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Trump Makes Rare Reversal of Iran Video Claim; Trump: Paul Ryan "Good Guy, Actually". Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired August 5, 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] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Have a great weekend yourself. NEWSROOM starts now.

And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me.

Donald Trump shocks the political world, not such an unusual headline, right? But here's what makes today's claim so newsworthy. The Republican nominee who first double down is now backing off. He says he did not see that video of the U.S. delivering $400 million to Iran in what Trump has called a ransom payment to free Americans.

Trump tweeting this morning, "The plane I saw on television was the hostage plane in Geneva, Switzerland, not the plane carrying $400 million in cash going to Iran." A simple acknowledgment that's causing big ripples this morning.

Let's begin with CNN's Phil Mattingly. Hi, Phil.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol. Well, a simple acknowledgment indeed because this isn't something that usually happens from Donald Trump or really the Trump campaign. If you pull up the tweet again, it seems rather innocuous. It's less than 30 words. Not that big of a deal at all. But it's addressing something that Donald Trump has repeated twice over the course of the last couple of days, even as his campaign has said it's not true.

Take a listen to what he said last night after his campaign said this video didn't exist.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: A tape was made, right? You saw that with the airplane coming in? Nice plane. And the airplane coming in and the money coming off, I guess, right? That was given to us, has to be, by the Iranians, and you know why the tape was given to us? Because they want to embarrass our country. They want to embarrass our country. And they want to embarrass our president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Now, Carol, this was the second time Donald Trump had told this story. And I can tell you, for the first time I reached out to administration officials and say, well, what's he talking about? Is there some video here? There's some question that he get this in a classified briefing, and they, for the most part, were scratching their heads. Had no idea what he was talking about.

It turns out that video doesn't exist. And it's just one of these issues right now over the course of this week, a very rough week for the Trump campaign, that continues to raise questions inside the Republican Party. The Republican Party that has started to back away from him in some cases.

Now Donald Trump today has two rallies. Donald Trump has been on message for the most part in the last couple of rallies, which is exactly what Republicans want. However, one of those rallies today is in Wisconsin. Wisconsin is a powerhouse Republican state when you look at top leaders. Paul Ryan, the House speaker, Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican Party, Ron Johnson, a key senator up for reelection, and --

COSTELLO: Paul Ryan.

MATTINGLY: And Paul Ryan, and Scott Walker, who is considered one of the up and coming rising best governors in the Republican Party. None of them will be attending Donald Trump's rally today in Green Bay. Obviously we saw the kerfuffle with the endorsement of Paul Ryan or lack thereof really underscoring right now that inside the Republican Party, when it comes to Donald Trump, there are a lot of questions and concerns.

The assembly speaker for the Wisconsin state assembly wrote in an op- ed, an open letter to Republicans today, let's get something straight. We are Ryan Republicans in Wisconsin, not Trump Republicans. This is a state where Donald Trump lost big to Ted Cruz in the primary. He's got a lot of work to do because this was supposed to be a swing state here. And I'll tell you who's not giving him any help, Carol, Democrats who have been thrilled with the course of this past week, none more than President Obama who in that press conference he held yesterday, went after Donald Trump in a big way and also addressed the issue asked of him by our colleague Barbara Starr, does he trust Donald Trump with the nuclear codes. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: What is your assessment today as you stand here about whether Donald Trump can be trusted with America's nuclear weapons?

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Just listen to what Mr. Trump has to say and make your own judgment with respect to how confident you feel about his ability to manage things like our nuclear triad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Now, Carol, this was part of a number of comments that he'd made, pretty much putting to rest any idea of maybe him holding off a little bit in this election, but making clear, and kind of following a strategy that's put out by the Clinton campaign over the course of the last week, try and make it clear that Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit to sit in office. That's their strategy, that's what they've been trying to do and the president is absolutely buying in.

But also another note here, this is personal for the president. I talked to White House advisers yesterday after this press conference, pretty noteworthy press conference, and they noted when he looks at Donald Trump, he fears what Donald Trump would bring to the White House. Not just for the Obama legacy, but also for the country. That's what White House advisers say and that's why you've seen the president get so emotional and so forward on his comments over the last couple of days -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Phil Mattingly reporting live. Thanks so much.

So as Trump backtracks on his false claims about a top secret Iran video, the former acting director of the CIA, Michael Morrell, unleashes a scathing assessment of a potential Trump presidency in a "New York Times" op-ed. He says, quote, "Donald J. Trump is not only unqualified for the job, but he may well pose a threat to our national security. In sharp contrast to Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Trump has no experience on national security, even more important, the character traits he has exhibited during the primary season suggest he would be a poor, even dangerous commander-in-chief." And Morrell is not alone in that assessment.

[09:05:02] Other national security figures like Brent Scowcroft, Leon Panetta and retired General Allen say they all back Clinton. So let's bring in our panel and let's talk about that. CNN political commentator and former CIA counterterrorism analyst, Buck Sexton, Scottie Nell Hughes, commentator and Trump supporter, and Democratic strategist Robert Zimmerman.

Welcome to all of you.

ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, CLINTON SUPPORTER: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning. So, Scottie, let's start with Trump's claim about that secret Iran video. Mr. Trump repeated that assertion at least twice and that he tweeted this morning that the plane was actually in Geneva, not in Iran. But Clinton's running mate, Tim Kaine, is now using that against Trump. This is what he said on CBS this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TIM KAINE (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I have no idea what he is talking about.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That video doesn't exist.

KAINE: It doesn't exist. He might be thinking about Iran-contra from like 35 years ago, or something like this. He recently criticized me saying I was a bad governor of New Jersey. And people --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Confused you with Tom Cane.

KAINE: Yes, Tom Cane was governor of New Jersey 26 years ago. I mean, I -- so it hurt my feelings, until I realized, wait a minute, I was never governor of New Jersey. I didn't even live in New Jersey. He was confusing it with a situation from two or three decades ago. Maybe that's what he's doing with this bogus video claim.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You think Donald Trump is confused?

KAINE: I absolutely think he is confused.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So, Scottie, just respond to that.

SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Well, of course the Clinton camp wants to keep the focus on Trump. Whether you agree or not -- what the motivation of this money going to Iran, what it was all about, the optics do not look good. And this morning we're seeing Justice Department senior staff telling the "Wall Street Journal," that whether it was -- whether it was part of the payment they don't have a problem with. What they have a problem with this sends the wrong message to Iran about how we handle these types of situation. So of course this a very damaging story to the Obama administration and that is connected to Hillary Clinton and the Clinton campaign.

COSTELLO: So --

HUGHES: They're going to do everything they can. Mr. Trump apologized, like our reporter said, for the first time, you saw something he actually said it twice. So let's move on. He actually apologized, said it was the wrong b-roll that he had been watching and moved on from it. But like I said this is what we're going to see --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: I didn't see an "I'm sorry" in that tweet.

HUGHES: Well, he -- well, you saw that he corrected himself, and that -- you know, that is different from like your reporter stated you've seen in the past. But like I said, the focus is not about Donald Trump's tweet. The focus is supposed to be on the $400 million of cash, in euros, or whatever it was, in pallets, sent over to Iran. And what was the motivation and what exactly, why did we do this, as the U.S. What was the --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: So, Robert --

HUGHES: That's where the focus should be today.

COSTELLO: So, Robert, is Scottie right? Is Tim Kaine just deflecting so that we're not talking about an issue we ought to be talking about?

ZIMMERMAN: I think Tim Kaine is being a gentleman when he says Donald Trump has been confused. And I think, when I was listening to Scottie, I think I could use Dramamine to go with that spin because the issue here is simply that not just -- Donald Trump, first of all, didn't apologize. Donald Trump doubled down, creating a fictitious video and lying about it. And it took a campaign intervention to finally get him to acknowledge that in fact this was a correction. He won't even say he's wrong.

But this is a pattern with Donald Trump. It's the reason you see Mike Morrell take this unprecedented step of pointing out what a danger Donald Trump is to world security. And it's not just Mike Morrell alone. Brent Scowcroft, George Herbert Walker Bush's national security adviser. One of the architects of Desert Storm has endorsed Hillary Clinton. Congressman Mike McCaul, the Republican chairman of Homeland Security, has said that the Trump strategy of trying to ban Muslims into the country would become a recruiting tool for ISIS, not to mention the number of retired generals who have stepped up and talked about Donald Trump really being a threat to making us safer -- making us weaker as a country, making us weaker internationally than making us stronger.

COSTELLO: All right. Well, let's talk about the security briefings because, Buck, you're former CIA, right? The president is worried about handing over intelligence briefings to Trump. So I guess the CIA director prepares those briefings for the presidential candidates. I just wondered because you know about these things, Buck. What do those security details entail? How top secret are they?

BUCK SEXTON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, when you're talking about what will be told to presidential candidates, it's going to be very sensitive information. I have to say, I do find it interesting that of these two candidates, only one of them has a proven record of an inability to handle classified information correctly. And that's Hillary Clinton. It is not Donald Trump. And that's a matter of public record. That's from the FBI director himself. That there was a disregard for the rules around classified information, sensitive information, and that there was a carelessness, extreme carelessness, I believe, was the exact terminology that the FBI director used.

So Hillary Clinton already has established that she is somebody who has trouble understanding how to handle this sort of information. So only ask questions about Trump's temperament and whether or not he can deal with the fact that he'll be given all this sensitive data, we don't have a question about Hillary, we already have an answer. And the answer is she has difficulty with this. She has been a security risk in the past, and quite honestly, if she wasn't up for the presidency, I think she'd have trouble getting a basic security clearance.

[09:10:02] In fact many people I know in the business deal and inside the intelligence community would agree that based on her record, she probably couldn't get any level of clearance unless the American people vote her into office and then --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: OK. So, Robert, what do you say about that?

ZIMMERMAN: Look, I'm glad to respond to it, Carol. The reality here is that, if you want to make this election about e-mails, the in fact that's your prerogative. But there are issues here that -- that e- mail debate really matters to political pundits and members of the media.

COSTELLO: No, no, classified information and the mishandling of classified information is just really important to the American people.

SEXTON: Is important, yes.

ZIMMERMAN: Let me make -- I agree with you it's very important. She acknowledged she made a mistake, but in fact, Buck is clearly overstating the issue. There was no evidence of classified information being hacked at all. There is no evidence that there was any crime committed here at all. That was documented by the FBI director, and in fact, the FBI director also acknowledged that nothing that was classified, and was -- there was a lot of questions about what was classified and what was not and there was no evidence that Hillary Clinton in fact sent or distributed classified --

(CROSSTALK)

SEXTON: That's just not true.

COSTELLO: No, that's not true. The FBI --

SEXTON: You're wrong on basically every level.

COSTELLO: No, no --

SEXTON: Everything you say is essentially --

COSTELLO: He's not wrong on every level, Buck, but he is wrong about the classified information because according to the FBI director there was some classified e-mails sent back and forth.

SEXTON: And there was evidence of a crime.

ZIMMERMAN: But the FBI director also made a point --

SEXTON: They just chose not to prosecute which was up to the DOJ. It's not that there was no evidence of any crime.

ZIMMERMAN: Excuse me.

SEXTON: It is in fact illegal to transfer classified information and there was classified information. They just chose not to actually go forward under the statutes.

COSTELLO: Robert?

ZIMMERMAN: Excuse me, the FBI director said in testimony before the Congress that in fact some of the issues were questionable whether they were classified or not, and could easily be misinterpreted as being classified or not being classified. That was testimony in front of the Congress. So I think it's very important -- and I understand what Buck and what Scottie are doing. And I understand the politics of their arguments. But the bigger issue here is that we have in Donald Trump an individual who's advocated such reckless foreign policy agendas, from reinvading Iraq, to sharing nuclear weapons with Saudi Arabia and other countries, that in fact even the economists rated him a national global risk. And they're certainly not a liberal publication.

So I think it's very important to keep the focus here. And Mike Morrell, Brent Snowcroft, amongst many others like Hank Paulson, the former Bush Treasury secretary, would not be standing up for Hillary Clinton if they did not believe -- if they believed she was a threat to the national security. Quite to the contrary, her record of advocating the attack on Osama bin Laden, of putting together crippling sanctions against Iran. Of negotiating between Hamas and between Israel. It's a stark difference between Donald Trump who actually says he wants to stay neutral between Israel and Palestine, who actually wants to dismantle --

COSTELLO: And I do think -- I do think --

SEXTON: Can I respond to the Hillary ad we're hearing here?

COSTELLO: Yes, yes, I got to stop it --

SEXTON: This is getting a little out of control.

COSTELLO: I want to hear from Scottie, though, because -- because on that point Robert is right. All of these high-powered CIA former officials are coming out and saying, you know, I trust Hillary Clinton with our national security and I don't trust Donald Trump. So if they're worried about the e-mail controversy, they're certainly not saying so, Scottie.

HUGHES: Well, that's the funny part about all this. Here, you've got someone who's a former secretary of state and she's having to pick a VP candidate based on his national security experience --

COSTELLO: Why -- why aren't more high-powered people coming out and saying that Donald Trump is more trustworthy when it comes to national security? Why is that?

HUGHES: And that's because everybody has their own personal opinion. That's the great thing. And it's also people are still attached to this administration. So it's a little bit hard to go up against people that you are still attached. And Donald Trump --

COSTELLO: No, no, there are Republicans included in that, too. They're not all Democrats.

HUGHES: But they are a part --

COSTELLO: Morrell says he is neither Democrat or Republican and he served under George W. Bush and Obama.

HUGHES: Well, it's interesting you said that because it is -- the Bush administration, something that Mr. Trump has time and time again come against their foreign policies when we're talking about Iraq. So these folks might not necessarily be fans of Mr. Trump after he's criticized their policies. And rightfully so. COSTELLO: Well, name a fan -- name a fan of Mr. Trump's national

security policies?

HUGHES: General Mike Flynn, a perfect one. And somebody that's a Democrat who's come --

COSTELLO: OK. Name another one.

HUGHES: Well, sorry, I do not have a list of all of his national security people in front of me but there -- he does have --

(CROSSTALK)

SEXTON: There's another layer here, if I may, Scottie. I think it is important to point out that of course, Hillary Clinton is a former secretary of state. She knows the people of the national security and foreign policy apparatus personally quite well. She has relationships with them. It is not surprising that many of them would come out in favor of her. She's also obviously the candidate.

ZIMMERMAN: Quite to the contrary, Buck. If I could make a point.

SEXTON: She's also -- and sir, we heard a lot from you about how great Hillary is. Just for a second.

ZIMMERMAN: And we've heard a lot -- we've heard --

SEXTON: She is also the candidate of the -- she's also the candidate --

COSTELLO: Robert, I'll get you in. I promise.

SEXTON: Robert, it's enough.

COSTELLO: But finish up, Buck. Finish up.

SEXTON: She's also the candidate of the establishment in every respect, and when you look at her record on foreign policy, we're being asked now to say who supports her that's important, when people have been asked, State Department spokespersons have been asked, what are Hillary Clinton's accomplishments as secretary of state, we have had a deafening silence because there's been nothing but foreign policy failure across the Middle East and even beyond the Middle East under her tenure and while Barack Obama has been in office. So, yes, she has more experience, but she also has a record of failure.

COSTELLO: OK, so, Buck -- OK, Robert, go ahead.

ZIMMERMAN: If I could just point out.

(CROSSTALK)

ZIMMERMAN: Very frankly, when Buck says it's not surprising, in fact, not only is it surprising, it's unprecedented to see the number of Republicans step up from the foreign policy community and endorse a Democratic nominee for president. It is unprecedented to see so many generals step up and say Donald Trump represents a threat to our security and makes us weaker, or to see a Republican like Mike McCaul say that his strategies will make us weaker.

But, I think you've learned your foreign policy at Trump University, because for you to acknowledge, for you to say this is typical, just is really void of any reality.

(CROSSTALK)

SEXTON: I'm the only person on the panel who've actually worked in foreign policy and served in war zones and briefed the president.

So, I don't think Trump University -- I wouldn't take that comment from you, sir.

COSTELLO: OK, fair enough. I've got to stop it there. Scottie Nell Hughes, Buck Sexton, and Robert Zimmerman, thanks to all of you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM: Paul Ryan scrambling just days ahead of his do or die primary. So, how much does this feud for survival, we'll talk about that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:10] COSTELLO: Donald Trump will campaign in Green Bay, Wisconsin, today by his side, his running mate, Mike Pence, notably absent, prominent Republicans like House Speaker Paul Ryan, Governor Scott Walker, or Senator Ron Johnson, or RNC chairman and Wisconsin native, Reince Priebus, all said they're too busy. Trump who has refused to endorse Paul Ryan threw him a bone in Maine though.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He called me the other day and he said, do you mind, because Paul Ryan is a good guy, actually. No, he is a good guy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right, but Trump really did put Ryan in a bind. Sentinel called for Ryan to disavow Trump. It said what will it take, Speaker Ryan, if not small minded contempt for a Gold Star family, then what? How far must Trump go? Stand on principle. Disavow Donald Trump.

As I said, it has left Ryan to walk this fine line. This is what he said on talk show host, Jerry Bader show.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: None of these things are blank checks. That goes with any situation, in any kind of race. Right now, it is important that the voters, you know, he won the delegates. He won the thing fair and square. It is just that simple.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: OK, with me now is Jerry Bader, who hosted Paul Ryan just yesterday.

Welcome, Jerry, welcome back.

JERRY BADER, RADIO HOST: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning.

Should Paul Ryan disavow Donald Trump? Well, in my opinion, obviously I'm #NeverTrump, but he has to do something.

I kind of agree with Trump here. If you're going to support him (INAUDIBLE)[ inaudible ]

COSTELLO: I'm going to interrupt you, Jerry, for a second, because your Skype signal isn't coming in clearly. Are we able to fix it or should I take a break and come back?

All right. So, Jerry, hang tight. I'm going to take a quick break. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:26:28] COSTELLO: All right, Donald Trump will be campaigning in Green Bay, Wisconsin, later today by his side, his running mate, Mike Pence, but nowhere to be found, Paul Ryan, running in a primary in the state of Wisconsin, Reince Priebus, the RNC chair, will not be there, he is from Wisconsin. Senator Ron Johnson, who is also running for reelection, and neither will the Wisconsin Governor, Scott Walker. All they said they were busy and other things to do.

So, let's talk about that with Jerry Bader. He joins us now by phone.

We gave up on the Skype, Jerry. Welcome back.

BADER: I think so.

COSTELLO: So, Jerry, I was asking about you about that Milwaukee paper. They're urging the House Speaker Paul Ryan to disavow Donald Trump. Should he do that?

BADER: In my opinion, yes, he should. And as I said earlier, before we broke up there, Donald Trump has kind of a twisted point, Paul Ryan endorsed him. He supports him. Except he doesn't want to be in the same room with him tonight in Green Bay. So Paul Ryan has to decide, did he really endorse him or not. He repudiates just about at least once a week something Donald Trump says.

So, Ryan, either he has to support him, which I don't think he should do, or recognize, he cannot walk this tight rope, I endorse him, except, geez, I can't agree with this, this is indefensible.

I think the "Journal Sentinel" is right. He has to decide here.

COSTELLO: So, is Paul Ryan support hurting him in Wisconsin? BADER: That, you know, is an interesting question and I would say no.

Here is, you know, if you look at the polls statewide, which is a congressional race, he is the most popular elected official in Wisconsin. He is ridiculously popular in his first congressional district, 80 percent, and Donald Trump did not carry the first and April primary. So, now, it does not appear to be hurting him.

COSTELLO: So, Donald Trump wants to win the state of Wisconsin. Does it make any sense to you why Donald Trump wouldn't endorse Paul Ryan?

BADER: It doesn't, and it continues a pattern. And the "Journal Sentinel" points this out, he did this, if you will recall, right before the April 5th primary. He was critical of Governor Walker and Speaker Ryan. And then he comes in to Wisconsin, and he loses very badly to Ted Cruz.

He comes right before another stop to Green Bay, which tactically, critically, it is smart, Brown County is a critical county for Wisconsin, no question about that, that part is right, but in advance of coming again, he fails to endorse the most popular Republican in the state.

COSTELLO: So, what are the poll showing in Wisconsin? Is Hillary Clinton ahead of Donald Trump?

BADER: There hasn't been one recently, but yes, she is. Hillary Clinton is leaving in the state of Wisconsin. We haven't seen anything, of course, post convention, of what's going on in Wisconsin, and you know, nationally, she got a bump and then from her convention.

And then Donald Trump chooses to have the week after that convention to be the worst week of this campaign. So I would imagine, as what you're seeing nationally, the next snapshot we get in Wisconsin will reflect that.

COSTELLO: So, you're never Trump guy. Would you consider voting for Hillary Clinton?

BADER: No. I wouldn't. I get asked that question a lot. I'm #neverTrump, #neverHillary. As to what I'm going to do, I haven't decided yet.