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Trump and Clinton Trade Scathing Accusations; Trump Touts He's Loved by Latinos; Feds at Odds Over Charges in Eric Gardner Case. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired June 3, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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


[10:00:07] PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good Friday morning to you. I'm Pamela Brown in for Carol Costello. Thank you so much for being here with us.

Five months before the presumed November showdown between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, and the fighting turns nuclear. Both presidential candidates launching their most savage attacks in a single day of scorched earth and burning accusations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He is not just unprepared, he is temperamentally unfit to hold an office that requires knowledge, stability, and immense responsibility. Donald Trump's ideas aren't just different, they are dangerously incoherent.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: My temperament is so much tougher and so much better than her temperament, and by the way, we need a tough temperament. And all of these countries, and remember this, all of these countries that are our allies, she talks about our allies. Our allies think we're very stupid people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: CNN's Phil Mattingly is here with some of their exchanges which seem to be getting more heated -- Phil.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no question about it, Pam. On some level the last couple of weeks have been like the opening round of a heavyweight fight. Both boxers kind of throwing some jabs, testing some lines of attack. Now we are in the real battle.

Hillary Clinton's aides making very clear she had one explicit purpose yesterday in her big foreign policy speech -- delegitimize Donald Trump's candidacy. Make it look like he is not fit for office. Take a listen to what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: Donald Trump's ideas aren't just different, they are dangerously incoherent. They're not even really ideas, just a series of bizarre rants, personal feuds and outright lies.

This is not someone who should ever have the nuclear codes because it's not hard to imagine Donald Trump leading us into a war just because somebody got under his very thin skin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Now, Pam, it's worth noting the Clinton team is really targeting two subsets of the general electorate here. Independents who have shown concern over Donald Trump's temperament in polling, but also Republicans who vote on national security issues. This is the group that the Clinton campaign feels like they might be able to reach out and actually bring into the fold.

Now as you would expect Donald Trump responding rather harshly later that day in San Jose. His rally last night questioning Hillary Clinton's really ability to do the job. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I watched Hillary today. It was pathetic. It was pathetic. It was so sad to watch and, you know, she's up there. Supposed to be a foreign policy speech. It was a political speech. Had nothing to do with foreign policy. And crooked Hillary said, oh, Donald Trump, his finger on the button. I'm the one that didn't want to go into Iraq, folks, and she's the one that stupidly raised her hand to go into Iraq and destabilize the entire Middle East, OK? Because that's what she did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Now, Pam, what's interesting here is you're seeing both sides really try and define the opposition early. It was something that worked very well for Barack Obama's campaign in 2012. Clearly each side trying to take a page of that playbook now. The expectation is that it's only going to get nastier. And it's continued into today.

Pam, one of the things that everybody is paying attention to right now are Donald Trump's repeated attacks on the judge overseeing the Trump University fraud lawsuit. Gonzalo Curiel, a federal judge of Mexican descent. Now he was born in Indiana. He's a U.S. citizen. But Trump has said repeatedly that he thinks the judge is conflicted. He said it again in a "Wall Street Journal" interview that ran last night. Said because he's building the wall -- wants to build a wall the judge is conflicted.

Now Hillary -- Hillary Clinton's campaign firing back this morning in a statement that literally just came out saying, "In Trump's version of America this Latino family isn't really American, but they are American, and Hillary Clinton will fight for all Americans."

This is another issue, Pam, where the Clinton campaign feels like Donald Trump is way out over his skis. They will attack him repeatedly on this going forward. It's also an issue, Pam, that when you talk to Republicans they're very uneasy about as well.

BROWN: And we are going to discuss that. Clearly the Clinton camp sees an opening here.

Phil Mattingly, thank you so much.

And as Phil pointed out, Trump's temperament, his rhetoric regarding Latinos is under scrutiny this morning as he escalates those attacks on Judge Gonzalo Curiel. Curiel, who was born in Indiana to Mexican immigrants, is overseeing a lawsuit against Trump University. Trump who called Curiel a hater earlier this week now says the judge's heritage is, quote, "an inherent conflict of interest," since Trump is building a wall on the Mexican border.

But at a California rally the presumptive GOP nominee touted his support among this key voting bloc.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[10:05:06] TRUMP: Latinos for Trump, that's what I like. I love that. Latinos. We're doing well with Latinos. Nobody knows about it yet. We're bringing so many jobs in. You watch what happens. The Hispanics, we love the Hispanics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So all of it as a recent poll shows Trump with a significant deficit among Latinos. 74 percent view him unfavorably.

Joining me now Alfonso Aguilar, president of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles.

Alfonso, thank you so much for coming on. I want to start with what we're hearing from Hillary Clinton this morning. She has just responded to Trump's Curiel attacks. And she writes, "The fact that Donald Trump doesn't see Judge Curiel and his family as Americans makes him unfit to be president of this great nation, a nation of immigrants."

Do you agree with Hillary Clinton here?

ALFONSO AGUILAR, PRESIDENT, LATINO PARTNERSHIP FOR CONSERVATIVE PRINCIPLES: Sadly I have to agree with Hillary Clinton and Trump's comments is a gift to the Clinton campaign and, yes, it was silly for him to make reference to the judge's Mexican ancestry. It's absolutely ridiculous. He's an American and just to try to describe him as Mexican is ridiculous. So t does offend a lot of people. It doesn't help him with Latino voters.

And you already showed that his unfavorability rating is very high. He's polling in the 20s. That's not really good in terms of Latino voters. Now having said that, Latinos are still not flocking to Hillary Clinton. She's polling around 60 percent, 62 percent, which if you compare it to Obama's numbers four years ago, he was polling at a much higher level. So they're not very enthused with Trump, but they're not very excited with Hillary either.

BROWN: But are you concerned that comments like this will push some of those Latinos towards Hillary Clinton, those Republican Latinos?

AGUILAR: No. I think that the majority of Latino Republicans like me at this point are not willing to vote for Trump but we wouldn't be willing to -- we wouldn't vote for Hillary Clinton either. We would go do our patriotic duty and vote but leave that part of the ballot blank. And I suspect a lot of Latinos are actually going to do that. They know that Hillary doesn't have a good record on immigration. I mean, she introduced a poison pill amendment along with -- then Senator Barack Obama to kill immigration reform. And just two years ago she was calling for the immediate removal of unaccompanied minors coming from Central America.

So it's a tough choice for Latinos, but let me say Donald Trump could actually do better and become more competitive with Latino voters if he would change his tone on the Hispanic community and on immigrants, and if he were to change his proposals on immigration, specifically the one on massive deportation. If he were to open himself to some form of legalization, I think he could actually change those numbers, but so far he's not doing it.

BROWN: And you think that if he did that, that would make up for some of the more offensive comments he's made, saying that Mexican immigrants are rapists and killers, and, you know, talking about this judge.

AGUILAR: Yes.

BROWN: Talking about the Susana Martinez. You think that could make up for that?

AGUILAR: Well, it wouldn't make up for it completely, but it would allow him to become more competitive with Latino voters and perhaps improve his numbers a little bit. If he goes from 23 percent, as that poll showed, to, say, 30 percent, 31 percent for Trump considering that he's getting so much support from white voters, that could make a difference.

BROWN: Let's talk about Susana Martinez, because speaking about tone, he has changed his tone when it comes to the very popular Republican governor of New Mexico. He had taken aim at her a few weeks ago saying she's not doing a good job. And let's listen to what he is now saying about her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Since 2000 the number of people on food stamps in New Mexico has tripled. We have to get your governor to get going. She's got to do a better job, OK? Hey, maybe I'll run for governor of New Mexico. I'll get this place going.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: That was my bad. So clearly that was what he said a few weeks ago, but now he is saying that he respects her, that he hopes to have her, you know, endorsement. He says, I have always liked her? How does that square? And is that enough? Do you think that this about face can work?

AGUILAR: Yes, that's typical Trump. Last week he was criticizing her, attacking her severely and then this week he's saying that he's always liked her. But, look, I don't think her -- his attack on Susana Martinez was because she's Hispanic. He attacked her because she hasn't endorsed him.

[10:10:03] She didn't attend that rally in New Mexico so he was angry. I think the attack was silly. I don't think he gained anything with it, but having said that, you know, because he's made other comments about Mexican immigrants and people of Hispanic origin, when something like this happens, when he goes after a governor who's a woman and Hispanic, then people start saying, oh, well, you know, he's doing it because, you know, he has something against his -- the Hispanic community. That's the sad part.

Look, it doesn't help. He needs to change this tone and he needs to do it right away. There's still time. There's a window of opportunity. Again, a lot of people are not going to forget about what he said in the past. I mean there are some people that are just not going to vote for him. They may not vote for Hillary, but they're just not going to vote for him. But I think there's still an opportunity to get support from a good number of Latino Republicans and a lot of Latino independents, but he needs to start making those adjustments now.

If he continues making comments like the comments he's made about Judge Curiel, I don't think that's really going to help him.

BROWN: All right. Alfonso Aguilar, thank you very much.

AGUILAR: Thank you for having me.

BROWN: And today on CNN, Donald Trump, by the way, will sit down with Jake Tapper. It is on "THE LEAD" this afternoon at 4:00 Eastern only on CNN.

And we turn now to breaking news out of Texas. Five Fort Hood soldiers are dead, four others missing, after a military truck tips over in the major flooding there. A massive search is underway and officials just spoke out this last hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. JOHN UBERTI, DEPUTY COMMANDER III CORPS AND FORT HOOD: Our priority has been since the first report of this incident and continues to be the search for our four missing teammates.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: CNN's Ed Lavandera was at that press conference. He joins us now live from Fort Hood.

So what did we learn there, Ed?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, as you mentioned, that search is back underway here this morning now that light has popped up over Fort Hood. And it is a massive search involving not only units from inside the Fort Hood military posts but also state and county resources are being used to find these still four missing soldiers. And the commanders here at Fort Hood say this is an urgent priority.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UBERTI: Yesterday we suffered a tragic accident where we lost five of our soldiers. Due to the quick action of some other soldiers that were training, we were able to rescue who are in stable condition. This tragedy extends well beyond Fort Hood, and the outpouring of support from around the country is sincerely appreciated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: Now, Pamela, 12 of these soldiers were riding in this personnel carrier. Like a -- almost like a pickup truck but much bigger flatbed in the back. The truck was going through a low lying road, got stuck, and then the high-rising and fast-moving waters apparently knocked the truck over and that's why those soldiers fell out into the flood waters.

As you mentioned, the truck behind them, people from that truck were able to save and rescue three of the soldiers that were in the water, but the search continues for four of them.

Officials here at Fort Hood say that they were in the process of closing down this road. So a lot of questions exactly as to why these trucks were in that particular area. Officials here say they are investigating all of that, but that right now the priority is finding those four soldiers right now -- Pamela.

BROWN: Yes, and our thoughts and prayers are with those families as this is going on.

Still to come, Clinton, Trump, and the escalation of their bitter fight for the White House. Do they both risk serious injury five full months before the election?

We'll talk to our political experts right after this quick break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:17:44] BROWN: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump each go for the knockout in a single day of scathing accusations and sizzling one liners. Their goal clearly make the other candidate appear unelectable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: So the stakes in global stake craft are infinitely higher and more complex than in the world of luxury hotels. We all know the tools Donald Trump brings to the table, bragging, mocking, composing nasty tweets. I'm willing to bet he's writing a few right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And sure enough he did fire off some tweets during her speech. We're going to hear Donald Trump firing back in just a moment. But

first, let's bring in our guest, Larry Sabato, the director for the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, and Jason Johnson, the political editor from TheRoot.com and a professor of political science.

Great to see you, gentlemen.

Larry, I want to start with you. We know, we have seen that Trump loves to trade punches. Hillary Clinton clearly is now doing the same. Do you think, though, she made a mistake by punching him in the nose five months before the election or was this a smart move to not wait until perhaps it's too late?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: No, she's just warming up. Believe me, this is going to be, you know, a 20-round prize fight. It's never going to stop. It's only going to intensify. You used earlier the phrase scorched earth, and I think that's exactly correct. This is going to be a scorched earth campaign, not unlike 1964.

BROWN: Well, we're going to talk about 1964 and that famous ad. 1964 Daisy ad to reflect President Johnson. Let's watch that and then I'm going to talk to you on the other end.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0. These are the stakes. To make a world in which --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: All right. So, Larry, Clinton yesterday invoked this visual of President Trump and his finger on the nuclear button. You think she stole a page out of LBJ's playbook, right?

[10:20:05] SABATO: Well, in politics they call it borrowing, Pam. They don't -- they don't call it stealing.

BROWN: OK. Borrowing. Fair enough.

SABATO: These ideas -- these ideas have been around forever as my good friend Jason knows. He's written a book on political consultants. But, look, I think you're going to see a fair number of copying of ads from 1964. Another one that I bet you will see is a simple one. It's just photos of the Oval Office and the narrator says, in this room decisions are made and signatures are put on pieces of paper that change people's lives or end life altogether. Sometimes a quiet message works better than a loud nuclear bomb.

BROWN: And, Jason, let's listen to Trump tearing into Clinton and the foreign policy speech that she promised yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: After what she said about me today in her phony speech, that was a phony speech, that was a Donald Trump hit job, I will say this. Hillary Clinton has to go to jail, OK? She has to go to jail. Has to go. That was a phony hit job. She's guilty as hell.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Relating to the FBI investigation there. But when you hear Trump's response, Jason, does it seem to you like she got under Trump's skin with this speech?

JASON JOHNSON, POLITICS EDITOR, THEROOT.COM: I mean, like any -- lotion gets under Trump's skin. This guy is incredibly thin skinned. It doesn't matter what you said -- what are we seeing this week? We had a reporter saying, hey, where did that million dollars to the veterans go? And he attacks them. You have a judge from Indiana and he attacks them. You have Hillary Clinton just for the audacity to be running for president and he's going to attack.

This is what Trump does but this is why Hillary Clinton's speech was so effective. She constantly pointed out this guy doesn't have answers. He's a paper tiger. I can attack him and he doesn't have the temperament. So I think this is a good move by Hillary Clinton so far. I think she has to continue with it, maybe put a bit more passion into it. And we'll see how Trump handles it.

BROWN: So you think it was effective, but on the other side of this, Larry, she could be opening herself up to more criticism for what her critics view as her own foreign policy stumbles when it comes to Libya, when it comes to Iraq. Do you think it was a smart move for her to dub this as a foreign policy speech?

SABATO: Well, you're certainly correct. It turned out to be less foreign policy and more Trump attacks than I think anybody expected.

BROWN: Yes. That's for sure.

SABATO: But, you know, her calculation is very simple. I think she's finally adjusted to the reality that running against Donald Trump means throwing the rule book away. And, you know, her rule book of having very sweet nice Sunday afternoon picnic debates, that's never going to happen with someone like Donald Trump. So she's going to have to be just as tough.

And, Pam, she can't do it just once. It's -- if you look back at the -- at her history, often she'll do something like this once, she did a good job of it, but then she says, well, that's done, and she checks it off the list. No, it can't be checked off the list. By October if she's done her job and Trump's done his, we're going to run out of synonyms for nasty.

(LAUGHTER)

BROWN: Another reminder, this is a marathon, not a sprint. We still have five months to go.

Larry Sabato, Jason Johnson, thank you so much.

JOHNSON: Thanks, Pam.

BROWN: And still ahead on this Friday --

SABATO: Thank you, Pam.

BROWN: Fighting over evidence following new charges a New York police brutality investigation that had the nation's attention. What sources are telling CNN about the holdup in the Eric Garner case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:28:08] BROWN: Federal prosecutors and investigators are fighting over evidence in the Eric Garner case battling over whether or not it's strong enough to bring charges over excessive force.

Garner, you'll recall, died in 2014 after he was placed in what witnesses describe as a chokehold by a New York City police officer, Daniel Pantaleo. Well, Garner had been illegally selling loose cigarettes on a Staten Island street when he was confronted by police as you see in this video.

Our Evan Perez broke this story. So, Evan, what have you learned?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, the question in this case has been on whether Daniel Pantaleo, the officer seen in that video just now, whether he used what is a banned chokehold, it's banned by the New York Police Department, or whether he used a chokehold as part of this arrest. And if you look at that video, a lot of people were very, very convinced that that is exactly what happened.

But if you slow down the video a bit, it's not so clear. And that's part of what is going on behind the scenes at the Justice Department and the FBI. The question of whether or not there's enough evidence, sufficient evidence to sustain charges against this officer. We know he's already been cleared by a state grand jury in New York in Staten Island and the question for the Justice Department has been whether or not there's enough evidence to bring civil rights charges against him.

We're told that there's a disagreement between headquarters here in Washington, the Justice Department, and prosecutors in New York, in Brooklyn, where this case would be brought and also with the FBI. Officers there, investigators there do not believe that there's enough evidence. DOJ officials do believe that there is. So now we have a bit of a standoff. We don't know where this will end. The Justice Department says that there's no final decision that's been made.

This is still a case under investigation. We also heard from Pantaleo's attorney and he says that his client did not violate Garner's civil rights -- Pamela.

BROWN: All right. We'll have to wait and see what happens.

Evan Perez, thank you so much.

PEREZ: Thanks. BROWN: Good morning, I'm Pamela Brown in for Carol Costello. Thanks

for being here with us on this Friday morning. Great to have you along.