to reach out to African-American voters. The setting, though, a suburb of Milwaukee, with a black population of 1 percent, seemed at odds with his message.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: I'm asking for the vote of every African-American citizen struggling in our country today who wants a different and much better future. The Democratic Party has failed and betrayed the African-American community. To every voter living in the inner city or every forgotten stretch of our society, I'm running to offer you a much better future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: His remarks also important coming after days of violence in Milwaukee, a city rocked by racial tension, boiling over after the shooting death of an armed African-American man by a black police officer.

With me now to discuss the impact of the speech, Amy Kremer, co-chair and founder of the group, Women Vote Trump; Margaret Hoover, CNN political commentator who worked in the George W. Bush White House and on two Republican presidential campaigns; Luis Navarro is here as well, independent consultant, who was Joe Biden's campaign manager during his '08 bid; and Symone Sanders, Democratic strategist and former national press secretary for Bernie Sanders' presidential bid.

Guys, thank you for being here.

Amy, thank you so much for coming back, Amy.

[11:40:19] AMY KREMER, CO-CHAIR & FOUNDER, WOMEN VOTE TRUMP & DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: Thanks for having me.

BOLDUAN: When you look at the speech last night, what was the overarching goal? What was Donald Trump trying to do with that speech? What did you hear? KREMER: Think he's trying to reach out. And I think at the end of

the day what Donald Trump wants people to understand is he wants people to have opportunity. That's the greatest thing about this country, is the opportunity that we're all presented. It's not about giving entitlements and handouts to people. It's about giving them a job. I mean, there's nothing that can help a person more than giving them a job. It feeds on itself. You get a job, you go to work, you take care of yourself, you decide how to spend your own money. And you want -- I mean, it empowers you. I think that makes people feel good.

Unfortunately, a lot of people don't have that opportunity now because of the regulations, you know, that come from not only state and federal government, but I mean job suppression right now is a real issue. And people need jobs. And that's what Donald Trump is talking about, I believe. He wants to reach out to those people.

BOLDUAN: Symone, your face is speaking volumes.

(LAUGHTER)

SYMONE SANDERS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST & FORMER NATIONAL PRESS SECRETARY, BERNIE SANDERS PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Good, I'm glad. OK, so Donald Trump's speech last night was not only disingenuous, it was dangerous, though, the numbers were bungled, and it lacked facts. If Donald Trump is very interested in reaching out to African-American voters and earning their vote in this election, perhaps he should have went and spoke to the NAACP when invited, spoke to the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. Perhaps he should have taken the invitation to come and address the Urban League. Perhaps he should hold some roundtables with African-American voters. Retail politics is what wins black and brown votes in this country, and Donald Trump is not doing that.

Secondly, to the point that Amy made that black people need jobs -- of course. Jobs are a black, brown, white, yellow, purple, orange issue. But Donald Trump has not given anyone any real remedies to this rhetoric. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, is talking about not only the issues but addressing what she's going to do. She has a jobs plan. She has a 100-days jobs plan. Donald Trump just has a bunch of rhetoric. It was extremely divisive yesterday. I was watching my television, horrified. He vilified the protesters. He's talking about that Hillary Clinton's a bigot. I don't know Donald Trump personally but I do know that the word's coming out of his mouth reek of racism and bigotry.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: One second, Amy.

Margaret, one of the points that Symone is making is an important point with regard to outreach, I've heard you say Donald Trump needs to reach out to minority communities, to African-America communities and Hispanic communities. When it comes to how to reach out, going to a suburb of Milwaukee where the black population is 1 percent and making that speech versus where Hillary Clinton was speaking, she was in Philadelphia, and the black population is 43 -- I think we looked it up -- is that the right way to do it?

MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You're judged not just by what you say but the sincerity of your rhetoric and the actions that back up that rhetoric. Look, I am not, as you know, a Trump supporter. But I was delighted to see an effort in the right direction. By the way, it's smart politics, too. He has to win more than zero percent of the African-American vote. He has to do it. The Republican Party, as we all know, has traditionally, since 1964, been awful in terms of reaching out to the African-American community.

But Symone makes good points. The rhetoric is a good first step. But you're right, you do need to accept the invitation to the NAACP. You need to go to places where traditionally Republicans haven't been.

And I think part of what we have to do, too, is what we saw, frankly, Rick Perry do in his primary process, which was own up to the history that Republican Party has had with African-Americans, which was good until 1964, when the conservative movement and Goldwater decided not to back the Civil Rights Act.

(CROSSTALK)

HOOVER: And owning that I think is part of this, too. It's more than just getting up and saying Hillary Clinton is responsible for black poverty, which is essentially what he said yesterday. He also pitted African-Americans against Hispanics and other minorities in sort of this job fight, which is also not helpful.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: Luis, do you think Donald Trump can make inroads though? This is a step in the right direction, according to Margaret.

SANDERS: No.

LUIS NAVARRO, INDEPENDENT CONSULTANT & FORMER JOE BIDEN PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN MANAGER: No, I think what we're looking at here is a candidate, who is in his desperation to fight against a consensus opinion forming around his being unfit to serve as president, is going for a Hail Mary pass. This, from a man who has been sued for housing discrimination, who participated in the demonification (ph) of the Central Park Five, who acknowledged in a 1997 interview that he had very low opinions of African-Americans overall. You know, he has neither the background to back up his rhetoric, but on issue of jobs, he has opposed the minimum wage. He believes wages are too high. He is for right to work. All these things, when we talk about job creation and jobs that will help to alleviate the jobs crisis in the urban communities, black, brown, and even among whites, he simply does not have a track record or set of positions that will back up the rhetoric that he is trying to throw around in an effort to save himself from his spiraling polling numbers.

[11:45:28] BOLDUAN: His positions on wages have been -- have evolved throughout the campaign so it's unclear maybe exactly where they stand at the moment.

But, Amy --

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: Amy, I want you to get in here real quick.

And then, Symone, you can go ahead.

KREMER: No. I just want to say, I mean, look, he was on national TV. In today's day and age, anybody can hear any speech anywhere pretty much with your phone or your computer. And so while he could have been, you know, at a -- in the inner city there in Wisconsin, I mean, what about L.A.? Everybody has an opportunity to listen to him pretty much because of technology today.

I do think, I agree with Margaret. You know, at least he's reaching out. And it's not just about the black community. It is about Hispanics and others that don't have jobs. It's a whole overarching picture of opportunity. He wants to create an environment where people have the opportunity to go out and get jobs and do what they want to do, and not be hindered, you know, by the confines of the government. That's really what it companies down to, Kate.

SANDERS: OK, OK.

BOLDUAN: Go ahead, Symone.

SANDERS: OK. It is absolutely tone deaf to say that Donald Trump can make a speech, can have a speech talking to African-Americans and reaching out to the African-American community, and it's OK there were no African-American people in the audience or maybe even a couple, you know --

(CROSSTALK)

KREMER: Symone, I'm not saying he shouldn't be reaching out. I'm not saying he shouldn't -- don't get me wrong.

(CROSSTALK)

SANDERS: No, no, no, but --

(CROSSTALK)

SANDERS: -- you did say that it's OK that he's on TV, so there's basically black people everywhere. There are black people that can see that in L.A. There are black people that can see this in Chicago. That is inherently the problem. You cannot win in 2016, whether you're running for dog catcher, whether you're running for president of the United States, without a diverse coalition.

(CROSSTALK)

SANDERS: I think Republicans know that. So you have to reach out and do work. Donald Trump and the Republican Party are not reaching out and doing the work.

But I'm so happy I'm a Democrat because the Democrats are. Hillary Clinton has assembled a very diverse coalition to reach out and do this work. We're not only talking about on the Democratic side the issues, not only giving you rhetoric, we're giving you remedies to these policies. Got jobs plans. Got --

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: I can see on Margaret's face, so she takes exception to that, no one in the Republican Party is doing outreach. I can see that.

Let's continue the conversation though offline, guys. This is great. Thank you very much for weighing in.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: Thank you so much.

Thank you, Luis.

Thank you, Amy.

Thank you, Symone.

Thank you, Margaret.

Any moment now, Donald Trump will get his first glimpse at some of our country's most-heavily guarded secrets. But how does an intelligence briefing actually go down? We'll talk to someone, one of the men who has been inside those meetings.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:52:27] BOLDUAN: Donald Trump gets his very first classified national security briefing today. It will be the first time he's ever had access to such sensitive information. It's been talked about a lot leading up to this point and it's happening today.

Joining us now with insight on what to expect, Lanhee Chen, former policy director for Mitt Romney during his 2012 presidential bid. He accompanied Romney to his Intel briefings. Also, with us CNN Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr.

Barbara, let me start with you.

What kind of briefing he is going to get? And when we say "briefing," what does it mean and who all is going to get the briefing?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, make no mistake, it will be classified information. Both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton getting the same briefings. They will be told that it's classified and they may not disclose anything that they learn there.

What they will be told is some of the latest intelligence about some of the world hot spots, think of it as Russia, maybe North Korea, ISIS, cyber warfare, that kind of thing. What they will not be told is the most sensitive information. Nothing about covert action, nothing about human spies, human intelligence, that the government is using to try and collect information. That most sensitive information is reserved for a president-elect.

They can take advisers into the room with them, people who are able to get a temporary security clearance, if you will. And Donald Trump has acknowledged now he will be taking retired Lieutenant Michael Flynn into the briefing with him later today in New York. Flynn, of course, the retired director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, who is a major Trump supporter -- Kate?

BOLDUAN: Barbara, thank you so much.

Let's bring in Lanhee Chen now.

How important are these briefings. You've been in them. How was it for Mitt Romney? How important is this?

LANHEE CHEN, FORMER POLICY DIRECTOR, MITT ROMNEY PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: I think they are important in the sense that it gives you a sense of the atmosphere. If gives you a sense of, you know, here are the troubled spots. You know this intuitively already, as a candidate, but you really walk through and see kind of a threat matrix, also.

BOLDUAN: Did it change Mitt Romney's perspective, leaving the room?

CHEN: I don't know that it did. I don't know that it did. I mean, he walked in with a certain point of view and walked out with the same point of view but just a little bit more informed. Remember, the purpose of these briefings is not to make the person a better candidate. It's to prepare them to govern. And that is what this is really about. To Barbara's point, it's not that they're sharing troop movements and the most sensitive information with these guys. It's really giving them a sense of here's what is going on in the world.

BOLDUAN: Are you concerned -- you've heard Democrats railing against this. Are you concerned -- you've been in here with Romney --

CHEN: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: Are you concerned of Donald Trump having this information?

CHEN: You know, I'm not. I'm not. I heard Harry Reid say maybe they give him fake information.

[11:55:] BOLDUAN: And the chances of that happening --

CHEN: It's a ridiculous assertion. The issue is, if Donald Trump actually manages to win this election, I think the American people want him to be nominally prepared at least to govern. I think the purpose of these intelligence briefings is not to, as I said earlier, it's not to make them a better candidate. It's really to say, if you end up winning this thing, you've got to be able to go in and govern and have a sense of what is happening in the world. And I think that's what these briefings are intended to do.

BOLDUAN: We won't hear much coming out of them because they are classified.

CHEN: No. You shouldn't. You shouldn't hear much come out of them.

BOLDUAN: That's right.

Lanhee, great to see you. Thank you.

CHEN: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Barbara Starr, thank you so much.

Coming up, more on our breaking news out of Rio, confusing news, to be honest. Brazilian authorities are now issuing search-and-seizure warrants for two American swimmers who say that they were robbed, including Ryan Lochte. You see right there. We go live to Rio.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:00:06] ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. Welcome to "Legal View."

It is now 83 days, folks, the number of days away from the general election. And once again, Donald Trump is --