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Turkey Taking Fight to ISIS in Syria; Deadly Earthquake in Italy; Trump Reaching out to Minority Voters; Trump Holds Rally in Tampa, Florida;. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired August 24, 2016 - 14:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:30:58] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Turkey now taking the fight directly to ISIS, crossing the border into Syria. It is in a battle with the terror group. This comes as Vice President Joe Biden touches down in Turkey to pay the NATO ally a visit today.

Our senior international correspondent, Ben Wedeman, is there in Ankara, Turkeys.

Ben, my question, especially in the wake of that attack at the Ataturk Airport this summer, what's taken Turkey so long?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Turks I think were holding out, hoping that somehow the situation would resolve. But it is clear that that's not going to happen any time soon. Certainly since the middle of last year, there's been a series of ISIS bombings in Turkey starting last summer. And of course, you were there on the 28th of June when there was the attack on the Istanbul International Airport. And over the weekend, this latest attack on the wedding party that left 54 people dead. Turkish officials say all of those things, plus almost very frequent cross- border rocket and mortar fire into Turkey, they decided that this was it. They were going to support -- provide tanks to the Free Syrian Army, going into this town, Jarablus, which they say they've now completely taken over.

But beyond all of that, you have to look at the big picture. The Turks are increasingly concerned about the fact that Syrian Kurds are gaining more and more territory in Syria. The Turks are worried about the creation of a Syrian/Kurdish entity on their border. They already have an Iraqi/Kurdish entity on their eastern border, which, even though it isn't officially an independent country, for all intents and purposes, it actually is. So the Turks are worried about ISIS. They're worried about the Kurds. They had American air support today in this operation, so it looks like they're going in and they're going in this a big way -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: Syria, just along the southern border of Turkey.

Ben Wedeman, thank you so much, as always. You know the region better than almost anyone here.

Meantime, the death toll in the devastating earthquake that hit central Italy has risen to 120 people now. One town in total ruins, while people are using just their own hands to dig out their neighbors who could still be trapped in that rubble. It was a 6.2 magnitude quake. It hit in the middle of the night. The epicenter was near the town of Norcia. The shockwaves were felt 100 miles away around Rome. The mayor of the town of Amatrice says the town, quote, "is no more." One tweet user posted this video from the father of someone who lived near center of the quake, just to give a better idea of what it looks like and what it felt like.

CNN's international correspondent, Fred Pleitgen, is in one of the most devastated towns.

Is it possible that, all these hours later, Fred, people could still be trapped?

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Reporter: well, Brooke, authorities here really do seem to think so. Just a couple of minutes ago all us here who are doing live reporting here from Amatrice we were told to be absolutely quiet for about 10 minutes because crews that are working here -- you might be able to see some of those saws that they're using right now --

BALDWIN: We can hear them.

PLEITGEN: -- they believe that they might have heard someone who may have been beneath that rubble, and so they told all of us to be very quiet. And then they were listening. At that point, it turned out that there was probably no one there. But we have seen them work here with sniffer dogs. We have seen them employ equipment to try to get people out of the rubble. Unfortunately, we've also been on hand when bodies were pulled out of the rubble. So they are finding some dead bodies as well.

It's absolutely devastating for this community. I saw one woman just absolutely break down when one of her relatives was pulled out of one of these destroyed buildings.

Of course, this is absolutely horrible for people here who not only have to deal with the shock of losing loved ones and having loved ones wounded, but also the fact that this town really has faced utter destruction, especially because of the fact that the houses here -- some of them 500, 600 years old, of course, when this earthquake hit just were absolutely reduced to rubble -- Brooke?

[14:35:18] BALDWIN: In the middle of night in pitch black. To think you had to be quiet to hear if there could be noise to rescue anyone.

Fred Pleitgen there, thank you very much, where the earthquake has hit in Italy.

Coming up next, Donald Trump, he is still holding that rally in Tampa, Florida. We're watching that for you. Thus far, this week, he's been ramping up his outreach to African-American voters, to Hispanic voters. Question we are asking, how effective is it, and what, if anything, could he really be doing better? We have two guests coming up with very different opinions. Stay here.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[14:40:12] DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: To the African-American parent, you have a right to walk down the street of your city without having your child or yourself shot. And that's what's happening right now. That's what's happening.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: To the Hispanic parent, you have a right to walk outside without being shot. You have a right to good education for your child. You have a right to own your home. You have a right to have a good job.

The Democrats and Hillary Clinton policies, once she gets -- if she gets your vote -- and I think we're going to do great with African-Americans and with the Hispanics. But once she gets your votes, you know what she does? Bye-bye, folks, see you in four years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That was Donald Trump just a second ago speaking to a crowd at Tampa. He's been crisscrossing a bunch of state lately, making a pitch to African-American voters, also Hispanic voters, in front of mostly white crowds. But CNN is learning his campaign is planning a more concerted effort to reach out to black voters by making trips to more diverse areas, and that includes a rally tonight in predominantly black Jackson, Mississippi. CNN has learned Trump will host a group of young Hispanics and African-Americans tomorrow at Trump Tower.

Let me bring in Christina Coleman, a senior news and culture editor at Essence.com; and also with us, Renee Street Toppin, the national spokeswoman of the Business Division of the National Diversity Coalition for Trump.

Ladies, welcome to both of you.

CHRISTINA COLEMAN, SENIOR NEWS & CULTURE EDITOR, ESSENCE.COM: Thank you.

BALDWIN: You've got it.

RENEE STREET TOPPIN, NATIONAL SPOKESWOMAN, BUSINESS DIVISION, THE NATIONAL DIVERSITY COALITION FOR TRUMP: Hello. Thank you.

BALDWIN: Hi. You're welcome.

Renee, let me begin with you.

As a Trump supporter, and you have critics coming on this show and others saying Trump is only pandering to black voters, that he's not being genuine, what's your response to them?

STREET TOPPIN: My response is that most, if not all, politicians pander. That's what they do. Right now, the African-American vote is extremely powerful. Candidates cannot win without the African- American vote. And quite frankly, Donald Trump is the only one that has reached out to me and my organization of over 7,000 African- American women and offered to listen to our problems and review a solution. We have not heard from Hillary Clinton.

BALDWIN: Turning to you, Christina, do you think that Donald Trump, speaking to black and Hispanic voters the last week, do you think he is being genuine?

COLEMAN: Absolutely, not. It is so disingenuous. I believe I speak for the "Essence" reader when I say his comments were totally tone deaf and obviously offensive as many black voters have voiced.

BALDWIN: Which comments? About?

COLEMAN: About black people --

(CROSSTALK)

COLEMAN: -- just painting black people with this brush, as a monolithic group that desperately need his help, because we're poor, because we don't have education. In fact, I think he said we're horribly educated or horrible educated.

BALDWIN: Is that a point. He was just saying in the sound byte we played, you have a right to education, a right to own a home, a right to have a better job. A right for some, depending on I guess where you live, a right to not be shot while you are walking down the street. Some have taken him to task for that. Does he have a point?

COLEMAN: He totally has a point. I don't think we have time on the show to go through systemic racism and the structure that lends itself to why black people are disenfranchised or the historical context. But for Trump, who has a terrible record with black people and women or people of color in general, it doesn't feel very genuine. We are talking about a candidate who was sued for not allowing black tenants in his apartment buildings. We're talking about a candidate who took out a full-page ad for the Central Park Five. We're talking about a candidate who started the birther movement, which is riddled with racially charged rhetoric against a sitting president. We're talking about a candidate who has publicly condemned the Black Lives Matter movement but he calls himself the law-and-order candidate.

(CROSSTALK)

COLEMAN: Now he wants to speak to blacks?

BALDWIN: But I know, Renee, you disagree. You disagree.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Go ahead. STREET TOPPIN: Bill Clinton came to the city of Philadelphia and

said that Black Lives Matter were protecting the thugs and the criminals. Now if that's not a racist statement, I've never heard a racist statement. What can be more racist than calling the Black Lives Matter movement thugs and criminals?

So I am solution oriented. I am looking to the future. I'm not looking to the past. And Donald Trump was not a candidate for office in the past. He is a candidate for office now, and now he's in a position to hear our needs, to address our needs, and he is motivated to address our needs.

BALDWIN: On that --

(CROSSTALK)

[14:45:12] STREET TOPPIN: I'm an African-American woman. My vote -- my vote is an asset. It is an asset. And in order to -- for us to have leverage and negotiate our assets, we have to be willing to walk away. And until we are willing to walk away from the Democratic Party, we will continue to throw our assets, call them votes, at the feet of Democrats, who take our vote for granted, who are not hearing our issues, and we will get the same thing for the next eight years that we got for the last eight years.

So if Donald Trump is now ready to hear and address our issues, then it is contingent upon us to use the power of the vote to leverage those resources that we need for our community.

COLEMAN: It's interesting though. Because as a black woman, who is a part of the "Essence" audience or community, these are black women and our vote is powerful. So --

BALDWIN: It is an asset?

COLEMAN: Yes. So Renee is correct. We are the largest voting bloc. We largely determined the 2008 and 2012 elections. That is not because Obama galvanized us, but because black woman voter turnout has been steadily increasing since the '60s. We're there, right? It's important. But it's interesting because Donald Trump has not -- I don't see where Donald Trump has reached out to black women voters. I'm all about freshness. I read Renee's columns. I agree. Establishment politics is not what we want. But I'm looking for those fresh ideas that people are talking about.

BALDWIN: Let me jump in quickly here.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Hang on. Hang on a second, Renee. Forgive me. We're going to go to Donald Trump.

Here is Donald Trump. We want to hear this. He is talking specifically about the Clinton Foundation. We'll then return to our chat. TRUMP: -- he calls the director a liar. He saved Hillary

Clinton from facing justice for her illegal and corrupt actions. They were illegal and they were corrupt. And the FBI saved her. And I would imagine many people within the FBI are extremely embarrassed. Extremely.

Remember, Bill Clinton was impeached for lying and obstructing justice. And also had to give up his law license. People forget it.

Hillary Clinton created an illegal private e-mail server, deliberately, willfully, and with total premedication. Premeditation. Could be the first way was right actually.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: You know, I might like the first way better.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: Premedication. That's a very --

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: Premedication, I think I like it.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: Wow.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: All right. Premeditation. Premedication. I love that!

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: She did so to cover up a vast "Pay-for-Play" scheme. Her actions made our enemies vulnerable to foreign hacking. And we are vulnerable. That's what's happened. We have become so vulnerable to foreign hacking. And betrayed the security and safety of the United States, our military, and all of our people. Her actions are criminal, they're purposeful and they're totally calculated. She knew what she was doing.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: That's why I've called for a special prosecutor to look into this.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: The problem is with the administration rigging the system -- it is a rigged system, folks -- to protect her vast criminal behavior, the real jury is going to be the American voter on November 8th.

(CHEERING) TRUMP: Hillary Clinton thinks she's above the law. She's got --

and honestly, folks, she's got nothing going. Got nothing going. There's nothing there. There's nothing going. There's nothing for you. That's going to be four more years of Obama, four more years of ISIS knocking the hell out of us all over the place and everyone else.

(BOOING)

TRUMP: Got nothing going. Come November, the American people are going to prove that she is not, she is not a person worthy of becoming the president of the United States.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: We don't want four more years of Obama. And I think she would be worse than Obama.

[14:50:17] I've been watching so carefully over the past month. Hillary Clinton doesn't do speeches. She doesn't do press conferences. It's been almost 300 days. She doesn't do rallies of any consequence. She doesn't do this kind of stuff. We have all these people. She's failed at filling the arenas. You look at her events, they should show those arenas. They never show our arenas packed.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: But they shall show her arenas that are empty.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: People don't know where she is. Her supporters have really very little enthusiasm. The only people enthusiastic about her campaign are Hollywood celebrities, in many cases celebrities that aren't very hot anymore, and Wall Street donors, special interests, lobbyists, et cetera, that want to control government, not to the benefit of our country but to the benefit of their wallet.

Even her protesters don't have the spirit that Bernie protesters have.

We had some protesters last night. We had a massive rally last night. And we had some protesters. It is like they raise their hand and people are -- and they're so nice. The cameras don't even cover her protesters, because it's bad. See, I like it when the camera covers the protesters. Then they finally show how many people we have at these things.

Her protesters have so little enthusiasm for her, and they're so boring that the cameras don't follow them. So it is sad when you think of it. I like the Bernie protesters better.

BALDWIN: OK, so Donald Trump there. Obviously, these are some of the lines we've been hearing over and over from the Trump campaign, that Hillary Clinton is criminal, pointing out their criticisms, he describes the "Pay-to-Play" scheme within Clinton Foundation. Again, as has been noted, he donated $100,000. And also the issue with her private server.

We have much more on that. I can assure you, both sides of the campaign represented.

But I want to bring these two ladies back just to put a button on our conversation here about Mr. Trump reaching out specifically to the black vote, Christina Coleman, senior news and culture editor the Essence.com; and Renee Street Toppin, national spokeswoman for the Business Division of the National Coalition for Diversity for Trump.

My final question, Renee, and let me put it to you like this, Christina said, why hasn't Mr. Trump reached out to me as a woman. I know you said he's reached out to you and your organization. When we talk about black voters in this country, the criticism has been the Republican Party and, specifically, the Trump campaign has not gone to these black communities. My question to you is, why not? Wouldn't that make a difference?

STREET TOPPIN: Yes, absolutely. It is on the schedule. It is in the works. We are bringing Mr. Trump. As a matter of fact, we have a rally on September the 15th in support of our candidate, James Jones, for the 2nd congressional district here in Philadelphia. Mr. Trump does have the Diversity Coalition. And we have been advising him. And we are going to be bringing Mr. Trump in to the inner cities.

But my question would be to the other guest. When was the last time that Hillary Clinton was in Philadelphia? I remember her being here in 2008 when my uncle was the mayor of Philadelphia, and I haven't seen her since. Our children are dying in the street. Our schools are deteriorating. And I have not seen Hillary Clinton. Nor did I see her in the inner cities when she was in Philadelphia. So I don't understand how you can compare, because we haven't seen Mrs. Clinton in about eight years either. So --

BALDWIN: Well, she was there for the DNC, but I understand your point in the other communities.

(CROSSTALK)

COLEMAN: Yeah, but I also wasn't necessarily comparing. I can't speak for the "Essence" audience when I say they've chosen a candidate. I think that they are open to hearing what Trump has to say. But I think they also have a grasp on the language that Hillary is using -- or Clinton is using. So that is systemic racism, criminal justice reform. She's talk being about issues that matter to us, education, equal pay. Where is Trump on this? I think it is very naive of him to think that he can gain 95 percent of the black vote if he's elected and it is a free election in 2020 when he --

BALDWIN: He's reaching out, though, to these black voters tomorrow. I think we saw pictures of Mike Pence sitting in the barber shop yesterday.

(CROSSTALK) COLEMAN: Well, that's not enough. The man needed a haircut. I

don't want to focus too much on this because a black man was cutting his hair. Right?

(CROSSTALK)

COLEMAN: But it's not enough for our audience that he is going to Detroit now or he's going to these black communities now because it's almost September. It's almost September.

[14:55:25] BALDWIN: I know. It is just about after Labor Day.

I want to continue this conversation. The black vote is so, so, so important.

Christina Coleman, Renee Street Toppin, thank you both. Come back, to both of you.

COLEMAN: Thank you for having me.

BALDWIN: You just heard there, Donald Trump, live there in Tampa, hammering Hillary Clinton over donations and access that he talks about and that she gave to her donors to the Clinton Foundation as she served as secretary of state. We'll talk more about this. And might this be truly an opening for the Trump campaign in this final stretch?

Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:00:02] BALDWIN: We continue right along. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You're watching CNN.

We begin with what just might be Donald Trump's most effective line of attack against Hillary Clinton. He is accusing her of blurring the lines between the Department of State --