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LEGAL VIEW WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD

Trump Huddles with Minority GOP Activists; Trump on Immigration; Clinton Talks Trump. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired August 25, 2016 - 12:00   ET

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


[12:00:22] ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. Welcome to LEGAL VIEW.

And welcome to the final 75 days of the 2016 race for president. And this day promises to be intense because it started with a meeting at Trump Tower between the Republican nominee and a group of Hispanic and African-American fellows from the Republican Leadership Initiative.

In just three hours, however, Hillary Clinton is expected to speak. You're going to see it here live on CNN. And the topic, yes, it pertains to that meeting Trump just had.

The day is going to end with this, a prime time interview right here on CNN, Donald Trump's first national TV interview with a network other than Fox in many, many weeks.

For days now Trump has promised that he alone can fix the many problems that he perceives in minority communities, while attacking Hillary Clinton for allegedly exploiting those communities for votes. Here's what he said this morning before reporters were shown out of the board room.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Well, we're just talking about the fact that we have great relationships and the numbers are going up with the African-American community rapidly. We've had, you know, and I've always had great relationships with the African-American community. And now, you know, I've made it such a focal point. I've made it a very important focal point in the speeches themselves, talking about the little work that's been done by the Democrats for African-Americans. They've done - they've been very disrespectful, as far as I'm concerned, to the African-American population of this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Shortly after that, the doors were closed, the media pushed out, and the folks who were invited were the only ones left.

CNN's Jessica Schneider joins me live from outside of Trump Tower in New York. Our Jason Carroll is going the hopscotch approach. He is going to be live in Manchester. He's there now in New Hampshire because Trump is holding a rally next hour. So trying to get ahead of a very fast-moving candidate is what these two are doing.

Jessica, first and foremost, who are the other people in that room that Trump had assembled and was appealing to?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ashleigh, I just talked to one of the women who are leaving after this roundtable. She came outside Trump Tower here. She said that Donald Trump talked about jobs and he also stayed on message. But it's fair to say that these people were already primed to support Donald Trump. Let me give you a breakdown. Twenty-six people today were in that meeting with Donald Trump, that roundtable. They included GOP leaders like Ben Carson, of course, also Donald Trump's campaign team. But they also included 13 Hispanic and black fellows from the Republican Leadership Institute.

A little bit about this institute. It was developed in early 2015. And it's used as a volunteer training organization for young GOP recruits. So these people are working very closely with the RNC and they're actually going out to battleground states to be part of the ground game out there, to actually be active in the campaign itself. So these people likely already supporting Donald Trump and help pushing his message forward in those battleground states.

This is the second roundtable we've seen in the last week. The last one happening last weekend with Hispanic leaders. But in both of these cases, Ashleigh, they are, for the most part, handpicked and possibly supporters already.

BANFIELD: All right, Jessica, stand by.

Jason, today was the big day that I was so excited we were going to get, the immigration policy all laid out. But that got canceled. And, instead, most of this week we have heard this candidate talking about minorities, mostly in the vein of what the hell do you have to lose, because that's the line that keeps coming back over and over again. But you're in Manchester and I'm wondering if you've had an advanced copy of his speech or if you think that this is going to be the theme when he gets there in around 55 minutes or so?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's going to be one of the themes. The other theme that he will likely address when he takes the stage just about an hour from now will be the theme of immigration. If you listen to what he said at his rallies in both Mississippi and in Austin, Ashleigh, what is so interesting and so striking is that he sounds, as he has all along in his campaign, very tough on the issue of illegal immigration. I mean telling the crowd there in Mississippi that he's going to protect American jobs from undocumented workers.

But if you see and listen to what's been happening lately in terms of what he's been saying about this issue, remember initially he said he was going to deport the 11 million people living here in the United States illegally, and then changed that position basically saying, no, we're just going to first get rid of - we're going to get rid of the bad ones. So he's shifted on that. Then he seemed to say that, look, what we're going to do is we're going to work with some of those people who are living here illegally. We don't want to hurt people. [12:05:07] So there's definitely been somewhat of a shift, a softening

of his position. His campaign chairwoman spoke out, and what she was trying to do is basically trying to give more insight into where Donald Trump stands on this issue, basically saying, look, under a Donald Trump presidency, there would not be amnesty, there would not be citizenship. So she basically was trying to speak on his behalf.

Also going after Hillary Clinton on this particular issue, saying that she is weak on illegal immigration. So expect Donald Trump to do that here. Also expect Donald Trump to go after Hillary Clinton on those e- mails on the Clinton Foundation and her approach to reaching out to people in communities of color. As you know, he's been saying lately that he believes that she is basically pandering to African-American and Latino voters. And yesterday in Mississippi, he went a step further, calling her a bigot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Hillary Clinton is a bigot who sees people of color only as votes, not as human beings worthy of a better future. She's going to do nothing for African-Americans. She's going to do nothing for the Hispanics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: So the Trump campaign will continue, Ashleigh, to reach out to communities of color. He will do that again when he takes the stage, once again, just about an hour from now. His critics have been really on Trump, saying he's been using the wrong language. He's trying to reach out to communities of color by doing it and speaking in communities that are predominantly white. But the Trump campaign basically saying, look, this is a candidate that deserves credit for reaching out to these communities when other candidates from the GOP have not.

Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Yes. And we're going to keep the live shot of you up because the minutes are tick - you know, ticking down until Donald Trump arrives at your venue, Jason Carroll. So - by the way, if you guys will both indulge me for a moment, when you played that sound bite, Jason, I was watching that last night and my attention was not so much on the candidate, as his audience, like this lady when he said Hillary Clinton's a bigot. Look at the reaction. There were a lot of cheers in the audience, but this lady, it looked like she was sort of uncomfortable with that. Hard to tell, though. I'm not going to put any thoughts in her mind. I can only read her face.

Thank you to both of you, Jessica Schneider, Jason Carroll. We're going to continue our live coverage, watching the Trump movement today.

For her part, Hillary Clinton is emerging from her private high donor fundraising tour today with a speech this afternoon in Nevada. Polls are tight in Nevada. Hmm, should they be? If you think about it, Obama carried Nevada twice. We're going to bring it to you live as soon as she speaks. In a moment we're going to bring you some comments as well, last night right here on CNN, about Trump and the so-called halt (ph) right movement and her own issues with e-mails and the Clinton Foundation.

But first I want to bring in our chief political correspondent Dana Bash and politics reporter Eugene Scott.

All right, so I know we were all watching Donald Trump throw the bigot thing out there last night. This is one of his new attack veins is to go after the minority community and try to curry favor. But he's also still dealing with the immigration issue. We don't know what his policy is. We were supposed to know today. We're not going to find out today. But we do have dribs and drabs. And with Sean Hannity part two, he said this about immigrants and amnesty and whether all 11 million got to go and come back in or maybe something different. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: They'll pay back taxes. They have to pay taxes. There's no amnesty as such. There's no amnesty.

SEAN HANNITY: Right.

TRUMP: But we work with them. Now, OK, but when I look at the (INAUDIBLE) - and I have this all over - now, everybody agrees we get the bad ones out. But when I go through and I meet thousands and thousands of people on this subject - and I've had very strong people come up to me, really great, great people come up to me and they've said, Mr. Trump, I love you, but to take a person that's been here for 15 or 20 years and throw them and the family out, it's so tough, Mr. Trump. I mean I have - I have it all the time. It's a very, very hard thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Did you hear - did you hear the audience reaction? It sounded like some people were not thrilled with that. Other people -

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Right.

BANFIELD: This is hard. This is - there's no middle ground and yet he seems to be walking that middle ground.

BASH: Sort of. I actually think that he's gone from on position to another. And it's pretty clear. What he is saying there is that the people who he thinks are, you know, sort of upstanding non-citizens, upstanding members of society, who are here illegally, maybe they shouldn't have to be kicked out. That is a 180 from what he said over and over again during the primary.

[12:10:03] BANFIELD: Also known as a flip-flop.

BASH: Right. Right. And not just that, it is also what Jeb Bush said. It's what Lindsey Graham said. It's what - you know, go down the list of people who said - EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE).

BASH: That his plan during the primaries to kick everybody out, in his words, the good ones and the bad ones but let the good ones back in, was just not feasible for a whole bunch of reasons.

So, yes, it is - it is a change. We'll see what happens when he puts - when and if he puts the actual policy out. But this is - this is what he's doing. He's trying to move to the middle.

BANFIELD: Yes. So he - he fileted those people, the Grahams, the Rubios -

BASH: Sure.

BANFIELD: The Jeb Bushs for their approach to immigration -

BASH: As amnesty.

BANFIELD: Saying it's not that simple as just herding 11 million people out. So here is what some of those folks had to actually say about what Trump is saying now. I'm specifically referring to Bush and Rubio. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH (ph), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The reality is, that's not going to happen. And people are going to be deeply frustrated and the divides will grow in our country. And this extraordinary country, still the greatest country on the face of the earth, will continue to stagger instead of soar. And that's the heartbreaking part of this, is I think people are going to really feel betrayed.

MARCO RUBIO (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The truth is, though, look, a lot of these positions that he's now taking are new to him. In 2011, he talked about the need for a pathway to citizenship. In 2012, Donald criticized Mitt Romney, saying that Mitt lost his election because of self-deportation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: So, Eugene, it's almost like - as though those sound bites, which were taken during the primaries, during those debates of those candidates saying he doesn't know what he's talking about and his voters are going to be betrayed. He's going to change his mind. It's almost as though those were taken yesterday.

SCOTT: Yes, I think this is another example of the fact that this is Donald Trump's first time doing this. And it's pretty common for people to pivot for the general because you have to. But to deny that you're pivoting isn't really helpful. You need to give an explanation for why it is that you're pivoting. Donald Trump needs the backing of Rubio supporters and Jeb Bush supporters. He can't win this election just with his base right now. And Pew just came out with a poll, I believe in the last week, that say most Republicans and most Republican leaning voters do not support deporting all 11 million (ph) undocumented immigrants. So if Donald Trump wants their vote, which he needs if he's going to win, he has to make a change.

BANFIELD: So he can afford to alienate those who absolutely loved the idea of rounding up 11 million?

BASH: But that's the question. That's the open question right now, whether or not his famous line saying, I could go on to Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and all my supporters would stick with me, this is a major, major test of that.

One thing I will say is that he gave a little bit of an explanation in that answer - we'll see what he says to Anderson - where he said, you know what, I've been talking to people.

SCOTT: Right. Right.

BASH: And I've been talking - so, you know, OK, let's give him the benefit of the doubt. He's gone outside his Republican primary bubble. More importantly, he's hired people like Kellyanne Conway -

BANFIELD: Yes.

BASH: Who have a broader sense of the electorate, who have - who are data-driven people.

BANFIELD: I've been talking to people, though, you could certainly criticize it by saying -

BASH: Yes.

BANFIELD: It's a little late given that commander-in-chief time is only like 70 days away or so.

SCOTT: Yes.

BANFIELD: Guys, can you stick around for a minute?

SCOTT: Sure.

BANFIELD: I have a lot more coming. Eugene and Dana are going to hold with us because we have a lot of politics swinging.

Again, this programming note, Anderson Cooper's going to sit down with Donald Trump tonight. Catch it. "AC 360," 8:00 p.m. Do not miss it. There is so much on the table he needs to clarify. Will he do it? How will he handle Anderson? Because Anderson will not let up on this whole issue of, are you saying no more deportation forced or not? So stick with us on CNN for that, 8:00 p.m. sharp.

Coming up next, switching from defense to offense. Hillary Clinton hoping to turn attention away from her foundation and e-mail problems, launching a whole new line of attack on Donald Trump. Today, her speech set for 3:00 p.m. Eastern. Wait for it. She's going after him on that whole alt (ph) right business. If you don't know what it is, we've got it premier (ph) for you. Don't forget, coming up next hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [12:17{43] BANFIELD: This afternoon, Hillary Clinton will do something that she has not done in a while, hold a public campaign event. Think about it. It's all been private fundraising lately. So, instead, she is now going to speak to voters at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time in Reno, Nevada. And last night she spoke by phone with my CNN colleague, Anderson Cooper, live on his program and said she was not buying Donald Trump's attempt to appeal to blacks and Hispanics. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE (voice-over): Donald Trump has shown us who he is and we ought to believe him. He is taking a hate movement mainstream. He's brought it into his campaign. He's bringing it to our communities and our country. And, you know, someone who's questioned the citizenship of the first African-American president, who has courted white supremacists, who has been sued for housing discrimination against communities of color, who has attacked a judge for his Mexican heritage and promised a mass deportation force is someone who is, you know, very much peddling bigotry, and prejudice and paranoia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash back with me now.

So the interview was pretty significant. That was a new sort of line I hadn't heard before, that he's taking the hate movement mainstream. And, of course, it's what she's focusing on today. Is that because she sees this last week as, oh dear, he's getting traction with this whole, what do you have to lose? What the hell do you have to lose African-Americans and Hispanics?

BASH: Well, I think it's partly that. Partly she wants to get the attention off of her and the controversies about the Clinton Foundation and the controversies about her e-mails, which has been, you know, really bogging her down to say the least over the last week. But I think it - the idea of defining Donald Trump as somebody who is in - basically a hateful person and surrounds himself with people who are not tolerant is something that they have been trying to push for a while by using his own words and the words of the people around him against him. And - but I think to your point, it's even more urgent for them to do that as he is trying to actively convince voters that he's not that. He is not like that. That he is tolerant when it comes to minorities. That he is going to change when it comes to his immigration policy. So it's even more urgent.

[12:20:04] BANFIELD: So August 18th through 24th is not that long ago. And that is our latest national polling from Quinnipiac. And it shows something I'm sure Donald Trump would prefer not to have to highlight. Look at these numbers. He is ahead by 7 points nationally among likely voters. Not just folks out there, likely voters.

And if you break down some of these states, Dana, it seems to be astounding, especially a place like Michigan, the rust belt, where he was so popular during the primaries.

BASH: Right. Right.

BANFIELD: Where Hillary Clinton thought she had it in the bag and the polls were wrong and she suffered in Michigan.

BASH: That's right.

BANFIELD: Look at that. That's the Michigan voters. Yes, she's ahead by seven yet again. And then you look at North Carolina. We don't even bother usually putting the North Carolina numbers up because it's just red. I mean you can count on it being a red state. It's not a red state. She's up by one in North Carolina. And in Arizona, he is up on her, but only by five. And that's another red, red state. These are place where he doesn't seem to be even holding a lot of these campaign functions where he needs to.

BASH: Well, of all of those, to me the most kind of telling is Michigan because Michigan has been kind of political catnip for Republicans for years and years. The last Republican to win in Michigan was 1988, George H.W. Bush. And since then, I cannot tell you how many Republican candidates I've traveled around Michigan with as they hoped to turn the state back to - to turn those Reagan Democrats, who were actually - the term was born in Michigan - back to the Republican Party and they have not been successful.

This was the candidate that the Republicans were hoping could do that because it is a rust belt, because he speaks the language of frustrated workers who are - who lost their jobs from trade and that the whole system has changed dramatically and they're still upset about it. And as you said, unlike a place like Wisconsin, Donald Trump crushed his opponents in the Michigan primary. So he has that base and he has the Democrats who didn't want to necessarily go to Hillary Clinton and went to Bernie Sanders. Even Republicans who were not thrilled with Donald Trump in Michigan were telling me that they thought he could do extremely well there. We'll see if his new strategy will make a difference.

BANFIELD: Real quickly, I've got to wrap it up, but while we wait for the official policy on immigration, which now we expect to hear next week from Donald Trump, do you think that Hillary Clinton's camp will seize on some of those lines from Jeb Bush and Rubio saying, you know, they told you so. He will betray you. You fell for it. You believed 11 million people would be rounded up and moved out. He has said there's going to be a wall. Do you think the same fate befalls the wall?

BASH: I think you're absolutely -

BANFIELD: Is she going to start using those people in her ads?

BASH: Yes. Well, she might. She might. But I think you're right, that - that she's going to - and she already has with Anderson Cooper last night. She said, I'm not sure which Donald Trump immigration policy to believe. So, yes, it's all about, again, the core issues that she's trying to warn voters about, his stability, his ability, his consistency, all of those things, to sow seeds of doubt. And, of course, the big one that she's going to push today, which is his perspective and approach towards people who are not like him.

BANFIELD: Now, again, a big headline that just came out while we were speaking, this Quinnipiac poll being released and it has Hillary Clinton ahead nationally with likely voters by seven points. And that's in a four way race. So that incorporates Johnson and Stein in there too, who had 10 and 4 percent respectively. But those are significant numbers and he's been touting the polls are on his side. Not so much there.

Dana Bash, great job, as always.

BASH: Thanks, Ash.

BANFIELD: Thank you. Good to see you.

BASH: You too.

BANFIELD: And a reminder, this is a good one, folks, we've been waiting for this, Anderson Cooper sitting down with Donald Trump tonight. Catch it on "AC 360," 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, only on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:28:17] BANFIELD: Right now rescuers are digging through demolished towns in central Italy, desperately hoping to find survivors from yesterday's earthquake there. These pictures are unbelievable. And we know now that because of that damage below, at least 250 people are dead. The search crews believe there are still many lives that could be saved if they can find them under that collapsed mess and find them in time. And more than once they've been right about it too. In that flattened town that you're looking at, this 10-year-old girl was pulled alive from the rubble. And it is nothing short of remarkable to see it happen. Take a look at it.

(VIDEO CLIP)

[12:30:01] BANFIELD: That first responder looks like her father the way he's hugging her. Just imagine. Just 10 years old. Just imagine what that moment was like.

CNN's senior international correspondent Frederik