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CNN NEWSROOM

Obama Says Clinton More Transparent; Where Are Trump's Tax Returns and Medical Records?; NSA Leaker Snowden Wants Obama to Pardon Him. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired September 13, 2016 - 15:30   ET

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


[15:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:33:33] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Critics have called out Hillary Clinton for being politically incorrect but she wasn't wrong, they say, when she described half of Donald Trump's supporters as belonging in a basket of deplorables. Trump's campaign demanded a full apology from the former secretary of state and my next guest says there's no way to quantify how many Trump supporters fit this deplorable description but he says he knows they're out there because he has heard from them personally.

He is Henry Gomez, politics writer for Cleveland.com. Henry, thank you so much for being with me. We all read your piece this morning. So listen, we all know being a journalist -- I don't get pretty tweets and comments on my Instagram so I feel you but you said in what the last year that you have -- it's been horrendous, the comments you've been getting, why?

HENRY GOMEZ, POLITICS WRITER, CLEVELAND.COM: Thanks for having me. It's intensified. I've been reporting and writing for 15 years and my name appears with all of my stories but I've noticed an uptick in the last year or so covering the presidential campaign, covering Donald Trump and the e-mails that I'm getting, the tweets I'm getting are taking on a tone

They're parroting a lot of Donald Trump's greatest hits. I've had people tell me I should be on the other side of the wall. I had a reader tell me I should be disqualified from covering the election because of my ethnicity which mirrors what Donald Trump said about the judge with the university case. And a lot of them admit they are Trump supporters and they are using his language and borrowing from the same things he's saying.

BALDWIN: And you think this is because your last name is Gomez?

[15:35:00] GOMEZ: It's out there on my byline and they have no way of knowing this other than my last name. I am of Mexican heritage, I'm also of Italian, German, and Irish heritage but it's Gomez that appears in the paper and the e-mails and tweets emphasize the last name, they emphasize Gomez, they say I should go back, meaning go back to Mexico. So is it true I have ancestors from Mexico, I'm proud of that fact. But that's the thing readers are fixing on.

BALDWIN: Which makes it a challenge, as you described in your piece, of covering this election. Let me quote you. "It strikes me that Trump whether he means to or not has fostered a hostile moment in our politics when his supporters feel entitled to racially denigrate others, sadly, simply being a Gomez is enough to make you a target." Last question, Henry. How do you think this election has changed race relations in America?

GOMEZ: Well, I think you nailed it right there, his supporters may have felt this way all along but because of the things Donald Trump is saying they feel empowered and emboldened to say this out loud or attack somebody. It's not just reporters, it's others, I feel that's something that is different. I covered the election four years ago and never received this level of vitriol from my readers. That's the one thing that has changed this year and I wonder if it's something we'll see for years to come in presidential politics.

BALDWIN: From journalist to journalist, I'm sorry but keep covering this election. Harry Gomez with cleveland.com.

Coming up next, the top editor of the "New York Times" says he would be willing to go to jail if he could get his hands on Donald Trump's taxes and publish them.

[15:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Getting Donald Trump's tax returns into print, the top editor of the "New York Times" said he'd willing risk his own freedom. Executive editor Dean Baquet says He'd absolutely publish a story on Donald Trump's taxes if they were

leaked or hacked even if it meant he would have to do jail time. Trump says has repeatedly said he will release his tax returns when the IRS audit is complete, even though experts say there there's no reason to keep a secret and he's offered up no proof there is an audit. This is what the campaign manager said about this, this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Will Donald Trump release anything from the IRS proving he's under audit.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: I don't know. Why? In other words -- are you calling him a liar?

CAMEROTA: We're taking his word for it.

CONWAY: Are you calling him a liar?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's talk to Margaret Sullivan, the columnist for the "Washington Post". Margaret, nice to have you back. It wasn't just the "New York Times" editor agreeing on that, it was your associate editor Bob Woodward agreeing, yes, jail time would be worth it for the transparency. Why is this important?

[15:45:00] MARGARET SULLIVAN, MEDIA COLUMNIST, WASHINGTON POST: Well, the Trump tax returns would tell us a lot of things. First of all, it's important to make the point that this is a strong tradition in presidential campaigns that candidates release their tax returns going back to Richard Nixon. Donald Trump is the first one who hasn't done that.

Secondly, the business about it being under audit as you said, Brooke, that is immaterial. You can release your tax returns when they're under audit, that's a red herring. I think they would tell us a number of things. First of all, they would tell us how much he gives to charity and that's a question that has surfaced in this campaign. My colleague David Farenthold at the "Washington Post" has been doing interesting work.

He's been doing great work into Trump's charitable giving. That's one thing that will come out. The other thing would answer for us is how much does he pay in taxes. What check has he written to the U.S. Treasury? And he has -- Trump has bragged or said, at least, that he tries very hard to keep his tax rate as low as possible and we fight find he's paying a very, very small amount of tax. I think that's of great interest to American citizens as is his charitable giving.

BALDWIN: As is medical records as well as media columnist I'm sure you'll be watching Dr. Oz with closer scrutiny as we know Donald Trump has chosen that as the medium from which to, I guess, tell the world if he's healthy or not. We'll be watching. Margaret Sullivan with the "Washington Post," thank you so much.

SULLIVAN: Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: You got it.

Up next, the independent candidate in this whole presidential race, Evan McMullin, will join me live from Utah. We'll talk about the transparency and the basket of deplorables comments and his chances. Stay with me.

[15:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A new report out just today showing that last year across every age, every race in America incomes rose and the poverty rate fell.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That was president Obama talking a bit ago there in Philadelphia touting his economic achievements as he stumped solo by the way, first time he did this for Hillary Clinton today making enthusiastic pitch hearing choruses of "fired up and ready to go" and "yes we can" there in front of a crowd there in Philly. Donald Trump today also on the offensive taking shots at secretary Clinton for calling half of his supporters deplorables.

Both campaigns calling on their rivals to be more transparent so with me now Evan McMullin, former CIA officer, Republican congressional official, also an independent candidate.

EVAN MCMULLIN, INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE CANDIDATE: Hi, Brooke. Great to be with you.

BALDWIN: Straight up. Is this the least transparent election you've ever seen?

MCMULLIN: Well, it has to be one of them. No doubt about it. It's unbelievable that Donald Trump won't release his tax returns. I don't think he's going to before the election. I think that should be a requirement, absolutely. He is clearly hiding something.

Why else would he not release them? His excuse that he is being audited and therefore can't release them is simply untrue. There is no reason why he couldn't still release them now. He is clearly hiding something. The question is what.

BALDWIN: You know, you're not the only one who has questioned that, though of course, he would say he is not. He is being audited. Still no proof of that. The president said Hillary Clinton has been subjected to more scrutiny and more criticism. Do you see a double standard between Clinton and Trump on medical records and taxes?

MCMULLIN: I don't know if I see a double standard. I simply believe that all of us who are running for president will have to release our medical records, our full medical records, and our tax returns --

BALDWIN: You don't think it's more than this? More criticism and more on her?

MCMULLIN: Oh, I don't -- I don't know who is receiving more. I just think everyone needs to -- everyone needs to release their tax returns and health records not being transparent. You know, what I am more concerned about, frankly, is what's been in the news for the past 24 hours about -- about the deplorable statement, which I think was unfortunate. What's even more concerning than that is that Donald Trump's campaign continues to be fueled by a racist movement in this country, and you saw Pence talking today at a press conference there --

BALDWIN: Let me stop you right there. That's where I wanted to go next. In case the people watching haven't seen it yet. This is Donald Trump's running mate on with Wolf and following up talking about how he couldn't say "deplorable".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, (R) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not really sure why the media keeps dropping David Duke's name. Donald Trump has denounced David Duke repeatedly. We don't want his support or the support of people who think like him.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR, THE SITUATION ROOM: You call him a deplorable.

PENCE: I am not in the name-calling business, Wolf. Millions of Americans know and frankly Hillary Clinton was not talking about that bad man. She was talking about people all across this country who are coming out in record numbers to stand by Donald Trump and to stand with him and his vision to make America great again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Evan, what do you -- just on Mike Pence, what do you think of Mike Pence? He says he is not in the name-calling business. Memo to Mike Pence look at who is at the top of your ticket, the president of the name-calling club. What do you think of him now?

MCMULLIN: Right. Look, a leader in this country should never miss an opportunity to condemn someone like David Duke. A grand wizard or whatever he was in the KKK. Leaders can't miss those opportunities.

Saying that David Duke is deplorable or, more importantly, renouncing the support that the Trump/Pence campaign is receiving from a racist movement known as the alt-right movement in the United States. This is something that both of them need to condemn. This is a campaign that has attracted the support of racists because Donald Trump's rhetoric has been bigoted.

And they're not supporting him for no reason. This is a serious, serious problem. And it's one of many that Donald Trump offers, I believe.

BALDWIN: All right. Evan McMullin, thank you for coming back. We'll talk again. Good luck.

He is asking president Obama for a pardon days before a new Oliver Stone film about his massive NSA leak is set to premiere. Hear from Oliver Stone himself, next.

[15:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Exiled former NSA contractor Edward Snowden is asking president Obama to pardon him. In an interview with "The Guardian" newspaper Snowden argued his massive leak of the NSA surveillance program was, "morally right" and "left citizens better off". No comment from the White House.

This all comes this week where the new "Snowden" movie hits theaters. CNN's Christiane Amanpour last hour talked to the director, Oliver Stone.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Do you think he'll get a pardon, first and foremost? Does he really think he will?

OLIVER STONE, DIRECTOR, "SNOWDEN": Well, I think he deserves one, and I hope he does, but the odds are long with Mr. Obama. The two central truths that emerged from the movie in my opinion are the fact is that the United States government developed and deployed a massive global surveillance system without democratic consent. And it was one person who revealed that. That was Mr. Snowden. And he did so with conviction and with love country.

AMANPOUR: I want to just quickly ask you about the U.S. election and what do you make, for instance, of Donald Trump inviting the Russians to hack into whatever servers in the United States and try, to find Hillary Clinton's missing e-mails. You remember when he said that.

STONE: Yes.

AMANPOUR: What do you make of Russia in this election, including Russia being accused and suspected of hacking into the American political system and potentially subverting the election process in the United States?

STONE: I think it's great fiction and it serves a purpose to disguise what's really going on. The intelligence experts that I have talked to have indicated to me that it's probably an inside job. And what's very important --

AMANPOUR: An inside job from where?

STONE: From the Democrats, from somebody who has worked at the committee.

AMANPOUR: Hacking themselves?

STONE: Or from somebody who knows about it. I'm telling you I can't go into all that information. But the point is haven't we missed the contents of what's been revealed?

AMANPOUR: CNN's last reporting is that top U.S. intelligence officials are confident Russia is behind those hacks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: I am Brooke Baldwin here in New York, thank you so much for being with me. We'll send it to Washington right now. "The Lead" with Jake Tapper starts right now.