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CNN NEWSROOM

Trump to Unveil Anti-ISIS Plan Today; Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired August 15, 2016 - 09:00   ET

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


[09:00:00] CAMEROTA: The women and her dog in Louisiana, and now this wonderful dispatcher. They are an inspiration to all of us.

Thanks for watching today. Time now for "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: They are an inspiration. Thanks so much. Have a great day. NEWSROOM starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, Donald Trump set to lay out his strategy to fight ISIS.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Isis has developed like wildfire under our incompetent President Obama.

COSTELLO: And aiming to reset again.

TRUMP: I said the founder of ISIS. Obviously I'm being sarcastic.

GOV. MIKE PENCE (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think he was being serious. And he was making a point.

COSTELLO: Also, Milwaukee on edge. Protesters throwing bricks, rocks and bottles after police shoot an armed black man.

And robbed in Rio. Ryan Lochte retells his run-in with a gunman.

Let's talk, live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Donald Trump beginning a new week with a familiar mission. Getting back on message. After a weekend on the attack, Trump will deliver a big speech on how as president he would oversee the defeat of ISIS. But today his tough talk is just dressed up with something new. Details.

CNN's Jessica Schneider is here with a preview. Hi, Jessica.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Carol. Donald Trump is set to deliver a pointed policy speech in Ohio in just a few hours. He'll hone in on three specific prongs to combating ISIS and the spread of terrorism, likening the fight to the Cold War.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PENCE: He is going to lay out his vision and his strategy for defeating radical Islamic terrorism.

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Donald Trump turning his ISIS-centric foreign policy ideals.

TRUMP: We have to get ISIS. We will defeat ISIS.

SCHNEIDER: Into a three-pillar policy proposal to defeat them.

SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R), ALABAMA: He's going to talk out how you target your enemies and work with your friends. You don't overreach and destabilize countries like the Obama-Clinton administration has done.

SCHNEIDER: A senior campaign official says Trump will unveil several proposals today. He will declare an end to nation building and consider any country willing to help defeat ISIS an ally. A call that could include Russia, a country Trump has long pointed to as a possible partner.

TRUMP: Russia wants to get rid of ISIS. We want to get rid of ISIS. Maybe let Russia do it. Let them get rid of ISIS. What the hell do we care?

SCHNEIDER: Trump will also propose suspending visas from any country with heavy terrorist activity and raise the bar for entry into the U.S. That bar could include an ideological test, according to the Trump campaign official. The rest would question visa applicants on their support of U.S. values and seek to weed out any supporters of radical Islam. But no specific mention of that Muslim ban Trump called for just nine months ago.

TRUMP: Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.

SCHNEIDER: And finally, Trump will promise to make a clear statement to the world that the U.S. is fighting a battle not just militarily and financially but ideologically, a point far from Trump's bombastic rhetoric of the past.

TRUMP: I would bomb the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out of them. We have to knock the hell out of them. You have to take out their families. When you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families.

SCHNEIDER: The speech comes after Trump repeatedly used a false claim on the campaign trail.

TRUMP: I call President Obama and Hillary Clinton the founders of ISIS.

SCHNEIDER: And paraded his self-proclaimed expertise on the terrorist group. TRUMP: I know more about ISIS than the generals do, believe me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER: And one thing campaign officials say Donald Trump will make very clear, this isn't about nation building. In fact, the campaign officials putting it this way. The U.S. won't be, quote, "remaking the Middle East into one democracy after another at the points of a gun," Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Jessica Schneider, thanks for the report.

Mr. Trump blames the media for his troubles, but that ain't cutting it with the "Wall Street Journal" this morning. The paper's editor board places blame squarely on Donald J. Trump. Quote, "Mr. Trump is right that most of the media want him to lose. But that was also true of George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. The difference is that Mr. Trump has made it so easy for the media and his opponents. He needs to stop blaming everyone else and decide if he wants to be president or turn the nomination over to Mike Pence."

So let's talk about all of this. Tara Setmayer is a CNN political commentator, Boris Epshteyn is a senior adviser to the Trump campaign. He's here. Larry Sabato is the director for the Center of Politics at the University of Virginia, and Sally Kohn is a CNN political commentator and a Hillary Clinton supporter.

Welcome to all of you.

Boris, I want to start with you. The "Wall Street Journal" says Mr. Trump is not running a competent campaign. Is that Mr. Trump's fault if that's indeed true?

[09:05:01] BORIS EPSHTEYN, DONALD TRUMP SURROGATE: It's incorrect. So I disagree with their premise. The campaign is absolutely competent. We just heard about this speech is going to be put out today. That's what Americans care about. You know, ISIS or its predecessor has killed 30,000 people --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: But going back to -- going back to the "Wall Street" editorial. That's tough. It's a Murdoch owned paper. It says get it together, Mr. Trump, or you're out of here. He should ship out.

EPSHTEYN: you know, every paper, every editorial board, every organization has the right to their opinion and obviously that's an opinion piece. The campaign is absolutely competent. And again the key issue today is fighting radical Islam terrorism. That's what Donald Trump will be talking about in Ohio, that's what Americans care about. Making sure we're protected as a country and changing the failed policies of Clinton-Obama.

COSTELLO: Tara, can Mr. Trump stay on message and --

TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, he hasn't thus far. And if he were running a competent campaign, he wouldn't be hemorrhaging support even from Republicans. He wouldn't be competitive or losing in traditionally red states, like Georgia, Arizona, Kansas is now potentially in play for goodness sake. Mitt Romney won Kansas by almost 60 points. Donald Trump is only up by four. And he's lost ground there.

You know, he would have -- he would have infrastructure, which they don't have. They would have a get out the vote operation, which they don't have. They've outsourced all of the traditional campaign apparatus to the Republican National Committee.

That is not an example of a competent campaign. If the campaign was competent, Donald Trump wouldn't have spent the majority of last week attacking the media and everybody else as opposed to hammering home his economic message. If you go on his Twitter feed, it's probably worse now, but yesterday there were 20 tweets attacking the media. You couldn't find any tweets talking about his economic plan or -- or his plan for the future of America. That is not an example of a competent campaign.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: So, Larry --

SETMAYER: So he could always give a speech, but he doesn't stay on message.

COSTELLO: If Donald Trump pivots, you know, and today he stays on message, will that kind of solve some of his problems?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Well, Carol, certainly it benefits him to try to wage a war on ISIS, rather than wage a war on the American news media. That's not going to get him very many votes, at least outside of his core supporters who already back him.

But can he really pivot? How many times have we heard already that he is pivoting? This reminds me of that old saying about second and third marriages being the triumph of hope over experience. I think that Trump's pivots are also a triumph of hope over experience, at least for his four beleaguered campaign team.

COSTELLO: Sally, I do think Americans are looking for a better way to fight ISIS, and Donald Trump has outlined some new and different things which we're going to get into in just a second. So might that resonate with independent voters?

SALLY KOHN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, let's back up a second here. Donald Trump hasn't actually said much throughout this entire campaign on this issue or any other issue. He has been astonishingly thin on details. And the things he has said have been largely extreme ugly or mischaracterizations or just preposterous assertions. Right? So when you have somebody running to be the head of our armed forces say that our military is a mess and I know more than ISIS -- I know more about ISIS than the generals. I mean, just think about that for a second. The man is about to give

a speech about how to defeat ISIS who thinks he doesn't have to listen to any of the people who are actually doing the work on the ground because, you know, he knows more. He doesn't read, he just told us, he doesn't study, he has no interest in learning these things, but he knows more. And then he says things like Obama and Clinton are the founders of ISIS. He defends it and defends it before then saying, no, no, I was being sarcastic. You know, tough talk and bloviation do not defeat ISIS.

COSTELLO: Well, his campaign did release some details of his plan today, and Boris, I was looking over those details and Mr. Trump's new plan to fight ISIS does not include a Muslim ban. Why is that?

EPSHTEYN: Well, this has been consistent now for several months and I've talked about it on this channel repeatedly. There has been a development on the proposal, the proposal was made in December 2015. We're now --

COSTELLO: So Donald Trump no longer support a Muslim ban, even a partial Muslim ban?

EPSHTEYN: The proposal would be what he lays out today and he'll be looking at the countries which are bases for terrorism, which we don't have the ability to vet. Countries from which Hillary Clinton wants to improve immigration by 550 percent and making sure that we're not letting people into this country who want to attack this country and make this country less safer and who hate our values.

COSTELLO: There's no Muslim ban anymore?

EPSHTEYN: The proposal is exactly as it's laid out and that's what's going to be talking about.

COSTELLO: OK. Well, let me get into the proposal before you --

EPSHTEYN: Just more on my point. It is very interesting for the people who are anti-Trump to say that there are no proposals. As you mentioned, but they're ignoring the actual proposals that are there. They're concentrating on ten seconds of a speech made, you know, nine months ago.

COSTELLO: OK. Well, the Muslim ban was a big thing.

SETMAYER: Right.

COSTELLO: But let's get into -- let's get into the specific proposal in Trump's plan that he is going to outline later today. It raises the bar for entry into the United States.

[09:10:03] Mr. Trump wants to create an ideological test that would prevent foreigners from coming into the United States if they don't uphold religious freedom, gender equality and gay rights.

SETMAYER: Look, I think that the bread and butter of the Trump campaign started off with immigration and talking tough on terrorism. People responded to that because they can understand in basic terms those are the bad guys, we're not winning against them now and I'm going to win against them. Now the devil is in the details, of course, because Donald Trump has been very light and also inconsistent on how exactly he's going to do that. He went from, you know --

COSTELLO: But he said he's going to use social media.

SETMAYER: Yes.

COSTELLO: He's going to interview these candidates coming into the United States.

SETMAYER: I'm not sure. That sounds -- I'm not sure how practical that.

COSTELLO: To make sure that they believe in American values.

SETMAYER: Yes. I'm not sure how practical that is.

(CROSSTALK)

EPSHTEYN: Those are specifics, right?

SETMAYER: Yes. That's wonderful. But let's see if he -- if this is what we talk about in two days from now or if Donald Trump, after he gives his teleprompter speech, in essence he's been chastised by his campaign to be on message.

EPSHTEYN: Well, it is up to you talk about it. So why don't you talk about the speech?

SETMAYER: It's not up to me what we talk about. It's up to your candidate.

EPSHTEYN: You're changing the subject -- you can change the subject right now.

SETMAYER: It's up to your candidate what we talk about.

EPSHTEYN: You're changing the subject right now.

SETMAYER: No, I'm not.

EPSHTEYN: From the specifics that follow after that.

SETMAYER: No, I'm not.

EPSHTEYN: Yes, you are.

SETMAYER: We're talking about what's going -- no, I'm not. So anyway, but the bottom line is this. Donald Trump has -- needs to be able to keep this message consistent. Since 1952, no candidate has won the presidency that has lost coming out of the convention. He is behind right now significantly, and if he stays --

(CROSSTALK) EPSHTEYN: Dukakis was up by 17 coming out of the DNC.

COSTELLO: I want to talk about this proposal.

EPSHTEYN: Dukakis was up by 17 coming out of the DNC.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Just hold up. I want to go to Sally Kohn right now. So, Sally, you're a strong supporter of gay rights and gender equality. Does Trump's plan -- does part of Trump's plan resonate with you?

KOHN: I don't have enough strong words that I can use on television to express what I'm feeling right now, but if we're going to start doing an ideological test and not allow into this country people who don't support gender equality and LGBT rights, then I don't know, how about the entire Republican Party Platform Committee that voted to say that it should be OK to send your kids to anti-gay, destructive homophobic conversion therapy? Why don't we get rid of them? Just one example. I'm sorry this whole using suddenly the Republican Party --

EPSHTEYN: Now you want to get rid of citizens of this country?

KOHN: Use gay rights and women's rights, not to actually give gay rights and women's rights to people in this country, but simply as a fig leaf to bash Muslims.

EPSHTEYN: Sally is missing a very good point here. Letting people from outside and citizens in this country.

KOHN: Let me be clear. There are Muslims in this world, including in this country, who are far better on gay rights and women's rights than many of the people in the Republican Party. So, so, let's be clear about that. I'm all for the test, but you know, let's who do we apply it to.

COSTELLO: OK. So, Larry, you're my impartial guy. So, you know, I think -- you can be anti-gay in this country because it's a free country. You can believe whatever you want to believe, you just have to follow the law. So is it conceivable that you could keep people out of the country who don't believe in gay rights?

SABATO: On a practical basis, I think it would be very difficult to determine that. Also, and this will shock people, you know, people coming into the country have been known to fib, or to outright lie about their views. If they know what the correct answers are supposed to be, they'll tend to give the correct answers.

But look, Carol, the broader point here is, first of all, if Donald Trump is actually changing on some of these things, for example, dropping the outrageous ban on Muslims, I salute him for it. That's a good thing. We want candidates to evolve in the right direction and do the right thing. The problem with Trump is he is so mercurial. What he says one day has no relationship to what he'll say or do on Wednesday or next Thursday or in office if he is actually elected. And that's one of his fundamental problems.

People don't feel they really know what he will do. When he says something like I know more about ISIS than the generals, almost everyone outside his operation laughs because there is no one outside his group that believes he knows more than the generals about ISIS.

COSTELLO: OK, I have to leave it there. Tara Setmayer, Larry Sabato, Boris Epshteyn, Sally Kohn, thanks to all of you.

FBI notes from a three-hour interview with Hillary Clinton over her private e-mail server could hit Congress as early as today. Several Republican lawmakers requested the notes after FBI director James Comey testified about the interview earlier this summer.

Comey said while there is no complete transcript of the interview, members of Congress will have access to notes taken during it. He went on to say Clinton was not under oath at the time.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a second night of violence in Milwaukee. One person shot dead and a police officer sent to the hospital.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The second straight night of violent protests in the city of Milwaukee. This time, at least one person is shot and a police officer injured. Demonstrators threw rocks and bottles at police and a half dozen businesses were torched over the weekend. The protest triggered by the shooting death of a black man who police say was armed.

More now from correspondent, Ana Cabrera.

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, things are quiet and peaceful now, but this community is still very much shaken. The National Guard remains on standby. It was activated, but not deployed overnight, even with local authorities struggling to get crowds under control.

Protesters say their unrest is all about years of oppression and racism that they have felt in this community. The weekend shooting was simply a flash point.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA (voice-over): Protests and violence erupting again in Milwaukee, demonstrators firing shots.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of shots, a lot of shots right now.

CABRERA: Throwing objects.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looks like the gas tank just popped.

CABRERA: And setting cars on fire. At least one person was shot and rushed to the hospital. [09:20:09]A police officer also hospitalized, after a rock smashed the windshield of a squad car. The weekend of violence began on Saturday with demonstrators torching several businesses, overturning cars, and throwing rocks at police to protest the police shooting death of 23- year-old Sivele (ph) Smith.

Smith was shot fleeing a traffic stop, when police say he turned toward the officer with a gun in his hand. The officer's body camera, capturing the deadly encounter. Milwaukee's mayor tried to address the festering anger about whether the shooting was justified.

MAYOR TOM BARRETT (D), MILWAUKEE: Without question, he had a gun in his hand. I want our community to know that.

CABRERA: Governor Scott Walker activating the National Guard to assist the police and declaring a state of emergency.

GOVERNOR SCOTT WALKER, MILWAUKEE: I was worried about whether or not things would escalate.

CABRERA: Smith's family and friends, holding a vigil marked by prayers. With his sister, calling for peace.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't bring the violence here and the ignorance here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Milwaukee police say they made multiple arrests overnight. We are still waiting on those final numbers. It comes on top of the 17 arrests made Saturday night. And now the Wisconsin Department of Justice has the investigation into the shooting as their investigation is ongoing, the community here is still wondering what their path forward looks like -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Ana Cabrera reporting for us this morning, thank you.

A police officer is shot and killed in South Georgia. Police have now arrested the man in connection to that shooting. The suspect identified as Royhim (inaudible). He is accused of shooting Officer Tim Smith. It happened when Smith responded to a 911 call on Saturday. The father of three was rushed to the hospital but did not survive.

Police are questioning a possible suspect in connection to the double murder of a New York imam and his assistant. The two men were shot in broad daylight on Saturday shortly after leaving prayers at a mosque in Queens, New York.

The NYPD says at this point there is nothing to suggest they were targeted because of their faith. They're looking into whether an earlier dispute at the mosque led to the shooting.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, she says voters are fed up on what she calls a corrupt two party system. The head of Green Party's presidential pick on what she thinks of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Plus deadly flooding destroying entire neighborhoods driving thousands from their homes in parts of Louisiana.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:26:41]

COSTELLO: A state of emergency in Southeast Louisiana, at least five people have died in the historic flooding that devastated four parishes. As the death toll rises, so do the raging waters.

Right now, National Guard soldiers and the Coast Guard are helping local officials rescue the stranded. This was a particularly dramatic rescue. They get this woman out of the car and rescue her dog.

Already, 20,000 people have been plucked to safety, just like this woman. Boris Sanchez has the latest from one of the hardest hit areas of Baton Rouge. Good morning, Boris.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Yes, it is really surprising when you hear 20,000 rescues taking place. That video you were just mentioning, those were actually volunteers. We've seen scenes like that all across the state.

Boat owners coming out into the most affected areas, getting into their boats and trying to rescue people who are in dire need of help.

What is happening right now is really interesting. This area in itself did not get pounded with a lot of rain, but rather, there is a swamp behind these homes. It is the Manshack Bayou.

As the floodwaters continue to move in the state of Louisiana and the ground became in sashated with water, it had to go somewhere so it came into this neighborhood.

I was talking to people who live here yesterday. They were coming back to go inside to homes to salvage what they could. Many of them that live here were also weary the water was going to continue to rise, and it really dramatically has.

A lot of them have camped out with their neighbors. They were waiting around to see what would happen. Here is what one of them told me about what his hopes were for the night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM KELLY, FLOOD VICTIM: The highest I've ever seen it. I've been in this area since 1983. I've got one idle hope for the whole night, I want to be able to wake up tomorrow morning with my feet off the bed and not be wet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: And sadly for that neighbor, Carol, that was not the case. I'm looking at his home right now, and there is about a foot, if not a foot and a half of water inside his home. He has had to move in with a neighbor for now. Hopefully, the water will recede and he'll be able to get back inside -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Boris Sanchez reporting live from Baton Rouge this morning.

For ways you can help the victims of the Louisiana flooding, go to CNN.com/impact.

And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me. Hours from now, Vice-President Joe Biden hitting the trail with Hillary Clinton in his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania.

This campaign rally won't be short of attacks on Donald Trump. Biden is expected to take on Trump's lack of experience and Clinton is set to hammer him for not releasing his tax returns.

But there is another release, this one, by the FBI that could be a major problem for Mrs. Clinton. CNN's Athena Jones is in Washington with more on that. Good morning.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. As you mentioned, Vice-President Biden is making his debut on the campaign trail with Clinton later today. What better place than Scranton, Pennsylvania. This is where he was born.

He spent the first decade or so of his life in Scranton. He is a popular figure there. The vice-president is going to be reprising a role he's playing on the campaign trail since joining the ticket with President Obama back in 2008.

And that is trying to woo the white working class voters, blue collar voters that he has had a special appeal to all of his career. So he'll be there in Pennsylvania today to try to help Clinton do that.

This is of course one of the rust belt states that Donald Trump has said he wants to --